Halford & Brough in the Morning - Don't Look Now, The Seahawks Are 6 And 2!

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason wrap up what was a very eventful baseball season with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:44), plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks matchup vs. Arizona, as ESPN's Brady Henderson (26:02) joins the show. 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.

It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Furkees on the show. We're going to talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adnan. Yes, Adnan Furkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 7.03 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halverton Brough of the morning is brought to 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 now in our two of the program, Adnan, Verk from MLB Network. going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two hour two is bratsed by jason hominoc at jason dot mortgage if you love giving the banks more of your money then don't let jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you visit them online at jason dot mortgage we're coming you live from the kintech studio kintech footwear and orthotics we're going together with you in step so i just want to point out that the last time we spoke with ad nan the world series was

at three two in favor of the jays we came in the morning after that fantastic tray you savage start in which he struck out, I don't know, a billion guys in a 6-1 win in L.A. So much has happened, much has happened since then. And without further ado, we go now to the phone lines and bring in our next guest, Adnan, Virk, MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports 9-650. What up, Adnan. Mike, Jason, always a pleasure to catch up. Let me first point out our friend Andy Cole always has an excellent sense of humor.

He texts me saying this will be the final hit for 141 days. So let's hope that isn't the case. Winter meetings, I'll be in Orlando next month. Obviously, Jay's news, what happens with Bob Bouchard, I will talk to you guys in the months ahead. But you're right, Mike, to offer perspective of where we were, my dear friend Tim Kirchin, for hears of the ESPN, told me when you do these radio hits, when you go on podcasts, people are going to ask you questions either ors, right? And always give a definitive answer, because people will say, was it more this or was it more of that?

You go, well, it's a little bit of both. So I'll do it for you. Was it more that the Dodgers won the World Series or the Blue Jays lost the World Series? Sadly, it's the latter. As you said, Mike, you can't go up 3-2 and not win games six and seven. at home. You can't be two outs away from winning the World Series and lose the game. You can't go one in three at Rogers Center in the World Series after you had the best home record, the American League. There's going to be a lot of wonderful memories we'll reflect on for years to come.

For a generation of baseball fans who had not seen a World Series in 32 years, Springer, Dinger, in Game 7 of the ALCS, the assavishes performance in Game 5 of the World Series, Lodge Jr., the entire postseason run. Barger's pinched Homer in Game 1, Boba Chette's Homer in Game 7. But ultimately, you can blame ICF, you can blame Jeff Hoffman, or blame the team in general. They let the Dodgers back into this thing, and the Dodgers show the true medal of a champion. The Jay's outpitched them, they out hit them, they beat him. But they had Yamamoto, and he was the difference.

Yeah, it's funny because in the aftermath, we spent a lot of time talking about exactly that. Like, I've used the phrase numerous times on this show. You could not get any closer to winning the World Series than the Jay's got without winning a World Series. but if you were to look from 30,000 feet and take the joy and the sadness away from the individual markets, could you make the argument that this was the greatest World Series? And that might have been the greatest Game 7 in World Series history. Yeah, it's amazing. I never want to be a prisoner of the moment, Mike, and I'm generally the guy that kind of leans more on nostalgia.

So my favorite World Series is 91 because that was Braves Twins. both teams went last to first, and Game 7 was, of course, the Immortal Jack Morris game in which he pitched 10 innings, and Smols pitched seven innings. They won 1-1-0 and a Gene Larkin hit. And I'll never forget one of my favorite baseball games ever is that game 6. Kirby Puckett, it was of my favorite players

because he was short and around like me and had been struggling mightily. Makes a great catch in game second, and the game 6, excuse me, and then later hits the homeroff, Charlie Libranth, Jack Buck, Ardened by my favorite sports call ever. And we'll see you. All right.

Like to me, that 91 World Series is unbelievable. Back to Tim Kirchen, he said that's the loudest he's ever heard of crowd, the Metroman 91. So that's my favorite World Series. Maybe just because I was a kid, if you asked me my favorite sale like a final, I would say 87 Flyers, because again, I was a kid. That's the most impactful to me. But objectively, this World Series is top three of my lifetime.

I would still have 91. I would say 01, D-Baks Yankees, I thought was incredible, because the Yankees came off the Matt twice. I know we hate the Yankees, but game four and five. Remember, Bion, Kim, Scott, ferocious that home run deeper at the night. Paul O'Neill, Derek Jr. Mr. November. And then that game seven, as Jim McCarver predicted,

if Joe Torrey just played his defense at regular depth, Luis Gonzalez, that ball would have been caught instead infield-in-based. And I do think 2016 was pretty good. Cubs beating the Indians, the curse was lifted. That was a pretty epic game seven, the rain delay. Rajai Davis's home run. That kind of felt like that Miguel Rojas Homer. Like when Rajai Davis went deep at Cleveland to tie it up,

it kind of felt like when Miggie Row went deep off off. but if you look at as you said a game seven going extra innings and to have those two plays specifically like the rojas play at the play the i cap and then that catch by andy pies like if you want to make a case for this world series he'd point to those two moments and say even the world series that i'm mentioning didn't have moments like that like the winning rock was 90 feet away and a second baseman awkwardly double clutch through home wilsmith's cleat went up and by that fraction of a second who's out And in the past catch, I mean, that guy didn't hit worth a lick. Collides with kick air and hits and makes a catch for the ages.

Those two moments you could argue are as good as it gets ever in World Series history. Isn't it funny how when you're a kid, everything seems awesome, right? Because, like, my favorite World Series is actually 1987, and that was also at the Metro Dome. And I remember watching that and going, like, hey, that looks like BC Place. That could be BC Place. and it was loud, man. It was really loud. They had the Homer Hankies out.

And that was the series where they played the Cardinals and every home team won. So it went 2-3-2 and the home team won every game. For some reason, I remember Dan Gladden hitting a grand slam, right? And you're just kind of like, and you know, I'm with you. Like that 87 Stanley Cup final between the Flyers and Oilers

was my favorite Stanley Cup final because it looked actually at one point. point like the Flyers might beat the Oilers in that cup final. Yeah, 87. I was seven years old. We had the 87 Canada Cup too. I think that was the best year in sports. 11 year old Jason, I wonder if there's, if there's any like 11 or 12 year olds out right now that like, and you don't even have to be like I'm talking about a series between the twins and the Cardinals. Like I don't care about those teams. But I mean, I wonder what this World Series did for younger fans. because these things can have an influence.

Oh, massive, Jay. The numbers were astronomical, like 27 million watched on Fox Game 7. Now, think about the fact that the Jay's number doesn't count, right? The Canada number on sports was 10.9 million, which, again, for a country of 40 million, of 34 million, whatever we are in Canada, like, that's insane. Sorry, 41 million Canadians, 11 million watched it. So to extrapolate that for 310 million Americans, I think, 90 million people watching World Series

Game 7. If you only get those numbers for the Super Bowl, that would blow the NFC champions. Every single thing out of the water, period. How about this? The men of people who say basketball has surpassed baseball, the NBA's game 7 between the Thunder and the Pacers, baseball eclipsed it by

53%. Yeah. 27 million people watched. There was only 15 million watching NBA Game 7. So baseball had a hell of a season, man. I mean, third straight year attendance went up, ratings up across the board for every one of their national partners and even Fox themselves said Jay it's not the matchup because how could Dodgers Yankees it was basically the same rating was 15.7 million average this year last year you want to know

why because it went seven like it's not necessarily the matchup it's the duration and how compelling the entertainment is and I'm with you there's going to be kids as just as you and I are talking to 87 they're going to go oh my god I was 12 years old in 2025 and I said the greatest world series of my lifetime that that will have a carryover I absolutely think so it needs to be compelling and I remember in 2011, the Canucks and the Bruins, people were like, you know, down south, they were like, oh, Canadian team in the Stanley Cup final, this isn't, but then that series got real compelling, and the ratings were actually very, very good for, I guess it was NBC at the time that had, that had, and then all of a sudden, I think, I don't know if

it changed their way of thinking when it came to promoting the regular season, but I think it opened the idea that you didn't necessarily have to have two big American markets in it for it to get good ratings. Now, it helps. But as the series progressed, that thing you could tell what kind of took a life of its own. And man, it's just sad. You know, in 2011, Vancouver was on the wrong side of the Stanley Cup final. And it's, you know, it's just sad for Blue Jays fans and there are a lot in Canada that they were on the wrong side of that one. And then do you think that

one's just going to stay with them forever, the World Series that got away? Or is there a chance, is there a chance that the Blue Jays could be back next season and kind of make that a painful memory, but one that wasn't so bad because you win the World Series

next year? Yeah, I think as heartbreaking as it is, Jay, the good news is a lot of this nucleus will return and there's reason to have upside and optimism. What Vlad he did was incredible. Obviously, he proved that he's a superstar, and the contract kicks in next year. You're savage, like a star is born, right?

All of a sudden, the Jays had their own version of Paul's schemes. Who knows what happens with Bichet? I personally think he goes. I just don't think they're going to pay $500 million to Vlad, and then it gives $200 million to Bo. I mean, $7 million of two guys. I just don't think that's the smartest way of doing business for a guy who's a below-average defensive shortstop.

He can hit. There's no doubt about it. Beau is a great hitter. He was second in the league and hits. a great bounce back season. Bradley, you know, the Braves or, God forbid, the Dodgers, the Phillies, they're going to give him seven years, $200 million, and he's going to bounce. So he's not integral.

Obviously, they got the World Series without him, and you have to hope these other players can develop these great stories like the bargers. I go both ways on it, Jay. I try to stay optimistic and say, well, if you came this close to winning a World Series, you have most of the same players. They're right up, you should be back next year. Here's my cynicism. We rarely see teams get back to the World Series.

For God's, the Dodgers is the first repeat champion in 20, years. And even just to get back to the World Series is very tough. The Yankees won 94 games and they're getting Garrett Cole back next year. You know, the Mariners, one would think, I think they might regret, because I don't know if they're able to keep Nailer and or Suarez. Both those guys could be gone, but

you think maybe they're starting pitching is better of the course the season than they were this year. The Tigers can't quite possibly have another collapse like that. What do you expect to Cleveland? Boston's young players are excellent. Maybe they take a big jump next year. So I'd like to have optimist from a Blue Jays fans and say, they're definitely going to be a playoff team. They'll be in

next to win the division again. But to come this heartbreakingly close and not win, may haunt them for years. We're speaking to Adnan-Verk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. You kind of open the door there, and I do want to give a moment here we have a lot of Mariners fans

in the lower mainland, and I know that you and Alex Avila on MLB Network, we're talking about this Mariners off-season, which is going to be maybe as pivotal as one as the Js are going to have, given the fact that they fell one game short of going to the World Series, and they're desperately want to get back there. You guys classified them

as a high-pressure team heading into the off-season. Can you explain to our listeners why, what that means and what the outlook is for the Mariners? Well, thanks you're seeing it, Mike. I appreciate it. Yeah, it was, listen, 50 years this team has not made the World Series. And kind of like Jay's point about having a generational impact, I always think your earliest sports memories.

Like Prof was saying, he was 11 and 87, you know, you can remember when you're like six or seven, eight, nine, ten, these are the memories being forward, if you're a 60-year-old Mariners fan, if you've endured a lifetime of losing and never seen your team the World Series. And yet, Jerry Depoto generally has been hamstrung by a team that isn't willing to spend. That's why it was

so atypical what he did by getting Suarez to nail it. It was basically, this is our moment, because these guys are rentals. I do not think they're going to be able to afford both those guys. Now, maybe they can get Nailer back. It was so productive for them and a great bat. Swarres, that kind of power. He wasn't great with the Mariners. Let's be honest. He probably goes

on his way. But the reason why Alex and I classified them as being under pressure is that just as people have asked me, hey, when's you savage going to get paid? three years, your league minimum, right? Then you go three years arbitration, then you're a free agent. So they've been really fortunate. These guys have been young and cost-controlled starting pitching.

So I'm talking about Wu and Miller and Gilbert and Kirby. But these guys are about to get really expensive, or you're going to have to trade them. You're not going to able to re-sign all four of those guys. Of course, Castillo, the outliers, the fact he's a better who does get a good salary. So that's why there's pressure on the merits, because you've got, like, this window is like one or two more years, and then you're going to have to trade George Herbert.

And you're going to have to sign Logan Gilbert and Wu and give them big money and also in the offset your entire pay structure. So this is really making a break in time for Seattle. And I really hope they re-sign Naylor. I thought he was a great mayor. He was productive for them, team leader. Keep at least one of those two bats because you saw the difference those guys provided. What's one team you're going to be keeping an eye on specifically in free agency?

Well, it's always the Yankees. The fact that they still haven't won a World Series since 2009, which is an eternity for them. Cody Bellinger opts out and he's going to get some big time money on the free agent market and Devin Williams who they thought was going to be their closer for years to come was a disaster so I'm really curious what the Yankees do do they re-sign Bellinger

do they go after a guy like Schwerber who had 58 home runs, 103 Ruii eyes imagine him with a short porch in right field they picture him as a Yankee beloved by his teammates very curious what Brian Cashman is going to do the Dodgers we always focus on because they just won but you know they'll still add somebody because they're the Dodgers

they just won again so that's even more playoff revenue coming in. Like they're just, they're just bathing in it right now. So I look at those big market teams more often than not. But I'm curious what happens with the Blue Jays. Like, you know, Toronto, people forget, this was not David Goliath. The Jays were fifth in payroll, so we can't

criticize Rogers for not spending. Do they sign a Ranger Suarez to help bolster that rotation? Do they re-sign Bassett? And great news with regards to Shane Bieber. The fact he opted in for $16 million, he could have hit the phage of market fellas and signed a five-year, $100 million contract. I'm

pretty certain of that. Instead, he stays for Toronto one more year. That's a good sign for the Jays. Could you envision a world where Bo Bichette signs with the Dodgers? So I think it might even Harold Reynolds. What are they only now where people whispered to me, go, listen, what they do is they offer these guys high AAVs, short-term contracts, and then defer the money. Yeah. And so Bo is probably a $20 million a year, like he's, you know, maybe even $6 for $150, $25 a year. He goes to the Dodgers could just go, hey, we'll get $30 million a year, but just for three years, and we'll defer a lot of it. Like, I can totally close my eyes, but I can see Bobichette signs three-year,

$90 million contract Dodgers heavily deferred. And you go, oh, my God, I can't believe this. I just went to the Dodgers, and he'll play a third base, or maybe he'll play shortstop. Mookiee, he'll slide over, like, yeah, he'll play second base. Like, yes, the answer to the question, I could envision it. It'd be awful, but I could see it. Oh, man.

All right, Adnan, we're not going to say goodbye, because we're going to get a hold of you in a little bit when you go to the winter meetings in Orlando, and then we will call when there's inevitably some of these big moves in free agency. And Adnan and I are starting a podcast called 1987 was awesome. Yeah, that's it.

Everything in 87. Everything in 87 was just when we were in our primes. Oh, and I'm going to tell this story because only Jay will appreciate it. I've interviewed Joe Buck a couple of times, and I told him, and I thought he'd be excited about this. I said, Joe, I love the 91 World Series so much. In 2010, I ordered the DVDs.

I bought them, and I rewatch the entire world series. It's the only time I've been. done that to be able to relive a moment in my youth. And Joe Buck paused and said, you rewatch the entire 1991 World Series. I'm like, yes, sir. He goes, first off, you need to get a life. Well, okay,

I'm going to reiterate it, though. We're not saying goodbye, but in saying that, I do want to thank you a ton for joining us every week during this baseball season. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, we've never, we've never, one, done this much baseball on the show before, especially when hockey season and football season, Rams

up and two, I don't think we've ever had this much fun doing it before, and you were a big reason for that. So thank you very much for this season, dude. We really appreciate it. Not so kind of you, Mike, Jay. My pleasure is what I always look forward to it. I love the fact we get chopped up. Have fun, talk some great baseball.

And yeah, winter meetings. I'll come on any time you guys want. Awesome, dude. Thank you again. Thank you, fellas. 87 was awesome, brough. Don't forget it. It's going to be a great podcast.

Ed Nenverg from MLV Network here on the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. It would be funny if there was like you went through every day of 1927. Like you had 365 episodes, each episode focusing on a single day of 1987. Yeah, yeah. That's not a terrible idea for a podcast. I'd listen to it. I don't know if I'd listen to it, but it's not a terrible idea for a podcast. Somebody would listen to it.

Everything seemed a lot more innocent back then. Yeah. What's going on with Punky Brewster anyway? It's true. Who knows? Where is she now? I could probably look it up. But we got so many other things we have to do on the show.

So this text came in to the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket during Adnan hit. It's from Aaron in the whack. Hashtag WWL, what we learned. I learned that the Halford and Brough won to watch Brat to by Limitless A.V. The bump is real. I placed a modest wager on an Atu-Ratu goal last night, and now I'm looking for more of this mojo. So we did it. So in case you missed it, yesterday,

we decided we're going to use the Limitless AV won to watch powers for good. We tried to do it the week prior when we made Evander Kane, who at the time was goalless on the season, the Limitless AV won to watch prior to the game against St. Louis in St. Louis. Was it in St. Louis?

Yeah, it was on the road trip. Kane scored. It was great. We had unlocked the power. Just one problem. That goal got chalked off because there was goal of interference on McKenzie. But I still think it worked because he had a nice assist on Sherwood's goal. And two goals the next night. And two goals the next night, right?

So then we come into the studio yesterday. We're like, all right, let's try this again. So we ran through the list of players that have yet to score a goal. And Atu Ratu's name was there. And I'm not going to lie. I thought it was a long shot. I did not think that Atu Ratu was going to somehow magically summon the ability to score a goal on command.

on demand like that. Luck of the week. It did, though. It was the 4-1 goal. I broke the shutout. It was hard to celebrate it in the moment, but I was like, I'll save it for tomorrow's show. And, you know, we'll celebrate it then.

Now, unfortunately, I can't really use my powers for good in a Canucks sense tonight because the Canucks aren't playing. But it is time now for your Limitless A.V. You want to watch. Brought to you by Limitless A.V., Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts. there's a bunch of games in the National Hockey League tonight

and sometimes I just like to use this to spotlight a guy who's having a hell of a year. There are two guys right now who are atop the NHL scoring leaderboard in terms of goals and both are in action tonight that's Cole Caulfield with 10 of the Montreal Canadiens and a guy you've been mentioning a lot lately, Cutter Goce of the Anaheim Ducks

who will be taking on the Dallas Stars in Dallas tonight. He also has 10 goals on the season. There's three young American players that I seem to mention a lot. Jimmy Snuggerud, Bobby Brink, and Cutter Goce. And Goce of the three is having the best season, although the other guys are having good years as well. But I, you know, and pay close attention to the Zanaheim team

because they are right near the top of the Pacific Division standings. The Canucks are going to see them a lot this year. And it seems like between the maturation of their young players, Leo Carlson's also having an excellent year. And Joel Quinville being behind the bench, seems like they might be the team that's ready to take that next step. So it's your two to watch tonight,

but one in particular, Kada Goce of the Anaheim Ducks. And I know it's crazy that we're naming an Anaheim Duck as the one to watch. But the guy has 10 goals already this young season. That is brought to by Limitless AV,

Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at LimitlessAV.C. I'm looking at the wikipers

Pedia page for 1987 in film. Yep. The highest grossing movie in 1987 because this would obviously be part of the podcast with Adnan.

Yeah. I mean like Adnan, what are your thoughts on three men and a baby? That was a good movie. Steve Gutenberg, Tom Selleck. Who was the third?

Steve Gutenberg, Tom Selleck. Oh, Ted Denson. Ted Denson. Those are in three 80s guys. It's amazing. What a murderer's row of 80s guys. Tom Selleck, Steve Gutenberg, and Ted Danson.

How do you power rank those three? Goodberg's three. Really? In the 80s, in the 80s, in the 80s, Gutenberg was the man. Oh, yeah, I know. It was like, you might recognize me from Police Academy. One through 98. But.

97 also had Predator and Robocop. Don't forget. Big year for movies. I would go with, of the, like, and you're going to, I'm going to go heartthrob status, like leading men, man, manly men, Hollywood men status. I'm putting Gutenberg at three. I think I'm putting Dancing at two, and I think I'm putting Seleck at one because of his mustache. Yeah, I'd agree. I'd go with that.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that's the way to go. I mean, Ted Dancin, especially. Magnum P.I. Ted Dantin in the 80s with Cheers. See. Was one of the most recognizable guys. Now, that's tough, because that's the superior character in a superior show to any, any role.

that any of those guys had. No, I would... Did you ever watch it? Yeah, I would put... Did you watch a very special one where he nearly died? Magnin PI? Yeah, yeah.

My favorite Magnum PI is the nuns don't work on Sunday's episode. That's my favorite. But I think because... Like, okay, you're not going to argue this. Cheers was a superior show to Magnum PI. I will agree with that. Right?

And Ted Danson was the driving force of Cheers because he was there tip to tail. Yes. So in that regard, I think you've got to give dance and the nod in terms of having the superior character and show, but I'm putting Seleck there because of the power of the stash. Okay. Yeah, I think that's a pretty handsome, man. He is a handsome man. Okay, we got to go to break.

We covered a lot in that segment, by the way. It was a good segment. We got more to come on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Brady Henderson's going to join us on the other side, our Seahawks insider from ESPN. Seahawks are in action back at home this Sunday against their. NFC West Foe, the Arizona Cardinals, new quarterback who's been there for a couple weeks in charge of the Cardinals. Seahawks are six and a half point favorites at home. We'll talk to Brady about all that coming up next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.

Hey, it's Big Nazar. Have your say and join me on The People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays, three to four on Sportsnet 650, or wherever you get your podcast. The Seahawks, with an incredible performance tonight, beat the Washington commanders here at home at Northwest Stadium, 38 to 14. 734 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halvin Brub in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Score a death freedom hat trick.

No more interest, much lower payments, and financial peace of mind. This is them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program. We're at the midway point of the show. Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, is going to join us in just a moment here, the midway point of the show. Our two of this program is by Jason Homonock

at Jason. Mortgage, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online. That, of course, is Jason Homunuck, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers at Jason. Don Mortgage. I've reached the point in the Seahawks season.

I haven't done this for a long, long time where I've been searching out where people have them on power rankings. ESPN has them number nine, and I'm outraged. I'm outraged that they're below the Patriots and the Broncos. It should be. I know the Broncos have a great defense. I know that the Patriots have been a good story with Drake May, but now I'm just like, well, what about the Seahawks?

Nine. Nine's way too low. ESPN. joining us now from ESPN. Brady Henderson joins us on the Alford-Abrough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Brady. How are you? Good morning, guys. Let me tell you quickly about the power rankings. I feel like I can speak somewhat freely because, you know, I'm talking to another country. Yeah, it's Canada radio. It doesn't even count. Yeah. Okay. So they send us a link Sunday night to vote on the power rankings.

And keep in mind, unless, you know, the team you cover is on a buy, you know, you're voting on, you know, which team is better versus this team and that team, you know, having not really seen these games, because you were covering your own game, you know, that day. So that's my sort of way of saying that our power rankings formula or our process is probably not the most scientific. You know, I think generally we have a good feel for which teams are good or not, but there are some times where it's like, you know, I'm voting on a, uh, you know, are the Packers better than, you know, the Vikings, and I didn't see either team play. I'm mostly using this as a way to say that I'm getting excited about the Seattle Seahawks and maybe even turning into a bit of a homer.

And I wonder if the trade that they made suggests that the Seahawks themselves are like, hey, why not us? Why not us for a Super Bowl? Has it reached that point? Yeah, and it's funny because they probably play in maybe the most competitive division in football right now. You know, they're tied atop the NFC West at 6 and 2 with the Rams. And, you know, as much as I have probably assumed that it's going to end up being just a two-team race because San Francisco, I don't know how they continue, you know, to win with all the power power they've lost.

I mean, the numbers, at least some of the projections that we have with our stats people say that they're going to be right there. So, you know, it is going to be probably, it might be a three-team race, you know, going all the way down to it. We'll see if San Fran can keep up. But at the same time, you know, they still look like one of the best teams in football. And you can look at the way that they've played and say that, you know, the run game at some point is going to come around. And so you look at this as a six and two team that has not really played its best football yet. So, and then, you know, beyond the NFC West, there's not really, even in the AFC, but just in the in the NFC there's not really that super dominant team that you look at and say yeah there's no way that you know they will get by them in the playoffs and so yeah I think that this is a team that's going for it and you know we'll talk about the kind of the specifics of the Rashid she deal but I will just say like if you could um you know it just it seemed like one of the deals that if you if you asked me you know three days ago to make one or two predictions.

I could have, I probably would have mentioned that one just because of how logical the fit is and, you know, it wasn't a glaring need, I wouldn't say, but to some degree it was a need. And, you know, just with the familiarity with Kuntubiak, it made all the sense of the world. Okay, well, let's expand on that a little bit more because I checked out your timeline

in the wake of the Rashid Shaheed acquisition, and there was a ton of information there. So it's not just getting a guy to sort of bolster the receiving core. I think there's some real optimism him and excitement here because of what he brings to the table also because this passing offense is coming off a game against Washington where it looked lights out on Sunday night

football. Yeah and you know I think you could watch that game if you hadn't really followed the Seahawks people would have watched that game and said well they don't need receivers they got you know guys coming off the practice squad scoring touchdowns and you know I think to some degree it is kind of a luxury

in the sense that they've got a lot of guys who could step in but I don't think they really have a guy who can do what he does, which is be a proven deep threat to play opposite Jackson Smith and Jigba and to potentially open up some things in their run game. And, you know, Tori, like Cooper Cup is obviously not that. He's a slot guy and he's 32 years old and he's, you know, got some pretty serious durability concerns.

Tori Horton, you know, has proven he can do a little bit of that, but he's also a rookie with some durability concerns of his own. and he's fast. Rashid Shaheed is a lot faster. And you are talking about, like, legitimately one of the NFL's top deep threats here. And every number points to that from the fact that he's, you know, in the top five, I think in air yards for target over his career.

I think he's, what is it, ninth and yards per catch since he entered the league in 2022. He's got six touchdowns of over 50 yards, which is kind of wild. So you're talking about a certified. burner here. And, you know, he also, he's not just a one-trick pony. He's not like Mark Wesdell at Scantling, who is going to do nothing but run deep. Right. You know, this guy can win in other ways. He just happens to be one of the best deep threats in the NFL as well. We're speaking to Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN here on the Halford

and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Were you surprised that none of the guys from the secondary were moved prior to the trade deadline? Because I know that was a busy talking point heading into the trade deadline. Well, yeah, Eric Warren was the one guy who was a very legitimate trade candidate, and that was very real. I think that a few things happened. I have no doubt that the Seahawks were at least interested in trading him, at least up until a point. And they did not, I think I would point to three reasons. One, I just don't think the market was there, or at least enough of a market to make it worthwhile for them. Two is they continue to suffer injuries at cornerback.

He went into that game against Washington. He was going to be their sixth defensive bat. He was going to play a little bit in, I mean, he was going to play probably, I would guess, 15-ish snaps as the sixth DB, the third cornerback in Dime. And then Josh Joe goes down with a concussion. And this is on the heels of Devin Wetherspoon missing five games. So they just continue to get reminders about how important it is to have a really good number three cornerback who can step in there. And then the third part of it, I think, is that he's just played better the last couple weeks.

You know, starting with the Houston game on Monday night, played pretty well. And he played really well in this game. As Mike McDonnell pointed out, that was despite, you know, they were preparing him to only play kind of in specialty packages. So he didn't really practice a lot of the things they had him doing in that game. you know, for certain looks that they were preparing for. So, I think between those three things, that's why they hung on to him. I still don't think he has a future with his team beyond this season, but you can see why it made sense to hang on to him, you know,

as opposed to getting rid of a guy who, you know, they probably are going to need over the next couple months. Are they confident that Julian Love will be back at some point this season? Yeah, I haven't gotten any indication that that's going to be like a, season-ending thing. Yeah, I have not heard that. So, yeah, I mean, and I don't know how close to the, you know, four games it's going to be. Injury updates tend to be kind of hard to come by with Mike McDonald's.

And I think part of that is he doesn't want to give information away. And part of it is I just don't think he knows a lot of the times. I think he's got so much on his point that he probably doesn't get all the information from the, you know, from the training staff and whatnot. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't have a good answer for you there. I've gotten the impression that it was, you know, he's going to come back at some point this season. And just, I don't know, because of the fact that he was on,

he was supposed to come back for the Washington game. That sort of leads me to believe that, you know, this was more of a precautionary thing and just trying to make sure that he can get right as opposed to, you know, the stopping and starting that they had been going through. Any risk of this Arizona game being a bit of a trap game, looking ahead to week 11 when they go down to L.A. to play the Rams? Well, yeah, there is that risk. I think just because, you know, what the Seahawks did,

they didn't just blow out a team. They blew out a team on Monday or on Sunday night. You know, they blew out a team with a lot of the country watching. And I think those are the kind of wins that tend to get people's attention. And, you know, my company's power rankings, notwithstanding, you are seeing the Seahawks, you know, pretty high near the top of the list. other power rankings and I'm sure there's just more attention on them and so that is that is yeah a danger you start to

get kind of full of yourself when you get that kind of attention but I will say that like McDonald's every you know every time he compliments either a player or an aspect of their team he kind of qualifies it with yeah but he's still got to do this yeah

but you know he still got to keep going so he just seems like a guy who if that's his messaging to us I'm sure that that is his messaging to his team and he's probably going to not let those guys get too full of themselves and he's going to keep them grounded. So, yeah, this would be kind of a potential trap game, but I think Mike McDonald has a good enough feel for his team to not let that happen. I want to go back and revisit the decision that they made to not keep Gino Smith and to bring in Sam Darnold. Obviously, it's worked out tremendously.

but maybe just go back to the offseason when they were courting Sam Darnold and there were other teams correct me if I'm wrong that were after Donald why did Sam choose Seattle what was it that made it attractive to him yeah you know I we tried to ask Sam Darnold that

about what other options he had and he didn't say which one I'm sure that there were other teams I don't know which ones they were. I imagine that, you know, one thing I did hear, not from Darnold, but just from, you know, another source is that he wanted to get back to the West Coast, you know, as being a Southern California guy who had obviously started his career on the East Coast with the Jets and Panthers and then goes to San Francisco and then to the Midwest to Minnesota. So he wanted to get back to the West Coast. And, you know, I'm sure there was plenty of other things about this team that had appeal to them, including, you know, They had already hired Clint Kubiak, and he had worked with Kubiak in San Francisco, so there was an obvious connection there. And then I don't know if anybody knew that Jackson Smith and Jigua was going to take off like this,

but I imagine that that was part of the appeal, too, was having a guy who was already done quite a bit in the NFL and looked like a very, very strong target in JSN. So that would be my guess of it, but I don't know what other options he had. Brady, you know, we've spoken about this a few times about. about, you know, when are the Seahawks going to find their next great quarterback? Have they found him? Like, are you ready to say, like, this is the guy? Because the thing with Darnold is, he's only 28 years old.

It's not like he's an old guy that's just finally found it. He's still pretty young. Yeah, I know. It is, Kai. I do get surprised by that a little bit just because you just think of him as being in the NFL for a long time, for whatever reason. I mean, 2018, I guess, you know, he is in his eighth year, but, yeah, he must have been, I think, 21 coming out. So, yeah, so you just, have they found their long-term guy?

I think so, yeah. I mean, there's always going to be in the back of my mind and maybe in other people's minds that reminder that, okay, you know, he was humming just like this, you know, late last season in Minnesota, and then, you know, it really hit some. a rough patch and really hit a wall over those last couple games. So you just know how quickly in the NFL things can turn. But as we saw, that was a two-game blip, and he's done what he's done over the first eight games of this season. So, yeah, I think they found their guy. You just always know that in the NFL, and we've seen it with Donald,

that things can change on a dime. But if that does happen, that would probably at this point, I think it's looking like that would just be a two-game blip, and not a sign that a guy is going to regress back to what he was. And I really think that, you know, there's validation to the idea that this continues to be real because it didn't just happen overnight. You know, it happened in Minnesota last season. But it really happened the year before.

I think that's what it really started. When he got into San Francisco, got in that system with that coaching, you know, he would never say this because he doesn't want to disparage any of the coaches that he had before him. But he was in two bad situations to begin his career. The Jets are a mess from ownership down, and I don't think the coaching was all that good there. The Panthers are a mess, maybe slightly less of a mess, but their ownership situation is probably just as much of a mess. And, you know, as we know in the NFL, the fish rots from the head down. So I think what we're seeing is a quarterback who, you know, if he was in a better situation to begin his career,

he probably would have been doing this a long time ago. Was there any explanation for the two-game blip, as you call it, with the Vikings, because, you know, the negative part of my brain, which is actually pretty big, considering some of the teams that I cheer for, you know, it does go back to that final game in Detroit, I believe it was, for Darnold. And then the playoff game against the Rams where he did not look like a quarterback that I wanted on the Seattle Seahawks. what did you ever get a chance to ask him like hey what happened there what did you learn there well you know he did like what any good quarterback would do is he he sort of shouldered it and he said that you know yeah he's got to be better about playing on time and keeping his hands on the football i think one of those was a strip sack um that went for a big play for the other team and uh you know just just just play on time and get the ball out on time and yeah generally that

is the case because you know didn't do quite a good enough job of that in those games but I mean, I went back and looked at those nine sacks he took in the wild card game against the Rams. And there were most, I would think most of those just never had a chance. You know, it wasn't like a guy holding on to the ball because he can't find someone and then, oh, there comes a pass rush. It's plays that were sort of dead on arrival. And really, I mean, that Viking's offensive line was pretty good to begin the season. And then it just kind of deteriorated because of injuries. And so by the end of the season, he was not playing behind that offensive.

offensive line that really had much of a chance to protect him. And so that said, you know, there was probably sometimes where he could have adjusted to that and got the ball out better. I think he was really, you know, that's what he was talking about when we asked as introductory press conference about those two games. But I would say by and large, that was, those were probably because of factors that were mostly beyond his control. Is JSN going to have over 2,000 receiving yards this year?

Oh, boy. he's on pace he is yeah and he you know at this base he would break Calvin Johnson's single season record he would top 2,000 yards so I think the pace right now I think it's 118 yards

per game which is I mean when you think about it it's just it sounds impossible to do that to do a you know to average 118 yards per game it sounds impossible he has done it for about half the season

And I would say it seems slightly less impossible now that they have another guy opposite him who, in theory, should command some of the attention. I mean, I do think that as you get later into the season and you play some better defenses, they're going to find a way to give themselves a better shot to take him away. And I think what Rashidjee does is, well, now he sort of neutralizes that a little bit. Or he makes that harder because it gives defenses another guy to have to worry about. about. You've obviously got to stay healthy. You know, Cooper Cup, the one time he's played a full season, and his NFL career was the year he won the triple crown.

Yeah. If you miss one game, like, forget about it, because the margin is going to be so close. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's going to be really hard, but I would say it's not impossible. Brady, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this. As always, we appreciate it. Enjoy the game on Sunday. It should be a good one. We'll do this again next Thursday. All right. You got it, fellas. Thank you. See it. Yep, thank you. Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.

The first two hours of the show are in the books coming up in the 8 o'clock hour. Well, right at 8 o'clock, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see ACDC. That's right. They're back. August, 2026 at BC Place. ACDC's doing another world tour. It's coming through Vancouver. They'd be part of the 1987 podcast. And the 1977 podcast as well. if you were going to do one of those. Yeah.

And the 67 podcast, maybe. Come on, come on. ACDC's coming here, though. August, 2026, BC Place. We're giving away tickets every day this week. Now, there's only two days left in the week. So if you want tickets, be caller number five at 8 a.m. this morning.

The number is 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-6-50. Caller number five at 8 a.m. gets a pair of tickets to see ACDC next summer. at D.C. Place. Then after that, Thomas Drance is going to join us to kick off the 8 o'clock hour. We'll talk some Canucks with Drancer. And then at 8.30, we're going to do what we learns. Hey, you, listeners, get some what we learns in. Dunbar Lmer text line is 650, 650. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Hashtag it W.W.L. And make it good. Make it snappy. It's your chance to be on the radio.

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