Latest / Chuck in the Morning / 10-20 H3: Gene Steratore Joins, Everett Fitzhugh & Can the Niners Be Caught

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10-20 H3: Gene Steratore Joins, Everett Fitzhugh & Can the Niners Be Caught · Chuck in the Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time for Chuck in the Morning's weekly visit with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: former NFL official Gene Steratore. Brought to you by the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Emerald Queen Casino, the entertainment capital of the Northwest. Now,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the official perspective of the NFL. Here's Chuck in the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Morning with Gene Steratore.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, we love this time of the week, our chance
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: to chat with Gene Steratore. By the way, I brought
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: up Rick Neuheisel. I brought your name up to Rick Neuheisel.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: And said nothing but wonderful things about you.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Oh, no kidding.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, Chuck, coaches start to like officials a
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: little bit after they retire.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: You know, just after they retire.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Then all of a sudden we have a little warm
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: and fuzzy moment. And I have to say, I'm also
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: basking in the fact that your lovely mother thinks I'm her.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Favorite rules analyst. So, you know, this is kind of
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: a good warning for me, Chuck. Yeah.
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah. She hates Pereira. Oh, hates him.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: I'm going to not comment on that, but I'm happy.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: To be number one.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Let's just leave it at that, you know?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, points out a lot of weaknesses in his game,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: that's for sure, all the time.
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: Just wears me out with it.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Did you ever have, like, a coach that, like, you
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: just didn't have a good relationship, referee to coach while
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: they were active, but then afterwards you kind of, like,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: patch things up? Do you have an example, or do
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: you not want to share that kind of information?
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: No, I have one. And actually he's now a fellow
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: colleague of mine on CBS. It's a basketball coach and
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: you know, coach Steve Lapis at the time I was
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: refereeing in the Atlantic 10, the big East and some
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: of those leagues on the East coast. And coach Lapis
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  Speaker 4: had just become the head coach at the university of
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Massachusetts after Marcus can be in Calipari left.
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  Speaker 3: And We just were two.
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  Speaker 4: Guys that, you know, and it was funny because we
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: were both Italians, you know, you'd think maybe we'd have
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: a little bonding, as Italians can be, you either kind
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  Speaker 4: of love each other, you know, right away, or maybe
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  Speaker 4: you don't. And, uh, really in the, in my relationship
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  Speaker 4: with coach lap, I wasn't a big technical foul guy, but,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: but coach lap probably had 50% of my technical fouls, uh,
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: you know, in my entire career. But, but the beauty
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: of it was once we really met after, and I
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: joined CBS and we started covering March madness.
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  Speaker 3: Um, he's one of my dearest friends now.
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  Speaker 4: So, uh, You know, in time, you know, take your time,
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  Speaker 4: you pause.
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  Speaker 3: And you forgive and forget.
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  Speaker 4: And, you know, and at the end, it's a warm
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  Speaker 4: and fuzzy moment with Coach.
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  Speaker 3: Lapis and I.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: That's great. Well, that's great. That's great.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: All right, well, we've got a lot of not-so-warm and
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: not-so-fuzzy things to discuss here today, especially from the college
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: football world. The way that I saw it, the way
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: that a lot of people saw it, is that even
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: though a lot of people were never going to root
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: for Notre Dame, including myself, it feels to me like
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: they got it twice down the stretch. Number one, that
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  Speaker 2: was a clear P.I. to me on the last play
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of the game, and it turns out there was one
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: second left on the clock.
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  Speaker 5: So how should that have been handled?
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  Speaker 4: A lot better than it was, Chuck, quite honestly.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, you just don't want to have games
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  Speaker 3: end like this.
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  Speaker 4: We all know we had a clock malfunction early in
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  Speaker 4: the season with Western Michigan, Michigan. And, you know, they've
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  Speaker 4: added so many additional Pieces and tools for us to
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  Speaker 4: get certain things really right, because we have that factual
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  Speaker 4: evidence to make sure it's done correctly. Even though back
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: in years past, one second could disappear and it probably
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  Speaker 4: wouldn't have.
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  Speaker 3: Been as big of a deal, you know, or maybe not.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we may not have been as focused on
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  Speaker 4: something like that. But there's just no excuse. You can
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: see the one second. You've got time. There are many
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  Speaker 4: people in these command centers watching these games. And we
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: all know that the focal point of that, even though,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: as you said, unfortunately, there is a pass interference also
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  Speaker 4: that extends this game further. In the event that the
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  Speaker 4: flag was thrown and there were zeros on the clock,
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  Speaker 4: it would have extended for an untimed down in that situation. Right.
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  Speaker 4: So you have multiple layers here of just a complete breakdown,
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  Speaker 4: I think, on the field first and foremost. And then
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  Speaker 4: most definitely with the replay officials, the clock management or
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  Speaker 4: the clock, you know, just fixing this and getting it right.
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  Speaker 4: And letting a game that was so great.
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  Speaker 3: To watch and has a lot of impact in college.
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  Speaker 4: Football and will, moving forward, you want to make sure
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  Speaker 4: that it's finished the right way. And unfortunately, it wasn't.
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  Speaker 4: And listen, it's Brigham Young, so they didn't.
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  Speaker 3: Have one mistake there. It wasn't just a one. They
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  Speaker 3: had more than one.
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  Speaker 4: You know, because that's... That's kind of the way it fell,
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  Speaker 4: but yeah, it was just two really not good plays.
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  Speaker 4: Right at the end, they're all mixed into one in
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  Speaker 4: a very unfortunate situation for the game.
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  Speaker 2: Have you ever had to clear 50,000 people off a
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  Speaker 2: field to just run one more play and maybe break
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  Speaker 2: all of their hearts in the process?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, that alone can't be easy.
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  Speaker 2: Is it possible that it was just so daunting that
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  Speaker 2: they decided, you know what, game over?
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  Speaker 3: No, I wouldn't think that would be the case.
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  Speaker 4: And I never had a situation where I had to
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  Speaker 4: reset the game kind of, and it was an impactful
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: scenario as far as the win and loss. But I
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: was the referee in the Minneapolis miracle the same year
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  Speaker 4: that I worked super bowl 52, which was a divisional
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: game that, that the Vikings beat the saints in the,
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  Speaker 4: in Minnesota on the last play of the game, which
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  Speaker 4: actually instituted a rule change moving forward after that, because
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: we had to kick the extra point.
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  Speaker 3: In that game. That game ended on an amazing play.
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  Speaker 4: As we know, Stephon Diggs took the ball 50-plus yards
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  Speaker 4: for a game-winning touchdown, and the Saints left the field,
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  Speaker 4: basically really just left the field.
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  Speaker 3: And as that was happening, someone got.
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  Speaker 4: Into my ear and said, hey, we have to kick
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  Speaker 4: the extra point to finalize this game. And we didn't
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  Speaker 4: have 11 Saints players on the field, and they were
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  Speaker 4: all in the locker room.
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  Speaker 3: So I literally had.
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  Speaker 4: To send, I didn't go myself, but that was one
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  Speaker 4: of the beauties of being the white hat. I had
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  Speaker 4: to send a couple officials to the Saints locker room
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  Speaker 4: and ask Coach Payton to just get me at least
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  Speaker 4: 11 bodies out here with jerseys on so we could
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  Speaker 4: kick the extra points. So it wasn't as crazy as
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  Speaker 4: what we witnessed there, but a very uncomfortable situation to
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  Speaker 4: sit for five minutes and wait for players to put
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  Speaker 4: their jerseys back on to come out so we could
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  Speaker 4: kick an extra point.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: But an unnerving situation. I've been into some basketball scenarios
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  Speaker 4: where it's the last second shot and crowds rush to court,
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  Speaker 4: you know, and it's an uneasy feeling.
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  Speaker 3: I won't lie to you because.
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  Speaker 4: You kind of dressed in a uniform that may not
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: be endearing to many people that now have rushed this,
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  Speaker 4: you know, this playing surface and maybe have a gripe
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  Speaker 4: that they'd like to carry out now.
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  Speaker 3: As we're finishing this thing. So, you know, you kind of,
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  Speaker 3: it's like running with the bulls. You know what I mean?
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  Speaker 4: You kind of just want to get through there and
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  Speaker 4: find out where is the closest exit to underneath the
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  Speaker 4: bowels of whatever stadium arena you're in and get your
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  Speaker 4: jersey off as quick as you can and start yelling
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  Speaker 4: about the refs.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't the only controversial game. Also, Miami and
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  Speaker 2: Florida State, two Hail Mary passes were completed. for a
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  Speaker 2: Florida State win. One got called back because of a
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  Speaker 2: holding penalty, and then the other one got called back
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  Speaker 2: because the officials reviewed it and overturned the catch. From
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  Speaker 2: where I was sitting, Gene, and again, no rooting interest
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  Speaker 2: in Florida State here. The first one, does that fall
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  Speaker 2: under the minnows versus whales.
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  Speaker 5: Kind of thing?
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  Speaker 2: Do you just kind of have to let that go?
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  Speaker 2: And then the second one, Gene.
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  Speaker 2: The interception that they overturned, that defensive back didn't have
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  Speaker 2: one hand on the ball. As far as I could tell,
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  Speaker 2: it looked to me like it was resting on his belly,
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  Speaker 2: which would be fine. It didn't hit the ground, but
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  Speaker 2: the receiver who was under the pile actually had both
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  Speaker 2: hands on the ball where the defensive back lying on
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  Speaker 2: his back with the ball on his stomach didn't have
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  Speaker 2: a single hand on it. I don't know how you
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  Speaker 2: overturned that. How did you see those two plays?
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  Speaker 3: I don't disagree.
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  Speaker 4: I think the holding call, I think it is a
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  Speaker 4: hold if you get into the letter of the law rule.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's a piece.
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  Speaker 4: Of those plays in all instances where you may see
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  Speaker 4: an infraction that now has risen to what you believe
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  Speaker 4: is a foul.
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  Speaker 3: And then you add.
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  Speaker 4: A couple other pieces to that in these games or
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  Speaker 4: in these plays, I think, if you're really working at
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  Speaker 4: a high level. And that is when that hold occurred
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  Speaker 4: was the football released from the quarterback's hand in other
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  Speaker 4: words when when there was maybe this the letter of
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  Speaker 4: the law hold uh was there an impact at the
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  Speaker 4: end of that game was that defensive player being restricted
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  Speaker 4: and didn't allow him to get to the quarterback Or
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: was the ball leaving the quarterback's hand or out of
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  Speaker 4: his hand at the time the holding took place? So
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  Speaker 4: I think to me there was a timing issue there.
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  Speaker 4: And it felt, quite honestly, like when the hold occurred, which.
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  Speaker 3: Wasn't a whale. It may have been a little bigger
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  Speaker 3: than a minnow, but it wasn't a whale.
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  Speaker 4: And I don't think it really fell into the timing
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  Speaker 4: aspect of having a material effect on the outcome of
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  Speaker 4: the play. So from a philosophical standpoint, I think if
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  Speaker 4: you don't call that, I'm not sure that that's one
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  Speaker 4: that jumps up.
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  Speaker 3: The screen and everyone says.
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  Speaker 4: You know, they missed a huge old that didn't allow
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  Speaker 4: that defensive player to stop the quarterback. And then the
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  Speaker 4: replay ruling on the field, as you said, becomes so
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  Speaker 4: important on the play. You also have players that are
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: all up. Those are hard plays to ref.
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  Speaker 3: They are held. Marys are hard because people are pushing
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  Speaker 3: and And.
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  Speaker 4: It's not like you let them get away with pass interference,
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  Speaker 4: but it's really hard to pick someone out of it
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  Speaker 4: if there's a lot of pushing there, right? So many
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  Speaker 4: times we see more action in those. And then it is, yes,
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  Speaker 4: this player... appears to have possessed this football while they're
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: in the air and now they're coming to the ground.
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  Speaker 3: We know in that scenario.
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  Speaker 4: Even though there's a ton of bodies, we have to
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  Speaker 4: survive the ground and someone has to have secure possession
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: once we have now all come to the ground or
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  Speaker 4: are down by contact and now the surviving of the
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  Speaker 4: ground aspect is over and.
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  Speaker 3: Who has the possession at that point.
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  Speaker 4: So initial possession up on top, if the ball gets
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: knocked loose as we're all falling, that initial possession really
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: doesn't count right now. We have to see where we
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: end up when we get to that ground and now
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  Speaker 4: the first person to secure that. I would think in college, naturally,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: they're definitely down by contact at that time, right, because
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: they don't have to be touched.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't disagree with you.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's a really difficult play. I think the
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: ruling on the field matters. And, you know, it's hard
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  Speaker 4: to speculate at times because you think, do they have
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: another angle in their review process? And I know the
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: ACC is transparent, and they're showing us what they're breaking down.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: In the games, you know, in real time.
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  Speaker 4: But I do think there's a piece or two of
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: that that is open for a lot of discussion as
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: we get into this.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: What did they call on the field?
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  Speaker 4: Is it 1,000% clear and obvious that this.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Was not the correct ruling?
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: And if it isn't, we know that we stay with
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: what they ruled on the field.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think both.
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  Speaker 4: Of those plays have, as we would say, a little
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: bit of hair on them. There's a little smoke there
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: on both of those. So I don't disagree with that either.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: And what are the rules?
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: What is the code of conduct when you make two
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: controversial calls in favor of one team and then their
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: most famous... fan runs out onto the field to shake
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: your hand and you actually shake it. Something tells me
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: that was not supposed to happen. That goes against the
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: official's code to shake Michael Irvin's hand as if you
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: were celebrating with him after the two calls.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: A thousand percent. Listen, you've got to stay neutral.
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: And I.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Don't like to be overly judgmental. You turn, you react.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: But shaking hands as an official on a, on a field,
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: as a game ends, it should not.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Be into your purview at that point. You want to
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: get off the field. You want to make sure the
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: game's over. You announce the game is over.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: And you have to also be very aware that more
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: than likely, look, anytime I walked onto an NFL field,
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: even two hours before kickoff, I've always been under the
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: assumption was when I reffed and I trained the officials
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: that I do train now on the same way that
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: When you walk onto a football field at these levels,
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: you have to always assume that there isn't a camera
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: that is just on you from the moment you walk
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: on the field until you leave. So all of the
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: actions and behaviors that you have during that period of time,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: which is a long period of time, you have to
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: remain aware and cognizant of that, that an optic could
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: not be something that would reflect well to the fraternity
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: or yourself.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: So I think remaining neutral there is, you know... it's
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: imperative to do so.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Well, I guess they didn't, at least they didn't pour
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Gatorade over each other's heads.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: So Brett Favre did tell me on the field that
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: I was going to be the first official that he
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: ever picked up and carried off the field.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: Like he did Donald driver.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: And he scared the heck out of me because every
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: time I'd throw a touchdown, I would, I.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Would be looking for him.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: And he literally tried to do that to me in
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Lambeau field after a touchdown against the Panthers. And, and,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: And unfortunately, unfortunately, I got him right before he picked
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: me up. But he happened to be smacking a part
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: of my body that wasn't very endearing to me as
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I was trying to get away from him, which ended
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: up on the front page of the paper the next day.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: You know, revisited each other a year later. I let
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: him know that it may have hurt my ability to
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: maybe be an available guy for about 11 months because
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: of the action. So we had some fun with that.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: You know, we had a lot of fun with that, actually,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: because he was a great guy to have on the
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: field with you. But they can't put you in.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Some uncomfortable situations pretty quick, that's for sure.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Gene Steratore is with us, Rita Powell's favorite rules analyst,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: joining us here on the radio program here today. As
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: he does every Tuesday at eight o'clock.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: One other thing. And this I mean, this has to
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: deal with a white hat. And I think I know
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: what you're going to say to this. But my new
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: partner here, Anders, pointed out yesterday there are statistics out
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: there that suggest Scott Novak and his crew have thrown
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: 25 more flags than any other crew ever. That's just
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: the second most flags-throwing crew in the National Football League.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: And so I guess I'll pose this three different options here.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Is this sort of like an MLB umpire with a
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: tight strike zone?
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: Is that what Novak, is that how they would explain it?
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Or are they just officiating some really sloppy games and
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: they just happen to be the officiating crew on those games?
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Or are these guys just simply calling it too close
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: right now for us to enjoy a football game?
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: I would say be really on the first part of it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Okay. And I would say, you know, I think what you.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Really would look at and what I'm sure that those
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: crews look at because they know their numbers are high.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: Officials understand when the game's not playing well and it's
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: choppy and the volume is up.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: And you would hope not.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: That they're adjusting how they're working games on the fly.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: But you want to make sure that this thing doesn't
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: bog down so much. But listen, if they're lined up incorrectly,
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: they're just lined up incorrectly. You can't stop that. So
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: you're very cognizant of that. And then I would say
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: as a crew, if you have a game where you
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: have 20 penalties in a game, sweet number, I think
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: for the game to flow well as a dozen fouls,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: maybe 12, 15 max, it'd be like the limit. That's
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: a really good number to live in. So if you're
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: higher than that, what you're really focusing on, I think
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: if you're that crew, then is after you're grading for
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: that week, how was it graded? Did we have 23
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: fouls in that game? And four of those were incorrectly called,
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: which would have left us with 19. Now you're having
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: a different conversation as a crew and But quite honestly,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: you may end up in a game where you had 22,000.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: And after evaluation, they may say, hey, there's five other plays.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Where we think there's penalties.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: That becomes more challenging because what they're really saying is
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: you got the 22 right and we thought there was 27.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: And you know that 27,000 isn't good for your game
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: or the game itself. So it's a difficult thing to navigate.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: And you have to be cognizant of that as your
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: crew works through seasons and be very transparent about how
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: You are officiating games because I think your third point, Chuck,
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: is something I think collectively that we hope that.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: The officials are all looking at. And it does. It's
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: a whale minnow thing.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: It's another little cliche or phrase that I lived by
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: many times, too, is when you referee at these levels,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: you call what you have to call.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: You just don't call what you can call. And that
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean that you're swaying things, right? But listen, if
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: I have to call.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: This because there really is an effect on the play,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: then there's a foul. But if there is that little marginal,
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: they'll support that if they watch it in slow motion,
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: so I'm going to.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: Throw my flag feel.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: If that happens three or four times in a game
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: and then the other 15 are have-to-call plays... You've ended
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: up in a bad place again. So I think that's
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: what the league looks at totally. They're very aware of it.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: They're sensitive to the foul numbers. But then again, I
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: got to put it back.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: A little bit on some of the teams because quite frankly,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: the first few weeks, it's been a lot of sloppy
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: type of fouls that have to be called. You know,
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: there's a lot more offside. There's a lot more illegal motion,
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: illegal formations. Those things bog our game down, and a
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: lot of times I think some of the teams have
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: got to get a little better with that, which eliminates
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: three or four of these penalties as well.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: In our last minute and a half or so, two
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: minutes here, I do want to point out some good officiating.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: I've got two examples for you.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: At the end of the half, BYU-Notre Dame, like a
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: spike play, we just kind of assume that that's just
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: going to be done the right way, and the official caught–
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: that the quarterback, C.J. Carr, actually fumbled the snap and
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: he did not get off a clean. That was a
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: fumble and not a clean spike play to kill the clock.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: And then a second one, you were actually on this
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: game as a rules analyst, but your guy John Hussey
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: once again. There was an incomplete pass that they changed
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to attentional grounding, and it was the process, Gene, that
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: I appreciated.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: They're like, nope, let's stop this. Let's get this right.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: They all huddled, and they came out, and they had
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: the proper call, at least by my eyes.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: How did you see those two?
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. Front end was really, really crazy play.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: Expect the unexpected.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: Another thing we say before we go on the field,
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: always as officials, look, that really, believe it or not,
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: in its technicality is a backward pass. He is fumbling
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: or muffing a backward pass because a hand-to-hand snap from
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: the center to the quarterback is a backward pass.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: By rule. So that quarterback never possessed this exchange.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: So he really was pushing down a backward pass, which
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: results in the same result in that scenario. But it
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: has a couple more layers if it would be a
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: fourth down fumble, backward pass situation.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: But that wasn't there. And really, as an official.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Even though you're always expecting the unexpected, you're also very
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: aware that the spiking of this football in time is huge.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: So I'm really focusing on as soon as that ball
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: hits the ground, I'm killing this play, right? And I
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: think the officials react rather quickly with an incomplete kind
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: of signal. But again, because we have this technology that
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: helps in this one-off kind of play for a season
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: more than likely, it's You see that he doesn't possess
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: it in the immediate continuing action of that play within
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: a fraction of a second, a BYU player alertly dives
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: on the football.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: So you can get that right.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: So kudos to technology and getting the play right to
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: the officials. And then, The Hussey play is a huge
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: play for me because I do understand, and maybe our
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: listeners don't, how many layers there are to really have
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: intentional grounding. The first layer always is the quarterback has
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: to be under pressure. If the quarterback's not under pressure,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: he can throw wherever he wants, whenever he wants, because
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: he's not under pressure. But now after he's under pressure,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: is he within the tackle box or is he not
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: in the tackle box? That's for the referee and the
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: umpire in the offensive backfield to find his location when
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: the ball is released.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: That's number two.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: We know if he's out of the pocket as long
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: as the ball gets beyond the line of scrimmage, then
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: we can throw it away. But if it doesn't reach
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage, Then the two officials that are
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: on the line of scrimmage have to add to the
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: information of whether this was a foul by coming to
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: the referee and saying that pass did not get back
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: to the original line of scrimmage.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: And then if he.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: Happens to throw the ball within the pocket under pressure
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: downfield and there is no receiver in the area, then
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: officials that are 30 yards away from that quarterback have
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: to come to that referee and let him know, look,
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: if that quarterback's in the pocket and under pressure, I
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: don't have a receiver down here. So every single official
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: on the field could potentially have very valuable information to
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: disseminate to that referee to get that play, right? So
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: you really, really, when the crew is working well, And
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: a play like that occurs and Hussey was cognizant enough
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: to know that he needed to get people together to
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: check mark four or five boxes before this foul comes.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: They did a great job. And then what used to
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: scare me is you'd be doing all of that.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: And then at the end.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: Intentional grounding is 10 yards from the previous spot and
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: a loss of down, or it's a spot foul if
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: it's more than 10 yards. So many times I would
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: go through all of those things. I just check Mark
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: with you and think, oh my goodness, it is intentional grounding,
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: but I forgot where the quarterback was when he released
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: the ball, you know, was he more than 10 yards
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: or was he not more than 10 yards?
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: So you'll see a really good.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Referee when that play happens and he thinks there might
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: be intentional grounding. If he's really good and really work
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: and he'll run almost right to where the quarterback released
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: the ball and kind of stay there. That way he
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: knows his body is the spot of where that pass
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: was thrown from. And if it is intentional grounding, he
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: has a pretty good start as to whether it's further
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: back to 10 yards or not and how.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: He's going to enforce a potential foul. So kudos to
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Hossie truthfully.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: And I know John, well, kudos to the crew. for
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: letting him know, you know, hold on, let's, let's have
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: this conversation and let's get it right.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: And they did so. So you're right. And I love
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: the gold store to wrap it up.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: All right. Well, good, good, good.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll wrap it up with this because I know
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: in college football, a pass interference is 15 yards in
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: a first down. And I know it's a spot foul
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: in the national football league, but when you depance a
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: guy and pass interference, I think that should be an
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: automatic touchdown.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: Gene.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: So just an idea.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: The enforcement's one thing. I'm such a dangerous guy with
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: a live microphone on my waist.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: To announce the foul, no.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: I think there should be just one exception, just to
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: let the country know exactly why we're calling this, you know,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: and the fact that it might have been a beautiful afternoon,
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: but somehow, you know, there's beautiful days.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: When the moon is out. Yes, it was out.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: It was out. It could be a full moon. And
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: I think maybe if you could just kind of slide
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: that in there to.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: The, you know, the penalty announcements, you.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: Know, you'd get a few phone calls from Park Avenue naturally,
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: but you would be part of a great piece of
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: entertainment that would last well beyond your years on the field. So, Yeah,
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: I think it's definitely an extra something.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Full moon interference, automatic touchdown.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, or, you know, it could have been an eclipse.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: You never know. It just depends on how it finalizes.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So you could go a
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: long way with that.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: I'll have a lot of creative answers for you next
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: week for sure.
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: Gene, thank you. I appreciate it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Have a great week.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: All right, Gene Steratore joining us.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: We are really late, so Everett Fitzy is going to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: join us next. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Oh, wow.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Look at that. Started off like royalty.
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: Is Fitz an Avenger? Sounds like it's the Avengers.
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: He might be. He might be. He's just so good
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: at his job, and then he's so.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: Good to the people.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Now, not one of those that's, like, conflicted morally, either.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: No.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: Like some of those Avengers. No, it's true. He knows
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: what he's doing.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: Joining us now is Everett Fitzhugh here on the radio
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: program Avenger.
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: Hi, Everett. That was some great theme music, boys.
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: I love that one.
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: I came walking down my ramp as like a WWE superstar,
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: just in step with the beat. I'm picturing it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: I like it. I like it a lot.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: By the way, we got the Red Wings tonight, and
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: because we interview you on a Tuesday, we didn't even
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: bring up the road trip, you going to Detroit, back home,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: putting on your you know, Miguel Cabrera jammies and shooting
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: on your Ben Wallace Nerf hoop. So did you go
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: a little early and spend a little extra time in
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: the Motor City before the road trip got underway?
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: It was actually a Grant Hill Nerf hoop, which I
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: still actually have at home, by the way. My old...
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: Grant Hill, 1996-97, Pistons basketball. No, so we left on, what, Wednesday,
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: I think? So I still got some time with my
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: mom and some family members, and we actually did dinner
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: and all that. So it was good.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: It was really, really good.
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: The cool thing is my wife and I and my son,
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: we went back to Detroit early August. So we had
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: just seen everybody. And my mom was like, I just
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: saw you. I know what's going on. So it was
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: a little less stressful than my normal trips into Detroit.
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: I'll give you that.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Does everybody want Kraken merch back there?
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Or are they just too loyal to the wing?
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: You know what? Actually, a couple of my family members
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: are big Red Wings fans, so they will never switch over,
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: but I do have some young cousins.
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: Oh, look at you.
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: They are all Kraken fans, so I actually did bring
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: home a bunch of little foam Nerf pucks and a
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: couple of kids' hats and some kids' t-shirts and all that.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: So I'm starting the young.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: generation of family.
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: Plant and seeds. That's right. The harvest is coming soon, Detroit.
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: The harvest is coming soon.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I tell you what, for a five-game road trip,
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I got to believe that's a runaway success
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: to come away with three wins and a point in Tampa.
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: Is that the way they viewed it?
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, 7 of 10 points on the road trip,
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: that's definitely successful. I think going into it, a lot
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: of us were thinking, if this team can go 3-1
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: or 3-1-1, some combination of that on your road trip,
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: I mean, that is a very successful road trip. Anything
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: after that is just gravy. So I think Seattle, the
• 28:29
  Speaker 6: Kraken should be, I think they are very satisfied with
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: With the overall results of the road trip, however, I
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: think that Florida game, you know, you never want to
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: lose that last game on a road trip. You want
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: to build momentum. coming back home. But I think the
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: way they lost that game and you heard Lane Lambert
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: say it post game, you know, he was looking for
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: a little bit more from everywhere, you know, personnel individually, collectively.
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: So I think the way the road trip ended, maybe
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: left a little bit of a sour taste in people's mouths.
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: But I do think overall you come back home, you're
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: still third place in the division and You come home
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: over 500 still. I mean, I think that was, for
• 29:16
  Speaker 6: all intents and purposes, a very successful road trip for Seattle.
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Everett, so at this point in the season, I
• 29:22
  Speaker 7: think it's pretty safe to categorize, you know, this Kraken
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: team beats the teams that they should be beating, and
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: they've lost to only good teams so far. So how
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: do they step that up into kind of maybe being
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: a little bit one of those better teams and start
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: getting some wins against the better teams in the NHL?
• 29:39
  Speaker 6: Well, I think that that was the first problem, right?
• 29:42
  Speaker 6: I mean, how many times, Anders and Chuck, the last
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: couple years have we said man, this team is going
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: and losing to San Jose, losing to Vancouver, losing to Chicago,
• 29:52
  Speaker 6: teams that they shouldn't be losing to. Well, this year,
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: the Kraken are beating those teams. They're competitive with the
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: teams that are considered, quote-unquote, better than them. They were competitive.
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: They got a point out of Tampa. You look at
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: the Edmonton Oilers, who are off to a very hot start.
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: I mean, if not for a bad bounce in the
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: last two minutes of the game... In that second game
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: of the season, they're probably going to overtime if the
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: Kraken can score a game-tying goal. So I do think
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: that Seattle, they've gotten better at playing those teams, playing
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: up to their competition. And Lane Lambert has even said
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: multiple times, there have been instances this year where Vegas
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: was one of them. I think Florida can be categorized
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: as another where the Kraken respected the opponent too much.
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: He said it about Vegas. This is a team that
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: they saw the Western Conference champions who were two games
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: away from the Stanley Cup. I think we maybe gave
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: them a little bit too much respect. I feel like
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: the same could be said with the Florida Panthers. I
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: think it's maybe taking away a little bit of that respect,
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: if you will, for your opponent. I know that's very
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: sacrilege in the NHL and in sports in general. But
• 31:04
  Speaker 6: I do think that this team is finding their way.
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: You know, year two of Lane Lambert, I've said it before,
• 31:11
  Speaker 6: there wasn't the learning curve that there was last year.
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: You're not implementing new systems. You're not trying to train
• 31:18
  Speaker 6: and teach a bunch of new players how you do things.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: And I think already just the fact that you've got
• 31:24
  Speaker 6: a group of guys who understand what is expected. You've
• 31:28
  Speaker 6: got young, hungry players that want to play well, that
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: want to have success and want to continue to get
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: more and more ice time and move up and up
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: in the lineup. I think that's going to be what
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: ultimately takes this team to that next level.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: I misread a Mike Benton tweet a couple of nights ago.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I thought he tweeted out that Brandon Montour was out
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: for the season. Pooped myself a little bit.
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: I did too.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: And then he corrected me. He said, no, he's just
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: out for the game. So day to day since that time,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: what are the chances that he plays tonight and how
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: important is he to this team?
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: I mean, Brandon Montour, number one, he's your second power
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: play quarterback. I think defensively, he is, you know, I
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: would probably put him one of your top defensemen on
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: the team, but I think also from a leadership perspective
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: as well. I mean, he brings a lot to this lineup.
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: He keeps things loose. He is an offensive generator from
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: the back end, which I think for Seattle, a team
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: that in the past, has had trouble scoring goals, not
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: so much this season. But if you can generate offense
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: from your blue line, that's where a lot of that starts.
• 32:39
  Speaker 6: So I think where the Kraken lose with him is
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: you lose a lot of offense, you lose a steady
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: presence defensively, and you just lose a really big voice,
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: a really big presence in your locker room. We're going
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: to go to morning skate here in about an hour
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: or so and see if Montour is out there. I
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: don't believe he was with the team yesterday, still dealing
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: with that lower body injury, but I was talking to
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: him on the road trip after it happened, and he
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: did tell me that he doesn't think he's going to
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: be out too long. So this won't be a long-term thing.
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: I do think day-to-day genuinely means day-to-day. He might be
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: ready to go today. He might be ready to go
• 33:19
  Speaker 6: against Minnesota on Thursday. So we'll have to wait and see.
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: But I do think that he's close. I don't see
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: this extending into next week or the week after. But again,
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: we'll hopefully find out more today.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: I would actually like a Ben Wallace Nerf hoop with
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: the Afro on top of the backboard.
• 33:37
  Speaker 6: Wouldn't that be awesome? I, I, so I had, I
• 33:40
  Speaker 6: don't have it anymore, but did a giveaway back in,
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: it was an Oh two, three, something like that. I
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: was in high school and they did give like the
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: first 10,000 fans, the actual, the Afro wig. And I
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: had one for a very long time. I wore it
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: to school. I wore it as a part of a
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: Halloween costume. I had it somewhere. Um, yeah, man, that, that,
• 33:58
  Speaker 6: that old four Pistons team, man, that was, that was
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: a marketing, uh, marketing team's dream with Rashid, with Rip Hamilton,
• 34:06
  Speaker 6: Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, man.
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: I'm getting goosebumps.
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: That was fun. That was a fun year. That was
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: a fun championship year.
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: That's the thing about a Piston fan.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: They just accept the fact that no other fan base
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: will like our team.
• 34:20
  Speaker 5: They just accept it.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: They own it.
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: Like we, we, the bad boys of the nineties, you know,
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: like we didn't care. Bill Lambert was going to go
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: out and he was going to hit you in the mouth.
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: And we didn't like that.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: Your point. I don't care. I don't care. Bill Lambert.
• 34:38
  Speaker 5: All right, man. Well, uh, enjoy some home cooking. Uh,
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: we'll be listening tonight. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: All right, fellas, take care.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: See you soon. Thanks, Everett.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Every single hour for your chance to win tickets to
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: an upcoming game for the Kraken against the Maple Leafs, actually.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: On the 28th of October.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Coming up next, though, we'll squeeze this in before Coach Neuheisel.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: The 49ers, can they be caught now that they're 6-0?
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Rick Neuheisel is going to join us at 9 o'clock,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: our college football insider.
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: He's taking us to different worlds with his music here.
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: It's a different spiritual plane at this point.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Is that right? Yeah.
• 35:57
  Speaker 5: You have like a ghost llama named Hector.
• 35:59
  Speaker 7: Exactly.
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: Purple hair.
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: And three rows of teeth.
• 36:05
  Speaker 7: Living in the Matrix.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: You're just envisioning a whole different you. It's true. Thanks
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: to Chris Kidd's music.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 36:14
  Speaker 7: I think he's feeling extra funky for the start of
• 36:16
  Speaker 7: the NBA season, to be honest.
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: It's not even fun. It's not even his favorite sport,
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: I found out today.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: It's track and field.
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: It's up there, absolutely.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: We've got to get a track and field insider for
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: next year.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: They're all over the place. Every Wednesday at 9.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: All right, it is Chuck in the Morning Sports Radio,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: 93.3 KJR FM. 49ers win again. They moved to 6-0
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: last night. I mean, yes, the gap, you know, just
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: a little over a third of the way through the season,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: already up to three and a half games over the Seahawks,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: four and a half games up on the Rams, for
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: goodness sake. Hell, the Rams are a last place team.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: The Cardinals are ahead of them in the standings.
• 36:57
  Speaker 7: That's wild.
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: At this stage.
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: I mean.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: People are already, Anders, they can't be caught. They were
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: talking about that last week, and here they are at
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: 6-0 now and create a little bit more separation for themselves,
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: a little more of a gap.
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, I get it.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: They've played the best football in the National Football League
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: through six games this year. They're better than the Vikings.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: That's the other undefeated team, right? They've played better than
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: them because the Vikings are just a defense.
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: Chiefs, too.
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: Oh, Chiefs as well.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: Chiefs got to be right there, though, in the conversation
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: of who's played the best so far. But I'll give
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: it to them. San Francisco 49ers have played the best.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: But I think last night you kind of saw how
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Washington came back into that game.
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: And this team, the 49ers, and this is.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: What I've professed all along, as long as their core
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: is healthy, it's as good as any core in the league,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: and they can carry that football team. I just don't
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: think they can stay healthy. And I do believe that
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: there is a point where you go past the threshold.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: We have too many injured guys. And did they reach
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: that threshold last night? When Mike Evans went down, they
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: were a completely different team. They didn't have another wide
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: receiver who you've heard of because Debo's out and Pearsall's
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: out for the season. and Stribling's not back yet from
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: his injury. Purdy didn't have anybody to throw to. Timing
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: was off last night. Then all of a sudden, the
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: commander started sacking him in the second half. McCaffrey's very good.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Maybe he's still great. Maybe he's still great, but is
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: he the top running back in the National Football League anymore?
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. This is why I've been down,
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: and I've been wrong. Last year was my worst prediction
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: of the entire year last year. This year is probably
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: the Mariners making it into the World Series. But I'm
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: prepared to be wrong about them again. And it's twofold.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: It is they have veteran players who get hurt every
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: year and they're all a year older. And then they've
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: not done a good job drafting. They don't have the
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: depth that they've had in the past. They've been crushed
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: by their own media for how crappy their drafts have
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: been in the last. That catches up to you. So
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: if they lose the same amount of players this year,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: do they have the guys step in that can replace them?
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Based off of last night, Mike Evans might have been like, okay.
• 39:24
  Speaker 7: The tipping point?
• 39:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that might have been the tipping point.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: We don't have another wide receiver worth a damn on
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: this team, and that certainly is going to affect your
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: passing game.
• 39:33
  Speaker 7: Yeah, every couple years during this current Niners regime, it
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: seems like they kind of put it all together, find
• 39:38
  Speaker 7: a way to piece together a full, healthy season. 2019,
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: go to the Super Bowl. 2023, go to the Super Bowl. And,
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: you know, those are both really good teams. That might
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: be what happens this year, whether it ends up being.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: But you're three years removed from those guys.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: That is true.
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: That is true. But then, you know... a couple of
• 39:54
  Speaker 7: weeks from now, you'll get Debo back and we'll see
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: how long Mike Evans is out. You'll get, as one
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: guy gets injured, another guy comes back. I still think
• 40:01
  Speaker 7: as of right now, it's, it's, it's their division to
• 40:04
  Speaker 7: lose by any, like, well, sure.
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: Certainly that.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 40:07
  Speaker 7: And I do think they will end up winning the division,
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: but that's not the question.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: The question is, can they be caught? I'm saying they
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: still can be caught. It is certainly their division to lose.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: They're up three and a half games with six games
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: into the season. No question it's there, but can they
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: be caught? I would argue, yeah, they still can. It's
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: looking murkier than ever, but yeah, I think they still
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: can be caught.
• 40:27
  Speaker 7: It's still a possibility. I don't know how likely it is, though. Yeah,
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: I don't know.
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: We'll see.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: All right, coming up next, Rick Neuheisel, Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM.