Halford & Brough in the Morning - Are We In Moral Victory Season Already?

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including last night's Canucks home loss to the Stars (3:00), plus they preview Week 12 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (27:07). 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-dan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-na. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Into the Vancouver Zone, Miko Rantaniton with a spin-around, a move-in-a-backhander, he scores. What a goal by Miko Rantanton. A valiant effort from the Vancouver Canox tonight against one of the top teams in the NHL. Pottinger was tremendous between the pipes for Dallas and the stars outlast. The Canucks the final score tonight. Dallas 4 and Vancouver, too.

Yeah, I mean, it was probably our best game of the year. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halpert, it is Bruff. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from Duick-on-Marine 400 Southeast Marine Drive in Vancouver. Live on location this morning. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. It's good to be here. Adog at Michigan Control. Good morning to you. Good morning. And Laddie, right next to us at the table. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford, and Brother of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid.

Visit the Middle 17-Piles Street in Vancouver. So we are not coming to you. live from the Kintech studio, but Kintech, still good, still good. Footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Friday. Lots of guests to get into here. It is the Duick Morning Drive, brought to you, of course, by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926.

Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown, visit them in Richmond, and at Duick Auto Group.com. Guest list today begins at 630. Nick Shook's going to join us from NFL.com. Fun game last night. Houston as the Texans beat Josh Allen and the bills 23 to 19. We'll look back on that. We'll look ahead to an intriguing Sunday nighter, Rams Bucks and Joe Burroughs potential return this weekend. Nick Shook's going to join us from NFL.com at 6.30. 7 o'clock, it's A.

AJ from A.J's pizza on East Broadway. We're going to be live on location next week at AJ's. If you want to visit us then and win a $100 gift card to AJ's, send us and ask us anything. Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, 650, 650, hashtag it AUA and put a pizza emoji into the text. you'll be entered into the contest to win 100 bucks to AJ's on East Broadway. 705 James Sharman is going to join us from the Footy Prime podcast. Around the soccer, the footballing world with James. World Cup qualifying Canada's efforts in the international window. Saturday's big match between the white caps at L.A.F.C.

We'll get into all that with Sharman at 705. 730. Dan Rosen's going to join the program. NHL senior writer. Going to check in on several of the Eastern teams, Rangers, Devils, and Isles, all of whom were in action last night. 12 games last night, four more tonight. Lots to get into with Dan at 7.30. At 8 o'clock, it's your big chance here.

Is the resident Dollywall handler? What are we going to talk about with Rick Dollywall at 8 a.m.? I think we're going to talk about the game last night. Maybe what's going on down in the H.L. Jonathan Larker Mackey is playing pretty well. And a couple of trade rumors. A couple of trade rumors. I heard there may be scoops on the horizon.

Yeah, some scoops. Yeah, some scoops. Tune in at 8 for that. Dollywall at 8. Dan Rosen at 730. James Sharman at 705 AJ at 7 at Nick Shook at 630 That's what's happening on the program today A-Dog back in Mission Control

To tell everybody what happened Hey did you guys see the game last night? No No what happened I missed all the action because I was We know how busy your life can be What happened? Missed that? You missed that?

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It was Colin Blackwell, scoring the go-ahead goal for the stars midway through the third period. Dallas defeats Vancouver 4-2 at Rogers Arena on Thursday. I lead with two notes from the Dallas stars, including Jake Ottinger's 34 saves because Dallas did the business in the clutch moments,

but it was a good performance by the Vancouver Connects last night, although they lose another game at home, 4-2 to the Dallas Stars. Yeah, so Halford and I were discussing this before the show, and he was Mr. optimistic. He was like, he's like, they played really well last night. I really enjoyed watching them play. And he said to me, you know what, Pruff?

It was another, you know, good, good home game. And I'm like, they are three, six, and one at Rogers Arena. But what a three six and one? It's been. What? Is this? Okay. How many games have the Canucks play at 22?

Are we in moral victory season already? I don't want to call yesterday a moral victory, because they still need real victories. All I wanted to merely point out. That's what a moral victory is. It's a victory without the actual victory. All I wanted to merely point out was I thought the Kinnock's played very well, especially in a second period in which they scored a grand total of zero goals.

And then what happened on that five on three? The five on three was probably the turning point of the entire game. They went a minute 25 on three. Most people watching the game already know this, but we recap nonetheless. They also had an additional 40 seconds at five on four. Lots of chances, no finish. And it was interesting, speaking of Finns and finish, at the end of that game, the goal that Miko Ranton and scored and the skill and individual talent that were on display,

it was something of the connects lacked, especially in the five-on-three, where they just couldn't get anything past Jake Ottinger. The winning goal by Colin Blackwell, given up on a breakaway in the third period. That did not look like a team that was, you know, is that when Adam Foote comes out? Just a couple of mistakes here and there? Was that Tom Villander out with Quinn Hughes? Yeah, he was against the Dallas Star's fourth line. That was not the best from Tom Vielander on that play.

He got a little lost in the neutral zone, results in a two-on-one. And, you know, I think Quinn Hughes overplayed that as well. And then, so that's the game, right? And then Tom Vielander had made a mistake on the winning goal, I believe, in the Florida game when he didn't get underneath that Florida player stick. So, you know, I know they played better. I know they played better, Halford, but, like, it's getting late. early for the Canucks. They're now 9, 11, and 2. Are we already, like, I ask you, are we already

in moral victory season? Are we already in like, yeah, the playoffs aren't probably aren't going to happen season? It says 22 games in, and, you know, Quinn Hughes had said, you know, we need to get off to a good start. And he imagined 7 and 3. And he had an interview with IMAQ the other day, where he's like, yeah, sometimes it's hard not to get negative, but I'm going to stay positive. You got to stay positive, and it's like, ah, we're here, we're here. I think it can be instructive that we're saying this after a game, which didn't go their way, was on home ice. They all played the opponent and didn't get a result.

And it probably does lend a lot of credence to what you're talking about, is that this feels like hollow, empty victories for a team that needs real, tangible victories and points. There were a lot of things last night that you would like from a quote-unquote process standpoint, especially coming up a road trip where they got outshot. Like close to 50. And they had a practice at home, and I think that helped them. And I'm sure they were motivated after, you know, the coach yelled at them,

and they heard, like, you know, all the fans like, yeah, you can't defend like this. However, I mean, the realities they didn't win the game. That's the problem with last night's game. And I'm trying to balance, and I don't want to be false positivity or harshly negative. I think that's kind of the bounce that I'm trying to draw here. But I think it is instructive that for as well as they played, they still got nothing from the game. in terms of points and wins. And that's problematic.

Also, if they were to, I would have been more concerned if they had come back home and had performances like the ones specifically in Tampa and Florida where they were woefully out shot and out chanced and shot it at what,

25, 30%, which is kind of unsustainable. That's not going to happen. They come back home and you saw the inverse of it. You saw them get goalied in the game that they probably deserved a better fate. At the end of the day,

it feels a little bit empty because they got nothing from that game. And this is a team that for now being two games under NHL 500 still needs to be close to that bar to try and stay alive until they get all their reinforcements back. And even when that happens, there's not 100% guarantee that the results are going to be a lot better than what we got last night. I just want to know where expectations should be because we've got, you know, some people texting in saying, you know, three-putch Shane texts in and says they're lucky to have nine wins. And then someone else texting, and you guys are so negative. and I don't even know if that person is being sarcastic at this point because I don't know I don't know where the expectations should be like are we happy that they played well yeah but again

like it they need they need results and we're 22 games into the season right I don't know how many times we have to say that but probably not many more times because I've said a hundred times already but like we're a quarter of the way through the season and it's like oh are they done are they done Like, to make the playoffs, to make the playoffs, they're going to have to have a heck of a final 60 games, right? They're going to have to play at 100 plus point pace or something close to it. And they don't look capable of that.

I'm sorry. Even if they play well, they don't have, I'm sorry, they don't have the talent. Like, it's great that PD scored another goal. He's not a five-game point streak. They're going to need, they're just going to need so much. so much more and so many things to go well for them and the Thatcher Demko situation looms over all of it for me because what are they going to do just keep playing Lankinen every game you now bring

up a good point in that Kevin Lankinen last night another game where I've come in with the same refrain you're not going to hang the loss on him he wasn't at fault but it wasn't a terrific performance and he definitely got out dueled by the two goalies around the ice Ottinger was by far the better goalie if you're going to go back to the first goal of the game which was as an incredibly awkward goal. And for those that missed it, Lankinen made a knife save coming across on Maverick Bork. But then he kept sliding and sliding

and sliding all the way to the point where he had exceeded the trapezoid and had to kind of pull the puck back to himself. One problem, that goes back across the crease to Maverick Bork who's waiting there and it's by end to the back of the net. And that's a goal where, if you're watching it in real time, it doesn't look great.

Lankin ends up with conceding again four on the night, which has been a familiar refrain this season. bring up a good point with Demko's until they get him back. It's going to be a heavy dose of Lankinen, who has, I think, performed admirably in the amount of work that he's had to shoulder, but on several occasions he's been the second best goalie on the ice. And if you look at their overall record, still two games under 500.

Okay. I dipped into the Dunbar Lumber text inbox during the postgame show last night, and there was one name that kept on coming up a lot. I mean, a lot. and it was Evander Cain. And this guy came into Vancouver. I think you'll all remember my reaction to that move. It was not positive.

And since then, I kind of just stayed quiet because I'm like, we'll see how this goes. I don't know if I can recall a player on social media receiving more negative reaction than Evander Cain. And I'm talking about a player, like, playing for the Vancouver Canucks. And I know the Canucks as a team, if you look at their social media efforts, they are really trying to push Evander Cain. Coming home, he's coming home. And all the responses, 90% of the responses are negative. Now, I think things would be different if he was producing, if he was playing well,

if he was making an impact out there. I don't think. I don't think he's played overall, as badly as some people suggest. But last night, I think it hit peak Evander Cain criticism on social media and in the inbox. There's problems here. There's problems with the player who takes too many penalties, makes too many mistakes, and is still getting deployed with great regularity by the head coach, especially in clutch moments like we saw last night.

When they were down a goal and the goal he was pulled and they were looking to chase a tie-ing goal. In a game where they were generating a lot of chances up and down the lineup, it wasn't like they necessarily needed to lean on Kane in that moment because he had had such a fantastic night. I mean, he's got three goals in 22 games. It's not like he's proven anything over the course of 22 games. He's got a lot of shots. He takes a lot of empty shots, though.

Empty calorie shots? He does. That's not going in. He wings it from everywhere. And I understand maybe at the end of the game why you want that. But I think your point here, again, so many instructive points this morning, This is a good one because people 22 games in are kind of tired of the routine unless something changes, which is routinely a lot of empty shots, a lot of penalties, and a lot of mistakes,

especially we saw it on that, what led to the fourth goal by Randon last night, which was a couple really lousy zone entries, and people wondering why he's being deployed in those moments when there's other guys that are going that aren't getting those opportunities. I like people texting into the show right now, like actually this guy gets a lot of hate, Bobby from the docks. Actually, Pedy was hated on big time, probably more than Kane. I think the difference there is Pedersen always had his defenders.

Like there were always a bunch of people that were like, I still believe in them, look at these defensive metrics, et cetera, et cetera, and they were willing to put the blame, shift the blame away from Pedersen. There don't seem to be many defenders of Evander Kane. And that wasn't to say when the Canucks acquired him, it was universally despised. Like, there were people that didn't like the move, but there were also a lot of people that were like,

I think he's going to begin. It's a contract year, and we all know of Ander Cain loves money, right? So he's going to play well. And I was like, yeah, but eventually, you know, you get old. And even if it's a contract, your body can't really do it anymore. There are all these people like, I've always, you know, the connects need a guy like this, you know, who's big, who can, who can score, who's tough, who has some.

swagger. And I didn't necessarily disagree with that element, but I just didn't know if this was the right guy to bring into the room. Okay, all those characteristics you just brought up. How often have you seen them on display through the first quarter of the season this year? Not a lot. The goal scoring has not been there. The goal scoring has not been there. The physicality that he was thought to have brought, I don't personally don't think it's been there with enough regularity to make an impact through the first quarter of the season. It's a, you know, the shot totals are fine. I think it's maybe if there's one thing that you're going to give him credit for,

it's that he is putting Pucks in the vicinity of that, right? And the goalies are like, thank you, right in the chest. Here's the other part of this, though. This was, for a team that needed to make pretty significant changes in the offseason, this was the number one marquee Ballyhood move that they made. Now, part of it was due to the fact that they were unable to accomplish other things they wanted. And they didn't want it to be the one Ballyhood move, but it was. But that's what happened.

Evander Kane was supposed to be a significant difference maker in this forward group for this team for the reasons that you mentioned. And also, historically, we've seen him come through with pretty good performances during a contract year. And what you've got right now is a guy that, you look, Adam Foote has made some moves, and we saw it stylistically yesterday, and we saw it also in terms of deployment, who gets in and who gets out. Lucas Reichael was dropped from the lineup, right? He got it dropped in favor of McKenzie McKeckern.

So we've seen guys lower. in the lineup, he moved in and out and seen minutes increase and decreased based on their performance. Cane still averaging over 18 minutes a night with three goals through 22 games. Like, there's a disconnect right now for me between the amount that he's playing and the

opportunities that he's getting and then what he's produced with those opportunities, right? But then just to play devil's advocate. Sure. What else is Adam Foote supposed to do? Who else is going? I mean, it's a good question. I did know that. Peedy played 24 minutes last night? Yeah, sure. That

That's got to be the most he's played in a long, long time. Yeah, there's a, I mean, you look at the bottom six forward group, and they're low minutes, right? And I get it. You're looking at a bunch of guys where you're saying, are these guys going to be able to produce with regularity? Not what the opportunities they're getting, but it's also what have you done in the NHL thing?

I don't know if Kane partly is cruising on reputation right now or what he's done in the league, and they're hoping that it's just going to come around. I wonder if they've got to bring Lekker Mackey up. That is something that, and we'll talk to Dali, all about this at eight, right? He's got to note that Lachromack he's playing pretty well in the short stint since his return from injury in Abbotsford. And this is kind of, it's funny because after the road trip

where they scored a ton of goals. That's true. That's very true. They did score goals. No one was complaining about the offense, but it's funny. Drans and Dodd were talking about this on their show and we put the video up on social. I sent it to you last night. They were shooting at a clip that if that comes back to Earth, all of a sudden you're looking at it where it's like, oh, are they going to struggle to score goals? Because there was a lot of puck luck involved in those two games in florida everyone said like the results were fine on the three game road trip one one and one against a pretty good team the process was not hence you come back and you have some practices and you have some hard words from the head coach

and you play better they're they're you know if you want to do the they were the better team on the ice last night they were the better team in the second period the third wasn't like a lights out performance or And then when you texted me during the third, they were at four shots in the third period. It was basically midway through. So it's not like the third was dominant. They were aided in the second a lot by the fact that they had a bunch of power play opportunities. But in their defense, they drew the penalties, right? They went out and they were moving their feet.

I actually thought that they looked more organized defensively. Well, I hope so after a practice and a bunch of meetings. I hope they were more organized defensively. And it would be hard to look less organized defensively after the Florida games. So I think a lot of their defensively. issues on the road trip, especially in Florida, were in zone. It wasn't necessarily off the rush. It was in zone where

there'd be seam passes picking them apart, and they seem to be running around a lot, trying to do each other's jobs, or maybe not sure what their jobs were. The winning goal was not that, but it was still mistakes and maybe mistakes

compounded by other mistakes. Common refrains from Adam Foote just to jump in. There was a young guy, on the ice and he's bemoaned several times this season how young guys have been thrown into opportunities where they're learning on the job. Fielander has played well but he's made some key mistakes

at the wrong times. And he probably shouldn't be playing as much as he has quite honestly. I mean not even playing in the NHL right now. That wasn't, I don't think when he was sent down, think about how he was in the preseason and I think people were like I'm not worried about him

because he's just coming from college hockey, but he doesn't look ready for the NFL. And then injuries happened. You know, the injury to forebort, I think was a big deal. And then all of a sudden he's in the lineup.

And he's playing okay. He looks comfortable because he skates well. That's one of the big things about him. But recently there have been some mistakes at key times. Yeah. And I wonder, I wonder, the Connect's next game

is Sunday against Calgary. I wonder if he's going to sit down. Yeah, I mean, again, I feel bad for the player in to a certain degree because he has been more... He played 10 minutes last time. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't a lot. Brandon in Vancouver texts into the Dunbar Lumber

text message in basket at 650, 650. A reminder, get yours in throw the show and get your ask us anything's in as well. Hashtag him, AUA, and put a pizza emoji into your text. You'll be entered into the grand prize contest for a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on his Broadway. Brandon in Vancouver wrote,

hey guys, got to go to the game yesterday. After Dallas made it 3-2, it felt like Dallas really locked it down and we couldn't generate anything. There was a gap in the third period where it was just a dead-on, low-event, even hockey game, and the Canucks weren't dominating like they were in the second. The shot totals in the third probably look a bit skewed because they got a bunch at the end of the game

when they had the goalie pulled and they were down 4-2 and they were firing everything towards Ottinger. Under was very good yesterday. I mean, I will say that is that you look at that game and the amount of high dangers, I think Bick on the post game show counted Besser ended the game with four shots and he had down

all four of them were high danger chances Ottinger made two really great saves on Pedersen, one in the second and one in the third and at times he was for a guy that's kind of had an average season probably his game of the year the way that he played so there is that

to take into account as well but I mean he's a good goalie and the stars have invested in him but back to our original point off the top I came in talking about how I thought it was the Kinnock's best performance of the year and how there were maybe some positives to build on. And then you have to talk to me and you're like, yeah. But it's a valid point.

The other side of the coin is that they didn't get a win in the game and there's no point in trying to sugarcoat it. Here's the thing. If they had come into last night's game with a record like the Dallas Stars where they had 12 wins and they were second in their division, you wash your hands the last night's game and you say, you know what? You got goalied. You played well.

A young guy made a mistake. It happens. They're not in that position because they're trying to keep their heads above and we've seen what's at stake this year and how valuable, not just process but results are this season. So have you noticed that it is not going well for

Canadian teams in the NHL? I noticed last night. Who is, which Canadian teams are feeling good about themselves right now? Maybe Ottawa and Winnipeg? Is that it? Ottawa's on a nice little run right now. Winnipeg's fine.

Winnipeg's fine, but I don't think they're playing all that, but they got Connor Hallibuck. But I think those two are the only ones that are, like, fine with things because it's not fine in Calgary. No. It's not fine in Edmonton. They played well in Tampa Bay last night. I think they ran out of gas a little bit.

It was 2-1 in overtime. Jake Gensel, who's on fire right now, scored the OT winner 2-1 for the Oilers loss in Tampa Bay last night. It's not going well for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They lost again in overtime to Columbus, a team. team that for some reason owns them. Yeah, Adam Fantilly scored the OT winner, three two win for the jackets over the Leafs. And last but not least,

the Montreal Canadians are in a bad, bad way. They got off to such a good start. But you know how last year you were like, C-Lovs is unplayable. One of the guys who is on Team Canada's Four Nations team, Sam Montenboe, is unplayable at this point. Sam Mombo is the Canadian Seelov's. It is unbelievable how poor he has been.

Their goaltending in general, the last week and a half, two weeks has been awful. So remember right before he went on vacation, we played that audio of Jakob Dobesh. And he was crying after they lost in overtime to their Jersey Devils. Something that you don't see very much in the NHL crying after a loss. In overtime, where you got it to overtime. Since then, they have gone one in five. They've lost five in a row. They have lost games by scores of 5-1, 7-0, and 8-4 last night to Ovi in the Capitals.

Ovi scored a hat-trick. They have been a nightmare. Montepo's been pulled for multiple games, including last night. There was a pretty short hook on him, too. It was three goals, and Marty was like, nope. Yeah. And then Dobish came in and allowed five. Yeah, it's not been great for them.

And you look at the amount of goals that they are. bleeding right now, and you really wonder where this is going to end up, especially since Montaubo is now entering, can't play territory. Okay, we're up against it for time. We've got to get moving here. We've got a lot more to get to on the Halfwood and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We are going to dive into the NFL story next. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us. We'll look back on Thursday night football and look ahead to the weekend. A reminder, we are live on location here at Duick-on-Marine 400 Southeast Marine Drive. Find out why Nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926.

Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive where we are today until 9 a.m. You can visit them downtown. You can visit them in Richmond or online at Duick Auto Group.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Saty R. Shaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 632 on a Friday, happy

Sweet, sweet Friday. It's advanced the Friday here on the Halpin Brough Show on sports 6.50. We are not coming you live from the Kintech Studios as per usual. We're coming to you live from Duick-on-Marine-400 Southeast Marine Drive in Vancouver. This is the first time we've ever taken the

650 morning show live on location. You'd look good in one of those corvettes. I would. Top-down. Hat flowing in the air by having flying off. It's pretty low, though, so you might have a little trouble getting in. There's a lot of... Ah, my knees! There are a lot of nice cars in here. Many of them nicer than me.

It's every one I look at. Do you compare cars to you? Oftentimes. It's like that car is nicer than me. This one's way too good for me. I can't drive this. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Halford and Breb in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We're an hour one of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle.

you get paid, visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, our next guest is our NFL insider from NFL.com. Nick Shook joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Nick? Morning. Hey, guys, happy Friday morning. We finally got a good Thursday night game for once. I hope you didn't stay up too late with all the adrenaline that game provided last night.

I was going to say a primetime game that actually delivered. What a novelty. The last few have been so bad. But that was great last night. 2319 for the win. Houston in Houston against the bills. Let's start with the Texans because they move to six and five on the season, but I think more importantly, kind of solidified that they've got the best defense, at least statistically, in the national football team. That unit is an absolute

weapon, and they made life real difficult on Josh Allen last night. Yeah, they did a career high eight sacks taken by Josh Allen in that game. Just a beautiful display of how I think a well-coached student with plenty of talent can produce on a big stage, you know, bottling up one of the most threatening, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL in Allen, harassing him all night to the point where, you know, he often just had no idea where to go with the football, and that was before he could, you know, even really fully survey, because that was about when the Neil Hunter or Will Anderson or Tim Settle or whoever else Henry Tooto was there to sack him and, you know, undercut the Bill's offensive ambitions. It was also one of the

games where you felt like, you know, this team that is trying to pull off the upset here that desperately needs this win at this stage in the season, they're giving the other team a lot of opportunities to hang around and potentially break their hearts at the end. And then about most of the fourth quarter, I'm sitting there thinking, oh, Houston's doing it. They're going to leave just enough room open for the bills to come back and win it in the final minutes, and it's going to be real sad for Texans fans on a night where they wore their fancy all-red uniforms and they had a packed stadium, energy stadium. and instead, they delivered.

They delivered with a great defense, and it was nice to see for them. So six and five now for the Texans. We'll see if, you know, winners are three straight at this is the start of a real playoff push. Hey, Nick, the Buffalo Bills are now seven and four. The Chiefs are five and five. The Ravens are five and five. You know, if you look at the teams with the really good records, the Broncos are nine and two, but, you know, a lot of people are like,

yeah, you guys win ugly games. The Eagles are 8 and 2 and all the fans in Philadelphia are like, yeah, but the offense is very good and Hertz is saying like, I'm not offended by the criticism and like the Patriots are nine and two, but everyone looks at their record. My question to you is like, who is good? Who is actually good? Is it easy for you to identify a best team in the NFL? No, it's not. I think the best team in the NFL probably resides in the NFC. you know the Eagles have offensive issues but there's still a team that you've got to take seriously I for a while thought it was probably between the Rams and the Seahawks I still kind of lean in that direction

and we've got some weird situations where teams that most of us expected to be in the hunt and are still in the hunt but we expected them to be considered elite teams are not even listed in the playoffs that they were to start today one of them being the Detroit Lions you know Green Bay is six, three, and one, but they haven't looked all that impressive.

You go on the AFC side, and like you said, Denver, New England. Indianapolis, you know, it's a great story, but there's just a lot of room for skepticism with a lot of these teams that are currently in playoff position. And I think that's why we're setting up for a really fun final six, seven weeks here in the remaining regular season, because there's no way you're going to sit there and tell me that the Chiefs aren't going to make playoffs. And frankly, I could say something similar about the Baltimore Ravens.

You know, going into this week, I kind of had a bit of a, you know, I come to Jesus moment with myself at about, oh, I don't know, 3.30 in the morning, Monday night and Tuesday morning, where I'm wide awake, and I know that I'm not going to sleep. So I get back to watching some of the game replays that I grind through every week. And I'm watching Texans Titans. And I looked down to Skorbug, and I was like, the Texans, they're 4 and 5, and I know they win this game,

which means they're going to be 5 and 5, which means they have the same record as the Chiefs, and the Ravens, and yet I look at them so differently, and no of this makes sense. We're in a bizarre world in the NFL, but I think we're going to get a ton of, you know, changes in the standings over these last six or seven weeks, and it's going to make for a really fun product,

and games like last night really proved why. Rams Tampa Bay could be an interesting one, because Tampa Bay has lost a couple in a row. They have, and they need to get healthy. I mean, it's unfortunate, it because we saw how hot they were when they started the season

and we know that Baker Mayfield was overcoming the odds. They had to reshuffle their offensive line because of injuries in, you know, Chris Godwin didn't come back in time and they still haven't had Jalen McMillan. So it was, you know, Mike Evans and Emeka, Abuka story. And again, it felt like a story

that was similar last year with them. They're just so banged up. You know, you lose Bucky Irving, they lose Godwin again, they lose Evans. And it's just Baker and Emeka and Sean Tucker, you know, Baker and his pals from the schoolyard, I suppose. And so they've struggled, and their defense has been hit or missed, but they've been banged up on that side of the ball, too,

and this is going to be a great test for them against a Rams team that won an ugly one last week, but continues to look like one of the best teams in the NFL. If the Buccaneers are truly going to, you know, not threatened beyond winning the NFC South, which, by the way, the Panthers are nipping at their heels all of a sudden, they don't need to prove themselves of the game like this.

But that's what makes this season fun. Again, is that, I mean, I'm terrible in my picks this here, guys, because it's so unpredictable. And if we go along that line, the Buccaneers beat the Rams by 10 or something, like crazy like that. I was talking to my friend yesterday,

who was a Packers fan, and he was kind of down on the Packers because they started so well, and they've run into a few issues lately. You know, they lost that 10-7 game to Philly. and didn't look 100% great in beating the Giants last week. But I kind of said to them, I was like, yeah, but like who, what team in the NFL doesn't have a yeah but about them?

Maybe if you could talk a little bit about the Packers and where they are right now because I remember the beginning of season when they beat Detroit in week one and then Washington in week two, everyone was pretty pumped on them. Yeah, isn't hindsight funny though? because we all know what happened to Washington since then, you know, a lot of that produced by injuries, but I also think that a defensive age was going to hold them back. Also, I hate to take a victory lap,

but I went on a show in August or July, and I said that the commanders reminded me a lot of the 2007 and then 2008 Browns in that they were older and that they'd had a bit of a surprising season, and I thought the difference was, is you have a quarterback in Jaden Daniels, not to divert from the fact that the Browns, you know, ended up going with Derek,

Anderson ended in 2008, and they were a nightmare. But kind of a similar story, so hate to take a victory lap on that. Anyway, when it goes to the Packers, at that time, we have to consider all the context, right? They had just acquired Micah Parsons. It was the first game for the Lions without both of their coordinators, and Parsons makes an impact on one of the final plays. So it's a great way to start the season.

But you're right. Like, they've been an inconsistent team. They're far from the only team that has been very inconsistent. and I have a hard time putting stock in them because I don't know who I'm going to get from week to week. Jordan Love has kind of like, not steadily but incrementally improved

over the last few weeks. I think back to that that comeback win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh where he's just lighted up 20 straight completions in the second half on primetime. And then the next week, you know, doesn't deliver. They ran to a great eagle defense a couple of weeks ago. You're going to have to take that into account too.

I believe they have the talent to get there. I don't have the full confidence that they will put it all together in enough time for them to hit the rhythm and the speed that they need to define playoff success. But if this regular season is any predictor, these playoffs will be just as wild, and I think we're going to be set up for a lot of upsets given that a lot of our favorite title contenders

are currently not in position to even have a home game. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Nick is here for our NFL preview brought to you by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors, 17 screens for you, mathletes out there. Visit them online at the Clayton Pub.com, K, as the author of the world-famous QB index, Nick, I got a bunch of quarterback questions. I want to ask you here. First, is Joe Burrow going to make his return to the lineup when the Bengals take on the

Patriots this weekend. I mean, it's possible. We're going to find out today with some of those final injury reports before we hit at the weekend. And if I had the guess, just playing it safely here, I can almost guarantee that you'll be a questionable designation for Joe Burrow. Okay. And just because that's the way these things go, if a coach talks about somebody potentially playing and keeps it kind of vague, but he's hopeful, and it's a guy who, you know, because I guess typically you think about it, you don't really have to give him a questionable designation until he's fully confirmed to be activated

and he's in that return window right now. I think it's a little premature. I also think that, because I thought, you know, maybe it's going to be an early December thing to get it before Thanksgiving would be a little premature to me, but I also believe that it's an indication of how desperate Cincinnati Bengals are.

Because as well as Joe Flacco has played at times to keep them competitive, he's won just one start since he's taken over, as their starter, and they are entering a game this week where they are not going to have Jamar Chase at their disposal because of his decision to spit on an opponent, which we have a spitting problem in the NFL this year, which, you know, we also get the return of spitgate from week one with the Eagles and the Cowboys playing this weekend. So I believe that Zach Taylor and the Bengals are going to hold out all hope possible for

Burrow to play this weekend because they're three and seven and their season, if it's not already, dead. It's very close to being over in their eyes and they're playing a Patriots team that they may believe is getable if they have the quarterback, but I think it's more a consideration out of desperation. And we'll see, I don't know, I don't really feel good about

the idea of him coming back right now. It just feels a little early. QB question number two, the Steelers go to Chicago this weekend. Is Aaron Rogers going to be behind center for the Steelers? That seems more likely than not. He spoke about here this week. He

spoke about, you know, spending, what was it, Tuesday or Wednesday in the trainer's room and that he was going to try to test it later in the week. And he did end up on the field yesterday. He was wearing a wrist brace, some sort of wrist brace on that left wrist and was at least participating in individual drills. So that's an encouraging sign. I feel better. I don't know if I would say better, but I don't think that the Steelers would be as pressed to try to rush him onto the field because of what they have in Mason Rudolph. And yes, I'm saying that, uh, the straight face because, you know, there's a veteran backup who did a good job in relief duty last week and has a good amount of playing experience for the Steelers

that I think could probably keep that offense afloat against the Bears team that, you know, for as fun as they have been to watch, their defense has also been hit or miss. So I don't think that the Steelers will necessarily push Rogers to return that quickly. I think Rogers will end up pushing himself, and it would be nice to see him go to Chicago and get a little bit of hate from the Bears fans that he tormented for so long when he was with the Packers. QB question number three. Bruff and I have followed Michael Pennock's junior's career going all the way back to his time

at Washington. What's the plan now for him and for the Falcons as he embarks on a nine-month rehab after his third ACL tear? Yeah, but were you with him shooting in the gym, to quote Rick Ross when he was in Indiana? That's really going back with Mike.

I'm not going to lie. Wasn't very familiar with his game back as a Hoosier. The outlook is interesting. It's worrisome. I think the way that the Falcons, you know, where they currently stand right now, anything is possible. Moving on from Pennix is not one of them. You know, it's going to be, you know, the ACL recovery, the shortest window is usually about nine months,

and you're usually looking closer to year. His timetable to return is going to push him right up against the start of the regular season. Next year, which is never a great sign. I could already see it happening, by the way, in my head, where we just inch by an inch, step by staff, document and continue to track Michael Pennex's road back to the field. I can't wait for the training camp questions next year. How close is he to being ready or not? But the Falcons need to prepare better than they did, I think, this year.

And part of that preparation is making a decision on Kirk Cousins because they could save a good chunk of his cap hit if they were to trade or cut him next year. It's a variable number, I believe it starts at $32.5 million, and it could jump up to as high as $42.5 if it's a post-June 1st trade. And look, he's going to play starting this week, and we're probably all going to get an example of why they should probably move on from him. It's a bloated contract for a backup. He's not getting any younger.

And, yeah, they're playing the Saints, but I don't expect them to, you know, blow the doors off of New Orleans with cousins a quarterback. It just feels, you know, just feels like he's showing his age finally. And he also needs a better fit. So is Michael Pennix, by the way, with offensive system. and this is where I get to the rest of the Falcons outlook is I think you're going to be having a new offensive coordinator

with that team next year, and that's as your head coaching staff, you know, Rahim Morris and his entire staff stays, I think you're still going to get a change in an offensive coordinator. It's also basically a checkpoint where we have to seriously evaluate the future of

General Manager Terry Fontenow, who felt kind of dodged some of the criticism over the last few years for their up and down nature, but I think you know, with the way that the season's going, I don't know if he's going to be able to dodge it this time. So a lot of change could be home to Atlanta,

and a good amount of it might be predicated on Pennix's long-term future, as in finding a coach with a staff that's probably a better fit for him, a better scheme fit for him and everything else. But I wouldn't imagine that they would try to make some massive splash for another option at quarterback, given that their big risk on Kurt Cousins has largely flopped. Nick, I'm not going to ask you to preview the Seahawks Tennessee game because if the Seahawks lose that one,

there's going to be a temper tantrum next week on this show. But I do want to ask you what you thought of Sam Darnold's four interception performance against the L.A. Rams. Was that just a bad night and everyone has them? Or was that something more? Ah, guys, I would like to welcome you to the other edge of the Sam Darnold's board. I thought there was a little bit. I thought there was only one.

Great to be here. As we've discovered over the last season and a half, right? You know, going back to the backstretch of his one-year wonder with the Vikings. It bums me out because I would like for him to deliver like he does in games that don't have as much status or notoriety. Because it's great to watch him run this offense. And I don't really have, I haven't lost a lot of confidence in him because of that four interception performance. I just think he needs to stop playing outside of himself in the biggest moments. And, you know, you hope that an experience like that,

the experience like the way they lost their week 18 finale of the Vikings in Detroit last year and then lost to the Rams in the playoffs in Arizona, you hope that he takes all of those together and he says, look, I don't need to be more than who I am for this team and for this offense. And a lot of those mistakes he made last week were him trying to be, you know, better than he is, just trying to make the superhero. play you know the jump past interception like come on sam what are we doing um that's not you that's not you it's not you it's not you stop trying to be that guy so i hope that he gets it in line um but

we do have a little bit of you know demonstrated recency that he struggles in these big games so i hope he figures it out because he's going to have some big games in the playoffs with the seahawks team nick this was great as always buddy thanks for taking the time to do this we appreciate it enjoy all the games this weekend it should be a lot of fun including that sunday nighter. We'll do this again next Friday. All right, guys. Thanks for having me. Sounds good, and I will talk to you next week. Hopefully, we don't have to talk about Sam Darnal again, at least in a negative flight. No doubt. Thanks, buddy.

Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford and Rough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Who's your favorite to win the Super Bowl right now? That's a great question. I think if you're a fan of any of the teams that are kind of in the mix, you've got to be feeling pretty good about yourself, unless you're a fan of the bills or the chiefs and you wanted to be clear favorites for the Super Bowl. Like, as a Seahawks fan, I'm upset about that Rams loss,

but I'm also, I'm not devastated by it because I'm looking around the NFL and going, yeah, why not the Seahawks? I have a hard time saying who the best team in the NFL is right now. If you were asking me who the best team is, I'd probably give you eight different answers. There's nothing clear cut and definitive, because as you, again, pointed out earlier in the hit,

the teams with the best records in the National Football League have major question marks. And in the case of the 9-2 in New England Patriots, this is all new. So I know the Patriots historically have had great franchise and Legion of Winning, but this is not Bill Belichick, is Mike Brable, this is not Tom Brady, this is Drake May. They look great, but there's still so much to be decided there. You want to talk about Indianapolis, you know, they've probably been the most consistent

team from start to finish. But can we see Daniel Jones winning the Super Bowl? No, I don't think so. Denver, I can't see Bo Nix doing it. I mean, Bo Nix, in a nine and two season, I feel like there's more questions about Bo Nix this year than there was last year where he had burst on. onto the scene, and it was like, we have no idea what we're going to get here. It's really been a bit of a regression year for him,

and his team is nine and two. Honestly, if you were to ask me who I would pick right now, I'd probably chicken out and coward out and chalk up and say Philadelphia, just because they can grind people to death of the defense. Okay, let's do some Ask Us Anything's here. It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford Ambrough show. Text in to 650-6-50, and be sure to include the pizza emoji if you want to be entered into the contest for Best

Ask Us Anything, $100 gift card to A.J's pizza. on the line. Gary texting and said, can you guys please end this debate I was having over the best way to eat popcorn? There's a debate? I did not know there was more than one way. He says, my one friend says, popcorn

is finger food and finger food only. Yeah. That tracks. And I know that is the traditional way, but I was saying using chopsticks is way better. Then your hands don't get covered in butter or whatever top

you have plus you are forced to eat it way slower so you get to eat popcorn for longer my friends just thought i was crazy that i eat popcorn with chopsticks thanks guys i love the show gary you are crazy you're an insane person however i eat it with a knife and fork personally oh a dog's in the house okay um here's a thing this is weird and this is the algorithm listening to me so yesterday i'm scrolling through instagram and it's got all these different um christmas gift ideas for teens Not for me. I'm a fully grown man. Someone's a old.

What they've got for gamers so that you don't get your controller joystick, as you like to call it. The joystick? All buttery or sticky is they've got finger chopped sticks for gamers so that they can eat snacks. Yeah, Greg's doing it right now. And I looked at it, and I was like,

that's not the worst thing I ever. Kind of makes some sense, actually. Now, Gary, I go back to your original point, you're still insane, but But I understand the idea of, I guess if you're playing a lot of video games, you don't want to, like, muck up the console and everything else. So that being said, you would have to be eating popcorn singular kernel by kernel, which feels like a long and arduous process.

I have tried to do that at the movie theater before. I've been like, I'm going to go one by one. It ends five seconds into that plan. I just can't do it. Dexterity-wise, how are you with them? How do you handle them, shit with chopsticks? You can bring a giant spoon to them. No, no, I'm not talking about chopsticks.

No, I want to know. I want to know. You're okay? Yeah, I don't use them a lot, though. Do you ever go in and you think you've got a good handle on a piece of sushi and then it crumbles to pieces? Yeah, once in a while. I mean, I'm not throwing perfect games every time that I have sushi. That's a sushi fan.

I'm not an expert. I'm also like not picking flies out of the sky. Yeah, I was going to say, have you ever been forced to ask for a spoon and or a fork because your chopstick game has failed you? No, I'm not my dad. All right, we got a lot more to get to. You don't even ask. There's like, here's your fork, sir. We've got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Hour 1 is in the books. Hour 2 is on the horizon. We've got a bunch more guests on the program. AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to join us. We're live on location at Duick on Marine. We're going to be live on location next week at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. So we'll talk to AJ at 7. After that, James Sharman from the footie prime podcast is going to join the show.

We'll get into some footie talk with him, including Saturday's big clash between the whitecaps and L-AFC. And then we'll dive back into the hockey talk at 730 with Dan Rose and NHL. dot com senior writer a reminder we are live on location duick on marine 400 southeast marine drives swing by doors are open if you want to buy a car or say hi if you say hi to us you do have to buy a car you're contractually obligated to do that yeah one guy waved at us he's he's he's financing it right now you're listening to the alfred and rough show on sports net 650