May 6, 2025 • 34 mins
In the first hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen react to the Mariners loss last night and the Andres Munoz jinx on yesterday’s show, talk to Gary Kubiak, former NFL Head Coach and the father of new Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak, then react to the conversation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm just looking at my co host for the day,
Jackson felts my buddy, Hugh Mellan, just shaking my head
because you knew, stupid idiot, that what happened last night
was going to happen. Oh, it was an absolute certainty, Jackson,
a guarantee that what happened last night with on Dress Munhos.
(00:22):
There's actually a new hashtag that has spawned on social media.
By the way, you're not aware of this because like
a normal person, you don't spend too much time on
social media. I do because it's part of the gig.
Hashtag cursive Hugh is trending now on social media after
yesterday's show because the Mariners were lying on a guy
(00:43):
and on Dress Munhos up until last night was perfect
until Hugh Melon you had to.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Go and o'pen up your big math.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm gonna add something to text you because right now
I'm gonna not a big, big flag with a big
thick pull, but just a little flag. I'm gonna, okay,
flag that. Andris Munos is the best player in baseball,
best player in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
He is the.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Best player in baseball right now because he had he's
been perfect he is literally perfect. He has not blown
a save. He is not allowed to run, and of
course you can't. You can blow save without allowing to run.
He is, he is perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You have now guaranteed that Andress Munos will allow and
earn run tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I mean, it just it wasn't the next night, It
wasn't the next series, it wasn't the next week.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It was that frickin' night.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Andress Munas goes out and decides that last night is
gonna be the night. Literally minutes hours after years proclaimed
him to be the best player in baseball, he decides
on that night to blow the save.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So thank you, Hugh Millen.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
The curse of Hugh lives, It lives. Okay, well that
was then and this is now. Like rockel Wilts was
once the best sex symbol in America, right, and then
she turned like eighty years old. Yeah, and then gravity
took over. I mean, I'll just tell you. There was
sixteen closers that had not blown a save, and there
(02:19):
was only two, yeah, that had that had not allowed
to run. And the other guy was the dude from
the Rockies, and he had to say two saves and
he had Munyas had had twelve, so at any rate,
he was the most part. You know, I was. I
(02:39):
was really thinking that, you know that the Yankees might
call and offer Judge Munyams, Yeah, just to get the
most perfect player in baseball. He's been perfect.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
He's no longer me mister perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He's no longer perfect now because you jinxed them, idiot, unbelievable.
Well look, I mean, first of all, great job out
of him wiggling out of that thing last night. I mean,
he gets Soderstrom, he gets Rooker, he gets Butler, the
three best hitters the A's have. He loads the bases
after the blown save and strikes out the side.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So that was, I guess, fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I thought he got squeezed a little bit on the
year e sab when he's trying to butnt obviously, But
you know, I thought a lot about what you said,
which is a lie. I thought about it for like
fifteen seconds after yesterday's show on the drive home, about
Andres Munnos being the best player in baseball because he's perfect,
and the way that you phrase that in the tone
of voice that he used on the he's been perfect.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
On the air. No longer perfect after last.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Night, which really kind of is the context is important
here because he is a reliever, And it is a
little bit of a ridiculous take, to be honest with you,
because let's just say the Mariners or any other team
in baseball, Hugh had a guy who's number one responsibility
and only responsibility was was butting people over and he
had been relied upon for twenty bunts in the first
(04:00):
thirty three games of the year, and he was twenty
for twenty.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Would you call that guy the best player in baseball?
Just an idiot?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Or is this just kind of something you reserve for
guys that come in to finish the game.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I think the long snapper who doesn't blow a punt snap,
you know, he's more perfect than Josh Allen and Pat Mahomes.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, look, all of a sudden, the Mariner's got a
two game losing streak, gonna turn things around the night
with ever soon Hancocks.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So now you didn't you left out the part where
we said, well, you know, if we want to quibble
about semantics, we were saying he had performed the best
of any player in baseball because he had done his
job to perfection. But you know what that was then
and this is now. You know, hey, invidios stuck, go
get it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Look, I mean it was good. It was bound to
happen at some point.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Obviously, the fact that the Mariners obviously gave themselves a
shot to win that game when Bryce Miller did not
have his best stuff, and that ballpark. I mean, hey,
kudos to our guest last night, Evan Giddings, because he
called the over in that game big time. And by
the way, the over now on tonight's game is six
and a half, but if you want to play it,
you gotta lay minus four sixty on the over. So
(05:07):
people are starting to figure out that that place is
a bandbox, especially with the winds blowing around the way
it was last night. But I don't know, man, I mean, uh, look,
you don't want to put too much importance into one game,
but I'm just saying this right now. Uh, if the
Mariners end up missing the playoffs by a game, you're fired. Okay,
if they missed the playoffs by one game after what Andress.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Did last night, we're gonna blame your ass.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So here's what I don't believe. Here's what if I did. Yeah,
I would. I would jink, you know, every once in
a while Jins and Mariners and take it to Vegas.
I get it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
How about how about Jacob Wilson? How about walking to
guys to get to him? Yeah, you know a guy
who is fifth in the majors with a three thirty
three average.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right, what Dan Wilson said last night about that?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
By the way, he said he yeah, he said he
blew it, he blew Yeah. But I mean, you know,
they they they walked this blooday guy who had entered
Monday hitting only one seventy four, this flooday guy. I
don't believe we walked him.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Smith's Show and men walking this blooday guy. I never
even heard of him until this morning. I had no
idea who he was. I thought it was a typo
andith what.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Do we know?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, and and he was four for thirty one this
season when the score is tied. So I don't know.
I mean, every everything is. I love it because it's probability.
Everything's greater than zero in less than one hundred. But
I don't know. It seems like the probabilities that you
could have factored for the decision would not have led
(06:41):
to the decision that Dan made.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Well, I like I like that he's taken ownership of it, right,
you know. I mean players have to face the media
and take ownership for their mistakes all the time, and
coaches should do the same thing. And there's there's not
a lot of coaches that I can really off the
top of my head remember coming out and saying, Hey,
that's my mistake.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I blew up.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yes, it has happened before, but you don't hear that
from coaches nearly as often as you do from players, right,
about guys taking ownership from mistakes that they make. So
I like the fact that Dan did that. I'm hoping
there's a lesson for Dan Wilson there that he can
apply later in the year. I love the fact that
it's happening on Sinco de Mayo and not Sinco to August,
(07:22):
right later in the season when there's a big games, yes,
Sinco October and the playoffs for crying out loud. So
I love the fact that happened last night. But we'll
discuss this more. Brett Boone is going to join us
the new hitting coach of the Rangers, formerly of KJR
left us behind to go be the hitting coach of
the Texas Rangers, and they're in Boston today. He'll be
(07:43):
with us at five. John Wilder joins at four. Coming
up next though, the father of Clint Kubiak, former Bronco quarterback,
Super Bowl winning head coach Gary Kubiak, and a teammate
right of Hume Millins quarterback coach sorry in Denver. He
will join us next and talk about his son and
what he thinks his offense will look like in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
How about that? Next? On ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
Jas Studio. Now back to Softie and Dig powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the betting capital of the Northwest, on
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ Rlie.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
If you're gonna be successful in the in the Zone scheme,
it all starts with having an elite center, having a
dang Goods center that can move and is intelligent and
can make calls, and so it all starts from him.
And that's the most important part of our team is
the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That is the voice of Clint Kubiak. Back on the
thirteenth of February, you may have heard, Hugh. He's the
brand new Seahawk offensive coordinator, joining us on the air
from the vMac after his introductory press conference. And I
think we tried a few weeks ago to get his
dad on the air, Gary Kubiak, the former Super Bowl
winning head coach quarterback of the Denver Broncos. But I
(08:59):
didn't realize, and apparently neither did you, that the Hamsters
were on strike that day and the phone lines weren't working.
So we've reached a deal with the Rodents to get
the phone lines back up working again, so we can try.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That's what Gary take too, right now.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, and I'll tell you what Dave. An interesting thing
about Koob So he was either an offensive coordinator head
coach for twenty four seasons in the NFL. Eighteen of
those twenty four his offense was top ten in passing
or total offense, twelve of the twenty four in the
top five. So this guy knows his offense and he's
(09:35):
the dad as you said of our current offensive coordinator,
coub Great to have you here with us.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Hey, guys, thanks for having me a little better this time.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I can hear you get good.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That's always important. By the way. So we're glad that
that's working.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. So Gary, just kind of tell
us right now from your perspective, we get Clint Kubiak
and maybe give us an idea about what, uh what
facets of the game you think are really most important.
I assume all offensive coordinators say, hey, we want to
(10:11):
be physical in the run game, we want to be
in the passing game, we want to be explosive in
the past game, blah blah blah. But there's got to
be some tenets where you say, hey, this is really
more important to us even Well, how would you answer that?
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Well, I'll tell you what. The biggest thing that I
I've told coordinators, not just my son, but the coordinators
that you know I went on that that it worked
for me, is you have to really be tied with
your offensive line people. I mean, that's that's the most
important thing.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
Me, as a young coordinator, I was tied to Alex
Gifts and Alex controlled you know the run game. Uh, basically,
you gave me uh ways on Friday, Hey, Coop, I
can protect a quarterback if you keep me in this
formation or keep me in this for detection. So you
really have to be tied and guys and what has
(11:05):
happened and what Mike has done a great job there
In Seattle, there's really not one. There's three there. So
you got you got Rico, you got John benn and
you got who was with Clinton Denver who has done
a great job. So you have a lot of strength
tied to the offensive line when you have a young coordinator,
(11:25):
that's extremely important.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, and you mentioned Alex Gibbs and of course many
know he's the godfather so called of the outside zone
and there's a lot of feeling now and and me
as an analyst, I'm trying to tell our fans about, Okay,
what what's that going to look like and what do
we expect to see that? And last year with the
Saints Gary comparing it to Seattle, Seattle was number twenty
(11:49):
four in the percentage of out zones a year outside
zone a year ago, the Saints were number two with
Alvin Kamara. So maybe just talk to us about why
Gibbs love the outside zone and what seah Ok fans
are liable to see this this year with an increase
in that play.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, the biggest thing you is that you know, in football,
you know, how can I run something a lot and
be good at it, but how can I mask it?
So you know, the zone is something you teach and
then you know you go out you run it. Oh
god man, you know a thousand different ways throughout the
course of the season. So if I'm a fan and
(12:28):
I'm sitting in the stands, you think it's a different play.
But just by formation, motion, those type of things in theory,
it's really not. So it's a it's a way of
getting continuous reps, continuous steps for an offensive lineman, continuous looks,
but really not being that complicated. Did that make sense?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Well, Gary Kubiak is with us former coach of our
friend Hugh Millen. Gary, it's softy here and fire up
to see what your son can do for the Seahawks.
You know, I do want to ask it two questions,
since kind of one is an analyst and a football mind,
and then maybe also as a dad, talk to me
about why you think Clint has bounced around so much.
I mean, obviously there's a vagabond lifestyle that is typical
(13:12):
of an NFL coach, college pro whatever. We all get that, right,
But this is now the fifth stop for Clint in
the last five years. What do you think that is?
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Well, I think there's a couple of things that go on,
you know, I mean, as you're the business has changed,
Guys moving around a lot more. There's a lot more
change in coaching stats just in general, just like there
are players now move around much more than they did,
you know, twenty years ago. So that's that's part of it.
But you know, when you go somewhere you have success,
(13:47):
you get you get the next job, you know what
I mean, You go somewhere and the head coach gets
let go or something, then all of a sudden you're
looking for the next other. There's so many factors that
go into those type of things. We'd all like to
have careers like I had. I mean I think I
really and there he had two jobs Denver and Houston,
except for a stop to stop in Baltimore. But it
(14:09):
just doesn't exist that way like it did years ago. So, uh,
you know, it's tough on family. Live he's got four hits.
It's been really really difficult. But danby lams with a
great organization. He's got a good group of guys with him.
So I hope that you guys would be nice to him.
He can hang out there for how about that.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hey, it's not it's not me you gotta worry about
it's you. By the way, all right to talk to.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
H here, Uh, super Bowl winning coach with us, Gary
Kubiak and Kobe Let's talk about the personnel group. And and
I'm sure you had an eye on the Seahawks draft
this year. You know, a lot offensive guys in there,
but one of them was a tight end drafted high. Uh.
The Saints last year were number one in the use
(14:52):
of two or more tight ends. Now, I know the
Saint receivers Chris Olavey and Resid Shahid. There's injuries that
and maybe you're gonn tell me that was a big
part of it, But just kind of your thought about
the philosophy of more use of those double tight ends.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Well, yeah, in New Orleans they went through a lot,
losing all those receivers. You so, hell, they were just
trying to figure out week the week, you know, So
I think they ended up playing a lot of tight
end football. But the biggest, the biggest reason from my perspective,
the reason you like playing with those guys you widen
the edges and and pro football, one of the hardest
things to do is to protect a quarterback because those
(15:31):
guys rushing off the edges make as much as those
quarterbacks do, you know. I mean that's the way the
game is built, yep. But when you have tight ends
on each side and you're chipping these guys and you're
frustrating them, it really kind of widens the pocket a
little bit, really really helps, you know, helps you protect
your quarterback in a lot of ways. It also gives
you versatility. I mean, you can run two back schemes
(15:54):
by putting one tight end in the backfield. You can
run one back schemes by spreading them out. You can
you can go to mt and those type of things
when they're good receivers. So just persatile players that help
you be a little bit more unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Gary Kubiak is our guest on the radio show. Used
to be a huge quarterback coach in Denver by the
way super Bowl winner beat Cam Newton beat Carolina in
that famous game back in the day. He is the
father of Clint Kubiak, the new Seahawk offensive coordinator. And Gary,
I'm curious about that clip that we played coming in
and I hope that you caught it. It was the
(16:28):
voice of Clint when he was on the air with
US back in February talking about the outside zone and
how the center is the most important spot on that
offensive line. Can you kind of put it into maybe
Clint terms, if you will, why he believes that and
maybe why you believe.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
That, Well, he's a quarterback. I mean that's really what
he is. I mean, the center runs the show. He
helps a quarterback run the show when it comes to
identifying front's identifying, you know, Mike lonbackers for protect this
game and no type of things. So that's so extremely important.
(17:03):
I mean, just go back and look in New Orleans
last year, guys at an All Pro center and he played.
I think he played six games last year and I
think they were five and one when he played, and
there was not good when he didn't play. So that's
extremely important. I know when I was in Denver, Mike
and I had Tommy naaland running the show for us
for about twelve or thirteen years. So that's extremely important.
(17:27):
And it keeps you, it keeps a coheathon nessa Monty
offensive line.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So Coob, you're down in the Houston area and you're
Aggie's of course are now in the SEC. So you've
seen a lot of Jalen Milroe. Now he's a Seattle Seahawk,
and you watched the Saints and how they use Taysom Hill.
Maybe you see some similarities there, maybe you don't, but
just kind of talk about how you think you might
use mill Row if you're coaching the Seahawks this year,
(17:55):
and by extension, how you think Clint might use him.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Well, I listened to Mike the other day, and I
think he's got a great view on it, you know.
I mean, Dalen's there to play quarterback, and you've had
all the skills to do that. Now, you know, being
a great NFL quarterback, you nobody knows that better than
you do. But you know, there's a there's another step
to take. You can be a great college quarterback, but
(18:20):
being a great pro quarterback there's another gear you got
to go get. So they're all talented, but you find
out real quickly in their first year or two whether
they're gonna take another step and become a great professional quarterback.
So I think you're just throwing him in there, turning loose.
He's extremely talented. What do you call a bad play?
(18:40):
He can go save you. And it's nice to have
guys like that, you know. And but the bottom line is,
let him learn from Sam, let him get his seat wet,
and put a good football team around him. And I
think that's what they plan on doing.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
If you were, if you were coordinating this offense, Gary there,
and again Gary Kubiak with us father at Clint Kubiak,
would you have a pack of short yardage plays for him? Like,
you know, I guess to be honest, Gary is a
longtime Seahawks fan. I'm kind of hopeful that, hey, fourth
and six from the Seahawks thirty eight yard line, maybe
instead of kicking the ball away and playing conservative that
(19:14):
Mike McDonald says, let's bring in the rookie. Let's get
a little push, push going, Let's get our free six
inches and our free set of downs and and keep going.
Could you see that kind of maybe reality unfolding out
here with him?
Speaker 6 (19:26):
Well, I think in the NFL, first off, the number
of guys you suit up on game that you better
have versatility, you know what I mean. So when you've
got players like that, they give you some versatility that's
that's a great comfort zone as a football coach. But
you know, I can't speak for Mike, and I think
the world of him. He's a he's a great young coach.
But I know when he was watching that film, you
(19:49):
know he's looking at it from a defensive perspective and
in his mind saying, damn, these guys are hard to
defend against because the minute on top of play or
I call the right defense, call on me and go
get a first down. So you know it'll be fun
to watch. But I hope to get up there in
the spring and or spring or a shit.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Say you in the otaight and come watch from work
a couple of minutes more with Gary Kubiak and Koob.
I'm gonna tell a story from back in our time
that you can relate with. And so the year's nineteen
ninety four. Now you're still with the forty nine ers
winning a Super Bowl as a coach there, but that
I was the scout team quarterback backing up John Elway,
(20:30):
and we had this center that had been taken. He
was a rookie in the seventh round, kind of short,
kind of kind of smallish under two ninety and kid
was from BC, and so I had played for the Patriots.
We had this New England thing going, and he was,
as far as I was concerned, he was just a
scout team center and his name was Tommy Nalen, right,
And you guys came in and there was something you
(20:54):
saw from the limited time that he had or the
practice reps or whatever, and he said, you know, I
think we have something here. And then next scene is
the guy. The guy's a two time All Pro. He's
like a four or five time pro bowler, and uh,
what is it that you saw? And I think it's
particularly noteworthy story because Rick Dennison was on that staff
(21:14):
with you, and now he's the run game coordinator for
this season's Seattle Seahawks. So I would I would assume
there's some some synergy there in the philosophy. So just
kind of talk about that and whether or not maybe
whether it's Christian Haynes or somebody else might have a
similar ascension to you know, you know, just kind of
what you saw and what makes a great lineman in
this system?
Speaker 6 (21:36):
Yeah, you you know you I think he's a Hall
of Famer, That's how much I think of him. But anyway, Uh,
you know what. There was another guy who was on
that practice squad with Tommy Smith, Rod Smith, I mean,
uh yeah, I mean these guys. You know a lot
of times when he had staff changes. Uh you know,
press set eyes come in and watch players and look
(21:59):
at young guys. They see things a little different, you know,
and kids can get caught up in staff changes and stuff.
So really it's just a different set of eyes getting
on them. It's also a fresh new look saying hey, hey,
let's give this get a chance. Let's throw him in there.
I think he's capable of doing it. And you know,
you never know what these guys can do. You know
(22:21):
that all these kids that come into pro football from
college are all talented, and it's almost like you just
don't know what new gear they're going to reach until
they get an opportunity. And it's your job as a
coach to you know, advise your practices and stuff in
the off season so that you do get a chance
to look at all these kids, because you never know
(22:43):
who's going to step up and say, hey, I can
do this. I'm gonna be a hell of a player.
And until you get an opportunity to do it, you.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Know, you never know, my last question for my old
quarterback coach, Gary Kubiak, can't let you go without commenting
on the quarterback change Gino Smith out Sam Donald in
and you know, I know you're gonna say nice things
about Sam Donald because he's the quarterback here, but maybe
give us something that that we hadn't thought of in
(23:14):
terms of how you think about that transition. What's going
to be important? What did you like about Donald? What's
what's a factor that maybe we're not talking about with
regard to that quarterback change this year.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Yeah, person off, I think Gino is a hell of
a player, you know. And then he'll be fun to
watch him work there and in Vegas with Brady and
all those new guys. This spy tech, spy tech work
for me in Denver, so you know, it'll be fun
to see. But I think the thing that's great it's
really interesting about Sam is guys, you know, look what
this guy's went through and he's come out the other side.
(23:49):
And a lot of times in football nowadays and these
young quarterbacks get drafted really high, they go through a
rough time, they never come out of it, and uh,
well he's come out of it around some really good
coaching staffs. The last couple of years, he goes he
goes to Chrisco and he's there with Kyle and Clinton,
my son and Clay. They were all there together. Then
he goes to Minnesota, and I think Kevin is doing
(24:11):
as good a job in football as there is. Uh,
So he has come out of the back end of this.
There's some really good coaching and some hard work on
his part, So it's a it's a great opportunity for him. Uh.
They've put some good pieces around him, and if they
run the ball that helps him even more.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Just kind of exciting to watch you but you get
you've got a root for a guy who's uh, he's
kind of you know, he stood the tenth of time,
so to speak, and he's he's right there battling to
be one of the top guys in the league. And uh,
you know he didn't look that way a few years ago.
So really proud of him.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, well, Gary, listen, it's great to have you on.
We appreciate this. Uh, despite your history with Hugh, you
still agreed to come on his radio show, so we
we really appreciate that. And I know, I mean, like
all of us have faced challenges in our life, There's
no question about that. But of all the of all
the challenges that you face, both per personal and professional,
how big a challenge? How big of a pain in
(25:03):
the ass? Honestly, just tell us what's coaching humor?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And in Denver?
Speaker 6 (25:08):
Oh no, he was great man. I had been to
deal with John and you you know, I mean, uh,
those were the good days. I wish, I wish I
could do it again. So, hey, guys, great talking to
you all. Uh, tell her by hello over there, and
know a lot of them coaches on that staff, and
I hope to say hello when I come to town.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Well, those are great memories for me. You were just
a couple of years older, but you had all the uh,
the knowledge, and because you'd played the position, you had
the temperament and the psychology. So I knew you had
big things ahead of you and you accomplished it. So
great to have a visit with you. Hopeful we'll get
another visit and soon when your son gives us reason
to be barking about him. All right, So thanks so
(25:47):
much for your time too.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
AhR guy, A great day.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks Okay, you bet man, that's good stuff. Gary Kubiak
your former coach in uh in Denver. A lot to
unpack there, right, We've got to break and talk about
what we heard from the father of the offensive coordinator.
Used to be we talked to moms and dads of
Husky quarterbacks. Now we're talking to fathers of Seahawk offensive coordinators.
We're gonna respond to all that next on ninety three
three kJ A.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
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Speaker 5 (26:17):
Now back to Safie and Dig powered by Emerald Queen Casino,
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Speaker 2 (26:23):
On Sports Radio nineties three point three.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
kJ r FL.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
I think the thing that's great, it's really interesting about
Sam is guys. You know, look what this guys went
through and he's come out the other side. It's a
great opportunity for him. They put some good pieces arounding
and if they run the ball that helps him even
more so.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That's the voice of Gary Kubiak, who was with us
last segment, father of Clint Kubiak, by the way, on
the radio program. Good to have him on, by the way,
you're former coach in in Denver. Awesome to have a
Super Bowl winning championship head coach on the radio show
as well. But you know, there's a there's a couple
of things I'm curious about. So number one just kind
(27:03):
of getting your reaction to what Gary said about the
center and how important the center is in this specific scheme.
And then the other thing is is that you get
guys like Gary come on the year and they talk
about how impressed they are by Sam Darnold. And then
I'm looking at the Vegas odds the over under Hugh
for the Seahawks next year seven and a half, which
kind of feels like it's way off right as a
(27:24):
team that won ten games a year ago. And I
think the defense is going to be better at least
from day one than it was on day one a
year ago. The offensive line should be better. I think
the hope is that the quarterback position performs better than
it did a year ago under Geno Smith. So am
I crazy here? Like just being a big homer And
does that number seem way low?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
It does seem low to me. I heard discussion about that.
I'm trying to figure out. I think it's just probably
a lack of belief in Sam Darnold. It has to
be I think, you know, it's a one hit wonder
mentality about him possibly, you know, not having the playmaker
in Metcalf. But you know, I don't know if they
(28:06):
think they didn't do enough in the draft to address
the offensive line, you know, in free agency. I mean,
that could be a fair criticism. But yeah, I'm a
little bit I'm bit a little bit startled by that.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, yeah, that just kind of feels like easy money.
And when it's easy money, then there's something going on
that we don't know about, right, because nothing's easy. Vegas
isn't handing out easy money for anybody. Well, I think
you got to tip your hat to the Rams. It's
not easy to do. But I think when they won
that Super Bowl beat the Bengals a few years back,
there was a feeling that they had, you know, just
(28:38):
kind of sold the soul and and we're all in
put all the chips in the table, and then they're
going to have to to pay the salary cap implications
of their decisions. And yet they went really young at
a lot of places, and they just made a lot
of great draft picks. Less need.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You really got to tip your hat to what they've
created down there. So they've got a blend obviously with
the veteran quarterback, but enough young guys. Maybe there's a feeling,
you know, San Francisco has been a blue blood for
several years, and how many times have they been in
the at least the NFC Championship game. Maybe there's a
feeling there's a bounce back with them, and so that
it's a tough division. I don't know that anybody's you know,
(29:21):
really sold about the Cardinals, but I could see how
there's a feeling between the Rams and a bounce back
with the forty nine ers that maybe Seattle could be
viewed objectively as a third projection.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't know, man, I mean seven and ten, John
Schneider goes seven to ten, there's going to be a
lot of calls for him to leave if they go
seven to ten this year, right, I mean, if they
blow this thing up and John's had cart bloche to
do whatever he wants, right, They basically chose him over
Pete Carroll. They got rid of him, they got rid
of the quarterback, they got rid of DK Metcalf, They
made all kinds of changes to their coaching staff, their
(29:56):
defensive personnel, whatever, And so a seven and ten season
I mean, there's criticism mounting already for John Schneider, whether
fair or unfair, it's there. In Ago seven and ten,
those voices are going to be massively amplified. So go
back to what Gary said about the center, right, I mean, look,
some of it is obviously coach speak about him being
the quarterback of the offensive line and all that stuff,
(30:17):
blah blah blah. But do you first of all agree
with what Clint Kubiak said when he came on the
air with us that day. Actually, Jackson, you got that clip,
by the way, handy that you played coming into the
last segment, because I want to I want to replay
this clip if we can. This is the clip we
played going into the Gary Kubiak conversation. I want you
to hear this again and tell me if this is
(30:39):
just simple coach speak. You got the clip, Jackson, No,
you don't have it. Okay, he doesn't have it, forget it.
So he says the center is the most important part
of that of that zone scheme he likes to run.
Is that just coach speaker? Is there something really schematically
to that?
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Well?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I think the center is the most important guy in
the running game. Usually and particularly with an outside zone,
because there's more of a demand to reach. You know,
if you're trying to reach let's say it stretch left
and there's a defensive tackle in the gap to his left,
you have to snap the ball and have the quickness
(31:14):
to get into that defensive player, but also try and
hook that player and really get some movement on him.
So I think there's an athletic burden on the center
in addition to all making all the right calls. And
I think that, you know, coaches, I mean, we had
Ryan Grubb come on and say, hey, the quarterback's the
most important guy in the offense, and the second most
(31:36):
important guy is the center. So I think, whether you
want to call it coach speak, I understand because and
again for in past blocking, I don't think it's the
most important thing. A lot of times in certain even
fronts on third down, the center doesn't have anybody over him.
He's just trying to decide which guard to help. But
in the running game, you're never far from the point
(31:59):
of attack, and if the center, if there's penetration on
the center, that denies the cutback lanes for the running back,
and the running back may have to keep it playside.
Let's say it's again it stretch left outside zone left
the cutback. You may want his read because Kenneth Walker,
he gets the ball, he's in the what's called the dot.
(32:20):
He's behind the quarterback, so he's reading the edge block
whether to tight end or whether it's to tackle, and
he is going to make his decision by his third
step then, because there has to be a little bit
of a response neurologically, he's going to make his decision
by the third step and cut by the fifth step.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, if he's reading and running back is reading outside
in on each of these successive blocks to see whether
or not there's an opportunity to get outside wide. If
there's not, then you read the next block in and
so forth. And if those blocks on the outside are
telling you to cut up the field, yep, but the
(33:01):
center doesn't get his hook, then now there's nowhere to
cut back into. So I think that there's some schematic
things that we can talk about on the whiteboard. I'm
trying to give just kind of a simple example there.
And then, of course we all know that the quarterback
nature of the center in both the running game and
the passing game well, do they have the right guy
in Olu? I don't know. I think should they.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Have addressed that more over the offseason, whether through free agency.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Or the draft, they probably should have had more competition. Yeah,
I think I think it was a little bit of
an underwhelming offseason.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But because the point you just brought up, Hugh is
kind of it really flies in the face of what
Pete Carroll was doing when he was in Seattle, Like
there's no always compete at center. Who's competing for the
center spot right now? Christian Hayes, I mean, is there
another interior offensive lineman that we don't know about that's
competing the center job. It kind of seems to be
(33:55):
over that old Willow with Temmy is going to be
your starting centers? Are think we got to talk about
that more later on today, Hugh. We'll gotta break. We've
gotta break, all right. John Wilner is going to join
us next segment. We'll discuss that more coming up in
the four pm hour right here on ninety three to
three kJ RFM.
I'm just looking at my co host for the day,
Jackson felts my buddy, Hugh Mellan, just shaking my head
because you knew, stupid idiot, that what happened last night
was going to happen. Oh, it was an absolute certainty, Jackson,
a guarantee that what happened last night with on Dress Munhos.
(00:22):
There's actually a new hashtag that has spawned on social media.
By the way, you're not aware of this because like
a normal person, you don't spend too much time on
social media. I do because it's part of the gig.
Hashtag cursive Hugh is trending now on social media after
yesterday's show because the Mariners were lying on a guy
(00:43):
and on Dress Munhos up until last night was perfect
until Hugh Melon you had to.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Go and o'pen up your big math.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I'm gonna add something to text you because right now
I'm gonna not a big, big flag with a big
thick pull, but just a little flag. I'm gonna, okay,
flag that. Andris Munos is the best player in baseball,
best player in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
He is the.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Best player in baseball right now because he had he's
been perfect he is literally perfect. He has not blown
a save. He is not allowed to run, and of
course you can't. You can blow save without allowing to run.
He is, he is perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You have now guaranteed that Andress Munos will allow and
earn run tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I mean, it just it wasn't the next night, It
wasn't the next series, it wasn't the next week.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It was that frickin' night.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Andress Munas goes out and decides that last night is
gonna be the night. Literally minutes hours after years proclaimed
him to be the best player in baseball, he decides
on that night to blow the save.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So thank you, Hugh Millen.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
The curse of Hugh lives, It lives. Okay, well that
was then and this is now. Like rockel Wilts was
once the best sex symbol in America, right, and then
she turned like eighty years old. Yeah, and then gravity
took over. I mean, I'll just tell you. There was
sixteen closers that had not blown a save, and there
(02:19):
was only two, yeah, that had that had not allowed
to run. And the other guy was the dude from
the Rockies, and he had to say two saves and
he had Munyas had had twelve, so at any rate,
he was the most part. You know, I was. I
(02:39):
was really thinking that, you know that the Yankees might
call and offer Judge Munyams, Yeah, just to get the
most perfect player in baseball. He's been perfect.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
He's no longer me mister perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
He's no longer perfect now because you jinxed them, idiot, unbelievable.
Well look, I mean, first of all, great job out
of him wiggling out of that thing last night. I mean,
he gets Soderstrom, he gets Rooker, he gets Butler, the
three best hitters the A's have. He loads the bases
after the blown save and strikes out the side.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So that was, I guess, fun to watch.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I thought he got squeezed a little bit on the
year e sab when he's trying to butnt obviously, But
you know, I thought a lot about what you said,
which is a lie. I thought about it for like
fifteen seconds after yesterday's show on the drive home, about
Andres Munnos being the best player in baseball because he's perfect,
and the way that you phrase that in the tone
of voice that he used on the he's been perfect.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
On the air. No longer perfect after last.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Night, which really kind of is the context is important
here because he is a reliever, And it is a
little bit of a ridiculous take, to be honest with you,
because let's just say the Mariners or any other team
in baseball, Hugh had a guy who's number one responsibility
and only responsibility was was butting people over and he
had been relied upon for twenty bunts in the first
(04:00):
thirty three games of the year, and he was twenty
for twenty.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Would you call that guy the best player in baseball?
Just an idiot?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Or is this just kind of something you reserve for
guys that come in to finish the game.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I think the long snapper who doesn't blow a punt snap,
you know, he's more perfect than Josh Allen and Pat Mahomes.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Well, look, all of a sudden, the Mariner's got a
two game losing streak, gonna turn things around the night
with ever soon Hancocks.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So now you didn't you left out the part where
we said, well, you know, if we want to quibble
about semantics, we were saying he had performed the best
of any player in baseball because he had done his
job to perfection. But you know what that was then
and this is now. You know, hey, invidios stuck, go
get it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Look, I mean it was good. It was bound to
happen at some point.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Obviously, the fact that the Mariners obviously gave themselves a
shot to win that game when Bryce Miller did not
have his best stuff, and that ballpark. I mean, hey,
kudos to our guest last night, Evan Giddings, because he
called the over in that game big time. And by
the way, the over now on tonight's game is six
and a half, but if you want to play it,
you gotta lay minus four sixty on the over. So
(05:07):
people are starting to figure out that that place is
a bandbox, especially with the winds blowing around the way
it was last night. But I don't know, man, I mean, uh, look,
you don't want to put too much importance into one game,
but I'm just saying this right now. Uh, if the
Mariners end up missing the playoffs by a game, you're fired. Okay,
if they missed the playoffs by one game after what Andress.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Did last night, we're gonna blame your ass.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So here's what I don't believe. Here's what if I did. Yeah,
I would. I would jink, you know, every once in
a while Jins and Mariners and take it to Vegas.
I get it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
How about how about Jacob Wilson? How about walking to
guys to get to him? Yeah, you know a guy
who is fifth in the majors with a three thirty
three average.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right, what Dan Wilson said last night about that?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
By the way, he said he yeah, he said he
blew it, he blew Yeah. But I mean, you know,
they they they walked this blooday guy who had entered
Monday hitting only one seventy four, this flooday guy. I
don't believe we walked him.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Smith's Show and men walking this blooday guy. I never
even heard of him until this morning. I had no
idea who he was. I thought it was a typo
andith what.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
Do we know?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, and and he was four for thirty one this
season when the score is tied. So I don't know.
I mean, every everything is. I love it because it's probability.
Everything's greater than zero in less than one hundred. But
I don't know. It seems like the probabilities that you
could have factored for the decision would not have led
(06:41):
to the decision that Dan made.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Well, I like I like that he's taken ownership of it, right,
you know. I mean players have to face the media
and take ownership for their mistakes all the time, and
coaches should do the same thing. And there's there's not
a lot of coaches that I can really off the
top of my head remember coming out and saying, Hey,
that's my mistake.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I blew up.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yes, it has happened before, but you don't hear that
from coaches nearly as often as you do from players, right,
about guys taking ownership from mistakes that they make. So
I like the fact that Dan did that. I'm hoping
there's a lesson for Dan Wilson there that he can
apply later in the year. I love the fact that
it's happening on Sinco de Mayo and not Sinco to August,
(07:22):
right later in the season when there's a big games, yes,
Sinco October and the playoffs for crying out loud. So
I love the fact that happened last night. But we'll
discuss this more. Brett Boone is going to join us
the new hitting coach of the Rangers, formerly of KJR
left us behind to go be the hitting coach of
the Texas Rangers, and they're in Boston today. He'll be
(07:43):
with us at five. John Wilder joins at four. Coming
up next though, the father of Clint Kubiak, former Bronco quarterback,
Super Bowl winning head coach Gary Kubiak, and a teammate
right of Hume Millins quarterback coach sorry in Denver. He
will join us next and talk about his son and
what he thinks his offense will look like in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
How about that? Next? On ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
Jas Studio. Now back to Softie and Dig powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the betting capital of the Northwest, on
Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ Rlie.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
If you're gonna be successful in the in the Zone scheme,
it all starts with having an elite center, having a
dang Goods center that can move and is intelligent and
can make calls, and so it all starts from him.
And that's the most important part of our team is
the offensive line.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
That is the voice of Clint Kubiak. Back on the
thirteenth of February, you may have heard, Hugh. He's the
brand new Seahawk offensive coordinator, joining us on the air
from the vMac after his introductory press conference. And I
think we tried a few weeks ago to get his
dad on the air, Gary Kubiak, the former Super Bowl
winning head coach quarterback of the Denver Broncos. But I
(08:59):
didn't realize, and apparently neither did you, that the Hamsters
were on strike that day and the phone lines weren't working.
So we've reached a deal with the Rodents to get
the phone lines back up working again, so we can try.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That's what Gary take too, right now.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, and I'll tell you what Dave. An interesting thing
about Koob So he was either an offensive coordinator head
coach for twenty four seasons in the NFL. Eighteen of
those twenty four his offense was top ten in passing
or total offense, twelve of the twenty four in the
top five. So this guy knows his offense and he's
(09:35):
the dad as you said of our current offensive coordinator,
coub Great to have you here with us.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Hey, guys, thanks for having me a little better this time.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I can hear you get good.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That's always important. By the way. So we're glad that
that's working.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. So Gary, just kind of tell
us right now from your perspective, we get Clint Kubiak
and maybe give us an idea about what, uh what
facets of the game you think are really most important.
I assume all offensive coordinators say, hey, we want to
(10:11):
be physical in the run game, we want to be
in the passing game, we want to be explosive in
the past game, blah blah blah. But there's got to
be some tenets where you say, hey, this is really
more important to us even Well, how would you answer that?
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Well, I'll tell you what. The biggest thing that I
I've told coordinators, not just my son, but the coordinators
that you know I went on that that it worked
for me, is you have to really be tied with
your offensive line people. I mean, that's that's the most
important thing.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
Me, as a young coordinator, I was tied to Alex
Gifts and Alex controlled you know the run game. Uh, basically,
you gave me uh ways on Friday, Hey, Coop, I
can protect a quarterback if you keep me in this
formation or keep me in this for detection. So you
really have to be tied and guys and what has
(11:05):
happened and what Mike has done a great job there
In Seattle, there's really not one. There's three there. So
you got you got Rico, you got John benn and
you got who was with Clinton Denver who has done
a great job. So you have a lot of strength
tied to the offensive line when you have a young coordinator,
(11:25):
that's extremely important.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, and you mentioned Alex Gibbs and of course many
know he's the godfather so called of the outside zone
and there's a lot of feeling now and and me
as an analyst, I'm trying to tell our fans about, Okay,
what what's that going to look like and what do
we expect to see that? And last year with the
Saints Gary comparing it to Seattle, Seattle was number twenty
(11:49):
four in the percentage of out zones a year outside
zone a year ago, the Saints were number two with
Alvin Kamara. So maybe just talk to us about why
Gibbs love the outside zone and what seah Ok fans
are liable to see this this year with an increase
in that play.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
Well, the biggest thing you is that you know, in football,
you know, how can I run something a lot and
be good at it, but how can I mask it?
So you know, the zone is something you teach and
then you know you go out you run it. Oh
god man, you know a thousand different ways throughout the
course of the season. So if I'm a fan and
(12:28):
I'm sitting in the stands, you think it's a different play.
But just by formation, motion, those type of things in theory,
it's really not. So it's a it's a way of
getting continuous reps, continuous steps for an offensive lineman, continuous looks,
but really not being that complicated. Did that make sense?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Well, Gary Kubiak is with us former coach of our
friend Hugh Millen. Gary, it's softy here and fire up
to see what your son can do for the Seahawks.
You know, I do want to ask it two questions,
since kind of one is an analyst and a football mind,
and then maybe also as a dad, talk to me
about why you think Clint has bounced around so much.
I mean, obviously there's a vagabond lifestyle that is typical
(13:12):
of an NFL coach, college pro whatever. We all get that, right,
But this is now the fifth stop for Clint in
the last five years. What do you think that is?
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Well, I think there's a couple of things that go on,
you know, I mean, as you're the business has changed,
Guys moving around a lot more. There's a lot more
change in coaching stats just in general, just like there
are players now move around much more than they did,
you know, twenty years ago. So that's that's part of it.
But you know, when you go somewhere you have success,
(13:47):
you get you get the next job, you know what
I mean, You go somewhere and the head coach gets
let go or something, then all of a sudden you're
looking for the next other. There's so many factors that
go into those type of things. We'd all like to
have careers like I had. I mean I think I
really and there he had two jobs Denver and Houston,
except for a stop to stop in Baltimore. But it
(14:09):
just doesn't exist that way like it did years ago. So, uh,
you know, it's tough on family. Live he's got four hits.
It's been really really difficult. But danby lams with a
great organization. He's got a good group of guys with him.
So I hope that you guys would be nice to him.
He can hang out there for how about that.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Hey, it's not it's not me you gotta worry about
it's you. By the way, all right to talk to.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
H here, Uh, super Bowl winning coach with us, Gary
Kubiak and Kobe Let's talk about the personnel group. And and
I'm sure you had an eye on the Seahawks draft
this year. You know, a lot offensive guys in there,
but one of them was a tight end drafted high. Uh.
The Saints last year were number one in the use
(14:52):
of two or more tight ends. Now, I know the
Saint receivers Chris Olavey and Resid Shahid. There's injuries that
and maybe you're gonn tell me that was a big
part of it, But just kind of your thought about
the philosophy of more use of those double tight ends.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Well, yeah, in New Orleans they went through a lot,
losing all those receivers. You so, hell, they were just
trying to figure out week the week, you know, So
I think they ended up playing a lot of tight
end football. But the biggest, the biggest reason from my perspective,
the reason you like playing with those guys you widen
the edges and and pro football, one of the hardest
things to do is to protect a quarterback because those
(15:31):
guys rushing off the edges make as much as those
quarterbacks do, you know. I mean that's the way the
game is built, yep. But when you have tight ends
on each side and you're chipping these guys and you're
frustrating them, it really kind of widens the pocket a
little bit, really really helps, you know, helps you protect
your quarterback in a lot of ways. It also gives
you versatility. I mean, you can run two back schemes
(15:54):
by putting one tight end in the backfield. You can
run one back schemes by spreading them out. You can
you can go to mt and those type of things
when they're good receivers. So just persatile players that help
you be a little bit more unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Well.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Gary Kubiak is our guest on the radio show. Used
to be a huge quarterback coach in Denver by the
way super Bowl winner beat Cam Newton beat Carolina in
that famous game back in the day. He is the
father of Clint Kubiak, the new Seahawk offensive coordinator. And Gary,
I'm curious about that clip that we played coming in
and I hope that you caught it. It was the
(16:28):
voice of Clint when he was on the air with
US back in February talking about the outside zone and
how the center is the most important spot on that
offensive line. Can you kind of put it into maybe
Clint terms, if you will, why he believes that and
maybe why you believe.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
That, Well, he's a quarterback. I mean that's really what
he is. I mean, the center runs the show. He
helps a quarterback run the show when it comes to
identifying front's identifying, you know, Mike lonbackers for protect this
game and no type of things. So that's so extremely important.
(17:03):
I mean, just go back and look in New Orleans
last year, guys at an All Pro center and he played.
I think he played six games last year and I
think they were five and one when he played, and
there was not good when he didn't play. So that's
extremely important. I know when I was in Denver, Mike
and I had Tommy naaland running the show for us
for about twelve or thirteen years. So that's extremely important.
(17:27):
And it keeps you, it keeps a coheathon nessa Monty
offensive line.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
So Coob, you're down in the Houston area and you're
Aggie's of course are now in the SEC. So you've
seen a lot of Jalen Milroe. Now he's a Seattle Seahawk,
and you watched the Saints and how they use Taysom Hill.
Maybe you see some similarities there, maybe you don't, but
just kind of talk about how you think you might
use mill Row if you're coaching the Seahawks this year,
(17:55):
and by extension, how you think Clint might use him.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
Well, I listened to Mike the other day, and I
think he's got a great view on it, you know.
I mean, Dalen's there to play quarterback, and you've had
all the skills to do that. Now, you know, being
a great NFL quarterback, you nobody knows that better than
you do. But you know, there's a there's another step
to take. You can be a great college quarterback, but
(18:20):
being a great pro quarterback there's another gear you got
to go get. So they're all talented, but you find
out real quickly in their first year or two whether
they're gonna take another step and become a great professional quarterback.
So I think you're just throwing him in there, turning loose.
He's extremely talented. What do you call a bad play?
(18:40):
He can go save you. And it's nice to have
guys like that, you know. And but the bottom line is,
let him learn from Sam, let him get his seat wet,
and put a good football team around him. And I
think that's what they plan on doing.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
If you were, if you were coordinating this offense, Gary there,
and again Gary Kubiak with us father at Clint Kubiak,
would you have a pack of short yardage plays for him? Like,
you know, I guess to be honest, Gary is a
longtime Seahawks fan. I'm kind of hopeful that, hey, fourth
and six from the Seahawks thirty eight yard line, maybe
instead of kicking the ball away and playing conservative that
(19:14):
Mike McDonald says, let's bring in the rookie. Let's get
a little push, push going, Let's get our free six
inches and our free set of downs and and keep going.
Could you see that kind of maybe reality unfolding out
here with him?
Speaker 6 (19:26):
Well, I think in the NFL, first off, the number
of guys you suit up on game that you better
have versatility, you know what I mean. So when you've
got players like that, they give you some versatility that's
that's a great comfort zone as a football coach. But
you know, I can't speak for Mike, and I think
the world of him. He's a he's a great young coach.
But I know when he was watching that film, you
(19:49):
know he's looking at it from a defensive perspective and
in his mind saying, damn, these guys are hard to
defend against because the minute on top of play or
I call the right defense, call on me and go
get a first down. So you know it'll be fun
to watch. But I hope to get up there in
the spring and or spring or a shit.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Say you in the otaight and come watch from work
a couple of minutes more with Gary Kubiak and Koob.
I'm gonna tell a story from back in our time
that you can relate with. And so the year's nineteen
ninety four. Now you're still with the forty nine ers
winning a Super Bowl as a coach there, but that
I was the scout team quarterback backing up John Elway,
(20:30):
and we had this center that had been taken. He
was a rookie in the seventh round, kind of short,
kind of kind of smallish under two ninety and kid
was from BC, and so I had played for the Patriots.
We had this New England thing going, and he was,
as far as I was concerned, he was just a
scout team center and his name was Tommy Nalen, right,
And you guys came in and there was something you
(20:54):
saw from the limited time that he had or the
practice reps or whatever, and he said, you know, I
think we have something here. And then next scene is
the guy. The guy's a two time All Pro. He's
like a four or five time pro bowler, and uh,
what is it that you saw? And I think it's
particularly noteworthy story because Rick Dennison was on that staff
(21:14):
with you, and now he's the run game coordinator for
this season's Seattle Seahawks. So I would I would assume
there's some some synergy there in the philosophy. So just
kind of talk about that and whether or not maybe
whether it's Christian Haynes or somebody else might have a
similar ascension to you know, you know, just kind of
what you saw and what makes a great lineman in
this system?
Speaker 6 (21:36):
Yeah, you you know you I think he's a Hall
of Famer, That's how much I think of him. But anyway, Uh,
you know what. There was another guy who was on
that practice squad with Tommy Smith, Rod Smith, I mean,
uh yeah, I mean these guys. You know a lot
of times when he had staff changes. Uh you know,
press set eyes come in and watch players and look
(21:59):
at young guys. They see things a little different, you know,
and kids can get caught up in staff changes and stuff.
So really it's just a different set of eyes getting
on them. It's also a fresh new look saying hey, hey,
let's give this get a chance. Let's throw him in there.
I think he's capable of doing it. And you know,
you never know what these guys can do. You know
(22:21):
that all these kids that come into pro football from
college are all talented, and it's almost like you just
don't know what new gear they're going to reach until
they get an opportunity. And it's your job as a
coach to you know, advise your practices and stuff in
the off season so that you do get a chance
to look at all these kids, because you never know
(22:43):
who's going to step up and say, hey, I can
do this. I'm gonna be a hell of a player.
And until you get an opportunity to do it, you.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Know, you never know, my last question for my old
quarterback coach, Gary Kubiak, can't let you go without commenting
on the quarterback change Gino Smith out Sam Donald in
and you know, I know you're gonna say nice things
about Sam Donald because he's the quarterback here, but maybe
give us something that that we hadn't thought of in
(23:14):
terms of how you think about that transition. What's going
to be important? What did you like about Donald? What's
what's a factor that maybe we're not talking about with
regard to that quarterback change this year.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Yeah, person off, I think Gino is a hell of
a player, you know. And then he'll be fun to
watch him work there and in Vegas with Brady and
all those new guys. This spy tech, spy tech work
for me in Denver, so you know, it'll be fun
to see. But I think the thing that's great it's
really interesting about Sam is guys, you know, look what
this guy's went through and he's come out the other side.
(23:49):
And a lot of times in football nowadays and these
young quarterbacks get drafted really high, they go through a
rough time, they never come out of it, and uh,
well he's come out of it around some really good
coaching staffs. The last couple of years, he goes he
goes to Chrisco and he's there with Kyle and Clinton,
my son and Clay. They were all there together. Then
he goes to Minnesota, and I think Kevin is doing
(24:11):
as good a job in football as there is. Uh,
So he has come out of the back end of this.
There's some really good coaching and some hard work on
his part, So it's a it's a great opportunity for him. Uh.
They've put some good pieces around him, and if they
run the ball that helps him even more.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
So.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Just kind of exciting to watch you but you get
you've got a root for a guy who's uh, he's
kind of you know, he stood the tenth of time,
so to speak, and he's he's right there battling to
be one of the top guys in the league. And uh,
you know he didn't look that way a few years ago.
So really proud of him.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, well, Gary, listen, it's great to have you on.
We appreciate this. Uh, despite your history with Hugh, you
still agreed to come on his radio show, so we
we really appreciate that. And I know, I mean, like
all of us have faced challenges in our life, There's
no question about that. But of all the of all
the challenges that you face, both per personal and professional,
how big a challenge? How big of a pain in
(25:03):
the ass? Honestly, just tell us what's coaching humor?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
And in Denver?
Speaker 6 (25:08):
Oh no, he was great man. I had been to
deal with John and you you know, I mean, uh,
those were the good days. I wish, I wish I
could do it again. So, hey, guys, great talking to
you all. Uh, tell her by hello over there, and
know a lot of them coaches on that staff, and
I hope to say hello when I come to town.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Well, those are great memories for me. You were just
a couple of years older, but you had all the uh,
the knowledge, and because you'd played the position, you had
the temperament and the psychology. So I knew you had
big things ahead of you and you accomplished it. So
great to have a visit with you. Hopeful we'll get
another visit and soon when your son gives us reason
to be barking about him. All right, So thanks so
(25:47):
much for your time too.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
AhR guy, A great day.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Thanks Okay, you bet man, that's good stuff. Gary Kubiak
your former coach in uh in Denver. A lot to
unpack there, right, We've got to break and talk about
what we heard from the father of the offensive coordinator.
Used to be we talked to moms and dads of
Husky quarterbacks. Now we're talking to fathers of Seahawk offensive coordinators.
We're gonna respond to all that next on ninety three
three kJ A.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
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Speaker 6 (26:27):
I think the thing that's great, it's really interesting about
Sam is guys. You know, look what this guys went
through and he's come out the other side. It's a
great opportunity for him. They put some good pieces arounding
and if they run the ball that helps him even
more so.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That's the voice of Gary Kubiak, who was with us
last segment, father of Clint Kubiak, by the way, on
the radio program. Good to have him on, by the way,
you're former coach in in Denver. Awesome to have a
Super Bowl winning championship head coach on the radio show
as well. But you know, there's a there's a couple
of things I'm curious about. So number one just kind
(27:03):
of getting your reaction to what Gary said about the
center and how important the center is in this specific scheme.
And then the other thing is is that you get
guys like Gary come on the year and they talk
about how impressed they are by Sam Darnold. And then
I'm looking at the Vegas odds the over under Hugh
for the Seahawks next year seven and a half, which
kind of feels like it's way off right as a
(27:24):
team that won ten games a year ago. And I
think the defense is going to be better at least
from day one than it was on day one a
year ago. The offensive line should be better. I think
the hope is that the quarterback position performs better than
it did a year ago under Geno Smith. So am
I crazy here? Like just being a big homer And
does that number seem way low?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
It does seem low to me. I heard discussion about that.
I'm trying to figure out. I think it's just probably
a lack of belief in Sam Darnold. It has to
be I think, you know, it's a one hit wonder
mentality about him possibly, you know, not having the playmaker
in Metcalf. But you know, I don't know if they
(28:06):
think they didn't do enough in the draft to address
the offensive line, you know, in free agency. I mean,
that could be a fair criticism. But yeah, I'm a
little bit I'm bit a little bit startled by that.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, yeah, that just kind of feels like easy money.
And when it's easy money, then there's something going on
that we don't know about, right, because nothing's easy. Vegas
isn't handing out easy money for anybody. Well, I think
you got to tip your hat to the Rams. It's
not easy to do. But I think when they won
that Super Bowl beat the Bengals a few years back,
there was a feeling that they had, you know, just
(28:38):
kind of sold the soul and and we're all in
put all the chips in the table, and then they're
going to have to to pay the salary cap implications
of their decisions. And yet they went really young at
a lot of places, and they just made a lot
of great draft picks. Less need.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You really got to tip your hat to what they've
created down there. So they've got a blend obviously with
the veteran quarterback, but enough young guys. Maybe there's a feeling,
you know, San Francisco has been a blue blood for
several years, and how many times have they been in
the at least the NFC Championship game. Maybe there's a
feeling there's a bounce back with them, and so that
it's a tough division. I don't know that anybody's you know,
(29:21):
really sold about the Cardinals, but I could see how
there's a feeling between the Rams and a bounce back
with the forty nine ers that maybe Seattle could be
viewed objectively as a third projection.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I don't know, man, I mean seven and ten, John
Schneider goes seven to ten, there's going to be a
lot of calls for him to leave if they go
seven to ten this year, right, I mean, if they
blow this thing up and John's had cart bloche to
do whatever he wants, right, They basically chose him over
Pete Carroll. They got rid of him, they got rid
of the quarterback, they got rid of DK Metcalf, They
made all kinds of changes to their coaching staff, their
(29:56):
defensive personnel, whatever, And so a seven and ten season
I mean, there's criticism mounting already for John Schneider, whether
fair or unfair, it's there. In Ago seven and ten,
those voices are going to be massively amplified. So go
back to what Gary said about the center, right, I mean, look,
some of it is obviously coach speak about him being
the quarterback of the offensive line and all that stuff,
(30:17):
blah blah blah. But do you first of all agree
with what Clint Kubiak said when he came on the
air with us that day. Actually, Jackson, you got that clip,
by the way, handy that you played coming into the
last segment, because I want to I want to replay
this clip if we can. This is the clip we
played going into the Gary Kubiak conversation. I want you
to hear this again and tell me if this is
(30:39):
just simple coach speak. You got the clip, Jackson, No,
you don't have it. Okay, he doesn't have it, forget it.
So he says the center is the most important part
of that of that zone scheme he likes to run.
Is that just coach speaker? Is there something really schematically
to that?
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Well?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I think the center is the most important guy in
the running game. Usually and particularly with an outside zone,
because there's more of a demand to reach. You know,
if you're trying to reach let's say it stretch left
and there's a defensive tackle in the gap to his left,
you have to snap the ball and have the quickness
(31:14):
to get into that defensive player, but also try and
hook that player and really get some movement on him.
So I think there's an athletic burden on the center
in addition to all making all the right calls. And
I think that, you know, coaches, I mean, we had
Ryan Grubb come on and say, hey, the quarterback's the
most important guy in the offense, and the second most
(31:36):
important guy is the center. So I think, whether you
want to call it coach speak, I understand because and
again for in past blocking, I don't think it's the
most important thing. A lot of times in certain even
fronts on third down, the center doesn't have anybody over him.
He's just trying to decide which guard to help. But
in the running game, you're never far from the point
(31:59):
of attack, and if the center, if there's penetration on
the center, that denies the cutback lanes for the running back,
and the running back may have to keep it playside.
Let's say it's again it stretch left outside zone left
the cutback. You may want his read because Kenneth Walker,
he gets the ball, he's in the what's called the dot.
(32:20):
He's behind the quarterback, so he's reading the edge block
whether to tight end or whether it's to tackle, and
he is going to make his decision by his third
step then, because there has to be a little bit
of a response neurologically, he's going to make his decision
by the third step and cut by the fifth step.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, if he's reading and running back is reading outside
in on each of these successive blocks to see whether
or not there's an opportunity to get outside wide. If
there's not, then you read the next block in and
so forth. And if those blocks on the outside are
telling you to cut up the field, yep, but the
(33:01):
center doesn't get his hook, then now there's nowhere to
cut back into. So I think that there's some schematic
things that we can talk about on the whiteboard. I'm
trying to give just kind of a simple example there.
And then, of course we all know that the quarterback
nature of the center in both the running game and
the passing game well, do they have the right guy
in Olu? I don't know. I think should they.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Have addressed that more over the offseason, whether through free agency.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Or the draft, they probably should have had more competition. Yeah,
I think I think it was a little bit of
an underwhelming offseason.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But because the point you just brought up, Hugh is
kind of it really flies in the face of what
Pete Carroll was doing when he was in Seattle, Like
there's no always compete at center. Who's competing for the
center spot right now? Christian Hayes, I mean, is there
another interior offensive lineman that we don't know about that's
competing the center job. It kind of seems to be
(33:55):
over that old Willow with Temmy is going to be
your starting centers? Are think we got to talk about
that more later on today, Hugh. We'll gotta break. We've
gotta break, all right. John Wilner is going to join
us next segment. We'll discuss that more coming up in
the four pm hour right here on ninety three to
three kJ RFM.
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