Halford & Brough in the Morning - A Memorable Olympics For Canada

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

In hour one, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Josh Elliott-Wolfe look back at a busy weekend in sports (3:00), they talk a memorable Olympics for Canada (6:00), plus the boys chat some NFL pre-season with Too Deep Zone's Mike Tanier (26:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- He's already got one. He steps in and another one. Cal Rowley, three-run shot, second of the night. There's George Alani bouncing to the outside. Touchdown Seahawks. When you're in the midst of a 22-game hit streak, you usually see days like yesterday that kind of with a soft single were right, and that's it. But he was doing, you know, damage and having multiple hits every single line it seemed like good morning it is another week of halford here on sportsnet 650 still no halford here still no brough i'm Jamie Dodd, back for another week with me. This week, he's become a bit of a fixture on the morning show. This summer, already done a few weeks, got some more coming up, I believe. He is Josh Elliott-Wolfe. What's going on, Josh?

Good morning. Happy to be here. It's still very early. So early. Every Monday I work this show, I'm like, wow, it's early. It never gets later. It's always 6am that we go on the air. Adog, good morning. Good morning. Had to remember what your keyword there was. Didn't want to throw you off with a what's up or a what's going on. Good job.

Just stick to good morning. We fear change. Stick to the script. No laddie, however, it is Basketball Ben in Basketball Ben. Good morning. Good morning to you as well. And this is very special. The last four shifts of Basketball Ben's Sportsnet 650

career coming up with us here on the morning show, Monday through Thursday. We're going to be a big Basketball Ben send-off. Are you getting emotional? The last dance. The last dance. It's the last dance. I was driving to work and i was like this is

kind of sad this feels a bit weird i think of the four of us as you know jordan pippen kukoch rodman yeah exactly so it's very fitting did the last dance the last dance for basketball band here uh at sportsnet 650 how from brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. And we're coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics

provider. I asked to do this for you and I immediately messed it up. And you know what? I didn't let Izzy do it. I let you do it and you have not rewarded my confidence let's let's try it again let's try it again coming to you live from the kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec as mike says oh wow you guys That's what you're doing. That was cool. I was waiting for you to see if you would hit it.

I know. I got goosebumps. Wow. Wow, okay. Wow. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Never too early to send your What We Learned submissions. And, of course, we'll do those at 830.

And you've got a full 72 hours since Friday to work with. So hit us up. Hashtag WWL in the inbox. Big show today. 630. Mike Tenier, NFL analyst. He writes the Too Deep Zone newsletter on Substack. Of course, a regular here on the show. He's going to join us, talk a little preseason NFL action, look ahead to the regular season getting going as well.

At 7.30, our very own Marcus Fitzgerald of Sportsnet 650. He'll join us. Of course, Fitzy hosts the Basketball Central show weekly here on the station, so we'll look back at the Olympic basketball tournament, maybe look ahead a little bit to the 2028 edition, to the NBA season

as well with Fitzy. And at 8 o'clock, a little bit more basketball content. Brian Slusarchuk, he's the co-owner of the Vancouver Bandits, who played in the CEBL, the Canadian Elite Basketball League, championship game yesterday in Montreal. They fall just short. Really good game, though.

So we'll talk to Brian Slusarchuk about that game and his team's season and really where the league is headed as well. Josh, you know I got to do it. Working in reverse, 8 o'clock brian slucer chuck the co-owner of the vancouver band at 7 30 marcus fitzgerald from right here on sportsnet 650 and at 6 30 mike tenier nfl analyst writes the two deep zone newsletter on sub stack before we do any of that let's talk about what happened hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best

in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit bccsa.ca. And, of course, we've got to stop with the biggest what's happened, which is the Olympics are over. It's all done. The party is over. Turn the lights off. Everyone's going home. Now, the Paralympics get going in a couple of weeks here, but the Olympics are over and we can talk a little bit big picture about the Olympics, but quick roundup of some of the major events that happened since we went off the air on Friday morning. 4x100 men's relay. Very cool, especially in what could be Andre Degrassi's final Olympic race.

For him to go out with a gold, I believe he tied Penny Alexia because the most decorated Canadian Olympian ever with that medal. Very, very cool moment for him. In breaking, Vancouver's Phil Wizard wins the first and possibly last ever gold in men's breaking.

I did not realize coming into the games that it was only on the schedule for this one. LA has already said, no, we're not interested. It's possible it could get back, but we can talk a little bit more. Based on how it went overall, I'm not sure I like its prospects. I got to apologize to the listeners because I've been building up breakdancing for weeks. It was the most anticipated event for me personally for these Olympics, and they sucked so bad. They were so bad. I was like, this is the lowest bar to win an Olympic gold medal,

except our Phil Wizard. He was awesome. The gold medal winner deserved it. He was so much better than everyone else. The bulk of the competitors, though, I'm like, I think I could have done that. There was a lot to laugh about when it came to breaking. It was not impressive.

We're not talking about our guy. No, he was so good. Well-deserved. He was cut above the rest. The one thing he did that I was like, oh, my goodness, was when he matched the one guy's move as he was doing it. I don't know if I mirrored it. That was insane. I did enjoy that it was like dance battles where the other guy was right there watching you kind of yeah it

was it was literally and they were like kind of staring at each other and like i'm sending it back to you in your face with that you gotta do like a cool thing at the end yeah exactly no no it's your turn but then like phil wizard could like pause in midair in really impressive ways and stuff so he was incredible. The part of it that probably drew the most attention, though, and I feel kind of bad for like somebody like Phil Wizard who did an incredible job, but it was the woman's competitor from Australia, Ray Gunn. Oh, my God. Yes.

Memed for life. She leaned into it, though. You got to respect. For all of the jokes about like, can you imagine if a regular person got in the Olympics and tried to do one of these sports? Like we basically saw it on display. Yeah, she was. I believe she is like a PhD in like dance.

And I love all the judges. Like I award you no points. All the judges in each round. There was like the Billy Madison judges like you have zero points. And so she did her thing. People laughed about it long and hard. I feel bad. She had a good time with it, though.

She had a good time. She leaned into it. It's tough because it is just objectively funny watching her routine. Like, what are you going to do? It's funny. I do feel a little bad for the other competitors. And I saw somebody point out on Twitter that,

okay, so it was here for Paris. It's already out for 2028. The next games following that are in Australia. I believe they're in Brisbane. There would be a chance for them to bring breaking back but now it's like a national embarrassment for australia the sport of breaking so i don't know if they're gonna want because i didn't realize that they the ioc has started to give the host city a lot more control over like adding new sports so that's why for example baseball is probably going to be back in la

because they're like well we, we're in America. We have baseball stadiums. Let's do baseball. So if Brisbane really pushed for breaking to come back, they could do it. But now they're like, no, everyone associates breaking with us being idiots. We don't want that back at the sport. I will say, if you're Phil Wizard, winning the first and only gold in a competition is pretty cool. It's like, all right, I did so well.

I was so much better than everyone else. They retired it from the Olympics. That's the only reason. Phil Wizard. Absolutely nothing else. So, you know, breaking, it was certainly part of the Olympics. We can all say that. It definitely happened.

That's going to be something we look back on in 10 years and be like, oh, right. What? Break dancing? What? Why did they do that? The Olympic Games? Remember Ray Gunn? happened um that'll be that's gonna be something we look back on in 10 years and be like oh right what break dancing was that what that was at the olympic games remember ray gun yeah oh man oh ray gun um in basketball double gold again for the u.s steph curry hitting four threes in the final few minutes against france uh to clinch gold for the U.S. in men's basketball. The U.S. women also survive a major, major scare to beat France 67-66. They win their eighth straight gold. And I got to say, my only take, well, not my only takeaway. We'll talk more to Fitzy about it.

But one of my big takeaways watching the men's basketball gold medal game was I am even more excited than I already was for NHL players to be back at the Olympics because you look at the kind of that was an iconic moment for basketball fans seeing Steph Curry in his first Olympics get to do put on that type of performance to clinch gold on the court with LeBron James on the the court with Kevin Durant, right? Kind of the three standard bears in the NBA of their generation. That was a special moment for basketball fans. And it's just been way too long since we've got to see anything like that for hockey in international hockey. And you think about the catalog of iconic moments in the sport of hockey that have come from international best-on-best play, right?

Going all the way back to the Summit Series the canada cup the golden goal the miracle on ice from a non-canadian perspective uh we need to get back to that i was just thinking you know looking ahead to the 2026 it's not the same as steph lebron curry but like could we get you know crosby mcdavid bedard on the ice together? Something like that, right? Kind of almost like three different generations of elite Canadian players. And I think the hockey tournament has even more potential to be special than the basketball tournament does. Because in the basketball tournament, you have one team loaded with all-stars. And then a bunch of other teams with all-stars, like individual all-stars, but not roster spot 1 through 12 all-stars. In hockey, you've got the American team is going to be loaded.

The Swedish team is loaded. Canada is always loaded. You have multiple star-studded teams going up against each other. So, man, I'm always a huge fan of the NHL players going at the Olympics. I'm always stoked for it. Watching that gold medal game just got me even more stoked for them to be back there. Yeah, the last part there is I think for me the most exciting part is because I can get into basketball at the Olympics and it's a lot of fun.

But then in the end, I'm like, well, the U.S. You know the U.S. is going to win. Almost certainly. It's going to be fun watching them, but they're going to win. Whereas in hockey, there's at least going to be, you mentioned it, there's a few teams and there's also teams where you can realistically make the case like to be, you mentioned it, there's a few teams. And there's also teams where you can realistically make the case like, hey, you win a one-off game and Finland could win the tournament or whatever team it is.

So that's what's going to be exciting. I don't know. I wonder how this Four Nations thing is going to work and if it's going to be a sufficient enough teaser or if it's going to be like, enough teaser or if it's it's going to be like hey we got to wait to for the olympics to really get a taste of how good these players can be when they're playing together and how fun it can be when they're playing together but yeah it's it's really exciting and it's been too long especially like man mcdavid's going to be almost

30 when the olympics happen that's wild And he has not played in an Olympics. Yep. And that's what I'm looking forward to and seeing who he can play with and actually being able to cheer for Conor McDavid would be fun. Yeah, and that's another good point, right, is that I think it's been so long since we've had NHL players at the Olympics

that some fans have started to forget how easy it is to switch your allegiance to the Canadian players, right? I think you saw that with the NBA. People who normally are like, oh, I'm a huge LeBron fan, but I hate Steph. It's like, no, I love Steph now because he's playing for the U.S. Or vice versa, right?

And I think that's exactly the process that's going to happen for Canadian hockey fans as well. As much as I know Vancouver fans are furious at Connor McDavid in general after that playoff loss to the Oilers. Trust me, once he puts on the Team Canada sweater, you're going to be just fine with Connor McDavid. And it works the other way. Like when Canadian fans in Vancouver

are going to be watching Miller and Hughes, Besser, maybe Demko. I don't want you to succeed. I'm going to hate those dudes. Exactly. It completely goes the opposite way. We all remember the Ryan Kessler experience, right? That got a little hairy in 2010 when he was playing for the Americans.

So quickly doing a bit of, we did a bit of a look back already, maybe a little preemptively on Friday, but I'll throw it past you as well, Josh. I know you were really into these Paris Olympics. Dialed in. What is going to stand out as the kind of big memory or big moment for you? From a Canadian perspective, I feel like a lot of it for me was in the

first week with the summer back caution swimming was huge. Canada, the Canadian women's soccer team and everything that went on with that and especially in the first week in the group stage, they overcame it. The super inspirational story.

Obviously, it didn't work out in the long run. No. But that was a big story. And then a sneaky underrated one for me, the rugby sevens. Okay. Women's rugby sevens getting second. I thought that was a really good story too.

And then the four by100 is probably up there. So that would be like my top four, I guess, with most notable things that stick out to me that I'll remember from these Olympics. And breakdancing, of course. Breakdance, Ray Gun, of course. That's right there at number five. So yeah, those are the things.

I think I tend to lean more towards the swimming. I don't know why. Well, I think Summer McIntosh, just that performance from a Canadian at 17, that has to be number one. If you're a Canadian who was dialed into these Olympics, that's got to be one of the things you're going to remember most, because I think we're going to look back on this, hopefully, as a debut, a coming out party for Summer, right? Where she goes on at in la at 2028 right possibly in brisbane the next time continuing to do historic performances continuing to rack up medals and this will be kind of the moment she really established herself as as an up-and-coming star not even an up-and-coming star just a star at 17 in the world of the olympics

so i think that's got to be up there. You know, if we're just talking memorable, not necessarily good, the basketball disappointment is going to stick with me for a long time. That was a really, really disappointing way to go out. And I know France gets to the gold medal game, puts up a good fight. Maybe they were a little better than people were giving them credit for coming into that. They're playing in front of their home crowd. But Canada still just completely came out and laid

an egg in the first half of that game. Did not really give themselves a chance to be properly competitive in the game. That's very, very disappointing considering the talent on the roster. I'm going to remember Hammer Throw too. BC Hammer Throw Powerhouse. Stand up. Absolutely. I'm going to remember

that from these Olympics too. You can text in. Let us know what you're going to remember that from these Olympics, too. You can text in. Let us know what you're going to remember from the Paris Olympics. 650 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Moving on to some non Olympic action that happened over the weekend in the CFL. Oh, BC Lions lose 33 16 in Edmonton. It's now a three-game losing streak. They're 5-4 now.

Of course, they were 5-1 after a five-game win streak. They were on top of the West Division. They're now just behind Saskatchewan in the West Division. Now, look, they were without starting quarterback Vernon Adams, but I'll also say the Elks lost their starting QB to injury. Trey Ford Ford in the first half still outperformed the Lions in the second half so yes okay hey you're without Vernon Adams you got to go to your backup that's a little concerning but they it's not as if you were

completely then outclassed in terms of talent by the Edmonton Elks so I I think I don't want to say it's panic time if you're a Lions fan here, but three losses in a row. And we've talked to a bunch of people from the team, you know, guys who cover the team like Moj, and they've been beating the drum for a while that even when they were winning, there's things they need to clean up. I was kind of looking at it, especially that shutout loss to Winnipeg. Maybe that's the wake-up call the team needs to really, you know,

get back to business and start tightening up their game. It hasn't happened yet, but it's got to happen pretty soon here if they want to keep the dream of hosting the Western Conference final, giving themselves the best shot possible at going to the Grey Cup at BC Place Alive. They've got to turn this around pretty quickly. The other thing is when you're looking for a wake-up call, the Edmonton Elks are not a very good team. Nope.

And so when you lose to them, especially when they lose their quarterback early in the game as well, that should be another wake-up call, but we'll see if they do respond to it. Another part of what happened, and this might play into everything going on with the BC Lions, Nathan Rourke was released by the Atlanta Falcons yesterday. So in the last year he's gone from the jaguars to the patriots to the giants to the falcons obviously has not secured a long-term home south of the border hasn't really found a spot to um find a like find an opportunity hasn't really got that opportunity and at a certain point you kind of start to wonder

like hey is that opportunity going to come because when he went to the falcons it was like hey this is a team that had put in a waiver request for you the patriots were ahead of them so they got him instead and it was like hey maybe this is a team that believes in what nathan roar can be though they did have a log jam at quarterback so it was hard to see the fit. But then when they release you too, it's kind of like, man, is the NFL dream coming to an end for Nathan Moore? And look, all credit to him,

he's probably going to keep trying to pursue a spot somewhere down there if he can land as a third stringer somewhere. But if you're a BC Lions fan, you're looking at the struggles lately and you're like, well, you know what would be nice? It'd be nice to have him back. Could it be to his benefit to maybe put together

a half season or some time up here to kind of rebuild his stock back? He's been a part of, I believe, four teams in the last year. He's not getting the reps in games. If he can come back here to a league, maybe that helps him. I don't know, though, because he's not getting the reps in games if he can come back here to a league maybe that helps him i don't know though because he's already put like incredible cfl play on tape so they they know what he can do in the cfl i almost wonder if there's some downside to him right like if he jumps in mid-season cfl you know like new teammates all of those things if he doesn't have a stellar

campaign then is there more downside to him coming back? I wonder. I think you're right that he's going to give it every opportunity. And you never know what shakes out in terms of injuries, in terms of practice roster spots between now and the beginning of the season. After that point, as you start to get into September, into mid-September, then I think it becomes a more realistic conversation. But I also say, you know, Vernon Adams, not necessarily expected to be out long term and before he was injured. And really, you know, before even before his injury, his play had started to drop off a little bit. But for a large part of the season, he's playing at a most outstanding player level for the line. So it's not as if their big flaw necessarily going forward

is going to be quarterback play. I think if there's any chance that Rourke comes back, obviously the Lions are going to be monitoring the situation. You have to work through the scenarios, what it would look like, how much you can help your team. But it's a really fascinating position that I think Rourke finds himself in and the Lions find themselves in regards to a reunion. It could make sense. I don't know if it's the most straightforward path to it happening

earlier here either. Okay. Over in Major League Baseball, league baseball mariners big big win 12-1 over the mets they've turned that mitch hanegar walk-off uh double base clearing double into a four-game winning streak now and man i'm sure for mariners fans to see a 12 up on the board for the runs feels really, really good, given how much that offense has struggled. The only problem, though, is they've turned it into a four-game winning streak, but Houston is on a five-game win streak, so no separation, dead heat atop the AL West right now between the Mariners and the Astros.

And I do also wonder, as good as it must feel to see that 12 on the scoreboard, if you're a Mariners fan, there's also got to be a sensation of like guys can we save some of these runs these are so hard for us to come by you don't use them all now we only needed two save the other 10 for other games coming up this is a little worrying here the the other part of this this whole race too is they are like they're two and a half games back of the wild card, and chasing Kansas City, the Twins are there too. It's going to be interesting to see how that pans out, because I still don't, maybe it's just because it's the Royals, I don't fully believe in Kansas City,

but also I don't fully believe in the Mariners, but one of these teams is going to have to make it the Twins too. You could probably throw in there as well. I feel like, and look, they're tied right now, but I feel like Houston is going to find a way to pull away because they're the Astros, and that's what they do. But the Mariners do have a series coming up against the Tigers that starts tomorrow, and that's a place where

if you're on this winning streak right now, hopefully you can keep it going because that's an opponent you should be beating. And things can happen. I'm kind of turning my attention to the wild card, though. It's a good point because for a long time it's looked like it's the division or bust for both the Mariners and the Astros. But now for the first time in a while, they've actually climbed ahead of the Red Sox in the wildcard standing.

So they're the first team not chasing the Royals for that last wildcard spot, which hasn't been the case for a while, thanks to that four-game win streak. So they might have – now they're still two and a half back, but with a long time to play, they might actually have a bit of a backup option to make the playoffs. Although, I will say, as we've seen with the Blue Jays over the years, you want to do everything you can to avoid those wild card spots. You do not want the random best out of three series to start off your playoffs pursuit. So still lots to play for in the division between the Mariners and the Astros. Should mention as well, Jays lose 8-4 to Oakland. Vladdy's 22-game hit streak ends.

So one of the only positive fun things going for Jays fans is no more as Vladdy's 22 game hit streak ends, so one of the only positive fun things going for Jays fans is no more as Vladdy's 22 game hit streak is history. Finally, I did want to mention, we're going to talk to the co-owner of the team coming up at 8 o'clock. The Vancouver Bandits lose in the Canadian Elite Basketball League Championship

game, 97-95 to the Niagara River Lions. This is actually a really good game, so i don't know if you know they use they call like the elam ending in the cebl they call it target time you get down below four minutes in the fourth quarter and you turn the game clock off and instead of you know finishing it on a timed basis they add 11 points to the team that's leading their score and that becomes the target and the first team to get to that number wins the game uh yesterday it was 96 the bandits were down 10 plus going into target time and early in target time they claw all the way back to tie it up 95 95 unfortunately niagara

scores on the last possession but really good game uh and really good performance from the bandits we'll talk more about that with brian slarchuk at 8 o'clock. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details.

Mike Tenier, NFL analyst, writes the 2 Deep Zone newsletter on Substack. He'll join us next here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650. two deep zone newsletter on sub stack. He'll join us next year on half an abrupt sports net six 50. Welcome back to Half and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd and Josh Elliott-Wolf filling in for the guys this week. Half and Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today.

650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome details at DunbarLumber.com. Now joining us, NFL analyst, regular here on the show, also writes the 2 Deep Zone newsletter on Substack. He is Mike Tenier.

Mike, thank you very much for doing this today. How are you? I watched 16 preseason games this weekend. How do you think I am? Incredible. And also possessed of perfect knowledge for what's going to happen in the upcoming season, right? Now that you've seen week one of the preseason.

Yes, there are no secrets to me anymore. My eyes have been opened. I can predict the Super Bowl with deadly accuracy. Exactly. Because I always feel funny doing this, right? Because we're so excited for football to get back, right? And week one rolls around and we, okay, week one takeaways. But it is just so fundamentally hard to take away anything

with any sort of certainty from these games right absolutely and you try to like couch it when you write about and i wrote about all 32 teams at the two deep zone we couch it with hey you know what be optimistic about the guy who looked good especially with some rookie or some guy from last year if he looked good he looked good that's great be worried about injuries if there was an injury obviously the Chiefs had a big one. Worry about that. Otherwise, go about your life. Watch the Olympics.

Watch some baseball. Come back in a couple of weeks, and it'll all be for real. So with those caveats in mind, I think obviously one player who probably had the most eyes on him coming into this weekend's action, QB Caleb Williams' first overall pick for the Chicago Bears, and generally very positive reactions, made some impressive throws. When you look at that and that type of performance, is it more just like confirmation of why he was the first overall pick,

or is there anything beyond that that you can take away when you see a rookie like Caleb Williams at quarterback go out and have a productive first time taking snaps in the NFL? It's confirmation of what made him the first overall pick, particularly when he's making lots and lots of throws on the run, which was his specialty, and they're accurate throws and they're good downfield reads, which most of them were. It's also confirmation that he goes out there week one as a starter for the Bears,

and I think that that is assured of him, that it's not going to be a disaster that it's not going to be some sort of six interception meltdown obviously all these rookies have their rookie lumps and ups and downs but it's confirmation it'll be okay it'll look okay there are things he can do well there'll be mistakes along the way but you're not going to be sitting there in october being like oh my goodness this this guy has you know has has already sabotaged his own career. And that means a lot because you will see sometimes rookies, not so much this weekend. They all look pretty good, but you will see some rookies that go out there

in their preseason debut and you realize, oh, my, this guy's a year or two away if it's ever going to happen. I did want to ask about you mentioned the other rookie quarterbacks, and it feels like every fan of a team that has a rookie quarterback this week was like, oh man, I knew it. He's going to work out. This is great. Whether it's J.J. McCarthy or Jaden Daniels,

whoever it is, what did you think of the other rookie quarterbacks playing this weekend? It's funny that you say that because I'm going to do an internet search for the phrase, we are so back. That's all local fans say. We are so back, like in all 32 teams.

It's like, well, all 32 teams can't be so back because somebody has to lose the game every week. But these rookies look good. The one guy who didn't show much and didn't play much was Drake May for the New England Patriots. They brought him in the second series. He threw a couple screen passes. They brought him out because they're trying to figure out who their third stringer is going to be, and may or might not be the starter. It might be Jacoby Brissett.

But all the other guys played pretty well. I know Jane Daniels went out there, threw a bomb, threw a touchdown, ran from the touchdown to finish the drive, and then he grabbed his baseball cap, but that's good. Michael Penix looked very good. He was out there with something approaching the first string. J.J. McCarthy had some ups and downs, but overall, it was a very solid performance. So yeah, there's a lot of reasons for these teams that drafted rookies

to be encouraged. Maybe not all of them are opening day starters. Maybe not all of them can be rookie of the year, but they all went out there and demonstrated, yeah, we belong in the NFL. Your team did not make an obvious mistake, and now it's about development and growing into the role. Of those other rookie quarterbacks who drafted after Caleb Williams, who do you think is just in the best position, right? Not necessarily who's the most talented, but who's in the best position to just kind of be a productive,

capable starter from week one or early in the season coming up? Well, one thing is Jaden Daniels is going to be out there. He'll make plays with his arm and with his legs, and he does have some weapons to throw to. But I turn it over to Bo Nix, who has a veteran offensive line in front of him. Most of the Broncos' offensive line that had been built for Russell Wilson, most of them are still there. He has some veteran wide receivers in Cortland Sutton

that he's had, and Marvin Mims, who's coming around as a young player that he can throw to, and some very good backs. And Sean Payton loves throwing to the running backs. If you remember, you know, Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas, those guys, Drew Brees would just dump the ball to the running back, running back, running back. That can be good for a young quarterback

to get his feet under him. So it looks like Bo Nix is on his way to becoming the starter for the Broncos. That'll probably be two weeks from now officially announced. He'll get out there. He'll have some protection. He'll have some weapons. He'll have a friendly system. That could be an ideal solution for a young quarterback.

How important is the coaching staff part of quarterback development? Because I look at a situation like the Broncos with Sean Payton, and it feels like that is kind of ideal when you have someone who's more experienced coaching the team that can really kind of walk you through everything and knows how to develop a quarterback. That's it. When it's Sean Payton, it's like if he's in your corner, it's great. And he seems to very much be in Bo Nix's corner,

and he has that experience. It's hard to tell because when you've had Drew Brees for like 14 years, you don't know how he develops the next young guy. He could be frustrated with how long it's taking when Drew Brees knew it right away or whatever. That doesn't seem to be the case with Sean Payton. The one in that aspect that does worry me is over at the Washington Commanders. I do like Jayden Daniels, like their supporting cast.

Cliff Kingsbury did not do a phenomenal job with Kyler Murray. It seemed like they were at loggerheads a lot of times. Cliff Kingsbury made some public statements or public suggestions about Murray that didn't really sit well. And his system can get very, very weird.

There's so many different formations and things and then the more you watch it, the more you look like you don't know there's any rhyme or reason to it. So I worry about what Cliff Kingsbury is going to do with Daniels. But most of these teams, they put a decent structure around these rookie quarterbacks. Not everybody's got Sean Payton, but usually you've got an offensive coordinator with experience, with a quarterback's coach, and they're going to go out there and build things for these guys that they can succeed in right away and that they can develop in from there. Mike, one of the other big stories around the league over the last couple of

weeks has been the status of Brandon Ayuk, wide receiver with the 49ers, kind of holding out. Then it seemed like maybe a trade was imminent. Now it sounds like they've kind of restarted contract talks and it's more likely that he's going to stay. What did you make of this whole episode between Ayuk and the Niners? And is this just the outcome that makes the most sense for all involved, to figure out a way to keep him in San Francisco? It is the outcome that makes the most sense. It's the one Iyuk wanted.

Iyuk clearly does not want to get traded, because every time there's a trade proposal leaked, it's like, oh, Iyuk said no, he doesn't want to play in New England or Cleveland or here or there. It's like, well, that's a very no, he doesn't want to play in New England or Cleveland or here or there. It's like, well, that's a very short list of cities left. He wants to play it. I love it though, because he's like the Joker now. Cause he, he turns down the, the, the Patriots.

And next thing you know, the Patriots coaches are like answering questions about why Brandon, Brandon doesn't want to play for you. And then he turns down the Browns and like Amari Cooper's tweeting, like, gosh, I wouldn't mind playing for the 49ers. He's sowing dissent on these teams that he doesn't even play for and doesn't want to play for. It's something like out of a Joker movie.

I find this hysterical. But what's going to happen is I am going to sign a contract with the 49ers, probably for more money than the 49ers wanted to pay him, because the Niners have no choice. They have to compete for the Super Bowl this year. And once he's back in the fold, they're the Super Bowl favorites. They honestly are. And they're going to go for it.

And win or lose, that team is going to break up next year. They will not have the money to pay everybody, especially with Brock Purdy. They could have done this better with Iyuk. They could have figured out a solution months ago and saved themselves some money and some drama. They didn't do it. And now they're going to pay the price. How big is this window for the 49ers?

Do you think this is their kind of last kick at the can with this group? It is the last stand because if you look at the cap situation, they're already over the cap next year. Next year, Brock Purdy will say, it's time for my payday. Some of these other veterans, of course, the veterans have been chatting for a contract this year. It's going to be worse next year. But in

terms of this window, the FTN DVOA projections, the old Aaron Schatz football outsiders projections gave the 49ers a 31.9% chance of, excuse me, let me make sure it's clear, reaching the Super Bowl. Like a 1 in 3 chance of reaching the Super Bowl.

That's a prohibitive favorite in the NFL to say, yeah, one in three chance of actually getting there and then facing the Bills or Chiefs or whoever. That's huge. It shows how deep and strong this lineup is this year and how much urgency they should have to solve some of these dramas and get everybody on the field.

Who do you see as the biggest threats to the Niners in the NFC to prevent them from reaching the Super Bowl? Well, you have to start with the Detroit Lions, who got better in the offseason, who were within a couple of fourth down conversions of beating them in the NFC championship game, had a lead in that championship game. And I think inexperience and a lack of depth got the better of them in that situation. I think that's the case.

You can't rule out the Cowboys who have their own set of dramas right now, but if everyone shows up to play and if everyone goes out there and tries to win despite Jerry Jones or win for their next contract, they can be a very dangerous team. You can't rule out the Eagles who made a lot of changes, didn't show much in the preseason opener, had their backups up there. You look top to bottom at the roster they put together. That is a team that can compete for the super bowl the team i find most interesting

that you mentioned is the uh the detroit lions because it feels like this is kind of the year where they go from the super likable team that's been bad for a while to the team that everybody starts to hate they're going to start to find annoying because all of a sudden they're good and they they beat everyone's favorite team what do you think of the lions this year is this kind of like a stepping stone year for them to i mean like they they did great last year but potentially do even more this season i love the way you put it because the the uh the next step from surprise contender to perennial contender is a Lulu. It's really hard to stay there. It's like, Oh yeah,

we, we, we surprised everybody. And then the team, you know, the team start really scheming for you and the salary cap has its impact and you start to feed if you don't do things right. But I like a lot of the things they did.

I think they did a great job in the draft. I think they solved a lot of some of their main problems, which were their secondary, their cornerbacks by drafting Terry and Armstrong and Ennis Raikstraw, bringing in Carlton Davis, everything they could to solve their problems there. And the other thing I like about the Lions is that they are a very young team. They're going to grow into their role. They didn't lose a lot in free agency.

They've got guys who are still getting better. So there's nothing on the Lions, you know, in the Lions roster or their makeup that says this team's going to fall because of X, Y, Z. It's just a matter of putting together the season that they expect of themselves, Dan Campbell expects of them, and a lot of people expect of them as well because they're on the short list of Super Bowl contenders. And I wanted to ask you about the Seahawks as well, Mike.

And, you know, obviously first year now, out after the Pete Carroll era, Mike McDonald takes over. And I think even beyond just kind of how they finish in the standings, you know, obviously first year now out after the Pete Carroll era, Mike McDonald takes over. And I think even beyond just kind of how they finish in the standings, you know, whether they can establish themselves as really meaningful contenders, I think there's just a lot of curiosity about how different this looks with Pete Carroll no longer running things on the sidelines. What do you expect to kind of look different? I mean, how much can Mike McDonald kind of change the identity of this team

in his first year as head coach? I think he can change it a lot. Defensively, it's going to look like a Ravens system. I think we're going to start seeing that. I have no idea what the offense is going to look like because it was really defined by Carroll's coordinators over the last couple of years. And they had a certain look with those two and three tight end fronts, et cetera. You know, so far it looks encouraging right now. In terms of just the expectations, though, it's hard to get the Seahawks out of that wildcard tier. You know, they have not made significant changes. When you look at the skill position core, it's the same guys that have been hanging

around just over 500 for two years. And there's not a lot of teams on that wildcard tier in the NFC. There's a couple of great teams, a couple of really bad teams, and then there's the 49ers sitting on top of the Seahawks. So, I think that is the main thing for McDonald. You've got to change things up, change the look of the offense, change the look of the defense, change the mentality there a little bit,

and then see what you've got moving forward. I did watch that game on, I guess it was Friday night, and Byron Murphy looked great, a couple of the other guys looked great. I did watch that game on, I guess it was Friday night, and Byron Murphy looked great. A couple of the other guys looked great. I have no idea who you were playing. I have no idea who those guys were out there in the Chargers uniform. They looked hysterically bad.

So we're going to need to see more before we get a real understanding of who the Seahawks are. Mike, watching all 16 games, writing about all 32 teams after week one of the preseason. That's a heroic effort. We appreciate it. Thank you for joining us to talk about it today. You got to take care and enjoy the rest of the preseason.

Yeah, we will. That is Mike Tenier, NFL analyst, and you can follow his work. Doing great work on the Two Deep Zone newsletter on Substack. 650-650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. It's Halford and Brough here on sports net six 50. And while we're talking NFL, Josh, we're on the show here for,

for the remainder of the week. And we wanted to just run through quickly. Some of the divisions around the league, just get kind of our thoughts on the record going into the season here for them. And you want to start with the, the North divisions. Yeah, let's go North, East, South, West.

Oh, we're going Southwest? No, North, East, South, West. Oh, I was like, wait, what is that? Very convenient for you as a Vikings fan, starting with the North divisions. You have to get that Vikings talk in there. Otherwise, I can't do this, Jeremy. What's the point?

But let's start with AFC. Sure, okay. So we can finish with the vikings yes right i find both these divisions pretty interesting to be honest because in the afc you have the ravens you have the bengals you have the browns you have the steelers and last year you know all of these teams were like legitimately decent teams and and um the Ravens obviously they had the MVP and Lamar Jackson but all of them were over 500 last year so starting with the Ravens I feel like the big question around them is just like can Lamar Jackson be what he was last season again and what happened last time he won the MVP is they lost a few pieces on the O-line and he didn't look as good.

The team didn't look as good. They were still fine, but they weren't as dominant as they were. So they lost a few pieces on the O-line again this year. So I wonder how that's going to affect them. They also brought in Derrick Henry, who I think he's good, but also he's getting old. Well, it's also he's a running back, right? Like if your plan to juice the team is bringing in a running back, there's only a handful of guys, like forget in the league at one time,

but over the last decades in their prime that are going to really do that for you. You know what I mean? The only one I can think of right now would be Christian McCaffrey. And like, again, Derrick Henry has been an incredible running back. He's had a great career, but that's not going to change the look of your offense. If you're like, okay, we're going to offset regression from Lamar Jackson by bringing in Derek Henry, that's a losing proposition. And your point about how much does Lamar regress,

I think it's a totally fair one, and it almost doesn't even have anything to do with him. It's just it's really hard to maintain the level he was at last year. He was phenomenal. He was the MVP. You're naturally going to take a step back that's how it works and the thing with the ravens is they're just they are so dependent on lamar jackson doing his thing and of course he's the quarterback you know teams that have star quarterbacks are dependent on their quarterbacks but they seem like even well less well suited to withstand a bit of a step back from Lamar

than other teams with top-end quarterbacks. Yeah, and so that's kind of the big question around them. Then you have the Bengals, Browns, and Steelers. The Bengals, big thing there, Joe Burrow, he'll be healthy. They looked really good when he was healthy last year, and they didn't really lose too many pieces. Joe Mixon is gone, but again, a running back, like how big of an impact is that

going to have? Browns, the defense will probably be good again, but it just depends on Deshaun Watson. They brought in Jerry Judy, though, who I've always thought was kind of underrated. Yeah, I like Jerry Judy. I mean, he was a super high draft pick, too, as well. Never really hit those highs

that were expected of him in Denver, but again, it all comes down to the quarterback play, though. That's been the missing well never never really hit those highs that are expected of him in denver but again how much it all comes down to the quarterback play though right that's been the missing ingredient i mean heck joe flacco got them to the playoffs yeah last year and now they don't have flacco too so what are they gonna do without flacco if deshaun watson isn't good or gets injured they are done maybe they'll call joe flacco again wow i feel like he's playing for a team right now i don't know i think i saw him on the Colts yesterday. Really?

Wow. Whoa, Joe, what are you doing there? Still doing it. And then the Steelers. Russell Wilson, Justin Fields. Who's it going to be? Do you want Russ to be good? I don't care.

I think there's a very good chance that Justin Fields takes over at some point. You think so? Very good chance. Everything I've seen, for some reason my Twitter algorithm thinks i'm a steelers fan okay uh everything i've seen is that they want fields to be good but it's just like there's always an excuse for justin fields it's like oh man if only this guy was a little bit more open or or if this play had gone a little bit different when in reality it's probably just Justin Fields just not being a great quarterback. So I was long on the Justin Fields hype train,

and now I just kind of think he might not be good. Yeah, I don't know. I know Russell Wilson's numbers were terrible in Denver last year, but also I'm not sure how much, like, is he really in a better, how much of a better situation is he in going to Pittsburgh? You know what I mean? I don't know, but it is significantly better. I think the situation is better just because there's less pressure.

Sure. It's like you're going to Pittsburgh, and if you're bad, whatever. There's less open animosity between you and the organization. People do not hate you. Yeah. Yet. Could still happen. If you were going to predict how this division goes, one through four.

Oh, man. I'll go Bengals, Ravens, Browns, Steelers. I'm betting on a Joe Burrow comeback. Healthy. Now, can they keep him healthy? We'll see. But Joe Burrow with T. Higgins and Jamar Chase, that's dangerous, right? You're always going to be in a position to have a really good offense.

I'll bet on the Ravens taking a slight step back and then Browns just because of the defense and then Steelers at the end. Yeah, I want to be different, but I am not. Exactly. You shouldn't have given me the first. I got to say it first. Yeah, because now it looks like you're copying me. You let me say it first.

I'm just a phony. In the NFC, Packers, Bears, Lions, Vikings. So we talked about the Detroit Lions with Mike Tenier. I do think they are clearly the the best team in that division I I do think this is a year though where people are like you know what I kind of dislike the Detroit Lions they're going to be no I don't think so yeah I don't think they're there yet I think they are I think Dan Campbell's too likable I don't know I think people this year are going to be like oh Dan Campbell and his his wholeade. I hate him. Nah, I think so, man.

I think people are going to start to be out. Charade. Charade? Charade. Nah, charade. Charade. Charade. Charade.

But I think people are going to be out on the Lions this year. But I think they're going to be really, really good and the clear best team in that division, mainly because I think the Packers are – I don't trust Jordan Love. Wow. I just don't think he's – are, I don't trust Jordan Love. Wow. I just don't think he's, like, he had a good playoffs. He had a good end to the season. I still don't fully buy into it.

Big Vikings hater energy right here. He's just like, they're going to do it again? He can't be good. They're going to do it again? Please don't be good. Honestly, that's probably most of it. I'm like, you can't go from Favre to Rodgers to Jordan Love and have them all be great.

I would be so mad. It's a tough scene for you guys. But I do think they're the second best team in the division, and they'll probably make the playoffs. The Bears, it depends on what Caleb Williams is. I think they'll take a step this year and they'll be better, but growing pains when you have a rookie quarterback, even when they're amazing like Caleb Williams should be,

it's hard to turn the corner that quickly. They were what, though? They were good last year. They were 7-10 last year. So you look at it, you get a quarterback. They also got the receiver in a Duns. They traded for Keenan Allen. They've got pieces there.

So I don't know, like I, I wouldn't count them out of the, of the playoff mix quite so fast. It's a tough division though. That is a very tough division. And the weakest team, the Minnesota Vikings,

your Vikings. Yeah. And I am, uh, I'm not going to even try to make the case for them being better. I just hope, uh, I hope Sam Darnold is good.

I guess J. Jim McCarthy. Like if he gets time, I kind of hope he doesn't get time at at least for the first half of the season. Just sit him, whatever. But Justin Jefferson will be fun to watch, I guess. Sam Darnold thrown to Justin Jefferson. Honestly, that's a wild situation for Justin Jefferson.

This is the Vikings fan in me. On Saturday, I was watching this preseason game, and I'm like, you know what? Sam Darnold might not be that bad. And then week one, I'm going to be like, oh, no, he's really bad. So Josh is totally not biased. NSC North report out on Jordan Love in on Sam Darnold. That's the hot take from Josh right here.

Who? You wouldn't trade them one for one? What are you talking about? But anyway, I'm going Lions, Packers, Bears, Vikings. Yeah, honestly, that's what I would do, too. So that time you said it first. You look more original. Crackers, Bears, Vikings. Yeah, honestly, that's what I would do too. So that time you said it first. That time you said it first. You look more original.

Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca. We've got an open segment coming up here next. So we're going to talk a little Canucks. i've been on the show for a week now i have not we have not talked canucks basically at all almost almost uh zero yeah we had like one segment one like half segment kind of yeah olympics ended and olympics ended and now we are back on it so we'll talk a little canucks

get your texted 650 650-650. Marcus Fitzgerald joins us at 730. By the way, I also want to tell you about Play On, the official Canadian street hockey tournament, a chance for all to belong while playing Canada's favorite game together, featuring divisions for girls, boys, women, and men of all ages and experience levels. Play On comes to Surrey August 17th and 18th. For details, visit www.playon.ca. More Half and a Brough here next on Sportsnet 650.