January 9, 2026 • 20 mins
Hugh Millen joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the entire situation with Demond Williams, including Jedd Fisch’s comments today, and where we are now, plus dives into the College Football Playoff semifinals and NFL playoffs starting up this week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of our never ending coverage for the twelfth
Man in the NFL. This is Football Fridays with Hugh Millin,
sponsored by Tito's handmade Vodka Tito's on Game Day or
Me and Coach fine cocktail recipes for the everyday fan
at Tito's Vodka dot com forty percent alcohol by volume,
namely eighty proof, crafted to be savord responsibly.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now with you, here's Softie and Dick. We got a
busy Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
If you miss Jetfish six pm the night, tune in
for that. Kevin Harlan's going to join us at five
o'clock tonight on the radio program normally on Wednesdays, but
been a little busy the last couple of days. Wacky
things have been going on. So Kevin will join us
at five tonight. But here he is, our friend, our
resident NFL insider, Hue Breedlove Millan. How are you, Pow,
(00:47):
what's going on? Good to be with you, Dave, Yeah,
good to be with you, Hugh. Let's let's talk about
what you heard from Jetfish.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Man, we spent about twenty minutes talking with the coach
of the Dogs. Your your thoughts, takeaways that conversation.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Well, I think there's a fine line between media savvy
and media evasive, and I think we heard both. And
yet once Jed made the decision that he wanted to
bring back Demond, he was willing to be bring back Demond,
(01:23):
then I don't think he could have answered questions a
lot differently. Certainly there was a number of times where
I say evasive on my notes, but I also have
a column where I wrote smoking gun, which to my interpretation,
I think I have the same theory that I think
most have, which is that and it's deduced from an
(01:49):
inference to the best explanation about a set of facts.
And the theory that I have is that demon Williams
went into the portal. He had a do not contact tag,
as confirmed by Pete Thamil, who's been getting everything right,
and that indicates that he had a specific school in mind.
(02:11):
I believe that that school was LSU. I believe that
there was tampering. That's why Jed didn't want to discuss tampering.
But I also believe that when Washington flexed, they're legal,
not necessarily obligations, but there they're legal, uh prerogatives. I
(02:35):
believe that at that point when you consider when Jed
said that, Hey, when Dave you asked him, you had
to come back right. What he said was every conversation
I've had with Demon is that he's excited to be
on this team. He's excited about who he's surrounded by.
That is not answering the question that to me is
(02:55):
a smoking gun, particularly when paired with the by Darren Heidner,
the new agent who said this demand arrived at the
most well informed decision possible. He decided to return to Washington,
not because he was forced to. Of course, he wasn't
forced to. He could have sat out the year in
(03:16):
twenty twenty six and gone wherever he wanted, not because
he was forced to, not because he didn't understand his options,
but because he was fully educated on the consequences of
each path and chose the one that made the most
sense for him right coma, and because he truly wanted
to return to Washington lead his team to further success.
I get it, that's what an attorney would say, but
(03:38):
there's no doubt in my mind that that's exactly how
it played out. And to me, there was enough disclosed
by Jed. I think that he had to answer most
of those questions that way, given what we know about
the facts, he can't. He can't. He can't describe the facts, Hugh.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Bigger picture now that we know who the quarterback is,
I asked Jed, I want to ask you. I mean,
what do the dogs need to do in your mind
to be playing tonight?
Speaker 6 (04:04):
In this game?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
One of the teams they're playing tonight, they already played
and I thought it was a fairly competitive game. If
you look at some statistics, it was a fairly competitive game.
So do you agree with Jed when he says we're
closer and we're close?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, I think it's a fine line. I mean, we've
talked about how the numbers have the biggest drop offensively
both and also with the statistics that pertain to the quarterback,
that performance drop, it's the biggest drop in all power
for So is there improvement? I don't know. I think
(04:37):
the best game I've ever seen from Demon is the
sun Ball, and so we thought that there would be
That was an eighteen year old. We thought there'd be improvement.
As a nineteen year old. The schedules was clearly easier
in twenty twenty five. I mean, Wazoo, they didn't have Matier.
They were two years, not one year removed from PAC twelve.
(04:58):
And then in twenty twenty four, Washington played one team
in the bottom twenty in defense out of power Ford
that was Northwestern. In this past year they played five
and that was all five of the wins bottom twenty
out of sixty seven. So I don't know that I
saw improvement. I see when I study the tape, I
(05:21):
see a lot of things that, in my opinion, need
to be improved. I don't know if Jed sees them
that way, but the numbers speak for themselves. They're gonna
have to be better. I would just you know, my
conclusion always this is, are you Kyler Murray or are
you Dorrian Thompson Robinson and Drrian Thompson Robins damn good quarterback? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but he lost eight games four each of his last
(05:44):
two years, and he was a third round draft pick,
not the first.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Overall.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
We talk a lot of Hoskey football over the offseason here,
and I got a feeling we're gonna be talking a
lot more this offseason right because of this story. But
let's go to tonight's game, and by the way, if
there was any by the way, concern or curiosity about
who I'm rooting for.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
In tonight's game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay, right there, baby, got the Indiana T shirt on
right now.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Let's go Hoosiers. Come on, boys, let's get it done.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Indiana went to Oregon earlier this year and pretty much
just dominated the Ducks at the line of scrimmage in
that game.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Do you see the same thing happening again tonight?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
No, By the way, Hugh Noah Whittington questionable for this
game tonight. They've got some other running backs, including Davidson,
that are out for tonight's game. So what do you
think is going to happen here in Atlanta in the
next half hours?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Though?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well, Oregon's healthier at the wide receiver position. I think
Dante Moore was shockingly non competitive in that game. He
just looked like he had no fire. He looked like
he had no answer. We're talking about a home game,
obviously against the Hoosiers, but the Hoosiers, you know, I'll
quote Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer said that what the coaching
(06:56):
job that has been done at Indiana is the greatest
coaching job in the history of college football. You know,
I don't know how much Urban studied that, but I
you know, passes my sniff tests, and so I think
that what you see is an Indiana team that you
just have to keep constantly reminding yourself it's not Indiana, right.
(07:19):
They have those classic red and white number. You got
to think of them as Alabama or Oklahoma or Nebraska
or some of these other teams. I know their shades
are red, but they have an NFL secondary and I
think that they are coached like a few teams I've seen.
I believe that they have the number one overall pick
in the draft at quarterback, and so I would expect
(07:42):
it's going to be more of the same. I'll be
surprised if Oregon comes out of this thing with a win.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I would as well.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
But if they do come out with a win, did
the right team win for us last night as far
as as far as a better chance to knock out Oregon?
Speaker 6 (07:59):
And was that play of the game pass interference in
your mind?
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh, it's absolutely past interference, And uh, you know, I
don't I don't understand. I really don't understand the idea. Hey,
let the players play on the last play of the game.
So you're telling me that I hate to use Lebron
because I'm not a fan of Lebron, but Lebron drives
(08:24):
down the lane with with four seconds to go in
Game seven and the Lakers are down by one, and
he goes up and he clearly gets hit on the wrist. Uh,
you're telling me that you're just going to swallow the
whistle and let the players play, And that's not letting
just letting the players violate the rules of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
We see calls like that in the NBA all the time,
but we don't see him in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
On hell, Mary's you're right.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yeah, But now I would say, look if it was
you know, a guy ran in motion and maybe he
went six inches forward, Okay, that's ticki tac. That that
didn't give you a material advantage. You know, a formation,
you know, one guy's got to be on the line
of screamage, one receiver's got to be off. Obviously the
defense isn't confused about who's eligible. Like, I'm not calling
(09:10):
that on the last play of the game, five yards
you know, illegal formason. No, there's a there's a room
for excluding ticki tac plays. But when you're talking about
material materially affecting the game, then I think you have
to call that, and now in the NFL, obviously would
have been at the one yard line. It's only a
(09:30):
fifteen yard penalty, but I think it's got to be
called here.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Millin's well, us, Hugh, Let's let's get to what's happening
this weekend in the NFL. Right, we're all sitting around
waiting to see who the Seahawks will play next weekend.
It'll be the Rams, It'll be the Panthers, it'll be
the forty nine ers, or it will be the Green
Bay Packers. I know you're not into predictions, right, You'd
never been into predictions as long as I've known you.
(09:54):
But this Packer game with the Bears is intriguing to
me because that is a.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Number three seed Chicago, is that right, guys?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Bears versus a seventh seed, yet the seventh seed two seven?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
The two versus a seven, yet the seven is the favorite.
Packers are given a point and a half. So obviously
Vegas thinks Green Bay is gonna win the game and
come to Seattle as the seventh seed next weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
How would surprise? Would you be shocked? Not surprised?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
If Jordan Love and company without Michael Parsons walked into
Soldier Field, knocked off the Bears and came to Seattle
next week.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I would think it's pretty close to a pick. And
what's the spread?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
One and a half?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah, yeah, I think that in Jordan Love, you know,
he's had a concussion, he's been out. I think their
offense has has kind of hit the skids a little bit.
Clearly with Michael Parsons, they.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Don't have it.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I think that that Caleb Williams has really ascended. You know,
you had a chance to win a game winner earlier,
he underthrows it, he gets in intercepted. Now he gets
into a same situation in in overtime and he and
he throws it farther and he throws a dime to
win the game. That guy, I think is all that
(11:10):
he was dressed up to be as the number one
overall pick, and so I think he's playing with confidence,
you know, playing at home. I don't know. I don't
I would not say Green Bay is, you know, should
be a stark favorite in that game. I think the
Packers they've they got to find themselves because they really
limped into the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Hugh, I don't know what odds we could have gotten
in August if we'd have said Patrick mahomes, Lamar Jackson,
Joe Burrow are not playing in the playoffs and Josh
Allen's an underdog in the wild card round in the playoffs.
But it's astronomical. If you are Brandon Bean, the GM
of the Bills, are you immediately on the phone with
John Harbaugh. If Buffalo doesn't win as one and a
(11:51):
half point dogs against Jacksonville on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Yeah, I'd be done. With Sean McDermott. Absolutely my language here,
I'd be done. You cannot waste this beautiful Hall of
Fame quarterback with just you know, they're just something missing.
And I think Harbrough's got enough chops he could put
them over the top. They just seem to always be
(12:15):
kind of missing something. Now I will say, I'm a
I'm about as big a Bills fan as a guy
could be. They are my number two if the Seahawks
don't win it. I don't I don't understand the idea
that you can't have your primary team and then you
have your you know, your secondary or tertiary whatever the
word would be. Team. I might like more than one
(12:36):
team and and I will if Seattle were to lose,
and I hope that doesn't happen. I hope we're doing
a parade in Seattle. Let me make that you know
perfectly clear. I shouldn't need to, but I'm a big
Bills fan for for a long time because Josh Allen's
my top three quarter favorite quarterbacks ever, and so I've
watched them close. They are always getting bit with the
(13:00):
injury bug on their defense. It's like they can never
field healthy defense. It must drive the Bills fans crazy,
but they're a deserving fan base. They're certainly a deserving quarterback,
the player, the competitor, who he is. I'm buying everything
to Josh Allen's selling and if they you just said it, Dick,
think about this, you're talking about You just mentioned those
(13:22):
are three of the premier quarterbacks of this generation and
they're not. You don't even have.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
To go through them.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And so if I'm a Bills fan, it's got to
be all gas, no breaks on this, And it would
be so devastating if they lose, and I would say
bye bye Sean mcturney, Yeah, which.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Would I mean he probably fired the GM too.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
He's the one that built the defense for God's sakes, right,
So probably just clean house. But hum Millin's with us
normally at five o'clock. We wanted to have mino bit
earlier today to react to Jetfish and get his thoughts
on the NFL playoffs.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And here was your old team, the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Am I right, guys and saying the Patriots had the
easiest schedule in the NFL this.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Year, one of the easiest guys in the last twenty
five years.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
They ranked of schedule thirty seconds in the National Football
League and they're fourteen and three. They're obviously home taken
on Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers. And one of your
favorite guys, Huie Justin Herbert. Are we about to see
a paper tiger on display on Sunday night in Foxborough?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Great question. And on that note, I've had this on
my notes and all the shows. I've never got this.
In the Seahawks out of fourteen teams, they had the
second highest strength of victory, and strength of victory is
a tiebreaker in the NFL before strength of schedule. So
I think there was a time where there was a
(14:38):
little bit of hand ringing, Oh, Seahawks can't beat anybody
of consequence. Let me see it again. Their strength of victory,
that does the win percentage of the teams they beat
had the second highest. Now the Rams had the highest,
but the Seattle was second.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So very.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Very commendable on their part on that regard. But yeah,
it certainly would seem possible that New England's somewhat like Seattle,
is maybe a year early. I know it's year one
with Vrabel there and Drake May has come on as
an MVP Canada. I think that the one concern from
(15:14):
watching the Chargers, and I'm a big Justin Herbert fan,
is they lost their offensive line. You know, they had
two tackles like they can never protect. For Justin Herbert,
this guy gets has got hit more since he got
the league than anybody by far, and they often have
just kind of pedestrian receivers. And now Ladd mccomically, excuse me,
(15:36):
Lad McConkey has been, you know, a nice little, you know,
smurf type guy work in the middle of the field
and what have you. But I still think that their
targets are are weak and their protection is weak. So
I understand why New England would be favored.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Ten days ago I thought the forty nine Ers would
have had a great chance to go into Philadelphia and
beat the Eagles. I kind of feel like Seattle might
have Oakham last week. What do you think, Hugh, do
they stand a decent chance on that one?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
I don't like saying it, but I got a lot
of respect for Kyle Shanahan. Remember now, the forty nine
Ers since twenty nineteen, that was Shanahan's third year. Uh,
they have the most wins in the NFC, and their
ability to be resilient is almost unprecedent when you consider
they're losing these guys that are Hall of Fame bound
(16:28):
on both sides of the ball. But I do think
they're getting a little bit healthier. And do they have
their tackle He practiced.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Williams, he practiced.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah. And what about Pearsall He did not practice. So yeah,
I would say Philadelphia. Philadelphia has Let me just go
back to a year ago. Now, I was making the
argument that the Eagles supported Jalen Hurts better than any
team I've ever seen in the Super Bowl era. Let
(17:03):
me explain what I mean. Let's just go by Pro
Football Focus, and again, every team in the NFL has
their subscription. The Eagles had the number one offensive line
in all Pro football, number one. They had the number
one tandem of receivers and DeVante Smith and aj Brown
number one. Okay, they had the number one defense, and
(17:25):
they had Saquon Barkley, and they had I think a
godd It was like the eighth or ninth tight end.
If you'd asked me before last year what quarterback was
best supported by those terms, I would say the nineteen
eighty four San Francisco forty nine ers. We went fifteen
to one and beat the Dolphins in the Super Bowl.
(17:47):
And that team they had the number one defense at
Roger Craig. They had Jerry Rice and what have you.
But Joe Montana didn't have nearly as good offensive line
as Jalen Hurts had last year. So that's how good.
Howie Roseman is Jed Fish's college roommate, the GM of
the Eagles. They they had a tremendous roster. Now the
(18:09):
offensive line has dipped a little bit, but they have
a ceiling that is exceedingly high when they get all
their parts together. You know, there's been a lot of
handwringing about Syrian and whether he's the guy but that
roster is so damn talented that I think that they're
capable of beating anybody, including the forty nine ers, including
the Seahawks, including the Rams, and including anybody out of
(18:32):
the AFC. I don't want to happen, right because I
don't like them, right, But yeah, yeah, I tip my
hat they got they.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Got a lot of horsepower. Would you do me one
quick favorite before you go?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Will you just just do as I ask for once
in your damn life. I'm just gonna ask you a
question and just don't give me this. I don't like prediction.
It's just tell me who the Hawks are playing next weekend? Packers, Bears, Rams, Pants, Panthers, Niners, Eagles.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Who's coming to town next Timeaturday?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Rams?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Rams? Got you? You're the man, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
We'll talk next week, all right, I'm failing with us,
he says, the Rams are coming. Rams win and basically
everybody wins, the favorites, right, they all win. So the
Rams come to town next weekend to play Seattle, which
I think would be like, my god, imagine winning that
game next weekend, which I think is going to be
on Saturday. I know it just said Saturday. I think
it's going to be Saturday. Nothing guaranteed, could be Sunday, obviously,
(19:26):
But that feels like the biggest roadblock, does it not,
at least for now, to getting to a super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
I think it's the biggest roadblock in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It might be, it might be.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Hey, you know what Richard Sherman said, the twenty thirteen
NFC championship was the super Bowl. Maybe that game would
be like the super Bowl between the two best teams
in the NFL, and whoever wins it is gonna win
the whole friggin thing. A lot to get to, Hawks
coming up the game last night with all miss and
Missouri excuse me, all miss of Miami. The Hurricanes are
(19:56):
in Indiana, Oregon tonight. Jed Fish was with us earlier
to we got a lot to get to. Kevin Harlan
joins at five as well on ninety three to three
kJ RFM
As part of our never ending coverage for the twelfth
Man in the NFL. This is Football Fridays with Hugh Millin,
sponsored by Tito's handmade Vodka Tito's on Game Day or
Me and Coach fine cocktail recipes for the everyday fan
at Tito's Vodka dot com forty percent alcohol by volume,
namely eighty proof, crafted to be savord responsibly.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now with you, here's Softie and Dick. We got a
busy Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
If you miss Jetfish six pm the night, tune in
for that. Kevin Harlan's going to join us at five
o'clock tonight on the radio program normally on Wednesdays, but
been a little busy the last couple of days. Wacky
things have been going on. So Kevin will join us
at five tonight. But here he is, our friend, our
resident NFL insider, Hue Breedlove Millan. How are you, Pow,
(00:47):
what's going on? Good to be with you, Dave, Yeah,
good to be with you, Hugh. Let's let's talk about
what you heard from Jetfish.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
There.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Man, we spent about twenty minutes talking with the coach
of the Dogs. Your your thoughts, takeaways that conversation.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Well, I think there's a fine line between media savvy
and media evasive, and I think we heard both. And
yet once Jed made the decision that he wanted to
bring back Demond, he was willing to be bring back Demond,
(01:23):
then I don't think he could have answered questions a
lot differently. Certainly there was a number of times where
I say evasive on my notes, but I also have
a column where I wrote smoking gun, which to my interpretation,
I think I have the same theory that I think
most have, which is that and it's deduced from an
(01:49):
inference to the best explanation about a set of facts.
And the theory that I have is that demon Williams
went into the portal. He had a do not contact tag,
as confirmed by Pete Thamil, who's been getting everything right,
and that indicates that he had a specific school in mind.
(02:11):
I believe that that school was LSU. I believe that
there was tampering. That's why Jed didn't want to discuss tampering.
But I also believe that when Washington flexed, they're legal,
not necessarily obligations, but there they're legal, uh prerogatives. I
(02:35):
believe that at that point when you consider when Jed
said that, Hey, when Dave you asked him, you had
to come back right. What he said was every conversation
I've had with Demon is that he's excited to be
on this team. He's excited about who he's surrounded by.
That is not answering the question that to me is
(02:55):
a smoking gun, particularly when paired with the by Darren Heidner,
the new agent who said this demand arrived at the
most well informed decision possible. He decided to return to Washington,
not because he was forced to. Of course, he wasn't
forced to. He could have sat out the year in
(03:16):
twenty twenty six and gone wherever he wanted, not because
he was forced to, not because he didn't understand his options,
but because he was fully educated on the consequences of
each path and chose the one that made the most
sense for him right coma, and because he truly wanted
to return to Washington lead his team to further success.
I get it, that's what an attorney would say, but
(03:38):
there's no doubt in my mind that that's exactly how
it played out. And to me, there was enough disclosed
by Jed. I think that he had to answer most
of those questions that way, given what we know about
the facts, he can't. He can't. He can't describe the facts, Hugh.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
Bigger picture now that we know who the quarterback is,
I asked Jed, I want to ask you. I mean,
what do the dogs need to do in your mind
to be playing tonight?
Speaker 6 (04:04):
In this game?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
One of the teams they're playing tonight, they already played
and I thought it was a fairly competitive game. If
you look at some statistics, it was a fairly competitive game.
So do you agree with Jed when he says we're
closer and we're close?
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, I think it's a fine line. I mean, we've
talked about how the numbers have the biggest drop offensively
both and also with the statistics that pertain to the quarterback,
that performance drop, it's the biggest drop in all power
for So is there improvement? I don't know. I think
(04:37):
the best game I've ever seen from Demon is the
sun Ball, and so we thought that there would be
That was an eighteen year old. We thought there'd be improvement.
As a nineteen year old. The schedules was clearly easier
in twenty twenty five. I mean, Wazoo, they didn't have Matier.
They were two years, not one year removed from PAC twelve.
(04:58):
And then in twenty twenty four, Washington played one team
in the bottom twenty in defense out of power Ford
that was Northwestern. In this past year they played five
and that was all five of the wins bottom twenty
out of sixty seven. So I don't know that I
saw improvement. I see when I study the tape, I
(05:21):
see a lot of things that, in my opinion, need
to be improved. I don't know if Jed sees them
that way, but the numbers speak for themselves. They're gonna
have to be better. I would just you know, my
conclusion always this is, are you Kyler Murray or are
you Dorrian Thompson Robinson and Drrian Thompson Robins damn good quarterback? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
but he lost eight games four each of his last
(05:44):
two years, and he was a third round draft pick,
not the first.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Overall.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
We talk a lot of Hoskey football over the offseason here,
and I got a feeling we're gonna be talking a
lot more this offseason right because of this story. But
let's go to tonight's game, and by the way, if
there was any by the way, concern or curiosity about
who I'm rooting for.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
In tonight's game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Okay, right there, baby, got the Indiana T shirt on
right now.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Let's go Hoosiers. Come on, boys, let's get it done.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Indiana went to Oregon earlier this year and pretty much
just dominated the Ducks at the line of scrimmage in
that game.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Do you see the same thing happening again tonight?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
No, By the way, Hugh Noah Whittington questionable for this
game tonight. They've got some other running backs, including Davidson,
that are out for tonight's game. So what do you
think is going to happen here in Atlanta in the
next half hours?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Though?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Well, Oregon's healthier at the wide receiver position. I think
Dante Moore was shockingly non competitive in that game. He
just looked like he had no fire. He looked like
he had no answer. We're talking about a home game,
obviously against the Hoosiers, but the Hoosiers, you know, I'll
quote Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer said that what the coaching
(06:56):
job that has been done at Indiana is the greatest
coaching job in the history of college football. You know,
I don't know how much Urban studied that, but I
you know, passes my sniff tests, and so I think
that what you see is an Indiana team that you
just have to keep constantly reminding yourself it's not Indiana, right.
(07:19):
They have those classic red and white number. You got
to think of them as Alabama or Oklahoma or Nebraska
or some of these other teams. I know their shades
are red, but they have an NFL secondary and I
think that they are coached like a few teams I've seen.
I believe that they have the number one overall pick
in the draft at quarterback, and so I would expect
(07:42):
it's going to be more of the same. I'll be
surprised if Oregon comes out of this thing with a win.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I would as well.
Speaker 5 (07:50):
But if they do come out with a win, did
the right team win for us last night as far
as as far as a better chance to knock out Oregon?
Speaker 6 (07:59):
And was that play of the game pass interference in
your mind?
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh, it's absolutely past interference, And uh, you know, I
don't I don't understand. I really don't understand the idea. Hey,
let the players play on the last play of the game.
So you're telling me that I hate to use Lebron
because I'm not a fan of Lebron, but Lebron drives
(08:24):
down the lane with with four seconds to go in
Game seven and the Lakers are down by one, and
he goes up and he clearly gets hit on the wrist. Uh,
you're telling me that you're just going to swallow the
whistle and let the players play, And that's not letting
just letting the players violate the rules of the game.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
We see calls like that in the NBA all the time,
but we don't see him in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
On hell, Mary's you're right.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yeah, But now I would say, look if it was
you know, a guy ran in motion and maybe he
went six inches forward, Okay, that's ticki tac. That that
didn't give you a material advantage. You know, a formation,
you know, one guy's got to be on the line
of screamage, one receiver's got to be off. Obviously the
defense isn't confused about who's eligible. Like, I'm not calling
(09:10):
that on the last play of the game, five yards
you know, illegal formason. No, there's a there's a room
for excluding ticki tac plays. But when you're talking about
material materially affecting the game, then I think you have
to call that, and now in the NFL, obviously would
have been at the one yard line. It's only a
(09:30):
fifteen yard penalty, but I think it's got to be
called here.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Millin's well, us, Hugh, Let's let's get to what's happening
this weekend in the NFL. Right, we're all sitting around
waiting to see who the Seahawks will play next weekend.
It'll be the Rams, It'll be the Panthers, it'll be
the forty nine ers, or it will be the Green
Bay Packers. I know you're not into predictions, right, You'd
never been into predictions as long as I've known you.
(09:54):
But this Packer game with the Bears is intriguing to
me because that is a.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Number three seed Chicago, is that right, guys?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Bears versus a seventh seed, yet the seventh seed two seven?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
The two versus a seven, yet the seven is the favorite.
Packers are given a point and a half. So obviously
Vegas thinks Green Bay is gonna win the game and
come to Seattle as the seventh seed next weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
How would surprise? Would you be shocked? Not surprised?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
If Jordan Love and company without Michael Parsons walked into
Soldier Field, knocked off the Bears and came to Seattle
next week.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I would think it's pretty close to a pick. And
what's the spread?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
One and a half?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Yeah, yeah, I think that in Jordan Love, you know,
he's had a concussion, he's been out. I think their
offense has has kind of hit the skids a little bit.
Clearly with Michael Parsons, they.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Don't have it.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I think that that Caleb Williams has really ascended. You know,
you had a chance to win a game winner earlier,
he underthrows it, he gets in intercepted. Now he gets
into a same situation in in overtime and he and
he throws it farther and he throws a dime to
win the game. That guy, I think is all that
(11:10):
he was dressed up to be as the number one
overall pick, and so I think he's playing with confidence,
you know, playing at home. I don't know. I don't
I would not say Green Bay is, you know, should
be a stark favorite in that game. I think the
Packers they've they got to find themselves because they really
limped into the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Hugh, I don't know what odds we could have gotten
in August if we'd have said Patrick mahomes, Lamar Jackson,
Joe Burrow are not playing in the playoffs and Josh
Allen's an underdog in the wild card round in the playoffs.
But it's astronomical. If you are Brandon Bean, the GM
of the Bills, are you immediately on the phone with
John Harbaugh. If Buffalo doesn't win as one and a
(11:51):
half point dogs against Jacksonville on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Yeah, I'd be done. With Sean McDermott. Absolutely my language here,
I'd be done. You cannot waste this beautiful Hall of
Fame quarterback with just you know, they're just something missing.
And I think Harbrough's got enough chops he could put
them over the top. They just seem to always be
(12:15):
kind of missing something. Now I will say, I'm a
I'm about as big a Bills fan as a guy
could be. They are my number two if the Seahawks
don't win it. I don't I don't understand the idea
that you can't have your primary team and then you
have your you know, your secondary or tertiary whatever the
word would be. Team. I might like more than one
(12:36):
team and and I will if Seattle were to lose,
and I hope that doesn't happen. I hope we're doing
a parade in Seattle. Let me make that you know
perfectly clear. I shouldn't need to, but I'm a big
Bills fan for for a long time because Josh Allen's
my top three quarter favorite quarterbacks ever, and so I've
watched them close. They are always getting bit with the
(13:00):
injury bug on their defense. It's like they can never
field healthy defense. It must drive the Bills fans crazy,
but they're a deserving fan base. They're certainly a deserving quarterback,
the player, the competitor, who he is. I'm buying everything
to Josh Allen's selling and if they you just said it, Dick,
think about this, you're talking about You just mentioned those
(13:22):
are three of the premier quarterbacks of this generation and
they're not. You don't even have.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
To go through them.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And so if I'm a Bills fan, it's got to
be all gas, no breaks on this, And it would
be so devastating if they lose, and I would say
bye bye Sean mcturney, Yeah, which.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Would I mean he probably fired the GM too.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
He's the one that built the defense for God's sakes, right,
So probably just clean house. But hum Millin's with us
normally at five o'clock. We wanted to have mino bit
earlier today to react to Jetfish and get his thoughts
on the NFL playoffs.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
And here was your old team, the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Am I right, guys and saying the Patriots had the
easiest schedule in the NFL this.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Year, one of the easiest guys in the last twenty
five years.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
They ranked of schedule thirty seconds in the National Football
League and they're fourteen and three. They're obviously home taken
on Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers. And one of your
favorite guys, Huie Justin Herbert. Are we about to see
a paper tiger on display on Sunday night in Foxborough?
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Great question. And on that note, I've had this on
my notes and all the shows. I've never got this.
In the Seahawks out of fourteen teams, they had the
second highest strength of victory, and strength of victory is
a tiebreaker in the NFL before strength of schedule. So
I think there was a time where there was a
(14:38):
little bit of hand ringing, Oh, Seahawks can't beat anybody
of consequence. Let me see it again. Their strength of victory,
that does the win percentage of the teams they beat
had the second highest. Now the Rams had the highest,
but the Seattle was second.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So very.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Very commendable on their part on that regard. But yeah,
it certainly would seem possible that New England's somewhat like Seattle,
is maybe a year early. I know it's year one
with Vrabel there and Drake May has come on as
an MVP Canada. I think that the one concern from
(15:14):
watching the Chargers, and I'm a big Justin Herbert fan,
is they lost their offensive line. You know, they had
two tackles like they can never protect. For Justin Herbert,
this guy gets has got hit more since he got
the league than anybody by far, and they often have
just kind of pedestrian receivers. And now Ladd mccomically, excuse me,
(15:36):
Lad McConkey has been, you know, a nice little, you know,
smurf type guy work in the middle of the field
and what have you. But I still think that their
targets are are weak and their protection is weak. So
I understand why New England would be favored.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Ten days ago I thought the forty nine Ers would
have had a great chance to go into Philadelphia and
beat the Eagles. I kind of feel like Seattle might
have Oakham last week. What do you think, Hugh, do
they stand a decent chance on that one?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
I don't like saying it, but I got a lot
of respect for Kyle Shanahan. Remember now, the forty nine
Ers since twenty nineteen, that was Shanahan's third year. Uh,
they have the most wins in the NFC, and their
ability to be resilient is almost unprecedent when you consider
they're losing these guys that are Hall of Fame bound
(16:28):
on both sides of the ball. But I do think
they're getting a little bit healthier. And do they have
their tackle He practiced.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Williams, he practiced.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah. And what about Pearsall He did not practice. So yeah,
I would say Philadelphia. Philadelphia has Let me just go
back to a year ago. Now, I was making the
argument that the Eagles supported Jalen Hurts better than any
team I've ever seen in the Super Bowl era. Let
(17:03):
me explain what I mean. Let's just go by Pro
Football Focus, and again, every team in the NFL has
their subscription. The Eagles had the number one offensive line
in all Pro football, number one. They had the number
one tandem of receivers and DeVante Smith and aj Brown
number one. Okay, they had the number one defense, and
(17:25):
they had Saquon Barkley, and they had I think a
godd It was like the eighth or ninth tight end.
If you'd asked me before last year what quarterback was
best supported by those terms, I would say the nineteen
eighty four San Francisco forty nine ers. We went fifteen
to one and beat the Dolphins in the Super Bowl.
(17:47):
And that team they had the number one defense at
Roger Craig. They had Jerry Rice and what have you.
But Joe Montana didn't have nearly as good offensive line
as Jalen Hurts had last year. So that's how good.
Howie Roseman is Jed Fish's college roommate, the GM of
the Eagles. They they had a tremendous roster. Now the
(18:09):
offensive line has dipped a little bit, but they have
a ceiling that is exceedingly high when they get all
their parts together. You know, there's been a lot of
handwringing about Syrian and whether he's the guy but that
roster is so damn talented that I think that they're
capable of beating anybody, including the forty nine ers, including
the Seahawks, including the Rams, and including anybody out of
(18:32):
the AFC. I don't want to happen, right because I
don't like them, right, But yeah, yeah, I tip my
hat they got they.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Got a lot of horsepower. Would you do me one
quick favorite before you go?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Will you just just do as I ask for once
in your damn life. I'm just gonna ask you a
question and just don't give me this. I don't like prediction.
It's just tell me who the Hawks are playing next weekend? Packers, Bears, Rams, Pants, Panthers, Niners, Eagles.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Who's coming to town next Timeaturday?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Rams?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Rams? Got you? You're the man, great stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
We'll talk next week, all right, I'm failing with us,
he says, the Rams are coming. Rams win and basically
everybody wins, the favorites, right, they all win. So the
Rams come to town next weekend to play Seattle, which
I think would be like, my god, imagine winning that
game next weekend, which I think is going to be
on Saturday. I know it just said Saturday. I think
it's going to be Saturday. Nothing guaranteed, could be Sunday, obviously,
(19:26):
But that feels like the biggest roadblock, does it not,
at least for now, to getting to a super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
I think it's the biggest roadblock in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It might be, it might be.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Hey, you know what Richard Sherman said, the twenty thirteen
NFC championship was the super Bowl. Maybe that game would
be like the super Bowl between the two best teams
in the NFL, and whoever wins it is gonna win
the whole friggin thing. A lot to get to, Hawks
coming up the game last night with all miss and
Missouri excuse me, all miss of Miami. The Hurricanes are
(19:56):
in Indiana, Oregon tonight. Jed Fish was with us earlier
to we got a lot to get to. Kevin Harlan
joins at five as well on ninety three to three
kJ RFM
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