September 9, 2026 • 37 mins
Headlines and 12th Man News with GREGG BELL Ty Okada is out for tonight’s game so what does that mean for this safety group? We saw a swap on the running back depth chart- Emanuel Wilson moved up to 2nd and George Holani moves to 3rd string. What’s Gregg’s key to the game for the Seahawks tonight? :30- ABCs of the Mariners - D is for Deep: Laz Montes went DEEP last night- 471 ft. It was incredible. - E is for Eduard Bazardo: we keep putting him out there and he keeps giving up runs. Let’s play Fact or Fiction and it’s Chuck’s pick today! :45- Reckless at Breakfast- Chuck is getting Reckless with the Rams and Seahawks who won’t face off until Christmas Day!
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Julio chasing, looking, Langford answers back.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That is a big home run.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And the home run ball stings Bazzardo again. It has
become a major problem for what has been one of
the Mariners' best relievers in recent seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hey, great morning to you. Happy Wednesday, but not just
your run-of-the-mill Wednesday. It is opening night. The Seattle Seahawks
will take the field in a regular season football game
for the first time in 2026. They defend their championship
in front of millions, let's face it, of 12s who
will be tuned in. to this football game. It's the
(00:59):
Seahawks Patriots here, not your run-of-the-mill hump day, on a
Wednesday night to start the football season, and we are
here to celebrate it. Great to have you with us.
My name is Chuck Powell, Ashley Ryan here as well,
and we have a lot coming up on the show
to cover tonight's game. We are going to have Greg
(01:20):
Bell here, as you know, in two minutes. We are
going to have a special roundtable today Um, all hands
in everybody here at KJR pretty much going to weigh
in on this game, this season here on the show today. Uh,
Ian will be with us. Softy will be with us.
Dick Fane will be with us. Uh, that'll be our
round table today from eight to nine. And Hugh Millen
will join us today at nine o'clock with a special
(01:42):
opening night X's and O's as we get ready for
the new England Patriots. Reckless at breakfast is going to
be on this game. Factor Fiction's going to be on
this game. Admittedly bold NFL preseason predictions are coming your
way a little bit later on in the show. So
happy opening day. Happy Blue Wednesday. to all of you
as we get things cranked up in hour number two
(02:04):
of our four-hour show. But let us begin the hour
with your headlines. They are brought to you by Frost
Brewed Coors Light Cold as the Rockies. Mariners did lose
last night, so they are seven games back with 17
games to play. It's all but over. And yes, Edward Bazzardo,
once again, no answers for the opponent. He gave up
(02:26):
a two-run homer and a three-run homer in one inning.
and the Mariners, who had cut the lead to 4-3,
thanks to a Laz Montez 474-foot homer. You heard me right.
Longest home run ever hit by a Mariner at T-Mobile.
474 feet to dead center field over the J-Rod squad.
(02:49):
Unbelievable home run. Had everybody buzzing, despite the fact that
it seemed we were attending a funeral last night, as
the Mariners' chances are all but nil. to try to
come back and make it into the playoffs this year.
10-5 the final score. Same two teams will play today
at 1 o'clock, and it will be Cody Bradford, at
least I think. They changed the pitching assignment last night
(03:12):
to Cal Quantrill, but it looks like he's scheduled to
start today. So a left-hander for the Rangers, a left-hander
for the Mariners, and Kate Anderson first pitch is at
1 o'clock. But that's just the appetizer to the full
meal deal. Later on tonight at 5.20, the season kicks off.
Seahawks and New England Patriots. Ty Okada is out. Travion Henderson,
(03:34):
running back for the New England Patriots, is out. Torrey
Horton and Nick Emanwuri, both questionable for the Seahawks. And
George Helani, on the depth chart, was the RB3. Not
only was he not the RB1, he wasn't even the RB2.
He was the RB3. So it goes Price, Wilson, and
then Helani again. as the Seahawks get ready to face
the Patriots tonight. 49ers Rams on Thursday. Aaron Donald did
(03:58):
not make the trip. Alfred Collins, defensive tackle for the 49ers,
was sent home from the trip because he injured himself
in practice in Australia and is out for the season.
And in college football, Michigan. Might have won the game
against Western Michigan, but they didn't trick the pollsters. They
have dropped out of the top 25. Finally, Ben Shelton
(04:20):
finished off Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open last night
at 3.33 in the morning New York time to advance
to the semifinals of the U.S.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Open.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Let's talk to Greg Bell.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
As part of our continuing NFL coverage for the 12th man,
this is 12th Man News. Part of Chuck's daily visit
with our own Greg Bell. Brought to you by Emerald
Queen Casino. Bringing you the best in live music, entertainment, dining,
and gaming. Emerald Queen Casino. Always entertaining. For more info,
(04:54):
visit EmeraldQueen.com.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Good morning, Greg.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Happy game day.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, thank you. Happy game day to Seattle. Seven months
in one day. Seattle's are back.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Are you going to wear a special tie? Did you
buy a special suit in the offseason? Anything today? I
did not.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I don't wear one I've worn before. Okay. Yeah, it's
dress-up day, too.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Okay. You'll shave, right?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, I'll do that.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Do you still do that every morning? Are you one
of those people, because you're in the Army, you can
shave in like four seconds?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I can, and I have, but I don't shave every
day anymore. I haven't shaved in a while, actually. Okay.
But yeah, I will for the event today.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
All right. Yeah, you got to look your best for
opening night. All right. Well, let's get into it here
a little bit. Officially, Ty Okada is out of this
football game. So what's the game plan? How are they
going to defend A.J. Brown and Drake May down a
man and possibly two in their secondary?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Well, like I said, what I've been told, what I've learned,
what I know, I can't see Nicky Manwari playing either.
He's yet to fully practice. He's listed as questionable. I
think there's some gamesmanship by Mike McDonald there a little bit.
But he hasn't practiced fully since mid-June. He then had
the surgery. That was the minicamp. And then he had
(06:25):
the surgery in July on his ankle, arthroscopic surgery. And
let's face it, it's 17, and the Seahawks think more
games this year. This is one. So while, yeah, they'd
love to have him out there, and yeah, that gives
McDonald everything he wants to do schematically on defense, it's
one of 17, 18, potentially 20 games. So the right
(06:50):
call is if he hasn't fully practiced, he shouldn't be
fully playing.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What I didn't mention yesterday is the game plan will
be pressure, stop the run for New England, and New
England's not going to have Trayvon Henderson. He's got a
sprained ankle. So it's Ramondre Stevenson or bust for the
New England run game. New England only ran 18 times
in the Super Bowl out of 67 offensive plays. Now,
some of that, of course, is because they trailed most
(07:15):
of the game. But when they started out early in
the game trying to run, the Seahawks shut it down.
If they shut down the run again, it's going to
be a similar result tonight. because they'll be able to
pressure Drake May in long yardage situations when they know
New England can't run, and May won't even have time
to get the ball down the field to A.J.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Brown.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So that is the game plan. If you want to
cover up your secondary issues, have your front four, six, seven,
when you blitz, get after the quarterback like you did
in the Super Bowl. I think they're going to go
to some more three linebackers than we've ever seen before.
like Mike McDonald do, and that means Drake May and
Tyrese Knight on the field with Ernest Jones at times.
(07:58):
You can only call up two practice squad guys, elevate
them for each game. They probably are going to be
both the safeties, which makes me think Trevon Diggs may
not be active from the practice squad when they announce
that before the game, and De'Anthony Bell and Rodney Thomas
will be. This is some of the risk of carrying
(08:20):
only three safeties on your active roster. And, of course,
the fourth, the one they had planned, Bud Clark is
an injured reserve with a broken ankle. So I would
expect DeAnthony Bell and Rodney Thomas to be the two
practice squad call-ups with one of those two starting next
to Julian Love. And as a deep safety, I would
think maybe DeAnthony Bell because of his tackling ability and
(08:40):
experience in the defense.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Greg Bell is with us, our Seahawks insider with the
latest news. Getting ready for opening night here tonight. If
you want to follow him at gbellseattle on X and thenewstribune.com,
do so. Gobble up all of that Seahawks coverage. Award-winning
Seahawks coverage from our Seahawks insider, Greg Bell. All right,
running the football. Interesting, George Helani, RB3 on the first
(09:06):
depth chart of the season. And so I guess he
might have a specific role, but in terms of carrying
the ball, it looks like Jadarian Price and Emmanuel Wilson
are the first two options.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Well, Price certainly is number one, but I will say
that the coaches have no input on that roster. That
is unofficial from the PR staff depth chart for media
purposes and I wouldn't read a ton into that. The
football ops people don't spend a lot of time on that,
(09:43):
and that's more for our consumption of entertainment than it
is anything else indicative of scheme. What it does, though,
is I will say that now that Emmanuel Wilson is healthy,
he's a short yardage back. He's a different kind of back.
He runs more of a thudding, punishing back. physical style
than the others. George Helani slots in as the third
(10:05):
down back because of his experience not only catching the ball,
but he's a really good pass blocker, and that's what
got him into the offense as an undrafted rookie out
of Boise State three years ago. Price, we've said it
from the day he arrived, they would not have drafted
him if he wasn't the running back one, and they
just slow played him early in training camp. It seemed
(10:25):
almost deferential to the seniority of Helani, and then they
bubble-wrapped him and Helani for the rest of training camp.
We'll see a decent bit of Helani tonight, probably in
past catching and past blocking situations.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Greg Bell, our guest here. All right, so with that,
and kind of an unknown, I mean, you haven't had
Emmanuel Wilson carry a football as a Seahawk. You haven't
had Price carry a football as a professional football player.
I mean, last year we beat the drum. You beat
the drum. They're going to establish the run. Even if
it's not effective, they're going to just keep running the football.
(11:01):
Same thing? Same thing tonight? I mean, are they going
to come hell or high water going to try to
run the football tonight?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I do think so. And that's how Mike McDonald wants
to play. He wants his attitude on offense. He doesn't
want 45 passes and throwing the ball all over the yard.
He wants to impose will, wear down fronts, and exhaust
other teams and just plunder them. Just like he does
on defense, he wants to have the same mentality on offense.
(11:29):
And it's harder to do in this league. It's a
lot harder to do when you have the NFL Offensive
Player of the Year who had 1,800 yards receiving last year,
Jackson Smith and Jigba. and Rasheed Shaheed, and Cooper Cupp,
and A.J. Barner, but they will, and they have to. Yes,
we got out of the weeds, we got out of
the hinderlands of the offensive line last year here in Seattle,
(11:52):
and it improved, but it improved because they were balanced
on offense. Exactly 50% of the time they ran the
ball last year. We mentioned they spent most of the
year leading the league. They barely were behind Baltimore and
Buffalo finishing the league. leaders and rushing percentage. And that
gives your offensive line a chance in pass protection. How
(12:12):
many years did we see guys just speed by the
Seahawks blockers in pass protection because the other team knew
that Seahawks couldn't run the ball? They were 30th, 31st
in the league in rushing and rush yards per game
for years. And Ryan Grubb didn't even try to run
the ball. And everybody in the league knew it. And
they just teed off on Geno Smith in the quarterback.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
It was.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It did not work. And McDonald brought in Clint Kubiak
and John Benton last year and said, we're going outside
zone and we're running the ball, to use your words,
come hell or high water. And it worked. And I
don't expect hell or high water tonight. I think they're
going to run the ball, and I think it's going
to be somewhat effective, and I think it's going to
balance the offense and, again, make pass protection that much
(13:00):
more effective.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Give me something that will look different about this team tonight.
I mean, there is a new OC. Obviously, we're not
exposing anyone or anything in preseason games as to what
might be a new flavor, a new identity to this
football team this year. But as you're gauging and keeping
that eye on everything that's happening at training camp, what
(13:23):
is something that you think we'll see that looks different
than what we saw a year ago from the 2026 Seahawks?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
On offense, you're going to see a lot of jet motion.
What's that? That's motion right before the snap, two or
three steps laterally. The Rams do it all the time
to create leverage either inside or outside with their receivers
on the defensive back. So you'll see guys, even tight ends,
going in motion just before the snap, not across the formation,
but just to get some angle on the defender. Sometimes
(13:53):
it's for blocking in the case of the tight end.
You're going to see the tight end shift into the
backfield as fullbacks some of the time. and that will
mitigate the fact they only have one true fullback on
the roster, Brady Russell, and he's a part-time tight end too.
You're going to see A.J. Barner line up outside at times.
I think you're going to see Jari and Price line
up as a wide receiver, either in the slot or
(14:13):
way wide when they spread out the formation, and they're
going to throw him the ball when they do that.
I think you're going to see a tight end. I
know you're going to see the tight ends down the
field much further down the field than they were under
Clint Kubiak. That was distinct from the early part of
training camp. I think A.J. Barner and Elijah Arroyo are
(14:33):
going to be nine-route guys. That means goes straight down
the seam instead of just checkdowns. On defense, you're going
to see Byron Murphy, I think, all over the defensive line.
For that matter, Leonard Williams, they're going to move him
up and down the defensive line, but Murphy even more so.
Murphy has mostly been inside the guard or around the
(14:54):
center pass rusher. They're going to move them outside the guard,
maybe even outside the tackle at times to give a
different look. They may overload a front. They may put
two or three defensive front guys on one side of
the ball and overload New England. They're going to move
around and change their fronts and do different things than
what I saw in the preseason than we saw last year.
(15:16):
The front six or seven, that's the key to the
Knights game for the Seahawks defensively. You can really mitigate that.
all the shell games they've had to play in the
secondary with the injuries, if you front, forward, six, really
get after the quarterback, and that's the plan tonight.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Is that your key to the game, your first key
to the game this season?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, it is. Stop the run and put New England
in long yardage situations where they do the same thing
they did in the Super Bowl and overwhelm the Patriots'
offensive line. Their left tackle's healthier than he was in
the Super Bowl. They have a new center. They let
Bradbury go in free agency, and they have a new
center now, Jared Allen. And they've spent time fortifying the
(16:02):
offensive line in the draft, free agency. They've made some
moves there. They, of course, have A.J. Brown as the
flashy new. I think their run game is going to
be hampered with only one option tonight. Stevenson is more
of a pounding back, and without Trayvon Henderson there, they're
It's Stevenson or Buffs for New England's run game. And
(16:24):
a one-dimensional Drake May should be something the Seahawks can
dominate again.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All right. Well, let me close with this here on
this opening night. I mean, I'll see you a little
bit later on. I'm going to stop by Jimmy's during
your show. But I do want to ask, I mean,
I know a lot of professional sports cities do a
great job at big events. I don't know if anybody
does it better than Seattle. So just the atmosphere there.
(16:49):
that we're going to experience tonight? What kind of a
story is that going to be?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, it's cool. I've covered this. I was thinking this morning.
This will be my 21st NFL opener as a beat writer,
and I've only covered two of them as the NFL
kickoff game. It's only been two times. Of course, the
other one was when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl
and were kicking off the 2014 season against Green Bay
on a Thursday night. There's never been a Wednesday game
(17:17):
in Seahawks history. The weather's going to be perfect. It's
going to be like 78 degrees and sunny. Everyone's going
to be walking around Occidental and downtown. We've got new
owners coming in. Heck, even the end zones are painted blue,
which they normally only do after the Sounders season is
over in Lumen Field. It's the international showcase of the
(17:40):
NFL focused squarely on Seattle. And you're right. People show
up for it. There's going to be a country music
concert in the north walk before this game there's gonna
be a sound garden concert at halftime this is not
a normal game for everything else for the players it
will be but for all of us it'll be different
(18:00):
and not to mention the new ownership 11 o'clock press
conference i'll be at there's a lot of pomp and
a lot of circumstance around this game and just reminding
the pacific northwest this only happens once a generation or
at least has so.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Far 12 man flag.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
It should be Jody Allen. I mean, that's a perfect
way for her to say goodbye, and Vinod Khosla already
kind of said that's what he wants.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right, right. Sounds like it. All right, so what are
we going to do on the show today, live from Jimmy's?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, we'll carry the Vinod and Nehru and Neal Khosla
press conference across the street from the stadium at 11
o'clock live. I'll run from a commercial break down the block,
literally run up into the stadium for that. We're going
to talk about Sam Darnold, he has said a couple
times this spring for the first time that in 2024,
(18:51):
right before the Minnesota season, he consulted a sports psychologist
who changed his life. And it's changed his career. We'll
talk about what the sports psychologist told him and how
Darnold took it to heart. Darnold's gone 31-7 with his
first ever playoff starts. with his only Super Bowl championship
and $ 105 million contract since meeting with that sports psychologist. Oh, no,
(19:14):
by the way, he got married to his longtime sweetheart,
Katie Osnogo, this offseason, too. To say the least, that
was a pivotal point in Sam Darnold's life. We'll talk
in detail about that as well.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, I think things are going well for Sam today.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, he's having an okay time.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I don't think he's going to shave, though, for tonight.
I think he's really committed to that beard of his.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, I do, too. Especially after yesterday seeing Baker Mayfield
get $ 35 million a year or whatever that total was.
$ 165 million for three years from the Buccaneers. You know
his agent. Oh, yeah. Sam Darnold noticed that.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
A couple guys are going to get big fat pay
raises next year, too. That's for sure. All right, Greg. Well,
I'll see you actually a little bit later on today.
So happy opening day to you.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
All right, everybody. Happy opening day. Happy football is back.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Football is back. Greg Bell, our Seahawks insider. joining us
nearly every day at 7.05, thanks to the Emerald Queen Casino.
And if you want to follow Greg, do so at thenewstribune.com,
also on X at G Bell Seattle. Coming up next,
Factor Fiction time. And I know what you're thinking. What
do you mean you're going to pick the Seahawks game?
Ian's already picked the Seahawks game this week. He didn't
(20:22):
pick both things that I could pick for the Seahawks game.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
Both.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah. So that's coming up. Factor Fiction, Sports Radio 93.3, KJRFM.
Thanks to Lucky Eagle. Resort Casino. So that's coming your
way at 7.35. But I will squeeze in on this
football Wednesday, this opening night Wednesday, a little ABCs to
the M's because it is something we do on a
(20:46):
daily basis. And frankly, despite the funeral that we attended
last night at T-Mobile, the sport of baseball always gives
you something juicy, it seems. to discuss the next day.
And in that game, that probably eliminated the Mariners officially
(21:07):
from playoff hopes. Not officially, but unofficially. We have Diaz
for deep because Laz Montez went deep last night. 474
feet to center field over the J-Rod squad, over the stands,
the bleachers. and into a hallway last night. It is
(21:32):
the farthest ball anyone for the Mariners has hit at
T-Mobile in its history. It went 474 feet last night.
And I do want to correct something from earlier. Of
course he got it all. I'm just saying, I think
that this guy, I don't think this will end up
being the longest ball he hits in his career. Um,
(21:55):
that's the kind of power that we're talking about here
with Montez. And when you saw that, that list of
the farthest home runs, Jared Kelnick has actually the farthest
home run. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. And, but it
wasn't at home. It was at Wrigley. Um, but I mean,
Laz Montez probably going to hit, at least has the
potential to hit one further than Jared Kelnick, even with
(22:18):
it being windy. But I was going to say, yeah,
think about it too. How far could Laz hit it
at Wrigley Field? With the wind.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Eh, well. Maybe to, I don't know, Winnetka.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Maybe to Winnetka. But, I mean, remember how much we
were buzzing about Kelnick after that game, though?
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yeah. Oh, jeez.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
What went wrong, Jared? That guy. Damn. But Laz Montes,
I mean, he's got holes in his game, certainly. I mean,
he's striking out like half the time at the plate.
But you can see the power potential. Power is worth
its weight in gold. in Major League Baseball, and he's
got some people excited between his career debut in Boston
(22:58):
and what we saw last night. Everybody loves a power hitter,
and so even on a night as dreary as it
could get, last night was dreary. I did not make
it through the entire game. I did not. I don't
blame you. And yet, last month has had everybody buzzing
all night long. That really is kind of the beauty
of that sport.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Yeah, and it was awesome to watch. And at the time,
real hopeful, too, because you're down 4-0. He hits that,
and it's a ballgame. You didn't realize, oh, right, the
pitching is going to suck tonight. Um, but yeah, it
made it exciting in the moment and it was incredible
to watch.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
He is for, uh, I gotta go, Edward. Um, I
was going to do something else, but I think we
do have to talk about Edward Bazzardo and, um, and look,
this organization really likes him. They stood by him. Um,
they believed that they had something that really nobody else believed.
They saw something in him. And last year he had
(23:56):
a really good year. And he's at a, he had
a decent first half to this year. He wasn't, he was,
I mean, he's still carrying like an under a sub
three ERA for most of this season, but right now
he is batting practice and how we continue to keep
going to guys that can't get major league hitters out
(24:19):
in big game situations. Like I get it. You took
Bryce Miller out of the game in the third you're,
pretty much having to manage like it's a playoff game.
And so you had six plus innings to fill last night. Bazzardo,
I guess, was going to have to pitch at some point.
But man, he and Michael Rucker are last resorts at
(24:43):
this point. I'm going to try to get through the
game without either one of those if I want to win.
Bazzardo is just not there right now. And yet, what happens?
Send him out there again. pitches in relief of Ferrer,
and gives up five runs in one inning. Sucks all
the energy out of the stadium. It certainly did, and
(25:03):
probably was the final nail in the coffin to this
season as well. Let's play some Factor Fiction. Oh yeah,
we need to do that. We're set to go. Glad
you're with us.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
It's your shot at our weekly $ 1, 000 and the $ 10, 000
grand prize.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
It's Fact or Fiction.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Proudly presented by Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel, where every
day feels lucky.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Fact or Fiction is on.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Sports Radio 93.3, KJR FM.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
All right, here we go. Opening night, and yes. I did,
out of the kindness of my own heart, leave tonight's
game to either Ian Furness, because I knew Greg was
going to take Army on opening day of Factor Fiction.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
And if he didn't want to take it, then I
would leave it for my friends, Dave Mahler and Richard
Fane and Jackson Feltz. But instead, well, not instead. Ian
jumped all over it. Ian took the Seahawks earlier this
week in Factor Fiction. But it doesn't mean I can't
also give a suggestion for this game. So it is
(26:20):
opening night. I'm going to embrace it. I want to
talk about Seahawks Patriots tonight. And you better believe that
I am taking the under tonight. 44.5 points, Seahawks Patriots.
I've mentioned this numerous times. I think it's going to
be a sloppy football game. I don't think our offense
is going to look all that good tonight either. And
(26:41):
I don't think that Drake May will have solved the
Seahawks defense since the Super Bowl. So I'm looking at
like 17-9 as my final score last night. Seahawks 17-9
over the New England Patriots, and that will finish far
below the 44.5 number that is there for you. on
(27:04):
the over-under. So, I am going to take the under,
and this is how Factor Fiction works. With my selection,
you now are going to text FACT or FICTION to 49451.
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(27:24):
we enter your name into a drawing for a $ 1, 000
cash prize at the end of the week. And we're
going to do that every single week throughout most of
the football season. And then we have this $ 10, 000 jackpot
as well. And it will go to the expert out
there that gets the most Factor Fiction predictions correct. they
(27:45):
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you can be in that drawing for a $ 1, 000 cash prize.
But the more often you play and the more often
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you're right, the more entries you get into that cash
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(28:27):
there you go. We're going under today with our Factor
Fiction pick here in the mornings under this 44.5 total
Seahawks Patriots tonight. If you agree, text FAC to 49451.
If you disagree... Coming up next on our radio show,
it's going to get a little reckless. Sports Radio 93.3, KJRFM.
(28:48):
We now have the National Football League season starting tonight. Seahawks,
Patriots kicking it off right here in Seattle. 520-ish kickoff.
Get ready for all the pomp, the circumstance, the hoopla.
I can't wait for the hoopla. Oh, you have always
loved hoopla. It's one of my favorite things. Oh, my gosh.
I was like, the other day, I'm like, oh, there's
(29:08):
hoopla over there. Oh, there's Ashley. Yeah, I was the
first one in line. She gravitates toward hoopla.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Of all the forms of hysteria, hoopla is probably your favorite.
Number one.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Number one. Well, we're going to celebrate the hoopla from
eight to nine today. We're going to have a special
edition roundtable during the season. Certainly, Greg Bell, Hugh Millen,
every single week on Thursdays is going to be joining
us in their normal slot from 8 to 9. But today,
kind of an all-hands-in operation. We're going to have Hugh
do X's and O's today at 9 o'clock to preview
(29:41):
the game. We've already had Greg on at 7.05 with
all the latest details. So from 8 to 9, I
wanted to get all the fellas that you're going to
be listening throughout your broadcast day on our show together.
So we're going to do a special roundtable with Ian
Softee and Dick and get to the heart of things
as we start the football season. So that's coming up
at the top of the hour. And that means we
(30:02):
got time to get a little reckless at breakfast right
now on the show. A show brought to you by
the Tulalip Resort Casino, where you can get a little
reckless tonight with Ashley Ryan. They got a watch party
going on at Tulalip Resort Casino. Ashley will be hosting.
You're going to have prizes, contests, and, of course, the
main reason, get together with some fellow 12s in the
(30:24):
beautiful outdoors at the 3,000-seat amphitheater outside of Tulalip Resort Casino.
Watch it on the big screen. Take in the amphitheater-quality
audio and just have yourself a ball.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
I mean, go nuts. Yeah, we're going to have Seahawks
gear to give away, Husky tickets to give away. I
hear we might have Smashing Pumpkins tickets to give away.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
There's going to be some food.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Maybe certificates and things that people could win. And then
you can gamble straight from your seat so you can
place bets throughout the game. I don't know what more
you could ask for, my friends.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Just perfect. And you can draft King Sportsbook it for
a little while and then go out to the party
and all sorts of things. When all you want is everything,
everything to Laylip.com. All right, let's get reckless at breakfast.
And so the Seahawks-Rams, I mean, that is the conversation
right now in the National Football League. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes
(31:16):
is coming back early from an injury. I'm not sure
they're going to be good. The Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah,
Mike Vrabel. Yeah, he slept with a reporter. Probably not
only one. I was going to say, and probably not
only once. Yeah, exactly. So, whatever. I mean, the story
really is, are the Rams as good as being forecasted?
(31:37):
And are they even better than the Seahawks? As Ashley
and I, I think, have... pointed out numerous times, the
reason that the Rams went all in like this, went
crazy with all of this, because they know the Seahawks
are going to be better this year than they were
a year ago, so they had to get better. And
so this is the story heading into the National Football
(31:58):
League season. Which of these two teams are better, the
team sitting on the throne or the team that came
closest to sitting on the throne last year that wasn't
the Seahawks? and has spent the offseason trying to add
every superstar piece they can so that they can make
sure they leave no doubt in defeating them. Well, we're
(32:20):
not going to get to see these two divisional opponents
play until Christmas Day. Crazy to me. Then they will
play two times in three weeks to close out the season.
And here's what's even crazier. Whoever loses is probably going
to be the five seed in the playoffs. and are
(32:41):
probably going to take on, once again, the NFC South representative.
And so there's a chance that you could face them
three times in four games. That's crazier. If you win
the division championship and you win home field advantage and
the number one seed in the bye, I mean, there's
(33:01):
a chance they could play three times in five weeks
to try to determine who, in fact, wins. is the
best football team this year.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
It's a little sadistic, NFL.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, exactly. And they love every moment of it. Roger
Goodell is twisting his handlebar mustache at the end of
it right now as we speak. Meanwhile, he has Diana
Rossini tied to a rail line.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Sounds about right.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
All right, so what's going to happen in that span
of time? Well, I can't see all the way into
the playoffs right now. I just can't do it. But
I can envision what's going to happen down the stretch.
That Christmas Day game is played right here in Seattle.
And my prediction is, as bold as this is, as
reckless as this is, that the Rams, as I mentioned
(33:49):
in our opening segment, are every bit worthy of the
hype that they're giving right now. Being given right now.
And they're going to enter that Christmas Day first place.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
13-1.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
13-1. No, not undefeated. No one's going undefeated. Not in
a 17-game schedule. Not in today's climate. But they're going
to enter 13-1. Problem is, Seahawks are going to enter
that game 12-2. That's going to be close. That is
very close. And so, there's your matchup. Christmas Day. 13-1 Rams.
(34:29):
12-2 Seahawks. They'll be talking about, is this In the
conversation for best regular season game of all time, is
this the undefeated Bears versus Dan Marino and the Miami
Dolphins on Monday night? Is this as good as it
gets in NFL history for a regular season contest on
the Lord's Day? The Lord's Day. And what's going to happen?
(34:51):
Seattle is going to win.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
What?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
They are going to silence all of those, you know,
Rams lovers who, can you even imagine how carried away
they're going to be with the Rams at 13-1? They're
going to be rampant. They are going to be rampant
in their analysis. And so the Seahawks spoil the Ram
(35:15):
party at home. Probably going to have some crap weather.
Sean McVay is going to blame it on that. Probably
going to bitch about that two-point conversion a year ago
as well one more time. And then they're going to
claim to seek their revenge. We get you again at
home under perfect conditions, L.A. weather. There's not going to
(35:37):
be anything wrong. Try and stop us now. Yes. Come
and we'll play real football without conditions. And there's no
way you'll beat us on our home field in the
last game of the regular season. And we'll retake that
number one seed from you when it matters most because
then we will go 15-2 and you will be a
lowly 14-3.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Jerks.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
And you know what's going to happen, Ashley? I don't
know what's going to happen. Seahawks are going to go
in there and smash them again. What? Oh, man.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
I did not anticipate how close this was going to
be and how stressed I was going to be.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
They are.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
over this Reckless at Breakfast fantasy of mine? Yes. They're
going to win them both. They're going to win the division.
They're going to win the one seed. And my goodness,
is it going to be hilarious to see all of
the national broadcasters and LA broadcasters who believe that the
Rams are inevitable and have to suffer back-to-back losses to
(36:34):
the Seahawks, to the champs, and the champs will take
the number one seed heading into the playoffs. Now, I
can't see beyond that. Hard to beat a team that
good three times in five weeks. So I'm not even
going to look into my crystal ball beyond that. That's
where Reckless at Breakfast is going to end today, is
(36:56):
those two out of three weeks at the end of
the regular season when everyone's going to be chanting Rams, Rams, Rams.
One of the best teams we've ever seen. And I
think the Seahawks are going to beat them at home
and then beat them on the road. And still end
up being division champs. Now, what happens in the playoffs?
(37:17):
We'll save that for another Reckless at Breakfast. We'll save
that for another breakfast. But that's my prediction. That's what
I'm foreseeing in my crystal ball for 2026. I like
that crystal ball.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
I am.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
I am.
Speaker 5 (37:32):
Really pumped and really excited for something that's not going
to happen for three more months.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
My palms are sweating over something I just made up.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I'm stressed out. I think I have to go to
the bathroom. Roundtable is next. I'll see you in the bathroom.
Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
Julio chasing, looking, Langford answers back.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That is a big home run.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And the home run ball stings Bazzardo again. It has
become a major problem for what has been one of
the Mariners' best relievers in recent seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hey, great morning to you. Happy Wednesday, but not just
your run-of-the-mill Wednesday. It is opening night. The Seattle Seahawks
will take the field in a regular season football game
for the first time in 2026. They defend their championship
in front of millions, let's face it, of 12s who
will be tuned in. to this football game. It's the
(00:59):
Seahawks Patriots here, not your run-of-the-mill hump day, on a
Wednesday night to start the football season, and we are
here to celebrate it. Great to have you with us.
My name is Chuck Powell, Ashley Ryan here as well,
and we have a lot coming up on the show
to cover tonight's game. We are going to have Greg
(01:20):
Bell here, as you know, in two minutes. We are
going to have a special roundtable today Um, all hands
in everybody here at KJR pretty much going to weigh
in on this game, this season here on the show today. Uh,
Ian will be with us. Softy will be with us.
Dick Fane will be with us. Uh, that'll be our
round table today from eight to nine. And Hugh Millen
will join us today at nine o'clock with a special
(01:42):
opening night X's and O's as we get ready for
the new England Patriots. Reckless at breakfast is going to
be on this game. Factor Fiction's going to be on
this game. Admittedly bold NFL preseason predictions are coming your
way a little bit later on in the show. So
happy opening day. Happy Blue Wednesday. to all of you
as we get things cranked up in hour number two
(02:04):
of our four-hour show. But let us begin the hour
with your headlines. They are brought to you by Frost
Brewed Coors Light Cold as the Rockies. Mariners did lose
last night, so they are seven games back with 17
games to play. It's all but over. And yes, Edward Bazzardo,
once again, no answers for the opponent. He gave up
(02:26):
a two-run homer and a three-run homer in one inning.
and the Mariners, who had cut the lead to 4-3,
thanks to a Laz Montez 474-foot homer. You heard me right.
Longest home run ever hit by a Mariner at T-Mobile.
474 feet to dead center field over the J-Rod squad.
(02:49):
Unbelievable home run. Had everybody buzzing, despite the fact that
it seemed we were attending a funeral last night, as
the Mariners' chances are all but nil. to try to
come back and make it into the playoffs this year.
10-5 the final score. Same two teams will play today
at 1 o'clock, and it will be Cody Bradford, at
least I think. They changed the pitching assignment last night
(03:12):
to Cal Quantrill, but it looks like he's scheduled to
start today. So a left-hander for the Rangers, a left-hander
for the Mariners, and Kate Anderson first pitch is at
1 o'clock. But that's just the appetizer to the full
meal deal. Later on tonight at 5.20, the season kicks off.
Seahawks and New England Patriots. Ty Okada is out. Travion Henderson,
(03:34):
running back for the New England Patriots, is out. Torrey
Horton and Nick Emanwuri, both questionable for the Seahawks. And
George Helani, on the depth chart, was the RB3. Not
only was he not the RB1, he wasn't even the RB2.
He was the RB3. So it goes Price, Wilson, and
then Helani again. as the Seahawks get ready to face
the Patriots tonight. 49ers Rams on Thursday. Aaron Donald did
(03:58):
not make the trip. Alfred Collins, defensive tackle for the 49ers,
was sent home from the trip because he injured himself
in practice in Australia and is out for the season.
And in college football, Michigan. Might have won the game
against Western Michigan, but they didn't trick the pollsters. They
have dropped out of the top 25. Finally, Ben Shelton
(04:20):
finished off Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open last night
at 3.33 in the morning New York time to advance
to the semifinals of the U.S.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Open.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Let's talk to Greg Bell.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
As part of our continuing NFL coverage for the 12th man,
this is 12th Man News. Part of Chuck's daily visit
with our own Greg Bell. Brought to you by Emerald
Queen Casino. Bringing you the best in live music, entertainment, dining,
and gaming. Emerald Queen Casino. Always entertaining. For more info,
(04:54):
visit EmeraldQueen.com.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Good morning, Greg.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Happy game day.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, thank you. Happy game day to Seattle. Seven months
in one day. Seattle's are back.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Are you going to wear a special tie? Did you
buy a special suit in the offseason? Anything today? I
did not.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
I don't wear one I've worn before. Okay. Yeah, it's
dress-up day, too.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Okay. You'll shave, right?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, I'll do that.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Do you still do that every morning? Are you one
of those people, because you're in the Army, you can
shave in like four seconds?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I can, and I have, but I don't shave every
day anymore. I haven't shaved in a while, actually. Okay.
But yeah, I will for the event today.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
All right. Yeah, you got to look your best for
opening night. All right. Well, let's get into it here
a little bit. Officially, Ty Okada is out of this
football game. So what's the game plan? How are they
going to defend A.J. Brown and Drake May down a
man and possibly two in their secondary?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Well, like I said, what I've been told, what I've learned,
what I know, I can't see Nicky Manwari playing either.
He's yet to fully practice. He's listed as questionable. I
think there's some gamesmanship by Mike McDonald there a little bit.
But he hasn't practiced fully since mid-June. He then had
the surgery. That was the minicamp. And then he had
(06:25):
the surgery in July on his ankle, arthroscopic surgery. And
let's face it, it's 17, and the Seahawks think more
games this year. This is one. So while, yeah, they'd
love to have him out there, and yeah, that gives
McDonald everything he wants to do schematically on defense, it's
one of 17, 18, potentially 20 games. So the right
(06:50):
call is if he hasn't fully practiced, he shouldn't be
fully playing.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
What I didn't mention yesterday is the game plan will
be pressure, stop the run for New England, and New
England's not going to have Trayvon Henderson. He's got a
sprained ankle. So it's Ramondre Stevenson or bust for the
New England run game. New England only ran 18 times
in the Super Bowl out of 67 offensive plays. Now,
some of that, of course, is because they trailed most
(07:15):
of the game. But when they started out early in
the game trying to run, the Seahawks shut it down.
If they shut down the run again, it's going to
be a similar result tonight. because they'll be able to
pressure Drake May in long yardage situations when they know
New England can't run, and May won't even have time
to get the ball down the field to A.J.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Brown.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So that is the game plan. If you want to
cover up your secondary issues, have your front four, six, seven,
when you blitz, get after the quarterback like you did
in the Super Bowl. I think they're going to go
to some more three linebackers than we've ever seen before.
like Mike McDonald do, and that means Drake May and
Tyrese Knight on the field with Ernest Jones at times.
(07:58):
You can only call up two practice squad guys, elevate
them for each game. They probably are going to be
both the safeties, which makes me think Trevon Diggs may
not be active from the practice squad when they announce
that before the game, and De'Anthony Bell and Rodney Thomas
will be. This is some of the risk of carrying
(08:20):
only three safeties on your active roster. And, of course,
the fourth, the one they had planned, Bud Clark is
an injured reserve with a broken ankle. So I would
expect DeAnthony Bell and Rodney Thomas to be the two
practice squad call-ups with one of those two starting next
to Julian Love. And as a deep safety, I would
think maybe DeAnthony Bell because of his tackling ability and
(08:40):
experience in the defense.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Greg Bell is with us, our Seahawks insider with the
latest news. Getting ready for opening night here tonight. If
you want to follow him at gbellseattle on X and thenewstribune.com,
do so. Gobble up all of that Seahawks coverage. Award-winning
Seahawks coverage from our Seahawks insider, Greg Bell. All right,
running the football. Interesting, George Helani, RB3 on the first
(09:06):
depth chart of the season. And so I guess he
might have a specific role, but in terms of carrying
the ball, it looks like Jadarian Price and Emmanuel Wilson
are the first two options.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Well, Price certainly is number one, but I will say
that the coaches have no input on that roster. That
is unofficial from the PR staff depth chart for media
purposes and I wouldn't read a ton into that. The
football ops people don't spend a lot of time on that,
(09:43):
and that's more for our consumption of entertainment than it
is anything else indicative of scheme. What it does, though,
is I will say that now that Emmanuel Wilson is healthy,
he's a short yardage back. He's a different kind of back.
He runs more of a thudding, punishing back. physical style
than the others. George Helani slots in as the third
(10:05):
down back because of his experience not only catching the ball,
but he's a really good pass blocker, and that's what
got him into the offense as an undrafted rookie out
of Boise State three years ago. Price, we've said it
from the day he arrived, they would not have drafted
him if he wasn't the running back one, and they
just slow played him early in training camp. It seemed
(10:25):
almost deferential to the seniority of Helani, and then they
bubble-wrapped him and Helani for the rest of training camp.
We'll see a decent bit of Helani tonight, probably in
past catching and past blocking situations.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Greg Bell, our guest here. All right, so with that,
and kind of an unknown, I mean, you haven't had
Emmanuel Wilson carry a football as a Seahawk. You haven't
had Price carry a football as a professional football player.
I mean, last year we beat the drum. You beat
the drum. They're going to establish the run. Even if
it's not effective, they're going to just keep running the football.
(11:01):
Same thing? Same thing tonight? I mean, are they going
to come hell or high water going to try to
run the football tonight?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I do think so. And that's how Mike McDonald wants
to play. He wants his attitude on offense. He doesn't
want 45 passes and throwing the ball all over the yard.
He wants to impose will, wear down fronts, and exhaust
other teams and just plunder them. Just like he does
on defense, he wants to have the same mentality on offense.
(11:29):
And it's harder to do in this league. It's a
lot harder to do when you have the NFL Offensive
Player of the Year who had 1,800 yards receiving last year,
Jackson Smith and Jigba. and Rasheed Shaheed, and Cooper Cupp,
and A.J. Barner, but they will, and they have to. Yes,
we got out of the weeds, we got out of
the hinderlands of the offensive line last year here in Seattle,
(11:52):
and it improved, but it improved because they were balanced
on offense. Exactly 50% of the time they ran the
ball last year. We mentioned they spent most of the
year leading the league. They barely were behind Baltimore and
Buffalo finishing the league. leaders and rushing percentage. And that
gives your offensive line a chance in pass protection. How
(12:12):
many years did we see guys just speed by the
Seahawks blockers in pass protection because the other team knew
that Seahawks couldn't run the ball? They were 30th, 31st
in the league in rushing and rush yards per game
for years. And Ryan Grubb didn't even try to run
the ball. And everybody in the league knew it. And
they just teed off on Geno Smith in the quarterback.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
It was.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
It did not work. And McDonald brought in Clint Kubiak
and John Benton last year and said, we're going outside
zone and we're running the ball, to use your words,
come hell or high water. And it worked. And I
don't expect hell or high water tonight. I think they're
going to run the ball, and I think it's going
to be somewhat effective, and I think it's going to
balance the offense and, again, make pass protection that much
(13:00):
more effective.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Give me something that will look different about this team tonight.
I mean, there is a new OC. Obviously, we're not
exposing anyone or anything in preseason games as to what
might be a new flavor, a new identity to this
football team this year. But as you're gauging and keeping
that eye on everything that's happening at training camp, what
(13:23):
is something that you think we'll see that looks different
than what we saw a year ago from the 2026 Seahawks?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
On offense, you're going to see a lot of jet motion.
What's that? That's motion right before the snap, two or
three steps laterally. The Rams do it all the time
to create leverage either inside or outside with their receivers
on the defensive back. So you'll see guys, even tight ends,
going in motion just before the snap, not across the formation,
but just to get some angle on the defender. Sometimes
(13:53):
it's for blocking in the case of the tight end.
You're going to see the tight end shift into the
backfield as fullbacks some of the time. and that will
mitigate the fact they only have one true fullback on
the roster, Brady Russell, and he's a part-time tight end too.
You're going to see A.J. Barner line up outside at times.
I think you're going to see Jari and Price line
up as a wide receiver, either in the slot or
(14:13):
way wide when they spread out the formation, and they're
going to throw him the ball when they do that.
I think you're going to see a tight end. I
know you're going to see the tight ends down the
field much further down the field than they were under
Clint Kubiak. That was distinct from the early part of
training camp. I think A.J. Barner and Elijah Arroyo are
(14:33):
going to be nine-route guys. That means goes straight down
the seam instead of just checkdowns. On defense, you're going
to see Byron Murphy, I think, all over the defensive line.
For that matter, Leonard Williams, they're going to move him
up and down the defensive line, but Murphy even more so.
Murphy has mostly been inside the guard or around the
(14:54):
center pass rusher. They're going to move them outside the guard,
maybe even outside the tackle at times to give a
different look. They may overload a front. They may put
two or three defensive front guys on one side of
the ball and overload New England. They're going to move
around and change their fronts and do different things than
what I saw in the preseason than we saw last year.
(15:16):
The front six or seven, that's the key to the
Knights game for the Seahawks defensively. You can really mitigate that.
all the shell games they've had to play in the
secondary with the injuries, if you front, forward, six, really
get after the quarterback, and that's the plan tonight.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Is that your key to the game, your first key
to the game this season?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, it is. Stop the run and put New England
in long yardage situations where they do the same thing
they did in the Super Bowl and overwhelm the Patriots'
offensive line. Their left tackle's healthier than he was in
the Super Bowl. They have a new center. They let
Bradbury go in free agency, and they have a new
center now, Jared Allen. And they've spent time fortifying the
(16:02):
offensive line in the draft, free agency. They've made some
moves there. They, of course, have A.J. Brown as the
flashy new. I think their run game is going to
be hampered with only one option tonight. Stevenson is more
of a pounding back, and without Trayvon Henderson there, they're
It's Stevenson or Buffs for New England's run game. And
(16:24):
a one-dimensional Drake May should be something the Seahawks can
dominate again.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
All right. Well, let me close with this here on
this opening night. I mean, I'll see you a little
bit later on. I'm going to stop by Jimmy's during
your show. But I do want to ask, I mean,
I know a lot of professional sports cities do a
great job at big events. I don't know if anybody
does it better than Seattle. So just the atmosphere there.
(16:49):
that we're going to experience tonight? What kind of a
story is that going to be?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Yeah, it's cool. I've covered this. I was thinking this morning.
This will be my 21st NFL opener as a beat writer,
and I've only covered two of them as the NFL
kickoff game. It's only been two times. Of course, the
other one was when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl
and were kicking off the 2014 season against Green Bay
on a Thursday night. There's never been a Wednesday game
(17:17):
in Seahawks history. The weather's going to be perfect. It's
going to be like 78 degrees and sunny. Everyone's going
to be walking around Occidental and downtown. We've got new
owners coming in. Heck, even the end zones are painted blue,
which they normally only do after the Sounders season is
over in Lumen Field. It's the international showcase of the
(17:40):
NFL focused squarely on Seattle. And you're right. People show
up for it. There's going to be a country music
concert in the north walk before this game there's gonna
be a sound garden concert at halftime this is not
a normal game for everything else for the players it
will be but for all of us it'll be different
(18:00):
and not to mention the new ownership 11 o'clock press
conference i'll be at there's a lot of pomp and
a lot of circumstance around this game and just reminding
the pacific northwest this only happens once a generation or
at least has so.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Far 12 man flag.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
It should be Jody Allen. I mean, that's a perfect
way for her to say goodbye, and Vinod Khosla already
kind of said that's what he wants.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Right, right. Sounds like it. All right, so what are
we going to do on the show today, live from Jimmy's?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, we'll carry the Vinod and Nehru and Neal Khosla
press conference across the street from the stadium at 11
o'clock live. I'll run from a commercial break down the block,
literally run up into the stadium for that. We're going
to talk about Sam Darnold, he has said a couple
times this spring for the first time that in 2024,
(18:51):
right before the Minnesota season, he consulted a sports psychologist
who changed his life. And it's changed his career. We'll
talk about what the sports psychologist told him and how
Darnold took it to heart. Darnold's gone 31-7 with his
first ever playoff starts. with his only Super Bowl championship
and $ 105 million contract since meeting with that sports psychologist. Oh, no,
(19:14):
by the way, he got married to his longtime sweetheart,
Katie Osnogo, this offseason, too. To say the least, that
was a pivotal point in Sam Darnold's life. We'll talk
in detail about that as well.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, I think things are going well for Sam today.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yeah, he's having an okay time.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
I don't think he's going to shave, though, for tonight.
I think he's really committed to that beard of his.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, I do, too. Especially after yesterday seeing Baker Mayfield
get $ 35 million a year or whatever that total was.
$ 165 million for three years from the Buccaneers. You know
his agent. Oh, yeah. Sam Darnold noticed that.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
A couple guys are going to get big fat pay
raises next year, too. That's for sure. All right, Greg. Well,
I'll see you actually a little bit later on today.
So happy opening day to you.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
All right, everybody. Happy opening day. Happy football is back.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Football is back. Greg Bell, our Seahawks insider. joining us
nearly every day at 7.05, thanks to the Emerald Queen Casino.
And if you want to follow Greg, do so at thenewstribune.com,
also on X at G Bell Seattle. Coming up next,
Factor Fiction time. And I know what you're thinking. What
do you mean you're going to pick the Seahawks game?
Ian's already picked the Seahawks game this week. He didn't
(20:22):
pick both things that I could pick for the Seahawks game.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
Both.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah. So that's coming up. Factor Fiction, Sports Radio 93.3, KJRFM.
Thanks to Lucky Eagle. Resort Casino. So that's coming your
way at 7.35. But I will squeeze in on this
football Wednesday, this opening night Wednesday, a little ABCs to
the M's because it is something we do on a
(20:46):
daily basis. And frankly, despite the funeral that we attended
last night at T-Mobile, the sport of baseball always gives
you something juicy, it seems. to discuss the next day.
And in that game, that probably eliminated the Mariners officially
(21:07):
from playoff hopes. Not officially, but unofficially. We have Diaz
for deep because Laz Montez went deep last night. 474
feet to center field over the J-Rod squad, over the stands,
the bleachers. and into a hallway last night. It is
(21:32):
the farthest ball anyone for the Mariners has hit at
T-Mobile in its history. It went 474 feet last night.
And I do want to correct something from earlier. Of
course he got it all. I'm just saying, I think
that this guy, I don't think this will end up
being the longest ball he hits in his career. Um,
(21:55):
that's the kind of power that we're talking about here
with Montez. And when you saw that, that list of
the farthest home runs, Jared Kelnick has actually the farthest
home run. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. And, but it
wasn't at home. It was at Wrigley. Um, but I mean,
Laz Montez probably going to hit, at least has the
potential to hit one further than Jared Kelnick, even with
(22:18):
it being windy. But I was going to say, yeah,
think about it too. How far could Laz hit it
at Wrigley Field? With the wind.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Eh, well. Maybe to, I don't know, Winnetka.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Maybe to Winnetka. But, I mean, remember how much we
were buzzing about Kelnick after that game, though?
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Yeah. Oh, jeez.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
What went wrong, Jared? That guy. Damn. But Laz Montes,
I mean, he's got holes in his game, certainly. I mean,
he's striking out like half the time at the plate.
But you can see the power potential. Power is worth
its weight in gold. in Major League Baseball, and he's
got some people excited between his career debut in Boston
(22:58):
and what we saw last night. Everybody loves a power hitter,
and so even on a night as dreary as it
could get, last night was dreary. I did not make
it through the entire game. I did not. I don't
blame you. And yet, last month has had everybody buzzing
all night long. That really is kind of the beauty
of that sport.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Yeah, and it was awesome to watch. And at the time,
real hopeful, too, because you're down 4-0. He hits that,
and it's a ballgame. You didn't realize, oh, right, the
pitching is going to suck tonight. Um, but yeah, it
made it exciting in the moment and it was incredible
to watch.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
He is for, uh, I gotta go, Edward. Um, I
was going to do something else, but I think we
do have to talk about Edward Bazzardo and, um, and look,
this organization really likes him. They stood by him. Um,
they believed that they had something that really nobody else believed.
They saw something in him. And last year he had
(23:56):
a really good year. And he's at a, he had
a decent first half to this year. He wasn't, he was,
I mean, he's still carrying like an under a sub
three ERA for most of this season, but right now
he is batting practice and how we continue to keep
going to guys that can't get major league hitters out
(24:19):
in big game situations. Like I get it. You took
Bryce Miller out of the game in the third you're,
pretty much having to manage like it's a playoff game.
And so you had six plus innings to fill last night. Bazzardo,
I guess, was going to have to pitch at some point.
But man, he and Michael Rucker are last resorts at
(24:43):
this point. I'm going to try to get through the
game without either one of those if I want to win.
Bazzardo is just not there right now. And yet, what happens?
Send him out there again. pitches in relief of Ferrer,
and gives up five runs in one inning. Sucks all
the energy out of the stadium. It certainly did, and
(25:03):
probably was the final nail in the coffin to this
season as well. Let's play some Factor Fiction. Oh yeah,
we need to do that. We're set to go. Glad
you're with us.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
It's your shot at our weekly $ 1, 000 and the $ 10, 000
grand prize.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
It's Fact or Fiction.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
Proudly presented by Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel, where every
day feels lucky.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Fact or Fiction is on.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Sports Radio 93.3, KJR FM.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
All right, here we go. Opening night, and yes. I did,
out of the kindness of my own heart, leave tonight's
game to either Ian Furness, because I knew Greg was
going to take Army on opening day of Factor Fiction.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
And if he didn't want to take it, then I
would leave it for my friends, Dave Mahler and Richard
Fane and Jackson Feltz. But instead, well, not instead. Ian
jumped all over it. Ian took the Seahawks earlier this
week in Factor Fiction. But it doesn't mean I can't
also give a suggestion for this game. So it is
(26:20):
opening night. I'm going to embrace it. I want to
talk about Seahawks Patriots tonight. And you better believe that
I am taking the under tonight. 44.5 points, Seahawks Patriots.
I've mentioned this numerous times. I think it's going to
be a sloppy football game. I don't think our offense
is going to look all that good tonight either. And
(26:41):
I don't think that Drake May will have solved the
Seahawks defense since the Super Bowl. So I'm looking at
like 17-9 as my final score last night. Seahawks 17-9
over the New England Patriots, and that will finish far
below the 44.5 number that is there for you. on
(27:04):
the over-under. So, I am going to take the under,
and this is how Factor Fiction works. With my selection,
you now are going to text FACT or FICTION to 49451.
If you agree with my pick, if you think it's
going to be lower scoring... Then you text FACT. If
you disagree with my pick, you text FICTION. If you're right,
(27:24):
we enter your name into a drawing for a $ 1, 000
cash prize at the end of the week. And we're
going to do that every single week throughout most of
the football season. And then we have this $ 10, 000 jackpot
as well. And it will go to the expert out
there that gets the most Factor Fiction predictions correct. they
(27:45):
will win $ 10, 000 at the end of the year. So
we encourage you to play often. But if you can't
even allow yourself to do that, if the schedule gets underway,
it gets in the way, all you got to do
is win once during the course of the week and
you can be in that drawing for a $ 1, 000 cash prize.
But the more often you play and the more often
(28:06):
you're right, the more entries you get into that cash
prize drawing as well. So we encourage you to listen constantly.
Play every time we play. Your next time is at 1135.
Thank you, Lucky Eagle Casino Resort, for bringing this back. Play, stay,
win the day at Lucky Eagle Casino Resort. And so
(28:27):
there you go. We're going under today with our Factor
Fiction pick here in the mornings under this 44.5 total
Seahawks Patriots tonight. If you agree, text FAC to 49451.
If you disagree... Coming up next on our radio show,
it's going to get a little reckless. Sports Radio 93.3, KJRFM.
(28:48):
We now have the National Football League season starting tonight. Seahawks,
Patriots kicking it off right here in Seattle. 520-ish kickoff.
Get ready for all the pomp, the circumstance, the hoopla.
I can't wait for the hoopla. Oh, you have always
loved hoopla. It's one of my favorite things. Oh, my gosh.
I was like, the other day, I'm like, oh, there's
(29:08):
hoopla over there. Oh, there's Ashley. Yeah, I was the
first one in line. She gravitates toward hoopla.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Of all the forms of hysteria, hoopla is probably your favorite.
Number one.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Number one. Well, we're going to celebrate the hoopla from
eight to nine today. We're going to have a special
edition roundtable during the season. Certainly, Greg Bell, Hugh Millen,
every single week on Thursdays is going to be joining
us in their normal slot from 8 to 9. But today,
kind of an all-hands-in operation. We're going to have Hugh
do X's and O's today at 9 o'clock to preview
(29:41):
the game. We've already had Greg on at 7.05 with
all the latest details. So from 8 to 9, I
wanted to get all the fellas that you're going to
be listening throughout your broadcast day on our show together.
So we're going to do a special roundtable with Ian
Softee and Dick and get to the heart of things
as we start the football season. So that's coming up
at the top of the hour. And that means we
(30:02):
got time to get a little reckless at breakfast right
now on the show. A show brought to you by
the Tulalip Resort Casino, where you can get a little
reckless tonight with Ashley Ryan. They got a watch party
going on at Tulalip Resort Casino. Ashley will be hosting.
You're going to have prizes, contests, and, of course, the
main reason, get together with some fellow 12s in the
(30:24):
beautiful outdoors at the 3,000-seat amphitheater outside of Tulalip Resort Casino.
Watch it on the big screen. Take in the amphitheater-quality
audio and just have yourself a ball.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
I mean, go nuts. Yeah, we're going to have Seahawks
gear to give away, Husky tickets to give away. I
hear we might have Smashing Pumpkins tickets to give away.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
There's going to be some food.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Maybe certificates and things that people could win. And then
you can gamble straight from your seat so you can
place bets throughout the game. I don't know what more
you could ask for, my friends.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Just perfect. And you can draft King Sportsbook it for
a little while and then go out to the party
and all sorts of things. When all you want is everything,
everything to Laylip.com. All right, let's get reckless at breakfast.
And so the Seahawks-Rams, I mean, that is the conversation
right now in the National Football League. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes
(31:16):
is coming back early from an injury. I'm not sure
they're going to be good. The Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah,
Mike Vrabel. Yeah, he slept with a reporter. Probably not
only one. I was going to say, and probably not
only once. Yeah, exactly. So, whatever. I mean, the story
really is, are the Rams as good as being forecasted?
(31:37):
And are they even better than the Seahawks? As Ashley
and I, I think, have... pointed out numerous times, the
reason that the Rams went all in like this, went
crazy with all of this, because they know the Seahawks
are going to be better this year than they were
a year ago, so they had to get better. And
so this is the story heading into the National Football
(31:58):
League season. Which of these two teams are better, the
team sitting on the throne or the team that came
closest to sitting on the throne last year that wasn't
the Seahawks? and has spent the offseason trying to add
every superstar piece they can so that they can make
sure they leave no doubt in defeating them. Well, we're
(32:20):
not going to get to see these two divisional opponents
play until Christmas Day. Crazy to me. Then they will
play two times in three weeks to close out the season.
And here's what's even crazier. Whoever loses is probably going
to be the five seed in the playoffs. and are
(32:41):
probably going to take on, once again, the NFC South representative.
And so there's a chance that you could face them
three times in four games. That's crazier. If you win
the division championship and you win home field advantage and
the number one seed in the bye, I mean, there's
(33:01):
a chance they could play three times in five weeks
to try to determine who, in fact, wins. is the
best football team this year.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
It's a little sadistic, NFL.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Yeah, exactly. And they love every moment of it. Roger
Goodell is twisting his handlebar mustache at the end of
it right now as we speak. Meanwhile, he has Diana
Rossini tied to a rail line.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Sounds about right.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
All right, so what's going to happen in that span
of time? Well, I can't see all the way into
the playoffs right now. I just can't do it. But
I can envision what's going to happen down the stretch.
That Christmas Day game is played right here in Seattle.
And my prediction is, as bold as this is, as
reckless as this is, that the Rams, as I mentioned
(33:49):
in our opening segment, are every bit worthy of the
hype that they're giving right now. Being given right now.
And they're going to enter that Christmas Day first place.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
13-1.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
13-1. No, not undefeated. No one's going undefeated. Not in
a 17-game schedule. Not in today's climate. But they're going
to enter 13-1. Problem is, Seahawks are going to enter
that game 12-2. That's going to be close. That is
very close. And so, there's your matchup. Christmas Day. 13-1 Rams.
(34:29):
12-2 Seahawks. They'll be talking about, is this In the
conversation for best regular season game of all time, is
this the undefeated Bears versus Dan Marino and the Miami
Dolphins on Monday night? Is this as good as it
gets in NFL history for a regular season contest on
the Lord's Day? The Lord's Day. And what's going to happen?
(34:51):
Seattle is going to win.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
What?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
They are going to silence all of those, you know,
Rams lovers who, can you even imagine how carried away
they're going to be with the Rams at 13-1? They're
going to be rampant. They are going to be rampant
in their analysis. And so the Seahawks spoil the Ram
(35:15):
party at home. Probably going to have some crap weather.
Sean McVay is going to blame it on that. Probably
going to bitch about that two-point conversion a year ago
as well one more time. And then they're going to
claim to seek their revenge. We get you again at
home under perfect conditions, L.A. weather. There's not going to
(35:37):
be anything wrong. Try and stop us now. Yes. Come
and we'll play real football without conditions. And there's no
way you'll beat us on our home field in the
last game of the regular season. And we'll retake that
number one seed from you when it matters most because
then we will go 15-2 and you will be a
lowly 14-3.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
Jerks.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
And you know what's going to happen, Ashley? I don't
know what's going to happen. Seahawks are going to go
in there and smash them again. What? Oh, man.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
I did not anticipate how close this was going to
be and how stressed I was going to be.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
They are.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
over this Reckless at Breakfast fantasy of mine? Yes. They're
going to win them both. They're going to win the division.
They're going to win the one seed. And my goodness,
is it going to be hilarious to see all of
the national broadcasters and LA broadcasters who believe that the
Rams are inevitable and have to suffer back-to-back losses to
(36:34):
the Seahawks, to the champs, and the champs will take
the number one seed heading into the playoffs. Now, I
can't see beyond that. Hard to beat a team that
good three times in five weeks. So I'm not even
going to look into my crystal ball beyond that. That's
where Reckless at Breakfast is going to end today, is
(36:56):
those two out of three weeks at the end of
the regular season when everyone's going to be chanting Rams, Rams, Rams.
One of the best teams we've ever seen. And I
think the Seahawks are going to beat them at home
and then beat them on the road. And still end
up being division champs. Now, what happens in the playoffs?
(37:17):
We'll save that for another Reckless at Breakfast. We'll save
that for another breakfast. But that's my prediction. That's what
I'm foreseeing in my crystal ball for 2026. I like
that crystal ball.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
I am.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
I am.
Speaker 5 (37:32):
Really pumped and really excited for something that's not going
to happen for three more months.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
My palms are sweating over something I just made up.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I'm stressed out. I think I have to go to
the bathroom. Roundtable is next. I'll see you in the bathroom.
Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
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