Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could Thatcher Demko Be Back Soon?

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

In hour one, Mike and Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they hear from Thatcher Demko ahead of this upcoming Canucks road swing (6:00), plus the boys preview Week 12 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (30:00).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- So I would like to see them, and I told them, is just get into people a little bit harder. Thought about coming in front of the net, they score! What a play! And look who it is! His very first NHL goal! Fraser Mitton! My cat's name is Mitton. Work chick, for a chick, and for your chick, yeah? Good morning, Vancouver.

Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It's Alfred and his brother. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, the beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider. Powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, what are you waiting for? Kintec got a big show ahead on a Thursday.

Guest list begins at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us ahead of Thursday Night Football. We'll talk to Nick about everything that's going on around the NFL. Tumultuous times for the New York-based football clubs, the Jets and the Giants. Yeah, the Jets. There's all sorts of reporting going on right now on Woody Johnson, the owner, interfering in operation. And at one point, it has been reported that, what was it, four weeks into the season that he suggested Aaron Rodgers be benched? After their 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, Woody suggested it.

And apparently the Jets coaching and management managed to talk him out of it. But there's some disagreement about whether or not he might have been joking. But they also talked him out of it, and then they were all fired. So I don't know how much they actually did talk him out of anything. Nick Shook's going to join us at 630. By the way, the Thursday nighter tonight, Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Cleveland Browns. 7 o'clock, Luke Fox, Toronto Maple Leafs writer and NHL writer for Sportsnet,

is going to join the program. We'll talk to him about a very eventful game yesterday, the marquee matchup on Wednesday Night Hockey across the Sportsnet family of channels. Mitten scored. Sorry? Mitten scored. Yes, Fraser Mitten scored. The Leafs, I'm just going to throw this out there now. I'm very scared.

I'm very scared because the Leafs are doing all the things successfully that they were never able to do before. Stick up for each other and stuff. Keep pucks out of the net. Have good goaltending. Block shots.

Play tough. They looked like a tough team last night. It was crazy. I don't like it. That was without Austin Matthews, who was vacationing in Germany. It was without half their forwards. He's out eating their schnitzel in Dusseldorf. The rest of the guys are putting in the work.

I got to say, Marner looks good right now, too. It wasn't even the same organization. Yeah, that's true. We'll talk to Luke Fox at 7 o'clock about that. 7.30, JC Abbott is going to join the program. BC Lions CFL writer for Three Down Nation. We thought we were going to bid him farewell when we said goodbye a few weeks ago

after the Lions lost in the crossover game in the playoffs, but he's back because there's big news on the Lions front, so I guess one of the first orders of business for the new GM, Ryan Rigmaiden, is the official word yesterday that they're going to trade Vernon Adams Jr. They made that official yesterday, so we'll talk to JC Abbott about that and a

whole bunch of other things with the Lions, including who their next head coach might be. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance, the Drancer, from the Athletic Vancouver. We will talk to him as the Canucks depart today for Ottawa in a long eastern road swing that does cut back through the Midwest. So we'll talk to Drancer about what to expect this weekend.

Canucks take on a familiar friend, Travis Green, and the Ottawa Senators. That's going to be on Saturday in Ottawa. So we've got a big show ahead. It's a four-guester. There's lots of sports. That's going to be on Saturday in Ottawa. So we've got a big show ahead. It's a four-gester. There's lots of sports. There's lots to get into, including some optimism from the Canucks. So without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was busy. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What happened miss that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. The Canucks did practice yesterday ahead of flying out on this lengthy road trip that's going to take place and won't see them come back until December the 4th. Goodbye everybody for a long time. Before they left for Ottawa, some cool and good developments for your local hockey squadron. Thatcher Demko spoke to the media about his pending return. Should we just jump right into some audio here that we've got on Thatcher Demko? Let's begin with where he's gotten to up to this point. Thatcher Demko talking about rehab and a turning point in Penticton for pre-training camp where they kind of figured out exactly what they needed to do to get the knee and the popliteus back up to speed

and how they're slowly working on it. Here's Thatcher Demko from yesterday's Vancouver Canucks practice. No, we had to use different modalities to get the function up. It wasn't an adaptation of my style of play, and I knew it wouldn't be. Shortly after Penticton, we really nailed down what the issue was specifically, which was nice to finally kind of understand what was going on. And that gave us a clearer picture of different options that we had moving forward. And, you know, it was kind of just trial and error at that point.

And we ended up finding something that worked really well for me. So it's great that he's having progress. And I expect that we might even see him on the road trip. It's a six-game road trip. I'm not suggesting that the Canucks are going to rush him back in any sense. I don't think they will. But it was sure nice to have him because, you know, Silov probably should be down in the AHL working on his game.

And Kevin Lankanen, I think we've seen him peter out a little bit. He had a great start, helped keep the Canucks afloat, but I would like to see Thatcher Demko sooner rather than later. I think the question that a lot of us have, and we're going to play another clip in just a bit because Thatcher Demko obviously knows this too, is are we're going to play another clip in just a bit because Thatcher Demko obviously knows this too, is are we all going to be on pins and needles every time Demko makes a save? I don't know if I can live like that, but I guess he knows that too,

that he can't return and just get hurt again and be like, okay, I guess i'm ready to go let's let's let's try it uh so here's thatcher demko talking about all the work he's putting in right now and all the the testing that he's putting his knee through before he actually does return to the NHL? Yeah, I think, you know, admittedly, I feel great right now. And to your point, you know, I can't feel good and go back into game action and have a setback two weeks into playing. And I got to put this thing through hell and know that I can kind of sustain that and withstand just the pressures of being in the NHL every day

and playing games, waking up, practicing, traveling, doing all this stuff. kind of sustain that and withstand just the pressures of being in the NHL every day and playing games, waking up, practicing, traveling, doing all this stuff. I need to make sure that I'm ready for the long haul and then do everything that I can to make sure that I am. So I think this this last, you know, like I said, I still have some a little bit of work to do, but I think the last stretch of it is going to be just that that um, that capacity build and, and making sure that I can, uh, you know, withhold the schedule of the NHL. So I guess we got to cross our fingers a little bit, but there aren't any other further setbacks because he is going to, he is going to, he is going to be pushing it, right? And he's talking about putting this injury through hell, or maybe

it's not an injury anymore, putting knee through hell i mean we've all put our popliteus through hell boy i do it every day when i wake up um but mine is healthy thatcher demko hurt his um laddie i got a question for you what is the most vulnerable position going to be for Demko as a goalie? I mean, I personally always find it crazy how strong NHL goalies are when they're, I don't know, pushed up against the post, basically in the splits position, and you get like 10 guys in the crease all poking away at things. And I'm just like, first of all, I'm glad you're wearing a cup.

Second of all, that looks you're wearing a cup second of all that looks crazy how strong these guys are in very unusual positions for most of us yeah it's when you're anchored on the post like you said if there's like a jam play at the side of the net when these guys go into what's called reverse vh you've heard kevin woodley i'm sure talk about it your leg is bent and it's almost like a spring the way it's coiled into the post. And then you're supposed to use your post to push off. That would be the most the time when his knee is most vulnerable because you're putting all that pressure, all that weight when you've got the spring loaded. And then when he pushes off, that would be the time that I would be looking for.

And Woodley said it in his hit that we had him on the other day. He hasn't seen him go post to post with his one foot on each post at the same time which he's seen him do before right so he was a little worried about that but you heard demko say he hasn't had to adjust that much so there's a bunch of different things here um which lead me to believe that his return might not be as imminent as i think maybe people want and or hope for one is he's you're never going to get like i respect the fact what he's saying like i have to put my knee through hell and withstand the pressures of being in the NHL every day. But the only way you're going to be able to do that is being in the NHL every day. Like, I don't think there's anything that's going to replicate game action.

Honestly, the pressure of it. You just have five guys in there just, like, poking at pucks. Yeah, like, nothing is going to replicate. Get in there, guys. Nothing's going to replicate. Target is Papatias. Nothing's going to replicate the spontaneity of an NHL regular season game. Things that happen in the course of a game that you just can't replicate.

So there's that. The other thing. And, um, in speaking with one particular medical professional, whose advice that I do trust, um, this might not necessarily be so much about injury rehabilitation as it is to understanding that you

might not ever be at a hundred percent again that a hundred percent with a particular injury is just it's gone now it's off the table that the way that you feel now might be unique to a high level athlete because it's almost like the normies yeah yeah's like, you know, you got Louis CK bit where he goes to the doctor and his doctor goes, yeah, your ankle is just worn out now. It's just pooch like an old tire. All these drugs destroy my liver. Well, you got to weigh that against how much you want your, uh, right. Oh yeah, for sure.

Yeah. But, um, there is, it's funny because, you know, everyday life it's like, well, we deal with certain ailments and injuries and we just kind of figure a way to work around them. Now, I'm not saying it's that degree for an NHL caliber player, but there is going to be a certain level of, is this injury going to cause me pain? Is it going to hurt? And if the answer to both of those is yes, then it becomes a pain tolerance and pain management thing.

The very undetermined thing is if someone is able to either withstand that or power through and get back to the level that they previously had. Because that's a tough thing to do. Because remember, the level that an athlete previously had oftentimes is predicated on, I feel 100%. I'm training like a madman. I'm watching everything I eat. I don't feel limited in anything i can do i sleep 13 hours a day in a pod with oxygen being pumped you know what i mean a lot of highly elite level athletes are used to having everything firing and operating at max capacity and when that changes sometimes the end result changes as well but how successful you

are at your particular sport and i all this with demko isn't specific to demko like i just want to make this abundantly clear this is like any athlete that is dealing with an injury but an injury that is some are better able to do it than others right some have higher pain threshold some people are able to scale back the work that they're doing away from the games and still remain sharp that's the biggest thing for me and that is specific to demko because not only is he dealing with an injury that might prevent him from grinding the living daylights out of his body to be at a high level he also doesn't have the coach that was there doing it for him right so a lot has changed here i think asking him to come in and be the same Demko that we saw, especially last year where you were talking top three in the NHL,

Vesna Caliber, it's going to be tough. I'll put it that way. It's going to be tough. Well, that was encouraging. Thank you, Mike, for that. No problem. Three Putt Shane texts in, and you can text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650.

The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Lad 650-650, the Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved progress away in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. Sure would be nice to shore up the defense before throwing Demko to the wolves of what is the Canucks net front defense. Well, let's talk about that defense a little bit because the Canucks practiced yesterday and lo and behold, Soucy and Myers still together. But Rick Tockett did

take some time out of his day to talk to some of those defensemen. And you know those very public, wow, Rick Tockett has sure been talking to these guys for a while well he went around to various canucks defensemen i think it was the big three it was the meyer susie and juleson yeah the big three of errors the big three of errors and had some time with them i need you to do the exact opposite of what you've been yeah guys maybe i should have had this chat earlier with you but i've noticed you've been doing. Guys, maybe I should have had this chat earlier with you, but I've noticed you've been struggling. Everything you're doing is bad. I want you to know that.

And then Rick Tockett addressed the media afterwards about all that, and he had this to say. I think Mizey's game has come on the last couple of games. I think Sousa's got to get his confidence up. I think everything is magnified. Everything he does, it's in our net. And I talked to him today. He's just got to get his confidence up. I think everything is magnified, everything he does, it's in our net. And I talked to him today.

He's just got to, he's close. I would like to see him, and I told him, is just get into people a little bit harder. That's when he's at his best. I can say that about every player, but I'm a big believer is you've got to get, like, you know, you saw the Zabanejaks goal, you know. I think it was Ratz. Like, you've got to take a stick.

You can't just be with a guy. I think that's one thing we got to get better at, whether it's Susie or Raddy or whoever, Petey. You got to get into people. And I think we haven't been as good as getting into people, but we're getting better. I like that. You got to take a stick.

You can't just be with the guy skating next to him. How you doing, bud? Hi. How's the day going? Notice you've got the puck there. Would you mind if I took it? Can I have that back, please? So, so stupid. So,

Rick Talkett obviously listens. I like being with you. And then Rick Talkett's like, you need to be inside the guy. He's like, what? You're going to go through him. Sir, I don't know about that. So, obviously Rick Talkett listens like, you need to be inside the guy. He's like, what? You got to go through him. Sir, I don't know about that. So obviously Rick Talkett listens to the Halford and Brough show because yesterday in between all the conversations we were having

about the blue line and the endless iteration of, do we need to switch up the pairings? And the newest one, which is how long before they acquire Marcus Pedersen or another defensive cog. I did throw out there the notion that in these trying times where so many guys are out of the lineup and you're relying internally for guys to step up, maybe, just maybe, the answer is,

Susie, Myers, you're going to have to do more. Play better. You're going to have to play better. The cavalry is not coming. We do not have a trade lined up. We are not going to fix this by moving the guys around in pieces on the chessboard. You're going to play together as a pairing. You just need to play better.

I think that's what they're doing. I think that's exactly what it is. I think they look at, you know, first of all, the difficulty of the trade market and how much they would have to give up to get a guy that was a significant upgrade on what they've got right now. I'm sure they can go out and acquire another 5-6 defenseman, but, you know, they're kind of chock full of those right now, the way the guys are playing. But also, there's nothing really down on the

farm that, you know, people were texting me and he goes, what about Jet Wu? I'm like, what about Jet? Let's stop doing this. I've never played in the NHL before. I don't think he's going to solve everything. Yeah. I don't think he's going to hop into the top

four and be like, where have you been? So the best answer might be. What about Colnick Ward? Okay. The best answer might be just to Colmick Ward? Okay The best answer might be just to You know, play better We know these guys can do it Especially Soucy, right?

I mean, it's not like Soucy is Soucy's been a disappointment 38 years old or anything Like he was good last year He was solid He was reliable And right now As Tuckett said

It just seems like everything is going wrong for him Like I got Ian Cole vibes from him in the last game. Playoff Ian Cole. Playoff Ian Cole. Right? Remember when Ian Cole was, and he was hurt, and he was going through a lot,

and it just like, everything that happened to him was like a comical mistake. It was magnified. It was almost like the camera was on him, and anytime the puck was around him, bad things were going to happen. Yeah, it was like

O.J. Simpson's character in The Naked Gun. Pretty much. What was his name again? Nordberg? Nordberg, yes. Getting big Nordberg vibes. Yeah, Susie, I mean,

here's the thing though. And then somehow Susie manages to like stick his finger into a wall socket or something like that. I didn't even know there was one on the ice. It's just, here's the thing. Don't put a wall socket or something like that. You know, like I didn't even know there was one on the ice.

It's just, here's the thing. Don't put a fork in there. Susie, as we get, as we get back to the seriousness of it all. I think, I do think there's something to this.

I'm also going to be very curious to see if the recent developments, the losing at home, the bleeding goals, the depletions from the lineup, if this provides, I guess, the spark, I'm struggling to find a better term, but the spark for Rick Tockett to bring back some of the staples

and some of the style of play that they had last year. Because I understood, and we all understood, what the MO was for this offseason, right? It was, we proved ourselves last year we know that there are certain things that we can do on the ice we know that we can be successful doing those things the next iteration for this team is to find some more offense have some more offense on the rush create more chances be a more diverse offensive team, aggressive attacking team. And with that, change our style of play a little bit. Don't forget about our staples, but add to them.

And what's happened is, and Rick Tockett said it, I don't know, 15, 16 times already this season. They have forgot a lot of those tent poles, a lot of those staples, a lot of their landmarks. They have. And part of that has to do with the style of play that he himself has implemented. So, do you get the situation that you're going out on the road, you just had a homestand where you went two and four over six games

and you got four out of a possible 12 points. No JT Miller. No Brock Besser. They're not even sure that he's going to fly with the team, let alone play, anytime soon. So, don't count Brock Besser. They're not even sure that he's going to fly with the team, let alone play, anytime soon. So don't count Brock Besser in your lineup in the near future for the Vancouver Canucks. No Miller, no Besser, no Demko.

No Forbort, I guess. Is this enough for Tockett to say, you know what, we're going to get back to a little bit more meat and potatoes, a little less north-south in terms of being aggressive. we're going to play a little bit closer to the vest we're going to ask more of our defensemen and we're going to play more low event games over this six game road swing and try and start banking some points and feeling better about ourselves yeah i mean it's possible it's possible i don't know what talk it is telling the, but you also looked at the goals that they scored against the Rangers and, you know,

two of them were directly off the rush and one came after a really nice transition up the ice. You know, Ray pointed it on the broadcast and was very impressed by Hronik separating the puck from the puck carrier in Vancouver's defensive end, making a pass out, I think it was to Petey, and then the puck goes into the other end. There's a bit of zone time there,

but I think the Rangers were a little off balance because of how quickly everything had happened, and then Quinn Hughes scores that goal right into the game. I get what you're saying, but I'm just not sure the coaching staff is going to be willing to abandon things so quickly. No, I just think it's on the table. It might be.

Who knows? Because it's not like the returns from the early part of the season have been overwhelmingly positive. I realize that, but a quarter into the season have been overwhelmingly positive i think we can all say that i realize that but you know a quarter into the season you know are they in are they in a position right now where i mean i guess they might be right that's the thing like it's like the desperate times call for desperate measures look around the league right now uh boston fired a coach being two games under nhl 500 like there are a lot of teams right now that feel like

they're underperforming and underwhelming and i watched the national predators last night lose three nothing in seattle i'm like i gotta wonder how much time's left for this group and barry trotz not that he's gonna start trading i got some odds sent out to me by some sports book i can't remember what it was so So many sports books now. Yep. Said Andrew Brunette is the most likely to get fired. Yeah. And I was kind of like,

ah, really? Like, do you think that would be the answer right now? Maybe, who knows? Um, I thought,

uh, you know, Barry Trotz was just going to more bring up some younger guys first, but yeah. Did you see his blunder yesterday? Yeah. He started the wrong lineup and got a penalty for it he's costing his team right on the ice also i know it's i know it's

too late to have a canary in the coal mine but i giving up five goals to that nashville team which is what vancouver did the other night yeah that is not well it was a pk right it was terrible pk they were on the power play a bunch. Maybe they're good now. They're not. Jess said I watched them last night, and they were awful. What was more disappointing, the Islanders' loss or the... The Islanders' loss.

The Islanders' loss was dreadful. So that was the canary in the coal mine for the subsequent canary. I'm like, what is going on here? And then when Rick Doggett said he liked their game against Nashville, I mean, I almost wanted to have the screeching brakes audio play. Wait a minute. What did you just say? Like, that was not a good performance.

I know that there was a lot of mitigating circumstances, including the benching of JT Miller in the third period. But I watched, again, I watched a Nashville team yesterday on the power play at five on five just stand around on the perimeter. I'm like, how does this team score any goals let alone five stevie and langley text in talk was telling the media that the team was too passive against the rangers he doesn't want the team to sit back and let the play come to them he wants them to attack and be aggressive so i don't think we will see them sit back on this road trip i think

you do have to separate um aggression offensively and aggression defensively. And I think what Rick Taka was talking about there was aggression defensively. And a lot of that would result in, you know, gaps that were too big. You know, if you're talking about the gap between the puck carrier and the Canucks defenseman, sometimes you're like, you give that person a little too much space. And he was talking about more defending the rush and defending in zone where the Canucks don't seem

to be trusting each other. Yeah. So they're playing a little bit passively. I get what you're saying, Stevie and Langley. Stevie. Stevie Nicks and Langley. But I think there are differences between defending aggressively and then rushing aggressively.

Look, I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility because if I was a coach right now of any team in any sport, I would be looking at, one, my overall record. But two, when you go down the columns and you look at goals against, then I'd be like, that's a problem. Yeah, just send it. But here's the thing. You don't want to send them the wrong message, too.

You don't want to send the wrong message of being, okay, like, guys, we're not good. We've got to park the bus. We've got to lock it're not good we gotta it's not gonna park the bus we gotta we gotta lock it up you could sell it though by saying let's get back to the things that made it successful i think they're trying to do that i think they're trying to re-rediscover their identity and i went still allowing that sometimes you've you know it's like i i i think people too and that includes us, like it's possible we've made too much of these system changes.

Like a lot of it was just like, hey, if you got an opportunity to beat a guy, beat a guy. You know? I get that. You know, it wasn't like we're the run and gun connects now. No, no, no. Just watch how they play. They're not playing.

It's not like, wow, what a difference. To me, offensively, it's like still a lot of back to the point man the point man tries to find a shooting lane 50 of the time the puck gets through you know like it in everything seems to be funneling back to the d-man and the d-man shoots so like it's still for me it's kind of like wow this looks a lot like last season yeah they do look like a more dynamic team on the rush, both in terms of speed and in terms of the chances that they create. It's not overwhelming,

but I definitely have noticed the difference. I'm thinking more on the defensive side of things if there's got to be a renewed commitment to maybe playing a little bit more in the middle of the ice and protecting that part of the ice. Yeah, for sure. Well, Tyler Myers not following Zibanejad into the corner. Nick Shook is going to join us next.

We'll talk a little NFL. We'll talk a little New York Jets. They are the NFL's soap opera. I want to talk about the New York Giants. Okay. Yeah, because that one to me is even more puzzling because what they've done is bench Daniel Jones and then skipped over the number two quarterback entirely, Drew Locke,

and gone directly to the number three quarterback. Tommy DeVito. Which I'm like, why? And you know who else is wondering why is? Drew Locke. He has no idea why. You're listening to the Helford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I sleep 13 hours a day in a pod with oxygen being pumped.

Simpsons scandal update. Homer sleeps nude in an oxygen tent, which he believes gives him sexual powers hey that's a half truth canucks talk with jamie dodd and thomas drance we'll dive deep into all that's happening with the vancouver canucks listen 12 to 2 p.m on sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts 634 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. The date, Thursday, November 21st. The occasion, it's Greg Ballack's birthday, everybody.

Hey! Happy birthday, laddie. Happy birthday, buddy. Thank you. Andy, say something. Wish him a happy birthday. No, Andy's not going to do it. Andy, wish him a happy birthday.

He's working. He's working. Happy birthday. Andy's upset because... That was my What We Learned. It's the most A-Dog reason for being upset ever. I finally have a What We Learned. Halpert stomps all over it.

You can't sit here for two hours and not acknowledge the man's birthday. Sure you can. You just can't have a soul. Gotta be dead inside. Then at 8 o'clock, you would have announced it. Then everyone would have been like, didn't you know this at 6 a.m.? Yeah. Well, no, because Greg was technically born right at 8 a.m., see, so it's not his birthday

yet. That's a lie. I think it was like 5 a.m. or something. Anyway, happy birthday, Greg. How old are you now? I'm 34 now. Oh, my God. Yeah, I was born in 1990.

You're so young. I didn't see the 80s, you guys. So any brough reference to the 80s, I completely- That's why you play that music all the time. That's your closest affiliation to the 80s. That's why you play that music all the time. That's your closest affiliation to the 80s. Business at Hand. Halford & Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 of this show is brought to you by Northstar 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. Nick Shook from NFL.com joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nick. How are you? Hi, guys. I'm good. I also didn't

see the 80s. How old are you? I'm 32. Wow, you and Hi, guys. I'm good. I also didn't see the 80s. How old are you? I'm 32. Wow, you and Laddie are in the same boat. Well, don't worry. By the end of this phone call, Jason will have had at least three 80s references. Now the pressure's on. Oh, perfect. Let's do it.

For example, is Bernie Kosar starting tonight for Cleveland? There you go. Ah, no, because he's already been cut by Bill Belichick. Okay, I'm going to go. Let's talk about these New York teams. I want to start with the Jets, all due respect to the Giants, which we will get to in a second. Can you first run the listeners through exactly what's gone on over the last 48 hours for the New York Jets,

how they got to this spot, and what comes next for this very dysfunctional franchise? I mean, it's it's if it's not one thing, it's another, right? You fire your head coach after you come back from your London trip. Maybe that'll fix things. It doesn't. You continue to go down the list and you say, well, who else is in charge?

The general manager, let's say he's gone now because we don't like the team that he built around Aaron Rodgers. It's a number of different people pointing fingers at each other instead of, you know, kind of coming to terms with the fact that this grand experiment that they put together in New York did not work. And honestly, you know, so much of the attention has been focused on Aaron Rodgers with the Jets over the last two years. And, you know, of course, he was robbed of that first season with them because of the Achilles injury. But, you know, when you watch them play, they just look like a football team that isn't

interested in playing. It's not even so much that Rodgers is terrible. He's not. You can't explain it away by one player or one thing. It's just, it's a collection of issues and i think when you often see a team that looks disinterested in playing football cannot execute the most basic things consistently um but you're seeing is a club that's headed toward a legitimate reboot and there are pieces there with them but they have decided that you know uh joe douglas was not going to be the guy to continue assembling this team. I thought that one great point was made, I think, on social media after Joe Douglas was fired, which was that he came in preaching about how much he wanted to focus on the offensive line

and had five years to do it and still never really quite figured it out. The Mekhi Becton selection didn't pan out. The Tyron Smith signing this year really hasn't panned out. Elijah Vera Tucker was a good pick, but he's struggled with injuries. It's hard to put together a strong offensive line. It's hard to put together a good football team. That's why GMs come and go all the time. But it seemed like it was the latest move for the Jets.

They, I don't know, try to figure out what to do next. Both of these New York teams like this stuff. They're both pretty wayward, and I think it starts at ownership more than anything. Well, I was going to ask you about some of the reporting about Woody Johnson, the New York Jets owner. What did you think of, I guess it was the athletic, but there was also other organizations that had sources that said that at one point, maybe four weeks into the season,

Woody Johnson threw out the idea of benching Aaron Rodgers. This is what I'm talking about, though, is that, you know, and obviously these are all, you know, sourced reports and everything else, but it's not uncommon that you see owners get pretty involved with the team's, you know, day-to-day operations and football decisions. Jerry Jones has done it publicly for years. And look where the Cowboys are right now. It's, I don't ever want to use the term metal,

but it does kind of trend toward that direction when you talk about benching the quarterback, because I think that a lot of these problems were beyond the quarterback. It wasn't just an Aaron Rodgers thing. And I'm the last person on the planet who's probably going to defend Aaron Rodgers. But just watching the tape specifically, it's a lot of lack of offensive decision-making on the part of the coaching staff. When Hackett was calling plays, there was no real intent there from the coaching staff

and how they wanted to run this offense. And there was no organization, and he also didn't have much time to throw. So, you know, the idea of benching him, the idea of somebody from, you know, on high making that call and not leaving it to the coaches just kind of points to every situation that if you're a fan of the team you never want to be in, which is that you hear that your owner is trying to make decisions from the top down and not letting the people that he paid to make those decisions make those decisions.

You know you're headed toward a dark place. And I think the jets have found themselves there now. Yeah. I mean, how do you get out of it? That's a good, that's the question that the $64,000 question, we're going to make one of those older references. Uh, it's, I, I don't know because I do like what a lot of this roster, you know, presents. Um, I still feel like Robertbert saw got a raw deal um i feel like you know he wasn't necessarily deserving of being fired in that moment

uh the pressure of new york tends to cause you know decision makers to do some interesting things from time to time and i feel like we've kind of learned with the jets continuous slide downward that you know firing saw was probably a bit of a knee-jerk reaction and maybe shouldn't have happened. I think what you have to do is you got to get on the same page organizationally. And that starts with the owner hiring somebody whose vision he aligns with. And that's usually a GM, but, you know, could be a coach and then a GM. They got to get on the same page more than anything. I mean, you want to follow a Detroit Lions model, you know, you go get a Brad Holmes

and a Dan Campbell, that's fine. But you got to get on the same page one than anything. I mean, you want to follow Detroit lions model, you know, you go get a Brad Holmes and a Dan Campbell. That's fine. But you got to get on the same page one way or another, because this there's just too much change within this season. And honestly, I think you have to give up on the whole Rogers experiment. I mean, you can,

he can play it again next year, but the whole idea of we have a title window, we got to do it now. We got to do the LeBron James thing where we're instantly contenders. As soon as he arrives and all chips are pushed to the center of the table. You can't do that anymore with this Jets team because who knows if Rodgers plays more than one more year, and you've got to plan for the future.

Speaking of getting a raw deal, no shortage of raw deals being handed out by the New York Giants at the quarterback position right now. So Daniel Jones gets benched, and maybe that's fair because he's been underwhelming at quarterback, and they expected more. But they don't just drop him from the starting role. They move him all the way down to QB4.

I didn't even realize they had three other QBs to put him behind, but they do. So he's now QB4 behind Tim Boyle, who moves up to the number three spot. Now the number three spot. Tim Boyle's like, number three, baby. Yeah, he's like, I'm ahead of Daniel Jones. Number three is now the number one because Tommy DeVito is going to be starting the Giants next game,

which leads to the other raw deal, which I think is Drew Locke, because Drew Locke for the entire season was the number two, and I think he thought he was going to get a shot at the starting job, only to learn this week that, no, it wouldn't be you. It would be Tommy DeVito. So I think the big picture story here is that this is not a way to run a professional sports franchise let alone the quarterback position but the other one is it feels like they're just handing out raw deals left and right

for the giants i mean all right so if you try to find a quick explainer for why he goes tommy devito here as opposed to, you know, even a Tim Boyle, this is Tim Boyle's third team this year. Okay. He did preseason with the Texans. He was with the dolphins.

We saw, you know, when they needed, when two was out, they need another backup. He ended up on that roster there and didn't do very well, did better than Skyler Thompson, but that's a very low bar to clear.

And now he's with the giants. So I can understand why you want to turn to a guy who's been with your franchise for at least a year. In good old Tommy Cutlets, Tommy DeVito, in running this offense. I also think that Brian Dable is trying to preserve his employment. And if there's anybody in the roster that he can trust, it's not going to be Tim Boyle because he hasn't been there very long.

It's probably not going to be Drew Locke because Drew Locke hasn't looked good in the opportunities that he's had both in preseason and briefly in the regular season and hasn't been there as long as DeVito. So DeVito gets the job, and Jones, meanwhile, goes on ice, a la Russell Wilson in Denver before they moved on from him. It is – look, we're talking about preservation mode right now. We are talking about job preservation mode. We're talking about reputation preservation with Brian Dable, who I think is a good coach and maybe hasn't had the

quarterback that he has needed to make things work. And I think, honestly, I think they're paying for the price of success in year one with Daniel Jones. That's what led to the contract. That's the current situation they're in right now. So I think that that's essentially it. Look, we're going to go try and win games with the guy that I trust the most to run this offense right now, and that's Tommy DeVito, and we'll see what happens. But I definitely know it's not going to be Daniel Jones anymore. The whole QB4 thing is wild to me.

Yeah. Whatever. Any sort of precedent can be thrown out the window with these Giants right now. What is Daniel Jones' biggest weakness? Honestly, I would say a lack of trust and confidence in himself uh the way that he operates in the pocket the hesitancy hesitancy has come and gone um from time to time over his career but it's been back uh in recent weeks there's there are moments i mean i was kind of on the bandwagon where i was like hey man he's he's having games. You know, he had a good game against the Browns.

He had a good game against the Seahawks. Yep, he did. You could see the tools. That's the thing. When you watch him play, you're like, wow, this guy looks like he's got it all. And then is it his— Yeah, he's big. He can throw.

He can move. He can move. And for a long time, my excuse was, well, his offensive line sucks. He's got no time to throw. Well, they offensive line sucks. He's got no time to throw. Well, they've improved that. He's got more time to throw. Well, he doesn't have any weapons. They've improved that, too.

Malik Nabors can be the first guy that you point to as an example of that, and yet they still struggle. I think it's consistency. That's why I think it's the confidence thing. And honestly, I think, you know, spending your entire NFL career in New York has not done well for him. Those are some bright lights, and Giants fans are starved for success, and I think he's been unfairly the target of it.

But I also think that he's definitely struggled enough to lose his job, for sure. It's just that I wouldn't have paid him. That's the weird thing about this league is you shouldn't pay a guy that you're not fully sold on having, and yet that's what they have to do with quarterbacks so often, and that's what they thing about this league is you shouldn't pay a guy that you're not fully sold on having, and yet that's what they have to do at quarterback so often, and that's what they did with Daniel Jones, and now they're going to pay the price for it.

Well, at least he's already made almost, what, $100 million? Yeah. That's good for him. That should give him some confidence. He can thank Dak Prescott, too. He can thank Dak Prescott for setting that standard, that precedent with the $40 million a year contract. Yeah, he's made his money.

Congratulations. I still think he can hack into the NFL somewhere as a backup, not as a long-term starter. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Let's move out to the West Coast here. Big game for the Niners this weekend against the 7-3 Green Bay Packers. Who was healthy enough to play for the Niners this weekend?

Well, George Kittle, for one, okay? We're immediately going to say, all right, you get Kittle back. Is Brock Purdy going to play? I don't know. We're going to find out because he had a short shoulder and was a limited participant in Wednesday's practice. So that's right off the board. Now we move on from there to Christian McCaffrey,

who has not quite looked as explosive as most people remember him for, but then again, he's dealing with an Achilles injury that, you know, that's an important part of, you know, your explosive muscle group there and he's still kind of working his way back. So he will see, he got a rest day yesterday. And then you also have Nick Bosa who has an oblique issue. And I'm concerned about that because that looked like it was very

limiting for him, and then lost to Seattle last week, which, by the way, what a game between the Seahawks and the 49ers. Yeah, they're banged up. They've been banged up. At least you get Kittle back. Hopefully, Purdy plays. I think Kittle... Yeah, I've talked about Debo Samuel this way, but

I feel like Kittle really unlocks this offense too. And maybe it's a product of all of them being on the field at the same time. But when you take Debo out, you lose the perimeter game to a degree. When you take Kittle out, you lose the tight end threat and the mismatches you get there, and the offense just gets worse. I guess that's true for any offense, but it was glaring in that game for them especially. They had to rely heavily on Jawan Johnson.

So getting him back is big, but I think the loss at Bosa, we could all agree, was the most significant loss injury-wise in that game and can be against the Packers team with a mobile quarterback who kind of fits the Geno Smith archetype a little bit, probably a little bit more talented in the long run in Jordan Love. So that's going to be their biggest one, and I'm concerned about whether he'll play.

Monday Night Football Harbaugh Bowl Version 3, right? It's the third iteration of this one, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, it is. Yeah. Jim has zero wins against John. Right, so there's a lot going into it, including the fact that it's two very good football teams. We've talked a lot about the Baltimore Ravens on this show this year.

We haven't talked an awful lot about what the other Harbaugh, I can't believe I'm calling him the other Harbaugh, but the other Harbaugh has done with the Chargers this year. It's been. He's weird, but he's effective. Very effective. And he's done a good job to the point where this is a Monday night football game if you remove the brotherly love angle from it.

Two of the better teams in the AFC. Yeah, it is. And that's exactly what Jim tried to do in his press coverage yesterday. He downplayed the whole brother thing as much as possible, which I completely understand. You don't want to make it about yourself or your brother. You want to make it about these teams because these are two very quality football teams.

The Ravens are interesting now because they lost to Pittsburgh. They're looking at a game-and-a-half deficit in the AFC North. It's time for them to start stringing some wins together, and who better to do it against than the Chargers, a team who hasn't really been tested except for last week against Cincinnati, a game that felt like it was a marathon of a game, considering the fact that the Chargers blew a 21-point lead, and they were able to somehow outlast the Bengals in the fourth quarter

of a tie game that seemed like it was going to be tied forever. That's their only legitimate test that I've really kind of considered to be true on their schedule. Like, their other wins are over the Raiders, Panthers, Broncos, Saints, Browns, and Titans. Okay, maybe the Broncos proved to be one in the end, but it was week six in Denver against the Young Bone Knicks. So this is it. This is the litmus test for them. And this is what, you know, the situation, which we'll find out does the whole blend of Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman, who obviously had a lot of history with the Ravens. Does that style of football smash mouth and then lean on Justin Herbert to throw the ball downfield? Does that prevail over a Ravens team

with a defense that is kind of suspect that, that, you know that is probably going to be missing Roquan Smith based on him suffering a hamstring injury in that most recent game. We could learn a lot about the Chargers, and I think we'll learn more about the Chargers in this game than we will about the Ravens, much like you guys have talked more about the Ravens and the Chargers. So I'm super interested to see it. And I also am very excited for the national audience to get two games of Justin Herbert in a row, because I feel like he's one of the most overlooked quarterbacks in the NFL,

especially this season. He's having a tremendous last six weeks or so, and I would look forward to seeing him go up against Lamar Jackson immediately after going up against Joe Burrow. How has Jameis Winston done for the Browns since taking over the quarterbacking job there? He's given the Browns fans the full spectrum of the Jameis Winston experience. I think that that's an overused phrase, you know,

like the Josh Allen experience. And to a certain degree, there's the Anthony Richardson experience. They're all kind of similar in some ways and different in others. The Jameis experience, as we all know, is he'll throw for 350 and four touchdowns, but he might throw for four picks in that game or the next game. You know, he essentially did that. He led the Browns to an upset win over the Ravens in his first start. His next game, he threw three picks in the loss to the Chargers, and then he throws for over 300 yards in a loss to the Saints, in which they didn't have much of a chance because their defense kind of crumbled down the stretch.

So he's done the bridge quarterback job. He's done the veteran quarterback job. He's been a good leader. He's a favorite in the locker room. He's a favorite bridge quarterback job. He's done the veteran quarterback job. He's been a good leader. He's a favorite in the locker room. He's a favorite among local media. He's brought some stability to the position, I guess, more hope to the position. He's not a long-term answer, but he's a solid plus backup

who could maybe carve out a role as a plus backup in Cleveland or somewhere else and figure out what the Browns are going to do at quarterback otherwise because we all know that situation is a little messy. Have you been looking at any NFL mock drafts? I'm wondering, is it a quarterback-heavy group? How many quarterbacks are going to go in the top 10 picks this season? Yeah, and that's the part that has been kind of hard to pin down with this group because you've had some disappointments in college ball this year. I think about Quinn Ewers not really living

up to the expectation at Texas. The kid at Georgia as well, not quite being good on the Carson Beck. Unless he's protected well, then he's good, but otherwise he struggles. The lead guy right now is probably Shador Sanders. Cam Ward is also in that discussion as well. And I'm not exactly sure how that is going to shake out based on who's picking up there, because I feel like the Browns are going to be one of the very few teams

that are up there that need a quarterback. Maybe them and the Raiders. So maybe you're in a competition for Shador Sanders. I did see a glimpse of one mock draft today that had the Browns taking Travis Hunter, who is Shador's teammate at Colorado, who plays both ways. He played something like 115 snaps in one of his most recent games. He's incredible. He's a phenomenal talent. He's a modern Charles Woodson, and he's a great player. But we are also in November, and we have to sort out draft order. We have to figure out what exactly awaits

some of these teams. And I don't think the quarterback class is going to be quite as strong top to bottom as it was even last year. So it could be a race, but I feel like there are a few less teams that need young quarterbacks and we'll see if the Browns go with a young guy now, or if they go with a veteran to try to serve as a stopgap while they write out the Watson contract, because that's also very much in play. Real quick, yes or no here. I know we're running out of time. Will Deion Sanders be the coach of the Cowboys next season? God, wouldn't it be hilarious if he was?

Oh my God, I need it to happen so badly. And then they somehow draft him. I'm going to say no. But I think it would be cinema. I think absolute cinema for us. And we'd all get really tired of it really quickly, but it'd be great TV. It could be two Colorado players picked in the first, what,

three or four picks? The move? Yeah, and they both followed him to Boulder. Yeah. The move is the Giants fired Dable. They hired Dion, and then they trade up with Jacksonville to get the number one overall pick and the starting quarterback for the New York Giants is Shadur Sanders, and the coach is Dion Sanders.

I've played it all out. I wrote the script. Roger Goodell can thank me later. Nick, thanks for doing this today, man. Really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and the weekend. We'll do this again soon. This might be the first time I've ever ended this and I'm actually mildly speechless.

Thanks, guys. Put your kickstand down and take a load off. Thanks, Nick. See you, Nick. Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. See how I put that all together? I actually like that, yeah. So ESPN has its first mock up right now,

and they did one on the caveat that the whole draft is going to be upended because the Giants are going to move up to the number one overall spot, which is going to be a projected trade with the projected number one holder, which will be Jacksonville. Yeah. And then they'll go and take Shadur Sanders. I threw on that after that or before that, however you want to play it, you fire Brian Dable and you bring in Dion and you just bring. Can you imagine bringing Dion and Shadur Sanders to New York?

Like, yes, I can't. I Sanders to New York? I can't. Yes. I can't. I mean, I can and I can't. It almost feels like a Jets move though. They'd be so jealous. They would be.

That's the other great part of it. They're super jealous. Right. Not only do you have this traveling sideshow, you also get to make the Jets jealous. Okay. We got a lot more to get to on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It is a very,

very diverse sports day here. We're going to talk to Luke Fox from Sportsnet, NHL, and Leafs writer about the big win for the Leafs last night. Talk a couple stories there. We'll go around the NHL with Luke as well. 730 JC Abbott from Three Down Nation is going to join us to talk about all the big moves that the BC Lions have already made this offseason and what's to come.

You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.