December 29, 2025 • 37 mins
In the third hour, Dick Fain and Hugh Millen talk about the Seahawks defense having a big day against Carolina yesterday, get the scoop on Michigan hiring Kyle Whittingham as their Head Coach with insider Brandon Brown, then talk about UW under Jedd Fisch.
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 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Lady, you know that this hour of Softy and Dick
on your home for the Huskies and Kraken is probably
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why not make it
at Duke's night tonight. Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood
dot com on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJARFM.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Softian Dick without the soft one.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
He was here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Jackson is here.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Rolling into the five o'clock hour, we'll switch our for
one segment. We'll switch our Seahawks focus at five thirty.
We have been all Seahawks all the time for obvious reasons.
Today we will talk a little Michigan and their new
head coach, Kyle Whittingham at five point thirty with Brandon Brown,
the host of the Believe podcast for the Michigan Wolverines.
(00:42):
You know, guys, I think this defense probably deserves to
be talked about a little bit, don't you think, Since
we've talked about the Seahawks offense probably for ninety percent
percent of the show so far, because it's the Seahawks
offense that does some great things and also does some
things that scare us. But this defense rarely does anything
that scares us. It only does things that scare the opposition.
(01:04):
In fact, Jackson, that first play of the game, the
run by Rico Dowdell, first play of the game, did
you know that was the longest play from scrimmage the
entire game?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Because Okay, we heard the press conference from Mike McDonald
and like, I think it was Boyo who asked him.
You know, it's like, you know, you got to didn't
give a pass play more than eight yards. And I said, okay, John,
you can't be right about that, and it's true. And
then you look, I cannot believe that the defense was
that dominant.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
They get here.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
They gave up two run plays of eleven yards and
one pass play of eight and those were the longest
one days of the game.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
If you take air yards on completions only. Remember now,
air yards are anything beyond the line of screamers. So
if you throw it five yards beyond the line scrimmers,
that's five air yards.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Right.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
If you throw a bubble screen or something or any
type of screen or something behind the line scrimmage, that
would be you know, let's say a negative three or
something on the completions. It was a total of negative seventeen,
an average of negative one point two per completion. I'm
never I look, I'm a stat nerd when it comes
to crunching numbers on football. I've never seen anything like that.
(02:18):
I've never seen like like negative negative air yards on
completions for an entire game. That's a that's against the
number one overall that's not against you know, Minnesota's four string,
you know, rookie free agent. That's that's a that's a
starting quarterback, number one overall pick. And you made him
look like a guy that should be in high.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
School and a team that could still win their division
and be in the playoffs. He went fourteen of twenty
four for fifty four yards passing. That is absolutely he
had a QBR. You you know what, you know you
liked the QBR, right.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
Yeah, he had an eighteen point three d oh no
oh no yards after the catch, three yards after the catch,
seventy one. The Seahawks average defense will be one hundred
and twenty four before that yards post contact, twenty eight
yards post contact. You know, just there's all kinds of
(03:13):
numbers that jump out of you. They just absolutely put
the vice on him and it's just great communication, you know,
when they played mostly his own coverage, and it's an
awareness of where your help is, how far to pass
guys off, pattern reading, all of this. It's an intricate
defense and when it's all tied together, it is a
(03:37):
flat out nightmare on quarterbacks. And it was yesterday.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Let's talk about number zero for a second, DeMarcus Lawrence,
because another fantastic game for him. I mean, his motor,
particularly at the age of thirty three. I mean, it
just does not look like he takes a lot of
plays off. Just talk about how they're using him, because
he just seems like he's around the ball all the time.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
Yeah, they keep them a little bit out on the edge.
I mean I think they let Leonard Williams and Byron
Murphy do and Jared Reid do the bulk of the
of the hard stuff inside where they have to anchor
down play like a gap and a half and you know,
get into a gap but don't penetrate and just kind
of build a wall for an opposing running back. I
mean that that's what I think they the Seahawks do
(04:22):
best out of five phases of football. You know, how
do you how do you run the ball, how do
you throw it? How do you defend the run? How
do you defend the pass? And special teams? You know,
I think that's all about twenty percent of the game.
And of those, if I'm right in that or close
to right, it doesn't matter that one fifth that stopped
the run is the most consistent thing that they do.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Even more than special teams, because some would say, man, man,
they're the number one special teams league team.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
In the league.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
Yeah, especial teams EPA. I could go along with that.
I'm just remember they you know, they lost the ram
game on yeah, dispensal team. Yeah, and and you know
missed the field goal and their punters pinion into six inches.
I would I wouldn'trel will quarrel with you if you
(05:10):
said special teams. It's just not very entertaining radio, nor
is it you know, coffee and beer talk like, oh man,
you know, aren't we so good at covering?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
I mean, Keith Gilbertson said punt play is the most
important play in football. I'm not saying all football people
would agree with that, but Gilbertson was, you know, pretty
good football mind, and just the fact that anybody would
say that, you know, makes you pause. But yeah, Especial
Team's great. But but I think we'll go back to
the defensive line because you asked about d Law. He
(05:44):
is able to do some penetrating that the inside guys
aren't going to do, you know, like he had a
disruptive play. You know, he can line up in the
D gap outside of a tight end, or in the
C gap outside of a tackle and his and then
he can spark to the inside. So he lines in
an outside gap and he and he jumps into the
(06:06):
inside gap at the snap, and he's so quick at that.
And you know, I studied a lot of tape Dick
Jackson of him at the Cowboys when Seattle acquired him,
and just to my eye, he looks leaner, he looks more,
you know, like a big linebacker, whereas I thought before
he was almost like, you know, a defensive end, maybe
(06:27):
even a five tech defensive end. You know, I don't know,
maybe I'm imagining it, but I'd love to know. He
looks fifteen twenty pounds, you know, maybe that's an exaggeration,
ten fifteen pounds lighter, and I think the quickness is there.
The stamina is there. He's relishing his role as a leader.
You know, he talks about how how they they're they're
(06:50):
so you know, connected, and that's a credit to John Snyder.
You know, I think he's targeted guys that are inclined
to buy in. You know, you can talk buy in,
but what you know, what you have to do. You
have to do your homework on draft day and acquisition
and you got to learn about a guy and if
there's any red flags that come up about hey, hey,
this guy's a little bit selfish, a little bit of
(07:11):
a diva, you got to have the courage to walk away.
Not courage, but you have to have the discipline to
walk away and say, you know what, I can't have that.
And if you do that over a long enough period
of time and you just bring in guys that are
truly bought in and selfless, they will respond to leadership.
And you bring in a guy like Dila who has
(07:31):
the respect from all the players, and then all of
a sudden, you get some the synergy and where the
the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
And that's what you see here, and you know, it's
it's a damn fun team to watch.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
No, it really is.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And you know the guys that you were worried about,
if you're really worried about any guys coming in on
the Carolina offense, I mean Ted McMillan and Rico Dowdell
and we talked a little bit about Dowbtle and they
had the eleven yard run and didn't do much. I
thought they went from the run pretty early. I saw
where they they ran. They threw the ball ten times
out of their first fourteen plays from scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I was a little bit surprised that it was that
pass heavy.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
But Hugh with Ted McMillan, I mean, this is a
guy in the last five games coming in had five touchdowns.
He had a monster game against Atlanta for a buck
thirty and two touchdowns. He was coming off a game
last week where he had six catches on ten targets
for seventy three yards in a Touchdow. I mean this
is a guy that's a you know, an All Rookie
team type player. We know his connections with Jed Fish.
(08:33):
He was an absolute stud at Arizona, decided to stay there.
He had one catch for five yards. Now I did
I did hear that he was dealing with an illness.
So if how would you put it into buckets? The
reason he had one catch for five yards? How much
goes in the Bryce Young quarterback bucket? How much goes
(08:54):
into that man When you were looking at Ted, he
just didn't look as fast and as explosive. That may
have been the illness or how much was the scheme
slash talent of the Seahawks defenders.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Great question I I in watching the tape. I had
kind of keyed in on him prior to the game, saying, hey,
this guy's an emerging talent. You know, talked about how
he was the Orange County Volleyball Male Volleyball Player of
the Year, which in Orange County is a big deal.
(09:25):
You know, like those guys are legit, you know, men's men.
They play a hell of an entertaining brand of volleyball
up in the air. And for him to have been
the volleyball player of the year, you can see that
all over his football tape. His body, control, his hand, eye,
he did like like the ball comes so naturally to him,
and he looked slow and sluggish. But you know there
(09:45):
was raining uniforms heavy. He played in Orange County. Then
he played at Arizona. Maybe he's not you know, used
to having to play. You know, I think as a
Hawaiian background of some sense, I don't think he's ever
had to play very often in the cold. So the
combination of being sick and I'm I'm making all kinds
(10:06):
of speculation that's probably not fair. But but you know,
maybe I'm wrong, But I'm just saying the tape did
not look like a guy worth the eighth overall pick.
You know the interception, uh, you know, balls on the
right half and one that that George that Love got.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Julie.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, I wanted to I want to take take us
through that one because I was that was my next question.
I wanted to take us through that that pick that
was a huge, huge play in the game.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
A man.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Yeah, there's a family of a plays called flood. Okay,
and what flood is and ninety nine point nine percent
of coaches won't use the term flood on plays over
the middle.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
You know, once in a rare moon, you could say,
well a post route deep and then a deep deep
in and then a checkdown that's a three layered and
you could say that's a flood. But almost nobody talks
that way. Flood is the following flood is along the sidelines,
okay outside, you know, nearer outside the numbers, where you
have a guy deep, then you have a guy intermediate,
(11:09):
and then you have a guy shout. And so what
you're trying to do is, you know, you know, the
deep guy as a quarterback, you're just taking a peek.
Do they bust it? You're not really expecting he he's
designed to take the top off the defense. Then you're
generally fitting in a corner route or a sail route.
Those are the those are the two terminologies you'll see
that is a zone right zone zone. Yeah, there's a
(11:32):
zone beater. Well, I mean you could against man, but yeah,
I mean, uh, the corner route can be uh a concept.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
What you're talking.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
The concept is you say, okay, we're gonna we're gonna
stat you got two layers on your defense, the deep
and then the underneath layer. We're gonna put three guys
in there, deep, intermediate, short, and so we're gonna flood
your area near the sideline and you know that constant
and then you can even bring you know, if you
have a tight split from the backside you could run
an over route and he could be the intermediate level player.
(12:06):
So there's a family of flood got me. Most of
the time, it's a go or a post route as
the deep guy, then a sail route or often called
a corner route as you know, anywhere from fourteen to
eighteen or twenty yards, and then you got somebody in
the flat to hold the underneath. Got me yep, on
(12:27):
this particular type. It was in the flood concept. But
instead of running Ted McMillan on a sale like a
corner route, he ran a little out and up you
get to almost the exact same spot as if you
would have run the sale. So it still falls in
the flood family. But you gotta what did I say before?
You've got to communicate pattern read and have a sense
(12:49):
of where guys are, you know, don't be out of position.
And what Julian Love did something that's very unusual. At
the snap of the ball. He raced to the sideline
almost within three or four yards, like that's almost not
sound like that's you're too close to the sideline. It
was It's as if he was trying to become a
(13:11):
cloud defender, which a you know, a replacement cloud deforender.
So he's lined up over a slot. He raced the
sideways towards the sideline. He gets to within like four
yards of the sideline. That's an unusual buzz. What the
term is called buzz when you when you buzzed laterally
to the flat from that slot position defensively, that's called
but so he he got an extra wide buzz, and
(13:33):
so I can see why Bryce Young thought, oh, I've
got the intermediate out and up to Ted McMillan. But
what Love did is then he he swiveled his hips,
got back and sunk back underneath and got the interception.
It was a horrible, horrible throw by h Bryce Young.
I mean, wildly inaccurate way behind him, but very you know,
(13:57):
unusual spot to drop to by Love. But then again
that's just you know, Mike McDonald doing things that your unique.
It was literally as if the Seahawks had the wire
tap like they went to it was Watergate. They tapped
the wires and they said, oh okay, and then they
(14:18):
also had a little translation she oh okay. Well that
that translates to be ready for the out and up, Julian,
They're gonna try and run a flood on us into
the boundary and McMillan's gonna be on the out and
up and he says.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Oh, okay, I got it.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Let me sprint to the sideline, debate the young quarterback
into throwing it, but then I'll just swivel my hips,
sink and go pick off the ball. It was that
it was like that degree of just pimping you on
your you know, awareness of the scheme. So this is
just something you frequently see. I went into a lot
(14:54):
of detail. If too much, I apologize, but those are
the type of things that that you know, the nuances
that make for a great defense.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
So what is Kyle Shanahan scheming up for Saturday night?
Because he has seen Baker Mayfield rip up this defense,
he has seen Matthew Stafford of the Rams offense rip
up this defense last week, and so it can be done.
So what is what is part of this defense? Worries
(15:24):
you going into a division championship game and furthermore going
into the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Well, he's first got to stop the run. And you
know Christian McCaffrey, I saw his back was a little
banged up, but you got to get into favorable pitch
counts right. It's it's a lot better to play, you
know as a pitcher, to be on the mount at
a O two. So so get him into longer yarded
situations is key. That opens up your playbook defensively. You know,
(15:50):
you know, you don't have to worry about about Purty
scrambling for a first down if you've got him in
a long enough yard situation. Uh So, I think first
and foremost, you're gonna you're gonna see Kyle Seanahan. He's
gonna do a lot of window dressing, a lot of
of motions and shifts, a lot of eye candy to
(16:11):
get you just flat footed. So you're just not gonna
he wants He's gonna want to take away the aggression.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
So what you gotta do? What's that he wants you
unsure of where you're about to?
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Yeah, he just wants you, you know, you know, get
sloppy eyes, you know, like, hey, where'd that fly?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Sweep?
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Go oh, look at these pullers and then they're going
So there's a lot of misdirection. You know, you have
to be patient. You just say, hey, let the magic
show play out. You know, eventually they got to penetrate
the line. Of scrimmage with the football either in the
ground or on the air. But you know, just they're
gonna try and show you a magic show to get
(16:48):
you out of position, get you thinking. And now when
I'm talking about we're talking about fractions of a second. Right,
if you just wait for a second to let it
play out, then then then then you can go hunt
and go a attack. Right, So that that's a portion
of it. He's going to attack guys that buy. You know,
I study every single play of the Seahawks. If I
(17:08):
was attacking Seattle. Uh, you know, I'd want to go
after Josh Job over Devin Witherspoon for sure. As a corner,
I would want to uh to go after Drake Thomas
if I could get some size there and and you know,
maybe some quick you know, I think that he in
space is is uh. If you could somehow motion and
(17:32):
what have you and get a tight end on Drake Thomas,
I would want to do that. Ernest Jones sometimes he's
he's been kind of more of a country a country
zone dropper as opposed to a pattern read what do
I mean by that? He just kind of goes to
a spot and looks at the quarterback, and he's kind
of unaware sometimes when he's been at his worst, he's
(17:52):
been kind of unaware of the pattern reading available. And
you you know, and and I don't. I don't think
he has great movement and reaction to the passing game.
So so if I could try and you know, get
get some fake play action and then and then get
some deep hooks right over the middle, right in between
the numbers, you could probably work on Ernest Jones. I mean,
(18:13):
those are some of the players that I think maybe
even Emon worry. Let let let his athleticism work against him,
where like misdirection, get him going hard one way and
then and then snake, you know, go back the other way.
Uh Uh, take advantage of his confidence and and and
and kind of fool him as a young guy. Kyle Shanahan,
he always looks at guys and say, hey, there's an
(18:35):
opportunity to find pigeons.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Absolutely all right, we're gonna take a quick time out.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
We're actually gonna not talk about the Seahawks for a segment,
just for one segment.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
We got Brandon Brown joining us.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Uh from the managing editor of Michigan Men Media and
host of Believe Podcast. We're going to talk about Kyle
Whittingham heading to ann Arbornex on ninety three point three
KJRFS is Duke.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Of Duke Seafood and this hour is brought to you
by Duke's Seafood. Why don't you make it a Duke's
Night tonight. Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com.
Now back to Softy and Dick on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
All right, we're going to take a little breather from
our constant Seahawks talk. And you know, Jackson, I don't
like doing just like one topic on a show, but
when your football team is thirteen and three and you've
got a game against San Francisco on Saturday for the
number one overall seed in the.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
NFC, I make an exception for days like this.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
But even then I still have to have a segment
away from the Seahawks. And we're going to talk about
the I think the biggest sports story, biggest non NFL
sports story happening over the last seventy two hours or so,
and that's the hiring of Kyle Whittingham as the head
coach at Michigan. And join us to talk about it
right now at Brandon Brown at BSB, Underscore Wolverine on Twitter.
(19:48):
He's the manager managing editor of Michigan Men Media and
host of the Belief in Michigan podcast.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Brandon, How you doing doing pretty?
Speaker 7 (19:58):
I'm out of these cit team degree whether at Michigan
and down here in Florida for the Bowl game.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
So yeah, I'm doing just fine.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Yeah, very nice, very nice. I see how it worked it.
Let's just a big picture. What has this last month
been like for a Michigan man yourself and a guy
that covers Michigan football.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is unprecedented, man.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
It is.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
I've done a couple of these calls, and actually I'll
tell you what I what I said before I was
on vacation. You know, the season gets over. We know
Michigan's Bowl assignment. Took a little vacation down to Mexico.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Lay down on a beach chair. Oh, phone blows up.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Sharl Moore's fired, He's arrested. Like what in the world
is happening back in ann Arbor. So yeah, I mean
it was it was a whirlwind. I mean, you know,
whether you like what Sharon Moore did as a head coach,
or not.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Didn't see it playing out that way.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Certainly didn't see the aftermat the fallout of him getting
fired and what happened. So yeah, then you speed into oh,
it's gonna be this guy, it's gonna be that guy.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Nope, nope, And yeah it's been it's been.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
All over the map. It's been all over the map.
And now there's there's some answers and things are settling
back down and we got a football game to get
ready for in a couple of days, so things are
feeling a little bit normal after the last three weeks.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Like you said, well, let's drill down on that it's
going to be this guy, it's going to be that guy,
and and just kind of take us through the process.
Where were the signs pointing Originally if Michigan had had
their choice a realistic blue sky, who would have it been,
uh we we hear from afar you know, maybe Kaylin
de bor was a consideration, others and what have you.
(21:36):
But just tell us what you think the sequence was
in terms of who Michigan was targeting and how that
played out.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
Yeah, I mean Kenny Dillingham from Arizona State and then
Kaylen Debora as you mentioned from Alabama seemed to be
kind of the one A, one B options. But yeah,
you know, I don't I don't know. I mean, it's
not like we're ever going to see athletic director Ward Manuel.
We're not ever going to see his hand written list
that he carried in his pocket. So like, I don't
know if that's exactly what the order looked like. But
you you know, there's smoke, and every insider has their
(22:08):
own sources, and everybody's talking to their own people, and
there's names that get floated for various reasons. Maybe it's
contract negotiations, maybe it's very very serious, and for whatever reason,
it didn't work out with either of.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Those two guys.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
There's a lot of people that contend that if if
Kaylen de Bor had lost to oklahom Kaylen de boor
in Alabama had lost to Oklahoma, that he would be
Michigan's coach.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
But the timeline, you know.
Speaker 7 (22:29):
Didn't work out that way, and they got to win
and now they're still playing. So I say, I'm doing
air quotes. I know you guys can't see me, so
you settle. I guess on Kyle Whittingham, But goodness, man,
I mean it feels pretty darn good even if he
maybe wasn't at the top of the list.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
But again, I mean, we're.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Not ever gonna see that sheet of paper, so it's
hard to say exactly where where he might have been
on that list.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Well, what do you think the story was with Witningham
at Utah, because the timing seems very odd. You know,
he coaches for two decades, he's very successful, and then
he kind of sort us pseudo retires and then two
weeks later he's hired at Michigan. I mean, to me,
it almost sounds like, you know, yes, he could have
been down the list, but it almost seems like he
(23:09):
was a guy that they may have had contact with
in the first place, because it was it was such
a quick turnaround that he goes from you know, pseudo
retiring at Utah to being the head coach in Michigan.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
Yeah, he shed a little bit of light on that
with it yesterday morning. These days are kind of running
together at this point. But he met with the media
for the first time his introductory press conference down here
in Orlando and talked about that. He said the timing
of it was just a crazy coincidence. He talked about
how he was stepping down and then within a day
or two the Michigan job opened up, and you know,
he said, there's maybe four or five jobs in the
(23:43):
country that he would have considered, and Michigan was one
of them, and it just kind of went from there. So, yeah,
it is it is a little curious, you know, how
where exactly he might have been on that list and
if he was a high target from the very beginning,
and with the way that it worked out with you know,
Dillingham signing an extension and killing the board getting to win.
Like I said, there's there's uh, there's Kyle Whittingham. But
(24:04):
he might have been at the at the top of
that list all along. Again, it's one of those things
we're probably never going to get the true story on.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
But at the end of the day, he is the coach.
Speaker 7 (24:11):
And he talked about how, yeah, the weirdness of maybe, okay,
he was at Utah for twenty one years and some
people are saying he was pushed out, and some people
were saying, no, he quit on his own terms, and
he you know, it was weird. They was going to
coach in the Bowl game, and then Michigan comes along
and it kind of throws a wrench into everything. But
it sounded like he had already named his coach in waiting.
He actually said he was going to step away last year,
(24:34):
but then the season kind of fell apart and he
didn't want to leave on a note like that.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
So he comes back.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
They go ten and two, He kind of gets back
to you know, gets back to normal, so to speak, and.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Then steps away.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
So it it's yeah, it's it's It's one of those
things where the story probably didn't play out how anybody
thought it was going to, but I think everybody kind
of got what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
That's kind of what it feels like.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
Brandon Brown with us an insider from the University of
Michigan and Brandon Uh When on occasions I bought a
house in my life, you know, I say to my wife, Hey,
there's you know, big checkboxes and little checkboxes, you know,
the little checkboxes of the stuff you want, right, but
then there's a few big checkboxes. You say, okay, that
that's a non negotiable. We have to have that. In
(25:15):
that light, what were the qualities, you know, given the
transgressions in the turmoil that Michigan had experienced, what were
the non negotiables, What were the big checkboxes that Kyle
Whittingham or any other candidate had to check and what
are some of the areas Maybe you say, well, it
would have been nice to have that, but they'd be
willing to go without it. How did that break down
(25:38):
in terms of the values that they had regarding witting him?
Speaker 7 (25:41):
Yeah, I think you kind of nailed it on the head.
You mentioned those transgressions and the I mean, shoot man,
three to five years of things just happening with Michigan,
whether it was self inflicted or you know, I mean
Harbaugh leaving and then taking a bunch of his coaches
with them, and people thought like he shouldn't have done that.
And then of course there's the science stealing stuff, and
there's guys and suspended, and.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
It just was a lot. It was a lot over
the last three to five years, and they just just
cut that off. Just get rid of that stuff.
Speaker 7 (26:08):
No more, no more scandals, no more, you know, no
more blow the.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Belt kind of stuff.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
And I mean that's that's Kyle whitting him to a t.
I mean, he's been as squeaky clean as anybody maybe
for and he's been doing it for twenty one years.
He's just a stand up dude, a family dude, does
it the right way. You know, did more with less
most people would say out at Utah with you know,
not being able to recruit like a lot of places can,
and maybe not as much nil involvement here in the
(26:34):
last couple of years, and just just wins a lot
of games. It was always a tough out for anybody,
even if they didn't get to win. So I think
that was probably that was probably.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Priority number one.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Somebody who's going to pass any any kind of backup,
come checking any as deep as you want to dig,
like they're going to come out clean on the other side.
And I think that's Kyle whitting him. And then he
talked about it the pillars that he wants the program
to be built on, and you know, toughness, grit, physicality,
and that's been miss football for a long time. So
he's even though he's not a Midwest guy, he doesn't
have any ties to the program, his philosophy and his
(27:06):
approach feels like it's going to be plug and play.
And I think, you know, Michigan more than a decade ago,
they they went away from that when they made the
big splash Hire with Rich Rodriguez, and it just didn't work.
Like it didn't work from the beginning. The region for
an on board, the style, the scheme, the philosophies, the
types of players that he recruited, it just did. It
was a square, you know, square peg in a round hole,
(27:26):
so to speak. And it doesn't feel like it's going
to be that way with winning him, a lot of
what he does.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Is going to fit right up.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
And then I think maybe the one thing though, like
he said, if there's maybe a small box that didn't
get checked, is that he's he's not an offensive or
a or a quarterback guy, right and when you've got
a talent like Bryce Underwood, that's what a lot of
people wanted to see. But there's been some rumblings of
who he might bring for his offensive coordinator. And when
you look at what he's done with his quarterbacks at Utah,
(27:52):
they've been pretty darn good. And so there's a lot
of belief that even though he's a defensive guy through
and through, that he's going to get a lot out
of Bryce Underwood and the offense is going to be
just fine. Even though maybe that was one of those
God We'd love to have an offensive guru to just
come in here and take Bryce to the next level.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So that'll be that'll be interesting to see.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Hey Brandon, as we let you go just a quick
sec because you're on air in Seattle, what can you
tell us about Jed Fish and and we heard a
lot of rumors that he was under consideration. What can
you tell us about his candacy and how how he's
considered by Michigan.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Yeah, I think he's considered finding He was actually a
guy that I mentioned right out of the gate. I
mean I've always liked Jeedfish from when he was at Michigan.
He seemed I kind of already said it with with
with winning him, I thought Jed Fish did more with less.
He didn't have the most talented quarterback in the world
when he was at Michigan, but he got pretty good
numbers out of him. And I think he's done a
phenomenal job at Washington. I mean he kind of took
over a bear cupboard there a little bit in some ways,
(28:47):
having to replace a lot and do some roster turnover.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
So I think he's well respected in the Michigan community.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
But again, it was one of those things where where
exactly is he on the list?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, what exactly are they looking for?
Speaker 7 (28:59):
And you know, I don't know exactly if Jedfish was
open to leaving him. Mean, he seems to have a
pretty decent thing going out there, So yeah, you don't know.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
If you don't know if he was offered or who
shut who down or what have you in that potential relationship.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I don't believe he was offered.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Word kind of got out when there was probably maybe
six names right out of the gate, and he was
one of them, and then it kind of got whittled
down to two, and then he wasn't one of them.
So I don't think it ever got to the point
where there was an offer made. I'd be shocked if
there wasn't at least some contact made to his camp
or his agent or whoever handles stuff like that. But
it doesn't look like it ever really got off the
ground with him.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
No, Brandon, enjoy yourself and Flora and you know, watch
the bowl game and then maybe you can I thinks
can settle down a little bit in the off season
for you.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
Yeah, you guys are You're welcome for Mike McDonald out there,
by the way, You're welcome to that.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
We're appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Man at BSB Underscore Wolverin on Twitter, the managing editor
of the Michigan Men, median host to Believe Believe in
Michigan podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
We'll talk a little bit.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
We'll stand this Michigan topic for a second and chat
with you about it next on ninety three point three KJIFM.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
Welcome to Cracking Game Day, brought to you by Blood Works.
Give blood with Blood Works on Fridays in November and
get a cup of Iverse clam chowder available at donation
locations between Everett and Tacoma. Learn more at blood Works
NW dot org. Slash Music. Now, it's Cracking Game Day
(30:25):
with Softy and Dick. Yeah, Kracking going for five in
a row.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Seven o'clock face off, we'll talk to Everett Fitzhugh, the
voice of the Kraken coming up at six fifteen, but
talking football with Hugh until then, we'll get back to
the Seahawks topic of conversation and at the top of
the hour at six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
But just had.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Brandon Brown of Michigan on Hugh and you know, some
interesting thoughts there and you know, pulling it back to
a Washington perspective. There were two questions that were going
through my mind through this whole Michigan situation and whether
Jedish was going to leave or not. And the first
question was is it a good I knew for a
(31:06):
fact that Jedfish staying here for twenty twenty six was
a good thing because I think he has got a
potentially loaded team in twenty twenty six. But Jedfish here
for the long run? Is that a good thing? I
don't know. I can't answer that. It's tough for me
to answer that question. And then the second question I
(31:26):
had was are we being fair to Jedfish for constantly
assuming that he is leaving.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
We're basically doing it.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
We are judging a book by its cover, We're judging
it on his past moving up the ladder in college football,
and we're just assuming that he is just racing to
get out of Seattle as fast as he possibly can.
So maybe let's let's start with the first question. Is
it good in the long run that Jedfish stays.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Here as coach of Michigan?
Speaker 6 (31:57):
In your opinion, thanks Jerry's I think that he's kind
of been par based on where you're at. But I
think that there was such a discrepancy between his the
performance against good teams versus poor teams that they I mean,
(32:19):
as we've talked about, it's the number one drop in
all of power for schools in terms of the offense
of whether it's EPA, whether it's yards, whether it's points.
There's the number one drop in all of Power four
between how you perform against the top twenty five defenses
(32:41):
versus how you perform against the bottom twenty five.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
And that's more than just the quarterback performance. That's the
offense as an offense. It's offense. And you can you
can either do it for Jed Fish and say how's
the offense diminish, and then you'll say the Washington offense
had the biggest drop. By the way, that five wins
were not just in the bottom twenty five, there were
the bottom twenty out of sixty seven in Power four.
(33:06):
So all of the and so the statistics that you
amass against non conference, the UC Davis's and the and
the Colorado States and the Washington States, and then the
five wins that she had in the big ten that
were in the bottom twenty defenses versus Okay, how did
(33:28):
you perform against the in your four losses, which were
in the top twenty five in defense, that's the biggest
drop so to me, like we said after the Sun Bowl, well,
Demand's going to have a huge step forward. Well, Deman
didn't have a single game this year that was as
(33:49):
good or better than what he had in the Sun
Bowl last year. So just assuming because the calendar marches
along that he's going to get better. I don't see
that the schedule is a lot easier this year.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I mean, you played.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Press as a quarterback since last year. I don't think
you progressed from the Sun Bowl. No, not based on
what we saw, No, because everything's front loaded into how
he performed against the poor teams. Right, if you're okay
with Washington having four losses, then okay, then let's have
a different discussion. But if that's not the standard, then
(34:27):
I would say the drop off in performance against the
four teams that were in the top twenty five, they
see there was a hole in there was no middle
class in their opposition. They were all either in the
top twenty five or in the bottom twenty. So they
had four losses against top twenty five and they had
five wins against bottom twenty interesting. So so whether it's
(34:51):
the quarterback or whether it's the offense, and you can
make the argument right there and back it with those facts.
The biggest drop statistically in all of power for so
to me, the jury's out because you don't want to
know why. Because he's the offensive coordinator, right, He's the
play calling, and so when I see things in the offense,
(35:14):
I'm like, whoa, that's a red flag. That's a red flag.
That's a red flag. I'm like, who's going to tell
him it's a red flag? Is he going to learn? Right?
And so you know, like very poor play design and
play calling in the red zone against Ohio State. Uh,
you know, Demond Williams had had twenty yards of scramble yards.
(35:39):
So Demon Williams just being twitchy isn't going to work
against the best defenses. You actually have to function as
a passer and you got to uh you got to
have the details tight or tight. I mean, you get
an interception in the against Oregon first quarter interception, you
get down Zel Boston, I'm lined up against a linebacker.
(36:02):
So okay, well that said work. That's cool. But you
have the the formation and and the the alignment where
Boston line was too close to the middle of the
field for him to be running a wheel rot so
all the angles break down and you say, well, you
could have Pooka Nikoua in the slot. He's not gonna
(36:23):
beat a linebacker with that that alignment, right, and and
so so you know it's like, well, how's that gonna
get fixed. Who's gonna tell him to fix it? Is
it gonna? Is it gonna occur to him? And so
I look, can I say the jury is out? Because
if we keep doing the same making the same mistakes,
(36:46):
and the quarterbacks, you know, set in camp at ten
and a half yards from the line of scrimmage and
the balls in the air that long and everybody can
react to the ball and you're not getting run after
the cats because of the spot of the quarterback. All
these details. That's how you beat good teams is you
fine tune the details, and the details are off too
(37:07):
often and it's revealed against the better teams, the better athletes.
And so I don't know how I mean, for me,
it's like clear the jury's out.
This is Duke of Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Lady, you know that this hour of Softy and Dick
on your home for the Huskies and Kraken is probably
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why not make it
at Duke's night tonight. Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood
dot com on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJARFM.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Softian Dick without the soft one.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
He was here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Jackson is here.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Rolling into the five o'clock hour, we'll switch our for
one segment. We'll switch our Seahawks focus at five thirty.
We have been all Seahawks all the time for obvious reasons.
Today we will talk a little Michigan and their new
head coach, Kyle Whittingham at five point thirty with Brandon Brown,
the host of the Believe podcast for the Michigan Wolverines.
(00:42):
You know, guys, I think this defense probably deserves to
be talked about a little bit, don't you think, Since
we've talked about the Seahawks offense probably for ninety percent
percent of the show so far, because it's the Seahawks
offense that does some great things and also does some
things that scare us. But this defense rarely does anything
that scares us. It only does things that scare the opposition.
(01:04):
In fact, Jackson, that first play of the game, the
run by Rico Dowdell, first play of the game, did
you know that was the longest play from scrimmage the
entire game?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Because Okay, we heard the press conference from Mike McDonald
and like, I think it was Boyo who asked him.
You know, it's like, you know, you got to didn't
give a pass play more than eight yards. And I said, okay, John,
you can't be right about that, and it's true. And
then you look, I cannot believe that the defense was
that dominant.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
They get here.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
They gave up two run plays of eleven yards and
one pass play of eight and those were the longest
one days of the game.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
If you take air yards on completions only. Remember now,
air yards are anything beyond the line of screamers. So
if you throw it five yards beyond the line scrimmers,
that's five air yards.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Right.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
If you throw a bubble screen or something or any
type of screen or something behind the line scrimmage, that
would be you know, let's say a negative three or
something on the completions. It was a total of negative seventeen,
an average of negative one point two per completion. I'm
never I look, I'm a stat nerd when it comes
to crunching numbers on football. I've never seen anything like that.
(02:18):
I've never seen like like negative negative air yards on
completions for an entire game. That's a that's against the
number one overall that's not against you know, Minnesota's four string,
you know, rookie free agent. That's that's a that's a
starting quarterback, number one overall pick. And you made him
look like a guy that should be in high.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
School and a team that could still win their division
and be in the playoffs. He went fourteen of twenty
four for fifty four yards passing. That is absolutely he
had a QBR. You you know what, you know you
liked the QBR, right.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
Yeah, he had an eighteen point three d oh no
oh no yards after the catch, three yards after the catch,
seventy one. The Seahawks average defense will be one hundred
and twenty four before that yards post contact, twenty eight
yards post contact. You know, just there's all kinds of
(03:13):
numbers that jump out of you. They just absolutely put
the vice on him and it's just great communication, you know,
when they played mostly his own coverage, and it's an
awareness of where your help is, how far to pass
guys off, pattern reading, all of this. It's an intricate
defense and when it's all tied together, it is a
(03:37):
flat out nightmare on quarterbacks. And it was yesterday.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Let's talk about number zero for a second, DeMarcus Lawrence,
because another fantastic game for him. I mean, his motor,
particularly at the age of thirty three. I mean, it
just does not look like he takes a lot of
plays off. Just talk about how they're using him, because
he just seems like he's around the ball all the time.
Speaker 6 (04:00):
Yeah, they keep them a little bit out on the edge.
I mean I think they let Leonard Williams and Byron
Murphy do and Jared Reid do the bulk of the
of the hard stuff inside where they have to anchor
down play like a gap and a half and you know,
get into a gap but don't penetrate and just kind
of build a wall for an opposing running back. I
mean that that's what I think they the Seahawks do
(04:22):
best out of five phases of football. You know, how
do you how do you run the ball, how do
you throw it? How do you defend the run? How
do you defend the pass? And special teams? You know,
I think that's all about twenty percent of the game.
And of those, if I'm right in that or close
to right, it doesn't matter that one fifth that stopped
the run is the most consistent thing that they do.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Even more than special teams, because some would say, man, man,
they're the number one special teams league team.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
In the league.
Speaker 6 (04:49):
Yeah, especial teams EPA. I could go along with that.
I'm just remember they you know, they lost the ram
game on yeah, dispensal team. Yeah, and and you know
missed the field goal and their punters pinion into six inches.
I would I wouldn'trel will quarrel with you if you
(05:10):
said special teams. It's just not very entertaining radio, nor
is it you know, coffee and beer talk like, oh man,
you know, aren't we so good at covering?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
I mean, Keith Gilbertson said punt play is the most
important play in football. I'm not saying all football people
would agree with that, but Gilbertson was, you know, pretty
good football mind, and just the fact that anybody would
say that, you know, makes you pause. But yeah, Especial
Team's great. But but I think we'll go back to
the defensive line because you asked about d Law. He
(05:44):
is able to do some penetrating that the inside guys
aren't going to do, you know, like he had a
disruptive play. You know, he can line up in the
D gap outside of a tight end, or in the
C gap outside of a tackle and his and then
he can spark to the inside. So he lines in
an outside gap and he and he jumps into the
(06:06):
inside gap at the snap, and he's so quick at that.
And you know, I studied a lot of tape Dick
Jackson of him at the Cowboys when Seattle acquired him,
and just to my eye, he looks leaner, he looks more,
you know, like a big linebacker, whereas I thought before
he was almost like, you know, a defensive end, maybe
(06:27):
even a five tech defensive end. You know, I don't know,
maybe I'm imagining it, but I'd love to know. He
looks fifteen twenty pounds, you know, maybe that's an exaggeration,
ten fifteen pounds lighter, and I think the quickness is there.
The stamina is there. He's relishing his role as a leader.
You know, he talks about how how they they're they're
(06:50):
so you know, connected, and that's a credit to John Snyder.
You know, I think he's targeted guys that are inclined
to buy in. You know, you can talk buy in,
but what you know, what you have to do. You
have to do your homework on draft day and acquisition
and you got to learn about a guy and if
there's any red flags that come up about hey, hey,
this guy's a little bit selfish, a little bit of
(07:11):
a diva, you got to have the courage to walk away.
Not courage, but you have to have the discipline to
walk away and say, you know what, I can't have that.
And if you do that over a long enough period
of time and you just bring in guys that are
truly bought in and selfless, they will respond to leadership.
And you bring in a guy like Dila who has
(07:31):
the respect from all the players, and then all of
a sudden, you get some the synergy and where the
the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
And that's what you see here, and you know, it's
it's a damn fun team to watch.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
No, it really is.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And you know the guys that you were worried about,
if you're really worried about any guys coming in on
the Carolina offense, I mean Ted McMillan and Rico Dowdell
and we talked a little bit about Dowbtle and they
had the eleven yard run and didn't do much. I
thought they went from the run pretty early. I saw
where they they ran. They threw the ball ten times
out of their first fourteen plays from scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I was a little bit surprised that it was that
pass heavy.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
But Hugh with Ted McMillan, I mean, this is a
guy in the last five games coming in had five touchdowns.
He had a monster game against Atlanta for a buck
thirty and two touchdowns. He was coming off a game
last week where he had six catches on ten targets
for seventy three yards in a Touchdow. I mean this
is a guy that's a you know, an All Rookie
team type player. We know his connections with Jed Fish.
(08:33):
He was an absolute stud at Arizona, decided to stay there.
He had one catch for five yards. Now I did
I did hear that he was dealing with an illness.
So if how would you put it into buckets? The
reason he had one catch for five yards? How much
goes in the Bryce Young quarterback bucket? How much goes
(08:54):
into that man When you were looking at Ted, he
just didn't look as fast and as explosive. That may
have been the illness or how much was the scheme
slash talent of the Seahawks defenders.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Great question I I in watching the tape. I had
kind of keyed in on him prior to the game, saying, hey,
this guy's an emerging talent. You know, talked about how
he was the Orange County Volleyball Male Volleyball Player of
the Year, which in Orange County is a big deal.
(09:25):
You know, like those guys are legit, you know, men's men.
They play a hell of an entertaining brand of volleyball
up in the air. And for him to have been
the volleyball player of the year, you can see that
all over his football tape. His body, control, his hand, eye,
he did like like the ball comes so naturally to him,
and he looked slow and sluggish. But you know there
(09:45):
was raining uniforms heavy. He played in Orange County. Then
he played at Arizona. Maybe he's not you know, used
to having to play. You know, I think as a
Hawaiian background of some sense, I don't think he's ever
had to play very often in the cold. So the
combination of being sick and I'm I'm making all kinds
(10:06):
of speculation that's probably not fair. But but you know,
maybe I'm wrong, But I'm just saying the tape did
not look like a guy worth the eighth overall pick.
You know the interception, uh, you know, balls on the
right half and one that that George that Love got.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Julie.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, I wanted to I want to take take us
through that one because I was that was my next question.
I wanted to take us through that that pick that
was a huge, huge play in the game.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
A man.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Yeah, there's a family of a plays called flood. Okay,
and what flood is and ninety nine point nine percent
of coaches won't use the term flood on plays over
the middle.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
You know, once in a rare moon, you could say,
well a post route deep and then a deep deep
in and then a checkdown that's a three layered and
you could say that's a flood. But almost nobody talks
that way. Flood is the following flood is along the sidelines,
okay outside, you know, nearer outside the numbers, where you
have a guy deep, then you have a guy intermediate,
(11:09):
and then you have a guy shout. And so what
you're trying to do is, you know, you know, the
deep guy as a quarterback, you're just taking a peek.
Do they bust it? You're not really expecting he he's
designed to take the top off the defense. Then you're
generally fitting in a corner route or a sail route.
Those are the those are the two terminologies you'll see
that is a zone right zone zone. Yeah, there's a
(11:32):
zone beater. Well, I mean you could against man, but yeah,
I mean, uh, the corner route can be uh a concept.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
What you're talking.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
The concept is you say, okay, we're gonna we're gonna
stat you got two layers on your defense, the deep
and then the underneath layer. We're gonna put three guys
in there, deep, intermediate, short, and so we're gonna flood
your area near the sideline and you know that constant
and then you can even bring you know, if you
have a tight split from the backside you could run
an over route and he could be the intermediate level player.
(12:06):
So there's a family of flood got me. Most of
the time, it's a go or a post route as
the deep guy, then a sail route or often called
a corner route as you know, anywhere from fourteen to
eighteen or twenty yards, and then you got somebody in
the flat to hold the underneath. Got me yep, on
(12:27):
this particular type. It was in the flood concept. But
instead of running Ted McMillan on a sale like a
corner route, he ran a little out and up you
get to almost the exact same spot as if you
would have run the sale. So it still falls in
the flood family. But you gotta what did I say before?
You've got to communicate pattern read and have a sense
(12:49):
of where guys are, you know, don't be out of position.
And what Julian Love did something that's very unusual. At
the snap of the ball. He raced to the sideline
almost within three or four yards, like that's almost not
sound like that's you're too close to the sideline. It
was It's as if he was trying to become a
(13:11):
cloud defender, which a you know, a replacement cloud deforender.
So he's lined up over a slot. He raced the
sideways towards the sideline. He gets to within like four
yards of the sideline. That's an unusual buzz. What the
term is called buzz when you when you buzzed laterally
to the flat from that slot position defensively, that's called
but so he he got an extra wide buzz, and
(13:33):
so I can see why Bryce Young thought, oh, I've
got the intermediate out and up to Ted McMillan. But
what Love did is then he he swiveled his hips,
got back and sunk back underneath and got the interception.
It was a horrible, horrible throw by h Bryce Young.
I mean, wildly inaccurate way behind him, but very you know,
(13:57):
unusual spot to drop to by Love. But then again
that's just you know, Mike McDonald doing things that your unique.
It was literally as if the Seahawks had the wire
tap like they went to it was Watergate. They tapped
the wires and they said, oh okay, and then they
(14:18):
also had a little translation she oh okay. Well that
that translates to be ready for the out and up, Julian,
They're gonna try and run a flood on us into
the boundary and McMillan's gonna be on the out and
up and he says.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Oh, okay, I got it.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Let me sprint to the sideline, debate the young quarterback
into throwing it, but then I'll just swivel my hips,
sink and go pick off the ball. It was that
it was like that degree of just pimping you on
your you know, awareness of the scheme. So this is
just something you frequently see. I went into a lot
(14:54):
of detail. If too much, I apologize, but those are
the type of things that that you know, the nuances
that make for a great defense.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
So what is Kyle Shanahan scheming up for Saturday night?
Because he has seen Baker Mayfield rip up this defense,
he has seen Matthew Stafford of the Rams offense rip
up this defense last week, and so it can be done.
So what is what is part of this defense? Worries
(15:24):
you going into a division championship game and furthermore going
into the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Well, he's first got to stop the run. And you
know Christian McCaffrey, I saw his back was a little
banged up, but you got to get into favorable pitch
counts right. It's it's a lot better to play, you
know as a pitcher, to be on the mount at
a O two. So so get him into longer yarded
situations is key. That opens up your playbook defensively. You know,
(15:50):
you know, you don't have to worry about about Purty
scrambling for a first down if you've got him in
a long enough yard situation. Uh So, I think first
and foremost, you're gonna you're gonna see Kyle Seanahan. He's
gonna do a lot of window dressing, a lot of
of motions and shifts, a lot of eye candy to
(16:11):
get you just flat footed. So you're just not gonna
he wants He's gonna want to take away the aggression.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
So what you gotta do? What's that he wants you
unsure of where you're about to?
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Yeah, he just wants you, you know, you know, get
sloppy eyes, you know, like, hey, where'd that fly?
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Sweep?
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Go oh, look at these pullers and then they're going
So there's a lot of misdirection. You know, you have
to be patient. You just say, hey, let the magic
show play out. You know, eventually they got to penetrate
the line. Of scrimmage with the football either in the
ground or on the air. But you know, just they're
gonna try and show you a magic show to get
(16:48):
you out of position, get you thinking. And now when
I'm talking about we're talking about fractions of a second. Right,
if you just wait for a second to let it
play out, then then then then you can go hunt
and go a attack. Right, So that that's a portion
of it. He's going to attack guys that buy. You know,
I study every single play of the Seahawks. If I
(17:08):
was attacking Seattle. Uh, you know, I'd want to go
after Josh Job over Devin Witherspoon for sure. As a corner,
I would want to uh to go after Drake Thomas
if I could get some size there and and you know,
maybe some quick you know, I think that he in
space is is uh. If you could somehow motion and
(17:32):
what have you and get a tight end on Drake Thomas,
I would want to do that. Ernest Jones sometimes he's
he's been kind of more of a country a country
zone dropper as opposed to a pattern read what do
I mean by that? He just kind of goes to
a spot and looks at the quarterback, and he's kind
of unaware sometimes when he's been at his worst, he's
(17:52):
been kind of unaware of the pattern reading available. And
you you know, and and I don't. I don't think
he has great movement and reaction to the passing game.
So so if I could try and you know, get
get some fake play action and then and then get
some deep hooks right over the middle, right in between
the numbers, you could probably work on Ernest Jones. I mean,
(18:13):
those are some of the players that I think maybe
even Emon worry. Let let let his athleticism work against him,
where like misdirection, get him going hard one way and
then and then snake, you know, go back the other way.
Uh Uh, take advantage of his confidence and and and
and kind of fool him as a young guy. Kyle Shanahan,
he always looks at guys and say, hey, there's an
(18:35):
opportunity to find pigeons.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Absolutely all right, we're gonna take a quick time out.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
We're actually gonna not talk about the Seahawks for a segment,
just for one segment.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
We got Brandon Brown joining us.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Uh from the managing editor of Michigan Men Media and
host of Believe Podcast. We're going to talk about Kyle
Whittingham heading to ann Arbornex on ninety three point three
KJRFS is Duke.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Of Duke Seafood and this hour is brought to you
by Duke's Seafood. Why don't you make it a Duke's
Night tonight. Reserve your table today at Dukeseafood dot com.
Now back to Softy and Dick on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
All right, we're going to take a little breather from
our constant Seahawks talk. And you know, Jackson, I don't
like doing just like one topic on a show, but
when your football team is thirteen and three and you've
got a game against San Francisco on Saturday for the
number one overall seed in the.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
NFC, I make an exception for days like this.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
But even then I still have to have a segment
away from the Seahawks. And we're going to talk about
the I think the biggest sports story, biggest non NFL
sports story happening over the last seventy two hours or so,
and that's the hiring of Kyle Whittingham as the head
coach at Michigan. And join us to talk about it
right now at Brandon Brown at BSB, Underscore Wolverine on Twitter.
(19:48):
He's the manager managing editor of Michigan Men Media and
host of the Belief in Michigan podcast.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Brandon, How you doing doing pretty?
Speaker 7 (19:58):
I'm out of these cit team degree whether at Michigan
and down here in Florida for the Bowl game.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
So yeah, I'm doing just fine.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Yeah, very nice, very nice. I see how it worked it.
Let's just a big picture. What has this last month
been like for a Michigan man yourself and a guy
that covers Michigan football.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is unprecedented, man.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
It is.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
I've done a couple of these calls, and actually I'll
tell you what I what I said before I was
on vacation. You know, the season gets over. We know
Michigan's Bowl assignment. Took a little vacation down to Mexico.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Lay down on a beach chair. Oh, phone blows up.
Speaker 7 (20:36):
Sharl Moore's fired, He's arrested. Like what in the world
is happening back in ann Arbor. So yeah, I mean
it was it was a whirlwind. I mean, you know,
whether you like what Sharon Moore did as a head coach,
or not.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Didn't see it playing out that way.
Speaker 7 (20:50):
Certainly didn't see the aftermat the fallout of him getting
fired and what happened. So yeah, then you speed into oh,
it's gonna be this guy, it's gonna be that guy.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Nope, nope, And yeah it's been it's been.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
All over the map. It's been all over the map.
And now there's there's some answers and things are settling
back down and we got a football game to get
ready for in a couple of days, so things are
feeling a little bit normal after the last three weeks.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Like you said, well, let's drill down on that it's
going to be this guy, it's going to be that guy,
and and just kind of take us through the process.
Where were the signs pointing Originally if Michigan had had
their choice a realistic blue sky, who would have it been,
uh we we hear from afar you know, maybe Kaylin
de bor was a consideration, others and what have you.
(21:36):
But just tell us what you think the sequence was
in terms of who Michigan was targeting and how that
played out.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
Yeah, I mean Kenny Dillingham from Arizona State and then
Kaylen Debora as you mentioned from Alabama seemed to be
kind of the one A, one B options. But yeah,
you know, I don't I don't know. I mean, it's
not like we're ever going to see athletic director Ward Manuel.
We're not ever going to see his hand written list
that he carried in his pocket. So like, I don't
know if that's exactly what the order looked like. But
you you know, there's smoke, and every insider has their
(22:08):
own sources, and everybody's talking to their own people, and
there's names that get floated for various reasons. Maybe it's
contract negotiations, maybe it's very very serious, and for whatever reason,
it didn't work out with either of.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Those two guys.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
There's a lot of people that contend that if if
Kaylen de Bor had lost to oklahom Kaylen de boor
in Alabama had lost to Oklahoma, that he would be
Michigan's coach.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
But the timeline, you know.
Speaker 7 (22:29):
Didn't work out that way, and they got to win
and now they're still playing. So I say, I'm doing
air quotes. I know you guys can't see me, so
you settle. I guess on Kyle Whittingham, But goodness, man,
I mean it feels pretty darn good even if he
maybe wasn't at the top of the list.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
But again, I mean, we're.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Not ever gonna see that sheet of paper, so it's
hard to say exactly where where he might have been
on that list.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Well, what do you think the story was with Witningham
at Utah, because the timing seems very odd. You know,
he coaches for two decades, he's very successful, and then
he kind of sort us pseudo retires and then two
weeks later he's hired at Michigan. I mean, to me,
it almost sounds like, you know, yes, he could have
been down the list, but it almost seems like he
(23:09):
was a guy that they may have had contact with
in the first place, because it was it was such
a quick turnaround that he goes from you know, pseudo
retiring at Utah to being the head coach in Michigan.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
Yeah, he shed a little bit of light on that
with it yesterday morning. These days are kind of running
together at this point. But he met with the media
for the first time his introductory press conference down here
in Orlando and talked about that. He said the timing
of it was just a crazy coincidence. He talked about
how he was stepping down and then within a day
or two the Michigan job opened up, and you know,
he said, there's maybe four or five jobs in the
(23:43):
country that he would have considered, and Michigan was one
of them, and it just kind of went from there. So, yeah,
it is it is a little curious, you know, how
where exactly he might have been on that list and
if he was a high target from the very beginning,
and with the way that it worked out with you know,
Dillingham signing an extension and killing the board getting to win.
Like I said, there's there's uh, there's Kyle Whittingham. But
(24:04):
he might have been at the at the top of
that list all along. Again, it's one of those things
we're probably never going to get the true story on.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
But at the end of the day, he is the coach.
Speaker 7 (24:11):
And he talked about how, yeah, the weirdness of maybe, okay,
he was at Utah for twenty one years and some
people are saying he was pushed out, and some people
were saying, no, he quit on his own terms, and
he you know, it was weird. They was going to
coach in the Bowl game, and then Michigan comes along
and it kind of throws a wrench into everything. But
it sounded like he had already named his coach in waiting.
He actually said he was going to step away last year,
(24:34):
but then the season kind of fell apart and he
didn't want to leave on a note like that.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
So he comes back.
Speaker 7 (24:38):
They go ten and two, He kind of gets back
to you know, gets back to normal, so to speak, and.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Then steps away.
Speaker 7 (24:43):
So it it's yeah, it's it's It's one of those
things where the story probably didn't play out how anybody
thought it was going to, but I think everybody kind
of got what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
That's kind of what it feels like.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
Brandon Brown with us an insider from the University of
Michigan and Brandon Uh When on occasions I bought a
house in my life, you know, I say to my wife, Hey,
there's you know, big checkboxes and little checkboxes, you know,
the little checkboxes of the stuff you want, right, but
then there's a few big checkboxes. You say, okay, that
that's a non negotiable. We have to have that. In
(25:15):
that light, what were the qualities, you know, given the
transgressions in the turmoil that Michigan had experienced, what were
the non negotiables, What were the big checkboxes that Kyle
Whittingham or any other candidate had to check and what
are some of the areas Maybe you say, well, it
would have been nice to have that, but they'd be
willing to go without it. How did that break down
(25:38):
in terms of the values that they had regarding witting him?
Speaker 7 (25:41):
Yeah, I think you kind of nailed it on the head.
You mentioned those transgressions and the I mean, shoot man,
three to five years of things just happening with Michigan,
whether it was self inflicted or you know, I mean
Harbaugh leaving and then taking a bunch of his coaches
with them, and people thought like he shouldn't have done that.
And then of course there's the science stealing stuff, and
there's guys and suspended, and.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
It just was a lot. It was a lot over
the last three to five years, and they just just
cut that off. Just get rid of that stuff.
Speaker 7 (26:08):
No more, no more scandals, no more, you know, no
more blow the.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Belt kind of stuff.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
And I mean that's that's Kyle whitting him to a t.
I mean, he's been as squeaky clean as anybody maybe
for and he's been doing it for twenty one years.
He's just a stand up dude, a family dude, does
it the right way. You know, did more with less
most people would say out at Utah with you know,
not being able to recruit like a lot of places can,
and maybe not as much nil involvement here in the
(26:34):
last couple of years, and just just wins a lot
of games. It was always a tough out for anybody,
even if they didn't get to win. So I think
that was probably that was probably.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Priority number one.
Speaker 7 (26:44):
Somebody who's going to pass any any kind of backup,
come checking any as deep as you want to dig,
like they're going to come out clean on the other side.
And I think that's Kyle whitting him. And then he
talked about it the pillars that he wants the program
to be built on, and you know, toughness, grit, physicality,
and that's been miss football for a long time. So
he's even though he's not a Midwest guy, he doesn't
have any ties to the program, his philosophy and his
(27:06):
approach feels like it's going to be plug and play.
And I think, you know, Michigan more than a decade ago,
they they went away from that when they made the
big splash Hire with Rich Rodriguez, and it just didn't work.
Like it didn't work from the beginning. The region for
an on board, the style, the scheme, the philosophies, the
types of players that he recruited, it just did. It
was a square, you know, square peg in a round hole,
(27:26):
so to speak. And it doesn't feel like it's going
to be that way with winning him, a lot of
what he does.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Is going to fit right up.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
And then I think maybe the one thing though, like
he said, if there's maybe a small box that didn't
get checked, is that he's he's not an offensive or
a or a quarterback guy, right and when you've got
a talent like Bryce Underwood, that's what a lot of
people wanted to see. But there's been some rumblings of
who he might bring for his offensive coordinator. And when
you look at what he's done with his quarterbacks at Utah,
(27:52):
they've been pretty darn good. And so there's a lot
of belief that even though he's a defensive guy through
and through, that he's going to get a lot out
of Bryce Underwood and the offense is going to be
just fine. Even though maybe that was one of those
God We'd love to have an offensive guru to just
come in here and take Bryce to the next level.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So that'll be that'll be interesting to see.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Hey Brandon, as we let you go just a quick
sec because you're on air in Seattle, what can you
tell us about Jed Fish and and we heard a
lot of rumors that he was under consideration. What can
you tell us about his candacy and how how he's
considered by Michigan.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Yeah, I think he's considered finding He was actually a
guy that I mentioned right out of the gate. I
mean I've always liked Jeedfish from when he was at Michigan.
He seemed I kind of already said it with with
with winning him, I thought Jed Fish did more with less.
He didn't have the most talented quarterback in the world
when he was at Michigan, but he got pretty good
numbers out of him. And I think he's done a
phenomenal job at Washington. I mean he kind of took
over a bear cupboard there a little bit in some ways,
(28:47):
having to replace a lot and do some roster turnover.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
So I think he's well respected in the Michigan community.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
But again, it was one of those things where where
exactly is he on the list?
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, what exactly are they looking for?
Speaker 7 (28:59):
And you know, I don't know exactly if Jedfish was
open to leaving him. Mean, he seems to have a
pretty decent thing going out there, So yeah, you don't know.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
If you don't know if he was offered or who
shut who down or what have you in that potential relationship.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I don't believe he was offered.
Speaker 7 (29:16):
Word kind of got out when there was probably maybe
six names right out of the gate, and he was
one of them, and then it kind of got whittled
down to two, and then he wasn't one of them.
So I don't think it ever got to the point
where there was an offer made. I'd be shocked if
there wasn't at least some contact made to his camp
or his agent or whoever handles stuff like that. But
it doesn't look like it ever really got off the
ground with him.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
No, Brandon, enjoy yourself and Flora and you know, watch
the bowl game and then maybe you can I thinks
can settle down a little bit in the off season
for you.
Speaker 7 (29:44):
Yeah, you guys are You're welcome for Mike McDonald out there,
by the way, You're welcome to that.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
We're appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Man at BSB Underscore Wolverin on Twitter, the managing editor
of the Michigan Men, median host to Believe Believe in
Michigan podcast.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
We'll talk a little bit.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
We'll stand this Michigan topic for a second and chat
with you about it next on ninety three point three KJIFM.
Speaker 8 (30:05):
Welcome to Cracking Game Day, brought to you by Blood Works.
Give blood with Blood Works on Fridays in November and
get a cup of Iverse clam chowder available at donation
locations between Everett and Tacoma. Learn more at blood Works
NW dot org. Slash Music. Now, it's Cracking Game Day
(30:25):
with Softy and Dick. Yeah, Kracking going for five in
a row.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Seven o'clock face off, we'll talk to Everett Fitzhugh, the
voice of the Kraken coming up at six fifteen, but
talking football with Hugh until then, we'll get back to
the Seahawks topic of conversation and at the top of
the hour at six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
But just had.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
Brandon Brown of Michigan on Hugh and you know, some
interesting thoughts there and you know, pulling it back to
a Washington perspective. There were two questions that were going
through my mind through this whole Michigan situation and whether
Jedish was going to leave or not. And the first
question was is it a good I knew for a
(31:06):
fact that Jedfish staying here for twenty twenty six was
a good thing because I think he has got a
potentially loaded team in twenty twenty six. But Jedfish here
for the long run? Is that a good thing? I
don't know. I can't answer that. It's tough for me
to answer that question. And then the second question I
(31:26):
had was are we being fair to Jedfish for constantly
assuming that he is leaving.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
We're basically doing it.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
We are judging a book by its cover, We're judging
it on his past moving up the ladder in college football,
and we're just assuming that he is just racing to
get out of Seattle as fast as he possibly can.
So maybe let's let's start with the first question. Is
it good in the long run that Jedfish stays.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Here as coach of Michigan?
Speaker 6 (31:57):
In your opinion, thanks Jerry's I think that he's kind
of been par based on where you're at. But I
think that there was such a discrepancy between his the
performance against good teams versus poor teams that they I mean,
(32:19):
as we've talked about, it's the number one drop in
all of power for schools in terms of the offense
of whether it's EPA, whether it's yards, whether it's points.
There's the number one drop in all of Power four
between how you perform against the top twenty five defenses
(32:41):
versus how you perform against the bottom twenty five.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
And that's more than just the quarterback performance. That's the
offense as an offense. It's offense. And you can you
can either do it for Jed Fish and say how's
the offense diminish, and then you'll say the Washington offense
had the biggest drop. By the way, that five wins
were not just in the bottom twenty five, there were
the bottom twenty out of sixty seven in Power four.
(33:06):
So all of the and so the statistics that you
amass against non conference, the UC Davis's and the and
the Colorado States and the Washington States, and then the
five wins that she had in the big ten that
were in the bottom twenty defenses versus Okay, how did
(33:28):
you perform against the in your four losses, which were
in the top twenty five in defense, that's the biggest
drop so to me, like we said after the Sun Bowl, well,
Demand's going to have a huge step forward. Well, Deman
didn't have a single game this year that was as
(33:49):
good or better than what he had in the Sun
Bowl last year. So just assuming because the calendar marches
along that he's going to get better. I don't see
that the schedule is a lot easier this year.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I mean, you played.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Press as a quarterback since last year. I don't think
you progressed from the Sun Bowl. No, not based on
what we saw, No, because everything's front loaded into how
he performed against the poor teams. Right, if you're okay
with Washington having four losses, then okay, then let's have
a different discussion. But if that's not the standard, then
(34:27):
I would say the drop off in performance against the
four teams that were in the top twenty five, they
see there was a hole in there was no middle
class in their opposition. They were all either in the
top twenty five or in the bottom twenty. So they
had four losses against top twenty five and they had
five wins against bottom twenty interesting. So so whether it's
(34:51):
the quarterback or whether it's the offense, and you can
make the argument right there and back it with those facts.
The biggest drop statistically in all of power for so
to me, the jury's out because you don't want to
know why. Because he's the offensive coordinator, right, He's the
play calling, and so when I see things in the offense,
(35:14):
I'm like, whoa, that's a red flag. That's a red flag.
That's a red flag. I'm like, who's going to tell
him it's a red flag? Is he going to learn? Right?
And so you know, like very poor play design and
play calling in the red zone against Ohio State. Uh,
you know, Demond Williams had had twenty yards of scramble yards.
(35:39):
So Demon Williams just being twitchy isn't going to work
against the best defenses. You actually have to function as
a passer and you got to uh you got to
have the details tight or tight. I mean, you get
an interception in the against Oregon first quarter interception, you
get down Zel Boston, I'm lined up against a linebacker.
(36:02):
So okay, well that said work. That's cool. But you
have the the formation and and the the alignment where
Boston line was too close to the middle of the
field for him to be running a wheel rot so
all the angles break down and you say, well, you
could have Pooka Nikoua in the slot. He's not gonna
(36:23):
beat a linebacker with that that alignment, right, and and
so so you know it's like, well, how's that gonna
get fixed. Who's gonna tell him to fix it? Is
it gonna? Is it gonna occur to him? And so
I look, can I say the jury is out? Because
if we keep doing the same making the same mistakes,
(36:46):
and the quarterbacks, you know, set in camp at ten
and a half yards from the line of scrimmage and
the balls in the air that long and everybody can
react to the ball and you're not getting run after
the cats because of the spot of the quarterback. All
these details. That's how you beat good teams is you
fine tune the details, and the details are off too
(37:07):
often and it's revealed against the better teams, the better athletes.
And so I don't know how I mean, for me,
it's like clear the jury's out.
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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.
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
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.