Latest / Chuck in the Morning / Chuck in the Morning 8-5 Hour 4: Gregg Bell joins Chuck for the final hour with his thoughts on Hard Knocks and the latest 12th Man News.

Transcript

Chuck in the Morning 8-5 Hour 4: Gregg Bell joins Chuck for the final hour with his thoughts on Hard Knocks and the latest 12th Man News. · Chuck in the Morning

0:19
Speaker 1: All right, nine o'clock here on this hump day, and yeah,
0:22
Speaker 1: we called it a little bit of audible here today.
0:25
Speaker 1: Normally it's Greg Bell joining us at seven oh five
0:29
Speaker 1: every single day. But I wanted a little more time
0:32
Speaker 1: with Greg here this morning. So I thought, you know,
0:35
Speaker 1: your show starts at ten o'clock. Could we do an
0:39
Speaker 1: hour with you if we started at nine o'clock? And
0:42
Speaker 1: Greg reluctantly agreed.
0:46
Speaker 2: I thought I was honored. My wife's never asked me
0:49
Speaker 2: for an hour in the morning.
0:52
Speaker 1: She's like, Oh, it's gonna be a different kind of hour, Greg,
0:54
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a different kind of hour here.
0:56
Speaker 2: Maybe not.
1:00
Speaker 1: Fun is your keyword to start the hour? Entered at
1:03
Speaker 1: ninety three to three KJR dot com for your shot
1:05
Speaker 1: at one thousand dollars in bonus bucks fun at ninety
1:09
Speaker 1: three to three KJR dot com. All right, so, Greg Bell,
1:13
Speaker 1: News Tribune been on the Seahawks beat for over twenty years.
1:17
Speaker 1: But for the first time you had to watch a
1:19
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks episode last night in your Seahawks writing career,
1:25
Speaker 1: And how did you enjoy it? Let's start there, just
1:29
Speaker 1: as just as somebody watching the show, did you have
1:32
Speaker 1: some enjoyments?
1:33
Speaker 2: In it like I did. I thought it was well structured,
1:36
Speaker 2: well edited. I liked how they began very it's how
1:41
Speaker 2: the Seahawks beat. The Seahawks were purposeful in getting their
1:44
Speaker 2: Super Bowl rings when they did at the very close
1:47
Speaker 2: of the offseason program in June, at the end of
1:49
Speaker 2: the mini camp, and that was a good way to
1:51
Speaker 2: start the series. Right, here's the rings of the Super
1:54
Speaker 2: Bowl champion. Because Hard Knocks has not featured a Super
1:57
Speaker 2: Bowl champion in twenty five years, since the very first one,
2:01
Speaker 2: the Baltimore Ravens in two thousand and one. The league
2:04
Speaker 2: recently relaxed the rule. It used to be that if
2:06
Speaker 2: you made the playoffs the previous season, you were exempt
2:08
Speaker 2: from having to go through this hard dah Sinanigan's but
2:13
Speaker 2: now twenty five years later, yeah, they that was the
2:16
Speaker 2: underscore that the start of the I thought that was
2:18
Speaker 2: well done to start that way. It showed Mike McDonald's personality,
2:22
Speaker 2: which we knew it would. It featured Devin Witherspoon, which
2:26
Speaker 2: we knew it would because he's so energetic on the
2:31
Speaker 2: field and magnetic to cameras and microphones. If they're allowed
2:34
Speaker 2: to be there, we can We'll get to the news
2:37
Speaker 2: of it. But I thought the Witherspoon contract and John
2:41
Speaker 2: Schneider's comments on it for beat writers who can I'm
2:44
Speaker 2: not allowed to talk to the GM or the player
2:46
Speaker 2: concerned in this case, that that was the news of
2:49
Speaker 2: it that I wrote for the News Tribune. But entertaining,
2:52
Speaker 2: I mean Derek Halls Truck. Yeah, Cooper Cup surprising Sam
2:57
Speaker 2: Donald that he attended Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey's wedding.
3:02
Speaker 2: I thought it was a very cool dead pan when
3:05
Speaker 2: I think.
3:05
Speaker 1: Cooper was more surprised that he had than Sam was surprised.
3:09
Speaker 2: Well, when Darnold said you were invited and went to
3:12
Speaker 2: the wedding and he just said, I did, very deadpan.
3:16
Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty good delivery, almost like acting.
3:20
Speaker 2: And Thomas Hammock, the running backs coach. Yeah, and we
3:25
Speaker 2: don't hear that out on the field. Oh and I'm
3:28
Speaker 2: standing five or ten feet from his running back drills
3:31
Speaker 2: and he's not nearly that way on the field. Maybe
3:34
Speaker 2: he knows there are fans and kids a few feet away.
3:38
Speaker 2: But yes, he's a former college Last year, last season,
3:40
Speaker 2: in fact, he was the Northern Illinois coach beat Notre
3:43
Speaker 2: Dame in South bend and now he's the running backs
3:46
Speaker 2: coach with very colorful language to describe how those guys
3:49
Speaker 2: need to Passbuck in particular and get into the f
3:51
Speaker 2: and hole. He was kind of the inn sung surprise
3:54
Speaker 2: star of last Night.
3:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I liked everything you said. I did want
3:57
Speaker 1: to before we start getting into some of the noteworthy
4:00
Speaker 1: items that you dove into. Ashley and I discussed this earlier,
4:04
Speaker 1: and it's something that you and I have discussed in
4:06
Speaker 1: the past. This facility, this region really was the star
4:09
Speaker 1: last Mike McDonald was certainly featured and in a very
4:14
Speaker 1: interesting way, and there were other guys that were standouts,
4:18
Speaker 1: from Hall to Witherspoon to others. Brady Russell, who I
4:22
Speaker 1: find funny that I asked him yesterday we had him
4:25
Speaker 1: on the show if he thinks he's going to be
4:27
Speaker 1: and he goes, I don't know if there's anything that
4:29
Speaker 1: they would use, and they used him the whole show.
4:32
Speaker 1: He got his handpeede on by a goat for goodness sake.
4:35
Speaker 1: But this entire region, you know, I mean they started
4:39
Speaker 1: it with the Eagles, they ended it with the Blue Angels.
4:43
Speaker 1: I mean they the people that are putting together the
4:46
Speaker 1: show are very impressed by this facility and the region
4:51
Speaker 1: at large.
4:52
Speaker 2: And vice versa. I was told that one of the
4:55
Speaker 2: production staff, one of the top producers of the show,
4:59
Speaker 2: has been told by the Seahawks and some of the
5:01
Speaker 2: longtime Seahawks people that you're part of the team now
5:04
Speaker 2: and we trust you and we like you being here.
5:07
Speaker 2: And the hard Knocks people said they've never been told
5:09
Speaker 2: that in twenty six years of doing this show. Wow,
5:11
Speaker 2: that a team has embraced them like the Seahawks have. Yeah,
5:14
Speaker 2: the space needle scenes, the lake, we take it for
5:18
Speaker 2: granted because we're out here every day.
5:20
Speaker 1: That was so cool seeing stuff that I see every
5:22
Speaker 1: day during training camp and you see it all year,
5:26
Speaker 1: and it's unique.
5:27
Speaker 2: It's not like this everywhere. I remember when TJ. Housmanzada
5:31
Speaker 2: signed and he said one of the reasons he signed
5:32
Speaker 2: is was Paul Allen fetched a floatplane for him that
5:35
Speaker 2: landed right at the dock here about thirty yards to
5:38
Speaker 2: our right on Lake Washington. This is unusual, it's unique.
5:43
Speaker 2: There is an off actor of just a Summer in
5:46
Speaker 2: Seattle in Lake Washington, and the I thought with you,
5:50
Speaker 2: I thought it was really smart to end it with
5:51
Speaker 2: the blue Angels because how many times my son was
5:53
Speaker 2: watching with me? Twenty three year old son said, how
5:56
Speaker 2: many times has Hard Knocks been able to film a
5:58
Speaker 2: Blue Angels crew? Right, they don't because they don't come
6:01
Speaker 2: to see the NFL training camps. Yeah, that was showcasing
6:05
Speaker 2: the Pacific Northwest summer for sure.
6:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love that part of it. All right,
6:09
Speaker 1: let's get into some of those items then. So what
6:11
Speaker 1: did you learn during the show since the show about
6:16
Speaker 1: this Witherspoon contract situation.
6:19
Speaker 2: Well, one is it's no doubt that he is thinking
6:22
Speaker 2: about it and that he wants to be the highest
6:24
Speaker 2: paid player. And his comments as he's driving, saying, we
6:28
Speaker 2: have the hardest job beside quarterback. We'd have to card
6:31
Speaker 2: these guys, these receivers and were't allowed to not touch
6:33
Speaker 2: them within five yards or after five yards. And if
6:36
Speaker 2: you got one as versatile as good as I am,
6:38
Speaker 2: you pay him. And the implication is clear, you don't
6:41
Speaker 2: just pay him the middle of the roads. Now, you
6:44
Speaker 2: pay him top dollar, which now is and.
6:46
Speaker 1: They know that though they're prepared to do that.
6:48
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah they are. Yeah, that was the first time
6:52
Speaker 2: Witherspoon's commented they won't let us talk to him this
6:54
Speaker 2: time of year for fans who don't know. In the
6:56
Speaker 2: regular season, we can go into the locker room and
6:58
Speaker 2: we can wait for Witherspoon come out of is the
7:01
Speaker 2: pigeonhole hiding places that they have in the locker room,
7:04
Speaker 2: the meeting in the training room, the food room, the
7:07
Speaker 2: yogurt room, the video game room, all these places. We
7:10
Speaker 2: can't go to shower room, the hot tub, and we
7:13
Speaker 2: can in regular season and be in the locker room
7:15
Speaker 2: waiting for him, but not so in the preseason. There's
7:17
Speaker 2: ninety players, so they don't allow the media in there,
7:19
Speaker 2: but they do allow the hard Knocks cameras in there.
7:22
Speaker 2: So we have to take whoever they give us. Preseason wise,
7:25
Speaker 2: we can request, but they control who we get to
7:29
Speaker 2: talk to. And they have not allowed us to interview
7:31
Speaker 2: Devin Witherspoon for obvious reasons. They don't want to contract
7:34
Speaker 2: being the story of training camp, which it is. The
7:37
Speaker 2: other thing that was very interesting to that whole thing
7:39
Speaker 2: is I thought the news of it actually was John
7:42
Speaker 2: Schneider a little behind the sea, pulling the curtain, behind
7:44
Speaker 2: the scenes of how the sausage is made in the
7:47
Speaker 2: NFL and the world of perception in national media when
7:50
Speaker 2: this scene of McDonald meeting in John Schneider's office and
7:55
Speaker 2: Schneider voicing his concern that Devin Witherspoon would be upset
7:59
Speaker 2: with the Rappaport report that the Seahawks have offered Witherspoon
8:04
Speaker 2: the largest salary ever for a cornerback, which would be
8:07
Speaker 2: north of thirty one now thirty one point one million,
8:09
Speaker 2: with Denzel Ward's deal with Cleveland last week, and that
8:13
Speaker 2: Witherspoon refused it, did not accept it, and Snyder said
8:18
Speaker 2: that he told rest assured to Mike McDonald that he
8:23
Speaker 2: called Ian Rapaport of the NFL network and said, you
8:26
Speaker 2: make sure Witherspoon's agent knows that did not come from us,
8:30
Speaker 2: with the incomplaintent implication being there are things that come
8:33
Speaker 2: from us that we leak to you, but this wasn't
8:36
Speaker 2: one of them. Make sure the agent knows that. And
8:38
Speaker 2: that was the Rappaport carrying the water for Schneider in
8:42
Speaker 2: exchange for later on down the road when they do
8:44
Speaker 2: sign Witherspoon. Guess who's probably going to break that story. Yeah,
8:47
Speaker 2: not the people who are out here every day for
8:49
Speaker 2: twenty years. It's a guy who has never been here
8:51
Speaker 2: in the last twenty years. That's a good that's a
8:54
Speaker 2: little behind it. I mean, that's inside ball stuff for
8:57
Speaker 2: journalists and writers, and but it's it shows how the
9:01
Speaker 2: narrative and how perception is controlled within the league by
9:05
Speaker 2: teams with national media members. And I thought that was
9:09
Speaker 2: pretty I just kind of rolled my eyes and said, well,
9:11
Speaker 2: of course that happened. Of course that's how it went down.
9:14
Speaker 2: And also the corollary to that was that John Schneider
9:17
Speaker 2: took the extra step to call Maurice Kelly. Mo Kelly
9:21
Speaker 2: the most trusted man in this building to the players.
9:23
Speaker 2: He's been here for twenty two years. He's the vice
9:26
Speaker 2: president of I think his player relations is the title.
9:28
Speaker 2: He's basically the confidant and mo Kelly. John Schneider enlisted
9:33
Speaker 2: mo Kelly to, hey, you call Witherspoon and tell him
9:36
Speaker 2: or call him in and tell him we had nothing
9:38
Speaker 2: to do with that, and make sure he's cool with
9:39
Speaker 2: all this. And John Schneider reported to his coach Mike
9:43
Speaker 2: McDonald that mo Kelly did talk to Witherspoon and all
9:47
Speaker 2: was good. And to Medtherspoon's credit, he's out here every day. Yeah,
9:51
Speaker 2: he's not doing the hold in thing. He's not poundy.
9:53
Speaker 2: He's the same player that he's been every year for
9:55
Speaker 2: this team. He's outgoing, he's talking crap, he's playing we well,
10:00
Speaker 2: he's a guy like he's been for the other.
10:02
Speaker 1: And that comes with risk. Let's face it, when you
10:05
Speaker 1: are sitting potentially on a mountain of money.
10:08
Speaker 2: Here, it does an injury. Players hold in or hold
10:11
Speaker 2: out because they don't want to get injured and lose
10:13
Speaker 2: their value. Now, the relationship is such that, frankly, if
10:16
Speaker 2: Witherspoon did get hurt out here, Schneider would make every
10:19
Speaker 2: effort to still pay him. The question, of course, would
10:21
Speaker 2: be how much would you pay, depending on how much
10:23
Speaker 2: the injury, how serious the injury was. But yes, it
10:27
Speaker 2: certainly bears repeating that Devin Witherspoon has been just like
10:31
Speaker 2: he would be as if he already had signed the contract.
10:34
Speaker 1: On the field, Well, Mike's toddler is wearing a Spoon
10:37
Speaker 1: jersey for goodness sake, So I think.
10:39
Speaker 2: I thought that was some product placement there.
10:41
Speaker 1: I think Mike weighed in on how important Spoon is
10:44
Speaker 1: to him.
10:45
Speaker 2: Yes, yes he did, And yes, Jack McDonald and his
10:50
Speaker 2: wife Stephanie were part of in the Dog we're part
10:52
Speaker 2: of the show as well. The other newsy thing Chuck
10:55
Speaker 2: was the Nicky mon Worre scene. Yeah, which I was
10:58
Speaker 2: okay with everything until night.
11:00
Speaker 1: I mean that suddenly asked me a little bit worried
11:04
Speaker 1: that he's gonna miss games, meaningful games.
11:08
Speaker 2: Well, to be clear, McDonald was fearful of that. At
11:12
Speaker 2: four days before the Super Bowl. He said he couldn't
11:14
Speaker 2: sleep the night after the night of Emon Worri getting
11:18
Speaker 2: injured at San Jose State and spraining the ankle. Then
11:20
Speaker 2: two days later he comes back to practice, and then
11:21
Speaker 2: two days after that he plays seventy of seventy two snaps.
11:25
Speaker 2: But McDonald is hyper worried about him because he as
11:28
Speaker 2: he's articulated last night, He's so central to what they
11:32
Speaker 2: do on defense. The multiplicity, the versatility, the different defensive
11:37
Speaker 2: back sets, the blitzes, the stopping the run in extra
11:40
Speaker 2: defensive backs. That's nick emon worry. He would prove just
11:44
Speaker 2: last year to be maybe the best in the league
11:46
Speaker 2: of doing all that. At the same time, he's indispensable
11:49
Speaker 2: to what McDonald wants to do. They're trying the Anthony Bell.
11:52
Speaker 2: They've had rookie Bud Clark in there since but Emon
11:55
Speaker 2: Worry is absolutely dispensable and McDonald fears missing him for
11:59
Speaker 2: any amount of time. He was on a crutches on
12:03
Speaker 2: Saturday signing for Fins. You heard last night during the
12:06
Speaker 2: Hard Knocks episode that Emon Worry was commiserating with Donald
12:09
Speaker 2: and should I come out there. I want to be
12:11
Speaker 2: with the team, but I don't want to make a scene. Well,
12:14
Speaker 2: Saturday was the first time that I'd seen him out
12:16
Speaker 2: with the fans autographing at the end of practice. He
12:19
Speaker 2: did it with a crutch, but the crutch was propped
12:22
Speaker 2: over his shoulder. He wasn't using it, and it was
12:25
Speaker 2: a crutch that had a little round hook at the
12:29
Speaker 2: end of the top of it. And he was wearing
12:31
Speaker 2: a low, smaller right ankle brace kindie might wear. A
12:35
Speaker 2: basketball player might wear a softer braise, not the walking
12:39
Speaker 2: boot that they showed him in last night that he
12:41
Speaker 2: had been wearing last week. So that's in a sense progress,
12:45
Speaker 2: and he's gone from a walking boot to a softer brace,
12:49
Speaker 2: a lower brace. But I will say in his gate
12:52
Speaker 2: it's at the Newstribute dot com and you can see
12:55
Speaker 2: for yourself. His gait was not one that would suggest
12:57
Speaker 2: he's coming back in a matter of days, but perhaps week.
13:00
Speaker 2: It's a week to week thing, Freeman worry, not day
13:02
Speaker 2: to day. It's perhaps a little more serious than portrayed
13:06
Speaker 2: at the start. And I think there's some validity and
13:09
Speaker 2: not just protecting, but validity to McDonald when I kept
13:12
Speaker 2: asking him you expect him to play in the opener
13:14
Speaker 2: and he said, I don't know, because I can see
13:16
Speaker 2: he truly doesn't know.
13:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, how many players do you think?
13:20
Speaker 2: And I know I'm catching you off guard with this.
13:22
Speaker 1: He would say that there was that scene where he
13:25
Speaker 1: was like, we need this guy, that scene with his coaches,
13:29
Speaker 1: like do I need to stress this to you how
13:32
Speaker 1: valuable he is to our team. We cannot not have
13:37
Speaker 1: this guy for games at a time. How many players
13:41
Speaker 1: on the Seahawks would he have that emotion about in
13:46
Speaker 1: terms of how integral they are to this thing functioning
13:50
Speaker 1: the way he does it?
13:51
Speaker 2: Like two or three, fifteen or twenty one other? Just
13:55
Speaker 2: one two total? Ernest Jones, Oh, I think Ernest Jones
13:59
Speaker 2: is the coach, probably Sam quarterback. You can game planner
14:03
Speaker 2: if you know your quarterback. Yes, that would be a
14:05
Speaker 2: huge loss. Yeah, but you can actually function because you
14:09
Speaker 2: can game plan around that right, you have Drew Locke
14:11
Speaker 2: as your backup quarterback who's experienced and has come in
14:14
Speaker 2: and won the games for this team when the starter
14:16
Speaker 2: has been hurt in the last couple of years, and
14:18
Speaker 2: you could game plan around with Smith and Jigba and
14:21
Speaker 2: a quicker, shorter passing game and let's rely on the
14:23
Speaker 2: run more. You can compensate for that. You can't run
14:28
Speaker 2: the same things without even worry. McDonald can't and won't.
14:32
Speaker 2: And that's the concern is that he wants. He doesn't.
14:35
Speaker 2: He wants to be as absolutely multifaceted and confusing to
14:38
Speaker 2: an offense as could possibly be, and he can't be
14:40
Speaker 2: nearly that without even worry. I say Ernest Jones because
14:44
Speaker 2: I think he's the second most valuable, most important, most
14:47
Speaker 2: critical player on this team because he traffic cops all
14:50
Speaker 2: of that. He traffick cops the movement and changes right
14:54
Speaker 2: before the snat. He's the guy who screams the one
14:57
Speaker 2: word command that McDonald has put into his headset to
15:01
Speaker 2: change everybody at the snap. The way the Seahawks work
15:04
Speaker 2: and confuse offenses is they line up in a look
15:08
Speaker 2: to make the offense give their calls and audibles and
15:11
Speaker 2: protection calls and then right before the snap, Jones yells
15:15
Speaker 2: whatever word that McDonald has given him, gold or avalanche,
15:21
Speaker 2: and that means that players go in and come completely
15:24
Speaker 2: different direction and where they're lined up. Their responsibilities changed
15:28
Speaker 2: from what they were showing. The offense at all changes
15:30
Speaker 2: at the snap. If I was going against Mike McDonald's defense,
15:35
Speaker 2: I would go no. I would go quick count or
15:37
Speaker 2: silent count every time I would catch them in the
15:40
Speaker 2: transition of doing that movement at the snap. Instead offenses,
15:44
Speaker 2: because coordinators get paid millions of dollars and coaches think
15:47
Speaker 2: to the smartest thing ever in the quarterbacks of brains,
15:50
Speaker 2: they spend all this time trying to dissect what McDonald's
15:53
Speaker 2: doing pre snap with these calls and audibles and changes
15:56
Speaker 2: and motions and shifts that McDonald takes advantage of the
16:00
Speaker 2: time at the snap to move and change. I get
16:02
Speaker 2: up to the line and go. And it's happened a
16:05
Speaker 2: few times, including with Sean McVay, that they have done
16:08
Speaker 2: that and caught the Seahawks out of position. I've watched
16:11
Speaker 2: ram Seahawks games last year that Jones was. His back
16:15
Speaker 2: was to the line of scrimmage when the snap happened
16:17
Speaker 2: because McVeigh went fast. I would do it every single
16:20
Speaker 2: time because it would really handcuff what McDonald's trying to do.
16:25
Speaker 2: And Ernest Jones is the orchestrator.
16:27
Speaker 1: That it's very interesting just to wrap up the hard knocks,
16:31
Speaker 1: but just to wrap up the conversation. I was just
16:33
Speaker 1: thinking about when you were explaining that the off season
16:36
Speaker 1: where people are going to study the Rams because they're
16:39
Speaker 1: the only team offensively along with Tampa. I guess that
16:42
Speaker 1: had success against McDonald's defense. And yet you know, McDonald's
16:47
Speaker 1: studying what did they do to us? Why are we
16:50
Speaker 1: not able to stop it? And so he's had an
16:52
Speaker 1: entire off season to try to figure out what we
16:56
Speaker 1: need to do. Differently, Shanahan can't figure out McDonald's defense,
17:00
Speaker 1: and so he's studying the Rams, like what are they doing,
17:04
Speaker 1: and just this whole chess match of you know, people
17:08
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out and probably studying what worked.
17:10
Speaker 1: And meanwhile McDonald's changing everything to make sure that that
17:13
Speaker 1: doesn't work against them.
17:14
Speaker 2: Ever, it's counters to the counters, that's exactly right, and
17:18
Speaker 2: McDonald is changing his fronts. He is had put new
17:22
Speaker 2: blitzes in. I won't specify how but they are changed.
17:26
Speaker 2: They're different. The players are talking about that, and there
17:29
Speaker 2: are guys in different roles. I think Byron Murphy is
17:33
Speaker 2: going to have far more impact across the entire defensive
17:36
Speaker 2: line than he did last year. He may line up
17:38
Speaker 2: as a defensive end at times, and he may line
17:40
Speaker 2: up as a nose tackle one playing defensive end at
17:42
Speaker 2: the other. Yeah, you're right. McDonald's going to have counters
17:45
Speaker 2: to what he knows are McVeigh and Shanahan's counter.
17:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's thinking about Okay, Sean knows I'm going to
17:52
Speaker 1: change this, So what is he going to do to
17:56
Speaker 1: counter my change? I mean, that's true, it's.
17:59
Speaker 2: Absurd, that's true. It's why these guys get paid millions
18:01
Speaker 2: of dollars, and it's why the Seahawks hired McDonald as
18:04
Speaker 2: a defensive mastermind, chiefly to do what he did last year,
18:08
Speaker 2: which was to beat Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan.
18:11
Speaker 1: I would love for nothing else to execute the charbonnat
18:14
Speaker 1: two point conversion last year and execute it exactly.
18:17
Speaker 2: The way that you did it. Well, that will never
18:20
Speaker 2: happen in the NFL again, because every loose ball ever
18:23
Speaker 2: is now going to be covered because of that part.
18:25
Speaker 2: That's true.
18:26
Speaker 1: All right, Greg's here for an hour. I talked him
18:29
Speaker 1: into showing up an hour before his show. He got
18:32
Speaker 1: to blow off the seven h five segments, so I
18:35
Speaker 1: thought that was going to be a nice little trade.
18:37
Speaker 1: But he's been working all morning on his show anyway.
18:40
Speaker 1: So we got one more, actually two more segments with
18:43
Speaker 1: him here on the program. So we'll get into some
18:45
Speaker 1: other stuff about the Seahawks training camp with our Seahawks
18:48
Speaker 1: insider Greig Bell. Next Sports Radio ninety three point three KHARFM,
18:52
Speaker 1: our own Greg Bill, brought to you by Emerald Queen Casino,
18:56
Speaker 1: bringing you the best in live music, entertainment and gaming.
19:01
Speaker 2: Emerald Queen Casino. Oh, it's entertaining.
19:04
Speaker 1: For more info, visit Emerald Queen dot com. Yes, it's
19:09
Speaker 1: an odd time to play our Greg Bell opened because
19:12
Speaker 1: normally we have him on at seven oh five every day.
19:15
Speaker 1: Today we've had him on for the entire nine o'clock hour.
19:18
Speaker 1: So thank you to Greg, our Seahawks insider Newstribune dot com.
19:22
Speaker 1: Also at g Bell Seattle if you want to follow
19:25
Speaker 1: his coverage of Seahawks training camp in the entire Seahawk
19:28
Speaker 1: calendar year and he's joining us here today. I'm turning
19:32
Speaker 1: it into a three hour Greg Bell show here today
19:35
Speaker 1: on KJAR, because he's coming up next with his own
19:37
Speaker 1: material from ten to twelve every day here on KJAR.
19:42
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, I didn't want to do two
19:46
Speaker 1: hard Knock segments, but there's still a lot of information
19:49
Speaker 1: from the hard Knock segment yesterday. I wanted to at
19:51
Speaker 1: least run this one by you. My favorite moment in
19:54
Speaker 1: the entire thing was the Cooper Cup stuff, because I've
19:57
Speaker 1: heard that he's a coach on the field, and then
20:00
Speaker 1: you see it and that whole Mike McDonald exchange where
20:03
Speaker 1: Coop just points casually out something that he missed in
20:08
Speaker 1: film study and McDonald's just like blown away, like why
20:11
Speaker 1: didn't I see it? You're a genius. I love you.
20:15
Speaker 1: You made me hate myself. I don't know what to
20:17
Speaker 1: say right now. You're the best, buddy. Don't ever leave me.
20:21
Speaker 1: But I should have known that, Like that whole little exchange,
20:24
Speaker 1: that was my favorite part of the entire show. And
20:27
Speaker 1: so it's nice to you hear that stuff about Cooper Cup,
20:30
Speaker 1: but to actually see tangible examples. You don't understand it
20:33
Speaker 1: until you actually visualize it.
20:35
Speaker 2: It's true, and the players say the same thing. Smith
20:38
Speaker 2: and Jigba really really thinks he was instrumental for the
20:41
Speaker 2: seventeen hundred yards and All Pro and Offensive Player of
20:45
Speaker 2: the Year that he got in one hundred and sixty
20:47
Speaker 2: eight million dollars contract on the heels of that. The
20:51
Speaker 2: coach on the field thing is what Smith and Jigbab
20:53
Speaker 2: really talks about with Cooper Cup And he's been like
20:57
Speaker 2: that from Rams people tell me from when he started
21:00
Speaker 2: at the Rams, even as a rookie at Eastern Washington
21:02
Speaker 2: he was that way. Wow. Yeah, and he's well beyond
21:07
Speaker 2: just his own job and I'm gonna do what I
21:10
Speaker 2: need to do. He he understands blocking schemes, he understands
21:13
Speaker 2: the run game, he understands what defensive looks. He understands
21:17
Speaker 2: leveraging of corners and how to beat the leverage. He's
21:20
Speaker 2: a confidant and an advisor to Sam Darnold at quarterback.
21:25
Speaker 2: He is he is a very vital part that people
21:29
Speaker 2: last year were criticizing his lack of numbers, that he's
21:33
Speaker 2: way more valuable than just that. And I know people
21:38
Speaker 2: fantasy football people in such want production, and right right,
21:42
Speaker 2: that's not the entire Cooper Cup responsibility here, He's does
21:46
Speaker 2: so much more than meets the eye. And really, how
21:50
Speaker 2: many more numbers can you get when you got Smith
21:52
Speaker 2: and Jigger with eighteen hundred yards and one hundred and
21:55
Speaker 2: twenty catches and I mean they yeah, Ups' role is very,
22:01
Speaker 2: very vital to what they do and it's not just
22:03
Speaker 2: catches the numbers.
22:04
Speaker 1: Was the Jordan thing that you brought up a week
22:07
Speaker 1: or two ago? Was that at all about JSN? Was
22:11
Speaker 1: that a message to JSN, like, Hey, your numbers are
22:13
Speaker 1: probably gonna come down here this year, Bud, So just
22:18
Speaker 1: you know, wrap your brain around that, but we should
22:20
Speaker 1: be better for it.
22:21
Speaker 2: Maybe subtly, but it was an overarching twelve is one
22:24
Speaker 2: message and it was McDonald reinforcing the twelve and twelve
22:27
Speaker 2: is one works. And when I talked to players about
22:29
Speaker 2: that team meeting, Julian Love in particular Chicago guy loved
22:33
Speaker 2: it about the Jordan analogy. But his takeaway was, hey,
22:37
Speaker 2: twelve is one really does work. Team first does work,
22:41
Speaker 2: and don't be so concerned about getting yours and that
22:44
Speaker 2: everyone will get paid and everyone will get rings and
22:46
Speaker 2: everyone will be winning if we all do a team
22:49
Speaker 2: first twelve is one, and that really was seemed to
22:53
Speaker 2: be the takeaway. That was, of course McDonald's intent. But yeah,
22:56
Speaker 2: I could see Smith and Jig was sitting in that meeting. Okay,
22:59
Speaker 2: let's see what you're saying.
23:00
Speaker 1: So it's Cup a coach of the future.
23:02
Speaker 2: I've asked him that, and he's kind of laughs because
23:05
Speaker 2: he says, Oh, I got four kids now, and they're
23:07
Speaker 2: all still young enough that I want to be their
23:09
Speaker 2: dad and do dad things with them, and a lot
23:11
Speaker 2: of money. And he's back home, and it doesn't strike
23:16
Speaker 2: me that he would retire and go straight into football.
23:18
Speaker 2: It would strike me that he would retire and go
23:20
Speaker 2: be a family man and enjoy being back home in
23:22
Speaker 2: the Northwest.
23:24
Speaker 1: So are his numbers going to take an even bigger dip?
23:26
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I know I've asked you this
23:28
Speaker 1: a couple of times, but every day you learn a
23:30
Speaker 1: little bit more about what Flory intends to do. How
23:34
Speaker 1: is he going to incorporate all of this talent?
23:36
Speaker 2: Well, it stands the reason that the wide receivers are
23:39
Speaker 2: going to get less because the tight ends are going
23:40
Speaker 2: to get more and the running backs are going to
23:42
Speaker 2: get more. You mentioned that Emmanuel Wilson from Green Bay
23:46
Speaker 2: said this is the largest route tree he's ever seen
23:49
Speaker 2: for running backs. Tight Ends are going down the field
23:52
Speaker 2: far more regularly and getting thrown to by Darnald far
23:55
Speaker 2: more regularly than last year. At this time, AJ Barner
23:59
Speaker 2: and such should have bigger than I've said. I think
24:02
Speaker 2: Barner's gonna be a Pro Bowls potentially all Pro tight
24:05
Speaker 2: end this year in this offense. So unless they throw
24:09
Speaker 2: it fifty times a game, that means fewer numbers for somebody.
24:13
Speaker 2: And how realistic is it that Smith and jibb catches
24:16
Speaker 2: for eighteen hundred yards the eighth most in NFL history
24:19
Speaker 2: last year and one hundred and twenty catches and what
24:22
Speaker 2: was it, one to fifty targets or whatever. That's not
24:24
Speaker 2: realistic that he's going to do that every single year.
24:26
Speaker 2: He's not Jerry Rice, nor is this offense like that.
24:30
Speaker 2: They're still going around the ball fifty percent of the time,
24:32
Speaker 2: which is why Flurry is here. So that takes away
24:34
Speaker 2: a few more opportunities in the modern NFL that other
24:37
Speaker 2: teams receivers get. But to answer your question, I don't
24:40
Speaker 2: think the Seahawks offense is not functioning properly. This year
24:43
Speaker 2: if Smith and Jigbis and Cups numbers are.
24:45
Speaker 1: Lower Jadarian Price, I mean he was certain. I mean,
24:50
Speaker 1: we've certainly discussed him a lot since training camp coverage began.
24:55
Speaker 1: But I always consider that camp buzz is when you
24:59
Speaker 1: do get players or coaches standing in a huddle and
25:03
Speaker 1: they can't stop talking about a guy, and you can't
25:07
Speaker 1: be everywhere at once. Apparently hard knocks cameras, you know,
25:11
Speaker 1: are so for them to have caught as many different
25:16
Speaker 1: clusters of players talking about how impressed they are by him,
25:20
Speaker 1: I mean, surely, first round draft pick, he got the headlines,
25:24
Speaker 1: You're probably got your eye, you're probably checking him out
25:26
Speaker 1: more than you are Bo Stevens. But for him to
25:31
Speaker 1: be getting that much praise from his beers and the
25:33
Speaker 1: coaching staff one week into training camps pretty impressive.
25:37
Speaker 2: Yes, it was, and it was noticeable, and it underscored
25:40
Speaker 2: to me that Price will be the starter week one. Yeah,
25:42
Speaker 2: And McDonald pays attention to that, what the players say,
25:46
Speaker 2: what the cachet is of a player, what the attitude is,
25:49
Speaker 2: and the effort and performance on the field. He rewards
25:52
Speaker 2: practice performance. That's Drake Thomas, that's Tyle Katta. He rewards
25:58
Speaker 2: guys who do it the right way and impress their
26:00
Speaker 2: teammates with how they do it. And Price has done that,
26:04
Speaker 2: and I think it's a matter of time. He's been
26:07
Speaker 2: slowly getting more reps with the ones. He's still splitting
26:10
Speaker 2: time with George Halani. But that to me right now
26:13
Speaker 2: seems a little bit like a nod to Jlani's seniority
26:15
Speaker 2: than anything else. Yeah, it would be I say it again,
26:19
Speaker 2: it would be something wrong between now and September ninth
26:22
Speaker 2: if Jedarian Price wasn't the number one back.
26:24
Speaker 1: In the opener, they're not worried about his skinny legs.
26:26
Speaker 1: He's got skinny legs.
26:27
Speaker 2: You is, you is? It's funny you comes up here
26:32
Speaker 2: and he picks out one or two things because now
26:34
Speaker 2: he sees it in person, and then he just sticks
26:36
Speaker 2: with him and he won't shake it. He just he
26:39
Speaker 2: rides in it. Yeah, Okay, I'm sure they measured his legs.
26:43
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean he can't play football. But yeah, he looks.
26:46
Speaker 2: He looks sleek, I would say, not slender, small, but sleek,
26:50
Speaker 2: and I think that adds to his speed. They had
26:53
Speaker 2: him back at kickoff return yesterday. Something he did to
26:55
Speaker 2: a national leading level at Notre Dame. Wow, I don't
26:58
Speaker 2: think they're going to have their lead running back as
27:00
Speaker 2: back up. I wouldn't think that they are. Also had
27:03
Speaker 2: Tory Horton back there. They had no Igmanoghany, who was
27:06
Speaker 2: on our show yesterday back there. But yeah, Price has impressed.
27:12
Speaker 2: Let's see him in preseason games and blitz pick up
27:15
Speaker 2: and pass protection and catching the ball, the things that
27:18
Speaker 2: they really need to see out. They know he can
27:19
Speaker 2: run the outside zone. He that was his specialty at
27:22
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. That's what he did.
27:23
Speaker 1: Look like he's got any trouble catching the football.
27:25
Speaker 2: Well, he's sure as hell has got enough chances. Man.
27:27
Speaker 2: I can tell you he's like a bullpen catcher out here.
27:30
Speaker 2: He just gets catch after catchup. They just keep throwing
27:33
Speaker 2: and throwing, and Thomas Hammock throws and there's no pitch
27:36
Speaker 2: count on Thomas Hammock out here. I mean he just
27:38
Speaker 2: throws and throws and throws to Jadari Price every day. Yeah,
27:42
Speaker 2: well how many what?
27:44
Speaker 1: What will he get more reps or f bombs thrown
27:48
Speaker 1: his way by Thomas.
27:48
Speaker 2: Ham Probably f.
27:52
Speaker 1: Shove more into more efficient with those. I mean think
27:55
Speaker 1: it'd be used as an adjective, an ad verb, a verb, and.
27:59
Speaker 2: About thirty times in a minute and a half clip,
28:03
Speaker 2: you know I want to dress something On the text
28:06
Speaker 2: line four nine four to five. One at the Komodad's
28:07
Speaker 2: text line that for two five says I believe Derek
28:09
Speaker 2: Hall is a good guy, and he shared his amazing,
28:11
Speaker 2: amazing store and air. He was great on air. He
28:13
Speaker 2: was on my show last week and we had a
28:15
Speaker 2: great conversation about his background and premature birth and how
28:19
Speaker 2: he is devoted to his mother. But am I the
28:22
Speaker 2: only one the fort two five says who thought he
28:24
Speaker 2: looked like a d bag in that episode? His shorts
28:27
Speaker 2: are ridiculous, his truck look ridiculous, just begging for attention,
28:32
Speaker 2: and then the cheap shot during the practice fight taking
28:34
Speaker 2: out a teammate from first of all, the respond to that,
28:38
Speaker 2: that is who Derek Hall is. He makes his own trucks,
28:41
Speaker 2: he puts in and design. He and his dad working
28:43
Speaker 2: his driveway. We had a UPS driver on the show
28:46
Speaker 2: and the text line say, I'm a UPS driver and
28:48
Speaker 2: I seen him and his dad working on that truck.
28:51
Speaker 2: The hydraulics. Yeah, that's what he does. He loves that stuff.
28:54
Speaker 2: His hobby Yeah, he did that before the contract, before
28:57
Speaker 2: hard Knarks cameras came on the shorts. He've always done
29:00
Speaker 2: that too. The teammates have ridden him about his short
29:02
Speaker 2: since he was a rookie here a few years ago.
29:05
Speaker 2: That's his thing.
29:07
Speaker 1: Luke Wilson had his shorts thing that he did here too.
29:11
Speaker 2: Right, Wilson did it for wanted to be a seventies
29:13
Speaker 2: retro Casey in the Sunshine Band guy. And Hall does
29:18
Speaker 2: it because of his physique. But yeah, his teammates. Hall's
29:20
Speaker 2: teammates have given him a hard time about that for
29:22
Speaker 2: a while. I wrote about the day that the Hall
29:25
Speaker 2: fight with Bryce Cable Doo. That was a cheap shot.
29:27
Speaker 2: He flew at him from behind with an elbow in
29:30
Speaker 2: the back of the head. And you heard in the
29:31
Speaker 2: episode last night that McDonald didn't appreciate the cheapsht nature
29:34
Speaker 2: that he also didn't appreciate Brady Russell mentioning his contract
29:37
Speaker 2: changing Hall, and I thought that was another interesting leadership
29:42
Speaker 2: moment from McDonald saying, hey, that wasn't cool, and you
29:46
Speaker 2: don't go after a guy's contract that wasn't that was
29:49
Speaker 2: not fair and above bounds. And by the end of
29:51
Speaker 2: the conversation. You smooth it over and say hey, okay,
29:54
Speaker 2: we're cool. And yeah, Russell and McDonald were cool. But
29:59
Speaker 2: that's as McDonald said, that's a line you don't cross
30:01
Speaker 2: on the field talking to about a guy's money. And
30:04
Speaker 2: Hall earned that and he has to respect in the
30:06
Speaker 2: locker room for earning that. I don't think he looked
30:09
Speaker 2: like a d bag in the episode. I see Derek
30:11
Speaker 2: Hall like that for the last four years. Yeah, but
30:14
Speaker 2: I did think it was a d bag move to
30:17
Speaker 2: elbow a teammate from behind.
30:19
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, all right, Greg, so with us for one
30:20
Speaker 1: more so you get to participate in one last thing
30:23
Speaker 1: with Ashley and you've never done this before entire career.
30:26
Speaker 1: All right, So we'll do that next to close out
30:29
Speaker 1: the hour and then hand this sucker off to Greg.
30:32
Speaker 1: Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ RFN. All right,
30:40
Speaker 1: final segment of the radio program. Greg Bell, out of
30:42
Speaker 1: the goodness of his hardest, joined us for a full hour,
30:45
Speaker 1: and now he gets the joy of participating in one
30:48
Speaker 1: last thing for the first time in his illustrious career.
30:51
Speaker 1: Ashley show him out. It's done, Okay.
30:53
Speaker 3: I came across this report today from Yahoo Sports that
30:56
Speaker 3: for the first game of the year for the Rams
30:59
Speaker 3: and the forty nine Ers, our division rivals. The Rams
31:01
Speaker 3: are gonna arrive in Australia the day before and the
31:07
Speaker 3: that's a good idea, right, and the forty nine Ers
31:09
Speaker 3: are going a full week earlier so they can adjust
31:11
Speaker 3: to the time differences and be comfortable.
31:12
Speaker 1: The Rams are flying in the.
31:14
Speaker 3: Day before and leaving immediately after the game.
31:17
Speaker 2: Wow, there's a theory of that. Some players do the
31:20
Speaker 2: same thing as teams do the same thing for Europe,
31:22
Speaker 2: which isn't quite as far. But there's the theory that
31:24
Speaker 2: you get in and out before your body gets affected.
31:26
Speaker 3: By Oh really, I just feel like a fifteen hour
31:29
Speaker 3: plane ride, whether you're in and out like, that's gonna
31:31
Speaker 3: be the hardest.
31:32
Speaker 2: Part, exactly.
31:34
Speaker 1: You need time to recover from that.
31:35
Speaker 2: It's not so much the time zone as to travel.
31:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I flew to New Zealand and back. I don't
31:40
Speaker 1: remember ever having that much of an impact. But then again,
31:44
Speaker 1: I wasn't going there to play a football game, right,
31:47
Speaker 1: so I don't know what kind of impact that would
31:50
Speaker 1: have on a football player. I hope it. I hope
31:53
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett gains like one hundred pounds.
31:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what I'm hoping, right, Yeah, like maybe the
31:57
Speaker 3: forty nine ers can steal one from them.
32:00
Speaker 1: Or loses one hundred, might even even be better. Yeah yeah,
32:04
Speaker 1: gets bit by some sort of tetz fly or something
32:07
Speaker 1: like that and sucks all of his energy and strength
32:10
Speaker 1: and power.
32:11
Speaker 2: From him tech by Kahlbar. That'd be great.
32:13
Speaker 1: If Miles Garrett's lining up at six seven, one hundred
32:16
Speaker 1: and fifteen pounds for the opener, that'd be hilarious. All right,
32:21
Speaker 1: nicely done. What do you got for one last thing?
32:24
Speaker 2: Greg? Well, my one last thing is I've been covering
32:27
Speaker 2: the end. I start covering the NFL twenty five years ago,
32:30
Speaker 2: and this is only the second time I've covered a
32:33
Speaker 2: defending Super Bowl champion. It doesn't happen very often. And
32:38
Speaker 2: I know we'll get wrapped around the details, and is
32:40
Speaker 2: what's Witherspoon's contract? And is Emo Warri coming back his
32:44
Speaker 2: hoots out for the year? Why did Flurry run the
32:47
Speaker 2: ball in third and eighth? I would just remind everyone
32:51
Speaker 2: that this is as good as it gets in the NFL,
32:55
Speaker 2: that it's rare. It doesn't happen a lot. This team's
32:59
Speaker 2: window is still there's no reason why they shouldn't be
33:02
Speaker 2: winning the division or competing to win the division the
33:05
Speaker 2: home playoff games in the Super Bowl, again because of
33:07
Speaker 2: how young they are, but the way they've structured this
33:11
Speaker 2: with the coach, they have, the players, they have the
33:13
Speaker 2: quarterback who's still only twenty nine years old in the
33:15
Speaker 2: second year of a three year deal at mid market value.
33:18
Speaker 2: This is as good as it may ever get for football.
33:21
Speaker 2: And see, I agree.
33:22
Speaker 1: And they're all likable too, Yeah they are. This is
33:25
Speaker 1: not just good, they're great and they're likable.
33:27
Speaker 2: This is a really different locker room than the Legion
33:29
Speaker 2: of Boom. I like covering the Legion of Boom. They
33:31
Speaker 2: were great for stories, intertaining. Sherman and I had our bouts.
33:35
Speaker 2: One time, he told me, if Bell comes up to
33:38
Speaker 2: a scrum, I'm done talking for the rest of the year.
33:40
Speaker 2: I'm not talking at Bell's around. But this team is
33:43
Speaker 2: different in that way. They don't have they have alpha personalities,
33:47
Speaker 2: but they don't have the dominant personalities that those teams.
33:51
Speaker 2: It's much more of a collective. And McDonald once a time.
33:54
Speaker 1: Yep, good group, great group, great group, no doubt about it.
33:57
Speaker 2: All Right, I'm gonna close with this.
33:58
Speaker 1: I brought up garb earlier. I did not up Rob Refsnyder.
34:01
Speaker 2: You went to a whole show without mentioning that.
34:05
Speaker 1: It just didn't work. I don't know what to say.
34:08
Speaker 1: I don't know why this is such a mystery. I
34:10
Speaker 1: think in theory it was a good idea to sign
34:13
Speaker 1: Rob Refsnyder. But I thought Pollock was a good idea
34:17
Speaker 1: at the time, and I thought Garver was a fine
34:19
Speaker 1: idea at the time. None of them have worked out.
34:22
Speaker 1: I don't know why this organization can't find a veteran,
34:26
Speaker 1: proven right handed hitter that hits left handed pitching. And
34:30
Speaker 1: maybe it is the backdrop, as Taoscar Hernandez suggested after
34:34
Speaker 1: he left to Seattle. But obviously there's an issue here.
34:39
Speaker 1: I'll say this. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna kill
34:41
Speaker 1: them for signing ref Snyder, but I would have killed
34:44
Speaker 1: him if they kept him any longer. It was time
34:47
Speaker 1: for him to be let go at least. I mean,
34:50
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it was a mistake to sign him,
34:52
Speaker 1: but it would have been a mistake to stick with
34:54
Speaker 1: him during this crucial stretch of games that are upcoming,
34:57
Speaker 1: all right, coming up next. Craig Bell's gonna take over
35:01
Speaker 1: the radio airwaves for you. We'll talk to you again
35:04
Speaker 1: tomorrow at six o'clock. Thank you, sir, appreciate you, Thank you,
35:07
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you tomorrow. So keep it here
35:10
Speaker 1: at Sports Radio ninety three point three kh A R
35:12
Speaker 1: f M. You can't miss a thing from today's show
35:15
Speaker 1: because we're on demand. Their podcast will be up right
35:18
Speaker 1: after the show. Just click on demand on our website
35:21
Speaker 1: at ninety three three KJR dot com and click on
35:24
Speaker 1: checking Bug podcast to replay anytime anywhere from Sports Radio
35:29
Speaker 1: ninety three point three kJ R FL