Furness Show 2-10: Super Bowl talk, Hugh Millen and Mike Sando

Ian feels like the Super Bowl was a dud, from the game to the broadcast. But now we get to the 'what's next' part of the year. Hugh Millen gives us an in-depth look at the Super Bowl, while also weighing in on the Seahawks' future and how long it includes Geno Smith. Can they with a championship with Geno? The Daily Power Play! Mike Sando, The Athletic tells us what happened during the new voting process that didn't see Mike Holmgren get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year. He also gives us a breakdown of the Super Bowl from a 'boots on the ground' perspective.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
No from the Star Rentals Sports to us Jordan ninety
three point three KJRFM Sports headlines.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Brought to you by Frost Brewed cors Light Choose Chill.
There was a big football game yesterday. Forty twenty two
is a final big thanks to Pat Mahomes and Xavier
Worthy for that late touchdown throw. I'll just leave it
at that newly elected Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki throw
out the ceremonial first pitch on m's opening day this season.

(00:27):
He'll have his number fifty one jersey retired by the
MS later on that summer as well. Cracking in the
midst of a two week break. We'll tell you about
why and how. But they did get a three to
two overtime win against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.
Up in Calgary. Husky men's basketball beat Northwestern seventy six
seventy one. Back at it right here on KJR By
the way, on the Big station five point thirty on

(00:50):
Wednesday against Ohio State, boy, I know a couple of
guys pretty happy about that. They do the three seven show,
five to thirty. Let med you the math and you
only do two hours. Oh yeah, guess what you got
only doing two hours as.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well several times a year a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Let's get the show started, I swear to God, him
turning into softy.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Oh God, no, I get distracted.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I get distracted all too easily these days. Check in
an email, Yes, Rory, but you're welcome. I'm glad I
got that spot in for you. Okay, uh hey, we
got what used to be our normal show one to
three back.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
We are back and better than ever, I think, because
we got one hour extra to do exactly what I
do every single day.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Actually, yeah, exactly. We are here one to three today.
Mike Sandal's going to join us at two. Full disclosure,
we taped Mike earlier to day because he was jumping
on a plane leaving New Orleans, but we got caught
up with him. So our weekly visit, our finally weekly
visit with Mike Sandal from the Athletic is pick six.
We're gonna I'll just tease it this way. We are
going to spend a lot of time talking about the
Hall of Fame in Mike Hongred. If everybody knows Mike

(01:51):
is a part of that committee.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Well he knows how it works that nobody.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Does Mike pushed hard for my for Mike, pushed hard
for Mike Our Mike hongrim Sandal push hard for him.
We'll talk about the process, what went wrong, what will
happen in the future. How optimistic is he that will
see Mike Holmgren in the Hall of Fame at some point.
So all that's coming up sand to at two o'clock today,
he was going to join us for one segment of
one twenty. We got a daily power play. We'll can
explain the four Nations tournament. We'll do that at one forty.

(02:17):
The more new text line when its game time, we'll
take your text as well. Shout out to the new guy.
The FNNG is they like to call him the new
guy when you lose the f It took me ten
years and I've been here eighteen, so I'm just glad
there's a new guy here. It's like Chuck was the
last new guy. So it's and he's been here I
think almost ten years. So oh, we don't change over

(02:37):
just this is just this isn't like your old place.
Like we don't change personnel and bodies here. We we
just pretty much go with what we've got.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
And that's how there's.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Not a lot of change change, which is good. I
don't like change, but I but yeah, no, we don't
change a lot. But he'll be the FNG for a while.
But yeah, welcome to Mark. Listen to a good chunk
of the show today. Great job and good to have
him on board. Good to have Hi as a teammate.
And you know, selfishly is great lead in as well
for me, so I'm happy for that. But though, yeah, no,
it sounded great, good have listen. We live in a

(03:12):
very provincial world, right like it's a very like in
sports radio, it's like, oh are you one of us?
You're not one of us? Oh yeah? And I kind
of hate that because it's good to have an outside
voice at times, especially because in our business of sports radio,
we always talk to outside voices, don't we like we
want them on the air, We want them our shows,
We want to talk to them. But it's good to
have him on and he'll be outside not very long.

(03:33):
He'll be very much an insider soon enough. And great
to have a guy with all of his experience on
the air. So welcome to Mark. Super Bowl took place yesterday.
Hugh's going to join us at one twenty. I'm gonna
probably play the sound by from Aaron Levine and Mike
McDonald though for Hugh to start things off, we could
break the Super Bowl down. I was curious and wanting
to do that with Hugh in regards to what the
hell Philadelphia did besides attack that offensive line that was playing,

(03:56):
you know, left guard at left tackle and a backup
left guard yesterday, but they dominated there. But I will
get to that if we have time. That sound bite
that Aaron Levine shout out to my man Aaron Levin
over Fox thirteen, and I think all of it's up
on their website, Fox thirteen sail dot com, the entire
interview with Mike McDonald's. That was some great insight from
from Mike. That will play for you coming up about

(04:17):
Gino Smith is their quarterback and he can win a
Super Bowl with them. We'll play that for you coming
up at one twenty. Quick thoughts on the game last night.
What a bummer, And I'm not talking about the outcome.
I just I think we all wanted a game, right,
We all wanted a game, We wanted something compelling, and
it was just a dud. It was a dud from

(04:38):
the broadcast. It was a dud from the game. I'll
be the first to tell you I'm not I am
not the guy ever. And it doesn't matter if it's
Kendrick Lamar, Lamar, Jackson, Taylor Swift, rolling Stones. I could
give a rip about halftime shows. So up early warning here.

(04:58):
I don't care, don't care, don't care about it, didn't
watch it. That's the time to finish your food, prep
for what you're gonna eat in the second half, use
the bathroom, grab a couple of cocktails. That was That
was what we started making cocktails at that point instead
of just took that. Well, no, it's not like I
wasn't having a few before. I'm just saying that's when
we switched to the cocktails. Oh. I might have even

(05:19):
been gin at that point, but anyway, I don't want
I don't care about that. The only thing that's non
football that I just want to comment on quickly, and
I hesitated to do it. I didn't do it on
social media because it just wasn't the time or the place, but.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
I got it.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
The Tom Brady thing is just it's just not good.
And I will say that I'm probably spoiled in a
sense because we have a guy that comes on as
an analyst in Hugh Mornings, Mondays and Fridays with us
on Mondays throughout the week on the station that every

(05:55):
time Hugh speaks, I learned something. And then so I
started thinking, Okay, well that's nothing know for a lot
of color analysts on TV. But let's start thinking, well,
I work with somebody in Alice and Luken that every
time I sit next to her for the Krack and
Hockey Network, I learned something. Yeah, Brett Festerling, who's our
new guy. He's the FNG for the Crack and Hockey Network,
which is why because it's a new hockey network. But anyway,
he's really the new guy. Same thing with Brett, I

(06:17):
learned something when I hear him. And then you know
Eddie oldcheck J T. Brown and again, how do you
feel about Alex Brink? And Alex Brink like good analyst
tell you something that you didn't see. They don't just
describe what just happened. That's the play by play guy's voice. Job.
I thought I was just yearning throughout the game to

(06:40):
hear Tom Brady tell us how and why? And he
never said how and why? And if you're asking yourself
what an analyst should be doing? How and why is
what you need? How and why? And I'm thinking, like, what,
you know, was it a zone block? Was it a
you know? What was the blocking scheme? You know we

(07:03):
could all see that Joe Thuny was getting killed and
the left guard is getting killed the offensive line then
you know, they're all pro right guard and they're all
pro center. We're having to make up for weaknesses on
the other side. It's a trickle down effect. But how
and why? What's the adjustment you need to make? You've
won six Super Bowls? You should know. Never told us that.

(07:23):
I'll give him credit, though, Man, that guy lives a
blessed life because he's a great He's the greatest quarterback
in the history of the NFL, greatest winning quarterback for sure.
You know, I mean just in terms of what his
accomplishments were. Made a zillion dollars playing football, and now
he's making a zillion dollars being a guy that really,
frankly wouldn't even be a good guy calling a Mac

(07:45):
attack game on a Tuesday on ESPN two. He's not good,
Like he just is not good.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
He's background noise to me, to be honest, But that's it.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, and that's that was kind of and you know
how bad the game was. That's all I could think
of yesterday was how And I don't want to say
he was bad. It's not he stumbles over his words.
It's not like he's not, you know, polished a little bit.
He just doesn't add anything. And Burkhart's just a zero.
So it's just it did not feel like people love
and hate Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. All right, al

(08:18):
Michaels doesn't love every game, he does anymore. But when
you hear their voices, when you hear Jim Nantz's voice,
you know it's a big event. Chris Fowler's okay doing
play by play, He's okay, But boy, you hear Fowler
in herb Street like, you know it's a big college
football game. You hell brad Nessler. I hear brad Nessler,

(08:41):
and I know this is a big game in college football.
Harlan Kevin Harlan, Yeah, Harlan's so wild. He's two by
the way, he's two Super bowls away from tying the
record by Jack Buck, Joe Buck's dad. Oh, the most
of the most Super Bowls done on national radio.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Oh, I didn't know that. That's awesome.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
He's one of my favorites a Tntas he comes on,
I'm like, I don't care about this game.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
I'm watching it.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
I heard Mark talk about earlier the you know Iron
Eagle who was on with him earlier. By the way, again,
sounds like a big game. It from the score Bug,
which looked like nineteen eighties to and you knows whiles
people put time into that, Like I know what our
guys did. Oh my god, Ryan Shaber and other guys
did this summer with the KRACK and Hockey Network. How
much time they spent it just on graphics and the

(09:25):
look and tweaking it and then the music and all
those things. Somewhat at Fox said hey, this looks good
like and then five other people said, yeah, that looks
really good.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah, there's a lot of layers that going.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
To it looked like Super Bowl three is what it
looked like. Anyway, the game was a dud. Brady was
a dud. It was just kind of a bummer way
to end the football season. But so be it. We're done,
we move on, and now we get into kind of
a fun part of the year, which is the team
building part. We talked about the palo Zola all the time.
What's next? Everyone measures themselves. How do you get to

(09:58):
that level that Philadelphia just got to with a coach
that some people want and fired after a year or two,
right even last year. How do you get to that
next level? How do you take that next step? What
do you do? How close is my team? How close
is your team? How close is the rest of your division?
All those questions come up, the draft, free agency, what
you do, how you you know? Tweak guy's contracts. Kind

(10:20):
of a fun, fun time of the year for NFL fans,
So we'll talk about that. Hugh Melon is going to
join us. Next. We'll check in with the Daily power
Play at one forty five today we'll explain why somebody
asked me why why the crack and are off for
two weeks. I'll explain why at one forty five, and
then Mike Sando what happened with Mike Homberan in the
Hall of Fame and his thoughts on the game. He
was there in New Orleans yesterday. That to two o'clock today,

(10:41):
four nine, four to five. One tell them who texts
On went his game time. Don't forget our one thousand
dollars cash contest every day. Listen for the keyword. This
hour's word is money. Money. Go to ninety three to
three KJR dot com and type in money your chance
one one thousand dollars. Hugh was next.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Your home for the twelfth Man in the NI proudly
presents Hardcore Football with Hugh Millon, brought to you by
Hunt Services. Hunt Services is proud to offer the Hunts
Care Club for all your plumbing, heating, cooling, sewer and
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(11:19):
the horn and call Hunts or visit Hunt Services dot com.
Now here's you with the Infernets on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJR FM.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, this is officially it. As far as the season,
the twenty twenty four NFL season is concerned with hardcore
football and being as I'm off next Monday, we won't
even bother you next Monday. Humillon, how are you, sir?

Speaker 5 (11:43):
I'm good. I told you I was going to be
doing that geno study though, so.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Well, guess what I've got for you. Yeah, guess what
I have for human? Because I now before I get
to that, I was going to my whole thought process
before I heard this was I'm like, oh, I can't
wait a few on because frankly, not once did I
find out in the broadcast or here once in the broadcast, No,
you're Tom Brady fan as a player. I don't know, but
you think of his broadcaster. But not once I hear
how or why the Eagles completely just absolutely disassembled the

(12:12):
the what was formerly known as the Kansas City Chiefs
and Patrick Mahomes. I want to get to who and
how and why. We may have time for that today,
but I'm not sure if we will, because instead, Hugh Millen,
I bring you this, Jess. Do you have it ready?

Speaker 6 (12:24):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (12:24):
I have it?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Okay. This is Aaron Levine yesterday, an exclusive sit down
interview with Seahawks head coach Mike McDon Yes, yes, Seahawks
head coach. Yes, well, I think they taped it on
Thursday or Friday.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
Ok.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
But it was played yesterday right after the super Bowl,
which was on the first Yes, yes, I understand, Yes,
this was on Fox thirteen. They had the exclusive Mike
McDonald long form sit down interview Levine did with him
that aired after the Super Bowl on Fox thirteen yesterday.
I want you to take a close listen, and we'll
have you react on the other side to Mike McDonald
with Aaron.

Speaker 6 (12:57):
Do you expect him to be your starting quarterback next year?

Speaker 4 (12:59):
Ye?

Speaker 7 (13:00):
Yeah, man, Gino's our quarterback. I don't understand the conversation.
It's pretty obvious. This guy's a heck of a quarterback.
He's our quarterback. We love him, can't wait to go
to work with him. We've had a lot of non
football conversations to keep it legal over the last month
or so, and he I know, he's really excited about
Clint taking over and this guy, he's a great player, man,
and we can win a championship with Gino Smith. We

(13:20):
really believe that and can't wait to get back to
work with him.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay again. Thanks to Aaron Levine, Fox thirteen courtesy of them,
You can hear the whole interview at Fox thirteen Seattle
dot com. So lots to unbutton and unpack there. Hugh
One reaffirmed what we kind of fought, but there, you know,
there's talk. Would they trade him to Vegas into Pete
Carroll and you know, are they going to move on?
And this and that and no, heck no, definitive terms,

(13:43):
he's our quarterback. But the last part is the one
that caught my attention because I know you're doing the
deep dive on Gino. We can win a championship with him.
I'll just let you react to everything you heard there
here and we'll go from there.

Speaker 6 (13:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:54):
Well, first of all, I'm trying to read between the
lines and for enthusiasm that I think there's perfunctory statements
that a head coach has to have, and certainly I
would expect him to be enthusiastic and effusive about Gino
right up until the point where he doesn't have Geno

(14:14):
and and so I think in that regard, you know,
that's just kind of part of the job as a
head coach. Now, I think we all heard something beyond that.
We all heard something that sounds genuine in terms of
the likability. I think we're just getting to know Mike
McDonald is a young guy. We've seen signs of impatience

(14:35):
that the inside linebackers weren't doing the job. Halfway through
the season. They're whacked to you know, trade replaced with
Ricky's what have you. Ryan Grubb could be perceived by
him as impatient by some and so for me, I'm
just trying to learn his style. As for Geno and

(14:57):
the support, again, I think part of that would be
just you know, par for the course in terms of
statements of support. But as it pertains to championship, you know,
technically the semantics, there's a lot of championships, or at
least a few. There's the NFC West Championship, there's the

(15:17):
NFC Championship, and there's Super Bowl Championship. And so look,
I don't want to be cooy or you know, full
pull fly crap out of pepper, you know, but I
think that that it does strike me that there's more
than one championship. And he didn't say super Bowl in
that statement, So at any event, I think it's if

(15:39):
I'm Gino, I probably like what I heard there.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
You're I don't know if the deep dive I assume's
not done with Gino yet that you're kind of going through.
But but do you believe that they can win Let's
just use super Bowl for let's just use that. Can
they win a super Bowl with Gino? Smith.

Speaker 5 (15:56):
Well, my feeling on it, as I said even before yesterday,
I said, can you win a Super Bowl with Patrick Mahomes? Well,
then the reflexive answer by any fan would be, of
course you can't. I said, well, they didn't win it
in the twenty and twenty season when they lost thirty
eight to nine, and Mahomes looked undressed in that because

(16:20):
he didn't have the team around him that was necessary.
And so I would say, yeah, there's a Nashary just
about anybody can win a Super Bowl. I mean we'd
be getting into a gray area the difference between theoretical
and practical. But I could assert to you on a
theoretical level that you could win a Super Bowl with

(16:43):
Charlie Whieters. I mean, the Ravens did it in practicality
with Trent Dilfer, right, And so in theory, if you
put a literal Hall of Fame team around a Hall
of like littered with Hall of Famers everywhere on both
sides of the ball, Charlie Whitehurst could win you a
Super Bowl. So it to me it would be like, Okay,

(17:07):
the lesser your quarterback, then the more you need from
the other twenty one guys, Right, right, and I think
that's playing out certainly on a practical level yesterday, I
Jalen Hurts looks really darn good when throwing that post
route to DeVante Smith when the offensive line is protecting,

(17:31):
and it looks like seven on seven and Jalen Watson
number thirty five is beat like a drum at the
line of scrimmage and DeVante Smith is just running right
down the field and it's just like routes on air.
And I went back and looked at the tape of
the maybe the most famous incompletion in Super Bowl history,

(17:54):
Jimmy Garoppolo with a minute and forty to go against
these same Chiefs, you know. Coincidentally, the number thirty five
was also the corner that was beat on that side
was Shadarius Ward and and for a moment it looked
like he was going to be wide open, but they
played a bracket coverage and the safety got way underneath it.

(18:15):
He would have had to have been a hell of
a walket to you throw. And by the way, Garoppolo
was in in five times the squeezed pocket, guys all
around him coming at him, and and everybody says, well,
you know, as a wide open post that Garoppolo missed.
Blah blah blah. That's just an example of he can't
get the job done. That the degree of difficulty for

(18:39):
that throw had it, had it been complete, was ten
x what Jalen Hurts had yesterday, again with no no
nobody around him and a wide open DeVante Smith and
and by the way, schematically no safety from the inside bracketing.
Just one on one beat one guy.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
And so I just think that Hurts is a relatively
average quarterback. If he was on the Giants, they'd be
running him out of there. But he can play a
really simple like talk to Jason Garrett about him, because
Kellen Moore was the offensive coordinator at Dallas the course
as we know, and is a first year offensive coordinator

(19:19):
with the Eagles this year, and he's just saying, yeah,
he just simplified everything. He just said, Hey, let's not
do the difficult processing stuff over the middle. Keep everything
to the outside. And everything you saw yesterday with the
exception of one Dallas Goddard over route which was which
was you know, a zone coverage, great play action the

(19:40):
Chiefs a linebacker's bid up. Dallas Goddter is wanting ride
open on an intermediate crossing route, and there was nobody
around Hurts other than that. There was, so you wouldn't
even call that difficult processing for those reasons. But everything
else was thrown to the outside, outside the numbers vertical
stuff that you know, frankly is about as easy as

(20:01):
it gets from a processing standpoint. So, yeah, you put
a great team around Jalen Hurts, he can win a
Super Bowl for you put a great team around Gino.
Uh he can win a super Bowl. Might look slightly
different than than Jalen Hurts did yesterday because he's more
of a runner, but uh so my answer to you,
can he be a championship quarterback? I think just about

(20:21):
anybody could be a championship quarterback provided you put enough
great pieces around him. And Howie Roseman, the GM for
the Eagles is the best. We've talked about how deep
that roster is, and and and you know, Seattle, if
you're gonna win with Gino, They'll close with this. If
you're gonna win a championship with Gino, a Super Bowl championship,

(20:42):
you got to upgrade that roster by a lot.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
Well, and I Humil enjoying his hardcore football and by
the way, this is why, this is why this guy
should be the top guy of Fox doing Super Bowls,
because he somehow, he somehow intertwined GINO into the entire
Super Bowl com I.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
Deserve that and I just I got that one. I
deserve that one.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
But we learned something there which we did not on
the broadcast yesterday, which I enjoy. Let me the Jalen
Hurts thing, by the way, the passing where he did
throw the ball yesterday. Jess if you recall our conversation
Froddy with one guy by the name of Greg Cosell,
did Cosell not tell us that he told Hexas watch
where Hurts throws. It's exactly what he just articulated as well.

(21:25):
Made it easy for him make those easy throws. Yeah,
and by the way, don't be picking on my guy,
Jalen Watson. He's coming off an injury. Come on, Hugh,
Come on, Hugh, did you do that on purpose? I'm
not picking on your McDuffie didn't have the best game either, fella.

Speaker 5 (21:38):
Come on, yeah, yeah, indeed, and he was in Yeah
and look, look, Hurts had a good game. I mean,
he was the first quarterback in NFL history to win
his first four playoff games of his career throwing for
under two hundred yards, he hasn't had to do it.
Now he pops over that at about two twenty plus
he ran for seventy seven.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:00):
Yeah, So he's deserving of the MVP, and and they
he's doing what they asked him to do, and because
he has enough good pieces around him. But uh uh,
you know, I just think it it underscores. You know,
look how bad Mahomes looked looked, how look how good
Hurts looked and on that day, it just you know,

(22:22):
it's just a vastly superior roster.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Well it's funny because you know what just on the
MVP talk, just for a second as I'm watching through there,
it's probably the one prop that I didn't have anyway, No,
I actually did, because I had I took a long
shot on young and or Jones rather Chris Jones and
in Saquon. But but I think you could have made
a hell of an argument for Josh Sweat is the MVP,
maybe a lot more so even than he did with
Malcolm Smith back when when Malcolm won it for the

(22:47):
Seahawks back in that on you know, in Super Bowl
forty eight because the destruction that sweat did to that
offensive line was remarkable. Hell Cooper dejene three tackles and
a pick six as well. Like anyway that that aside, Hugh,
one of the things if you go back and bring
to the Seahawks, but we can intertwine it because I
think what we saw yesterday was a great example. You
had one team that, even though they're all pro guard

(23:11):
went out and becked in for a while. He came back,
but you had one team with the largest offensive line
in football history in the Philadelphia Eagles, that was dominant
the line of scrimmage, giving Hurts that opportunity. And on
the other side, Patrick Mahomes had a left guard who's good,
but he's now playing left tackle and it just isn't
the same. And we saw that and then a backup

(23:33):
left guard as a result of that, to the point
where the trickle down effect affected it the entire offensive line.
I'll go back to Seattle, Gino Smith or or you know,
or or Roger Smith. It doesn't matter unless you improve
that as we saw yesterday in full display in the
Super Bowl. It's about what the guys are doing up front.
Because Patrick Mahomes had no chance in that game yesterday
and Jalen Hurts had all day to throw.

Speaker 5 (23:54):
Yeah, several things to comment there. First of all, it's
just say the Eagles as a general rule their game
plan and just is motivating me to be condensed with this.
So that basic idea is, hey, let's do bull rushes.
Let's not try and win around the outside against those
tackles or loop up on the inside. Let's plead team

(24:14):
defense and bull rush the tackles to squeeze the pocket.
And then on the inside those guys they were bull
rushing as well, and that amounts to like a two gap,
so that in the event Mahomes runs, particularly in man
de mand situations where they didn't have a robber, you
have those defensive tackles that are kind of like if
I'm rushing on you, Ian, you're the garden and I'm

(24:37):
a defensive tackle. If I say stay center, cut on you,
I can go to your left or your right, fall
off on you to tackle Mahomes. If I try and
go around your outside to your left, and then I
leave the opposite gap opened for Mahomes to get out
of the pocket and run. So they had that effort
and then and then when you look at that defensive

(24:58):
line here they got No Smith, a first rounder, Jalen Carter,
a first rounder from twenty Both those guys are twenty
three in twenty twenty two, Jordan Davis a first rounder,
a twenty one. These are young guys a third rounder,
but high draft picks UH spent on those defensive linemen.
And as you said, Josh Sweat also homegrown. This is

(25:21):
a guy I said this morning, there's an argument to
be made for him having been the MVP two and
a half sacks plus I thought it was man plus
the interception where Mahomes got bumped when he threw it, yep,
not the pick six, but the but the other one
got that was and what happened is you'll never see

(25:41):
a more glaring example of how arm length affects pass
rush and pass blocking. Ask Keith for about this. What
because Josh Sweat at thirty five a thirty four and
three quarters arm length, he was taking his inside leg
and just jamming it in the chest. And here Joe Tooney,
the best Guarden football who, because of poor play at

(26:03):
left tackle, was bounced to the outside. I think that's
a very poor decision by Andy Reid. I, at least
in the aftermath, how we saw this play out because
they weakened two positions. They put Touney out there, and
he you can see he's, like I described it as
like like a drowning man, like splashing the water. He's
he's just desperately trying to get his hands on Sweat's chest,

(26:27):
but Sweat has got It's like it's like playing with
your little brother, like you're just reaching out there and
oh yeah. And so he was able. They but again,
they didn't try and run the hoop and beat to
the outside. They didn't do any spin moves and get
to the inside. It was just go right through and
push it straight back in a bullrush, and they did

(26:50):
that on both ends to squeeze the pocket. I thought
Mahomes on a number of occasions was probably prematurely spooked
by all that he got out of the thrown in
position and then when he stepped up now because they
were playing team defense, not playing as individuals, those guys
were too gapping in the manner that I described, And

(27:10):
they're good enough athletes to fall off and quick enough
that as all this stuff squeezed together, they got Mahomes
off of his throwing spot. They got him out of
his throwing position, which was which be hips perpendicular to
line of scrimas. That got him out of the throwing position,
and then as he moved up to try and use
his legs, which he's done so often memory. He's a

(27:31):
good athlete, not a great athlete, more of an instinctive
runner like Marcus tias opel as opposed to a blazer.
He only ran a four to eight flat at the combine,
but he's got a great feel. And those defensive tackles
were then in a position to fall off their guys
and make the sacks on a guy who is in Mahomes,
who has has better feel in the pocket than he

(27:52):
does outright athleticism and twitchiness in the pocket. Does that
makes sense?

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Makes sense? And I'm gonna go back to the first
thing he said though because I mentioned keif I did
ask him about that, he said the same thing, like,
like you've now moved, You've basically decimated your left side
of your offensive line by making it by by deciding
that you don't have a backup left tackle, that your
backup left tackle is is your all pro guard. And
now you've just you've you decimated it and it's just

(28:19):
a I just I don't think people always understand how
different the positions are, body type, that the footwork and
what you just said, I mean, the length and what
Sweat was doing. He just and that had to be
in mahomes head. He just destroyed him all day. All right,
I gotta wrap it up. So let me just say this.
I think what we saw yesterday on display helped me.
Tell me if this summarizes, Okay, Hugh, what we saw

(28:40):
yesterday on display is once again reiterating hammering home. It's
great to have all the whistles and the bells and
and you know, high end skill players and the quarterback
that's an All Pro or an MVP candidate. It's great.
All those things are nice and fine. If you don't
have the five guys up front that are competent and
good enough, it will not matter. We saw that yesterday.

(29:02):
We saw that with the Seahawks this season.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
Well, and we've seen that twice with Mahomes. Yeah what yeah,
more glaring example, he's had two Super Bowls where he
looks totally outclassed because of the protection issues. And I've
got notes and notes in here, but I gotta add
this when I watched the coaches tape this morning. I
knew watching the telecasts last night with everybody and you know,

(29:25):
throwing down Margarsee's and all, that the offensive line wasn't
protecting for Mahomes. But it took this morning watching the
coaches tape to see how well the Eagles passed off.
They got some smart dudes, including the they played Nickel
every down except for a couple downs a dime, no base,

(29:45):
that Cooper diseine in the slot, the way they pass
off on zone coverage. They were gloving up those Kansas
City concepts in a manner that I honestly I have
not seen since the Baltimore Ravens in twenty twenty three
against the Seattle Seahats. That's the last time I studied
a tate that saw that kind of zone coverage. They
it says, if they had a month to prepare, and

(30:07):
and and and final thought, the Eagles had two first
year coordinators on each side of the ball, in Kellen
Moore and in Vic Fangio, and so they you know,
they said, hey, we're we're decent, but not not not
good enough. And uh, both of those those coordinators. They
took great talent from Howie Roseman and had him play

(30:29):
together and and they they absolutely spanked the vaunted uh
uh uh Spagnola and Andy Reid respectively on each side
of the ball for the Chiefs, in a manner that
I could not have foreseen.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
The pride of Prosser Kelling Moore will be named the
head coach of the New Orleans Saints here in the
next few hours or day or so as well, so
earning that next step along the process for him. But Hugh,
like I said all year, every time we talk and
every time we do hardcore football, I learned something. Uh
some of it I and retain more than a day
or two of it. But I know our listeners. I

(31:04):
know our listeners do and and I tell you it's
it's I love doing this every Monday with you. I've
loved doing it since since I got the midday slot
myself back in about two thousand and eight ish. So
we've been doing it since Saturday, and we'll do it
again next ye. We'll do it again next year. And
the good news is Ess has your number, so don't
think we won't be calling you in the meantime.

Speaker 5 (31:22):
All right lunch. March's right.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
We do, Thanks my man. I appreciate you. Take care, buddy.
There you go. That is a hum millin.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
Man.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I just I love doing that with him. I literally
said last night I needed watching that game. I need
a hum millin right now because I really want to
know what's going on because I did not get explained
once on the television and their joke of a I mean.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
How many times I wish there was a prop for
a prop bet for how many times Tom Brady touched
his watch.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
He was wearing like three times.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
We get a buddy, you got a nice gold watch.

Speaker 3 (32:00):
I mean I was like, that's like three times what
I'll earn in my life.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
I just want him to tell me what the hell
was going on. That's just that's all I wanted. Just
didn't know what's going on. But it didn't matter because
we waited till today and we had a few millon tell.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Us and we had Hugh good stuff.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Daily power Play will explain why the Crack can have
a two week break.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
Next Malkin shoots wanted on golda Plucks today.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Stop it's Crosby Stop.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
This is the Daily power Play Deep Slot one timer McKennon.
Now Ian fernez Son Sports Radio ninety three point three.

Speaker 6 (32:37):
Mister wait kJ r.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
FM, all right, daily power play, You're home for the
krack in ninety three point three kJ r FM. No
Cracking hockey for a couple of weeks. Why, well, there's
a two week breaks last this morning by somebody. What
the hell? Why the crack can taking two weeks off? Well,
normally they'd have about just under a week off for
the All Star break, but that's not the case this year.

(33:04):
There is no All Star Game for the National Hockey League. Instead,
there's the four Nations face off tournament Canada, Finland, Sweden
and the United States of America.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
I think it's really cool. I just like a tradition
that is not like any other.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Well, here's what's great about it. This is this is cool.
So the cracking one on Saturday, they beat Calgary. There's
still eleven points out of a playoff spot. And that's
We'll get into what they're going to do next week
when I returned back to action here. But safe to
say there's going to be some selling here very very
soon at the trade deadline. But in the med and
taking nothing away from the win that was great. Nice

(33:41):
to come back get a win. Matty Veniers continues to
look great lately and some things to be really happy
about with the team. But they got a ways to
go and they're going to have to make some moves.
Trade deadline, an offseason as well. We look ahead to
next year should be an interesting final month and a half.
In the meantime, they have two weeks off as the
entire league's first time in over a decade that we've
got best on best in terms of the best players

(34:01):
in the world playing for their countries in an international tournament.
The NHL players have not participated in the Olympics the
Winter Olympics the last two times. The last two Olympics
they have not participated. This is kind of a precursor,
kind of a warm up for the twenty twenty six
Olympics in Italy, in which.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
Oh my god, there we go.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
No most broadcasts, no, in which we will see the
NHL's best and the world's best playing hockey. This tournament
starts on Wednesday, Canada Sweden five o'clock Pacific time. Thursday,
US's first game against Finland and Koppol Coco that's at
eight o'clock or five o'clock Pacific should mention thirty two

(34:43):
Bar and Grill on Thursday is doing an official watch
party ooh for the USA Finland game, and they're going
to serve some Finnish food, including salmon soup, which I
guess is a favorite of the Finns.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Is that something along the lines of a seafood chowder.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
I'm gonna get to the bottom of that. I'll ask
you to break I think we should. We talked about
it on our Crack and Hockey Network broadcast Saturday, and
I'm thinking, like a seafood or a salmon chowder is awesome.
And being is that Mick mchughe and Kenny Moriarty you're
involved in the thirty two I'm sure it would be great,
except for I don't think it's a chowder. I think
it's more broth based.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Interesting because I'll find out.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I'll find out.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah, any fish soup ikna want in a chowder.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
For I think most people would, but the fins are
a little different breed.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
And however, don't not go till you tried it, which
I haven't, so.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
So I'll find out. I'll get I'll get the scoop
on the salmon soup. Anyway, that's on Thursday on the salmon.
That's what we'll do in the break thirty two bar
and grill Thursday, USA Finland at five o'clock. Canada swite
tomorrow to three. Basically, you play the other teams round robin.
You get three points for a win, two points for
overtime win, et cetera. They kind of different scoring, which
they may kind of look at. The NHL looks at

(35:50):
stuff like this, they may kind of tweak how they
do their point system at some point down the road.
Loser points and all those things. Is a shootout win
the same as a regulation win. Probably not so well,
we'll look at that part of it. They're not shoots.
They have ten minute overtime period, I guess. So anyway,
we'll look at all that. But it's gonna be a
good tournament. It's not having Russia there sucks, to be

(36:13):
honest with you.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
Oh yeah, we want redemption again, right.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Well we well, Canada won the last goal of NHL players,
but we want the best. Russian hockey is as good
as good as it gets. They're not doing the World Junior.
Then the politics involved above all our heads. Not my
time or place to get into it. But these four
teams involved. Next year, these four teams will be for
the favorites along with Chechia, you know, d Rice out

(36:38):
of place for Germany. That makes them a factor. The
rosters are loaded. The guys that are doing it and
playing in this tournament are jacked. I know everybody works
at the NHL that's not involved as happy because they
get two weeks off vacation. But it's gonna be a
really cool tournament. And here's why it makes sense. This
is I mean, the reality is that the number four

(37:01):
of the four major leagues NFL's number one, NBA is
probably two Major League Baseball and then hockey and term
the ratings, popularity, et cetera. Not playing in the last
two Olympics, the fact that the NHLPA and the NHL
couldn't get their act together was really bad business. But
they did get their act together. It's about a year

(37:21):
ago right now, they said, hey, we're going to play
in the Olympics. Moving ahead the next two Olympics at least,
so twenty twenty six, twenty thirty in Italy and France.
This tournament is a warm up act for that best
on best it's going to be awesome and it's going
to help the sport. Next year will be a jump
start for the sport like we haven't seen in a
long time. When they play in the actual Olympics, it's
going to be fantastic. Olympic hockey with the best on

(37:44):
best should be one of the Markee events in the
Olympic Games. And it will be this year, it will
be next year, and I'm glad they're doing this again.
So tomorrow, Yeah, Wednesday, Canada Sweden at five. That'll be great.
Coppolcaco the only crack and player involved. They play on
again Thursday at five o'clock against tu say Connor Hallibook
leading that the end goal for them. Quinn Hughes will
not play for Team USA. He's got an injury. Gott

(38:06):
aUI old Quinn, he's got a little aUI fired, replaced
by Drew Dowdy. So but it's gonna be fun, me
a ton of fun. So check it out. So two
weeks off of cracking hockey. Next up they travel down.
They're playing in Florida and Tampa and then Saint Louis
will three game trip. Their next game at home isn't
until March first.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Oh man, it's gonna be brands.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
We back make a long time. It's only twenty one days.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
It really does, because March really does seem so far away.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
But we are well into February.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
By the time the Crack can play a home game again,
I believe the Mariners will be playing Cactus League games.
Let me double check that, let me do let me,
let me, let me get a confirmation. Yes, no, you' yes, yes,
they will be playing Cactus League games by the time
we see. In fact, their first Cactus League game is
February twenty first.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah they're early.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Wow, Okay, there you go. So yeah, how about that
next time a Crack can play a home game, they
will they will be cracking the baseball or Cactus League
season be well underway.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
They'll be cracking baseball so too.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
Actually, you know what, the next time they play a game,
is that right? Yes, the next time. The next time
the Cracking play a game, which is February twenty second,
at Florida, the Mariners will be playing the same day
against the Dodgers at Tempe Dubos Stadium in the Cactus
League game. Well, that's fun, that's great, that's fun. That's
that's crazy, okay, Mike Sando in New Orleans.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Next, now from the Star Rentals Sports Tests your ninety
three point three kJ RFM Sports Headlines.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
The headlines is brought to you by a frostbrewed cors
Light Choose chill. Super Bowl blowout Chiefs forty twenty two.
J On Herts MVP Saekuan Quiet still got a Super
Bowl ring reason that they're there in the Super Bowl
in the first place, Saquon Barkley. We're expecting Kellen Moore,
the offense courting in for Philadelphia, be named the head
coach of the New Orleans Saints. I Tro Suzuki, newly

(39:59):
elected Hall of Famer. We'll throughout the ceremonial first pitch
on Mariner's opening day this season, we'll always have his
number fifty one jersey retired by the MS in August ceremony.
This summer kracking, as we mentioned, two weeks off, final
game before the break three two overtime wins Saturday against Calgary.
Four Nations Break sees Seattle back on the ice Saturday,
February twenty second. Kapolcaco, though playing for Team Finland and
the Four Nations, his first game is Thursday, team USA

(40:23):
and Finland five o'clock. Again, a viewing party over at
thirty two Bar and Grill waiting to hear back on
this suit. Husky basketball back at at five point thirty
on Wednesday against Ohio State on the road. You can
hear that game right here on ninety three point three KJRFM.
Our keyword this hour for the one thousand dollars cash
contest is credit. Go to ninety three three KJR dot com.
Enter the word credit your chance one one thousand dollars

(40:44):
international contest. Mike Sandal from the Athletic. He's actually as
we speak, whistling.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
Through the air getting his arms tired.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
He's whistling through the air the way backed from New Orleans.
So we caught up with him earlier for our weekly visit.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
It's time for our Monday visit with Mike Sando of
the Athletic, brought to you by Hunt Services for HVAC, plumbing,
sewer and electrical needs. Get on the horn and call
Hunts or visit Huntservices dot com.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Now with Mike Sando. Here's the infernetes all right. Here
we go our final visit of the year at least
the ones that we schedule on a regular basis with
our good friend Mike Sando from The Athletic Theathletic dot Com.
I'm assuming yeah, in fact, i'm reading it. The final
Pick six column from the twenty twenty four season is
up at the Athletic Theathletic dot Com right now, and

(41:40):
Mike joins us from New Orleans, where he's ready to leave.
We're taking this earlier in the morning because he's got
to travel and we want to check in with Mike
before he heads back home across the country. Hello, sir,
how are you.

Speaker 6 (41:51):
I'm doing well? And that are season in the books.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Ah, and you got to witness the the upclose and
personal dismantling of the case and the city chiefs, maybe
even a dismantling of a dynasty. We'll get to that
in a second, but I would be remiss if we
didn't talk about my clumbrin real quick. First, Hopefully some
of the emotion has tempered down. You talked about the
math involved, which makes sense, But let's just go revisit

(42:16):
Mike not getting in and really kind of how you
saw that happening.

Speaker 6 (42:20):
Yeah, so I was very surprised, but I think I'm
less surprised in retrospect after really diving into the math.
But I came out of the meeting knowing that he
had broad support, knowing that it went really well, and
I felt like, you know, kind've been doing this a

(42:40):
number of years. You can just tell when somebody has
crushed the threshold and they're going to get in. Okay,
Now that being said, what I didn't fully understand was
how the math would work, And as we got into
the final week, I decided I needed to like really

(43:03):
understand this, so I wrote a primer that published that
morning of it where it was, you know, a little
bit of numbers in Matthew.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
But.

Speaker 6 (43:12):
You know that showed that it was possible for there
to be way fewer people making it. So my takeaway
coming out of this is, Okay, they made some changes
to the process. We didn't We knew it would make
it harder, we didn't fully understand how it would impact
that Coach Contributor senior bucket. In retrospect, I feel like

(43:38):
the coach contributor categories faced more of an uphill battle
than I realized, going against three players. I also think
in this case, you see players always beat coaches almost
always okay, right in these things, the closer you are
to the field, the easier it is to get in
the Hall of Fame, Like an owner is harder to

(43:59):
get in then a coach, who's harder to get into
a player, right. And so one of the things they
did about ten years ago is they put the coaches
and the contributors. They gave him their own category. And
so if this had been then and Mike Holmgren was
the coach the coach candidate, he would have breezed right
in because he wouldn't have had to compete against others.

(44:22):
But because they've now this, they've put the coach the
contributor in with three senior players. And by the way,
one of those senior players was somebody Mike Holmgern himself
has advocated strongly for for the Hall of Fame in
Sterling Sharp. Sterling Sharp is not some guy who played
in that we're picturing in black and white and we
don't really know what he was like. Most of the

(44:42):
people in the committee know that Sterling Sharp was awesome, yea.
So he was almost like a modern era player in here.
And so the way that math came down, which you know,
we don't want to bore the listeners. But basically, there's
these five people in one bucket. Each select asked to
pick three and then only those that get eighty percent

(45:03):
make it in. And if no one gets eighty percent,
which is possible, just the one of the most votes
gets it. So if you have if starting Sharp got
forty nine out of forty nine votes, he only needed forty,
he's got nine extra votes that can't go to someone else.
Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah, So what this feels

(45:25):
like if you're Mike Holmgren, or if you're his family,
or if you're a Seahawk fan, you're feeling like Mike
Holmgren was rejected by the voters. Mike Holmgren was very
much embraced by the voters. He just because of the
way the votes are divided, didn't get eighty percent. A
little bit of a surprise to me. I thought Sharp

(45:48):
and Holmgren were far and away the best two in
that room, and I would have thought they both made it,
but obviously they didn't both make it, And so we're
going to have you know, I'm going to be in
communication with the Hall, is gonna you know, the Hall's
pretty good about this stuff and like trying to make
things better. This was a change this year, and we
didn't know what the consequences were going to be. But

(46:10):
we're going to talk about all this stuff and air
kind of concerns and thoughts because I do feel like
it kind of failed Mike Holngrin this year based on
where how everybody felt about him, Like, I think people
thought he was going to make it, including you know,
the committee.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Right, and I think the Athletic Yeah, I you know
once what I read that that piece you put out
and it made sense. And also I remember, you know,
a jes get of testice. I read it at that
night and after our show was over, and I remember
texting or saying, I don't like this, like I'm a
little nervous now called Mike.

Speaker 6 (46:47):
Yeah, yeah, you know. But I was actually going back
and forth with a couple of selectors as we got
deeper into Thursday, because we didn't know, you know, we
didn't write the results, and so we were trying to
you know, hey, what's your gap? You know, And one
of the guys that I, you know, really respect that
we talk about it, he goes, He goes, I think
it's only I think it's going to be Sharp or

(47:09):
Holme were and I don't know if we'll get both
because of the numbers. Right, it's interesting and I was.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
And the cruel irony and the cruel irony, as you mentioned,
is that it's a player that helped Mike win his
Super Bowl in Green Bay, and you know, was a
guy that he has advocated for and pushed forward to
get in the Hall of Fame. And you know, and
Sterling was interesting because I kind of looked at him
as the Eddie Murray of of football, like like, why
was he not in before? Okay, short career cut short

(47:36):
with an injury, get that part. But when he was playing,
he was, you know, the best of his position, right,
But he was also a guy that maybe wasn't the
easiest to deal with. But I don't think you guys
look at like the baseball writers, right like baseball writers
don't think it that way. You guys look at it differently.

Speaker 6 (47:50):
Maybe they did back then, I don't know. You know,
Sterling Sharp was though his career did end before they
won the Super Bowl, he wasn't part of.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
That super Bowl, that's right, Okay, okay, four, so.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
He basically had you know, five pretty elite seasons and
the dominant worse. I think for a while, you know,
the shorter career stuff guys didn't you guys didn't get in.
I think we've seen in more recent years Trell Davis
and some of these other guys Kenny easily right, who
played a relatively smaller number of games, get in for

(48:20):
their elite to play elite productions. So you know, I
sort of go in, you know, I sort of lose
my faith in the process about once a year, you know,
in this thing, and then I regroup and figure out
what happened, and I come back and I get it,
and I feel optimistic in it again. And I really

(48:42):
felt good this year about the progress we made in
evaluating the coaches. I think we really got it right.
You know, I think, you know, homegrown Shanahan Coughlin probably
in that type of an order was coming out of
that subcommittee. It just felt right. I think there's a
great appreciation for Mike. I think they were surprising. Now,

(49:02):
you know, we'll see how these you know, if the
process is tweaked again or what I felt like this
year's class was small, and you know, the whole overall
thing just wasn't as great as it could.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Have been, I thought, and Mike Sanda with the athletic
joining us, I was interested in the sense that, well
the two things. Let me let me let me wrap
up the coaches because I want to get to you know,
the one real quick and then the games. But just
so a there could be a change in the process
and b are we probably looking at two years now
best case scenario for Mike with Belichick being eligible next year.

Speaker 6 (49:37):
I would be I'd be a little surprised if they
made a change after one year. I think you need
to see how this thing plays out. But I know
that they're open to improving their processes. That's why they've
made the changes, you know they have. I like the spirit,
the spirit of the Hall of Fame is good, and
the leadership is pretty good. I always feel like they
want to do what's best in terms of Mike Holmgren specifically, Yes,

(50:02):
there's a chance that Bill Belichick will become eligible next year.
And look, I'm an advocate for Michael home. If Bill
Belichick comes up, we got to put him in, you know.
I mean, that's just he goes the front of the line.
That's just the way that it is. But I hope
that the subcommittees understand. And that's the senior subcommittee, that's
the contributor, that's the coach. What I hope you understand

(50:23):
is this. If a guy didn't make it this year
because of a numbers game, don't don't take that to
mean that we put the wrong candidate forward. It doesn't
mean that we have to come back with someone other
than the home ground, you know what I mean, that's
not what this is. This is, you know, a little
bit of a lottery feel to it when you when

(50:45):
those numbers are are like that in the limitations, and
I think that was not fully understood by me and
everybody until it happened. And I think it might be
I don't know this, but I wonder if it's surprised
to haul that that few. You know, I think that
it's the minimum possible number that made it. So we

(51:05):
have to evaluate kind of you know, okay, is that good?
You know? I do like the slimming of the modern
era class in general. I do like to have it
be super elite. I'm big on the elite production. I
don't like just letting in guys who were in the
hall are very good you know, so I like that
part of it. But I think this configuration of seniors

(51:25):
and coaches and the contributors, I don't know. I think
that's got to evolve over time because I really don't
think there's many contributors at all that are worth it worthy.
I think they put in a ton of senior players.
I think it's clear who the coaches are. You know.

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Yeah, so I would agree.

Speaker 6 (51:40):
It doesn't be me to rig the system to just
get those guys in, but we got to find a
way to make it make sense the most sense.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Well, the hall are very good. I think just guys
you mentioned, whether it be Belichick, Holmgrin, Shanahan, Coughlin, et cetera,
those guys are are more than very good. And you know,
they feel like their Hall of famers, like you said,
they're not players. A little further away, I was the
last one on this because I want to get to
the on the field stuff before you might catch a
plane back to Seattle. I do want to ask about

(52:10):
here's everyone's talking about Eli Manning not getting in. I
get it, New York quarterback, two super Bowls, all that stuff.
I understand that the one I thought was interesting, and
I wonder if it's any kind of red flag for
a first ballot induction for a guy that, in terms
of being an All Pro is the most decorated Seahawk
of all time. Bobby Wagner has more First Team All pros,
All Pros, not Pro Bowl. We don't care about that

(52:31):
All Pros than anybody, including Walter Jones and Seahawk franchise history.
I think he's number three among inside linebackers in the history,
behind Singletary and maybe ray Lewis or something, and Luke
Keickley didn't get in. I was really surprised by that.

Speaker 6 (52:44):
That was disappointing to me because to me, he's clearly
of that elite echelon, and that's what if we're talking
about smaller classes and focusing on the super elite guys.
To me, they need to go in there. There have
been some people in the committee who feel like, k uh,
there's no rush. We don't you know, we've got a

(53:04):
backlog of worthy guys. We need to get these guys
in who've been waiting a long time before they go
the senior category. I don't feel like we have the
luxury to do that. I feel like we really gotta
I always prioritize who I think are the absolute best.
You know, I don't think, well, this guy's been waiting
five years, so I'm going to vote for him and
not Keith Lee. I can't do that. I mean to me,

(53:27):
I see you feel like Keik Lee deserves. I feel
like Antonio Gates, you know, deserved last year when he
was up and took him an extra year. Those are
the true elite guys. We got to focus on that.
So we're going to talk about it. You know. I
wrote it a little bit about today in my column. Yep.
And I'm not saying I got all the answers. I'm
open minded. Sometimes maybe I'm thinking about it wrong, but
I'm thinking about it and trying to make it better.

(53:49):
And we'll keep doing that.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Mike sandel Is, all right, Uh, you watched the dismantling
up close and personal. Uh, you wrote about it, and
you pick six today and what the chiefs need, but
your general thoughts here we are about eighteen hours after
what we did dismantling last night.

Speaker 6 (54:07):
Yeah, I wish I had the guts to have predicted it,
you know, because I actually predicted the bills would be
the It doesn't it's felt like the Chiefs have had
this coming, but you just can't like they win anyway,
so you know you end up saying, well, that's just
going to happen again. So you know, this was the
Eagles just looked like such a better team, and they were,

(54:32):
but you still weren't convinced going in that it would
play out that way. So you know, we saw it.
It was convincing. I think it's very interesting for Kansas
City and what they try to do, how their teams
look at them. If you're Buffalo, you know, I wrote
a week ago, hey do they need to make some
kind of a big move to overtake the Chiefs? Well,
if you watch that game in your Buffalo, do you
feel like you got to make a huge move? Right?

Speaker 5 (54:52):
No, not at all.

Speaker 6 (54:53):
Do you feel like, well, you know, you know, so
that was a little bit revealing. I'm very interested in
what Kansas City does, what their approach is. I don't
think they're going to panic, but I think you know,
they made a bold They made bold moves. So last
time they lost the Super Bowl, they've readed their whole
offensive line, so you know, it looked like they could
have used an offensive line remake last night too.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I'm glad you brought the
offensive line because you know, I think when something happens
and you base it on a you know, one one game,
you know, sample size or what have you, and nobody
does that, but you know, I think the instant reaction
for fans and media is to do so, because that's
the most it's a recent recency bias.

Speaker 6 (55:30):
We see it well.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
To me, it came down to one thing, a really
good left guard playing left tackle, a backup left guard,
and and and those guys got dismantled. And then the
trickle down effect on an offensive line, as we all know,
is if you've got one week link, you probably have
five because you just can't overcome that, and you're going
against this elite defensive line. To me, it was really

(55:52):
as simple as there's they don't have the playmakers on
the outside outside of worthy, right. I think we'd all
agree upon that, and the running game is so so.
But I mean, I just Pat Mahomes was just under
siege all night, and I think it's just as simple
as at some point the left tackle position was going
to become problematic and it real ands ugly had last night.

Speaker 6 (56:10):
I totally agree. I think, you know, that was one
of the things I looked at even when they were
seven and oh this season it was like, hey, they've
got to get that thing fixed. I thought they did
a nice job, but Joe Toney, you know, moving them
over there. But obviously today last night was a reminder that, Okay,
that was a temporary solution. Let's not think they've got
to fix So, you know, in terms of if they
had lost the game close, you know, you might be

(56:32):
able to justify it just kind of well, we'll get
him next year. You know. I think when you lose
like this, you know, you realize that you've got some
issues that need to be addressed in a serious way.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
We'll wrap it up with this because nobody does this
better than our friend Mike Sander from the Athletic. So
historically put it into context, we were looking to see,
is this going to be a Steelers like run on
President three feet all those things in the modern era
with real with a salary cap and the modern day
free agency and all that. It obviously fell just short.
So where does Kansas City go from here in terms

(57:08):
of just its legacy and historically speaking, Well, I drew.

Speaker 6 (57:12):
The comparison to Tom Brady because he and his seventh
season had a chance in history seven season as a starter,
they could have gone undefeated. It would have set him apart,
and they didn't get it done as a twelve point favorite.
So here's Mahomes in his seventh season about to do
the three peat, which would have really set him apart.
So I think it's a big set back. You know,
Brady at that time then did his acl. They had

(57:33):
some leaner years, they didn't win the Super Bowl. You
can't now take for granted that just because it's Mahomes
and Andy Reid that you know, it'll all be fine
next year, you know, when they lost the Super Bowl before,
they missed after that, you know. So I think now
we're reminded that, hey, when Brady lost that Super Bowl

(57:54):
to go and defeated Bill Belichick was fifty five, they
had time. Homes has time, but Read it's going to
be sixty seven. You know, they have a window here
of a few years. Maybe we'll see how long Andie
Read goes. But I feel like there's a little bit
more urgency for them to you know, close that gap
on that scale with the Brady type stuff. Otherwise you know,

(58:17):
it's a it's great, but it's not differentiated from those
other dynasties and not challenging doing.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
But well, my great stuff. All year, we've appreciated the
Monday visits. I love the in depth and the different
look that you give with the pick six column. I
always mentioned it's my second coffee I drink on the
Monday morning, and it is. It's a tradition. I get up,
I read it.

Speaker 5 (58:37):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
You make me look at things I don't normally look
at on the course of a Sunday, and hopefully other
fans as well. It's as good a writing as you'll
find out there for the NFL. But I would expect
nothing different from you, my friends. So thank you so
much all year. Hopefully we can do this next year.
Do you get some time off or do you have
to start?

Speaker 6 (58:52):
Yeah, it's funny. I've actually got a big project I
need to shift into that. We'll get done here. But
the tempo changes for me. You know, getting weekends back
is uh is a nice tempo change now. You know,
as much as I enjoyed during the season, I'll get
some get some time on the weekend. So it's a
it's a different, better tempo. But I don't think i'll
take some time off right away because I've got another

(59:14):
project I've been working on that I'm kind of excited about.
I'm going to dive into when i get home.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Wow, that's what we call it. Tease.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
You can tease what it is? Can you tease it all?
What it is?

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Like?

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Trend just some trend stuff, Okay, and you know, I
mean it'll be fun.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
And a little quarterback tiers in the later in the summer, right.

Speaker 6 (59:34):
So yeah, start to start off to the draft once
we know where the quarterbacks go.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
So I love it, Mike, thank you so much. It's
been a pleasure this year.

Speaker 6 (59:42):
Hey, thank you. Love it.