January 15, 2026 • 31 mins
Mike Holmgren joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to preview the Seahawks-49ers, including Sam Darnold’s new injury, the Week 18 win, NFL coaching moves, and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of our NonStop coverage of the NFL, Your
home for the twelfth Man proudly presents former Seahawks head
coach and Super Bowl champion Mike Combgrin. Brought to you
by Toyota of Kirkland. The championship team at Toyota of
Kirkland does all the little things that exceed your expectations
and that's what makes Toyota of Kirkland so special. And
(00:21):
by R and R Foundation specialist serving Western Washington for
over twenty years now from the five twenty Bar and
Grail in Bellevue, Mike Holmgrin with softie and dear.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
All right, well you know what, Steve Marucci says hello
and then he says goodbye by the way as well.
How about that you work with Steve for a while
in Green bell I sure did, yes, sir, I did
I know you were coming on the way down here.
I wanted to say, how to coach. We're sorry that
couldn't happen, but we're glad to have you here for
the big news of the day in Seattle. What's your
thoughts on defenseman Brandon Montour being back for the crack
(00:53):
of the night against the Boston Bruins. Your take on
that's shig.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I don't know if I can sleep tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, obviously we got some big news here, Mike to
talk about. I mean, Sam Darnold's got an oblique injury
I listed as questionable now on the injury report. You know,
if this was like week three or four of the
season whatever, right, but it's the playoffs. It's one and done,
do or die. So how concerned are you? How concerned
should Seahawk fans be about this latest edition to the
Seahawk Injury Report?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, it strikes me he's a little bit odd how
it came out. Yeah, you know, I'm not sure if
I was still coaching, excuse me that I would that
I would have.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Him talk to the media, right right, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
But so that tells me that there is more there
there then perhaps you want to think, huh, but with
that type of injury for a quarterback or anybody in
the playing but for quarterback and his movement, if it
continues to be a problem, I've never had an oblique injury.
But if they can deaden it a little bit or
(01:55):
do what's do something which they can do with most
injuries in this day age, then I think he's gonna
be fine. But it wasn't the best news I could
hear all day.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
What's your reaction if your quarterback or the trainer comes
and tells you forty eight minutes forty eight hours for
a playoff game that day? Yeah, your quarterbacks got an
oblique injury.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, you know I had to deal with that a
little bit when they came and told me, hassle that
couldn't play anymore my last year. Yeah, I fired him, right,
I fired all the doctors right there, they're standing right there.
You're off, fired, Get out of my off, get out.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
But he knew that you were leaving, though, so it
really wasn't that big a deal.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, they know, they they looked at me kind of go, okay,
you're not fired. But I don't want to hear that.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know, But what was that? What does that do?
Let's say they go out there like you asked Hugh
Dick earlier. Okay, let's say he's at ninety percent. Yeah,
you're also trying to protect this guy for the rest
of the playoffs obviously, right, there's more games to be played, hopefully,
but you can't factor that in. I don't think for
the game on Saturday. You can't limit him. What does
(02:59):
that do to the offense and what does it do
to your playbook? If Sam Darnold is potentially even limited
just a little bit with how much he juice he
can get on those.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Balls, well, I think tomorrow and actually on game day
you're gonna find out what his limits are in warm ups.
You got two days to find out, and then you
adjust if you have to. You're gonna run the ball
more hopefully, but you know, you still have to win
(03:29):
this game to get to the next one. So this
is a tough deal. I hope it's not a bad thing.
I hope. I hope. It's just you know, you're a
little bit of an irritant and he can play. You know,
I've been a fan of his and the kind of
champion him all season long, and I want him to
(03:49):
do well.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well. The only thing that I can guarantee you guys,
we're gonna beat this thing to death for the next
twenty four hours. Okay, Yeah, the media on this radio show.
So if you had a dollar for every time you
hear the word of bleak on the radio station, you
might be a gazillionaire by tomorrow night. At seven o'clock,
So Mike home grins here. We're at the five to twenty.
A couple segments with Mike lots to talk, tons going
on around the NFL, coaching jobs, interviews, the games this weekend,
(04:14):
the rematch for the third time, the rubber match with
the Niners on on Saturday. We're at the five twenty.
Mike holmegrins with us. Don't forget we have another code
word for a shot at one thousand dollars. At four
o'clock we got krackt Hockey with the Bruins pregame four
to thirty right here on ninety three three KJRFF.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Welcome to Krakin Game Day, brought to you by Blood
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(04:54):
Life Together. Now it's Krakin Game Day with Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
All right, we're back here from the five twenty bar
and grill cracking in the Bruins pregame four thirty face
off at five coming up. By the way, the Evergreen
Council on Problem Gambling wants to remind you at the
end of tonight's game you should still be having fun.
Know the real score about gambling. Visit keep It funwad
dot org. Keep it fun sports fans. If you bet
bet responsibly, you know, I think a miracle just happened
(05:20):
here at the five twenty bar and grill. By the way,
so we had to play the chicken wings delivered during
the break there, and I did not spill one drop
on my shirt. Was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I lost the bet and on.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
That you were a white kind of a white camel
hoodie too, so amazing. It's guarantee that I happened, Taylor,
the fact that I ate those wings and did not
spill it all. I mean I should be given like
a you know, a free months of food or the
food here for God's sakes, or something that was unbelievable
that I just pulled that off.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The good were good for the best. So if you
notice something, by the way, let me know. I got
the little tie pen in my backpack for moments like that.
But hey, if you're just joining us right now, we're
at the five twenty Mike Hormgrin's with us pregame with
the crackling coming up at four to twenty u S
four already this afternoon. Let's though, go back guys for
everybody tuning in right now. Sam Darnold was added to
the injury update today with an oblique injury. Here's what
(06:09):
Sam himself said after practice today about what he's dealing.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
With so good in routes on air. Just kind of
felt a little a little something my obleaque. Just didn't
want to push it. Uh, you know, it wasn't the
day to push it. So that was that was it.
So I just came inside, I got some rehab, and
you know, feel like I'll be ready to go for Saturday.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
That was just today, that happened. Yeah, you ever had
anything bak.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Issues or anything more? No, No, never had oblique issues.
But it's fun. You know, we'll attack it the next
couple of days and be ready to go for Saturday.
Is this on like growing side everyday? It's just on
my left side. You know, it is what it is.
But yeah, again, like I said, Felton on a throw,
but you know we'll be ready to go.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You think you might not play?
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Uh, it's a very low percentage, probably closer to zero.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So you said something Mike interesting earlier today that you
think that him talking about this shows you that maybe
there's a little more there. And I had the exact
opposit to make you that. I thought if he was
really banged up and really hurt, that he would not
be addressing the media this afternoon. So tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, I just surprised me, and we talked about it
at all, right, So if he talks about it, there
might excuse me, there might be something more there. That's
all I thought. Okay, now, but after hearing him, I
hadn't heard him. I think he sounds he sounds like
he's gonna be fine. Right, He's not worried, doesn't appear
to be worried about it. But like I said, he
(07:40):
they've got two days to see him warm up, to
see how he does, see how he throws. They're going
to treat it, and so I think he'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, I'm not worried about him play.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I'm just worried about that one play, right, Coach that
one play he's you know, avoiding the sack and he's
rolling out and he has to throw across his box
and then all of a sudden, ah, you know what,
like it's like a knife in the side.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
That's a good point and that that could happen, you know,
because there's something there. Yeah, And so warming up and
throwing and practice and stuff, you don't want to aggravate it.
So you're not going to push yourself, right, no one's
going to push you. But in the game that you
got to play the game right, and he'll do whatever
he has to do to get the ball to where
he's supposed to get throw it, and so that could
(08:24):
tweak it. That could happen. Dick.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, well I was kind of jugging with Dick and
Jackson Mike earlier that I mean, and just looking at
some notes. I mean, first of all, good look, if
you guys can read any of that, by the way, okay, chick,
these are my notes from the last Niner game, which
was a week and a half ago. Like, I mean,
you don't need to go that far back right to
kind of talk about the matchup. And I'm looking at
thirty eight minutes o'clock time. The Niners had five drives
Mike where they had a chance to tie the game,
(08:47):
and they were zero for five on all five. They
had three drives that ended with no scores, two misfield goals,
and the first and goal from the one debacle, and
they still took twenty minutes off the clock on those
three drives. So that was a domination. It was physical
domination by the Seahawks on the lightest scrimmage. They controlled
that game for forty minutes. Why would this game, in
(09:09):
your mind potentially be different than the last game.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Well, I just think the forty nine ers are a
better football team than they showed. Having said that, the
Seahawks defense played a great game. But I go back
to and we've talked about it before, all three of us,
we lost to the Chicago Bears thirty nine to nothing
on Monday Night football, right, and then we came back
and played them in the playoff game. I think they
went to the Super Bowl that year, and we should
(09:34):
have won.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That game against the Colts, right, Yeah, the Bears, right
against the.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Bears, right, And so you have those two dramatically different
games with the same people, you know. So it happens
in the NFL. I expect the forty nine ers to
play better, having said that the Seahawks defense is tough
to beat, do you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Think the Bears overlooked you?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Because you know, Mike Florio came on on Wednesday and
his quote was, you have to overcome the fact that
it was so easy the first time. So you think
when you look back on that Bears gamerer like they
took us lightly and that's why it was so close.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, I think so. I think there is an emotional
thing there. Now. I don't think that's in Mike McDonald's makeup. No.
I think he's going to get his team ready to play,
and so I just think that the forty nine ers
will play better. Right now? Is it enough?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't think it will be enough, but they will
play better.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah. I just don't know if they have the horses.
I mean, can we all agree that the best injinet?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
No?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, but the best unit in this game is the
Seahawks defense, Like they're the best unit, right, So that
matchup of Brock Purdy against the Seahawk defense, I mean,
I guess you could say McCaffrey doesn't drop that ball,
ocket maybe they score, Maybe they lose the game thirteen
to ten, but then Myers missed two field goals. One
of their field goals was aided by a kickoff that
went out of bounds, and then Darnold had Sharperney. I
(10:54):
feel like the score Mike was closer in the first
game more because of what the Seahawks did versus this
is what the Niners did in that game.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And the one they just played. Yeah, yeah, I think so.
It was a combination of both those things. Because you'd say,
no one wins many games scoring thirteen points, you just
don't win. But they won. Why they win because they
were so dominant on defense, and.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
They beat the Cowboys thirteen to ten. When Josh Brown
had that game winning field goal and chucked his helmet
across the field thirteen ten game, Yeah, I don't remember.
I think he won that game, by the way.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Really Yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
The game plan, I mean part of the reason that
game was thirteen to three was that the Seahawks were
so conservative. I mean, they just did not want to
make any mistakes on offense. Now, with San Francisco even
more depleted, No, Kiddle, do you think they'll go right
back to the well and be just as conservative this time.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I hope not, Dick. You know, if if you had
that feeling, or if people had that feeling, and I
did to a certain extent, that they have good offensive players.
The Seahawks have good offensive players. Cut it loose, I mean,
I mean, play offense, right. Your job is to score points.
If you're the coordinator. That was my job when I
(12:05):
was a coordinator in San Francisco, that was my job.
Score points. No one's telling me, they calm down. I
think we only need six points to win the game.
No one's telling me that, right, and so I would
be shit. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think
cut it loose, and I hope I see a little
bit more play auction on first down, some screens, some stuff,
(12:25):
you know, and then I don't think they're gonna approach
it that way.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, thirteen to ten, Week seven against Dallas. See, I'm
here to remember stuff that you forget, by the way,
That's why I hang around.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I appreciate that, I really do.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I just hope that somebody does the same for me
one day down the road, all right, because I'm getting
there already. We're gonna break more with Mike Hormbran. There's
a lot going on where there's game on Saturday, like
going to the NFL coaching jobs or getting filled interviews
are happening. Clint Kubiak is amongst them. By the way,
more with Mike Homgrin as we continue from the five
twenty bar and Grail. It's Cracking game Day, by the way.
Crack and Bruins pregame four to thirty faced off at five.
(13:00):
Donate blood with blood Works Northwest, by the way, and
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now at blood Works NW dot org slash win blood
Works Northwest Giving Life Together. One more segment with Mike
and we'll get to hockey at four point thirty from Boston.
Coming up on ninety three three kJ arfm Kyle Shanahan
by the way. Niners head coach did say today that
Fred Warner, linebacker who's coming back off the broken ankle,
he is not going to play in the game on Saturday,
which is just fine by us. All Right, We're here
(13:43):
at the five twenty bar and grill a few more
minutes with Mike Combri and Mike that story we just
talked about there. Robert Sala, Niner DC, is going to
interview for the Cardinals job tonight. I'm trying to remember
how you guys did it, because I know it's changed
a little bit the rules on when you can talk
to people. Kubiak spent last week because they had to
buy talking to a lot of teams. But I mean,
Robert Sala's got a game in forty eight hours from
(14:04):
now and he's interviewing tonight for the Cardinals coaching job.
Does that seem kind of odd to you a little bit?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It was a little disruptive. I think, you know, they've
changed the rules. I think a little bit crazy. I
remember going being in the hunt with a group of
coaches and they were all kind of waiting for me
to make the decision. Because then things kind of fell
into place because there are about four or five teams
interviewing a bunch of coaches. So, but Robert Sala is
(14:31):
a good pick. I think he's a fine coach, and
he just happened to be with the Jets, and I
don't know what's going on with the Jets, So I
think if he goes somewhere there, that's going to be
good for that team.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Wasn't he there when Edon Rodgers got hurt the head coach?
Sala he got fired. That was that was his gig, right,
he was on the job. Yeah, he thought he was
on the job, so he had no quarterback, right right.
I mean, because I agree with you. I think he's
a good coach, really good guy. Job.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
He's a defensive guy, yeah, you know, And so we
know now that I was always a little bit skeptical
defensive guys can be had coaches, But we know now
that we've got a really good one. He's a defensive guy,
So it can happen.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
John Harbaugh, we haven't talked to you since he was fired. Yeah,
and now he looks like he's gonna be hired with
the Giants. So the last week of as the Harbaugh turns,
what's your take?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I thought, you know, you coach for eighteen nineteen years
in a row. Sometimes it's you see guys wanting to
take a breath for a year then get back into it.
It's not him. He wanted to get back into it,
and he had his choice. He has his choice because
everybody wanted him. I don't know if he had any
years left on his contract with Baltimore. Tomlin had a
(15:49):
year left on his contract with Pittsburgh, So that changes
the dynamic just a little bit because the two organizations
have to kind of work on that a little bit. Yeah,
if you if your coach leaves.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I'm glad run up Tomlin because we haven't even talked
about that yet. Florio, your favorite NFL reporter, was on
the show yesterday and we asked him, do you think
that the Steelers just went to Mike Tomlin and said, Hey,
we're going to make a move. But if you want
to say that you stepped down, that's fine, right, whatever
you want is what we'll do. And Mike says, the
Steelers don't fire anybody. He's convinced one hundred percent that
Mike Tomlin actually made that call to step down. Do
(16:22):
you buy that?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
No, I think it's what you said, Wow, I really do.
I think that's what you said. That struck me because
I think, but they but they don't come out and
fire anybody, right, that's true, But they work it out
some other way. So the guy leaves. So what do
you call it? I mean, let's just bring a name
to it.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You think the Rooney family was ready to move on
from Mike Tomas?
Speaker 6 (16:44):
I do?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, gotcha?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And then the question you brought up just sorry dickting
her up, but you Dick asked on the air last week,
if Sean McDermott had lost that game right over the
weekend to Jacksonville and they won the game, I mean
the Jaguars had the ball with a chance to tie
or win the game in the first pass of the
got picked off by Buffalo. You think McDermott would have
been out if they would have lost that game. I
don't just save his job.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Perhaps there was some there was some talk about that
prior to the game, and it's all it's all a
type of ownership. I don't know the owners. They weren't
owners when I was in the league as a coach.
But if you get an owner that wants to like
Mashati in Baltimore. I know him a little bit. It
didn't surprise me at all, you know, h It didn't
(17:30):
surprise me that the Rooney family how they do it.
And so because I knew them a little bit, and
so I I think Sean would It would have been close.
But I like Sean McDermott, I think as a good coach.
And I always said this, it's not always the coach.
You know your your you play the cards you're dealt
(17:53):
sometimes and sometimes in the league, you're not always co
pathetic with the guy maybe making the decision and on players.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Well, you know a little something about the Browns organization.
So should Kevin Stefanski be thanking the good Lord? He
was fired by Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yes, to go someplace else?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yes, yes, No, I'm I'm I mean, I look at it.
They yeah, yes, And then he's gonna he's gonna get it.
He's gonna be He's gonna right away. He will be
hired this now. Listen. Having said that it hurts when
they when they said goodbye to me in Cleveland, that hurt,
you know, and new owner and Okay, I got why
(18:30):
they did it, but it still hurts. And so the
coaches Unfortunately, I was never fired as a coach. But
it's tough, you.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Know, it's tough. You're one of the few people that
have never Well that's incredible, by the way, nuts, but
you were never fired as a coach, I know, assistant
assistant coach.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Considering, no, considering all the times I screwed up.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, I've got them all documented right here in front.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I give you. I believe you yelled at me one
time in practice.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
But you were never fired as an assistant coach. Is
that also correct?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Wow, that's really I mean, that'soul put you in the
Hall of Fame right there? Are you kidding me? When
we do your Hall of Fame speech? He was never
once fired in football? Here he is. You're a newest
member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Mike Hongre.
Will you get two coaches that were just fired this week?
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Well, one quote unquote step down, and both of them
are Hall of Fame candidates.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's right, that's right, that's right. Yeah, it's incredible. Well,
I'll just tell you this, if and when the time
comes when we have to let you go, we'll let
you decide how you want to do that. Yeah, you
won't care. We'll get together behind the scenes. If you
want to say you step down, we can give you
that opportunity. That's never gonna happen, at least not on
my watch, Dick and I will be gone by the
time that happens. But well, we just both want you
to know that we are concerned about your image and
(19:42):
your records.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
We'll see I'm not kidding any younger yet.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Well, Mike Homgran's with us on the show here for
a few more minutes, and let's go back and talk
about this match up again on Saturday night. Man, I mean,
George Kittle is not going to play, obviously, Fred Warner
is not gonna play. We don't know about Pierce All yet, right, Dick,
we'll see his status for the game on Saturday. So
how much we had mooch on right, your old guy
Steve mary Ucci, and we asked him, how much can
(20:06):
the way the Niners were Let's face that they were
embarrassed when the opposing team has the ball for thirty
eight minutes, that's kind of a joke in the NFL
for a team to control the clock the way they did.
How much can the motivation of being pissed off and
angry tangibly really make up for some lost opportunities for
San Francisco from the last game.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
In this game Saturday, I would be shocked. I would
be shocked if they didn't use that to play better.
You know, they didn't play very well, and we think
back of that game, they didn't do a lot of
things very well. They're gonna play better. Here's my take
on the game. Okay, if you get if both teams
play to their level, the Seahawks will win. You know,
(20:50):
because of injuries with San Francisco and just in certain
key spots Warner Bosa, you know, Kittle, They're they're hurt,
all right, But if one team doesn't play as good
as they should and the other team plays to their level,
that team will win. I think it's going to be close.
(21:12):
That close.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
How much does the extra day matter?
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I mean, obviously the Seahawks have the extra week, but
they also have an extra day and San Francisco is
only a five days rest.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Between the games. Yeah, that as long as they weren't
hurt too much in the game. I'm lilas Kittle. I
think the momentum and that shouldn't be too much of
a factor. I don't think right, you know, the extra
time because of the buye. I think we talked about
it last week. You can get you got to be
careful on how you time that, how you get them ready,
(21:41):
so you don't get them ready to play the game
on Thursday night instead of Saturday. So but again, I
think Mike does a great job of that.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So I'm looking at a quote here on Twitter from
our buddy Grant Cohen, who comes on with us every
now and then covers the Niners a bit of an attagonist,
would you say that, day y, that a fair word?
And he's quoting the story on Donald having an oblique injury.
There's a reason why I'm bringing this up. I'll get
to it in a second. Frank Cohen says, in regards
(22:09):
to Sam Donald's oblique he couldn't even wait until kickoff
to choke. Had to get it out of the way early.
Says Grant Cohen. Wow, now that might be just him
pushing buttons a little bit, which is fine. But there
is a little bit of that story for a lot
of and maybe for a lot of people that think
it might be one of the bigger storylines of the
weekend in the NFL. Will Sam Donald show up? Will
(22:32):
he get this done? You're a next quarterback? If you're
Sam Darnald, are you thinking about any of that? Is
that in the back of your mind that all you
think before this game Saturday.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
He's gonna put pressure on himself and that's never gonna change.
I mean that's how every quarterback then that I've ever
known or coached feels that a little bit right, I think,
although although it does open the can for all the
people that were Sam Darnold doubters.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yes, we call him haters by the way.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Haters that okay, Oh now he's yeah, he is getting
himself away out my oblique and all that. I don't
buy it.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I don't either. I'm with you, but you know, we
gotta see. I have I believe in him, so I
think he's gonna do fine.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I got some numbers to back up my weekly going
for it on fourth down.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Question for you?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Oh great, all right, yeah, right for this.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
We talk about this each week.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
So this last weekend, Carolina oh for three on fourth
down they lost by three points.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Jaguars oh for one on fourth down.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
They did it at the Buffalo nine and didn't take
the field goal, they lost by three points. The Bears
went for it twice in the first half and missed
them both. And guess what, they were down twenty one
to three at halftime in the midst of that, and
the Chargers went for it in a tie game didn't
get it. When do you think the pendulum will swing back?
Because everything's a pendulum, right, do you think the pendulum
(23:58):
will start to swing back towards sanity when you have
playoff games being lost because of these decisions?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You know what? I would hope so because I think
and we again we've talked about it before. I think
the decision to go for to kick a field goal
or whatever, that's that. That's the head coach's decision at
that particular time. It should not be, in my opinion,
someone handy a slip of paper and say, this week's
studied this. This is what you should do. You know,
(24:28):
otherwise you know what's gonna happen next and during the
this AI.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So those guys in the upstairs room, now, the analytical guys,
they're gone. If you replacement gone, we're gonna be They're
gonna be robots up there going hand in your little
sleeps of paper.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, there's computer's coaching. I mean, Mike, I think that's coming.
That's there's gonna be an owner one of these days.
Maybe not in our lifetime or whatever, next twenty years,
we'll just want somebody is gonna be so gung ho
about that that they will just let a computer program
their football team on thousand percent gonna happen. Now, it
may not happen at the NFL level. Maybe it starts
off in Europe or whatever. I don't know, something I.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Don't have, like a human manager like baseball, but the
actual play calling will be just an they're doing.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
They're doing it now, like you said, if they're they're
looking at a chart, they're looking at the analytics, and
he says, do this, do that? What's the difference if
it's on a piece of paper or comes out of
a computer. Either way, it's coming out of a computer eventually, right, Yeah,
but I think you're totally right.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
The thing is the guys who write down that number
on the piece of paper, right, they have no idea
what that situation will.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Be in the game emotionally, right that particular time, well,
when when when when Dick was asking about the schedule. Uh,
the first thing I thought of is the Niners fans
bitching about having to play on Saturday. Kyle Shanahan came
out after the game of the Eagles last week and said,
if the NFL's night still, let us play on Sunday.
So he's already kind of thinking about it. You know,
the NFL is not nice apparently because they're playing on Saturday.
(25:53):
How honestly pissed off would you be if you're Kyle
Shanahan that the Seahawks have a bye. You played on
the East Coast. Now you got to come home and
play this game on a Saturday night in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah. I did bother me a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, would you talk about it publicly?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I'd do it on the competition committee, right, but not
with the media. No, not with the media, right, But
it would be because I just think it makes some sense.
It reminded me when they set the schedule and all
of a sudden, you're a West Coast team and you're
playing all these games on the East Coast and then
you got a shortened, shortened day. That doesn't make any sense.
Why were they making us do that? Yeah? You know so, Yeah,
(26:30):
but I would not I would not talk about that, sure, sure,
but I talk about it in Housel.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And they just did it for Week eighteen, right, Seahawks
had to come back from Carolina and play on a Saturday.
They could they could have put that game on Saturday
Night football. They did you hear Mike McDonald bitching about it? No,
of course not. No coach, losers, all of them, Mike
bums coach. What's going on with the Rams?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Are they still just right there with the Hawks like
we've thought they were forever?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Or are you seeing some kinks in the art here?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well, the last couple of games they've the last few games,
I've seen little kings in the armor in decision making,
you know the the and then you know Stafford in
that game, we just saw he was lights out in
the first half, second half, all of a sudden happened.
Maybe it was his finger that he got hurt. I
don't know, but you know, they're there, haven't been as consistent.
(27:24):
They are talented. Now getting their receiver back will help,
you know. Avantae Adams so uh and they have a
really is really really good. They're a good football team
and they can score points. The thing now with playing
the Bears, and the Bears have been out of sight,
you know, fortunate, but now they're playing in Chicago. It's
(27:46):
gonna be really cold.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So we'll see. Yeah, I'm looking at a picture of
the weather and just says that there's an igloop, is
what it says, just going to freezing cold? What does
that mean for the Rams? Honestly? I mean, yeah, Stafford's
played outdoors before with the Lions, but what about the
rest of the team that plays, you know, at so
Fi Stadium and all that, and is that going to
be a factor? You think that could be a huge
detriment to the Rams on side.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
The last time I played a game like that, we
played the Raiders in Green Bay. They were in Los
Angeles time. Okay, the famous quote from Howie long after
the game to me, Mike, I didn't think I was
coming out for the second half.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Did you win that game?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Yeah? We did badly, win a big They were good
and we went it pretty big.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah. I mean, do you buy that the weather could
actually be the difference between the Rams winning and losing
that game?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I think?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So? Okay, Boss Building, Yeah, well let's go make a
cold absolutely, what do you think about do you think
about Denver, Denver's chances.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You know, I don't know Denver very much at all.
I have a tremendous respect for Sean Bayton, right, and
he's done a great job with that quarterback Nicks and
they have a but I don't know the players that well.
You know Buffalo though, Yeah, I know Buffalo. Yeah, he's
fun to watch, I think, Oh, I mean they're fun
to watch on offense.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
How would you like a quarterback where you can just
snap the ball and shotgun and just know that he
just runs straight ahead.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
He's gonna get four yards every time?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Remember the Remember the quarterback sneak?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah, the turkey seven yards?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, I thought you scored. I turned around.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Well. The thing about Buffalo though, First of all, there's
two questions. The one question I had in that game,
the Jaguar game in particularly, you're talking about when he
got to the one yard line on that snow, would
you have thought about taking a knee and running a
little more clock because there was a Buco two on
the clock at that point in time. Jackson goes now
out of timeouts, right, Dick, yep, So Josh Allen takes
(29:36):
a knee and they can run the thing all the
way down to twenty seconds and then have three shots
from the one and a half yard line with Josh
Allen to get the ball in the end zone. What
you thought about doing that?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
People can talk about that who are watching the game.
The quarterback in that situation, yeah, is not thinking. That's
not what he's thinking.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm talking about. If you're a McDermott, do you say
I want you to take a knee on first I
know we have four shots to get the touchdown here,
but I'm gonna I feel comfortable enough with you getting
a sneak on second, third, or fourth down, then I'm
gonna let you take a knee and run clock.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah. I don't think you Well, he may have. You
know what, I don't think anyone expected that to happen.
What happened, right, So, I don't think they had that conversation.
Just get the first down, Get the first down, that's
what we're thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Get the touchdown. You mean get the touchdown?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
No, get the first down.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Right, But I'm saying on the long sneak where he
was down at the one yard line, right.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
No, that's not no.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Okay, all right, before we let you go coach the
Texans haven't lost since November the second Wow, but they
were very unimpressive offensively. Now went over over Pittsburgh. So
what do you give? What's their chances in New England?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You think one minute?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
By the way, I think they're great. Their defense is
really solid and really good. And if their quarterback plays.
That's why I said about Sam Darnold or any of
the quarterbacks, the quarterbacks will decide who wins the game.
There'd be good defenses, good receivers, all that kind of stuff,
but whatever quarterback really steps up, those are the teams
are gonna win. Yeah, and the C. J. Stroud has
(31:06):
to step up in this.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Game, no doubt. We've got like thirty seconds. Have we
seen the last of Aaron Rodgers with Tomlin getting fired?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I believe so?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, got it.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know he had a you could see almost by
his body language and how it went. Yeah, because he
couldn't didn't seem like he could make the throws.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
He used to make, right, no doubt. All right, good stuff,
we're talking a week all rank you all right, Mike
Holmgan with us on the radio show. We'll get out
of here big. Thanks for the five twenty bar and
grill Bruins Cracking pregame next face off at five o'clock tomorrow.
Banta Hill's gonna join us, Larry Krueger is going to
join us. Hugh Millin's gonna join us from the Occidental
Hall right outside loom Andfield. We'll talk tomorrow
As part of our NonStop coverage of the NFL, Your
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(00:21):
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Speaker 2 (00:32):
All right, well you know what, Steve Marucci says hello
and then he says goodbye by the way as well.
How about that you work with Steve for a while
in Green bell I sure did, yes, sir, I did
I know you were coming on the way down here.
I wanted to say, how to coach. We're sorry that
couldn't happen, but we're glad to have you here for
the big news of the day in Seattle. What's your
thoughts on defenseman Brandon Montour being back for the crack
(00:53):
of the night against the Boston Bruins. Your take on
that's shig.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I don't know if I can sleep tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, obviously we got some big news here, Mike to
talk about. I mean, Sam Darnold's got an oblique injury
I listed as questionable now on the injury report. You know,
if this was like week three or four of the
season whatever, right, but it's the playoffs. It's one and done,
do or die. So how concerned are you? How concerned
should Seahawk fans be about this latest edition to the
Seahawk Injury Report?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, it strikes me he's a little bit odd how
it came out. Yeah, you know, I'm not sure if
I was still coaching, excuse me that I would that
I would have.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Him talk to the media, right right, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
But so that tells me that there is more there
there then perhaps you want to think, huh, but with
that type of injury for a quarterback or anybody in
the playing but for quarterback and his movement, if it
continues to be a problem, I've never had an oblique injury.
But if they can deaden it a little bit or
(01:55):
do what's do something which they can do with most
injuries in this day age, then I think he's gonna
be fine. But it wasn't the best news I could
hear all day.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
What's your reaction if your quarterback or the trainer comes
and tells you forty eight minutes forty eight hours for
a playoff game that day? Yeah, your quarterbacks got an
oblique injury.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, you know I had to deal with that a
little bit when they came and told me, hassle that
couldn't play anymore my last year. Yeah, I fired him, right,
I fired all the doctors right there, they're standing right there.
You're off, fired, Get out of my off, get out.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
But he knew that you were leaving, though, so it
really wasn't that big a deal.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, they know, they they looked at me kind of go, okay,
you're not fired. But I don't want to hear that.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know, But what was that? What does that do?
Let's say they go out there like you asked Hugh
Dick earlier. Okay, let's say he's at ninety percent. Yeah,
you're also trying to protect this guy for the rest
of the playoffs obviously, right, there's more games to be played, hopefully,
but you can't factor that in. I don't think for
the game on Saturday. You can't limit him. What does
(02:59):
that do to the offense and what does it do
to your playbook? If Sam Darnold is potentially even limited
just a little bit with how much he juice he
can get on those.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Balls, well, I think tomorrow and actually on game day
you're gonna find out what his limits are in warm ups.
You got two days to find out, and then you
adjust if you have to. You're gonna run the ball
more hopefully, but you know, you still have to win
(03:29):
this game to get to the next one. So this
is a tough deal. I hope it's not a bad thing.
I hope. I hope. It's just you know, you're a
little bit of an irritant and he can play. You know,
I've been a fan of his and the kind of
champion him all season long, and I want him to
(03:49):
do well.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Well. The only thing that I can guarantee you guys,
we're gonna beat this thing to death for the next
twenty four hours. Okay, Yeah, the media on this radio show.
So if you had a dollar for every time you
hear the word of bleak on the radio station, you
might be a gazillionaire by tomorrow night. At seven o'clock,
So Mike home grins here. We're at the five to twenty.
A couple segments with Mike lots to talk, tons going
on around the NFL, coaching jobs, interviews, the games this weekend,
(04:14):
the rematch for the third time, the rubber match with
the Niners on on Saturday. We're at the five twenty.
Mike holmegrins with us. Don't forget we have another code
word for a shot at one thousand dollars. At four
o'clock we got krackt Hockey with the Bruins pregame four
to thirty right here on ninety three three KJRFF.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
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(04:54):
Life Together. Now it's Krakin Game Day with Softy and Dick.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
All right, we're back here from the five twenty bar
and grill cracking in the Bruins pregame four thirty face
off at five coming up. By the way, the Evergreen
Council on Problem Gambling wants to remind you at the
end of tonight's game you should still be having fun.
Know the real score about gambling. Visit keep It funwad
dot org. Keep it fun sports fans. If you bet
bet responsibly, you know, I think a miracle just happened
(05:20):
here at the five twenty bar and grill. By the way,
so we had to play the chicken wings delivered during
the break there, and I did not spill one drop
on my shirt. Was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I lost the bet and on.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
That you were a white kind of a white camel
hoodie too, so amazing. It's guarantee that I happened, Taylor,
the fact that I ate those wings and did not
spill it all. I mean I should be given like
a you know, a free months of food or the
food here for God's sakes, or something that was unbelievable
that I just pulled that off.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The good were good for the best. So if you
notice something, by the way, let me know. I got
the little tie pen in my backpack for moments like that.
But hey, if you're just joining us right now, we're
at the five twenty Mike Hormgrin's with us pregame with
the crackling coming up at four to twenty u S
four already this afternoon. Let's though, go back guys for
everybody tuning in right now. Sam Darnold was added to
the injury update today with an oblique injury. Here's what
(06:09):
Sam himself said after practice today about what he's dealing.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
With so good in routes on air. Just kind of
felt a little a little something my obleaque. Just didn't
want to push it. Uh, you know, it wasn't the
day to push it. So that was that was it.
So I just came inside, I got some rehab, and
you know, feel like I'll be ready to go for Saturday.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
That was just today, that happened. Yeah, you ever had
anything bak.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Issues or anything more? No, No, never had oblique issues.
But it's fun. You know, we'll attack it the next
couple of days and be ready to go for Saturday.
Is this on like growing side everyday? It's just on
my left side. You know, it is what it is.
But yeah, again, like I said, Felton on a throw,
but you know we'll be ready to go.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You think you might not play?
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Uh, it's a very low percentage, probably closer to zero.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
So you said something Mike interesting earlier today that you
think that him talking about this shows you that maybe
there's a little more there. And I had the exact
opposit to make you that. I thought if he was
really banged up and really hurt, that he would not
be addressing the media this afternoon. So tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, I just surprised me, and we talked about it
at all, right, So if he talks about it, there
might excuse me, there might be something more there. That's
all I thought. Okay, now, but after hearing him, I
hadn't heard him. I think he sounds he sounds like
he's gonna be fine. Right, He's not worried, doesn't appear
to be worried about it. But like I said, he
(07:40):
they've got two days to see him warm up, to
see how he does, see how he throws. They're going
to treat it, and so I think he'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, I'm not worried about him play.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I'm just worried about that one play, right, Coach that
one play he's you know, avoiding the sack and he's
rolling out and he has to throw across his box
and then all of a sudden, ah, you know what,
like it's like a knife in the side.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
That's a good point and that that could happen, you know,
because there's something there. Yeah, And so warming up and
throwing and practice and stuff, you don't want to aggravate it.
So you're not going to push yourself, right, no one's
going to push you. But in the game that you
got to play the game right, and he'll do whatever
he has to do to get the ball to where
he's supposed to get throw it, and so that could
(08:24):
tweak it. That could happen. Dick.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, well I was kind of jugging with Dick and
Jackson Mike earlier that I mean, and just looking at
some notes. I mean, first of all, good look, if
you guys can read any of that, by the way, okay, chick,
these are my notes from the last Niner game, which
was a week and a half ago. Like, I mean,
you don't need to go that far back right to
kind of talk about the matchup. And I'm looking at
thirty eight minutes o'clock time. The Niners had five drives
Mike where they had a chance to tie the game,
(08:47):
and they were zero for five on all five. They
had three drives that ended with no scores, two misfield goals,
and the first and goal from the one debacle, and
they still took twenty minutes off the clock on those
three drives. So that was a domination. It was physical
domination by the Seahawks on the lightest scrimmage. They controlled
that game for forty minutes. Why would this game, in
(09:09):
your mind potentially be different than the last game.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Well, I just think the forty nine ers are a
better football team than they showed. Having said that, the
Seahawks defense played a great game. But I go back
to and we've talked about it before, all three of us,
we lost to the Chicago Bears thirty nine to nothing
on Monday Night football, right, and then we came back
and played them in the playoff game. I think they
went to the Super Bowl that year, and we should
(09:34):
have won.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That game against the Colts, right, Yeah, the Bears, right
against the.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Bears, right, And so you have those two dramatically different
games with the same people, you know. So it happens
in the NFL. I expect the forty nine ers to
play better, having said that the Seahawks defense is tough
to beat, do you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Think the Bears overlooked you?
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Because you know, Mike Florio came on on Wednesday and
his quote was, you have to overcome the fact that
it was so easy the first time. So you think
when you look back on that Bears gamerer like they
took us lightly and that's why it was so close.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah, I think so. I think there is an emotional
thing there. Now. I don't think that's in Mike McDonald's makeup. No.
I think he's going to get his team ready to play,
and so I just think that the forty nine ers
will play better. Right now? Is it enough?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I don't think it will be enough, but they will
play better.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah. I just don't know if they have the horses.
I mean, can we all agree that the best injinet?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
No?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, but the best unit in this game is the
Seahawks defense, Like they're the best unit, right, So that
matchup of Brock Purdy against the Seahawk defense, I mean,
I guess you could say McCaffrey doesn't drop that ball,
ocket maybe they score, Maybe they lose the game thirteen
to ten, but then Myers missed two field goals. One
of their field goals was aided by a kickoff that
went out of bounds, and then Darnold had Sharperney. I
(10:54):
feel like the score Mike was closer in the first
game more because of what the Seahawks did versus this
is what the Niners did in that game.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And the one they just played. Yeah, yeah, I think so.
It was a combination of both those things. Because you'd say,
no one wins many games scoring thirteen points, you just
don't win. But they won. Why they win because they
were so dominant on defense, and.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
They beat the Cowboys thirteen to ten. When Josh Brown
had that game winning field goal and chucked his helmet
across the field thirteen ten game, Yeah, I don't remember.
I think he won that game, by the way.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Really Yeah, well.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
The game plan, I mean part of the reason that
game was thirteen to three was that the Seahawks were
so conservative. I mean, they just did not want to
make any mistakes on offense. Now, with San Francisco even
more depleted, No, Kiddle, do you think they'll go right
back to the well and be just as conservative this time.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I hope not, Dick. You know, if if you had
that feeling, or if people had that feeling, and I
did to a certain extent, that they have good offensive players.
The Seahawks have good offensive players. Cut it loose, I mean,
I mean, play offense, right. Your job is to score points.
If you're the coordinator. That was my job when I
(12:05):
was a coordinator in San Francisco, that was my job.
Score points. No one's telling me, they calm down. I
think we only need six points to win the game.
No one's telling me that, right, and so I would
be shit. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think
cut it loose, and I hope I see a little
bit more play auction on first down, some screens, some stuff,
(12:25):
you know, and then I don't think they're gonna approach
it that way.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, thirteen to ten, Week seven against Dallas. See, I'm
here to remember stuff that you forget, by the way,
That's why I hang around.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I appreciate that, I really do.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I just hope that somebody does the same for me
one day down the road, all right, because I'm getting
there already. We're gonna break more with Mike Hormbran. There's
a lot going on where there's game on Saturday, like
going to the NFL coaching jobs or getting filled interviews
are happening. Clint Kubiak is amongst them. By the way,
more with Mike Homgrin as we continue from the five
twenty bar and Grail. It's Cracking game Day, by the way.
Crack and Bruins pregame four to thirty faced off at five.
(13:00):
Donate blood with blood Works Northwest, by the way, and
you can win some pretty awesome prizes January. By the way,
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(13:22):
now at blood Works NW dot org slash win blood
Works Northwest Giving Life Together. One more segment with Mike
and we'll get to hockey at four point thirty from Boston.
Coming up on ninety three three kJ arfm Kyle Shanahan
by the way. Niners head coach did say today that
Fred Warner, linebacker who's coming back off the broken ankle,
he is not going to play in the game on Saturday,
which is just fine by us. All Right, We're here
(13:43):
at the five twenty bar and grill a few more
minutes with Mike Combri and Mike that story we just
talked about there. Robert Sala, Niner DC, is going to
interview for the Cardinals job tonight. I'm trying to remember
how you guys did it, because I know it's changed
a little bit the rules on when you can talk
to people. Kubiak spent last week because they had to
buy talking to a lot of teams. But I mean,
Robert Sala's got a game in forty eight hours from
(14:04):
now and he's interviewing tonight for the Cardinals coaching job.
Does that seem kind of odd to you a little bit?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
It was a little disruptive. I think, you know, they've
changed the rules. I think a little bit crazy. I
remember going being in the hunt with a group of
coaches and they were all kind of waiting for me
to make the decision. Because then things kind of fell
into place because there are about four or five teams
interviewing a bunch of coaches. So, but Robert Sala is
(14:31):
a good pick. I think he's a fine coach, and
he just happened to be with the Jets, and I
don't know what's going on with the Jets, So I
think if he goes somewhere there, that's going to be
good for that team.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Wasn't he there when Edon Rodgers got hurt the head coach?
Sala he got fired. That was that was his gig, right,
he was on the job. Yeah, he thought he was
on the job, so he had no quarterback, right right.
I mean, because I agree with you. I think he's
a good coach, really good guy. Job.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
He's a defensive guy, yeah, you know, And so we
know now that I was always a little bit skeptical
defensive guys can be had coaches, But we know now
that we've got a really good one. He's a defensive guy,
So it can happen.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
John Harbaugh, we haven't talked to you since he was fired. Yeah,
and now he looks like he's gonna be hired with
the Giants. So the last week of as the Harbaugh turns,
what's your take?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I thought, you know, you coach for eighteen nineteen years
in a row. Sometimes it's you see guys wanting to
take a breath for a year then get back into it.
It's not him. He wanted to get back into it,
and he had his choice. He has his choice because
everybody wanted him. I don't know if he had any
years left on his contract with Baltimore. Tomlin had a
(15:49):
year left on his contract with Pittsburgh, So that changes
the dynamic just a little bit because the two organizations
have to kind of work on that a little bit. Yeah,
if you if your coach leaves.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I'm glad run up Tomlin because we haven't even talked
about that yet. Florio, your favorite NFL reporter, was on
the show yesterday and we asked him, do you think
that the Steelers just went to Mike Tomlin and said, Hey,
we're going to make a move. But if you want
to say that you stepped down, that's fine, right, whatever
you want is what we'll do. And Mike says, the
Steelers don't fire anybody. He's convinced one hundred percent that
Mike Tomlin actually made that call to step down. Do
(16:22):
you buy that?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
No, I think it's what you said, Wow, I really do.
I think that's what you said. That struck me because
I think, but they but they don't come out and
fire anybody, right, that's true, But they work it out
some other way. So the guy leaves. So what do
you call it? I mean, let's just bring a name
to it.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You think the Rooney family was ready to move on
from Mike Tomas?
Speaker 6 (16:44):
I do?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, gotcha?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And then the question you brought up just sorry dickting
her up, but you Dick asked on the air last week,
if Sean McDermott had lost that game right over the
weekend to Jacksonville and they won the game, I mean
the Jaguars had the ball with a chance to tie
or win the game in the first pass of the
got picked off by Buffalo. You think McDermott would have
been out if they would have lost that game. I
don't just save his job.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Perhaps there was some there was some talk about that
prior to the game, and it's all it's all a
type of ownership. I don't know the owners. They weren't
owners when I was in the league as a coach.
But if you get an owner that wants to like
Mashati in Baltimore. I know him a little bit. It
didn't surprise me at all, you know, h It didn't
(17:30):
surprise me that the Rooney family how they do it.
And so because I knew them a little bit, and
so I I think Sean would It would have been close.
But I like Sean McDermott, I think as a good coach.
And I always said this, it's not always the coach.
You know your your you play the cards you're dealt
(17:53):
sometimes and sometimes in the league, you're not always co
pathetic with the guy maybe making the decision and on players.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Well, you know a little something about the Browns organization.
So should Kevin Stefanski be thanking the good Lord? He
was fired by Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yes, to go someplace else?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yes, yes, No, I'm I'm I mean, I look at it.
They yeah, yes, And then he's gonna he's gonna get it.
He's gonna be He's gonna right away. He will be
hired this now. Listen. Having said that it hurts when
they when they said goodbye to me in Cleveland, that hurt,
you know, and new owner and Okay, I got why
(18:30):
they did it, but it still hurts. And so the
coaches Unfortunately, I was never fired as a coach. But
it's tough, you.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Know, it's tough. You're one of the few people that
have never Well that's incredible, by the way, nuts, but
you were never fired as a coach, I know, assistant
assistant coach.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Considering, no, considering all the times I screwed up.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, I've got them all documented right here in front.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I give you. I believe you yelled at me one
time in practice.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
But you were never fired as an assistant coach. Is
that also correct?
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Wow, that's really I mean, that'soul put you in the
Hall of Fame right there? Are you kidding me? When
we do your Hall of Fame speech? He was never
once fired in football? Here he is. You're a newest
member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Mike Hongre.
Will you get two coaches that were just fired this week?
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Well, one quote unquote step down, and both of them
are Hall of Fame candidates.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's right, that's right, that's right. Yeah, it's incredible. Well,
I'll just tell you this, if and when the time
comes when we have to let you go, we'll let
you decide how you want to do that. Yeah, you
won't care. We'll get together behind the scenes. If you
want to say you step down, we can give you
that opportunity. That's never gonna happen, at least not on
my watch, Dick and I will be gone by the
time that happens. But well, we just both want you
to know that we are concerned about your image and
(19:42):
your records.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
We'll see I'm not kidding any younger yet.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Well, Mike Homgran's with us on the show here for
a few more minutes, and let's go back and talk
about this match up again on Saturday night. Man, I mean,
George Kittle is not going to play, obviously, Fred Warner
is not gonna play. We don't know about Pierce All yet, right, Dick,
we'll see his status for the game on Saturday. So
how much we had mooch on right, your old guy
Steve mary Ucci, and we asked him, how much can
(20:06):
the way the Niners were Let's face that they were
embarrassed when the opposing team has the ball for thirty
eight minutes, that's kind of a joke in the NFL
for a team to control the clock the way they did.
How much can the motivation of being pissed off and
angry tangibly really make up for some lost opportunities for
San Francisco from the last game.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
In this game Saturday, I would be shocked. I would
be shocked if they didn't use that to play better.
You know, they didn't play very well, and we think
back of that game, they didn't do a lot of
things very well. They're gonna play better. Here's my take
on the game. Okay, if you get if both teams
play to their level, the Seahawks will win. You know,
(20:50):
because of injuries with San Francisco and just in certain
key spots Warner Bosa, you know, Kittle, They're they're hurt,
all right, But if one team doesn't play as good
as they should and the other team plays to their level,
that team will win. I think it's going to be close.
(21:12):
That close.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
How much does the extra day matter?
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I mean, obviously the Seahawks have the extra week, but
they also have an extra day and San Francisco is
only a five days rest.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Between the games. Yeah, that as long as they weren't
hurt too much in the game. I'm lilas Kittle. I
think the momentum and that shouldn't be too much of
a factor. I don't think right, you know, the extra
time because of the buye. I think we talked about
it last week. You can get you got to be
careful on how you time that, how you get them ready,
(21:41):
so you don't get them ready to play the game
on Thursday night instead of Saturday. So but again, I
think Mike does a great job of that.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
So I'm looking at a quote here on Twitter from
our buddy Grant Cohen, who comes on with us every
now and then covers the Niners a bit of an attagonist,
would you say that, day y, that a fair word?
And he's quoting the story on Donald having an oblique injury.
There's a reason why I'm bringing this up. I'll get
to it in a second. Frank Cohen says, in regards
(22:09):
to Sam Donald's oblique he couldn't even wait until kickoff
to choke. Had to get it out of the way early.
Says Grant Cohen. Wow, now that might be just him
pushing buttons a little bit, which is fine. But there
is a little bit of that story for a lot
of and maybe for a lot of people that think
it might be one of the bigger storylines of the
weekend in the NFL. Will Sam Donald show up? Will
(22:32):
he get this done? You're a next quarterback? If you're
Sam Darnald, are you thinking about any of that? Is
that in the back of your mind that all you
think before this game Saturday.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
He's gonna put pressure on himself and that's never gonna change.
I mean that's how every quarterback then that I've ever
known or coached feels that a little bit right, I think,
although although it does open the can for all the
people that were Sam Darnold doubters.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yes, we call him haters by the way.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Haters that okay, Oh now he's yeah, he is getting
himself away out my oblique and all that. I don't
buy it.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I don't either.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I don't either. I'm with you, but you know, we
gotta see. I have I believe in him, so I
think he's gonna do fine.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I got some numbers to back up my weekly going
for it on fourth down.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Question for you?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Oh great, all right, yeah, right for this.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
We talk about this each week.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
So this last weekend, Carolina oh for three on fourth
down they lost by three points.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Jaguars oh for one on fourth down.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
They did it at the Buffalo nine and didn't take
the field goal, they lost by three points. The Bears
went for it twice in the first half and missed
them both. And guess what, they were down twenty one
to three at halftime in the midst of that, and
the Chargers went for it in a tie game didn't
get it. When do you think the pendulum will swing back?
Because everything's a pendulum, right, do you think the pendulum
(23:58):
will start to swing back towards sanity when you have
playoff games being lost because of these decisions?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You know what? I would hope so because I think
and we again we've talked about it before. I think
the decision to go for to kick a field goal
or whatever, that's that. That's the head coach's decision at
that particular time. It should not be, in my opinion,
someone handy a slip of paper and say, this week's
studied this. This is what you should do. You know,
(24:28):
otherwise you know what's gonna happen next and during the
this AI.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So those guys in the upstairs room, now, the analytical guys,
they're gone. If you replacement gone, we're gonna be They're
gonna be robots up there going hand in your little
sleeps of paper.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, there's computer's coaching. I mean, Mike, I think that's coming.
That's there's gonna be an owner one of these days.
Maybe not in our lifetime or whatever, next twenty years,
we'll just want somebody is gonna be so gung ho
about that that they will just let a computer program
their football team on thousand percent gonna happen. Now, it
may not happen at the NFL level. Maybe it starts
off in Europe or whatever. I don't know, something I.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Don't have, like a human manager like baseball, but the
actual play calling will be just an they're doing.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
They're doing it now, like you said, if they're they're
looking at a chart, they're looking at the analytics, and
he says, do this, do that? What's the difference if
it's on a piece of paper or comes out of
a computer. Either way, it's coming out of a computer eventually, right, Yeah,
but I think you're totally right.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
The thing is the guys who write down that number
on the piece of paper, right, they have no idea
what that situation will.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Be in the game emotionally, right that particular time, well,
when when when when Dick was asking about the schedule. Uh,
the first thing I thought of is the Niners fans
bitching about having to play on Saturday. Kyle Shanahan came
out after the game of the Eagles last week and said,
if the NFL's night still, let us play on Sunday.
So he's already kind of thinking about it. You know,
the NFL is not nice apparently because they're playing on Saturday.
(25:53):
How honestly pissed off would you be if you're Kyle
Shanahan that the Seahawks have a bye. You played on
the East Coast. Now you got to come home and
play this game on a Saturday night in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah. I did bother me a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, would you talk about it publicly?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I'd do it on the competition committee, right, but not
with the media. No, not with the media, right, But
it would be because I just think it makes some sense.
It reminded me when they set the schedule and all
of a sudden, you're a West Coast team and you're
playing all these games on the East Coast and then
you got a shortened, shortened day. That doesn't make any sense.
Why were they making us do that? Yeah? You know so, Yeah,
(26:30):
but I would not I would not talk about that, sure, sure,
but I talk about it in Housel.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And they just did it for Week eighteen, right, Seahawks
had to come back from Carolina and play on a Saturday.
They could they could have put that game on Saturday
Night football. They did you hear Mike McDonald bitching about it? No,
of course not. No coach, losers, all of them, Mike
bums coach. What's going on with the Rams?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Are they still just right there with the Hawks like
we've thought they were forever?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Or are you seeing some kinks in the art here?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well, the last couple of games they've the last few games,
I've seen little kings in the armor in decision making,
you know the the and then you know Stafford in
that game, we just saw he was lights out in
the first half, second half, all of a sudden happened.
Maybe it was his finger that he got hurt. I
don't know, but you know, they're there, haven't been as consistent.
(27:24):
They are talented. Now getting their receiver back will help,
you know. Avantae Adams so uh and they have a
really is really really good. They're a good football team
and they can score points. The thing now with playing
the Bears, and the Bears have been out of sight,
you know, fortunate, but now they're playing in Chicago. It's
(27:46):
gonna be really cold.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So we'll see. Yeah, I'm looking at a picture of
the weather and just says that there's an igloop, is
what it says, just going to freezing cold? What does
that mean for the Rams? Honestly? I mean, yeah, Stafford's
played outdoors before with the Lions, but what about the
rest of the team that plays, you know, at so
Fi Stadium and all that, and is that going to
be a factor? You think that could be a huge
detriment to the Rams on side.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
The last time I played a game like that, we
played the Raiders in Green Bay. They were in Los
Angeles time. Okay, the famous quote from Howie long after
the game to me, Mike, I didn't think I was
coming out for the second half.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Did you win that game?
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Yeah? We did badly, win a big They were good
and we went it pretty big.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah. I mean, do you buy that the weather could
actually be the difference between the Rams winning and losing
that game?
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I think?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So? Okay, Boss Building, Yeah, well let's go make a
cold absolutely, what do you think about do you think
about Denver, Denver's chances.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You know, I don't know Denver very much at all.
I have a tremendous respect for Sean Bayton, right, and
he's done a great job with that quarterback Nicks and
they have a but I don't know the players that well.
You know Buffalo though, Yeah, I know Buffalo. Yeah, he's
fun to watch, I think, Oh, I mean they're fun
to watch on offense.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
How would you like a quarterback where you can just
snap the ball and shotgun and just know that he
just runs straight ahead.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
He's gonna get four yards every time?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Remember the Remember the quarterback sneak?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah, the turkey seven yards?
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, I thought you scored. I turned around.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Well. The thing about Buffalo though, First of all, there's
two questions. The one question I had in that game,
the Jaguar game in particularly, you're talking about when he
got to the one yard line on that snow, would
you have thought about taking a knee and running a
little more clock because there was a Buco two on
the clock at that point in time. Jackson goes now
out of timeouts, right, Dick, yep, So Josh Allen takes
(29:36):
a knee and they can run the thing all the
way down to twenty seconds and then have three shots
from the one and a half yard line with Josh
Allen to get the ball in the end zone. What
you thought about doing that?
Speaker 3 (29:48):
People can talk about that who are watching the game.
The quarterback in that situation, yeah, is not thinking. That's
not what he's thinking.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm talking about. If you're a McDermott, do you say
I want you to take a knee on first I
know we have four shots to get the touchdown here,
but I'm gonna I feel comfortable enough with you getting
a sneak on second, third, or fourth down, then I'm
gonna let you take a knee and run clock.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah. I don't think you Well, he may have. You
know what, I don't think anyone expected that to happen.
What happened, right, So, I don't think they had that conversation.
Just get the first down, Get the first down, that's
what we're thinking.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Get the touchdown. You mean get the touchdown?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
No, get the first down.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Right, But I'm saying on the long sneak where he
was down at the one yard line, right.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
No, that's not no.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Okay, all right, before we let you go coach the
Texans haven't lost since November the second Wow, but they
were very unimpressive offensively. Now went over over Pittsburgh. So
what do you give? What's their chances in New England?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You think one minute?
Speaker 3 (30:45):
By the way, I think they're great. Their defense is
really solid and really good. And if their quarterback plays.
That's why I said about Sam Darnold or any of
the quarterbacks, the quarterbacks will decide who wins the game.
There'd be good defenses, good receivers, all that kind of stuff,
but whatever quarterback really steps up, those are the teams
are gonna win. Yeah, and the C. J. Stroud has
(31:06):
to step up in this.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Game, no doubt. We've got like thirty seconds. Have we
seen the last of Aaron Rodgers with Tomlin getting fired?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I believe so?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, got it.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know he had a you could see almost by
his body language and how it went. Yeah, because he
couldn't didn't seem like he could make the throws.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
He used to make, right, no doubt. All right, good stuff,
we're talking a week all rank you all right, Mike
Holmgan with us on the radio show. We'll get out
of here big. Thanks for the five twenty bar and
grill Bruins Cracking pregame next face off at five o'clock tomorrow.
Banta Hill's gonna join us, Larry Krueger is going to
join us. Hugh Millin's gonna join us from the Occidental
Hall right outside loom Andfield. We'll talk tomorrow
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