August 5, 2026 • 34 mins
In the second hour, Seahawks tight end AJ Barner sits down with Softy and Hugh to talk about his Super Bowl touchdown, discuss the tight ends on the Hawks, how AJ can improve this season, how he has no hobbies and didn't watch Hard Knocks Tuesday night and discusses which was better: winning a national championship or winning a Super Bowl.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
No from the star Renols Sports to us your ninety
three point three kJ RFM sports headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Alrighty, boys and girls, here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Happy Wednesday, Sathi, Dick Jackson, No Dick, No Jackson. Hugh
and the Ogre Moger in for Dick and Jackson today
on the radio program headlines of course, and brought to
you by our friends at frost Frewed Cors liked as
cold as the Rocket Way. Why don't you give me
half the money you were gonna band and we'll go
out back.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'll kick you in the nuts and we'll.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Call it a day.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You know that would have been more helpful as opposed
to watching an eight nothing throttling last night, if the
MS would have just said, you know what, instead of
taking the field tonight, we're gonna take all our fans
out behind t Mobile Park and kick him right in
the nuts. Eight to nothing lost to the Tigers last
night with this new look lineup that got going on
the MS. Now fifty five and fifty nine, three games
out in the West because the Astros have lost to
(00:48):
the Blue Jays today five to four. Rangers did win
over the Giant six nothing, so they're a game and
a half out Brian Wu. We'll get the start tonight.
He's at home where he's been great the ms of
one six in a row on wood with Brian Wu
on the mound at t Mobile Park. Elsewhere in the
NFL wide receivers Stefon Diggs on the verge of a
one year, twelve million dollar deal where the commanders the
(01:10):
Rams given Aaron Donald a try out today. They don't
know much about this Donald guy. They got to bring
him in for a little lookxie and.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
See if he can play.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Ian Rappaport saying he had pads on and reevaluating everything
to see if his body can handle the riggers of
the NFL season, which means get ready for Aaron Donald
to be a Ram very soon. Seahawks, by the way,
did make a couple of moves. Running Back TJ. Harden,
cornerback Jordan Washington have been signed. They have wave cornerback
Brandon Johnson and outside linebacker Garrett Nelson. All right, we're
(01:41):
back at the Virginia Mason Athletics Center Boeing Classic next
weekend at tPCS. They'll call me Ridge expecting to see
Freddy Boom Boom up there as well.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
On the ridge.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So get your tickets Boeingclassic dot com. Twenty bucks gets
you in the door, and kids get in for free.
Find out more at Boeing KLA dot com. Well practice
has rapped, by the.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Way, Hue.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
We are awaiting the arrival of one AJ Barner, who
I think gave us back what we were owed. I
think we made a deal with AJ Barner the last
time we spoke to him that all right, you want
to take away a national championship from Washington as a
member here with the Michigan Wolverines, that's fine, go back
and just go go go win me a super Bowl
with a Seahawks and we'll call it even.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And that's exactly what the guy did with that touchdown.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Did you feel when it was nineteen nothing after that
score that it was done?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The game was over right there?
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Oh yeah, Oh I was. I was deep into Super
Bowl history at that point. Because the Patriots, I believe
at eighty eight yards, don't quote me on that. It
was certainly on one hundred. They were obviously on pace
for a shutout, which has never been done in a
Super Bowl. And I thought, wow, you know, you go
back to twenty thirteen when you had a chance to
(02:57):
have a Super Bowl against the Broncos ends up being
forty three. Well, there's been a lot of Super Bowls
where the loser had around seven, eight or even three
points or what have you, but never a shutout. So
I was I actually got more interested in the fourth
quarter because of that. But then I don't know, had
some defensive breakdowns and all of that just kind of
(03:18):
withered away. But no, that nineteen nothing. Maybe we'll get
a chance to ask him about it, but just a
beautifully designed play and he had to know early on
in that play that it was gonna be a touchdown
based on how the Patriots lined up.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, we can talk to AJ when we get him,
obviously as well about Hard Knocks from last night, And
I want to go back to something that was talked
about on the show because obviously the day that we
heard about the Nick emn Warry injury, you were as
concerned as anybody about this guy, right. I mean, when
you turn on Hard Knocks and you see him on
a scooter, for God's sakes, doesn't make you feel great
(03:55):
that he's gonna be ready for the opener. And I
don't do this very often, but I'll do it now
because I was so surprised by the reaction from some people.
And look, I mean, we all love the fans, and
I'm a fan and you're a fan, but I do
think if you're a fan of this football team, you
do need to have a little bit of room for objectivity.
Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, meaning Nick even Worry
being hurt is not a good thing. There's nothing good
(04:17):
about Nick even Worey being hurt at all. So when
I go on Twitter and I say something like, you
know what, that doesn't make me feel good about him
being ready for the opener here when I see him
on a scooter and I hear from people saying, oh,
that'll be fine whatever. It's the first game of the year.
What do you hear last night? Mike McDonald and I
quote every game we miss with this guy. We all
(04:37):
know this is just a huge loss for us, says
Mike McDonald.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So I think we can put to bed the idea.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
That it's no big deal if even Worry doesn't play,
if he's hurt, stop being stupid and listen to what
your head coach said, because he's one thousand percent right.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Yeah, I was concerned from the jump. There's some chatter
going around that at the time when they put him
on the pup list, like, hey, no big deal to me.
Let's let's go thought experiment. Let's say God himself came
down and told you that there's a fifty one percent
(05:16):
chance that Emon Warry is going to start in Game
one against the forty nine ers, and you knew that
to be a fact. Well, guess what semantics Obviously, that
means he's probably going to start, But how do you
feel about the forty nine percent chance that he's not.
What if God told you there's a fifty one percent
(05:36):
chance that he'll start the first week in October and
and that he won't miss any games in September, Well,
that means that there's a chance that of forty nine
percent that he's going to miss all of September, even
though it's it's less probable. Well, it doesn't have to
(05:57):
be more probable than not to be of grave concern, right,
And yeah, I wrote that same quote down and and
you got it exactly right. And so it's it's a concern.
And when he says every game, every game, wait, wait,
you're talking about a plural set if I said every
(06:17):
jellybean in a jar, you know that I'm talking about
more than one jelly bean every game. Now, it might
only be one, but it opens the specter that he's
talking about this could be a multi game setback, and
it just I don't know, and then you worry about
chronic It was the same right ankle. Yes, it was
a high ankle sprain in the in the opener last year,
(06:41):
and then it was a low ankle sprain in the
Super Bowl. You know, I understand that orthopedic surgeon is
going to tell you those are different injuries. But you
know what, having a couple of injuries on the right ankle,
it just doesn't make me rest easy for the Seahawks
when you can how vital he is, what an incredible
(07:03):
athlete he is, and how young he is, and I
don't want this to be the onset of a chronic
ankle prom.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
A couple things. First of all, Petros will join us
at six o'clock tonight. By the way, sorry, Randy got
a text from Petros's number one fan, by the way,
he wants to know where his Petros is. He'll be
here at six o'clock tonight because we are awaiting the
arrival of aj Barner. So that's number one. Number two,
he is no longer, by the way, on the scooter.
(07:31):
He was out watching practice today. It doesn't mean he'll be
ready for the opener, but the fact that he's off
the scooter is obviously great news. I mean, he wasn't
going to be on the scooter for six months.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
For God's sakes.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
At some point he was going to be having to
put some pressure on the ankle. But I guess the
question I had, and this might be hard to answer,
but you mentioned the ankle sprain going into the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right, Hugh.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, So this has been a problem for them for
the last five months, and it feels like they delayed
it before they win in to fix it. And I
wonder if there's any room for maybe at least a
little bit of questions and curiosity about why they waited
so long to adjust this over the offseason.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
Yeah, you'd like to have been out ahead of this
and anticipate it, you know, I think there was logic
at the time. You can only make decisions at the
time with the information you.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Have available to you.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But it's they opened themselves up for second guessing that Hey,
maybe we should have taken the conservative route here and
gone in Arthur's scroft of lee right and cleaned up
this mess. A couple things. First of all, the scooter.
That's the equivalent of being on crutches. If you're gonna
have surgery, they're gonna say, hey, we want no load bearing.
(08:42):
And you know in years past it was crutches and that.
So the idea that he's on a scooter doesn't really
bother me. I'll tell you what bothers me. How about this?
For those who say it's not a problem. The guy's
going into year two, you don't think it would be
good to practice right and get the reps in training camp?
That for him to have two different universes for twenty
(09:05):
twenty six. In one universe, you've got Nicki min Worri,
a second year guy who, by the way, missed a
month of the season last year. He gets to practice
and be healthy. In the number one huddle, you all
the new schemes, everything, get his timing, get all of it,
get those experience, get those reps. There's that universe or
(09:28):
universe number two. He barely is ready to go. He's
technically starts against the forty nine ers, but he didn't have.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Training camp right right right? I don't know, man.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I think the advantages of being healthy in training camp
and practicing, particularly when you consider the load and the
relative light load that these guys have now, no double days,
what have you?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
For a guy that young, he needs to be in
practicing right now.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Yeah, for him to have the best I don't want
some cal rally deal with him. You know, are uh
you know where where things got off to a bad start.
You didn't your your rhythm wasn't right, and then you
didn't have the potential season that you could have had
had you not had the surgery. So there's a lot
of things, in my opinion to be to be a
(10:15):
little squeamish about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
When you said forty nine ers, is that a reference
to last year? To the opener last year talking about
the forty nine ers?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Okay, gotcha? Got you?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Because people were texting at the page. Yeah, no, you
know that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So yeah, I mean, look, obviously, I mean this is
a guy that you've made it crystal clear, and I
think McDonald's made it crystal clear that there's nobody else
on this football team that can do what he can do.
He's a potential NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate,
and selfishly, I want the guy back because I got
one hundred bucks on him at sixty to one to
win the damn thing.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
So let's go.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Let's get your ass back on the field. Well, the
other thing that stood out to me last night, it
was a lot that stood out, but there was a
scene in McDonald's office where Cooper Cup and and Mike
McDonald were watching film I assume of a game from
a year ago, and Cooper Cup picked up on something
that Mike McDonald hadn't noticed, and just I mean, you
(11:06):
think of McDonald right as some rain man, right as
a wizard of defense. And I thought it was so
freaking cool that Cooper Cup. It shows you how smart
he is, by the way, number one was able to
notice something that Mike McDonald didn't pick up on, and
then McDonald giving him his props and giving him a
fist pump saying, god darn it, you're right.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
That was awesome. What do you think Cooper Cup noticed?
There a couple of thoughts there. First of all, when
you listen, he said, McDonald says, Oh, they're just doing
under center. That's what I interpreted if you put on
the words on HBO, it reads they're just doing our center.
(11:51):
I don't think that's a correct voice interpretation. I think
he said, oh, they're just doing under center. But if
he said he said if he said they're just doing
our center, then we know this it's the Seahawks offense
because he's referring to ours and it's not the Seahawk defense.
If he said, oh, they're just doing under center, what
do we know? We know that it is not the
(12:13):
Seahawks offense and the defense is unknown. Could be the Seahawks.
My short answers, I don't know. It was said, I'll
try and give you what hopefully is an educated guess. Okay,
I think he said, oh, they're just doing under center.
I think they're watching the tape. My best guess would
(12:34):
be that they're watching RAM tape the Ram offense. Okay,
And now you'd say, okay, what kind of thing would
Cooper cup No, because he played there that Mike McDonald,
it would not occur to Mike McDonald. Well, there's a lot,
almost an infinite number of answers to that. There could
(12:56):
be an RPO on a quick slant in a touchdown.
There was a touchdown that Matthew Stafford threw across his
body no look down on the one yard line in
the Thursday night game. It could have to do with
the r p O s and the split. Uh, it
could have to do with the the running play. Hey,
do they run to the stretch to the open side
(13:16):
or the weak side and maybe you know, the the
quarterback is holding his feet or he taps his knee
or something, although McDonald's has seen that, but but maybe
they're running either way and and Cooper cup knows, Hey,
they only do that under center. Maybe it was a
the in certain formation and bunch formations. The wide receiver
in a bunch, he's gonna he's gonna fit up and
(13:37):
block the the uh, the safety or sometimes they run
at an r p O and UH and they say,
wait a minute, we're only gonna do r P O
at a shotgun. But uh, but we're gonna do the
run fits out of under center. So it would it
would likely be something like that, but it would be
I think that what they were doing, uh was was
(13:58):
uh most likely looking at rams offense against this a
Seaak defense. And one other observation about it David. When
you watch there's tape of Tom Brady in Bill Belichick's
office back when he was playing for the Patriots, and
Brady was across the desk. He's sitting up all relatively rigid.
(14:22):
They're going over tape together. I think it was in
a documentary called Tom Versus Time. Anyways, I know I've
seen the video, and there was a certain hierarchy, like, hey,
the head coaches behind the desk. The quarterback is sitting
upright across the desk. If you look at last night,
Cooper Cup is like slacking. He was all but had
his feet up on McDonald's desk. He was very comfortable.
(14:45):
You could see this is a comfortable relation. They respect
each other, they like each other. Obviously they're closer aligned
in age and what have you, and so they're right
wrong or indifferent.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
I think it's a cool thing. But I think the
body language that I saw from Cup struck me as
very like he's connected with his head coach.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I love it. One minute.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Do you think Sean McVeigh is aware of that conversation
on Hard Knocks, knows what they were talking about, and
will then change it before they play the Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Well, if my theory's right, and again it's just it's
just a hopefully educated guess, then he then he would know.
And if in fact it was about the Rams, there's
probably a better than fifty percent chance that McVeigh can
figure that out right, and he would know that that
cup is in the office going over Ram offense. Now
(15:42):
there's a lot of assumptions I'm making on of course,
of course, but I think it's I think it's reasonable assumptions,
and so my answer would be yes, and he probably
already knows by Now.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Let's do this.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
We've got to get a quick break. A. J. Barner
is on his way over. We'll chat with the next
on ninety three three KJR.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
The gay.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
Atriot sixteen Seattle first and ten leading twelve nothing, Donald
under center five on the defensive line. He gets the
stats turn, Blight picks the hand up. Here comes the
Blitzer does the crow in zone, cut, touts down, cut,
touchdown tunner, the tight end over the shutter, catch in
the corner of the end zone, and we've got our
(16:25):
first touchdown.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Of Super Bowl sixteen, and the.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Sea Hawks extend their lead early in the fourth, eighteen
to nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, I always wonder a couple of things, Hiweie.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
First of all, back here at the Virginia mas Athletics Center,
Seahawk training camp well underway, by the way, the NFL
preseason starts tomorrow, for God's sakes, in Canton, Ohio, at
the Carolina Arizona game in the Hall of Fame game.
I always wonder two things when a call like that,
at play like that happens. Number One, did the player
hear that call before now? And did just save the ball?
(17:00):
So Aj Barner is with us here Seahawk tight end
eighty eight in your score card. Number one, in his
mom's heart, did you save the ball? And if you
heard that play by play.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Call until now, absolutely saved the ball?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Play by play.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
I'm not sure who that broadcaster is, Vin Harlan, Kevin
Harlan legend facts. Okay, now I know the name, and
I was just say legendary voice. I'm not sure if
I've heard Kevin's voice over it. I probably have, but
I've definitely heard you know, multiple you know, recordings of it.
So yeah, no special moment for myself in the Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
One more on that one, so you get you shift,
raceied over there, get the defense communicating, then you motion over.
They don't shadow, they bounce and you fake the stretch
to the right. You had to know early on when
you cleared that linebacker, single hit high defense, you had
to know like, oh my god, this is this is
(17:55):
gonna be a I'm about to score the first touchdown
in this game. You knew that four yards from the
line of scrimmage, did you not.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
I mean, I was going through your head.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (18:04):
I felt like as soon as I cleared those linebackers,
you know, I felt like the ball was going to
be in the air, so I had to go find it.
But yeah, I think when you're in those moments, no
time to think, shoot, I think, you know is just
go make a play. But definitely when that call comes
into the huddle, it's like all right, you know, here
we go. Yeah, you know, but you're trying to stay
present and just you know, stay you know, in the moment,
(18:27):
and not make it too big because at the end
of the day too, you can have those plays they
get called and maybe you know, you don't get the
right look for it, and you can't let that one
play mess up the rest of the game. Where it's like, shoot,
that was my target and who knows you could have
a play that you're not necessarily the first look, but
you know could end up for.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
A touchdown as well.
Speaker 7 (18:44):
So right, but yeah, absolutely, when I could those linebackers
knew the ball is going to be in the air.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
You know, A. J.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Barner's with us and he was. You know, there's been
a couple of moments in Seahawks Super Bowl history where
it was time to pick up the phone and call dad, right.
Number one was for me it was mains touchdown to
make a thirty six zip in forty eight. Some say
Percy Harvin's kickoff return, but I think in this game,
with the way the dark Side.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Was playing, it was your touchdown. Does that ever resonate
with you at all?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That that was a play that people started kind of
maybe getting emotional, calling their moms and dads, hugging their
brothers all that.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Does that mean much to you at all?
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Want that?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
No?
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Absolutely?
Speaker 7 (19:21):
I think you know, as the years go by, obviously
you know this is gonna be my third year here
in Seattle and we have, you know, so much left
to accomplish here and we're super excited to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
To run it forward and kind of turn the page
on that.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
But you know, I think as the years go by
and I look back, I think that moment will be
a bit special, more special, I mean obviously incredibly special
for myself in the twelves as well, But yeah, I
think absolutely I'm glad I could, you know, share that
moment with the twelves and for people like you guys
and all the fans out there that were able to,
you know, enjoy that moment and celebrate as a city.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
It was just my opportunity to do that. Well.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
The cool thing was where I I was sitting. I
was sitting in a section mostly of Patriot fans. When
you caught that ball, they got up and left said
the hell with us, I'm done. But you mentioned, you
mentioned that you have the ball? Does mom have it?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Do you have it?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Where is it? I have the ball.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
I'm going to keep the location un disclosed, but yeah,
I've been able to keep all my touchdown balls. The
equipment guys do a great job of love it. Whenever
you score a touchdown, you get to keep the ball
ks unless you throw it in the stands or something
which may or may not happen.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Sometime soon.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Well a J Barner with us looking back again, not
just at the Super Bowl, for the entire year. You
guys were in the twelve personnel. That really was a
great personnel grouping with the two tight end sets. You
guys had the second most amount of yards at five
point three yards per temp. You had the second best
rushing So you threw it, you ran it well with
(20:54):
twelve personnel. You got Elijah Royal rookie first round or
come in behind and with you. There's a lot of
thirteen personnel in the league, with the Rams and the
forty nine ers. Just kind of talk with Brian Florey
coming in talk about the use of multiple tight ends
that you expect to see for us to see with
(21:15):
the Seahawks this year.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Yeah, I think you're seeing that because you know that
the tight end position is almost becoming a position where
each guy can create their own role in it. You know,
you have a guy like Kenyan Sadik, for example, who
got drafted in the first round from Oregon, who's you know,
a six to one guy at two thirty five, two forty,
Or you have someone like myself, who's you know, six
(21:37):
six and two sixty in a little bit of a
different role. And I think with our with our room
here in Seattle. Uh you mentioned Elijah. Elijah's one of
those guys that's extremely talented player that can really stretch
the field vertically, almost like your ex receiver from back
in the day. But now you have them as a
tight end as well and able to line up with
(21:59):
his hand on the ground, in the hip, in the
slot all the way out at number one. And then
you have guys like Eric Sobert and Nick Caller up
and Brady Russell who Brady might line up at fullback
and the next play he might line up at tight end,
and it kind of creates this confusion for defense and
adds an extra gap to the to the to the field,
and you know you can run play action keep a
(22:20):
guy in protection. So I say all that to say
that you know, the position is really growing into a
position where you almost can carve out a role within
the offense that can be unique to yourself. And we're
blessed here in Seattle to have a really good position
coach and Mac Brown and have coach Flurry come in
as well, who has a lot of experience with tight ends.
And I think Coach Mike as well is a guy
(22:43):
that you know, really values the tight end position. He
knows what that can do to a defense, how talented
tight ends play on the edge. And you know, we're
we're really just scratching the surface here, and we have
high expectations for the entire room this season.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Indeed, you do a J Barner with this. Let's stay
there because I'm gonna I'm gonna share with you the
analysis that I that I give Dave about you, and
then you tell me your reaction to my analysis. So
what First of all, I say, hey, we got the
tight end for Michigan. Oh not not Colston Lovelin, the
other guy. We get him in the mid rounds Okay.
(23:20):
So I'm like, okay, all right, so let's see what
he's got. And then I said, watching him and really,
when I saw him in practice, I was standing eight
feet behind him, I'm talking about you when I say him,
I'm talking about a J Barner. I said, I had
no idea to frame this guy. The thin waist, the
development through. He just looks like an athlete through and through.
Like I played with a Pro Bowl tight ends in
(23:42):
my career, I got a little bit of an eye
on a tight end. I said, you have no idea
that I'll say I had no idea. The athlete that
was inside that mid round, dude, George Kittle was a
fifth rounder for crying out loud, and they right. And
so I have opened my eyes to how good you
are and what you can become.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Is that a fair analysis? And and and are we
just seeing the very beginning of a j Barner in
in a in a star career.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Yeah, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
And I think, you know, I've definitely let that, let's say,
affect me a little bit in the past too, being
a guy that got drafted in the mid round and
being a guy that maybe wasn't a number one guy
in college and you kind of feel like, oh, shoot,
maybe I'm not, you know, one of the best.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
You know.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
But I think when you boil it down to really
putting your best foot forward and doing your job over
and over, and I think that's where I'm really gonna
take a step this year is really dialing into my details,
my process, and you know, not be focused on necessarily
the results that come from it, but the process that
goes into it and everything that I want to come
(24:50):
out of that will we'll be able to come true.
So I appreciate the analysis for sure. I think the
sky's the limit and I think any guy that you
know has the confidence to believe himself in this league
can really do something special. And I think I'm really
willing to put in the work day in and day out,
because I've said it before, I love this game of football. Unfortunately,
(25:10):
I really don't have any hobbies outside of that.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Which what do you do when you leave here? Yeah? Bro,
it's like watch film, you know.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I mean, I I just I'm it's sometimes to a fault,
like I've had the conversations with the Vets before where
I need to find a hobby outside of ball because
sometimes the days get long in the offseason, But when
when it comes down to times like this in camp,
it's like what else would you rather be doing?
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Sure? So yeah, I'm excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Well, this show is available on podcasts if you want
to listen.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Yeah, I mean, if you want.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
A hobby of just going through all kJ R podcasts,
we can send you a couple of copies of the show.
But Aj Barner's with us, you mentioned, you know, I
think everybody like right, Hugh Sam was on with us
here to Day and said a couple of things in
his toolbox he wants to kind of sharpen up. We've
talked to Mike about red zone offense obviously from last year,
but for you, specif typically you mentioned there's a couple
of things that you really want to elevate.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
What are maybe one or two of those things?
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Yeah, I would say kind of just the mentality that
I just kind of touched on. I think you know
when you stay kind of what I touched on in
the first part of the show, right, you have a
moment where it's like, Oh, this play gets called and
like this is my reception and get me going in
the game.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
As a young player, you're really thinking like that. And
I think now being in year three, it's like, no,
like any play should be able to get me going.
I should be able to block the C gap and
that and that starts me on a row. I should
be able to be a third in the progression and
get open and make the play. I think when you
when you start chasing these plays and when you start
chasing these outcomes, the season is so long, and these
(26:39):
games are even longer that it starts to supplate away
from you. So I really just want to stay present
and put my best foot forward. And I think that's
because I know I have the talent. I know I
have people that believe in me here, and I know
I'm gonna get my opportunities. So I think if I
can just be ready for those opportunities and really make
the most out of anyone that I have, that's really
what it's all about. And I think think when you
(27:00):
win championships like we did last year, at the end
of the day, that that's what you want to do.
You want to win games. So let's just let's just
leave it there. I want to have the best season
that I can have personally with my process, and the
results will follow. And I think as a team, I
want to win a whole bunch of games and do
what we did last year.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
A J.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Barner with this, A G. Did you watch Hard Knocks
last night?
Speaker 4 (27:23):
I did not. I didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Most of the guys not watching watch it.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Not sure.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
I have a personality, which you know, you guys know.
I'm sure you know I'll be on the show eventually,
a little bit. But I just felt like I kind
of just want to lock into the camp and not
really fall into the storylines per se. But great show.
I mean, I'm excited that they're here. And it's been
a pretty seamless process too, Like it don't be you know,
we're used to the cameras being around and on, so
(27:52):
it almost feels like it's normal.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
So one of the things, Mike McDonald, there was a
section there where the offense you guys had, like and
McDonald's accounting twelve thirteen, fourteen plays in a row is
like fourteen to one, And I didn't really you know,
he didn't really like go off on the defense like
get that red ass type of thing. Not implying that
(28:13):
he should, it's just an observation. And so my question
to you is, is there have you ever seen him
just kind of like semi snap, like he is so
pissed at either lack of focus, lack of effort, lack
of execute, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Is there a red ass side to him that we
don't see?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Yeah, I mean you touched on the fourteen to one offense.
I mean, the defense kicked our ass today, so that
goes back in. Okay, I'll give them that, But it's
always fun competition there. But yeah, I think coach Mike
does a really good job of you know when if
you're a player too, like the players will match that energy,
you know what I'm saying. If we don't see something
(28:56):
that's right, if someone's acting a certain type of way, like,
we really have players that will check that. So I
think coach Mike will absolutely do that. But we have
a culture here where you know, players will do that
as well.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So you know this is live radio, by the way, Yeah,
you know what I mean. I just say, you know
that's okay. That's why we have a seven second delay.
By the way, if you hadn't won the Super Bowl,
maybe we don't let it get maybe let you get
away with that. But AJ Barner with us, AJ before
you go, uh, you won the national title at Michigan.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
You beat us.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
This guy forty years ago played football that you d
won the Orange Bowls. So he's a Purple and Gold
through and through like I him as a fan. But
you broke our hearts a couple of years ago in Michigan.
I thought we had a shot at halftime by the way,
until Bike through that pick by the way to start
the second half, and I remember I was talking too
off the air. I said, when we talked to you
said you can do that, you can have that, but
you owe us a freaking super Bowl and you got it.
(29:52):
So you're back to even now or even. But what,
honestly for you, like what was more satisfying winning that championship?
But Jim Hobbar are winning the championship with another former
Michigan guy and McDonald.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, I think absolutely the super Bowl for sure.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
Okay, And like you said, we're even now, we gotta
we gotta plus the score.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
That's right. So I want to I love the people here.
Sorry for my BS remark.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You're good man.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
I figure our audience has probably heard that the time
or two.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
You're the man.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Great stuff, man, I appreciate it coming over. Don't be
a stranger. We'll talk to all right, A J. Barnert
with us right there on the radio show. And I
don't know, Hugh, I mean, you're a you're a big
fan of this guy, right, and we saw him come
on last year. I think it was the it the
Thursday night game against the Rams or no, it was
the the game in l A. I think when he
had like eleven targets ten catches in that game against
the Rams, kind of his coming out party, and then
(30:47):
really just seemed to be kind of a guy that
defenses had to be concerned about in the second half
of the year and.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
The Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And I mean I'm hoping for I'm looking almost expecting
a big jump from him this year.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
How about you, Yeah, I think that the confidence is there,
the swag, as I said, the frame, you know there
there is a correlation to uh, body profiling. In fact,
John Schnyder said, body profiling is a huge part of
what we do. And and and I guess you know,
most of the guys that see him on TV and
(31:18):
they kind of look the same to me as when
I see him up close. But he's one of the
ten percent of guys where where when I see him
up close, I'm like, oh, I didn't have an idea.
I mean, he's got a narrow waste. I mean, he's
got an ass like Carl Lewis hamstrings. You know, he's
got the high calves that are that are features of
of guys who can run, the relatively skinny ankles, which
(31:41):
is features of guys who can run. When I say relatively,
I mean by tight end standards. I mean, this guy
has a twitch and a frame, and and yet I
mean he's a big freaking dude. He can maul you
in the run game. So so I I just think
there's a lot of meat on the bone there for
this guy just coming into the And if we touched
(32:02):
on the mid round part of it, and yet for
years you might have said, hey, Travis Kelcey is the
premier receiving tight end in the game, but the best,
most versatile George Kittle, who was a fifth rounder from
out of Iowa. So here's a here's another mid rounder
from a Big ten school and and to me, it
fits and so uh yeah, go get it. He's got
(32:23):
a got a tight end offensive coordinator. The league is
coming into more tight end presence. I think he's gonna
have his best year this year and uh, you know,
develop into a you know, if not a Pro Bowl guy,
a guy you know, kind of a Pro Bowl ish
type of guy on an annual basis.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Sure, well, there's a lot of guys on this offense
that are gonna need the football man.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I mean, Tory Horton is one of them. Rashid Shaheed's
one of them. J s ends one of them.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Jadarian Price, even as a pass catcher, I think may
end up being one of them. And a running back
obviously he's one of them. Elizah Royo is one of them.
So I just I don't know. I wonder if it's
gonna be hard to put up big numbers in this
offense just because of how much talent is here. But
should we be more focused maybe on the economy, you know,
of those numbers versus the overall total volume.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
I think the efficiency is all you know is what
you're looking. But you know there's got to be a
certain volume for efficiency to matter. I mean, if you know,
who cares how effishing you are if you're you know,
at ninety one yards. So but I think that the league,
particularly against the Seahawks, the forty nine Ers, the Rams,
(33:35):
they were trying to knock Mike McDonald out of his
personnel decisions.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Uh, you know, had you.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Know Nickel with nick emm and worry as being the
Nickel Sam And it's almost as if Sean McVay is
just saying, why you can play Nickel when I go
thirty you know, three tight ends and only leave one
wide receiver and you know Emon Worri is so versatile
that they did and so so, and the forty niners
have a little bit of that. So I feel like that,
(34:02):
you know, like a pendulum. I think we're swinging back
into a two or three year era where tight ends
are really gonna proliferate offensive personnel groups.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Let's do this. We're gonna break testimonials four nine four
five one. You want to vent on the MS, whatever,
hard knocks, reaction whatever man four nine four or five one,
tacomadots text line brock to by the Emerald, Queen Casino.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
We'll do that next.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Larry Stone will join us at five right here on
ninety three three KJRFM
No from the star Renols Sports to us your ninety
three point three kJ RFM sports headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Alrighty, boys and girls, here we go.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Happy Wednesday, Sathi, Dick Jackson, No Dick, No Jackson. Hugh
and the Ogre Moger in for Dick and Jackson today
on the radio program headlines of course, and brought to
you by our friends at frost Frewed Cors liked as
cold as the Rocket Way. Why don't you give me
half the money you were gonna band and we'll go
out back.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'll kick you in the nuts and we'll.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Call it a day.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You know that would have been more helpful as opposed
to watching an eight nothing throttling last night, if the
MS would have just said, you know what, instead of
taking the field tonight, we're gonna take all our fans
out behind t Mobile Park and kick him right in
the nuts. Eight to nothing lost to the Tigers last
night with this new look lineup that got going on
the MS. Now fifty five and fifty nine, three games
out in the West because the Astros have lost to
(00:48):
the Blue Jays today five to four. Rangers did win
over the Giant six nothing, so they're a game and
a half out Brian Wu. We'll get the start tonight.
He's at home where he's been great the ms of
one six in a row on wood with Brian Wu
on the mound at t Mobile Park. Elsewhere in the
NFL wide receivers Stefon Diggs on the verge of a
one year, twelve million dollar deal where the commanders the
(01:10):
Rams given Aaron Donald a try out today. They don't
know much about this Donald guy. They got to bring
him in for a little lookxie and.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
See if he can play.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Ian Rappaport saying he had pads on and reevaluating everything
to see if his body can handle the riggers of
the NFL season, which means get ready for Aaron Donald
to be a Ram very soon. Seahawks, by the way,
did make a couple of moves. Running Back TJ. Harden,
cornerback Jordan Washington have been signed. They have wave cornerback
Brandon Johnson and outside linebacker Garrett Nelson. All right, we're
(01:41):
back at the Virginia Mason Athletics Center Boeing Classic next
weekend at tPCS. They'll call me Ridge expecting to see
Freddy Boom Boom up there as well.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
On the ridge.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So get your tickets Boeingclassic dot com. Twenty bucks gets
you in the door, and kids get in for free.
Find out more at Boeing KLA dot com. Well practice
has rapped, by the.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Way, Hue.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
We are awaiting the arrival of one AJ Barner, who
I think gave us back what we were owed. I
think we made a deal with AJ Barner the last
time we spoke to him that all right, you want
to take away a national championship from Washington as a
member here with the Michigan Wolverines, that's fine, go back
and just go go go win me a super Bowl
with a Seahawks and we'll call it even.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
And that's exactly what the guy did with that touchdown.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Did you feel when it was nineteen nothing after that
score that it was done?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
The game was over right there?
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Oh yeah, Oh I was. I was deep into Super
Bowl history at that point. Because the Patriots, I believe
at eighty eight yards, don't quote me on that. It
was certainly on one hundred. They were obviously on pace
for a shutout, which has never been done in a
Super Bowl. And I thought, wow, you know, you go
back to twenty thirteen when you had a chance to
(02:57):
have a Super Bowl against the Broncos ends up being
forty three. Well, there's been a lot of Super Bowls
where the loser had around seven, eight or even three
points or what have you, but never a shutout. So
I was I actually got more interested in the fourth
quarter because of that. But then I don't know, had
some defensive breakdowns and all of that just kind of
(03:18):
withered away. But no, that nineteen nothing. Maybe we'll get
a chance to ask him about it, but just a
beautifully designed play and he had to know early on
in that play that it was gonna be a touchdown
based on how the Patriots lined up.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, we can talk to AJ when we get him,
obviously as well about Hard Knocks from last night, And
I want to go back to something that was talked
about on the show because obviously the day that we
heard about the Nick emn Warry injury, you were as
concerned as anybody about this guy, right. I mean, when
you turn on Hard Knocks and you see him on
a scooter, for God's sakes, doesn't make you feel great
(03:55):
that he's gonna be ready for the opener. And I
don't do this very often, but I'll do it now
because I was so surprised by the reaction from some people.
And look, I mean, we all love the fans, and
I'm a fan and you're a fan, but I do
think if you're a fan of this football team, you
do need to have a little bit of room for objectivity.
Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, meaning Nick even Worry
being hurt is not a good thing. There's nothing good
(04:17):
about Nick even Worey being hurt at all. So when
I go on Twitter and I say something like, you
know what, that doesn't make me feel good about him
being ready for the opener here when I see him
on a scooter and I hear from people saying, oh,
that'll be fine whatever. It's the first game of the year.
What do you hear last night? Mike McDonald and I
quote every game we miss with this guy. We all
(04:37):
know this is just a huge loss for us, says
Mike McDonald.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So I think we can put to bed the idea.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
That it's no big deal if even Worry doesn't play,
if he's hurt, stop being stupid and listen to what
your head coach said, because he's one thousand percent right.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Yeah, I was concerned from the jump. There's some chatter
going around that at the time when they put him
on the pup list, like, hey, no big deal to me.
Let's let's go thought experiment. Let's say God himself came
down and told you that there's a fifty one percent
(05:16):
chance that Emon Warry is going to start in Game
one against the forty nine ers, and you knew that
to be a fact. Well, guess what semantics Obviously, that
means he's probably going to start, But how do you
feel about the forty nine percent chance that he's not.
What if God told you there's a fifty one percent
(05:36):
chance that he'll start the first week in October and
and that he won't miss any games in September, Well,
that means that there's a chance that of forty nine
percent that he's going to miss all of September, even
though it's it's less probable. Well, it doesn't have to
(05:57):
be more probable than not to be of grave concern, right,
And yeah, I wrote that same quote down and and
you got it exactly right. And so it's it's a concern.
And when he says every game, every game, wait, wait,
you're talking about a plural set if I said every
(06:17):
jellybean in a jar, you know that I'm talking about
more than one jelly bean every game. Now, it might
only be one, but it opens the specter that he's
talking about this could be a multi game setback, and
it just I don't know, and then you worry about
chronic It was the same right ankle. Yes, it was
a high ankle sprain in the in the opener last year,
(06:41):
and then it was a low ankle sprain in the
Super Bowl. You know, I understand that orthopedic surgeon is
going to tell you those are different injuries. But you
know what, having a couple of injuries on the right ankle,
it just doesn't make me rest easy for the Seahawks
when you can how vital he is, what an incredible
(07:03):
athlete he is, and how young he is, and I
don't want this to be the onset of a chronic
ankle prom.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
A couple things. First of all, Petros will join us
at six o'clock tonight. By the way, sorry, Randy got
a text from Petros's number one fan, by the way,
he wants to know where his Petros is. He'll be
here at six o'clock tonight because we are awaiting the
arrival of aj Barner. So that's number one. Number two,
he is no longer, by the way, on the scooter.
(07:31):
He was out watching practice today. It doesn't mean he'll be
ready for the opener, but the fact that he's off
the scooter is obviously great news. I mean, he wasn't
going to be on the scooter for six months.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
For God's sakes.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
At some point he was going to be having to
put some pressure on the ankle. But I guess the
question I had, and this might be hard to answer,
but you mentioned the ankle sprain going into the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right, Hugh.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, So this has been a problem for them for
the last five months, and it feels like they delayed
it before they win in to fix it. And I
wonder if there's any room for maybe at least a
little bit of questions and curiosity about why they waited
so long to adjust this over the offseason.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
Yeah, you'd like to have been out ahead of this
and anticipate it, you know, I think there was logic
at the time. You can only make decisions at the
time with the information you.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Have available to you.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
But it's they opened themselves up for second guessing that Hey,
maybe we should have taken the conservative route here and
gone in Arthur's scroft of lee right and cleaned up
this mess. A couple things. First of all, the scooter.
That's the equivalent of being on crutches. If you're gonna
have surgery, they're gonna say, hey, we want no load bearing.
(08:42):
And you know in years past it was crutches and that.
So the idea that he's on a scooter doesn't really
bother me. I'll tell you what bothers me. How about this?
For those who say it's not a problem. The guy's
going into year two, you don't think it would be
good to practice right and get the reps in training camp?
That for him to have two different universes for twenty
(09:05):
twenty six. In one universe, you've got Nicki min Worri,
a second year guy who, by the way, missed a
month of the season last year. He gets to practice
and be healthy. In the number one huddle, you all
the new schemes, everything, get his timing, get all of it,
get those experience, get those reps. There's that universe or
(09:28):
universe number two. He barely is ready to go. He's
technically starts against the forty nine ers, but he didn't have.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Training camp right right right? I don't know, man.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I think the advantages of being healthy in training camp
and practicing, particularly when you consider the load and the
relative light load that these guys have now, no double days,
what have you?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
For a guy that young, he needs to be in
practicing right now.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Yeah, for him to have the best I don't want
some cal rally deal with him. You know, are uh
you know where where things got off to a bad start.
You didn't your your rhythm wasn't right, and then you
didn't have the potential season that you could have had
had you not had the surgery. So there's a lot
of things, in my opinion to be to be a
(10:15):
little squeamish about.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
When you said forty nine ers, is that a reference
to last year? To the opener last year talking about
the forty nine ers?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Okay, gotcha? Got you?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Because people were texting at the page. Yeah, no, you
know that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So yeah, I mean, look, obviously, I mean this is
a guy that you've made it crystal clear, and I
think McDonald's made it crystal clear that there's nobody else
on this football team that can do what he can do.
He's a potential NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate,
and selfishly, I want the guy back because I got
one hundred bucks on him at sixty to one to
win the damn thing.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
So let's go.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Let's get your ass back on the field. Well, the
other thing that stood out to me last night, it
was a lot that stood out, but there was a
scene in McDonald's office where Cooper Cup and and Mike
McDonald were watching film I assume of a game from
a year ago, and Cooper Cup picked up on something
that Mike McDonald hadn't noticed, and just I mean, you
(11:06):
think of McDonald right as some rain man, right as
a wizard of defense. And I thought it was so
freaking cool that Cooper Cup. It shows you how smart
he is, by the way, number one was able to
notice something that Mike McDonald didn't pick up on, and
then McDonald giving him his props and giving him a
fist pump saying, god darn it, you're right.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
That was awesome. What do you think Cooper Cup noticed?
There a couple of thoughts there. First of all, when
you listen, he said, McDonald says, Oh, they're just doing
under center. That's what I interpreted if you put on
the words on HBO, it reads they're just doing our center.
(11:51):
I don't think that's a correct voice interpretation. I think
he said, oh, they're just doing under center. But if
he said he said if he said they're just doing
our center, then we know this it's the Seahawks offense
because he's referring to ours and it's not the Seahawk defense.
If he said, oh, they're just doing under center, what
do we know? We know that it is not the
(12:13):
Seahawks offense and the defense is unknown. Could be the Seahawks.
My short answers, I don't know. It was said, I'll
try and give you what hopefully is an educated guess. Okay,
I think he said, oh, they're just doing under center.
I think they're watching the tape. My best guess would
(12:34):
be that they're watching RAM tape the Ram offense. Okay,
And now you'd say, okay, what kind of thing would
Cooper cup No, because he played there that Mike McDonald,
it would not occur to Mike McDonald. Well, there's a lot,
almost an infinite number of answers to that. There could
(12:56):
be an RPO on a quick slant in a touchdown.
There was a touchdown that Matthew Stafford threw across his
body no look down on the one yard line in
the Thursday night game. It could have to do with
the r p O s and the split. Uh, it
could have to do with the the running play. Hey,
do they run to the stretch to the open side
(13:16):
or the weak side and maybe you know, the the
quarterback is holding his feet or he taps his knee
or something, although McDonald's has seen that, but but maybe
they're running either way and and Cooper cup knows, Hey,
they only do that under center. Maybe it was a
the in certain formation and bunch formations. The wide receiver
in a bunch, he's gonna he's gonna fit up and
(13:37):
block the the uh, the safety or sometimes they run
at an r p O and UH and they say,
wait a minute, we're only gonna do r P O
at a shotgun. But uh, but we're gonna do the
run fits out of under center. So it would it
would likely be something like that, but it would be
I think that what they were doing, uh was was
(13:58):
uh most likely looking at rams offense against this a
Seaak defense. And one other observation about it David. When
you watch there's tape of Tom Brady in Bill Belichick's
office back when he was playing for the Patriots, and
Brady was across the desk. He's sitting up all relatively rigid.
(14:22):
They're going over tape together. I think it was in
a documentary called Tom Versus Time. Anyways, I know I've
seen the video, and there was a certain hierarchy, like, hey,
the head coaches behind the desk. The quarterback is sitting
upright across the desk. If you look at last night,
Cooper Cup is like slacking. He was all but had
his feet up on McDonald's desk. He was very comfortable.
(14:45):
You could see this is a comfortable relation. They respect
each other, they like each other. Obviously they're closer aligned
in age and what have you, and so they're right
wrong or indifferent.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
I think it's a cool thing. But I think the
body language that I saw from Cup struck me as
very like he's connected with his head coach.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I love it. One minute.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Do you think Sean McVeigh is aware of that conversation
on Hard Knocks, knows what they were talking about, and
will then change it before they play the Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Well, if my theory's right, and again it's just it's
just a hopefully educated guess, then he then he would know.
And if in fact it was about the Rams, there's
probably a better than fifty percent chance that McVeigh can
figure that out right, and he would know that that
cup is in the office going over Ram offense. Now
(15:42):
there's a lot of assumptions I'm making on of course,
of course, but I think it's I think it's reasonable assumptions,
and so my answer would be yes, and he probably
already knows by Now.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Let's do this.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
We've got to get a quick break. A. J. Barner
is on his way over. We'll chat with the next
on ninety three three KJR.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
The gay.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
Atriot sixteen Seattle first and ten leading twelve nothing, Donald
under center five on the defensive line. He gets the
stats turn, Blight picks the hand up. Here comes the
Blitzer does the crow in zone, cut, touts down, cut,
touchdown tunner, the tight end over the shutter, catch in
the corner of the end zone, and we've got our
(16:25):
first touchdown.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Of Super Bowl sixteen, and the.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Sea Hawks extend their lead early in the fourth, eighteen
to nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
You know, I always wonder a couple of things, Hiweie.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
First of all, back here at the Virginia mas Athletics Center,
Seahawk training camp well underway, by the way, the NFL
preseason starts tomorrow, for God's sakes, in Canton, Ohio, at
the Carolina Arizona game in the Hall of Fame game.
I always wonder two things when a call like that,
at play like that happens. Number One, did the player
hear that call before now? And did just save the ball?
(17:00):
So Aj Barner is with us here Seahawk tight end
eighty eight in your score card. Number one, in his
mom's heart, did you save the ball? And if you
heard that play by play.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Call until now, absolutely saved the ball?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Good for you.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Play by play.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
I'm not sure who that broadcaster is, Vin Harlan, Kevin
Harlan legend facts. Okay, now I know the name, and
I was just say legendary voice. I'm not sure if
I've heard Kevin's voice over it. I probably have, but
I've definitely heard you know, multiple you know, recordings of it.
So yeah, no special moment for myself in the Seahawks.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
One more on that one, so you get you shift,
raceied over there, get the defense communicating, then you motion over.
They don't shadow, they bounce and you fake the stretch
to the right. You had to know early on when
you cleared that linebacker, single hit high defense, you had
to know like, oh my god, this is this is
(17:55):
gonna be a I'm about to score the first touchdown
in this game. You knew that four yards from the
line of scrimmage, did you not.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
I mean, I was going through your head.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (18:04):
I felt like as soon as I cleared those linebackers,
you know, I felt like the ball was going to
be in the air, so I had to go find it.
But yeah, I think when you're in those moments, no
time to think, shoot, I think, you know is just
go make a play. But definitely when that call comes
into the huddle, it's like all right, you know, here
we go. Yeah, you know, but you're trying to stay
present and just you know, stay you know, in the moment,
(18:27):
and not make it too big because at the end
of the day too, you can have those plays they
get called and maybe you know, you don't get the
right look for it, and you can't let that one
play mess up the rest of the game. Where it's like, shoot,
that was my target and who knows you could have
a play that you're not necessarily the first look, but
you know could end up for.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
A touchdown as well.
Speaker 7 (18:44):
So right, but yeah, absolutely, when I could those linebackers
knew the ball is going to be in the air.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
You know, A. J.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Barner's with us and he was. You know, there's been
a couple of moments in Seahawks Super Bowl history where
it was time to pick up the phone and call dad, right.
Number one was for me it was mains touchdown to
make a thirty six zip in forty eight. Some say
Percy Harvin's kickoff return, but I think in this game,
with the way the dark Side.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Was playing, it was your touchdown. Does that ever resonate
with you at all?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That that was a play that people started kind of
maybe getting emotional, calling their moms and dads, hugging their
brothers all that.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Does that mean much to you at all?
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Want that?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
No?
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Absolutely?
Speaker 7 (19:21):
I think you know, as the years go by, obviously
you know this is gonna be my third year here
in Seattle and we have, you know, so much left
to accomplish here and we're super excited to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
To run it forward and kind of turn the page
on that.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
But you know, I think as the years go by
and I look back, I think that moment will be
a bit special, more special, I mean obviously incredibly special
for myself in the twelves as well, But yeah, I
think absolutely I'm glad I could, you know, share that
moment with the twelves and for people like you guys
and all the fans out there that were able to,
you know, enjoy that moment and celebrate as a city.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
It was just my opportunity to do that. Well.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
The cool thing was where I I was sitting. I
was sitting in a section mostly of Patriot fans. When
you caught that ball, they got up and left said
the hell with us, I'm done. But you mentioned, you
mentioned that you have the ball? Does mom have it?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Do you have it?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Where is it? I have the ball.
Speaker 7 (20:12):
I'm going to keep the location un disclosed, but yeah,
I've been able to keep all my touchdown balls. The
equipment guys do a great job of love it. Whenever
you score a touchdown, you get to keep the ball
ks unless you throw it in the stands or something
which may or may not happen.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Sometime soon.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Well a J Barner with us looking back again, not
just at the Super Bowl, for the entire year. You
guys were in the twelve personnel. That really was a
great personnel grouping with the two tight end sets. You
guys had the second most amount of yards at five
point three yards per temp. You had the second best
rushing So you threw it, you ran it well with
(20:54):
twelve personnel. You got Elijah Royal rookie first round or
come in behind and with you. There's a lot of
thirteen personnel in the league, with the Rams and the
forty nine ers. Just kind of talk with Brian Florey
coming in talk about the use of multiple tight ends
that you expect to see for us to see with
(21:15):
the Seahawks this year.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Yeah, I think you're seeing that because you know that
the tight end position is almost becoming a position where
each guy can create their own role in it. You know,
you have a guy like Kenyan Sadik, for example, who
got drafted in the first round from Oregon, who's you know,
a six to one guy at two thirty five, two forty,
Or you have someone like myself, who's you know, six
(21:37):
six and two sixty in a little bit of a
different role. And I think with our with our room
here in Seattle. Uh you mentioned Elijah. Elijah's one of
those guys that's extremely talented player that can really stretch
the field vertically, almost like your ex receiver from back
in the day. But now you have them as a
tight end as well and able to line up with
(21:59):
his hand on the ground, in the hip, in the
slot all the way out at number one. And then
you have guys like Eric Sobert and Nick Caller up
and Brady Russell who Brady might line up at fullback
and the next play he might line up at tight end,
and it kind of creates this confusion for defense and
adds an extra gap to the to the to the field,
and you know you can run play action keep a
(22:20):
guy in protection. So I say all that to say
that you know, the position is really growing into a
position where you almost can carve out a role within
the offense that can be unique to yourself. And we're
blessed here in Seattle to have a really good position
coach and Mac Brown and have coach Flurry come in
as well, who has a lot of experience with tight ends.
And I think Coach Mike as well is a guy
(22:43):
that you know, really values the tight end position. He
knows what that can do to a defense, how talented
tight ends play on the edge. And you know, we're
we're really just scratching the surface here, and we have
high expectations for the entire room this season.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Indeed, you do a J Barner with this. Let's stay
there because I'm gonna I'm gonna share with you the
analysis that I that I give Dave about you, and
then you tell me your reaction to my analysis. So
what First of all, I say, hey, we got the
tight end for Michigan. Oh not not Colston Lovelin, the
other guy. We get him in the mid rounds Okay.
(23:20):
So I'm like, okay, all right, so let's see what
he's got. And then I said, watching him and really,
when I saw him in practice, I was standing eight
feet behind him, I'm talking about you when I say him,
I'm talking about a J Barner. I said, I had
no idea to frame this guy. The thin waist, the
development through. He just looks like an athlete through and through.
Like I played with a Pro Bowl tight ends in
(23:42):
my career, I got a little bit of an eye
on a tight end. I said, you have no idea
that I'll say I had no idea. The athlete that
was inside that mid round, dude, George Kittle was a
fifth rounder for crying out loud, and they right. And
so I have opened my eyes to how good you
are and what you can become.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (24:02):
Is that a fair analysis? And and and are we
just seeing the very beginning of a j Barner in
in a in a star career.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
Yeah, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
And I think, you know, I've definitely let that, let's say,
affect me a little bit in the past too, being
a guy that got drafted in the mid round and
being a guy that maybe wasn't a number one guy
in college and you kind of feel like, oh, shoot,
maybe I'm not, you know, one of the best.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
You know.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
But I think when you boil it down to really
putting your best foot forward and doing your job over
and over, and I think that's where I'm really gonna
take a step this year is really dialing into my details,
my process, and you know, not be focused on necessarily
the results that come from it, but the process that
goes into it and everything that I want to come
(24:50):
out of that will we'll be able to come true.
So I appreciate the analysis for sure. I think the
sky's the limit and I think any guy that you
know has the confidence to believe himself in this league
can really do something special. And I think I'm really
willing to put in the work day in and day out,
because I've said it before, I love this game of football. Unfortunately,
(25:10):
I really don't have any hobbies outside of that.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Which what do you do when you leave here? Yeah? Bro,
it's like watch film, you know.
Speaker 7 (25:18):
I mean, I I just I'm it's sometimes to a fault,
like I've had the conversations with the Vets before where
I need to find a hobby outside of ball because
sometimes the days get long in the offseason, But when
when it comes down to times like this in camp,
it's like what else would you rather be doing?
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Sure? So yeah, I'm excited for the future.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Well, this show is available on podcasts if you want
to listen.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Yeah, I mean, if you want.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
A hobby of just going through all kJ R podcasts,
we can send you a couple of copies of the show.
But Aj Barner's with us, you mentioned, you know, I
think everybody like right, Hugh Sam was on with us
here to Day and said a couple of things in
his toolbox he wants to kind of sharpen up. We've
talked to Mike about red zone offense obviously from last year,
but for you, specif typically you mentioned there's a couple
of things that you really want to elevate.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
What are maybe one or two of those things?
Speaker 7 (26:05):
Yeah, I would say kind of just the mentality that
I just kind of touched on. I think you know
when you stay kind of what I touched on in
the first part of the show, right, you have a
moment where it's like, Oh, this play gets called and
like this is my reception and get me going in
the game.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7 (26:18):
As a young player, you're really thinking like that. And
I think now being in year three, it's like, no,
like any play should be able to get me going.
I should be able to block the C gap and
that and that starts me on a row. I should
be able to be a third in the progression and
get open and make the play. I think when you
when you start chasing these plays and when you start
chasing these outcomes, the season is so long, and these
(26:39):
games are even longer that it starts to supplate away
from you. So I really just want to stay present
and put my best foot forward. And I think that's
because I know I have the talent. I know I
have people that believe in me here, and I know
I'm gonna get my opportunities. So I think if I
can just be ready for those opportunities and really make
the most out of anyone that I have, that's really
what it's all about. And I think think when you
(27:00):
win championships like we did last year, at the end
of the day, that that's what you want to do.
You want to win games. So let's just let's just
leave it there. I want to have the best season
that I can have personally with my process, and the
results will follow. And I think as a team, I
want to win a whole bunch of games and do
what we did last year.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
A J.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Barner with this, A G. Did you watch Hard Knocks
last night?
Speaker 4 (27:23):
I did not. I didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Most of the guys not watching watch it.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Not sure.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
I have a personality, which you know, you guys know.
I'm sure you know I'll be on the show eventually,
a little bit. But I just felt like I kind
of just want to lock into the camp and not
really fall into the storylines per se. But great show.
I mean, I'm excited that they're here. And it's been
a pretty seamless process too, Like it don't be you know,
we're used to the cameras being around and on, so
(27:52):
it almost feels like it's normal.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
So one of the things, Mike McDonald, there was a
section there where the offense you guys had, like and
McDonald's accounting twelve thirteen, fourteen plays in a row is
like fourteen to one, And I didn't really you know,
he didn't really like go off on the defense like
get that red ass type of thing. Not implying that
(28:13):
he should, it's just an observation. And so my question
to you is, is there have you ever seen him
just kind of like semi snap, like he is so
pissed at either lack of focus, lack of effort, lack
of execute, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Is there a red ass side to him that we
don't see?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Yeah, I mean you touched on the fourteen to one offense.
I mean, the defense kicked our ass today, so that
goes back in. Okay, I'll give them that, But it's
always fun competition there. But yeah, I think coach Mike
does a really good job of you know when if
you're a player too, like the players will match that energy,
you know what I'm saying. If we don't see something
(28:56):
that's right, if someone's acting a certain type of way, like,
we really have players that will check that. So I
think coach Mike will absolutely do that. But we have
a culture here where you know, players will do that
as well.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So you know this is live radio, by the way, Yeah,
you know what I mean. I just say, you know
that's okay. That's why we have a seven second delay.
By the way, if you hadn't won the Super Bowl,
maybe we don't let it get maybe let you get
away with that. But AJ Barner with us, AJ before
you go, uh, you won the national title at Michigan.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
You beat us.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
This guy forty years ago played football that you d
won the Orange Bowls. So he's a Purple and Gold
through and through like I him as a fan. But
you broke our hearts a couple of years ago in Michigan.
I thought we had a shot at halftime by the way,
until Bike through that pick by the way to start
the second half, and I remember I was talking too
off the air. I said, when we talked to you
said you can do that, you can have that, but
you owe us a freaking super Bowl and you got it.
(29:52):
So you're back to even now or even. But what,
honestly for you, like what was more satisfying winning that championship?
But Jim Hobbar are winning the championship with another former
Michigan guy and McDonald.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Yeah, I think absolutely the super Bowl for sure.
Speaker 7 (30:06):
Okay, And like you said, we're even now, we gotta
we gotta plus the score.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
That's right. So I want to I love the people here.
Sorry for my BS remark.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You're good man.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
I figure our audience has probably heard that the time
or two.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
You're the man.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Great stuff, man, I appreciate it coming over. Don't be
a stranger. We'll talk to all right, A J. Barnert
with us right there on the radio show. And I
don't know, Hugh, I mean, you're a you're a big
fan of this guy, right, and we saw him come
on last year. I think it was the it the
Thursday night game against the Rams or no, it was
the the game in l A. I think when he
had like eleven targets ten catches in that game against
the Rams, kind of his coming out party, and then
(30:47):
really just seemed to be kind of a guy that
defenses had to be concerned about in the second half
of the year and.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
The Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And I mean I'm hoping for I'm looking almost expecting
a big jump from him this year.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
How about you, Yeah, I think that the confidence is there,
the swag, as I said, the frame, you know there
there is a correlation to uh, body profiling. In fact,
John Schnyder said, body profiling is a huge part of
what we do. And and and I guess you know,
most of the guys that see him on TV and
(31:18):
they kind of look the same to me as when
I see him up close. But he's one of the
ten percent of guys where where when I see him
up close, I'm like, oh, I didn't have an idea.
I mean, he's got a narrow waste. I mean, he's
got an ass like Carl Lewis hamstrings. You know, he's
got the high calves that are that are features of
of guys who can run, the relatively skinny ankles, which
(31:41):
is features of guys who can run. When I say relatively,
I mean by tight end standards. I mean, this guy
has a twitch and a frame, and and yet I
mean he's a big freaking dude. He can maul you
in the run game. So so I I just think
there's a lot of meat on the bone there for
this guy just coming into the And if we touched
(32:02):
on the mid round part of it, and yet for
years you might have said, hey, Travis Kelcey is the
premier receiving tight end in the game, but the best,
most versatile George Kittle, who was a fifth rounder from
out of Iowa. So here's a here's another mid rounder
from a Big ten school and and to me, it
fits and so uh yeah, go get it. He's got
(32:23):
a got a tight end offensive coordinator. The league is
coming into more tight end presence. I think he's gonna
have his best year this year and uh, you know,
develop into a you know, if not a Pro Bowl guy,
a guy you know, kind of a Pro Bowl ish
type of guy on an annual basis.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Sure, well, there's a lot of guys on this offense
that are gonna need the football man.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I mean, Tory Horton is one of them. Rashid Shaheed's
one of them. J s ends one of them.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Jadarian Price, even as a pass catcher, I think may
end up being one of them. And a running back
obviously he's one of them. Elizah Royo is one of them.
So I just I don't know. I wonder if it's
gonna be hard to put up big numbers in this
offense just because of how much talent is here. But
should we be more focused maybe on the economy, you know,
of those numbers versus the overall total volume.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
I think the efficiency is all you know is what
you're looking. But you know there's got to be a
certain volume for efficiency to matter. I mean, if you know,
who cares how effishing you are if you're you know,
at ninety one yards. So but I think that the league,
particularly against the Seahawks, the forty nine Ers, the Rams,
(33:35):
they were trying to knock Mike McDonald out of his
personnel decisions.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Uh, you know, had you.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Know Nickel with nick emm and worry as being the
Nickel Sam And it's almost as if Sean McVay is
just saying, why you can play Nickel when I go
thirty you know, three tight ends and only leave one
wide receiver and you know Emon Worri is so versatile
that they did and so so, and the forty niners
have a little bit of that. So I feel like that,
(34:02):
you know, like a pendulum. I think we're swinging back
into a two or three year era where tight ends
are really gonna proliferate offensive personnel groups.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Let's do this. We're gonna break testimonials four nine four
five one. You want to vent on the MS, whatever,
hard knocks, reaction whatever man four nine four or five one,
tacomadots text line brock to by the Emerald, Queen Casino.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
We'll do that next.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Larry Stone will join us at five right here on
ninety three three KJRFM
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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