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Chuck & Buck 1-8 Hour 3: 12th Man roundtable with Hugh Millen and Gregg Bell · Chuck in the Morning

0:17
Speaker 1: All right, Happy Thursday to you.
0:19
Speaker 2: Chuck Buck and Ashley with you here Sports Radio ninety
0:22
Speaker 2: three point three k j R FM on by Week
0:26
Speaker 2: for the Seahawks NFL playoffs getting started this weekend Saturday.
0:32
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the Saturday schedule. Seahawks aren't playing, then Sunday,
0:36
Speaker 2: not playing on Sunday.
0:38
Speaker 1: Monday night. It must be Monday night. No, no, no, there is.
0:40
Speaker 3: A playoff game on Monday. Yeah, but the Seahawks will
0:43
Speaker 3: not be in any of them. Oh no, they got
0:46
Speaker 3: to buy again. It's they got the number one seed
0:50
Speaker 3: best in the NFC.
0:51
Speaker 2: By luck, just like they it was luck. I'm pretty
0:54
Speaker 2: sure they had to earn it. Oh well, must have
0:56
Speaker 2: been pretty good this year. So welcome into the eight
0:59
Speaker 2: o'clock hour on a Thursday. It is time for our
1:03
Speaker 2: twelfth Man Roundtable. We do it all year long, and
1:06
Speaker 2: now we do a bye week edition with our Seahawks
1:09
Speaker 2: insider Greg Bell, who is with us here in studio
1:12
Speaker 2: from the News Tribune. Also our QB one Hugh Millan
1:17
Speaker 2: is with us as well.
1:18
Speaker 1: Happy bye week to you both. Hi guys, what's happening.
1:21
Speaker 1: Great to be with you, Great to have you with us.
1:24
Speaker 2: So yeah, here we go end of the bye How is.
1:30
Speaker 4: It, Greg?
1:30
Speaker 2: Did it all came together for the Seattle Seahawks that
1:33
Speaker 2: they're sitting here in such an advantageous position. What happened
1:37
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five that Mike McDonald, John Schneider and
1:42
Speaker 2: this roster were able to pull it off the best
1:45
Speaker 2: record in the NFC.
1:47
Speaker 5: Well, he spent the first two season last year remaking
1:50
Speaker 5: the defense, and in the simplest terms, the offense came
1:53
Speaker 5: up to a level approaching the defense, and the defense
1:56
Speaker 5: got better. They have a super Bowl caliber defense with
2:00
Speaker 5: an offense that is now holding its own at times.
2:03
Speaker 5: Now it's still carried by the defense, and we saw
2:06
Speaker 5: the San Francisco game. The offense squander opportunities to score
2:10
Speaker 5: more points and wasn't functioning completely on all cylinders. But
2:16
Speaker 5: the defense is in by and large now the one
2:20
Speaker 5: concern coming into the playoffs, and I know it's in
2:22
Speaker 5: the back of the defensive players minds. I talked to
2:24
Speaker 5: Julian Love yesterday and Leonard Williams.
2:28
Speaker 1: The Los Angeles Rams and how they played against the Rams.
2:32
Speaker 5: Thirty seven points and four hundred and eighty one yards
2:36
Speaker 5: three weeks ago. Now, having said that, the defense still
2:40
Speaker 5: won that game by holding the Rams to three to
2:42
Speaker 5: three and outs in the fourth quarter, So the pivotal
2:45
Speaker 5: part of that game, the defense absolutely had to do
2:48
Speaker 5: it when they did, and then it allowed rashiets she
2:51
Speaker 5: heats punt return in the offense to come back.
2:53
Speaker 1: But that's really the only blip you can say.
2:56
Speaker 5: The Tampa Bay game when they allowed thirty eight points
2:58
Speaker 5: and lost thirty eight thirty five, which is their only
3:01
Speaker 5: loss in the last twelve games. The defense was justsing
3:04
Speaker 5: four starters, including Julian Love Nicki mon Worey was just
3:09
Speaker 5: coming off of a high ankle sprain at the time.
3:11
Speaker 5: They weren't using emon worry to the extent that they
3:13
Speaker 5: are now. They the defense has evolved during the season
3:17
Speaker 5: to become.
3:18
Speaker 1: Now leading to boom sque they're the dark side now.
3:21
Speaker 1: They're not deleting boom. But that's the quality they're playing at.
3:26
Speaker 5: And I still contend that if Sam Darnold doesn't in
3:30
Speaker 5: the offense, doesn't turn the ball over, they can get
3:33
Speaker 5: to and win the Super Bowl. I don't, and their
3:36
Speaker 5: defense is so good they may be able to win
3:38
Speaker 5: even with him doing that.
3:39
Speaker 1: As we've seen in a couple of games recently, here's
3:42
Speaker 1: to look like a super Bowl team to you.
3:46
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think any team that really is
3:50
Speaker 6: strong at this point, I mean, unless you're talking about
3:52
Speaker 6: the eighty five Bears a super Bowl team, what does
3:56
Speaker 6: that mean is it more probable than not that they
3:58
Speaker 6: would win the super Bowl? I think most every year
4:02
Speaker 6: at this stage, when there's fourteen teams, you say, is
4:05
Speaker 6: there any one team that is more likely to win
4:08
Speaker 6: than the field? No, I think that's that's extremely rare,
4:12
Speaker 6: and I don't I don't think that's the case with Seattle.
4:15
Speaker 6: But I think they've earned the number one, the number
4:18
Speaker 6: one seed, and so yeah, absolutely, I've been you know,
4:23
Speaker 6: you've got the twelves. There's a little bit of a
4:26
Speaker 6: concern about the the forty eight when you when you
4:31
Speaker 6: consider the rather the Ram game and how the defense
4:34
Speaker 6: played at home. I have this odd concern that that
4:41
Speaker 6: they how can they communicate defensively at home? Because you know,
4:47
Speaker 6: the numbers just show it's it's pretty startling. They play
4:49
Speaker 6: better defense on the road. Now that's you know, largely
4:53
Speaker 6: because of the Tampa Bay and Ram prat falls, but
4:58
Speaker 6: those two games. But yeah, I would say that having
5:01
Speaker 6: the inside tracked to the Super Bowl.
5:05
Speaker 4: I'm buying. I'm a believer.
5:06
Speaker 2: Well, let me ask about the offense then you because
5:09
Speaker 2: the defense obviously looks very super Bowl worthy. Is the
5:13
Speaker 2: offense playing at that level? Are they going to be
5:15
Speaker 2: able to do their part as you should embark upon
5:18
Speaker 2: this tournament?
5:19
Speaker 6: Well, I first want to talk about the turnovers because
5:24
Speaker 6: this is going to have to be explained. If you
5:27
Speaker 6: take quarterback turnovers, that's interceptions and fumbles. Obviously, for this year,
5:35
Speaker 6: the correlation for quarterback turnovers is two fifty four. That
5:42
Speaker 6: is relatively low. It's approaching moderate two fifty four. But
5:48
Speaker 6: you notice I didn't say negative correlation. The correlation is
5:53
Speaker 6: the more turnovers that quarterbacks have, the more they win.
5:57
Speaker 4: Last year was negative one forty nine.
5:59
Speaker 6: The year before that was positive two nineteen, the year
6:02
Speaker 6: before that negative eighty two, very negative sixty four, negative thirty.
6:09
Speaker 6: In this decade, the aggregate is twenty five. That is
6:15
Speaker 6: next to nothing. That's basically, do you tie yours shoes
6:19
Speaker 6: with your left foot first or your right? Now the
6:24
Speaker 6: I'm not making those numbers up. That's a real thing.
6:27
Speaker 6: And meanwhile, the out of over three hundred stats that
6:30
Speaker 6: I have from the NFL stat pro quarterbacks. The stat
6:34
Speaker 6: that has the highest correlation of finished at six forty two,
6:40
Speaker 6: Sam darn which is is yards per dropback that that
6:46
Speaker 6: takes into account how aggressive you are down the field,
6:49
Speaker 6: it takes into account, the sacks, it takes into account scrambles.
6:54
Speaker 6: Yards per dropback has the highest correlation of over three
6:58
Speaker 6: hundred UH quarterback stats and Sam Donald is number one.
7:04
Speaker 4: And UH in that.
7:05
Speaker 6: Now, there's others you know that that that you know
7:08
Speaker 6: you'd say, well, he's in the top ten. Couple of
7:10
Speaker 6: he's in the outside the top ten. There's a hell
7:13
Speaker 6: of a lot I'm not too many for this show
7:16
Speaker 6: to listen where he's in the top three or four.
7:18
Speaker 6: But again, the correlation that has the number one, UH,
7:22
Speaker 6: the highest correlation of winning. Sam Donald is number one,
7:25
Speaker 6: and the correlation that it has twenty five in this
7:30
Speaker 6: decade and at positive two fifty four for this season.
7:34
Speaker 4: UH. The theory would be, hey, hey, as as.
7:38
Speaker 6: Interceptions go up wins go down, you'd think there'd be
7:42
Speaker 6: a negative correlation. No, and and and essentially for this
7:47
Speaker 6: decade it's it's next to nothing. So those facts have
7:50
Speaker 6: to be reconciled if we're gonna if we're gonna have
7:54
Speaker 6: a lot of handwringing. And oh, by the way, if
7:56
Speaker 6: you go, if you go by big, the turnover worthy plays, the.
8:05
Speaker 4: You have.
8:07
Speaker 6: Sam Donald had nineteen turnover worthy plays. He had twenty turnovers.
8:12
Speaker 6: That means he had one hundred and five percent. The
8:14
Speaker 6: average for this year is seventy one percent, meaning he
8:19
Speaker 6: is the second most unlucky next to Jared Goff. He
8:23
Speaker 6: is the second most unlucky guy in terms of how
8:26
Speaker 6: he actually played and how many turnovers he produced.
8:30
Speaker 1: And so.
8:33
Speaker 6: You know, I just look, I don't do you ask
8:35
Speaker 6: me would I rather have turnovers, more turnovers or less turnovers?
8:39
Speaker 4: Well, obviously I'd rather have less turnovers.
8:42
Speaker 6: But I'm not gonna sit here and say Sam Donald
8:45
Speaker 6: is some kind of you know, he needs to turn
8:47
Speaker 6: into some type of Trent.
8:48
Speaker 4: Dilfer you know where who.
8:51
Speaker 6: By the way, this year his his his past completion percent. Actually,
8:58
Speaker 6: let me first go Russell Wilson. Have we ever heard
9:00
Speaker 6: the term Russell Wilson as the best deep ball in football?
9:03
Speaker 6: Russell Wilson on passes over thirty yards from a line
9:06
Speaker 6: of scrimmage had a thirty six percent for his career.
9:12
Speaker 6: In the Super Bowl year, he had twenty nine percent. Uh,
9:16
Speaker 6: the average is twenty four percent. Second place this year
9:20
Speaker 6: was forty two percent. If you if you completed forty
9:24
Speaker 6: two percent of your passes on passes thirty yards or
9:27
Speaker 6: more from lion scrimmage, you would be second in the
9:29
Speaker 6: NFL this year. Sam Donald was fifty eight percent. Like, so,
9:35
Speaker 6: I don't know this this idea that that the turnovers
9:39
Speaker 6: are killing him and and Sam Donald, we should we
9:42
Speaker 6: should just have a Trent Bilford type of of game plan.
9:47
Speaker 4: It's nonsense in my opinion.
9:48
Speaker 1: Okay, so how did the Seahawks do this? How did
9:51
Speaker 1: they do the Seahawks say.
9:52
Speaker 5: Mike McDonald says, this is the cost of doing business,
9:55
Speaker 5: and he wants McDonald donald to throw the ball down
9:59
Speaker 5: the field. He wants to keep sending Smith and Jigbit
10:02
Speaker 5: down the field. So they are not going to go
10:04
Speaker 5: into a conservative show. Even with their defense playing this well,
10:08
Speaker 5: the cost of doing business will be some turnovers. Having
10:11
Speaker 5: said that, and the correlation numbers you just mentioned, you
10:14
Speaker 5: could make an argument. I don't know how strong it
10:17
Speaker 5: is or how factual it is, but you could make
10:19
Speaker 5: an argument that if Sam Donald doesn't fumble to lose
10:22
Speaker 5: the ball in the opener against San Francisco inside the
10:25
Speaker 5: ten yard line in the final minute, if he doesn't
10:28
Speaker 5: fumble the ball or throw this usually throw out an
10:30
Speaker 5: interception off the helmet of a Buccaneers defensive lineman in
10:33
Speaker 5: the last court three minutes of that game. And if
10:36
Speaker 5: he doesn't throw four interceptions in Inglewood and handed the
10:39
Speaker 5: Rams two short fields for touchdowns against the defense, it
10:42
Speaker 5: probably wasn't going to give up three touchdowns that day.
10:45
Speaker 1: This is the Aps are undefeated right now. Yeah.
10:48
Speaker 6: And if he didn't take chances, he's got four game
10:50
Speaker 6: winning drives. If he didn't take chances, if he wasn't
10:53
Speaker 6: throwing the ball up the field at Arizona on the
10:56
Speaker 6: last drive, both up the right side line and then
10:59
Speaker 6: two plays later up the left side sideline, then then
11:04
Speaker 6: maybe they don't win that game. If he doesn't, you know,
11:07
Speaker 6: in the Pittsburgh game, when Patrick Queen comes under, if
11:09
Speaker 6: he had just been of a conservative mind, oh well,
11:12
Speaker 6: I'll just take the sack. No, he did an lway
11:15
Speaker 6: spin somehow avoided. Patrick Queen makes a twenty seven yard
11:18
Speaker 6: like do we have to go through all?
11:19
Speaker 4: No?
11:20
Speaker 5: And that's my point is the Seahawks don't want him
11:22
Speaker 5: to be that way. They want him, They want him
11:24
Speaker 5: to keep pushing, they want him to keep doing it.
11:27
Speaker 5: The problem in the playoffs is you only get one shot,
11:30
Speaker 5: and if you do turn the ball over late in
11:31
Speaker 5: the game, in a close game against San Francisco or
11:35
Speaker 5: Los Angeles or whomever, so especially the Rams, now you've
11:38
Speaker 5: got a short field that a defense may not give
11:40
Speaker 5: up seven points, but they're gonna give up at least three.
11:43
Speaker 1: And if you give up three, you could lose.
11:45
Speaker 5: And and that's the problem in the playoffs, with the
11:47
Speaker 5: turnover situation.
11:49
Speaker 6: There's yeah, there's no doubt so and and yet what
11:54
Speaker 6: did we say? You just said Mike McDonald. Now, first
11:57
Speaker 6: of all, I always say, well, what's he saying publicly?
11:59
Speaker 6: What's he saying in private? But let's just assume that
12:01
Speaker 6: he's saying privately what he's saying publicly. You just said
12:04
Speaker 6: that that Mike McDonald is. He's not coming up and saying, oh,
12:08
Speaker 6: we got to eliminate these turnovers. He's saying, no, we
12:11
Speaker 6: want him to keep keep firing. Because I believe I'm
12:14
Speaker 6: not in his head, but uh, but I think that
12:17
Speaker 6: he is aware that all of the big plays are
12:22
Speaker 6: that that Sam donald is produced are are there's a
12:27
Speaker 6: cost of doing business. I thought there was a fascinating
12:30
Speaker 6: comment on the morning of the Rose Bowl on the
12:36
Speaker 6: College Football Countdown. When Nick Saban talks, he's like Ef Hutton.
12:41
Speaker 6: I listen to every single thing he says. And he
12:44
Speaker 6: was talking about how poor the Alabama running game was.
12:47
Speaker 6: This is pregame but priority Indiana, and he was talking
12:50
Speaker 6: about the offensive line, and Nick Saban said, I would
12:55
Speaker 6: rather if if given my choice, I would rather have
12:59
Speaker 6: the explosive pass plays then than a strong running game.
13:04
Speaker 6: If you'd ask me thirty seconds before he made that comment,
13:08
Speaker 6: I would have said Nick Saban would never say that.
13:10
Speaker 6: But he said, the most important thing that the offensive
13:13
Speaker 6: lineman line can do for Alabama is to provide Ty
13:17
Speaker 6: Simpson the opportunity to get explosive plays the net explosive plays. Look, Greg,
13:23
Speaker 6: I don't want to I think if we had a
13:25
Speaker 6: ven diagram, I don't think you and I are terribly
13:28
Speaker 6: far apart on this. I know that that that you've stressed, Hey,
13:32
Speaker 6: these these turnovers have got to uh diminish. I want
13:36
Speaker 6: the court the turn verus to diminish as well. But
13:40
Speaker 6: I think it's a delicate balance in how you coach him.
13:44
Speaker 6: It's a quarterback in year one in the system, and
13:47
Speaker 6: all of the production that that you just set a
13:50
Speaker 6: franchise record for points right now, like all the production,
13:55
Speaker 6: it's like a Jenga tower, Like if I want to
13:58
Speaker 6: pull out the the the the turnovers, be careful of
14:04
Speaker 6: unwanted consequences and and you know the turnovers you mentioned
14:07
Speaker 6: on the on the forty nine er game. I mean,
14:09
Speaker 6: uh abe, Lucas got trucked, fork lifted and he's looking
14:14
Speaker 6: to his left. He's gonna throw to the flat. That
14:16
Speaker 6: means his field of vision is way over in the
14:19
Speaker 6: left flat if we if we calculated the angle of
14:22
Speaker 6: his field a vision. When the right tackle gets fork
14:26
Speaker 6: lifted and the balls punched out and you're throwing to
14:29
Speaker 6: the left flat and and you're and you get the
14:33
Speaker 6: ball hit when you're when you've your hands have separated
14:36
Speaker 6: and you're in the process of throwing, I mean, what
14:40
Speaker 6: what tell me the quarterback coach that's going to blame
14:42
Speaker 6: that on the quarterback?
14:45
Speaker 1: You know, I mean he.
14:46
Speaker 6: Had you know, he's had balls that have hit off
14:51
Speaker 6: receiver or offensive line, the helmet, you know, tip, what
14:54
Speaker 6: what have you? I just got through telling you that
14:57
Speaker 6: the average quarterback in the NFL, if you take their
15:01
Speaker 6: turnover worthy plays, seventy one percent of them turn into turnovers.
15:07
Speaker 6: Sam Donald one hundred and five percent. So and by
15:11
Speaker 6: the way, Caleb Williams, who's been mentioned as as protecting
15:15
Speaker 6: the ball, he only has half fifty percent, exactly fifty
15:19
Speaker 6: percent of his turnover worthy plays actually turned into turnovers.
15:23
Speaker 6: He's been among the luckiest. And so at an event,
15:28
Speaker 6: I agree with you, Greg. Look, look, there's a very
15:32
Speaker 6: good chance we come back. It's more likely than not
15:34
Speaker 6: the Seahawks will lose a playoff game, not win the
15:36
Speaker 6: super Bowl. And there's a very good chance on Monday
15:40
Speaker 6: that you're able to come on at seven am and
15:42
Speaker 6: say that Sam donald turnover was the most pivotal play
15:46
Speaker 6: in the Seahawks loss.
15:48
Speaker 4: There.
15:48
Speaker 6: I understand that that is potentially on the horizon, but
15:52
Speaker 6: he in any event, those are some facts I think
15:55
Speaker 6: that can textualize.
15:55
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Their defense is playing so well.
15:57
Speaker 1: It may not matter against me.
16:00
Speaker 5: Those teams, it may not matter if they play like
16:02
Speaker 5: they did against San Francisco.
16:03
Speaker 1: And I mentioned this to you the other day, Chuck,
16:05
Speaker 1: that was a legion of boom Super Bowl forty eight
16:08
Speaker 1: worthy performance against San Francisco. Yes it was. It was, Yes,
16:13
Speaker 1: Roland coming into that game.
16:15
Speaker 5: So if they play like that, No, they haven't played
16:18
Speaker 5: that way against the Rams. But if they play like that,
16:21
Speaker 5: they'll beat anybody no matter how many turnovers Sam Darnald
16:23
Speaker 5: throws or fumbles the ball or But can they duplicate that?
16:28
Speaker 5: The consistency part now is the key to the season
16:31
Speaker 5: the rest of the season is can they consistently play
16:33
Speaker 5: that defense and then the turnovers them completely?
16:36
Speaker 2: Well, the NFL playoffs is like a frozen pond and
16:38
Speaker 2: you don't know where the ice is thin. I mean,
16:40
Speaker 2: but if you fall through, you're dead, so you know.
16:43
Speaker 2: And so with that sort of thin margin for error,
16:48
Speaker 2: you can't have that four turnover game because you're gonna
16:50
Speaker 2: lose in their very first game. So I would just say,
16:54
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree with Hugh. I want to I
16:57
Speaker 2: want to do the let it rip. Not that I
16:59
Speaker 2: disagree with, but I hear what Hughes saying and I
17:02
Speaker 2: like the idea of letting it rip. Well, I guess
17:04
Speaker 2: my question for you, Greg is are they going to
17:07
Speaker 2: change anything to adjust for that? With the this is
17:10
Speaker 2: a one and done tournament. This is not a two
17:13
Speaker 2: and Q. I mean even in summer softball you get
17:15
Speaker 2: two and Q. This is a one and done tournament
17:18
Speaker 2: right here. This is not best of three, best of five.
17:20
Speaker 2: So with that then of a margin, are they going
17:23
Speaker 2: to do anything as far as you can tell, to
17:25
Speaker 2: protect themselves against a minus two turnover day?
17:29
Speaker 1: No?
17:30
Speaker 5: Okay, And everyone I've talked to is said, exactly what
17:33
Speaker 5: the words you just use, let it rip, And that's
17:35
Speaker 5: what they want Sam Darnold to do.
17:37
Speaker 1: Let it rip. Now, it's a lot easier to let.
17:39
Speaker 5: It rip if your running game is functioning, and they've
17:43
Speaker 5: had their best three running games of the last of
17:45
Speaker 5: the season the last three weeks, good timing, correct And
17:48
Speaker 5: if they can do that without Charles Cross, and now
17:51
Speaker 5: Charles Cross is coming back, you would think that may
17:54
Speaker 5: be able to be able to sustain that one seventy one,
17:57
Speaker 5: one sixty three and one eighty the last three weeks
18:00
Speaker 5: on the ground. You can let it rip a lot
18:02
Speaker 5: if you've got a running for one hundred and eighty
18:03
Speaker 5: yards and a defense has.
18:05
Speaker 1: To honor that.
18:05
Speaker 5: So but to answer your question, no, is the opposite
18:09
Speaker 5: of that. And to Hughes point, they are going to
18:11
Speaker 5: keep pushing the ball down if they have the leading
18:13
Speaker 5: receiver in the league. They have now Rashid Shaheed back
18:16
Speaker 5: healthy to be able to give defenses a second thought.
18:19
Speaker 5: Aj Barner has a half dozen touchdowns on the season.
18:22
Speaker 5: They've got weapons that make defenses have to uh, oh,
18:25
Speaker 5: how are we going to defend these guys on top
18:27
Speaker 5: of a one hundred and eight yard rushing game. So
18:30
Speaker 5: to me that if the offense can sustain itself with
18:34
Speaker 5: a run game and push the ball down the field.
18:37
Speaker 1: They're going to the Super Bowl. Can they do it again?
18:40
Speaker 1: That's the thing.
18:41
Speaker 4: Yeah.
18:41
Speaker 6: And I think you know, in the heat of the moment,
18:45
Speaker 6: when the rubber meets the road, the guy that is
18:50
Speaker 6: going to determine, uh, you know, whether we're you know,
18:54
Speaker 6: hammered down pushing the ball down the field is going
18:56
Speaker 6: to be Sam Darnold because they can call it right
18:59
Speaker 6: now right and and if he if he is reluctant
19:04
Speaker 6: to to uh to take a shot. I mean, there
19:07
Speaker 6: there was a play against the forty nine ers, uh
19:11
Speaker 6: where where they they ran a weak side flood And
19:15
Speaker 6: what that is is you got a deep, intermediate and
19:17
Speaker 6: shallow and and we call it weak side because the
19:20
Speaker 6: intermediate is is a intermediate crossing route. So from Darnold's perspective,
19:25
Speaker 6: he has where she'd she he'd lined up. On his left,
19:28
Speaker 6: he's taking a high angle corner. Some people call it
19:31
Speaker 6: a flag, but he's the deep guy. Then from the
19:35
Speaker 6: right side, you've got uh Jackson Smith and jigbu from
19:39
Speaker 6: the slot on the right, he's going to go right
19:41
Speaker 6: to left into that little pocket. And then that you
19:44
Speaker 6: got various checkdown opportunities. Uh So you got deep, intermediate
19:48
Speaker 6: and short Jackson Smith and Jigbab being the intermediate, and
19:52
Speaker 6: you would you would mostly say, you know, in a
19:55
Speaker 6: uh in a quarterback meeting room, they would say, okay,
19:58
Speaker 6: check the check the high corn and then work Jackson
20:01
Speaker 6: Smith down down to the the checkdown. That that's the
20:06
Speaker 6: common thought when you say check the corner, Well, what
20:08
Speaker 6: does that mean? How open does he have to be
20:11
Speaker 6: for me to throw it? Well, on that particular one,
20:14
Speaker 6: to me, that light was pretty damn green. It ain't
20:16
Speaker 6: gonna get any greener in the NFL. That I mean,
20:20
Speaker 6: you got rashicha heat. He starts in the middlefield and
20:23
Speaker 6: then he's gonna turn almost like a like the letter
20:26
Speaker 6: K a capital kuh it turned backwards. You go in
20:31
Speaker 6: and then out. And and I would have said if
20:35
Speaker 6: I was quarterback coaching Sam Darnold, I said, hey, take
20:38
Speaker 6: a shot, dude, rip it.
20:39
Speaker 4: You don't let it go.
20:41
Speaker 6: And so that you know that's there, It's built into
20:43
Speaker 6: the play against Carolina the week before, Chuck, I said
20:48
Speaker 6: to you that on on Monday, I think they should
20:51
Speaker 6: have thrown more go routes, stutter goes. You know, those
20:55
Speaker 6: those those Carolina corners were squatting, you know, they were
20:59
Speaker 6: just they weren't honoring the idea that you might run
21:01
Speaker 6: by him right up the sideline. So I think there's
21:05
Speaker 6: you know, they're talking about still let it rip, But
21:07
Speaker 6: the tape shows that it's either the play callers not
21:11
Speaker 6: calling enough shot plays or the quarterback who, when he
21:16
Speaker 6: has shot calls available to him, he's kind of neutering
21:21
Speaker 6: himself in that regard.
21:22
Speaker 2: All right, Hugh Mellen, Greg Bell with us. It's our
21:24
Speaker 2: twelve man round Table Bye week edition. So many other
21:28
Speaker 2: things to discuss with our experts we'll do in Next
21:31
Speaker 2: Sports Radio ninety three point three kh arfm twelve Man
21:45
Speaker 2: Round Table, by Week edition. Seahawks getting ready for the playoffs,
21:49
Speaker 2: but we'll let the rest of these fools fight it
21:52
Speaker 2: out all week in long and we'll just wait till
21:54
Speaker 2: the dust settles for the matchup in round number two.
21:58
Speaker 2: And so we have a twelve man round table today
22:00
Speaker 2: discussing all things Seahawks with our Seahawks insider Greg Bell,
22:04
Speaker 2: also our QB one Hugh Millen right here on Chuck
22:07
Speaker 2: and Buck in the morning. So we spent a lot
22:09
Speaker 2: of time talking about the offense and whether or not
22:11
Speaker 2: there should be question marks about it heading into the playoffs.
22:14
Speaker 2: There don't seem to be many questions at all about
22:18
Speaker 2: this defense. And Greg, Mike McDonald and I think deservedly
22:21
Speaker 2: so gets the lion's share of credit here. But how
22:25
Speaker 2: much credit do we need to give to the players,
22:29
Speaker 2: especially those up front? I just keep hearing this the
22:32
Speaker 2: key to the Seahawks successes. They're getting pressure with four
22:35
Speaker 2: guys right up front and it's free and everybody else
22:39
Speaker 2: to do their job and beyond. So, how much credit
22:41
Speaker 2: to do those front four guys deserve for the seahawks
22:45
Speaker 2: defensive success.
22:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, they've been the key to the season because the
22:48
Speaker 5: Seahawks have been able to play. Mike McDonald didn't think
22:50
Speaker 5: he could play too high safety the entire season and
22:54
Speaker 5: still stop the run with just the four front four.
22:56
Speaker 1: You're not supposed to be have to do that in
22:58
Speaker 1: the NFL.
22:58
Speaker 5: You're supposed to have to bring a safety down into
23:00
Speaker 5: the box, a heavy box, and the Seahawks.
23:03
Speaker 1: Don't do that.
23:03
Speaker 5: They're one of the lightest box teams in the league.
23:06
Speaker 5: They are the most sub package team because of emon worry.
23:10
Speaker 5: They play base defense with five ninety plus percent of
23:13
Speaker 5: the time, so they're not bringing extra beef down to
23:16
Speaker 5: stop the run. It's being done with the front four.
23:19
Speaker 5: And specifically, the most unsung hero of this team is
23:23
Speaker 5: Byron Murphy. He has seven sacks and interior defensive tackle.
23:27
Speaker 5: He's tied for the league league than that. He should
23:29
Speaker 5: be in the Pro Bowl, no doubt, he should be
23:31
Speaker 5: All Pro the way he's played. But what he does
23:34
Speaker 5: against the run. When you're at the game, it's tough
23:37
Speaker 5: on television. We talked about this off air a few
23:39
Speaker 5: minutes ago. It's tough on television to see the impact
23:41
Speaker 5: of Byron Murphy. But when you're in the press box,
23:44
Speaker 5: I often on defense put my binoculars on two guys,
23:48
Speaker 5: Byron Murphy and Nick Emun worry Emon Worriy because it's
23:51
Speaker 5: just entertaining to watch him and not only how he plays,
23:53
Speaker 5: but where McDonald's putting him every play. Then I go
23:57
Speaker 5: to Byron Murphy. He's playing seven of the snaps this year.
24:01
Speaker 5: Remember we talked in the offseason how that had to
24:03
Speaker 5: come up. Last year it was forty nine, a number
24:05
Speaker 5: one pick, didn't even get fifty percent of the snaps
24:07
Speaker 5: last year. This year is they can't take him off
24:10
Speaker 5: the field. He played seventy plus snaps a couple weeks
24:13
Speaker 5: ago in Carolina was a career high. Why because he's
24:16
Speaker 5: stopping the run. In rushing the passer against the run,
24:20
Speaker 5: he does something that fundamentally coaches don't want defensive tackles
24:24
Speaker 5: to do. As soon as a double team comes on
24:27
Speaker 5: in because they don't have a heavy box, the front
24:30
Speaker 5: guys get double teamed a lot, right because they're on
24:32
Speaker 5: an extra guy to block. There's not a seven or
24:34
Speaker 5: eight man front, so five offensive linemen only have four
24:37
Speaker 5: guys to the block. So someone on every play is
24:39
Speaker 5: getting double teamed. And when teams run, it's usually Byron Murphy.
24:43
Speaker 5: Murphy goes to one knee. When double team's come it's
24:46
Speaker 5: almost a cardinal sin because most guys when they go
24:49
Speaker 5: to one knee just get put into the ground and
24:52
Speaker 5: he become a speed bump.
24:53
Speaker 1: They are useless.
24:54
Speaker 5: A running back just runs away from him or steps
24:56
Speaker 5: over him, and he's not a defender. Murphy goes to
24:59
Speaker 5: one knee. Then he bench presses or shoulder presses both
25:03
Speaker 5: linemen with sometimes one arm like he's doing a kettlebell
25:07
Speaker 5: left and splits him and then stands up and gets
25:11
Speaker 5: to his feet so quickly for a guy who's three
25:13
Speaker 5: hundred and twenty pounds three hundred ten pounds his leverage.
25:16
Speaker 5: He's a shorter guy, and his strength and speed for
25:19
Speaker 5: his size is supernatural. And when he goes to one
25:24
Speaker 5: and gets up so quickly he splits a double team.
25:26
Speaker 5: He's suddenly in.
25:26
Speaker 1: The hole that the two guys were supposed to move
25:28
Speaker 1: him out of.
25:29
Speaker 5: He often doesn't get the tackle because the running back
25:33
Speaker 5: has to bounce away from Murphy.
25:34
Speaker 1: You just beat a double team, and he.
25:36
Speaker 5: Runs into Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence their two Pro
25:39
Speaker 5: Bowl outside of him, But Byron Murphy's the reason why
25:43
Speaker 5: those two dudes are in the Pro Bowl. Byron Murphy
25:45
Speaker 5: has played as an All Pro, and you could make
25:47
Speaker 5: a case as one of the most valuable defensive players
25:50
Speaker 5: in the team because of his dual role in pass
25:52
Speaker 5: rushing and his uncanny.
25:55
Speaker 1: Ability to break double teams.
25:56
Speaker 5: If you can watch, if you're in lulanfield next week,
26:00
Speaker 5: or if you can watch television and get your eyes
26:02
Speaker 5: away from the ball, which is really hard to do,
26:04
Speaker 5: just watch ninety one how he splits double team.
26:06
Speaker 1: It's incredible.
26:07
Speaker 5: I've talked to see how coaches and see, Yeah, we
26:08
Speaker 5: don't usually teach that because guys aren't fast or strong
26:11
Speaker 5: enough to do that.
26:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, or if you're one of them fancy types that
26:14
Speaker 2: gets that all twenty two footage. I don't know.
26:16
Speaker 1: I don't know if I know any of those guys.
26:18
Speaker 2: But you seeing that, you you seeing Murphy's impact, is it?
26:22
Speaker 2: I don't think we've talked about him enough all season long?
26:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I have.
26:26
Speaker 6: I've talked about that technique on the one knee. Greg's
26:30
Speaker 6: exactly right. And you particularly watch the end zone copy
26:35
Speaker 6: when you're watching the tape. That's what the That's what
26:39
Speaker 6: the players on offensive and defensive line when they watch
26:42
Speaker 6: their tape. They don't watch the sideline copy like receivers
26:45
Speaker 6: and quarterbacks. They watch that end zone copy and yeah,
26:48
Speaker 6: it's clear, and I agree with everything Greg said. And
26:52
Speaker 6: also you go back, just to contextualize, they play the
26:55
Speaker 6: forty nine ers. Forty nine ers played nineteen plays with
27:00
Speaker 6: with twenty one personnel with yuschef on the field, and
27:05
Speaker 6: Seattle not one play did they match it with bass
27:08
Speaker 6: defense and they just played nickel doesn't matter. And of
27:14
Speaker 6: the ten runs that were called to forty nine or
27:18
Speaker 6: running backs, nine of them Seattle lined up with some
27:24
Speaker 6: type of too high shell. They played with just a
27:27
Speaker 6: seven man box with again nickel not based so relatively light.
27:32
Speaker 6: But essentially when you watch them, you know Nick even
27:36
Speaker 6: Worry is a Nickel Sam. He's just a Sam linebacker.
27:40
Speaker 6: And his name says safety. But he's only been in
27:46
Speaker 6: the post safety one time this year. There's been five
27:50
Speaker 6: other plays where he has been a split safety, a
27:55
Speaker 6: split field safety. That's six times where he's been a
27:59
Speaker 6: back layer defensive player. And to put that into context,
28:05
Speaker 6: Cam Chancellor in the twenty thirteen year, you think of
28:09
Speaker 6: Bam Bam being the enforcer down the line line of scrimmage.
28:13
Speaker 6: He had four hundred and thirteen snaps as the post
28:15
Speaker 6: safety forty one percent of the time. He was a
28:17
Speaker 6: deep player. So Emon Worry is vastly more in the
28:21
Speaker 6: box than Cam Chancellor was, and Cam Chancellors and Kenny
28:25
Speaker 6: Easler considered the two greatest you know, box safeties that
28:29
Speaker 6: the Seahawks have ever had. So yeah, all of that.
28:33
Speaker 6: So they they go with the forty nine ers. They
28:36
Speaker 6: they play nine out of ten runs they're in a
28:38
Speaker 6: too high shell. All of the runs they're in a
28:40
Speaker 6: nickel uh and and in none of the runs did
28:46
Speaker 6: a Seahawks secondary person have a tackle. The front Severn
28:50
Speaker 6: seven got the the tackles on all ten of those run.
28:53
Speaker 6: Now again, I'm uh, there's an asteris to that that
28:55
Speaker 6: I'm counting Nick and Eamon Worry as a linebacker there.
28:58
Speaker 6: So yeah, they're they build that wall in the way
29:01
Speaker 6: Greg was describing with the defensive tackles. They're flowing, they're
29:05
Speaker 6: playing fast, they're they're uh, you know, on the one
29:08
Speaker 6: gap scheme play where they're pulling the right guarden, right
29:12
Speaker 6: tackle from San Francisco Derek Hale, he just comes down
29:16
Speaker 6: and and he squeezed that play. So there's just so
29:19
Speaker 6: much to to enjoy about this defense. But it's it's
29:22
Speaker 6: all right there, and it starts with stopping the run.
29:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you brought up Emon Worri and how you
29:27
Speaker 2: can't help but notice him because he's so funny. That's
29:29
Speaker 2: like going to a Destiny's Child concert and not knowing
29:32
Speaker 2: noticing Beyonce. Hey, what do you mean you didn't notice
29:37
Speaker 2: or out on the football field.
29:38
Speaker 1: I mean I'm trying.
29:41
Speaker 5: I see him in Worried today and tell him you
29:43
Speaker 5: just he and Beyonce just like beyond your analogy game.
29:49
Speaker 1: Like that.
29:49
Speaker 2: I'm trying not get too carried away with him. But Greg,
29:53
Speaker 2: this guy is ridiculous.
29:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, we told you he was gonna They have special
29:57
Speaker 5: plans for him, and they're even special than McDonald planned for.
30:02
Speaker 5: They didn't think he was going to be playing nine
30:04
Speaker 5: tech and five tech defensive end, which he's done more
30:07
Speaker 5: than this deep safety that Hugh just mentioned seven snaps
30:09
Speaker 5: against Minnesota as a defensive end. I'm convinced he did
30:13
Speaker 5: that just so that Shanahan and McVeigh have to plan
30:16
Speaker 5: against it in the playoffs because he hasn't done it since.
30:19
Speaker 1: But now it's on film. The rest of the league
30:21
Speaker 1: has to honor that. What Emon Worry has done for
30:24
Speaker 1: the Seahawks. Is he has he is He's creates a
30:28
Speaker 1: conundrum for McVeigh and Shanahan because of the personnel groupings
30:32
Speaker 1: that he was talking about. They're trying to get you
30:35
Speaker 1: out of what the Seahawks stay in most teams when
30:38
Speaker 1: the when the Rams, for instance, go into thirteen personnel
30:42
Speaker 1: with their three tight ends, they're expecting you to match
30:45
Speaker 1: heavy with heavy.
30:46
Speaker 5: What do the Seahawks do They want the opposite. They
30:49
Speaker 5: went subpackage and the most they played nickel and dime
30:52
Speaker 5: more than any team against the Rams in both meetings
30:54
Speaker 5: this year. When the forty nine ers do their bunch
30:57
Speaker 5: formations and a lot of the motions and out of
31:00
Speaker 5: the backfields with Christian McCaffrey, well that's usually against zone
31:03
Speaker 5: because you're not going to vote one of your best
31:05
Speaker 5: defenders to a running back in pass coverage, and if
31:07
Speaker 5: you do, you're taking away from everybody else. Juwan Jennings
31:11
Speaker 5: and George Kittle. And what the Seahawks did against the
31:14
Speaker 5: forty nine ers is they sick Demon Warrey on McCaffrey.
31:18
Speaker 5: And not all the time, but a lot of the
31:20
Speaker 5: time they were in set was almost like a box
31:23
Speaker 5: and one in the NBA or college basketball. Everyone else
31:26
Speaker 5: was playing zone and Eymoreris was spying. Christian McCaffrey or
31:31
Speaker 5: Devin Witherspoon did it.
31:32
Speaker 1: There were a couple open field tackles.
31:34
Speaker 5: That Emon Worey made in that game against McCaffrey. The
31:36
Speaker 5: teams don't defenses don't make against McAffrey, which is why
31:39
Speaker 5: is it all pro With two thousand combined yards this year.
31:43
Speaker 5: One was on a flee flicker. I don't if you
31:44
Speaker 5: remember the play, you probably remembers it. It was a
31:47
Speaker 5: flea flicker. In the second half, they wanted to go
31:50
Speaker 5: deep and love and Witherspoon took that away and they
31:54
Speaker 5: ended up doing a checkdown to McCaffrey, and I remember
31:57
Speaker 5: when he McCaffrey caught it. I went, well, this is
31:59
Speaker 5: going to break becau mcarefering. The open field is trouble.
32:02
Speaker 5: Emon Worrey went from the hash mark left hashmark to
32:04
Speaker 5: the sideline and tackled him short of the line to gain.
32:07
Speaker 1: Out of nowhere.
32:10
Speaker 5: He's one of the only players in the league that
32:11
Speaker 5: can do that, or else McCaffrey wouldn't be a thousand
32:14
Speaker 5: yard receiver. Those kind of plays, that's how they win games.
32:19
Speaker 5: The forty nine Ers punted on that drive where that
32:22
Speaker 5: usually is a twenty yard game in the field goal range,
32:24
Speaker 5: in three points for San Francisco. If those three points there,
32:27
Speaker 5: it would have been a one score game in the
32:28
Speaker 5: fourth quarter, even with the interception by Drake Thomas.
32:31
Speaker 1: You get my point.
32:32
Speaker 5: Those kind of plays become a two keep it a
32:35
Speaker 5: two score game, and you control and you win. So
32:39
Speaker 5: Emon worry is the things he allows McDonald to do
32:44
Speaker 5: is vexing McVeigh and Shanahan, And that may come up
32:47
Speaker 5: next week if the playoffs go as favored. This weekend,
32:52
Speaker 5: the Seahawks are going to host either the Rams or
32:54
Speaker 5: forty nine Ers in the divisional round, and they're going
32:56
Speaker 5: to see the same thing from McDonald and McVeigh.
32:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, that fleet flicker they're trying to do post wheel
33:02
Speaker 6: Reek Wall and had the post Julian Love had the
33:05
Speaker 6: wheel route to Kittle and then the checkdown and and
33:07
Speaker 6: it was Emon Warrior got the first hit and then
33:10
Speaker 6: uh Ernest Jones cleaned him up for four yards as
33:12
Speaker 6: you described I mean there, it's it's fairly common to
33:16
Speaker 6: to roll and play zone to the to the strong
33:19
Speaker 6: side of the formation and then uh solo the backside,
33:23
Speaker 6: you know, and so when Emon Worry is in a
33:25
Speaker 6: position to do that, now man a man against McCaffrey. Okay,
33:29
Speaker 6: that impresses me. I think the times that that that
33:34
Speaker 6: we described, and I would call it outside linebacker in
33:37
Speaker 6: that Viking game because there was there, because they're they're
33:40
Speaker 6: playing an odd front inside of that. But the point
33:46
Speaker 6: being his versatility around the box.
33:49
Speaker 4: He can do everything.
33:50
Speaker 6: And and yet they they don't even though his name
33:56
Speaker 6: says an s By it that he's a safety, which
33:59
Speaker 6: might the s might for Superman, but he's he's as
34:03
Speaker 6: I described, you know, how much of a contrast here
34:06
Speaker 6: strong safety, you know, four and thirteen snaps for Chance
34:11
Speaker 6: or just six snaps for Emon Worry as a back
34:14
Speaker 6: end guy. He's he's really a lot. I just would
34:16
Speaker 6: look if I was, if I didn't know that he
34:18
Speaker 6: was drafted as a safety. He was two hundred and
34:20
Speaker 6: twenty pounds. So they've upgraded the size from from Witherspoon
34:24
Speaker 6: two hundred era it's one hundred and eighty one pounds
34:26
Speaker 6: at the combine to two twenty exactly have thirty nine
34:29
Speaker 6: pounds in Greece. I would just study nowadays that when
34:33
Speaker 6: I was playing it was linebackers were in the fifties, right,
34:35
Speaker 6: and DB's were in the thirty twenties, thirties or forties.
34:39
Speaker 6: Like you knew by the number what position they play.
34:42
Speaker 6: Now you got, you know, defensive ends playing seven. If
34:46
Speaker 6: I went out there and I said number three and
34:48
Speaker 6: you didn't tell me the safety, say, he's a linebacker,
34:51
Speaker 6: just a tall angler, beautiful, freaking explos explosive. Well in
34:58
Speaker 6: his athleticism, he's still not. I would not give him
35:01
Speaker 6: an a plus for violence, but i'd give him a
35:04
Speaker 6: plus for just about every other part of his game.
35:06
Speaker 2: Well, we have Mike McDonald on tomorrow at eight o'clock,
35:09
Speaker 2: so make sure if you're listening that you're tuning in
35:11
Speaker 2: tomorrow to hear from the head coach. And I expect
35:14
Speaker 2: that we're going to give him some praise, but I'm
35:16
Speaker 2: going to blame him for waiting so long to draft
35:18
Speaker 2: Emon Worry that was unnecessary risk. I realize he wanted
35:23
Speaker 2: him more than anybody else, but he didn't act like it.
35:27
Speaker 1: How dare him? You know?
35:29
Speaker 2: Put us through that. We almost missed out on that guy.
35:32
Speaker 2: All Right, we're going to close things out with our
35:34
Speaker 2: round table. Next we'll talk about the path to the
35:37
Speaker 2: Super Bowl. What we're rooting for this weekend. It's Greg,
35:41
Speaker 2: It's Hugh. It's the twelfth Man round Table on KJR.
35:51
Speaker 2: All Right, final segment of our twelfth Man round Table, Ashley, Bucky,
35:55
Speaker 2: Chuck with you and of course, leaning on our experts
35:58
Speaker 2: every Thursday from eight to nine, our QB one Hugh
36:01
Speaker 2: Millen and our Seahawks insider Greg Bell as we get
36:05
Speaker 2: ready for the playoff. Seahawks not playing this week, they
36:07
Speaker 2: are on by So, Bucky, you don't have a prediction
36:10
Speaker 2: to make here or a key to the game, but
36:13
Speaker 2: what kind of path do you think the Seahawks would
36:17
Speaker 2: like to inherit after this weekend? What kind of results
36:20
Speaker 2: are you expecting or wanting for the Seahawks expecting?
36:25
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be too terribly shocked if the Packers figure
36:28
Speaker 3: out a way to knock off the Bears, which then
36:31
Speaker 3: that would be who they would face. I think they
36:34
Speaker 3: would be fine with that. They'd meet each other in
36:37
Speaker 3: the preseason, but that doesn't really matter. Nobody plays anybody
36:41
Speaker 3: in the preseason. I mean I don't think that. I
36:44
Speaker 3: don't look at anybody and think it's easy. Maybe the
36:48
Speaker 3: Panthers if for some reason that was to happen, I
36:51
Speaker 3: think maybe that's the one. Other than that, I think
36:52
Speaker 3: you still got to show up. I do think the defense,
36:55
Speaker 3: if the defense keeps playing the way that they have
36:58
Speaker 3: been playing and it doesn't look fluky to me, I
37:00
Speaker 3: don't think there's anybody that they can't beat by any stretching,
37:03
Speaker 3: And with the exception of the Rams, I think they
37:05
Speaker 3: would probably be favored in all of them. So it's
37:08
Speaker 3: I get into that. You know, I'm not a big
37:10
Speaker 3: Seahawks fan per se, but just as as a fan,
37:13
Speaker 3: I don't I get like a kind of a queasy
37:16
Speaker 3: feeling in my stomach when I'm like, I hope they win.
37:19
Speaker 4: I hope I hope the Packers win.
37:21
Speaker 3: Is bring them on, because then that's one of those
37:23
Speaker 3: oh boy that come back to haunt you.
37:24
Speaker 4: You know what I mean.
37:25
Speaker 3: So it's kind of I don't know if I have
37:28
Speaker 3: a specific team that I would like to face. I
37:30
Speaker 3: think that the Seahawks bring on all comers, doesn't matter
37:34
Speaker 3: who it is bringing on. We're gonna go out there
37:36
Speaker 3: and we're gonna strap it on. And I think that
37:37
Speaker 3: right now, the way I said it earlier in the show,
37:40
Speaker 3: the straw. That stur is a drink is the defense.
37:42
Speaker 3: And that defense right now, if if the offense isn't
37:45
Speaker 3: clicking on all cylinders, they're clicking on enough cylinders because
37:49
Speaker 3: that defense is clicking on all cylinders.
37:51
Speaker 2: I think they would be favored against the Rams and
37:53
Speaker 2: a playoff game at home, even you know that in
37:55
Speaker 2: that situation, are they rooting for anything? I mean, I
37:59
Speaker 2: know they wouldn't tell you that, but do you get
38:00
Speaker 2: the sense that they prefer one root or another?
38:05
Speaker 5: Greg, I get the sense that they would not mind
38:08
Speaker 5: not playing the Rams next week and the Rams challenge
38:12
Speaker 5: them defensively, and McVeigh and what they did with four
38:15
Speaker 5: and eighty one yards and thirty seven points here a
38:17
Speaker 5: few weeks.
38:17
Speaker 1: Ago, if they could pick it.
38:21
Speaker 5: They would love for the Packers to beat the Bears,
38:23
Speaker 5: which I think is possible because I think may happen
38:25
Speaker 5: because Jordan Love's gonna play, and if he plays, I
38:29
Speaker 5: think they can win. They can outscore Caleb Williams and
38:32
Speaker 5: the Bears. They beat him in Lambeau. They lost at
38:35
Speaker 5: the end on a fluke on side kick recovery and
38:38
Speaker 5: rally by the Bears in Soldier Field a few weeks ago,
38:42
Speaker 5: I think the Packers do beat the Bears, and I
38:43
Speaker 5: think it's going to be Packers at.
38:44
Speaker 1: Seahawks if it does. What was interesting about that, Yeah, they.
38:48
Speaker 5: Played the preseason game when reserves just played, but when
38:50
Speaker 5: they had the joint practices, there was a lot.
38:53
Speaker 1: Of wolfing going on.
38:54
Speaker 5: Devin Witherspoon was chief wolf for number one, which wouldn't
38:57
Speaker 5: surprise anyone, but there was some that was a little
39:01
Speaker 5: more than just Okay.
39:02
Speaker 1: We're just going to go at it. Because it's a
39:03
Speaker 1: joint practice. That would be a contentious game.
39:06
Speaker 5: And I know the Seahawks, especially Witherspoon, but I know
39:09
Speaker 5: the guys on the defense particularly remember that joint practice
39:12
Speaker 5: for how woofy it was, and I think that would
39:14
Speaker 5: be a look they would really look forward to that matchup.
39:20
Speaker 5: A lot of people when we left San Francisco, a
39:23
Speaker 5: lot of people thought around the team thought the Niners
39:25
Speaker 5: were done, that they got cooked by the Seahawks, and
39:29
Speaker 5: that they were not going to recover from that.
39:31
Speaker 1: There.
39:32
Speaker 5: We'll see what the Eagles do in Philadelphia, but it
39:35
Speaker 5: wouldn't surprise me for the forty nine.
39:36
Speaker 1: Ers to lose.
39:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, And Aikman said that after the game. He said
39:39
Speaker 2: I can't imagine them having lost what they could have had.
39:44
Speaker 2: As beat up as they are, they got beat up
39:47
Speaker 2: again tonight, and then next week have to face another
39:50
Speaker 2: physical team on the road. I can't imagine them winning.
39:53
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think Philadelphia WANs for that reason too.
39:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, if Carolina beats the Rams, the Seahawks have a charmed.
40:01
Speaker 5: I cannot imagine that happening. Yet, having said that, six
40:05
Speaker 5: weeks ago it did happen. The Rams went in as well.
40:07
Speaker 1: I think that's an even bigger reason why it won't happen.
40:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, they guard against that, but yeah, the Ram for
40:12
Speaker 5: those who don't know, never forget the Rams went into
40:14
Speaker 5: Charlotte about six weeks ago, is the number one team
40:16
Speaker 5: in the NFL and got beat by the Panthers. So
40:20
Speaker 5: I'm predicting the Packers beat the Bears and we're gonna
40:23
Speaker 5: have Packers. Oh, by the way, for listeners to know
40:25
Speaker 5: almost certainly, that game is going to be on Saturday
40:27
Speaker 5: at Lumenfield January seventeenth. Every season since twenty nineteen, the
40:32
Speaker 5: nfls had put a one seed on a Saturday. Most
40:35
Speaker 5: years it's been at both number one seeds. Why they
40:37
Speaker 5: do that because they want the team to the one
40:39
Speaker 5: seed to get the advantage of the extra day on
40:42
Speaker 5: the back end toward the NFC title AFC title games.
40:45
Speaker 5: They reward the team with the extra day off if
40:48
Speaker 5: you're a number one seed, So expect that to be
40:50
Speaker 5: a Saturday game, no matter who they play.
40:51
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good?
40:52
Speaker 2: All right, Hugh, where do we want to go to
40:53
Speaker 2: close out the roundtable this week?
40:55
Speaker 6: Well, I'll tie you in a couple points. First of all,
40:58
Speaker 6: if you take my McDonald his defense. Coming off of
41:03
Speaker 6: a bye week a year ago, it was the forty
41:06
Speaker 6: nine Ers, they held the forty nine to seventeen points
41:10
Speaker 6: two hundred and eighty nine yards in a sea ok
41:12
Speaker 6: twenty to seventeen win. This year it was against the Commanders,
41:16
Speaker 6: one of their best performances of the year, just utterly dominant, right.
41:20
Speaker 6: And then even the forty nine Er game when you
41:23
Speaker 6: had ten ten days, you know, kind of a mini bye.
41:26
Speaker 6: Look how well they played.
41:27
Speaker 4: So I think.
41:28
Speaker 6: Seattle with this rest, we have evidence that they're very
41:32
Speaker 6: good with that extra week. The other point would be, look,
41:37
Speaker 6: let me let me state this clearly, as as a fan,
41:40
Speaker 6: I want the Seahawks to if they have to play
41:44
Speaker 6: the Rams I'd rather have it be in the NFC Championship.
41:46
Speaker 6: I'd rather prolong that. But I think that there there
41:53
Speaker 6: is the case that hey, you're gonna have to play
41:56
Speaker 6: them anyways, and if you if you play the them
42:00
Speaker 6: off of the bye week where the the the Rams
42:03
Speaker 6: have to go cross country, maybe you have an advantage
42:07
Speaker 6: that ties in with my first point. Now you could say, well,
42:11
Speaker 6: if you play them in the NFC Championship game, the
42:13
Speaker 6: Seahawks will have They're be playing just their second game,
42:17
Speaker 6: and maybe there's a cumulative effect that would be the
42:20
Speaker 6: Rams third game on the road. I understand that, but
42:23
Speaker 6: my point would be that if the Rams are that
42:28
Speaker 6: dumb and you're so concerned about them, you're gonna then
42:32
Speaker 6: that means you're gonna play them either one of those
42:34
Speaker 6: two games. You could argue just get you know, play
42:38
Speaker 6: play them, get them out of the way. And I
42:39
Speaker 6: will say this final the five hundred and eighty yards
42:43
Speaker 6: that that's absolutely a concern. Any Seahawk fan would be
42:47
Speaker 6: concerned about that. But look at how we've seen how
42:51
Speaker 6: Mike McDonald's makes adjustments that that when when they get
42:56
Speaker 6: boot Look at what they did the week after Tampa Bay.
42:59
Speaker 6: Look at what they did after the Buffalo game last year,
43:02
Speaker 6: look at what they did after the Uh after the
43:06
Speaker 6: Ram game this year. Every single time that Seattle has
43:09
Speaker 6: looked awful on defense, they have looked phenomenal the next week.
43:14
Speaker 6: This dude knows how to put out fires, and so
43:17
Speaker 6: I don't know how he'll do it, but I believe
43:21
Speaker 6: that he knows how he'll do it, and the brief data,
43:25
Speaker 6: the points that we have show that he does do it.
43:28
Speaker 6: So look, they still could lose the Rams, but I
43:30
Speaker 6: think there would be a marked difference on how they
43:33
Speaker 6: play them defense.
43:35
Speaker 4: Huh.
43:35
Speaker 2: Great stuff, gentlemen. Hey, but is it just me, Bucky
43:39
Speaker 2: or in the in our zoom video with Hugh to
43:41
Speaker 2: his hands. I mean, he's got big hands and how
43:44
Speaker 2: he could spin it, but his hands look like Shack's
43:47
Speaker 2: hands on the zoom.
43:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
43:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're like.
43:50
Speaker 2: Go off the screen like there's something something going on
43:56
Speaker 2: at the combine. Yeah, I'm just gonna bring that out.
44:00
Speaker 2: He was a combined star before they even knew if
44:02
Speaker 2: the hand.
44:02
Speaker 3: Size that a little mine when I put him back here, Yeah,
44:06
Speaker 3: which proves the adage is just a minute.
44:09
Speaker 1: But all right, gentlemen, awesome stuff.
44:17
Speaker 4: We'll do it again next week, Rock and Roll.
44:19
Speaker 1: Thank you.
44:20
Speaker 2: Hugh Mellen, Greg Bell are experts here on the twelve
44:23
Speaker 2: man round table.
44:25
Speaker 5: Uh.
44:25
Speaker 2: And of course we'll do football Friday with both gentlemen.
44:28
Speaker 2: Tomorrow Creig will be with us at seven o five.
44:30
Speaker 2: He will be with us at nine o'clock for x's
44:32
Speaker 2: and oh's. Coming up next though, Well, we'll get back
44:34
Speaker 2: to that huge college football conversation. And you may want
44:38
Speaker 2: to hear what Tom Brady has to say about the
44:40
Speaker 2: transfer portal. I think it's fascinating. Sports Radio ninety three
44:43
Speaker 2: point three kJ R f M