September 11, 2026 • 29 mins
Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain speak with Hugh Millen about the Seahawks cornerbacks holding their own, get his thoughts on Drew Lock, and how he feels Brian Fleury called plays in his first game as Seahawks OC. Then Hugh comes back to talk about whether he's worried about Sam Darnold's injury and takes a look at the matchup between JSN and Christian Gonzalez.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of our never-ending coverage for the 12th man
in the NFL, this is Football Fridays with Hugh Millen,
sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Tito's on game day? Pour me in, coach! Find cocktail recipes.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
For the everyday fan at titosvodka.com. 40% alcohol by volume,
namely 80 proof, crafted to be savored responsibly.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Now with you, here's Zofian Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Let's go!
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Third down five. Patriots down by three. 26 seconds to go.
Shotgun snap to May. Moved down to the pocket.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Throws a pass.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
End zone.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Intercepted in the end zone.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Was he inbounds?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Intercepted by Jobe. Seattle has picked off May. They've done
it again. The defense of Seattle has done it again.
Drake May has thrown his third interception.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
In this quarter.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Drake May went 20 consecutive games without a multi-interception game,
and then he saw the Seahawks. Now he's been picked
off five times in the last two games, sacked nine
times with a passer rating of 68.6, and no better
guy to talk about that than our friend Hugh Millen
joining us right now on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Hugh, how are you, man?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay. I'm doing great. You want to jump into Drake, man?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, I normally say I'm doing great. How are you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Good to be here. Blah, blah, blah. People really want
me to ask you, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You always do. You always do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Hey, hey, hey. Time out. Let's do it again.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Three, two, one.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hugh Millen with us. Hugh, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Oh, so good to be with you. How are you doing? Good.
Thank you for asking. Thanks, Hugh.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Appreciate that. All right.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
We're good.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
All right. There we go.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Let's talk about Drake May, because Drake May was the
runner-up to the MVP. I said on yesterday's show that
Drake May, to me, looks like a bit of a fraud,
but only in relation to this idea that he was
supposedly the second-best player in the NFL. I think he's
very good, but to call this guy the second-best player
in the NFL, that's hard for me to stomach after
(02:12):
what I saw in person the last eight quarters. Man,
that last throw he made going up there that Josh
Jobe picked off. I told Dick on the air yesterday,
my first reaction wasn't, great job, Josh Jobe.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It was, what the hell was Drake May thinking, man?
So talk to us about that.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, first of all, regarding Drake May, on a few
shows I have outlined earlier in the week how Drake May,
five very important statistics. He was number one in the NFL.
huge drop-off in the playoffs for him a year ago.
He's 24 years old. I've never offered an opinion about
what I think about him. I'm just saying that if
(02:49):
you look at what he accomplished, he absolutely deserved to
be number two in the NFL. And you go back
to his comments post-game after this Seahawks game the other night,
he said he got impatient. He admitted the three interceptions.
He If I could try and make an inference on that,
if you go back to a year ago, the six
(03:10):
quarterbacks who made the Pro Bowl, this is the number
of completions that they had where the ball was in
the air 10 yards or more. Justin Herbert had 80.
Josh Allen had 77. This is for the regular season
last year. Completions with the ball in the air yards
(03:31):
10 yards or more. Sam Darnold was 89. We'll get
to his percentage in a second. Dak Prescott was 102.
Drake May and Matthew Stafford tied for the lead at 111.
And yet, Stafford had 105 more passes. So you're talking
about a guy, Stafford, who was the MVP, was producing
(03:53):
completions with the ball 10 yards or more in the
air at an 18.6 rate. By the way, Sam Darnold
was 18.5%, and he had led it for most of
the season. Drake May was 22.6% of his passes were
completions more than 10 yards. So when he, a young
quarterback says, you know, he's averaging six and a half
per game going into the fourth quarter, he had one.
(04:18):
And so it would be logical for a young guy
to just say, I want to make a play. I
want to make a play. And I think that's what
he's talking about. There's the numbers that support it. I'm
not in his head, but I think it's a fair inference.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
The Seahawks decided to get rid of Kobe Bryant and
Tariq Woolen to save money. Josh Jobe, Nehemiah Pritchett took
a lot of those snaps that those two guys would
have taken.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Just overall, your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
On the performance of those corners? Well, I thought they
were real good. I think maybe unexpectedly so. I liked
the adjustment. In the training camp, I had talked about
how it was game one. They gave up a number
of what's called double slants. I've been on teams that
have the word conjunction diesel for double slant. Mike Holmgren
(05:08):
would call it lion. All the West Coast guys would
call it lion.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I don't know why. That's what I would call it.
I call it lion.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You call it lion. All right. Yeah. You and Brett
Favre would call it lion. Thank you. So they had
about four or five completions against them on lion. And
they said, expect that to clean up for preseason game
number two. Now go fast forward. Now it was on
a blitz playoff. coming out of the North end zone
for the Patriots, but they go, they go lion double
(05:37):
slant and they hit AJ Brown for a huge completion.
And I'm looking at it, and I'm like, wait a minute. Pritchett,
you can't press bail. You have to attach more. On
that particular type of technique where press bail means you're
going to be at the line like you're pressing, but
then either at or immediately before the ball is snapped,
(05:59):
you turn your ass to the sideline, knees in, and
you turn in a half turn, and you're trying to
see the ball and the defender. And that was very
poor defense. technique, give up a big completion. Then they
come back and they try and get it, and it's
a lot stickier, and that's the play that A.J. Brown
got hurt.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And the ankle, it was that exact– he's defending the slant.
So even within the game, he was able to tighten
it up. And, of course, the play that Job made
was a hell of a play to win the game. But, yeah, no,
it's all good thus far. I'm not– here to declare
in my own mind or to you guys that I
(06:41):
think they're out of the woods with the coverage there
with the corners. I think there was a reason why
John Schneider was, was scouring the entire globe for options,
but it was a good first night.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Well, they'll get Imanwari back at some point to help
their defense.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
They'll get Okada back.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
At some point, they're going to have access to Diggs,
and they may have access to Terryon Arnold at some point.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So there are replacements. They could have an embarrassment of riches.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
There are some backups that are going to be coming
up from the ranks, but let's talk about Jackson Smith
and Jigba. The touchdown, okay, you can give Fleury credit,
the offensive line credit, Drew Locke credit, or we can
sit back and just say, no, that was all number 11, man.
That was just him hitting the turbo button and turning
chicken crap into chicken salad. What'd you make of that
(07:25):
touchdown there?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, I think there's a lot to unpack on both
sides of the ball. You know, first of all, When
you look at Seattle, they ran a concept called Z-Spot.
A lot of coaches that may be listening would call
it snag, although it's a Friday night. They're probably getting
ready to coach. But it's a ubiquitous concept. In fact,
I saw Drew Locke. Dick and I talked in the postseason.
(07:48):
I said that's a very common concept, maybe the most.
Some people call it delta because it creates a triangle.
In the Greek letter, D looks like a triangle at
any rate. So very common concept. But Seattle, when you
talk about bad football, I'm going to put it in
three categories.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Dick, you got a pencil.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Can you write this down for me? So poor defense
is just poor execution where the scheme that you're trying
to run is sound. It makes sense. OK, and everybody
understands their assignment or at least the person in question
understands the assignment. They just didn't execute it as well
as their their adversary, their opponent. Got it. Then there's
(08:30):
another category, which is unsound, unsound defenses. You say, OK,
everybody's on the right page. There's no missed assignments, but
the coach, the coordinator has asked them to do something
that could work, but over a long period of time,
it's very risky. Let's say a corner blitz where you
come off the edge and you've got a safety that's
(08:52):
over the top against an elite receiver. That would be unsound.
The 49ers a couple years ago in the NFC Championship game,
they tried to have a tight end block the best
defense defensive end in the league that year for the Eagles. Like,
wait a minute, that's unsound. And in that play, Brock
Purdy gets his elbow ripped up and he's done for
(09:15):
the game. I mean, I can give all kinds of examples.
Even Mike McDonald in the first Seahawks-Rams game at home,
the Thursday night game, he matched up Kobe Bryant in
cover zero against Puka Nakua and allowed free access. They
denied free access to the tight end on the other
side And they tried to have Kobe Bryant. And I said,
(09:38):
that's unsound. Well, he never did that defense again in
the NFC Championship game. So unsound is a category that
you have to describe. But there's another one that's called bust.
A busted coverage is guys literally they didn't communicate or
they had a missed assignment and they're not doing their job.
And on that touchdown, you had busts. by both teams.
(10:02):
Gray Zabel blocked down and he was as if he
was doing a full turn, not a half slide, but
a full slide from the guard over. And yet Sindel,
the center, was blocking the same guy. On that front...
There is no protection in the history of ball that
(10:23):
would leave what's called the two technique. The two technique
is the defensive tackle in the A gap. What's the
A gap? Between the center and the guard. There is
no protection in the history of mankind that would let
the defensive tackle come unblocked through the B gap when
the guard turns down. So they had a complete bust
(10:44):
in that regard. That's a busted protection. And you had... uh, our,
our boy on, uh, at right guard, uh, Anthony Bradford,
he overset so that he didn't bust, but he allowed
immediate penetration. So drew lock is then he's going to,
he's going to fake and he's going to turn. He
(11:04):
didn't even have a chance to set up because there's
a guy that, as I said, defensive tackles coming right
through the B gap between the guard and the tackle. Now,
how did the, the Patriots bus, they're playing a too
high structure and, And if you look at Jackson Smith
and Jigba, there's two tight ends and then two backs
in the backfield. They're playing a too high structure. All
(11:25):
the defenders in the area, I didn't look up their names,
but you had the two linebackers on the line of scrimmage.
One of them might have been in cover. No, they
both rushed. Gonzalez, the corner, he matched the fullback in
the flat or the halfback in the flat. Excuse me.
So he's not going to cover JSN. So what did
they have? They had a safety. Oh, by the way,
(11:47):
their middle linebacker is chasing the tight end on a
corner route as if it's man-to-man coverage. So there's literally nobody.
covering Jackson Smith and jig, but the guy who had
the best chance to make the tackle was the half
safety who was 13 yards off the ball on the
fourth and one. So like that, that is a, I don't,
(12:11):
I usually will say 99.9% just to give myself like
this tiny one in a thousand wiggle room. That's a
high of a hundred percent, a busted coverage, but not,
not poor coverage, not unsound coverage. A busted coverage. And
let me be clear. Drew Locke did not benefit from
(12:33):
any kind of good protection by the offensive line. There
was a bust. There was a guy immediately, he could,
all he had a chance to do when he was
turning to his left as a right-handed quarterback is just
wheel and get rid of the ball. And he did
a hell of a job because, and he had to
throw it sidearm around him. So do not deny Drew
Locke a portion of this credit because Locke had to do,
(12:57):
that was a much more difficult play For every reason
I'm describing. And if he's even a third of a second,
and I'm not saying that just for, for effect, I
literally mean a third of a second. If he's a
third of a second later, if you look at how
the defenders, the safety from the town, and then the
linebacker coming from the inside, if they were just a
little bit closer. Because Locke was a third of a
(13:21):
second later, then JSN is not going to have a
chance to get out of the hole and accelerate to
the point where he makes that brilliant, beautiful play. Like JSN, hey,
throw all the flowers you want. I'll yank all the
flowers off the Rose Parade and throw it at him.
He deserves them. He's JSN. That was a beautiful play.
But if you're telling me that that was just some
(13:41):
kind of five-yard, playing football in the backyard on a
button hook, you are totally misunderstanding what was happening on
that play. Drew Locke gets a freaking... Double plus for
what he did on that touchdown.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
I wrote down your poor D, unsound D, and bust
D definition for anybody that wants. And because I wrote
notes down on Friday when I asked you about Brian Fleury,
I know that you said that, ask me on Monday,
because the definition of what Brian Fleury did would be A,
what did the operation look like?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And B, how did he handle the blitz? So take
us through those two elements.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Well, you know, he's not going to like that play
I just described, right? Right. I mean, they literally busted
the protection. I would say, first of all, you just
kind of throw a mulligan on, don't you guys? You know,
the guy was just trying to hold it together with
bubble gum and bathing wire. He's trying to think of, hey,
(14:40):
what is Drew Locke good at? Now, one thing that
Locke benefited from, we are on a relative scale right
off the heels of training camp. when Drew Locke was
getting a lot of reps, like had this happened in,
you know, the second week of December and the second
week in September, he'd be rustier working with the offense. Right.
Is that, is that a fair take now? He'd be,
(15:00):
he'd be running scout team stuff. So, so I think
he benefited from that regard.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
He was getting reps in camp like two weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Three weeks ago. Right. Exactly. So he's, he's less rusty now.
You don't need as much WD-40 to wipe the rust
off him now as you would a few months from now.
So in that regard, I don't know if it's fortuitous.
It's the first freaking game, and your quarterback's health is
in question. So I don't want to ignore that part
(15:27):
of it. But from a Drew Locke perspective, you know, Dick,
they found a way to make the plays. And I
thought Drew Locke played better after watching the tape. than
I thought when you and I did the postgame show
because I thought his– now, early on he had a lock–
he ran himself into a sack where he should have
(15:49):
stayed in the throwing position with his hips– perpendicular to
the line of scrimmage and just slid. He closed his
hip down as his throwing shoulder down to get into
a running position. And then now all of a sudden,
you know, that's advanced to the defense and he didn't
need to take that sack. But from that point on,
it's like he went back and he watched the, the, the,
the Microsoft surface, the play. And he, and he said, Whoa,
(16:11):
that's some bad pocket navigation. He probably self scouted and, and, and,
and probably had Flory telling him, Hey, just, you know, you're,
you're good. And then he was, way better in the
pocket from that point on, uh, as for Flory. So
we don't know how Flory would set up plays, uh,
you know, what, what his design would have been, how
would it be taken more shots? We just don't know
(16:32):
because Sam Donald wasn't the quarterback. The one thing I
will say, that I mentioned as a problem in the preseason.
And I'm going to say, I have examples. We don't
have the time for me to do it, but there
are too many plays where receivers are stacked on top
of each other. What does that mean? If I'm the
quarterback and I want to throw the intermediate cut at
let's say 15 or 18 yards on an in breaking route,
(16:55):
I understand that you've got to have shallow crosses or
check downs or what have you to, to, to influence
defenders to open up that window for me. But I
don't want those players in a straight line. I don't
want the tight end directly in my line throwing. You say, well,
you can throw over the top. Well, yeah, you can
if there's a big gap. But if there's, you know, 8,
(17:17):
10-yard gap in vertical, and I want to smoke that
ball into a 15, 18-yard receiver target, I, I, there's
too many times where I've seen where, where, where underneath
receivers are, are, uh, right in the same throwing line. I, I,
I designed, I drew one, um, where it was, it
was happening on two sides of the field on the
(17:39):
left side. He had a, uh, a curl with a, uh,
a shallow cross directly underneath that. And another had, he
had Cooper cup on an over route and he had
the tight end doing a China route, which is out
and then back in. And the, and if I, if
I want to throw to Cooper cup, uh, You know,
AJ Barner is going to be right in the line. Hell,
AJ Barner might think I'm throwing to him and, and,
(17:59):
and reach up and try and, you know, catch it
and tip it and gets picked off. And it's because
they're stacked.
Speaker 7 (18:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
So that was a, that that's been too much of
a problem. I think that has to get cleaned up.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I think you should march your ass to the VMAC,
go find Blind Flurry, and say, you.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Don't know what you're doing for crying out loud.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I didn't say that.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
All right, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Hey, listen, it's the tape. The tape is doing the talking.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Hey, we're going to break.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
We've got to come back and talk about Darnold, man,
the injury, the hip, the whole thing. All right, we'll
do that next with Hugh on 93.3 KJRFM.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
back to Saucy and Dip. on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You know they have the spelling bee and they have
the lightning round, by the way.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Spell dog, spell chicken, spell watermelon, spell mortgage, bing, bang, boom.
We're going to go as fast as we can here, Hugh,
because we have a lot of topics to get to.
So Sam Darnold, give us your current state of mind
with his hip injury. Are we worried that when he
does come back, he may be dealing with something all
year long?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I'm not worried about that because I don't think they're
going to play him unless... he's healthy. And so now
whether he'll be healthy, just look, the right hip for
a right-handed quarterback. Right. I mean, that's loads the force.
You begin to throw, you want your hips to lead
your shoulders. That kind of creates a, like in a
golf swing, an elastic energy there. And, and your, your
(19:36):
hip is internally rotating as you're trying to drive it
to the target. And man, I think it's pretty self-evident
that the right hip is rotating. arguably, uh, you know,
you could say the most important joint in the whole
damn throwing kinetic chain. So, yeah, it's very concerning. But
I don't think that he'll be lingering because if it
hurts him, he won't be able to play. It's not like.
(20:00):
You know, an ankle or... I don't know. But you
can't play without your hip.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It's an all-or-nothing proposition. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I think so.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
That's a better way to put it.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
So in that case, how long can this team survive
without Sam Darnold? I mean, yeah, they got a great defense.
They've got a good backup, good to very good backup quarterback.
But he's not a top 20 quarterback in the NFL
like Sam Darnold is a top 10 or 12 quarterback
in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
But, you know, he's gaining experience and there's... There's a
branch of quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks, the Taylor Heinekes and the
Graham Howell, that they're not starters because they just don't
have the athletic horsepower. They're either not big enough, they
(20:50):
don't have a strong enough arm, they don't have the feet,
or what have you. And so you look at them
and you just say, okay, they understand the game. They
can manage the game, but they can't make the electric plays.
Drew Locke is not in that category. He is in
the category of guys that have the absolute tools. I mean,
(21:10):
talking about a guy who's 6'3, who moves well. You
saw that 14-yard scramble. He's got a quick release, who
has velocity, who set the SEC record for 44 touchdown
passes his last year at Missouri. Like this, there's nothing–
physically deficient about Drew Locke. It's just been consistency, and
(21:32):
that's why he's never been able to hang on to
a starting job. So in his experience, he's cleaned up
his consistency. And now here's another part. I was looking
at it. He's going to, at the end of the year,
have made $ 20. 8 million, just under $ 21 million. I did
some calculations. I'm not going to get into it. But
if you kind of figure out how he's been taxed,
assume a normal investment rate, he's just about arriving at
(21:57):
the part where he never has to work again. He
can't live like Mick Jagger, but he could coach high
school football or he could go throw the ball to
his dog or sit on a beach. He could do
whatever the hell he wants as long as he wants,
you know, within reason. And that is for a lot
of people. That's a liberating feeling. So now you just say, hey,
(22:19):
I'm playing for the fun of it. The pressure's not there.
He's got the experience. I mean, I can draw you up.
a reasonable blue sky in a scenario involving him. Now
he's not Sam Darnold, but I think he can win
some games for you. And I'll close with this. Our friend,
John Clayton, who used to be on this station, he
used to say, if your backup plays three games, he
can win three games for you. If he plays six
(22:39):
games for you, he can win three games.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Well, you know, so there may be something like that involved.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Well, true luck may not be Mick Jagger, but he
does have some Puerto Rican girls that are dying.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Time to meet him.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Hugh, talk to us about Christian Gonzalez versus Jackson Smith
and Jigba on Wednesday night. Highest paid receiver, highest paid corner.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Who won that battle?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Well, it's a hell of a matchup. And, you know,
you look and you say, well, in the important ways,
JSN won it because his team won. Right. And he
had 11 catches for 122 yards on, excuse me, 11 targets,
8 receptions. And the touchdown. So if you multiply that
out by 17, I mean, it's a historic season. So
(23:23):
he wins. But Dick, you know, I pledged to measure
this to Dick on that night. And there was 10
times where JSN was matched up by Christian Gonzalez. And
the ball went to JSN twice. two out of those
(23:45):
10 times for no catches. So in a way, Gonzalez,
he's a hell of a player. And so is JSN.
But by that, if you ignore the team element of it,
Gonzalez won.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
How about more on Jadarian Price after you took a
look at the video? I saw a lot of canine
in Jadarian Price the few times he touched the football
and he's making $ 10 million less a year.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Is that too much high praise?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I loved what I saw from him on outside runs,
and all but one were outside runs. His second run
was a duo, which is basically going right up the
A-gap to the strong side always, and based on how
it's blocked, there's an opportunity to bounce to the outside
(24:34):
depending on how the Mike Linebacker steps up, but Carlton Davis,
a hell of a corner, he came up and he
was ready for duo, and he smacked price down for
no gain on on a inside run that he chose
to bounce but the scheme allowed him to bounce for
it now everything else was stretch or toss and zone
blocking uh there's a pin and pull in there uh
(24:57):
and what i love about it i mean he just
has a top shelf acceleration and in that regard he
does look like canine right and and because when you're
blocking out there on the zone the wide zone And
by the way, they ran wide zone, what was it, 54.5%
of their runs. And when you have a guy who's
(25:18):
that fast, the timing of it, if you're A.J. Barner
and you're doing a combo block with either tackle, Abe Lucas, like, hey,
you're going to help Abe Lucas for a second. You're A.J. Barner.
Now you're going to come off to the linebacker. And
the best time to hit it is right now. Like, A.J.
(25:40):
Barner's going, dude, get there, because you can't block anybody indefinitely.
And the best time to hit it is right when A.J.
Barner makes contact with that linebacker. And you saw timing
again where you say, wait, he's getting out there so
fast that it's making the timing of the blocks work. Now,
on the inside run.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
We don't know. He had one inside run and chose
to bounce it. The Patriots just won on that one.
But in the Super Bowl, you had an outside run
for 30 yards by K-9 that just defied everything the
way he broke everybody down. And the very next play,
they ran inside zone. Everything was bottled up on the
(26:21):
A-gap to his right. It was inside zone to the right.
So he sets up the block because his alignment was deeper.
He starts to weave back to the left. That helped
the Sindel block, and then he weaved back to the right.
So he goes right, left, right, all doing it at
full speed. He hits it, and he gets 27 yards
in the Super Bowl. One outside, one inside. So I
would say what we saw the other night, you say, Price, man,
(26:44):
I love what he's going to bring on the outside stuff.
That's the early return. No clue about the inside and
probably unlikely to match. Got it. Hey, real quick.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We got a minute left.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
That's 60 seconds to you and I, Hugh, by the way,
Rams Niners.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Last night knows about that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
She sure does. Absolutely. Two times.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
How much do you criticize the Rams performance last night
and associate it with their decision to travel and land
two days before the game?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Well, we can never isolate the variables. I think it's silly.
We can only guess that they would have played better.
I think it's a fair guess. But if we try
and stamp something, some referendum on that game, like with
permanent ink, that's silly. And I'm not saying you're doing that, Dave.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We're not doing that.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
But there are some people. So we can never isolate
the variables. I would just say this. The Rams, you know...
What I love about Sean McVay, he says, look, we
got embarrassed out there. No excuses. I got to coach better.
I love Sean. I wish he wasn't coaching in this
division because I love his style. And he made no excuses.
(27:53):
He just said, we got embarrassed. He credited the 49ers.
He said all the things. I said, that's a professional
freaking press conference. And so now, look, the Patriots, I
remember they lost to the Bills 31-7 in an opener
or something and then won the Super Bowl. There's been
many times. Hell, the Seattle Seahawks lost to the 49ers
(28:14):
last year. Of course, it was a closer game. So
this will be an opportunity for them to get what
they said. This was sobering. I can't remember the adjective,
but this will be an opportunity for them to look
in the mirror. The 49ers held up the mirror and said, hey,
you guys think you're hot shots? You're not as pretty
as you thought you were, are you? That's what the
(28:35):
49ers did. They held up the mirror. Rams don't like
what they see. I suspect that they'll have a bounce back.
49ers aren't that bad. Excuse me, aren't that much better.
better than the Rams, if at all. It was just
on that day they were.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, no doubt. All right, man, great stuff. And we'll
talk Monday, all right?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Love it. All right, have a good weekend.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Hugh Millen with us. We're going to break. A little
fun with audio.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Jed Fish had a chance to catch up with him yesterday,
recapping the Apple Cup, looking ahead to the game that
everybody's been circling, the Utah State game.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's coming up at 6 on 93.3 KJRFM.
As part of our never-ending coverage for the 12th man
in the NFL, this is Football Fridays with Hugh Millen,
sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Tito's on game day? Pour me in, coach! Find cocktail recipes.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
For the everyday fan at titosvodka.com. 40% alcohol by volume,
namely 80 proof, crafted to be savored responsibly.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Now with you, here's Zofian Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Let's go!
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Third down five. Patriots down by three. 26 seconds to go.
Shotgun snap to May. Moved down to the pocket.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Throws a pass.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
End zone.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Intercepted in the end zone.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Was he inbounds?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Intercepted by Jobe. Seattle has picked off May. They've done
it again. The defense of Seattle has done it again.
Drake May has thrown his third interception.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
In this quarter.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Drake May went 20 consecutive games without a multi-interception game,
and then he saw the Seahawks. Now he's been picked
off five times in the last two games, sacked nine
times with a passer rating of 68.6, and no better
guy to talk about that than our friend Hugh Millen
joining us right now on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Hugh, how are you, man?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay. I'm doing great. You want to jump into Drake, man?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, I normally say I'm doing great. How are you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Good to be here. Blah, blah, blah. People really want
me to ask you, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You always do. You always do.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
All right.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
All right.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Hey, hey, hey. Time out. Let's do it again.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Three, two, one.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hugh Millen with us. Hugh, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Oh, so good to be with you. How are you doing? Good.
Thank you for asking. Thanks, Hugh.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Appreciate that. All right.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
We're good.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
All right. There we go.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Let's talk about Drake May, because Drake May was the
runner-up to the MVP. I said on yesterday's show that
Drake May, to me, looks like a bit of a fraud,
but only in relation to this idea that he was
supposedly the second-best player in the NFL. I think he's
very good, but to call this guy the second-best player
in the NFL, that's hard for me to stomach after
(02:12):
what I saw in person the last eight quarters. Man,
that last throw he made going up there that Josh
Jobe picked off. I told Dick on the air yesterday,
my first reaction wasn't, great job, Josh Jobe.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It was, what the hell was Drake May thinking, man?
So talk to us about that.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, first of all, regarding Drake May, on a few
shows I have outlined earlier in the week how Drake May,
five very important statistics. He was number one in the NFL.
huge drop-off in the playoffs for him a year ago.
He's 24 years old. I've never offered an opinion about
what I think about him. I'm just saying that if
(02:49):
you look at what he accomplished, he absolutely deserved to
be number two in the NFL. And you go back
to his comments post-game after this Seahawks game the other night,
he said he got impatient. He admitted the three interceptions.
He If I could try and make an inference on that,
if you go back to a year ago, the six
(03:10):
quarterbacks who made the Pro Bowl, this is the number
of completions that they had where the ball was in
the air 10 yards or more. Justin Herbert had 80.
Josh Allen had 77. This is for the regular season
last year. Completions with the ball in the air yards
(03:31):
10 yards or more. Sam Darnold was 89. We'll get
to his percentage in a second. Dak Prescott was 102.
Drake May and Matthew Stafford tied for the lead at 111.
And yet, Stafford had 105 more passes. So you're talking
about a guy, Stafford, who was the MVP, was producing
(03:53):
completions with the ball 10 yards or more in the
air at an 18.6 rate. By the way, Sam Darnold
was 18.5%, and he had led it for most of
the season. Drake May was 22.6% of his passes were
completions more than 10 yards. So when he, a young
quarterback says, you know, he's averaging six and a half
per game going into the fourth quarter, he had one.
(04:18):
And so it would be logical for a young guy
to just say, I want to make a play. I
want to make a play. And I think that's what
he's talking about. There's the numbers that support it. I'm
not in his head, but I think it's a fair inference.
Speaker 6 (04:33):
The Seahawks decided to get rid of Kobe Bryant and
Tariq Woolen to save money. Josh Jobe, Nehemiah Pritchett took
a lot of those snaps that those two guys would
have taken.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Just overall, your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
On the performance of those corners? Well, I thought they
were real good. I think maybe unexpectedly so. I liked
the adjustment. In the training camp, I had talked about
how it was game one. They gave up a number
of what's called double slants. I've been on teams that
have the word conjunction diesel for double slant. Mike Holmgren
(05:08):
would call it lion. All the West Coast guys would
call it lion.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I don't know why. That's what I would call it.
I call it lion.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You call it lion. All right. Yeah. You and Brett
Favre would call it lion. Thank you. So they had
about four or five completions against them on lion. And
they said, expect that to clean up for preseason game
number two. Now go fast forward. Now it was on
a blitz playoff. coming out of the North end zone
for the Patriots, but they go, they go lion double
(05:37):
slant and they hit AJ Brown for a huge completion.
And I'm looking at it, and I'm like, wait a minute. Pritchett,
you can't press bail. You have to attach more. On
that particular type of technique where press bail means you're
going to be at the line like you're pressing, but
then either at or immediately before the ball is snapped,
(05:59):
you turn your ass to the sideline, knees in, and
you turn in a half turn, and you're trying to
see the ball and the defender. And that was very
poor defense. technique, give up a big completion. Then they
come back and they try and get it, and it's
a lot stickier, and that's the play that A.J. Brown
got hurt.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And the ankle, it was that exact– he's defending the slant.
So even within the game, he was able to tighten
it up. And, of course, the play that Job made
was a hell of a play to win the game. But, yeah, no,
it's all good thus far. I'm not– here to declare
in my own mind or to you guys that I
(06:41):
think they're out of the woods with the coverage there
with the corners. I think there was a reason why
John Schneider was, was scouring the entire globe for options,
but it was a good first night.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
Well, they'll get Imanwari back at some point to help
their defense.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
They'll get Okada back.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
At some point, they're going to have access to Diggs,
and they may have access to Terryon Arnold at some point.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So there are replacements. They could have an embarrassment of riches.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
There are some backups that are going to be coming
up from the ranks, but let's talk about Jackson Smith
and Jigba. The touchdown, okay, you can give Fleury credit,
the offensive line credit, Drew Locke credit, or we can
sit back and just say, no, that was all number 11, man.
That was just him hitting the turbo button and turning
chicken crap into chicken salad. What'd you make of that
(07:25):
touchdown there?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Well, I think there's a lot to unpack on both
sides of the ball. You know, first of all, When
you look at Seattle, they ran a concept called Z-Spot.
A lot of coaches that may be listening would call
it snag, although it's a Friday night. They're probably getting
ready to coach. But it's a ubiquitous concept. In fact,
I saw Drew Locke. Dick and I talked in the postseason.
(07:48):
I said that's a very common concept, maybe the most.
Some people call it delta because it creates a triangle.
In the Greek letter, D looks like a triangle at
any rate. So very common concept. But Seattle, when you
talk about bad football, I'm going to put it in
three categories.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Dick, you got a pencil.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Can you write this down for me? So poor defense
is just poor execution where the scheme that you're trying
to run is sound. It makes sense. OK, and everybody
understands their assignment or at least the person in question
understands the assignment. They just didn't execute it as well
as their their adversary, their opponent. Got it. Then there's
(08:30):
another category, which is unsound, unsound defenses. You say, OK,
everybody's on the right page. There's no missed assignments, but
the coach, the coordinator has asked them to do something
that could work, but over a long period of time,
it's very risky. Let's say a corner blitz where you
come off the edge and you've got a safety that's
(08:52):
over the top against an elite receiver. That would be unsound.
The 49ers a couple years ago in the NFC Championship game,
they tried to have a tight end block the best
defense defensive end in the league that year for the Eagles. Like,
wait a minute, that's unsound. And in that play, Brock
Purdy gets his elbow ripped up and he's done for
(09:15):
the game. I mean, I can give all kinds of examples.
Even Mike McDonald in the first Seahawks-Rams game at home,
the Thursday night game, he matched up Kobe Bryant in
cover zero against Puka Nakua and allowed free access. They
denied free access to the tight end on the other
side And they tried to have Kobe Bryant. And I said,
(09:38):
that's unsound. Well, he never did that defense again in
the NFC Championship game. So unsound is a category that
you have to describe. But there's another one that's called bust.
A busted coverage is guys literally they didn't communicate or
they had a missed assignment and they're not doing their job.
And on that touchdown, you had busts. by both teams.
(10:02):
Gray Zabel blocked down and he was as if he
was doing a full turn, not a half slide, but
a full slide from the guard over. And yet Sindel,
the center, was blocking the same guy. On that front...
There is no protection in the history of ball that
(10:23):
would leave what's called the two technique. The two technique
is the defensive tackle in the A gap. What's the
A gap? Between the center and the guard. There is
no protection in the history of mankind that would let
the defensive tackle come unblocked through the B gap when
the guard turns down. So they had a complete bust
(10:44):
in that regard. That's a busted protection. And you had... uh, our,
our boy on, uh, at right guard, uh, Anthony Bradford,
he overset so that he didn't bust, but he allowed
immediate penetration. So drew lock is then he's going to,
he's going to fake and he's going to turn. He
(11:04):
didn't even have a chance to set up because there's
a guy that, as I said, defensive tackles coming right
through the B gap between the guard and the tackle. Now,
how did the, the Patriots bus, they're playing a too
high structure and, And if you look at Jackson Smith
and Jigba, there's two tight ends and then two backs
in the backfield. They're playing a too high structure. All
(11:25):
the defenders in the area, I didn't look up their names,
but you had the two linebackers on the line of scrimmage.
One of them might have been in cover. No, they
both rushed. Gonzalez, the corner, he matched the fullback in
the flat or the halfback in the flat. Excuse me.
So he's not going to cover JSN. So what did
they have? They had a safety. Oh, by the way,
(11:47):
their middle linebacker is chasing the tight end on a
corner route as if it's man-to-man coverage. So there's literally nobody.
covering Jackson Smith and jig, but the guy who had
the best chance to make the tackle was the half
safety who was 13 yards off the ball on the
fourth and one. So like that, that is a, I don't,
(12:11):
I usually will say 99.9% just to give myself like
this tiny one in a thousand wiggle room. That's a
high of a hundred percent, a busted coverage, but not,
not poor coverage, not unsound coverage. A busted coverage. And
let me be clear. Drew Locke did not benefit from
(12:33):
any kind of good protection by the offensive line. There
was a bust. There was a guy immediately, he could,
all he had a chance to do when he was
turning to his left as a right-handed quarterback is just
wheel and get rid of the ball. And he did
a hell of a job because, and he had to
throw it sidearm around him. So do not deny Drew
Locke a portion of this credit because Locke had to do,
(12:57):
that was a much more difficult play For every reason
I'm describing. And if he's even a third of a second,
and I'm not saying that just for, for effect, I
literally mean a third of a second. If he's a
third of a second later, if you look at how
the defenders, the safety from the town, and then the
linebacker coming from the inside, if they were just a
little bit closer. Because Locke was a third of a
(13:21):
second later, then JSN is not going to have a
chance to get out of the hole and accelerate to
the point where he makes that brilliant, beautiful play. Like JSN, hey,
throw all the flowers you want. I'll yank all the
flowers off the Rose Parade and throw it at him.
He deserves them. He's JSN. That was a beautiful play.
But if you're telling me that that was just some
(13:41):
kind of five-yard, playing football in the backyard on a
button hook, you are totally misunderstanding what was happening on
that play. Drew Locke gets a freaking... Double plus for
what he did on that touchdown.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
I wrote down your poor D, unsound D, and bust
D definition for anybody that wants. And because I wrote
notes down on Friday when I asked you about Brian Fleury,
I know that you said that, ask me on Monday,
because the definition of what Brian Fleury did would be A,
what did the operation look like?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And B, how did he handle the blitz? So take
us through those two elements.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Well, you know, he's not going to like that play
I just described, right? Right. I mean, they literally busted
the protection. I would say, first of all, you just
kind of throw a mulligan on, don't you guys? You know,
the guy was just trying to hold it together with
bubble gum and bathing wire. He's trying to think of, hey,
(14:40):
what is Drew Locke good at? Now, one thing that
Locke benefited from, we are on a relative scale right
off the heels of training camp. when Drew Locke was
getting a lot of reps, like had this happened in,
you know, the second week of December and the second
week in September, he'd be rustier working with the offense. Right.
Is that, is that a fair take now? He'd be,
(15:00):
he'd be running scout team stuff. So, so I think
he benefited from that regard.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
He was getting reps in camp like two weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Three weeks ago. Right. Exactly. So he's, he's less rusty now.
You don't need as much WD-40 to wipe the rust
off him now as you would a few months from now.
So in that regard, I don't know if it's fortuitous.
It's the first freaking game, and your quarterback's health is
in question. So I don't want to ignore that part
(15:27):
of it. But from a Drew Locke perspective, you know, Dick,
they found a way to make the plays. And I
thought Drew Locke played better after watching the tape. than
I thought when you and I did the postgame show
because I thought his– now, early on he had a lock–
he ran himself into a sack where he should have
(15:49):
stayed in the throwing position with his hips– perpendicular to
the line of scrimmage and just slid. He closed his
hip down as his throwing shoulder down to get into
a running position. And then now all of a sudden,
you know, that's advanced to the defense and he didn't
need to take that sack. But from that point on,
it's like he went back and he watched the, the, the,
the Microsoft surface, the play. And he, and he said, Whoa,
(16:11):
that's some bad pocket navigation. He probably self scouted and, and, and,
and probably had Flory telling him, Hey, just, you know, you're,
you're good. And then he was, way better in the
pocket from that point on, uh, as for Flory. So
we don't know how Flory would set up plays, uh,
you know, what, what his design would have been, how
would it be taken more shots? We just don't know
(16:32):
because Sam Donald wasn't the quarterback. The one thing I
will say, that I mentioned as a problem in the preseason.
And I'm going to say, I have examples. We don't
have the time for me to do it, but there
are too many plays where receivers are stacked on top
of each other. What does that mean? If I'm the
quarterback and I want to throw the intermediate cut at
let's say 15 or 18 yards on an in breaking route,
(16:55):
I understand that you've got to have shallow crosses or
check downs or what have you to, to, to influence
defenders to open up that window for me. But I
don't want those players in a straight line. I don't
want the tight end directly in my line throwing. You say, well,
you can throw over the top. Well, yeah, you can
if there's a big gap. But if there's, you know, 8,
(17:17):
10-yard gap in vertical, and I want to smoke that
ball into a 15, 18-yard receiver target, I, I, there's
too many times where I've seen where, where, where underneath
receivers are, are, uh, right in the same throwing line. I, I,
I designed, I drew one, um, where it was, it
was happening on two sides of the field on the
(17:39):
left side. He had a, uh, a curl with a, uh,
a shallow cross directly underneath that. And another had, he
had Cooper cup on an over route and he had
the tight end doing a China route, which is out
and then back in. And the, and if I, if
I want to throw to Cooper cup, uh, You know,
AJ Barner is going to be right in the line. Hell,
AJ Barner might think I'm throwing to him and, and,
(17:59):
and reach up and try and, you know, catch it
and tip it and gets picked off. And it's because
they're stacked.
Speaker 7 (18:04):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
So that was a, that that's been too much of
a problem. I think that has to get cleaned up.
Speaker 5 (18:11):
I think you should march your ass to the VMAC,
go find Blind Flurry, and say, you.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Don't know what you're doing for crying out loud.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I didn't say that.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
All right, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Hey, listen, it's the tape. The tape is doing the talking.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Hey, we're going to break.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
We've got to come back and talk about Darnold, man,
the injury, the hip, the whole thing. All right, we'll
do that next with Hugh on 93.3 KJRFM.
Speaker 7 (18:34):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
back to Saucy and Dip. on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You know they have the spelling bee and they have
the lightning round, by the way.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Spell dog, spell chicken, spell watermelon, spell mortgage, bing, bang, boom.
We're going to go as fast as we can here, Hugh,
because we have a lot of topics to get to.
So Sam Darnold, give us your current state of mind
with his hip injury. Are we worried that when he
does come back, he may be dealing with something all
year long?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I'm not worried about that because I don't think they're
going to play him unless... he's healthy. And so now
whether he'll be healthy, just look, the right hip for
a right-handed quarterback. Right. I mean, that's loads the force.
You begin to throw, you want your hips to lead
your shoulders. That kind of creates a, like in a
golf swing, an elastic energy there. And, and your, your
(19:36):
hip is internally rotating as you're trying to drive it
to the target. And man, I think it's pretty self-evident
that the right hip is rotating. arguably, uh, you know,
you could say the most important joint in the whole
damn throwing kinetic chain. So, yeah, it's very concerning. But
I don't think that he'll be lingering because if it
hurts him, he won't be able to play. It's not like.
(20:00):
You know, an ankle or... I don't know. But you
can't play without your hip.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It's an all-or-nothing proposition. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I think so.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
That's a better way to put it.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
So in that case, how long can this team survive
without Sam Darnold? I mean, yeah, they got a great defense.
They've got a good backup, good to very good backup quarterback.
But he's not a top 20 quarterback in the NFL
like Sam Darnold is a top 10 or 12 quarterback
in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
But, you know, he's gaining experience and there's... There's a
branch of quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks, the Taylor Heinekes and the
Graham Howell, that they're not starters because they just don't
have the athletic horsepower. They're either not big enough, they
(20:50):
don't have a strong enough arm, they don't have the feet,
or what have you. And so you look at them
and you just say, okay, they understand the game. They
can manage the game, but they can't make the electric plays.
Drew Locke is not in that category. He is in
the category of guys that have the absolute tools. I mean,
(21:10):
talking about a guy who's 6'3, who moves well. You
saw that 14-yard scramble. He's got a quick release, who
has velocity, who set the SEC record for 44 touchdown
passes his last year at Missouri. Like this, there's nothing–
physically deficient about Drew Locke. It's just been consistency, and
(21:32):
that's why he's never been able to hang on to
a starting job. So in his experience, he's cleaned up
his consistency. And now here's another part. I was looking
at it. He's going to, at the end of the year,
have made $ 20. 8 million, just under $ 21 million. I did
some calculations. I'm not going to get into it. But
if you kind of figure out how he's been taxed,
assume a normal investment rate, he's just about arriving at
(21:57):
the part where he never has to work again. He
can't live like Mick Jagger, but he could coach high
school football or he could go throw the ball to
his dog or sit on a beach. He could do
whatever the hell he wants as long as he wants,
you know, within reason. And that is for a lot
of people. That's a liberating feeling. So now you just say, hey,
(22:19):
I'm playing for the fun of it. The pressure's not there.
He's got the experience. I mean, I can draw you up.
a reasonable blue sky in a scenario involving him. Now
he's not Sam Darnold, but I think he can win
some games for you. And I'll close with this. Our friend,
John Clayton, who used to be on this station, he
used to say, if your backup plays three games, he
can win three games for you. If he plays six
(22:39):
games for you, he can win three games.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Well, you know, so there may be something like that involved.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Well, true luck may not be Mick Jagger, but he
does have some Puerto Rican girls that are dying.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Time to meet him.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Hugh, talk to us about Christian Gonzalez versus Jackson Smith
and Jigba on Wednesday night. Highest paid receiver, highest paid corner.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Who won that battle?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Well, it's a hell of a matchup. And, you know,
you look and you say, well, in the important ways,
JSN won it because his team won. Right. And he
had 11 catches for 122 yards on, excuse me, 11 targets,
8 receptions. And the touchdown. So if you multiply that
out by 17, I mean, it's a historic season. So
(23:23):
he wins. But Dick, you know, I pledged to measure
this to Dick on that night. And there was 10
times where JSN was matched up by Christian Gonzalez. And
the ball went to JSN twice. two out of those
(23:45):
10 times for no catches. So in a way, Gonzalez,
he's a hell of a player. And so is JSN.
But by that, if you ignore the team element of it,
Gonzalez won.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
How about more on Jadarian Price after you took a
look at the video? I saw a lot of canine
in Jadarian Price the few times he touched the football
and he's making $ 10 million less a year.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Is that too much high praise?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I loved what I saw from him on outside runs,
and all but one were outside runs. His second run
was a duo, which is basically going right up the
A-gap to the strong side always, and based on how
it's blocked, there's an opportunity to bounce to the outside
(24:34):
depending on how the Mike Linebacker steps up, but Carlton Davis,
a hell of a corner, he came up and he
was ready for duo, and he smacked price down for
no gain on on a inside run that he chose
to bounce but the scheme allowed him to bounce for
it now everything else was stretch or toss and zone
blocking uh there's a pin and pull in there uh
(24:57):
and what i love about it i mean he just
has a top shelf acceleration and in that regard he
does look like canine right and and because when you're
blocking out there on the zone the wide zone And
by the way, they ran wide zone, what was it, 54.5%
of their runs. And when you have a guy who's
(25:18):
that fast, the timing of it, if you're A.J. Barner
and you're doing a combo block with either tackle, Abe Lucas, like, hey,
you're going to help Abe Lucas for a second. You're A.J. Barner.
Now you're going to come off to the linebacker. And
the best time to hit it is right now. Like, A.J.
(25:40):
Barner's going, dude, get there, because you can't block anybody indefinitely.
And the best time to hit it is right when A.J.
Barner makes contact with that linebacker. And you saw timing
again where you say, wait, he's getting out there so
fast that it's making the timing of the blocks work. Now,
on the inside run.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
We don't know. He had one inside run and chose
to bounce it. The Patriots just won on that one.
But in the Super Bowl, you had an outside run
for 30 yards by K-9 that just defied everything the
way he broke everybody down. And the very next play,
they ran inside zone. Everything was bottled up on the
(26:21):
A-gap to his right. It was inside zone to the right.
So he sets up the block because his alignment was deeper.
He starts to weave back to the left. That helped
the Sindel block, and then he weaved back to the right.
So he goes right, left, right, all doing it at
full speed. He hits it, and he gets 27 yards
in the Super Bowl. One outside, one inside. So I
would say what we saw the other night, you say, Price, man,
(26:44):
I love what he's going to bring on the outside stuff.
That's the early return. No clue about the inside and
probably unlikely to match. Got it. Hey, real quick.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
We got a minute left.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
That's 60 seconds to you and I, Hugh, by the way,
Rams Niners.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Last night knows about that.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
She sure does. Absolutely. Two times.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
How much do you criticize the Rams performance last night
and associate it with their decision to travel and land
two days before the game?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Well, we can never isolate the variables. I think it's silly.
We can only guess that they would have played better.
I think it's a fair guess. But if we try
and stamp something, some referendum on that game, like with
permanent ink, that's silly. And I'm not saying you're doing that, Dave.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We're not doing that.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
But there are some people. So we can never isolate
the variables. I would just say this. The Rams, you know...
What I love about Sean McVay, he says, look, we
got embarrassed out there. No excuses. I got to coach better.
I love Sean. I wish he wasn't coaching in this
division because I love his style. And he made no excuses.
(27:53):
He just said, we got embarrassed. He credited the 49ers.
He said all the things. I said, that's a professional
freaking press conference. And so now, look, the Patriots, I
remember they lost to the Bills 31-7 in an opener
or something and then won the Super Bowl. There's been
many times. Hell, the Seattle Seahawks lost to the 49ers
(28:14):
last year. Of course, it was a closer game. So
this will be an opportunity for them to get what
they said. This was sobering. I can't remember the adjective,
but this will be an opportunity for them to look
in the mirror. The 49ers held up the mirror and said, hey,
you guys think you're hot shots? You're not as pretty
as you thought you were, are you? That's what the
(28:35):
49ers did. They held up the mirror. Rams don't like
what they see. I suspect that they'll have a bounce back.
49ers aren't that bad. Excuse me, aren't that much better.
better than the Rams, if at all. It was just
on that day they were.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Yeah, no doubt. All right, man, great stuff. And we'll
talk Monday, all right?
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Love it. All right, have a good weekend.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Hugh Millen with us. We're going to break. A little
fun with audio.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Jed Fish had a chance to catch up with him yesterday,
recapping the Apple Cup, looking ahead to the game that
everybody's been circling, the Utah State game.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
That's coming up at 6 on 93.3 KJRFM.
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