Halford & Brough in the Morning - Cam Schlittler Is A Broadcaster's Nightmare

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports including the conclusion of Wild Card baseball as the Jays get set to take on the Yankees in playoff action tomorrow (3:00), they look ahead to this weekend's Week 5 matchups with NFL.com's Nick Shook (28:54), plus they do a Canucks-related Ask Us Anything about the future of Quinn Hughes on the club (42:20). 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.

You're listening to Halford and Bruff You're listening to Halford and Brough He turns, he gives to Carmen Williams, he gets packed I think he's short, Tim, I think he's short, and the 49ers storm the field, it is all over. I'm sick right now because I put our players in a spot and I got to live with that. Keller Deals, Bogart's takes. Oh, it was low and he got rung up.

I knew it wasn't going to be too big to war. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and his broth. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adah, good morning to you. Good morning. a good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford in Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest.

Two, much lower payments and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands dash 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 1170 Pall Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in Step. Can you feel it? Can you feel it? It's sports season, everybody.

This weekend is going to be amazing. I am very much looking forward to this weekend. We got a lot to get into on the program today, both looking back at what happened last night, but also setting up what is going to be an epic sports weekend. Guest list today begins at 630. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. 49ers and Rams. gave us some pretty good theater last night on Thursday night football a very controversial decision by Rams head coach

Sean McVeigh and OT gave a very depleted Niners team a win moving into four and one on the year. We'll talk to Nick about that. We will look ahead to Sunday's NFL action. Not going to lie, not the greatest slate of games on Sundays. As a matter of fact, I think the Seahawks' Bucks game is the best game of the week by a long shot, but we'll talk to Nick about all things NFL at 630. 7 o'clock. Laddie, your new Arch Nemesis, AJ is going to join the program.

Yeah, that AJ. You're going to go tete-t-tat-tete. A.J. What a matchup for this show. Amazing. Amazing. It's great theater, honestly. Like, you couldn't ask.

I know I kind of wanted the Red Sox to get through, but Jay's Yankees for the first time ever in playoff history. It's going to be great. Hey, Vladdy likes playing at Yankee Stadium. Loves the Yankees. He loves the Yankees. Second favorite baseball team. He loves the Yankees. A.J's Pete's on his Broadway, a reminder, a $100 gift card to AJ's today because it is Friday.

The best ask us anything gets the $100 gift card. Text in now. Start getting them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650, 650. Ask us anything, literally anything. Just hashtag it, AUA, and put a pizza emoji into your text. After AJ at 7 o'clock, Zach Worden's going to join the program. Sportsnet, Associate Editor and Blue Jays writer.

It's the Jays and the Yankees after the Yankees took care of the socks. Obviously, first-ever playoff meeting between the two games get underway, Saturday and Sunday at 1 o'clock. our time before the series shifts to New York. We'll set it all up with Zach at 7 o'clock. I'm really worried or not worried. Well, the Jays might be worried about Slittler. Atta boy.

After they saw him yesterday. But I'm really curious to see what the pitching matchups will be because the Jays have been waiting around so they can put Gossman out there right away and maybe twice in this series if it goes to five games. What do the Yankees have right now? Now, like, when is Max Fried ready to go? And when can Slittler go again?

He's two for two, folks. Slittler. Three for three. Someone's going to mess that up today. We will ask all those questions of Zach Worden at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, it's the Moge. Yes, it's the moge. Bob, the Moge Marjanovich is going to join the program.

Play-by-play voice of the BC Lions. Oh, yeah, the BC Lions are also in action this weekend. Huge game for them on Saturday, 4 o'clock from BC plays as they host Vernon Adams and the Stamps. Biggest game of the year. for the Lions. Massive. Massive. And they're playing well, going for four straight, as you said. Chance for the Lions to leapfrog. Calgary and the West Division standings as well. Busy matinees on Saturday and Sunday at BC Place, because the white caps are on Sunday at 3 o'clock.

So we'll talk to Moj about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock. It's Rick Dollywall from the Donnie and Dolly Show on Check TV. As per usual, I turn it over to the Dolly Handler. Well, Dollywall is going to try and say Schlittler. Four for four. As well. Oh, can you make him say it like a bunch of times? No. Playing with fire. He said he's going to give it a go.

Dolly Wall is also going to talk about the Canucks final preseason game, which is tonight against the Oilers. And we might have some fun with Dolly Wall on this. He says, and I think he's already reported on his show, the Canucks are trying to trade crafts off. Wow. Can we, do you think we'll get them fired up about, can I use the nickname Danny Millions?

How upset will he get if I call Milstein Danny Millions? Danny Millions is a great nickname They're great nicknames He gets so upset So befitting He gets so upset when I make fun Of his relationship with agents I used to call

It's actually it's a It's a big times for For Danny Millions Because he's got craves off He's got Max Sasson Who could get sent down And he's got Evander Cain I think that's a very flattering nickname

Danny hundreds Yeah right Danny thousands. How's Danny millions doing? Millions is great. That's like a nickname of love. Yeah. He has millions.

All right. Working in reverse on the guest list, eight o'clock, it's Rick Dollywall, 730, Bob Marjohnovich. 7 o'clock, Zach Worden,

7 AJ 630, Nick Shook. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's 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 happens? 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 them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. We begin with the baseball. The New York Yankees advanced to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the next round of the playoffs with a win over their arch rivals the Boston Red Sox, and it was rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler striking up. 12 over eight dominant innings. Yankees beat the Sox 4-0-0 rather emphatically at the end to punch their ticket to the next round of the playoffs.

Let's go now to WFAN. Dave Sims on the call. Here it is, sending the Yankees on to face the Blue Jays. Deal 1, swing and a pop down the left field line. Looking for it, McMahon. He's got room. He's there. And the Yankees have won it. They win this wild card round and eliminate the boss. in Red Sox, the final score for nothing.

New York, it's on to Toronto. So we'll set up Blue Jays and Yankees, but just pour one out for the Red Sox, who should have got it done in game two. They had a couple of mistakes that dropped a ball in left field looms large, but they're done now. I mean, you might have a discussion

about whether Alex Cora left his rookie starter in there too long, but at the end of the day, it didn't matter. They didn't score any runs, and Schlittler was amazing. That was incredible. The Jays will be hoping that he can't repeat that performance against them. But, man, this series is going to be fun for numerous reasons. The Blue Jays and the Yankees have never met in the postseason,

which is, I don't know, not all that incredible, I suppose, because... Well, the Yankees have faced the majority of MLB teams in the playoffs at some point over their story. You'd think they would have ran into the Jays at least once. Yeah, the Jays really haven't been... To the late 90s.

Yeah, and the early 2000. Well, the Jays, yeah, the Jays haven't been in the playoffs all that often. And when they have been, especially recently, they haven't been there for all that long. Yep.

And I think, you know, we can talk about the pitching for sure. That is going to be interesting to see how it plays out. But I think the most interesting thing is going to be Vladig Guerrero versus Aaron Judge and I know it's a team sport

but people are very much going to be watching that and Vladdy's going to be motivated I imagine to play the Yankees who he said some things about and might have you know like a family history with that dates all the way back to

maybe the Yankees pulling an offer from the table for his dad I mean this goes way back and I'm sure we'll explore that topic during this series. But also, like, Vladie has to play better. He has to be the big star in this, especially, man, especially if Beau Bouchette is not ready to go for the start of this series. It's a best of five. And if the Yankees go in there and steal a game in Toronto, then all of a sudden you're like, oh, we might not be back to Toronto.

I was joking with... Especially if Schlittler gets another start of Yankee Stadium. I was joking with a buddy via text yesterday that the winner of the Vladdy Guerrero Jr. Aaron Judge head-to-head matchup is who's going to hit more singles over the course of the series because that's pretty much all they've been doing. Now, obviously, Judge went yard 50 plus times this year.

But in that first round, every time he hit a single, you would get like a litany of complaints that he was jamming up the bases and not doing what he's paid to do, even though he ended up with a pretty good batting average in that series. and Vladdy, of course, his lack of power this year

has been well documented. The series is going to be great. I'm, you know, I will say this, though, yesterday. Little disappointing. Little disappointing in the three-game threes. I expected a little bit more theater and a little bit more drama late. I want to put what...

Can't you just appreciate the Schlittler performance? Were there any lead changes? Was there any lead changes? No. Yeah, it didn't go down to the wire, but man, what a... Okay, okay. What a performance by a young kid goes out there and like that's a that's a that's a that's a legendary yankees performance 75 of

his 107 pitches were strikes like he was he was dialed in right but there seemed like a complete inability from that redsox lineup to like work any counts to try and get extended at bats not a single walk do the jays do any of that yeah that's what i'm saying like like go up there at the very least try and put this kid on tilt so he's not going into the 8th. But I will give credit though. Credit to Aaron Boone because he did not lift his

starter in game 3 like he did in game 1. There's a great shot of Boone whispering to his pitching coach in between the 7th and the 8th. And you can see him mouth the words. He's like he's only throwing strikes right now. And then he turns to Schlitler and says you're going back out for the 8th. Like good on him, right? You don't make the same

mistake twice. He did it with Freed in game 1. He didn't do it in game 3. So you were wondering about the rotation It's going to be reigning rookie of the year Luis Heel Not Jill Luis Heel who's going to get game one Presumably and then they'll get back to the rotation

It'll be like freed in game two And that's going to be tough Like that you know Freed Rodon and then Schlittler I don't know if you can expect Schlittler We're on fire this morning Yeah yeah yeah I don't know if you can expect him to go And do what he did in game three

Who knows? Well, I mean, that's the pitching performance of a lifetime. 12 strikeouts, no walks, scattered five. But it is a crazy story because I was looking back on news stories when Garrett Cole was announced that he was going to miss the season and that was in March. And it was like, you know, the news story would be like, okay, so now the rotation is this.

And like, he wasn't even part of that equation. That's a great point. You know, it's an amazing thing. And I know that here's another thing because they were talking about the potential Yankees rotation for next season. And you're like, oh, God, with Garrett Kolbach and Freed and Schlittler and some other guys, like this is maybe like Jay's better get it done right now, right? I have some numbers.

The Yankees rotation next season is going to be ridiculous. Yeah, I have some numbers to give Jay's fans hope, though, this Yankees rotation. Carlos Rodon, career numbers against the Js, a 4.72 ERA. Schlittler, 8.1 career ERA against the Js. He just pitched a lot of time. Not a lot of games. Not a lot of games, but hey, good sample size, good success. Now do have any games.

And then, uh, heel a 540 career ERA at Rogers Center and freed a 6.35 career era. There's a reason that the Jay's won the regular season series. By the way, it was super vital. Can I throw out some numbers for you? And this is via a Jeff Blair Sportsnet article. The Blue Jays have made the playoffs three times in Vladie Guerrero's tenure. They are 0 and 6.

and Guerrero is three for 22 with one run batted in, and yes, one pickoff at second base. The unforgettable pickoff. The storylines on this are really quite incredible. All of those problems came in the wildcard round. The Jays have a six-game winning streak in the ALDS, Jason Ruff. That's true, actually. Six-game winning streak, baby.

They got the buy. All those teams are connected. They got the buy barely, but you know how they got the buy. they won the season series with the Yankees 8 to 5. Okay. Good job on the baseball, everybody. Good job on the baseball. GMAS, that's for you, buddy.

Stole three strikes for a strikeout, right? Still doing nine innings? You guys still doing that? Great pronunciation, too, I have to say. Oh, one more. A couple people have texted in. They said, talk about the Padres. So, okay.

Again, you want to talk about a team that did not show up at the plate in a decisive and pivotal game three. Padres got their one and only run in the ninth inning. It was the Xander Bogart's strike. strike three call, which is looming large over the series, which the umpire blew. Next year, that's a challenge, right? You tap your helmet twice in top of the head and you get a challenge of the ABS, the balls, and strikes.

They didn't have it yesterday. Now, what I think Buffalo Bill and a couple of other people are texting in is someone grabbed video of a very heated confrontation between the umpires leaving the field, who for some reason decided let's go down the Padres tunnel. I guess that's how they have to go to get to their... You could have gone out any other way at that point. You could have walked through the centerfield bullpen to avoid the, the, Padres at that point. Do you think any of the umps went just like, just gonna scooge on past

you here? Well, the umps, sorry, Bobby, sir. The umps were yelling. Crazy series. So the Padres is blown call. Yikes. The Padres dugo went nuts and got very confrontational with the umps in the aftermath. Uh, the umps kind of gave it back to them as well. You could see it on the video. Which was bizarre. I assume there's going to be an investigation because you don't see that very often. I know that emotions were high. The Padre season just ended and they got eliminated. I don't I don't know if you saw, but Manny Machado had a super, super awkward and intense standoff with a reporter in the aftermath as well. So the Padres were obviously livid. They had sold the farm.

There was some audio also from that little scrum after. Good poll. All right. Let's turn our attention to the hockey. It'll be old to get that one. Good segue to the hockey, by the way, too. Let's talk about the Vancouver Canucks who returned to practice yesterday out at UBC in advance of tonight. finally folks it is over

the final preseason game of the exhibition campaign goes tonight at Rogers Arena the Canucks take on the Oilers and there was a bunch of news from Canucks practice yesterday including the return of Thatcher Demko who got back in the pipes forboard missed he got a maintenance day to do that possible

injury that he suffered the other night P.O. Joseph was out Nils Oman decided to fill in on defense because of the guy's missing on the blue line. I don't think he decided to do that. I think that was decided for him. He's just a team guy. He's like I'll go back there Yeah, as you mentioned, Fortberg got the day off, but with a week to go before the opener, there's plenty of time for him to get right.

I have a number of questions that I cannot answer right now. Will the Canucks dress a full lineup tonight against the Oilers? Adam Foote spoke and said, probably a foolish lineup. He said he was going to play a bunch of veterans in Calgary and the top line played, but it wasn't a full lineup in Calgary. We'll see what it is against the Oilers tonight. I think it's important for the Canucks to keep their vibes high. Everyone's talking about the vibes.

I heard that word on the station a lot yesterday. And, you know, the vibes are going to be high after an 8-1 win over the Calgary Flames. I'll be curious to see if McDavid and Drysidal play tonight. I think they've played twice for the Oilers already. They, of course, played one game against the Vancouver Canucks. I do wonder if Vancouver's top line could use just another game. Sure. Like, I don't think they've been terrific by any means at five on five.

They've only played two games. The power play was encouraging, especially Pedersen's goal. But, hey, why not some more time with the power play? Especially, by the way, if Evander Kane's going to be on that power play, put the power play out there with Evander Kane on it, it's largely expected although I don't think it works all that well that Kane is going to be on that

left flank where Garland was in the Calgary game Garland I think is going to be like Captain of the PK out there because he's been getting a lot of that. LeBate and Craftsoff were cut not surprisingly Stay strong Joe. Man

I don't know if anyone's going to pick up Kravsoff on waivers he did not look good in his opportunity with the Canucks in the preseason and you know we spent more time talking about

the most irrelevant guy on the roster I'm almost ready to put the Tramkin band the Tram ban the Tram ban on Craftsaut I feel a disdain

for Craftsoff I remember I felt a disdain when he was traded to the Canucks or like because he was one of those like the Canucks are one of those

teams that gets you know like they're like okay we'll try this guy we're struggling pretty hard and then he like wasn't a player and then he goes over

to the KHL does well Danny Millions convinces the Canucks to give them another chance in the NHL, and it's like, I, you know, look, I know it's, it's not, it's not a ton of money when it comes to NHL salaries, but if Cravesoft clears waivers and then goes to Abbotsford and is going to be making half a million bucks to be playing in Abbotsford. And then you're, you're also kind of like, yeah, but, you know, like, are you developing them down there? No. Like, is it, like, so, yeah, like, I don't know. I'm sure. I'm

sure the Canucks. Anyway, enough crafts. That's a lot of, that's a lot of, it's not my money. A lot of craft talk. Unless there's an injury or in addition to the Canucks,

I don't see them exposing anyone to waivers who they might worry about. I wonder if the biggest decision is whether DPD or Mancini starts in Abbotsford, I'm almost positive VLander

will get sent down, but there's also the question of whether the Canucks want to keep eight defense. for the five-game road trip, they start October 16th. Abbotsford does have a couple of games before that trip starts, so they could, in theory, send somebody down and then call them back up. Remember, if you send someone down, they've got to play a game down in the H.L. A couple of questions that I would throw out to the listeners.

What do we think about Leckermacki potentially starting on a fourth line with Ratu and Bluger? that's at least how they were practicing yesterday. What about Coots being the 3C with O'Connor and Sherwood? I don't think many people saw that happening. Well, maybe they did. I don't know. Coots 3C, I could see Lecquermackie on the fourth line. It seems like a waste of me.

I want to play some audio from Adam Foote, but not before I throw this question out there, which center is going to get the toughest minutes when it comes to matchups? Is that Elias Pedersen's burden to shoulder now? Not only were he expecting him to bounce back offensively, but J.T. Miller got the tough matchup minutes for the most part when he was here.

Pew Souter was relied upon defensively. and one of the things where I asked like, what do we think about Leckermacki potentially being on a line with Ratu and Bluger is that are you less willing then to use Bluger in a potential matchup

because you've got Leckermacky on that line. Here's Adam Foote on Elias Pedersen and we're trying to keep the vibes high with Petty and Adam Foote has been very impressed with Pedersen taking on a leadership role and showing more maturity.

Well, I think it's just gross. I mean, when you have such a start that he had here, and I surely wasn't here, but, you know, it's amazing. And you've caught more maybe, and it feels good in the sophomore, it's not going to go back to the past because I wasn't here, but it seems to me that he's, what I've seen right now is he's taken a real hard leadership role, which is very noticeable.

You can recognize it, and his teammates noticed it. And his teammates are with them on it, too. Like, Demer's with them. And they're, you know, you look at the great players that continue to be great. They keep getting better. Crosby, for example, he's always working on his game, no matter if he's in year 15. And, you know, Ryan O'Reilly's that type of guy. And that's why they can keep staying in the game and keep improving every year on some of the things they've got to get better at.

And I think I just seen him just a different mindset. And you know what? That's not necessarily me or the change. It might be just maturity himself in general. But I don't want to have to really pinpoint it. But the nice thing is that we can see it happening. Now I just want to see him sustaining. They've got to find a new spot to conduct those interviews.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's brutal. Get used to it, Mike. Come on. It's the sound of hockey, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's also the sound of drowning out the coach.

So all those questions as I ask, like I have no answer. answers to them. I imagine that Pedersen is going to be a matchup. I have an answer to it. The matchup center now because the answer is yes. Like who else are you going to put out there? Nobody. You know, unless you load up a Bluer line with defensively reliable

players. I think part of the reason that... But then you're just going to be like, we got Blugger out against the McDavid line. I think a big part of the reason why Jim Rutherford went on the pre-trade speaking tour before getting rid of J.T. Miller is he understood at a macro and micro level how difficult it was going to be to replace what J.T. Miller

brought to the table. Because when you had Miller and Pedersen, you had your center position taking care of. You had no questions asked about it because the two of them gave you such versatility because you could say like, well, you know, give the hard matchups to JT. You can disperse the minutes if one's going and one's not. You've got, you know, two elite, elite offensive performers, and if you're worried about the defensive side of things, or you've got a matchup you don't like, I mean, who was often the McDavid draw? That was J.T. Miller, right? Like that, that, it made

it so... Well, and Pedersen, when he's on, he's very good defensively. But now you don't have that one-two punch anymore. This is with all due respect to Philippeal. You just don't have it. So all of the toughest minutes and the toughest matchups by default, go to your one C. It's not like they had

it in the past. And it's unfortunate one of the many reasons why it's unfortunate that that duo ultimately had to end up divorce but that is one of the big things here is you had a great situation at center and not only did you downgrade the one to punch whoever was going to come try and fill the shoes was never going to be able to do it but now you're trying to trust a guy in heidel who not only has no resume that he's capable of filling a two C roll on a full-time basis he's also a major health concern yeah and that's a problem moving forward uh chris knoblock in edmonton got uh an extension today

Did they do that because Calgary We're up with Huska yesterday And they're like we got to match our provincial rivals Look like idiots here Looks like idiots here Chris Knoblocked done a little bit more than Ryan Huska Different teams though

But that's the team that's Coming in to face the Canucks tonight At Rogers Arena We got a little NFL talk on the other side Yeah Nick Shook's going to join us from NFL.com We can get into the entire story About the Rams and the 49ers last night Lots of storylines from that one

Great Theater on Thursday Night Football That's going to be next on the Halford and Breff 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. Fourth and one.

This is your ballgame right here. Stap returns. Gives to Kyron Williams over the right side. He didn't get there. Kairn Williams is stopped short, and the San Francisco 49ers winning in overtime. 2623, a defensive stand on 4th and 1, and the Niners are 4 in 1. What a gamble by Sean McVeigh, and the 49ers defense is up to the challenge.

633 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650, as if there wasn't enough drama from last night. Sean McVeigh and the Rams gave us a little bit more. You know, I'm just happy all those fans at SoFi Stadium were able to go home happy yesterday after the 49ers one. There were way more 49ers fans than Rams fans there, right? It was wild. I don't know if it was, I don't know how much more.

It was the least of 50-50 split, I would say. But this is all anecdotal evidence. Like, look at all the red and when the camera, yeah, and listen to the crowd when the Niners do something. They're messing there may be a few guys that were like, Oh, I'm a Rams fan. This was a bad time to wear my red shirt. It's possible.

It's possible. That dynamic exists. That was the call from last night. Crazy decision there. We're going to talk to Nick Shook from NFL.com in a minute here about that. And then look ahead to all the Sunday games in the NFL. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates.

Only a licensed insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. To learn how visit sands dash trustee.com. we are still an hour one of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of hour one. Hour one 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. Before we talk to Nick, the Rams should be 5 and 0, right? Yes. And the Niners should maybe be like they, I want to say should be. they could be like 1 and 4, 2 and 3.

Instead, they're 4 and 1, and the Rams are 3 and 2. I have to give the Niners a ton of credit for what they did yesterday. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That wasn't even their B squad. That was their C squad, what they rolled out there. Mack Jones had a phenomenal game. Mac Jones also might have been vomiting blood by the end of that game. He was beat up.

But kudos on them. They got the job done. Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Nick Shook from NFL.com joins us here. Now, live on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports 9-650. What up, Nick? Hey, guys, thanks for having me on. And I think you're right.

I was wondering what might be coming out of Mack Jones when he started to gag on the sideline late in that game. And kind of fortunate that we didn't see if anything did come out for those who are squeamish. Did you see his walk-off interview where he said that he has to do a better job of hiding that from the cameras? That's a leader right there. That's mental toughness. Anyway, Nick, before we get into the first question, I want to play the audio of Sean McVeigh post game yesterday following his big, bold, brassy decision to go for it on fourth

and one in overtime instead of kicking the field goal and extending the game. Sean McVeigh really took himself to task. I'm going to play the audio now. It's a bad call. It's a bad call by me. Thought about maybe trying to draw them off sides. I took one. They took the other.

And it was a poor decision by me right there. But, you know, you give the Niners credit. They made enough plays to be able to win the football game. We had plenty of chances throughout this game. You know, we stayed in it, we fought, we battled. But I'm pretty sick right now. I'm sick of the spot that I put our group in to end the game. But, hey, these are the tough beats that you've got to be able to learn from and move forward,

and that's what we're going to do. No, we came in here to try to win the football game. It didn't go down for us, Gary. That wasn't even a thought, but the play selection was very poor. I'm sick right now because I put our players in a spot, and I got to live with that. Okay, was the error on Sean McVeigh's part going for it on fourth and one, or was it the play that he called to get the first down on fourth and short? It was a play call.

100% of the play call. I think that he had, you can kind of say both things are true, but I think it was fully the play call because Sean had already committed himself at that point. Basically, you get this past to Kyron Williams on 3rd and 6, he picks up five, it's fourth and one, and Sean's immediately calling his next play. Like, he's not even hesitating, and he's taking it a half a second to think about it. And it was funny because I noticed earlier in the broadcast that he's got a little thing written on the top of his play sheet that says, see the game one play at a time.

Right. And in that moment, he saw it as his next go-to play, which we talked about this in Annethal Daily in our recap show last night, where Patrick Claylon had the idea that, you know, perhaps it was going to be the Super Bowl play, that he ran to Cooper Cup to beat the Bengals, which they, ran a few times because they kept getting penalties called against the Bengals in that situation. It felt like that's what they were going to do again except they had Devante Adams and

Pooka-Kua are able to do that now. And I think Kyle Shanahan quickly realized that that was what was coming and that his team was going to get beat by it and they were going to give up a crucial first down so he called the timeout. And there was a timeout well spent in overtime. I think from there, Sean started to either second guess himself or

realize I don't have a plan B here with the play I want to run. And they've already adjusted what I want to run. And that's why you get him coming out and trying to draw them off sides, almost as if he was trying to buy himself some time to figure out what to do next. And I feel like he had a little bit of stage freight or froze there because the play call that he ended up, you know, the delivering was terrible. I mean, it was just that it was an uncharacteristically simple handoff to Kyron Williams

on fourth and one that you could see coming from a mile away. And it never had a chance of being successful after Michael Williams caved in the right side of that offensive line right off the jump. So, yeah, I think it was the bad play call. I don't even, I'm totally fine with them not going for the field goal there, too. It was one of those games where if you felt like even though Mac Jones looked like he may not be able to make it back out on the field, he'd also done the whole, like, rise from the dead a couple of times earlier in that game already. So I understand, you know, the flow of the game and the fact that the Rams even had a chance to win that game because they were sloppy. They were extremely sloppy in that game, but had fought their way just to,

stay in that game. The fact they had a chance to go win it right there, after they'd already blown their chance to win it earlier. I get why he went for it. It's just that it was a bad play call on the end. Okay, let's talk about the Niners here because they do deserve a ton of credit for what they were able to pull off with Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne leading the way offensively, which is a remarkable thing. Do you know they don't get their buy week until week 14? They needed it like they needed it yesterday. Never mind. They are so banged up and so beat up. I just want to put this out there because it's sports talk radio. And this is classic red meat for everyone.

Do they need to look at the possibility of Jones over Purdy? Because in the limited sample size that I've seen this year, Mack Jones has looked real good and Brock Purdy has not. That would actually be a valid debate if they hadn't just paid Brock Purdy. I get it. I get it. It would be a good point of leverage for them to not pay and take to the contract, negotiation table with Purdy.

And I know it sounds crazy, but Matt Jones is a former first round pick is the guy who was very successful as a rookie in New England, and then the entire operation kind of disintegrated around him. And he became a nomadic backup, and he's still a nomadic backup.

It's just that he went to the team that needed a call on him because they just tend to get injured and then he looked fantastic. We're going to have to drop that one. Nick shook NFL.com. Nick morphed into a robot there. Calling in from Sector 9, apparently,

on the Alfred & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. We'll probably table the Rams and Niners conversation because there's a bunch of other questions that I do want to ask Nick. Given that he's a Cleveland guy and he knows the Browns organization, I got to ask, we haven't talked about this Shudder Sanders thing.

Yeah. Where he pantomimed his answers the other day. I saw that. After Dylan Gabriel, by the way, if you miss that, Joe Flacco is out as the stirring quarterback in Cleveland. Dylan Gabriel is in. Now, if you're not familiar with the NFL, you'd think, like, if your starter gets benched and your backup becomes the number one, then your number three would then become the backup.

Hell no. Shadur Sanders stays the number three. And that guy takes up a lot of oxygen in the media atmosphere because I think what he was doing was a reaction to some criticism from Rex Ryan. That's correct. Which was funny to hear, like, Rex Ryan criticized Shudor Sanders for talking. too much and you're like Rex

you're a little bit outspoken yeah and you were almost he was adding more oxygen to what you were talking about like there's already a very tumultuous situation that you can feel it all the time and you can tell we've got Nick back on the line now hey Nick sir we lost you there

we pivoted quickly because you're a Cleveland guy and because you know the Brown's organization very well to the Shudor Sanders situation which seemingly never goes away and always offers us a new chapter. This time it's pantomime the chapter. Please don't pantomime this answer. Yeah, because this is radio. It doesn't, it's not as effective. Try and say all the answers out loud. Just your thoughts on what's going on in Cleveland with Dylan Gabriel

becoming the starter. Joe Flacco going to the backup and silent Shudor Sanders thing is the number three. Well, I mean, if hopefully the cell reception holds up or it might sound like I'm pantomiming my answer. We're good so far. Goodness. Yeah, it's, this is just more of the same usual stuff, I think. Okay, my thoughts. Dylan Gabriel, they needed to make that change. They definitely needed to make that change. They were limited offensively.

Joe Flacco couldn't scramble. He couldn't roll out of the pocket, and their offensive lines not good enough with both their tackles down, and defense is just paying their ears back and teeing off on Flacco. So the change is going to come. He's next to the death chart.

That's just how they're going to do it, and Shador is third on the death chart, and I think that if you're still trying to win games, they feel as if Shador is not quite ready to lead them to that. There is no conspiracy. This is how many teams would operate in this. situation and people wouldn't pay attention to it except the fact that it's Shador Sanders is Deion Sanders kid and that people are paying attention to it because of his

name and look it's it's going to continue to be a thing until it's not and I think at some point Shador will see the field this season and then we'll see what happens and if he's good because I think Dylan Gabriel is probably going to struggle I think any quarterback who's not an elite quarterback would struggle with this team right now and so I think it's just a matter of time and at that point we'll cross that bridge I think I think everybody else should be patient. And the whole being silent, pantomiming thing, I think it's just a reaction to people, you know,

criticizing him or saying that he was talking too loudly, which he was. He was saying he could start from a lot of teams in the NFL and that he could do better than a lot of the quarterbacks in the NFL. Yeah, he's the third stringer in Cleveland. He may have gotten a bit of talking to from the old PR staff there. I'm not entirely short, but, yeah, it was strange. I'm curious to see Drake May on Sunday.

Sunday night in Buffalo because he's got off to a pretty good start. What have you seen from him this season? And do you think he can handle Buffalo on a Sunday night? Drake May is climbing my QB index faster than anybody. And it's kind of a bit under the radar, because the numbers don't necessarily suggested. But he's been very efficient, very accurate, very comfortable. He's using his legs more.

He's one of the better running quarterbacks in the NFL. And the Patriots are just like a few baby steps away from winning some of recent games they've lost. They got the win last week, and he looks sharp. He looks really good. I think he's probably a little too high on the index right now, but that's kind of a result of the movement of some other quarterbacks. But he's been very solid, very good,

and Patriot's said he should be very encouraged by how he's played so far and how he'll handle the stage like this this weekend. One more. No, two more, because I want to jump in with a nerd, nerd kicking question at the end. Oh, okay. Yeah. Baltimore, one and three versus Houston, one and three.

I think I just saw that Houston is favored in this game. Cooper Rush, baby. Man, is the Raven season already over? One of the Ravens are going to look like with Cooper Rush, because we didn't get a great sample size in that Chiefs game. I watched a bit of it. The answer is not very good. Exactly, yeah.

But at the same time, the Texans are also not very good. They're bad offensively. And I think the Ravens have a little bit more juice in the edge rushing department than Tennessee or any other team. you know, the Texans have actually found some success against bring to the table. So I think that the Houston, the fact that Houston's favorite there is kind of a surprise because the Texans are not a clean operation. Is the Raven season over?

It depends on how long Lamar's out. I am concerned about where they are right now. The way that they kind of folded in Kansas City was alarming. And that was before Lamar left with an injury. They need to do some soul searching to figure it out. But maybe they get it right against Houston. This feels like a get right matchup for them this weekend. Okay, the kicking question.

So yesterday during that game, Eddie Pinero hit a 59-yard field goal during that game. Now, it's not like Pinheiro is a great kicker. He was unemployed at the beginning of the year. And he also kicked it with ease. Like, he could have made it from 65. And it's funny, I was watching an old clip the other day from the 80s. I think it was Pat Summerall on the call.

And the kicker hit a 47-yard field goal. And they acted like they had seen God. Like it was the greatest thing they had ever seen that he hit from 40s. like wow i can't believe he's going for it and that's routine now i want to cook up a hot take and i need your help trying to build my case that it's not that the field goal kickers are too good now it's that field goal kicking is too easy now do i have a point uh well the reason that it's because of the k ball yeah it's like we had that one season in baseball you know

the last five years where everybody was just hitting home runs left and right and ball is flying at the park and they admitted that the balls reduced decay balls reduced okay like the rules change they're allowed to bring they're allowed to manipulate them and bring them to the game themselves instead of having to deal with them when they receive them on you know game day and we're seeing the results like you're you're getting I think I saw sam schwarzstein posted a picture of difference in xFL balls and he was working for the xFL and one looked like a beach ball compared to the standard like fresh out of the box ball. So I think that that's why we're seeing the distance increase and it's looking way

too easy because I'm sorry, but Eddie Pinero is not coming close to hit in a 65 yard or five years ago or three years ago, whenever it was. And yet that one, that one would have been good from 65 last night. So it's that. And look, kickers had been good. They've been getting better, you know, for decades. They're much better than they were in the 80s for a number of different reasons. But the distance increase right now, it is very much cave.

Don't be surprised that that record gets broken very soon. I think is, it's days are numbered. The atmospheres that they play in. That helps to. Way better. The fields are better. You know,

back in the 80s, you know, you're like, it's most of the season of baseball field, right? Yeah, like they can't have dirt. It's cold.

The ball has no more like rubber on it. Just completely flat. Yeah, no, I know. It's a lot different, but yeah, okay, I think you help my case there.

Nick, we're up against it for time. We've got to go. Thanks a lot for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the games this weekend. It should be a lot of fun. Yep, thanks for dealing with the technical

those well, these guys. Appreciate it. All good, buddy. Nick Shook from NFL.com here. 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. Visit them at the Clayton Pub.com. Tommy, with an Ask Us Anything,

and this is a listener. Ask us anything. We said anything. Okay. So I don't want to affect the vibes here, but I'm going to read this one. and Tommy says at this rate it seems like Quinn Hughes

could choose to leave okay he could choose to leave right but it's not even seems like he could choose to leave quick vibe check if that's the case what would the return be on Hughes in a trade we would still have good defensemen so what would your guys ask be

in return for him that is such a tough question because if you are trading a guy like Quinn Hughes the other team doesn't want to give up good roster players they're going to be I don't

I think Luke Hughes and Jackie's no I think it might be one of those like you get a bunch of really quality prospects and first round picks going back to the documentary

that I've been watching like the Herschel Walker trade for the Dallas Cowboys and how everyone was like so confused by that but they kind of tricked the Vikings because at first they took these players and then the players were like

but there was a little you know I guess there was part of a tray that says if these guys don't stay they turn into draft picks and then they use the draft picks and they turn the thing now that's old that's like an old story and you know we've seen a lot of teams try to load up on draft picks in the past and it doesn't always work out as well as it did for the Dallas Cowboys but

I think it might be one of those deals where you have to get a bunch of futures and then try to turn them into something else. I'm looking at some of the biggest trades in the last five years in the cap era. It also depends where the Canucks are if they make that. Yeah, that's a good point. You know, like if if Petterson has bounced back and he's a legit one C, then you're going to be like, okay, well, we got to keep this going because we do still have pretty good goal-tending and we do have a good blue line and, you know, we got some players.

But if he hasn't, and maybe some of those young defensemen haven't panned out as expected or, I don't know, Thatcher Dempco is running into injury concerns again. Like all these wild card things. You know, who knows what the vibes are? Then you might be like, okay, well, you know,

we don't even need to try and keep this thing going. We can look three or four years down the line, although the Canucks never really do that anyway. So I was going to use the rant and trade, but the rant and trade was so much more complex. It's almost apples to oranges. When Eichael got traded from

Vegas, or sorry, got traded to Vegas from Buffalo, the exchange was Tuck, Krebs, a top 10 protected first round pick and a second rounder. So a roster player, and a pretty good one in Tuck, not a superstar or anything.

A prospect in Krebs, a first and a second. And that was even considered inferior return for Eichael. And part of that has to do with the revisionist history because Eichael then went to Vegas and, you know, helped them win a Stanley Cup. And whereas Buffalo has just been mired and not even mediocrity, but sadness ever since. But if the template would be a good roster player, a prospect, a first and a second, you can start there. But I would argue a couple things. One, Hughes is better and more valuable than I mean he plays a position that's I think I know the center position is valuable I think defense is inherently more valuable and two I just don't know how often a guy like Hughes would

come on the market be he's got to remember the thing with Ikel was like there was still a little bit of concern because of that weird neck injury and procedure that he had now everyone knew that he was going to come back and play but he hadn't just he hadn't established himself as dominant a player in the NHL in Buffalo as Hughes has established himself in vacation Vancouver. Like what you're getting with Hughes is pretty much a nailed on 100% guaranteed Norris trophy candidate over the next what, five, 10 years at least. That's an astronomical get for the incoming team. But if the trade is to New Jersey, right? And in New Jersey's like, well, he's going to come here anyway. We know that. Yeah. They might just be like, we're not going to

give up a lot for one one extra year of Quinn Hughes. That's why I think if things go off the rails this season, the trade Hughes talk should start at this trade deadline. But we are going to table this conversation. It was a good ask you say anything. It was a good ask you. We haven't explored. We haven't gone down the road yet. And there could be all sorts of factors that we don't see coming in any potential Quinn Hughes trade. And hopefully it doesn't come to that point anyway. Okay. We've got a lot more get to in the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I do need to tell you about North Star metal recycling. From wiring to appliances, North Star gets you the best price for your metal recycling.

They'll match any price offered in the lower mainland for quick and reliable recycling. The answer is North Star. Their knowledgeable team is here to help you get started, saving you time, and making you money. They recycle you get paid. Visit them today at Northstar Metal Recycling.com. Lots more to get to an hour two of the program. AJ from AJ's pizza is going to join us. reminder, a $100 gift card to AJ's is up for grabs for the best ask us. Anything? Zach Worden is going to join us at 705, Blue Jays writer

for SportsNet. We're going to break down the Blue Jays and Yankees series, which begins on Saturday. And at 7.30, it's the Moge. Bob the Moge, Marjanovic is going to join us to preview the BC Lions game also on Saturday. Big second hour ahead. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the

Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.