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Chuck in the Morning 9/25 H1: Mariners Officially Done & No Cliche Keys to Victory · Chuck in the Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: As part of our relentless coverage of the NFL.
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Speaker 2: This is football!
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Speaker 1: This is football!
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Speaker 3: This is a Washington State Beef Commission's Football Friday.
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Speaker 1: This crowd is going nuts!
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Speaker 3: Football Fridays are brought to you by Washington's beef farmers
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Speaker 3: and ranchers. Beef, it's what's for dinner. It's Football Friday
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Speaker 3: with Chuck in the Morning on your home for the NFL.
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Speaker 1: Sports Radio 93.3, KJR FM. Well, great Friday morning to
0:35
Speaker 1: you all. Welcome into our radio program. It is Chuck
0:38
Speaker 1: in the Morning Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM. And we
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Speaker 1: have arrived at a football Friday brought to you by
0:45
Speaker 1: Washington's Beef Farmers and Ranchers. Beef, it's what's for dinner.
0:49
Speaker 1: So much to do on today's Friday program. And you have.
0:54
Speaker 1: at your fingertips just the three people to do it
0:58
Speaker 1: for you here travis moger is here used to make
1:01
Speaker 1: good picks doesn't anymore uh we've got uh anders hurst
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Speaker 1: is here he's all decked out i mean uh how
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Speaker 1: many different teams are you representing today with your wardrobe
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Speaker 1: just the two just the two what's your hat uh
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Speaker 1: hats the mariners al west okay okay remember that Yeah,
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Speaker 1: I remember those days. Remember the team used to be
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Speaker 1: good and stuff. And it's basically the same team. Probably
1:23
Speaker 1: better on paper. Yeah. Yeah. Remember that? It's like Travis Moger.
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Speaker 1: Remember how they used to be really good at what
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Speaker 1: they did?
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden they weren't.
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Speaker 4: Nope.
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Speaker 1: Remember that? Very true.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: But you got your Leonard Williams jersey. Good for you,
1:38
Speaker 1: by the way, going big cat jersey.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I thought I'm someone who doesn't like to go with the,
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Speaker 2: you know, the jersey that everyone has.
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Speaker 5: Right.
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Speaker 2: I wanted something a little bit different. I originally actually
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Speaker 2: wanted an Ernest Jones jersey, but I saw the 99.
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Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what? The 99 looks cool. The
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Speaker 2: 99 is cool. It's very cool. And he's a great player.
1:58
Speaker 2: He is a great dude.
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Speaker 1: And and after hard knocks, he's like, what's not to
2:04
Speaker 1: like about Leonard Williams, the Seahawk?
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Speaker 2: And he's Leonard Williams, the giant. yeah don't even get
2:10
Speaker 2: me started on williams the jet.
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Speaker 1: Oh but leonard williams the seahawk there is nothing not
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Speaker 1: to like yeah i mean like he's.
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Speaker 2: He's had a good start to the season too so
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Speaker 2: yeah this is this is my jersey for the day
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Speaker 2: i might actually do.
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Speaker 1: It sure you don't have cracking socks and sounders pants
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Speaker 1: on i guess.
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Speaker 2: I guess underneath the sweatshirt i have my argentina Okay.
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Speaker 2: Lionel Messi's about to play his last Argentina game this weekend.
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Speaker 1: Got Sonics panties on?
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Speaker 4: Maybe.
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Speaker 1: Okay. I'm actually not wearing underwear today. What? No, I'm kidding. What?
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Speaker 1: I can't even think. I mean, that is one of
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Speaker 1: the worst things ever. People who do that? No, well,
2:52
Speaker 1: people that do that, whatever.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: But when, I don't remember the last time it happened,
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Speaker 1: but there were times in my life where, like, The
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Speaker 1: underwear supply was not as great as it should have been. True.
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Speaker 1: And then the next thing you know, you're like, oh,
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Speaker 1: my gosh, I don't have any fresh underwear. It's the
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Speaker 1: worst feeling. And you had to make the decision. Do
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Speaker 1: I go find a pair that I wore out of
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Speaker 1: the laundry or do I go free? Commando. You go commando.
3:20
Speaker 1: So you would always choose commando. And, oh, it's such
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Speaker 1: an awful feeling. It's terrible, especially in jeans. I was
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Speaker 1: going to say, I'm wearing jeans. That's not the move.
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Speaker 1: You can't do that. But you have to do that
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Speaker 1: because you can't go get an old pair that you
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Speaker 1: wore earlier in the week.
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Speaker 2: I would resort to turning a pair inside out before
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Speaker 2: I did that.
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Speaker 1: Would you? Yeah. Okay. Just for the comfort factor. Yeah,
3:46
Speaker 1: but I wet my pants a lot. That's the problem.
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Speaker 5: Oh, okay.
3:49
Speaker 1: That's why they're always so damp. the damn pants finally
3:54
Speaker 1: makes sense.
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Speaker 6: Uh all right well great morning to you all uh
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Speaker 6: we welcome you into our four-hour radio program and man
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Speaker 6: every single segment is packed with.
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Speaker 1: Something something guest scheduled bit whatever the case may be
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Speaker 1: we got a lot of ground to cover here today
4:12
Speaker 1: this is really the only opportunity we have to just
4:15
Speaker 1: like you know They just let it rip on a
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Speaker 1: particular topic. And, yeah, it's a football Friday. We're going
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Speaker 1: to talk a lot of football, probably mostly football, on
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Speaker 1: the show today. But, nonetheless, when your baseball team does
4:32
Speaker 1: get eliminated, officially, from the playoff race, when they started
4:37
Speaker 1: the season with an 89.5 win over-under in Vegas, when
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Speaker 1: they started the season with Pakoda, conservative Pakoda ratings. That
4:47
Speaker 1: never picked the Mariners to do well. They picked them
4:49
Speaker 1: to win 93 games. There were numbers like 95 and
4:54
Speaker 1: 96 being thrown around here at this radio station. I always,
4:58
Speaker 1: by the way, everybody thinks that I'm the... mariners homer
5:02
Speaker 1: homer at the station for some reason which is laughable
5:05
Speaker 1: and you're the low number and i always have the
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Speaker 1: lowest number of the win totals on the entire station
5:11
Speaker 1: yeah uh and and so but i had a high
5:14
Speaker 1: one i had a high one this year i had
5:16
Speaker 1: mid 90s uh for them this year i i mean
5:18
Speaker 1: i think that um what i kept hammering home in
5:21
Speaker 1: the preseason is that finally we're going to get to
5:24
Speaker 1: enjoy a season where we're not even sweating it In
5:27
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, because we're going to run
5:29
Speaker 1: away with a down American League West. That was my
5:32
Speaker 1: analysis at the beginning of the year and that this
5:35
Speaker 1: would fight. We would finally because when is the I mean, 2001,
5:40
Speaker 1: the last time where you're just like, man.
5:43
Speaker 2: Baseball's easy. Yeah, and they have momentum carrying through the summer.
5:46
Speaker 2: Everyone knows you're going to the playoffs by August.
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Speaker 1: And mid-September, you're resting guys to set your rotation, and
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Speaker 1: we get to have those fun conversations. It's always been
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Speaker 1: white-knuckle practically to the end.
5:59
Speaker 5: It's true.
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Speaker 1: Every damn year, even the successful years are frustrating. I
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Speaker 1: thought that this was going to be one of those years, Anders, where—
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Speaker 1: We were going to have a good time with this.
6:09
Speaker 1: This was going to finally be for Mariners fans a
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Speaker 1: season where they could put their feet up on the
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Speaker 1: desk in mid-September and have fun conversations like who's making
6:20
Speaker 1: the playoff roster and who's not. And instead it turns
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Speaker 1: into arguably the most disappointing season in a 50-year franchise
6:31
Speaker 1: that hasn't exactly been loaded with success. This one. seems
6:37
Speaker 1: to have taken the cake with Seattle sports fans in
6:40
Speaker 1: terms of this got my goad. This was the most
6:45
Speaker 1: frustrating year in Mariner history. Yeah. To me. And part
6:50
Speaker 1: of your prediction was true. The American league West was down.
6:53
Speaker 1: It still is.
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Speaker 2: Uh, the American league as a whole is down by
6:56
Speaker 2: the way, we did this yesterday. Um, there are two
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Speaker 2: teams for everyone. They can fund the 54% comment deservedly.
7:03
Speaker 2: So it's fun. Um, Always will be a thing, for sure.
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Speaker 2: There are two teams in the American League who have
7:10
Speaker 2: above a 54% winning percentage this year. And that is
7:13
Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. Everyone
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Speaker 2: else has below 54%. You would be the third best
7:20
Speaker 2: team in the American League by record if you had
7:22
Speaker 2: just achieved that 54% goal. But, I don't know, to me,
7:26
Speaker 2: I struggle with, and I've been thinking about this for
7:29
Speaker 2: the last week or so, what is more disappointing me?
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Speaker 2: A team that vastly underachieves but still has, you know,
7:38
Speaker 2: talent and technically we're still in it until, what, three days,
7:42
Speaker 2: four days before the season is over.
7:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Or just a team where you don't even care about.
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Speaker 2: And by mid-July, mid-August, it's like, all right, let's training
7:51
Speaker 2: camp galore.
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Speaker 1: No talent on this team. No direction. I don't know.
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Speaker 2: To me, I still think that I would– prefer a
8:02
Speaker 2: team that people are talking about and that we have
8:04
Speaker 2: uh at least an outlook for the future um rather
8:08
Speaker 2: than a team that's just in the in the gutter
8:10
Speaker 2: the rockies sort of era.
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Speaker 1: Well i mean what hurts is that you built yourself
8:14
Speaker 1: up you went to the american league championship series you
8:17
Speaker 1: almost made it to the world series and everybody everybody
8:22
Speaker 1: with a microphone and decent baseball knowledge was projecting a
8:28
Speaker 1: better team that we were going to be able to
8:30
Speaker 1: watch this season. I mean, they didn't go over the
8:33
Speaker 1: top with their offseason additions, but that was a more
8:38
Speaker 1: productive offseason than they've had in past years. Certainly more
8:42
Speaker 1: productive than Donovan Solano. Which was the previous year, which
8:46
Speaker 1: we gave an F on Stove for that offseason. Yes,
8:49
Speaker 1: we did. And so the expectations were so high. That's
8:54
Speaker 1: why it's crushing. That's why it's even more crushing. If
8:59
Speaker 1: you are prepared, like I don't mind rebuilds. I think
9:04
Speaker 1: they're a necessary evil. Not everybody in this sport, because
9:07
Speaker 1: there's not a salary cap, has to do it. But
9:11
Speaker 1: most teams do. Yeah. I mean, even the Yankees did
9:14
Speaker 1: one not long ago, and yet they did it so
9:16
Speaker 1: well and they got such unexpected contributions that they ended up.
9:22
Speaker 1: It didn't even feel like one down year. I wasn't
9:25
Speaker 1: even that. I think they actually played pretty well that year.
9:29
Speaker 1: And so the money helps you avoid that. But most
9:31
Speaker 1: teams in Major League Baseball do have to do it.
9:34
Speaker 1: The Astros dynasty was built on a rebuild. And a
9:39
Speaker 1: much larger scale rebuild than the Mariners ever put us
9:42
Speaker 1: through in the DePoto era. So if you're going through
9:45
Speaker 1: a rebuild and you're sort of prepared for it, then
9:50
Speaker 1: it's not the crushing season. But this year was just
9:55
Speaker 1: spent expecting it was going to turn around at some point.
10:00
Speaker 1: Even the players admitted that. That, I mean, Cal talked
10:03
Speaker 1: about it yesterday. We'll replay some of his comments in
10:06
Speaker 1: Mariners Morning After today. Everybody just expected it was going
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Speaker 1: to turn around. That's how confident they were with the
10:13
Speaker 1: talent in the room. Even the players themselves, like, okay,
10:17
Speaker 1: it's going to turn around. It's going to turn around.
10:18
Speaker 1: It's going to turn around. And it just never turned around.
10:21
Speaker 1: So that's the crushing disappointment. But to answer your question
10:24
Speaker 1: that you posed. Yeah, I would much rather have the
10:28
Speaker 1: talented team. We're not in the midst of a rebuild.
10:31
Speaker 1: They're not going to use this season to say, well,
10:34
Speaker 1: that didn't work. Let's blow it all up. They're not
10:37
Speaker 1: going to do that. No matter who comes in, whether
10:40
Speaker 1: Jerry and Justin stays or they hire a new president,
10:44
Speaker 1: general manager and manager. I've said it all along. Buster
10:48
Speaker 1: Olney wrote it, if you don't believe me. that teams are–
10:53
Speaker 1: general managers and managers would love to get their hands
10:56
Speaker 1: on the talent that the Mariners have amassed. Because all
11:02
Speaker 1: people in the industry believe that this young foundation and
11:06
Speaker 1: this farm system that has produced major league players this
11:12
Speaker 1: year and this pitching staff is much better than it
11:15
Speaker 1: performed this season, the starting rotation anyway. And people would
11:20
Speaker 1: love to get their hands on this, add their own
11:22
Speaker 1: little personal touches, and then be showered with flowers for
11:30
Speaker 1: just adding a little bit that pushes them over the top.
11:33
Speaker 1: So I would much rather have the roster that the
11:38
Speaker 1: Mariners have to close out 2026 than some team that
11:43
Speaker 1: never had a hope or chance that year. that you
11:46
Speaker 1: felt never had a hope or a chance, but the
11:48
Speaker 1: fact that you did have, by industry standards, such a
11:52
Speaker 1: talented roster and never, ever, ever played good baseball.
11:57
Speaker 3: Never.
11:58
Speaker 1: Not in any stretch of the season. Even the eight-game
12:00
Speaker 1: winning streak that they had once upon a time. You
12:04
Speaker 1: never felt like, man, this team is flying high now.
12:07
Speaker 1: Broken out. Yeah. They never played good baseball. And so
12:11
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, I mean, you don't get more frustrating
12:15
Speaker 1: than that as a baseball fan of a team. Yeah,
12:19
Speaker 1: I think the.
12:19
Speaker 2: Lingering effects for this year for me is this is
12:22
Speaker 2: the first time in this window where I've at least
12:25
Speaker 2: had question marks whether this core is going to... I
12:28
Speaker 2: know they're good and they're talented, but at some point
12:32
Speaker 2: go over the top.
12:32
Speaker 1: Like.
12:34
Speaker 2: historic down year from Cal down years from Julio and
12:37
Speaker 2: Josh Naylor. You had a good year from Randy, but
12:39
Speaker 2: he's leaving. Um, the, the pitching staff as a whole
12:43
Speaker 2: was okay, but we expected better. Um, and you're having
12:50
Speaker 2: to rely on a lot of younger guys who we
12:52
Speaker 2: believe in to come in and kind of supplement this
12:55
Speaker 2: and continue to develop. And it's the first time I've
12:58
Speaker 2: had any sort of question in my mind that this
13:01
Speaker 2: core is like growing. good enough as is you know
13:05
Speaker 2: what i mean to to win a world series because
13:07
Speaker 2: i've always been very high on the mariners um core
13:11
Speaker 2: roster players in the last three or four years even
13:13
Speaker 2: when they didn't make the playoffs but this year because
13:16
Speaker 2: of how everything went down it's like okay there's just
13:21
Speaker 2: barely starting to be questions in my mind about whether
13:23
Speaker 2: these guys here are good enough to get it done
13:26
Speaker 2: it's all.
13:27
Speaker 1: The three guys yeah let's face it yeah it's all
13:30
Speaker 1: the it's the three guys It is the guys that
13:34
Speaker 1: they've committed major money to, which at the time, every
13:39
Speaker 1: single person listening wanted Cal Raleigh to be extended. We
13:44
Speaker 1: spent the entire year last year. Can you believe what
13:47
Speaker 1: a deal we got on Cal Raleigh? Julio Rodriguez. There
13:52
Speaker 1: was a celebration here at the radio station when Julio Rodriguez,
13:56
Speaker 1: the day that the news broke that Julio Rodriguez was
13:58
Speaker 1: going to be here long term.
14:00
Speaker 7: Right.
14:01
Speaker 1: You know, getting way ahead of his free agency. And
14:06
Speaker 1: Josh Naylor, when the season ended, well, that guy's got
14:09
Speaker 1: to be kept. If they don't keep him, I'm not
14:12
Speaker 1: renewing my season ticket. Everyone said that was job one
14:16
Speaker 1: in the offseason. Everyone. And they got that accomplished.
14:18
Speaker 5: Yes.
14:19
Speaker 1: So it really does come down to those three. If
14:22
Speaker 1: you believe that the seasons that those three guys had
14:27
Speaker 1: are them, next year and beyond... Then worry about the foundation.
14:33
Speaker 1: If you anticipate that you're going to get a bounce back,
14:38
Speaker 1: that Cal's, the relief of Cal having a good last
14:42
Speaker 1: month and a half will set the foundation for next season. Right.
14:48
Speaker 1: I think two of those three guys have to be
14:52
Speaker 1: the real deal. I agree. Maybe not all three of them.
14:56
Speaker 1: Maybe you can get by with a Josh Naylor who's
14:59
Speaker 1: hitting 275 with 10 home runs as long as he
15:03
Speaker 1: plays good defense next year and acts like he cares. Yeah.
15:07
Speaker 1: And I mean, all the time, not just here and there.
15:12
Speaker 1: But Julio can't be a 700 OPS guy. No, he can't.
15:17
Speaker 1: He's got to be. I mean, superstars, which is what
15:19
Speaker 1: we thought we were getting, are 900 OPS guys, 950
15:21
Speaker 1: OPS guys. He was 700 this year. And obviously the
15:27
Speaker 1: Cal story doesn't need to be explained any further. Everybody
15:31
Speaker 1: listening knows what the Cal story is this year. So
15:34
Speaker 1: I think that the pitching rotation is going to be
15:38
Speaker 1: really good next year, no matter what they do. They
15:41
Speaker 1: trade George. They trade Logan. We're still going to have
15:44
Speaker 1: five really good starters on the team next season. And
15:47
Speaker 1: I do believe Cole Young will take another step. He's
15:50
Speaker 1: got a lot more room for growth. He took a
15:52
Speaker 1: big step this year. I don't think anybody should worry
15:54
Speaker 1: about Cole Emerson. I think you're going to see out
15:55
Speaker 1: of Cole Emerson the same step that Cole Young took
15:57
Speaker 1: this season from the previous year. When he comes back healthy,
16:02
Speaker 1: we saw breakthrough seasons from Dom Canzone, who looks like
16:05
Speaker 1: a real piece. Probably shouldn't be hitting third. Right. But
16:08
Speaker 1: it looks like a real piece for this team. Middle
16:10
Speaker 1: of the order bat, yeah. Fifth, sixth. I'll take fifth, sixth.
16:14
Speaker 1: We're not going to have the WBC next year, so
16:21
Speaker 1: Andres Munoz won't get off to a bad start. Cal
16:25
Speaker 1: Raleigh won't get off to a bad start. I mean,
16:27
Speaker 1: so if you believe that the big three that we
16:33
Speaker 1: are financially committed to are what we saw this year, then...
16:38
Speaker 1: Be worried about the future. But if you think just
16:40
Speaker 1: two of them, if we get just two of them
16:43
Speaker 1: to bounce back and be the players we think they're
16:46
Speaker 1: going to be, and that's not 60 Homer Cowell.
16:48
Speaker 3: No.
16:48
Speaker 1: And that's not 950 OPS superstar Julio. A rookie year Julio.
16:53
Speaker 1: But it's... 35 Homer Cowell, 800 OPS Julio, and I
16:59
Speaker 1: can live with Josh Naylor if his power has left
17:01
Speaker 1: him as long as he shows up every day and cares.
17:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with that sentiment. I definitely think that
17:07
Speaker 2: if you get two of those three to be who
17:09
Speaker 2: they were, and maybe it's not Julio, maybe it's Josh Naylor.
17:12
Speaker 2: Maybe Josh Naylor goes back to being a 290, 25
17:15
Speaker 2: Homer guy, right? But it's funny because who had the
17:20
Speaker 2: worst season out of all of them, if you look
17:22
Speaker 2: at the numbers.
17:23
Speaker 1: It's Cal.
17:24
Speaker 2: It's probably the guy I'm least worried about because of
17:26
Speaker 2: what you said, because of the last month of the
17:29
Speaker 2: season that he's had, and he's looked like the Cal
17:31
Speaker 2: that we know and love. So that's kind of really
17:35
Speaker 2: eased my mind, at least with that aspect. But the
17:38
Speaker 2: other two, I definitely need to see something more next season.
17:41
Speaker 1: You know, and I heard Fane's promo coming in, and look,
17:45
Speaker 1: Dick doesn't like baseball. So that's the core at his anger.
17:50
Speaker 1: When Softie wants to talk baseball... Dick doesn't get to
17:54
Speaker 1: talk about football or basketball, okay? So that's the core
17:59
Speaker 1: of his anger. So when the team's bad, he just
18:01
Speaker 1: doesn't want to even talk about them. But I've heard
18:04
Speaker 1: this a lot about how the team just didn't care
18:07
Speaker 1: this year. I know how bad it looked. I watched
18:11
Speaker 1: every game. Who didn't care? Josh? That's probably the obvious one.
18:20
Speaker 1: That's the obvious one.
18:21
Speaker 5: Right.
18:22
Speaker 1: Randy had his moments, but Randy played harder than anyone.
18:25
Speaker 1: Best player on the team. Down the stretch. Yeah. Like,
18:28
Speaker 1: when they were fighting for their lives, when we still
18:30
Speaker 1: thought they had a chance, it was Randy or Rosarina
18:33
Speaker 1: that wasn't just the best player. He was the most
18:35
Speaker 1: energetic player. He was the one that played with the
18:37
Speaker 1: most passion. He was the one that showed the most care.
18:42
Speaker 4: Yeah.
18:42
Speaker 1: I mean, Julio, I know, is lackadaisical. That's an issue
18:45
Speaker 1: with him going forward. But I don't really, certainly none
18:50
Speaker 1: of the starting pitchers Certainly none of the relievers didn't care.
18:53
Speaker 1: Did you see Brian Wu yesterday? I mean, I don't
18:58
Speaker 1: get that argument. They cared. They just played bad baseball,
19:03
Speaker 1: and they couldn't understand why. They couldn't figure out how
19:07
Speaker 1: to turn it around. That's the end of the story.
19:12
Speaker 1: We had huge expectations for the 2026 Seattle Mariners, and
19:16
Speaker 1: for six months they played bad baseball. And we'll spend
19:21
Speaker 1: the offseason trying to figure out how to avoid it
19:23
Speaker 1: next year. All right, let's find out what's on tap.
19:26
Speaker 1: May I have your attention, please?
19:29
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19:42
Speaker 1: All right, Mariners eliminated, but several teams in Major League
19:47
Speaker 1: Baseball clinched playoff spots yesterday. including both teams out of Chicago,
19:52
Speaker 1: the Cubs and White Sox, on the same day got
19:55
Speaker 1: to celebrate clinching a playoff spot. It was like within
19:57
Speaker 1: five minutes of each other, too. It was pretty cool.
19:59
Speaker 1: Pretty cool deal. And both likable teams, and the White
20:03
Speaker 1: Sox story is fantastic.
20:04
Speaker 4: Yes.
20:05
Speaker 1: Padres Guardians also clinched yesterday as well. The Mariners weekend,
20:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it is going to be a weekend of goodbyes.
20:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it's being promoted as the Rick Riz farewell weekend.
20:16
Speaker 1: And yeah, that is a significant story this weekend. Everybody
20:21
Speaker 1: that knows Riz loves Riz and is going to miss Riz.
20:26
Speaker 1: Probably Dan Wilson's. I'm not even going to say probably.
20:29
Speaker 1: Dan Wilson's last game will be Sunday. J.P. Crawford's last game,
20:33
Speaker 1: I believe, will be Sunday. Randy Orozarena's last game as
20:36
Speaker 1: a Mariner will be Sunday. And there are several others
20:39
Speaker 1: that we either know or believe. are going to play
20:46
Speaker 1: their last games as Mariners that we've been rooting for
20:48
Speaker 1: for a couple of years, a few years here. So
20:51
Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot of goodbyes, a lot
20:53
Speaker 1: of last games this weekend, and maybe it won't even
20:56
Speaker 1: be on Sunday. Maybe JP's last game will be Saturday.
20:58
Speaker 1: Who knows how they're going to structure the lineup if
21:02
Speaker 1: they play young kids this weekend against the Angels with
21:05
Speaker 1: nothing at stake. Last night, the team, knowing they were eliminated,
21:09
Speaker 1: lost to the Angels by a final score of 6-4.
21:11
Speaker 1: We will recap it in Mariners Morning After, but We're
21:15
Speaker 1: not really going to dig into the game.
21:16
Speaker 4: Nope.
21:17
Speaker 1: Thursday night football, the Atlanta Falcons just crushed the Green
21:21
Speaker 1: Bay Packers 35-14. We got a lot to talk about
21:26
Speaker 1: on that front. We'll do that later in the show.
21:27
Speaker 1: We'll play some fact or fiction at 735, something Travis
21:30
Speaker 1: Moger used to be good at. Yeah, I know. Seahawks
21:33
Speaker 1: commanders will play at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Hugh Millen
21:35
Speaker 1: will join us for X's and O's at 9 o'clock
21:37
Speaker 1: today with his own special analysis of this matchup. Sam
21:42
Speaker 1: Darnold is expected to start football. Nicky Manwari is going
21:46
Speaker 1: to play a big role this weekend because I know
21:50
Speaker 1: how much the Seahawks defense has struggled so far this year. Yeah,
21:55
Speaker 1: we really need him to come back.
21:56
Speaker 5: Save us!
21:59
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, add him to this? Are you kidding me?
22:01
Speaker 1: Greg Bell will join us at 7.05 this morning. Lots
22:04
Speaker 1: of injuries across the National Football League to one of
22:07
Speaker 1: your first or second round picks in your fantasy football draft. Puka, Nakua,
22:11
Speaker 1: Zay Flowers, Nico Collins, Saquon Barkley, and others are all
22:16
Speaker 1: questionable for this weekend. So we sit here as fantasy
22:19
Speaker 1: football players and keep hitting refresh for updates so that
22:22
Speaker 1: we know who's available to us this weekend. We'll try
22:25
Speaker 1: to update you best we can in the Ocho today
22:27
Speaker 1: at 8 o'clock. College football Huskies-Gophers at 8 o'clock tomorrow
22:32
Speaker 1: night as their Big Ten season gets underway. And the
22:36
Speaker 1: week four of the college football season is loaded. Six
22:39
Speaker 1: different top 25 matchups. Kraken have started the preseason 3-0.
22:43
Speaker 1: They won in a shootout last night. And the Sounders
22:46
Speaker 1: will take on Minnesota United last. tomorrow at 5.30 at
22:51
Speaker 1: Lumen Field as they try to make two wins in
22:53
Speaker 1: a row. Imagine that. You went four months without a win,
22:57
Speaker 1: and now you have a chance to win two matches
23:00
Speaker 1: in four days. That's called a winning streak, Chuck. Yeah.
23:03
Speaker 1: Mariners morning after next on KJR. All right, it's time
23:08
Speaker 1: for Mariners Morning After. We only have this one and Monday,
23:13
Speaker 1: and then we are done with the Major League Baseball season.
23:17
Speaker 1: The Mariners were officially eliminated yesterday from the playoff picture.
23:21
Speaker 1: The gossamer thread that was connecting them to playoff hopes
23:26
Speaker 1: was clipped before they even took the field last night.
23:29
Speaker 1: The Rangers defeated the Mets 3-1. That was it. The
23:32
Speaker 1: tragic number had been reached. Mariners were eliminated, and so...
23:36
Speaker 1: Nothing really to play for last night. And yet, most
23:41
Speaker 1: of the regulars in the starting lineup to try to
23:44
Speaker 1: finish strong. And Julio muscled up at one point. Julio, man,
23:49
Speaker 1: that sounded hot off the bat. It is flying out
23:56
Speaker 1: of here. Whoa, way out to the batter's eye.
23:59
Speaker 3: That's a mammoth two-run homer, and Julio.
24:00
Speaker 1: Puts the Mariners in front.
24:06
Speaker 3: That's going down as one of the longest home runs
24:08
Speaker 3: of his career.
24:09
Speaker 1: He better not hit seven home runs the next three days.
24:12
Speaker 1: I was going to say. Rodriguez with the home run,
24:15
Speaker 1: your highlight from Mariners TV. Your sound bite comes from
24:18
Speaker 1: before the game because Cal Raleigh went out to the dugout.
24:23
Speaker 1: The Seattle media horde, which is like six people strong,
24:27
Speaker 1: gathered around him in the dugout. And Cal just kind
24:30
Speaker 1: of let it rip. He just kind of. unleashed everything
24:34
Speaker 1: that he's felt this year about this team and what
24:37
Speaker 1: went wrong uh and he initiated it he initiated the
24:41
Speaker 1: uh conversation he wanted people to hear his thoughts on
24:44
Speaker 1: the disappointing 2026 mariner season here's cow rally it's disappointing um.
24:51
Speaker 4: Yeah we definitely didn't.
24:52
Speaker 8: Didn't deserve to make the playoffs.
24:55
Speaker 5: Uh you know.
24:58
Speaker 8: Just frustrating here in general and A lot of areas
25:02
Speaker 8: to improve in. Yeah, just, you know, it really sucks because,
25:08
Speaker 8: you know, you failed. But, yeah, I've got to accept
25:11
Speaker 8: it and, you know, try to wreck the show.
25:15
Speaker 5: Do you start that reflection now where you're like, no,
25:19
Speaker 5: still at the end of the season, there's.
25:21
Speaker 1: More to do, more to play?
25:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you try to finish the season strong, right?
25:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
25:28
Speaker 5: Give it everything you got until the end, and then
25:29
Speaker 5: once off-season hits, that's when, you know, the work starts.
25:34
Speaker 5: And it's just.
25:35
Speaker 8: Going to be a lot of reflection, a lot of
25:38
Speaker 8: taking the time to, you know, look yourself in the
25:41
Speaker 8: mirror and take accountability.
25:45
Speaker 5: For what you've done. That's kind of how it starts.
25:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, I just think there's a lot of areas you
25:56
Speaker 7: can point to. I think, ultimately, I think it was
26:04
Speaker 7: a lack of focus, a lack of execution, a.
26:10
Speaker 5: Lack of, you know, say, energy at times.
26:20
Speaker 8: And then you can kind of pull that in with,
26:23
Speaker 8: you know, defense was not good all year.
26:27
Speaker 5: Controlling the running game was not good all year. Playing
26:30
Speaker 5: bad on the road all year.
26:38
Speaker 8: Runners to scoring position. Hitting with runners to scoring position
26:43
Speaker 8: was definitely not good.
26:46
Speaker 4: You know, I'd say those were kind of some key
26:51
Speaker 4: points that I kind.
26:52
Speaker 5: Of look at. Did that surprise you? So many things
26:55
Speaker 5: went well this year?
26:58
Speaker 4: Yeah.
26:58
Speaker 8: I mean, obviously, we were kind of riding high off
27:02
Speaker 8: of last year and somewhere along the way things just
27:06
Speaker 8: didn't click didn't come together and we were never able
27:10
Speaker 8: to right the ship and um that's the frustrating part
27:15
Speaker 8: i thought we would be able to get there and
27:18
Speaker 8: um we just never did we never got better we.
27:20
Speaker 4: Never um you know turned it around and that's uh
27:25
Speaker 4: that's frustrating and But it's a learning point that we're
27:30
Speaker 4: all going to have to take accountability for and understand.
27:33
Speaker 5: And if it happens, you know, once, that's one too
27:37
Speaker 5: many times. If it happens again, it becomes a habit.
27:40
Speaker 5: So it's just about changing that and, you know, make
27:44
Speaker 5: sure you turn it around.
27:47
Speaker 1: Cal Raleigh yesterday, that is a mouthful right there. And
27:50
Speaker 1: I want to go through some of the things that
27:52
Speaker 1: he said. What went wrong? And he started with lack
27:55
Speaker 1: of focus. Lack of execution, lack of energy at times.
28:02
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the ranking. I mean, that to me, Anders,
28:07
Speaker 1: was the problem with the team all season long. Where
28:09
Speaker 1: is the focus? Where is your focus? Why are you
28:11
Speaker 1: getting picked off in this situation? Why did you have
28:15
Speaker 1: that approach at the plate in that situation? I mean,
28:19
Speaker 1: that requires focus. I don't think it was they didn't care.
28:23
Speaker 1: I don't think it was they weren't trying. That's why
28:26
Speaker 1: he said lack of energy at times. It's not that
28:30
Speaker 1: it didn't factor in. But there's a difference between not
28:38
Speaker 1: playing hard and not focusing. And I think the team
28:43
Speaker 1: was guilty of that quite a bit. And I'll also
28:45
Speaker 1: put it all under the umbrella. If all that's going
28:49
Speaker 1: on for 162 games, six months, that is a total
28:54
Speaker 1: reflection on Dan Wilson. Lack of leadership, that's where I
28:57
Speaker 1: was going to go. And I think it's the quote from....
29:01
Speaker 2: Uh, remember the Titans attitude reflects leadership, right? And that's,
29:06
Speaker 2: I think it could not be more apparent in this situation. Um, some,
29:11
Speaker 2: one thing he said there that I've heard mentioned quite
29:14
Speaker 2: a bit about this year is we were riding the
29:15
Speaker 2: high off of last year.
29:17
Speaker 4: Yep.
29:18
Speaker 2: I i struggle to kind of relate to that because
29:22
Speaker 2: to me the end of last year was devastating you
29:25
Speaker 2: should have been hungrier exactly where where was the team
29:28
Speaker 2: on a mission just to get claw for those last
29:32
Speaker 2: eight outs you know what i mean the seahawks when
29:34
Speaker 2: they got devastated in the 2020 2012 um a game
29:36
Speaker 2: against atlanta and the playoffs, that team was on a
29:41
Speaker 2: mission the next year because they knew they were going
29:43
Speaker 2: to be really good and they went and won the Superbowl. So, um,
29:47
Speaker 2: that's where i kind of like and we've heard this
29:49
Speaker 2: not just from cal from other players from bryce a
29:52
Speaker 2: month ago exactly on softy show yeah saying that they
29:54
Speaker 2: were very focused on last year and that like they
29:58
Speaker 2: thought that everything they did was just going to kind
29:59
Speaker 2: of show up again so that and again i think
30:02
Speaker 2: that reflects leadership attitude reflects leadership so that's that's kind
30:05
Speaker 2: of what i took away from that but it's also
30:07
Speaker 2: you know good for cal for uh gonna get it
30:09
Speaker 2: out in front of it and That's at least shows
30:13
Speaker 2: some leadership on the player side of things because he
30:15
Speaker 2: took accountability himself.
30:17
Speaker 1: Well, and that's one thing that I've stressed here, especially
30:19
Speaker 1: in the last three months. Dan Wilson left leadership to
30:23
Speaker 1: his players last year. And it was easy to do
30:27
Speaker 1: when you're hitting 60 home runs. You carry a big stick.
30:31
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
30:31
Speaker 1: Not just to the plate, but in the clubhouse. He
30:35
Speaker 1: had his own stuff to worry. He had an injury
30:37
Speaker 1: to worry about. He had a 150 batting average for
30:40
Speaker 1: most of the season. Had some off-field stuff. How can
30:43
Speaker 1: you be a leader in that situation when you have
30:47
Speaker 1: to fix your own house? How does he go to
30:49
Speaker 1: Randy Rosarino on that play, that infamous play down the
30:52
Speaker 1: left field line, and say, hey, we need more hustle
30:55
Speaker 1: out of you? And Randy Rosarino's like, I'm an all-star, dude.
31:00
Speaker 1: You need to get your stuff together. It's really hard
31:03
Speaker 1: to do. But defense, not good. I'll put that on
31:08
Speaker 1: Jerry and Justin. You and I talked about it in
31:11
Speaker 1: stove during our spring training coverage, which is mostly a
31:16
Speaker 1: positive coverage because you're looking forward to the season. You're
31:19
Speaker 1: coming off a near-World Series trip, and you get caught
31:22
Speaker 1: up in all of it, and you talk to all
31:24
Speaker 1: the players, and you get excited about it. I had
31:27
Speaker 1: to take a few moments during the week. Hey, let's
31:29
Speaker 1: point out a few deficiencies about this team. And by
31:32
Speaker 1: the way, I was disagreed with. The defense is suspicious. Suspicious.
31:39
Speaker 2: It was my biggest worry going into this year. Yeah,
31:41
Speaker 2: you and I talked about it on the stove. Yeah,
31:43
Speaker 2: and even when we thought they were going to be
31:45
Speaker 2: really good this year, we were like, defense is an issue.
31:47
Speaker 1: It was suspicious in spring. I didn't expect it was
31:51
Speaker 1: going to be as bad as it was. I didn't either.
31:53
Speaker 1: And it was bad. Kyle called himself out for not
31:56
Speaker 1: controlling the running game. Probably his pitchers a little bit too.
31:59
Speaker 1: I think that had everything to do with his side.
32:01
Speaker 1: I mean, he had a career like 35% caught stealing rate.
32:06
Speaker 1: He was like at 12 this year. He didn't get
32:10
Speaker 1: that bad at throwing a baseball in one offseason. The
32:15
Speaker 1: road woes, who knows? And then he said hitting and
32:20
Speaker 1: then paused. With runners in scoring position, you could have
32:24
Speaker 1: stopped it hitting. You could have stopped it hitting. Just
32:28
Speaker 1: a bad year. Yeah.
32:29
Speaker 5: All right.
32:30
Speaker 1: Just to finish off Mariner's morning after, tonight, Miller versus Detmers,
32:34
Speaker 1: in case you care. No cliche keys to victory are
32:36
Speaker 1: next on Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM. All right, it's time
32:42
Speaker 1: for our No Cliche Keys to Victory. Both of these
32:45
Speaker 1: fellas are new to this, but it's nothing new to
32:48
Speaker 1: the show. We've been doing it for a number of years.
32:50
Speaker 1: It's 645 on a Friday before a Seahawks game. And
32:54
Speaker 1: so we get ready for the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
32:58
Speaker 1: I cannot hear all three phases. I cannot hear win
33:02
Speaker 1: in the trenches. I cannot hear win the turnover battle.
33:06
Speaker 1: I don't want a cliche for why the Seahawks will
33:09
Speaker 1: beat the Commanders, so give me something unique and special
33:12
Speaker 1: about the key to the Seahawks' victory.
33:15
Speaker 2: Yeah to me um there's not a lot of ways
33:18
Speaker 2: the commanders can win this game it's really hard for
33:21
Speaker 2: me in my mind to view like a scenario like
33:24
Speaker 2: with the Cardinals it's like oh Trey McBride goes off
33:26
Speaker 2: you know what I mean with the commanders it's like
33:28
Speaker 2: okay they have Marcus Mariota in they don't really have
33:31
Speaker 2: a ton of weapons offensively their defense is okay but
33:36
Speaker 2: you know I don't know to me you just you
33:39
Speaker 2: have to win the time of possession battle don't Let
33:42
Speaker 2: this become a game of really long drives to stop
33:47
Speaker 2: the scoring and keep it close late to give them
33:49
Speaker 2: any sort of chance. If you dominate, get three and
33:53
Speaker 2: outs on their side, have long drives with points on
33:56
Speaker 2: your side, and you win the time of possession battle,
34:00
Speaker 2: and just kind of put this one out of question
34:03
Speaker 2: before really the fourth quarter, then you should be in
34:06
Speaker 2: really good shape moving forward. The only scenario I can
34:10
Speaker 2: think of is like a Cardinals versus Chargers week one
34:13
Speaker 2: situation where they just held the ball for so long
34:16
Speaker 2: so that they kept the offense off the field. So
34:19
Speaker 2: time of possession for me is a big one. So
34:20
Speaker 2: I'm going to go time of possession. I don't even
34:22
Speaker 2: think it's possible.
34:23
Speaker 1: I don't think that the commanders are going to be
34:25
Speaker 1: able to control a ground game against this defense. I
34:29
Speaker 1: just don't see any way that that would work out
34:32
Speaker 1: for them. What do you got, Travis? What's your no
34:34
Speaker 1: cliche key to victory here? My key is Emmanuel Wilson.
34:39
Speaker 1: Give him the ball. Really? I think.
34:42
Speaker 9: He looked so good last game when they were, you know,
34:46
Speaker 9: burning the clock, putting the Cardinals away. I think the
34:51
Speaker 9: Seahawks get a couple early scores, and then they just
34:53
Speaker 9: give them the ball, turn the clock, win the game.
34:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's going to be a very similar
34:59
Speaker 1: game to the Cardinals. So from that standpoint, probably do
35:04
Speaker 1: agree with you that we could see the exact same
35:06
Speaker 1: fourth quarter from Emmanuel Wilson that we saw last week.
35:10
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be very similar. I think
35:11
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold's going to start. He's not exactly going to
35:14
Speaker 1: come out on fire. Maybe we haven't blown them away
35:18
Speaker 1: just yet. And then all of a sudden you go
35:20
Speaker 1: into the locker room, probably up 10 to 3 at
35:23
Speaker 1: that point, and then you come out in the second
35:26
Speaker 1: half and just blow their doors off. Where the commanders
35:29
Speaker 1: can't do anything and you can't be stopped. No matter
35:33
Speaker 1: what you want to do, it turns out to be successful.
35:36
Speaker 1: I think this is a blowout win. I don't think
35:38
Speaker 1: it's going to end up 59 to 6 or anything
35:40
Speaker 1: like that, but I think it's going to be like
35:42
Speaker 1: 28 to 6. I don't really see how Marcus Mariota
35:46
Speaker 1: and the commanders can pull points on the board against
35:49
Speaker 1: this defense. I really don't. So I'll just echo what
35:52
Speaker 1: Greg said. I don't want to say turnover battle, but
35:55
Speaker 1: as long as you don't just continuously give them the
35:58
Speaker 1: ball with a short field, then I don't see how
36:01
Speaker 1: the commanders can score more than single digits in this
36:06
Speaker 1: football game on Sunday. So just don't lose that. You
36:10
Speaker 1: can lose the turnover battle. You can lose it by two.
36:13
Speaker 1: Don't lose it by three turnovers or more, and you're
36:16
Speaker 1: going to win this football game. All right, headlines next.
36:19
Speaker 1: We'll hear from Greg Bell next. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.