Halford & Brough in the Morning - Frank Seravalli On JT Miller's Return

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat the latest hockey news with Daily Faceoff NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:25), plus they go around the NFL with The Athletic's Mike Silver (24:03), and also discuss his new book "The Why Is Everything". 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.

Sarah Valley Frank! Cerebelli! Frank! Daily Faceoff! Frank! Frank! 703 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. 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. We are now in Hour 2 of the program. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff is going to join us in just a moment here for Hour 2. Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick at Jason.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. Do the exact opposite of what I said. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage on the internet. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands

of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec to the phone lines. We go. Frank Cervalli from daily face-off joins us now on the Halford and breath show on sports net six 50. What up Frank? You know, do they have to fumigate Rogers or,

you know, like what, what happens to the Canucks when they get home? I don't understand. Dude, your timing could not be more impeccable. That was the question that I asked our listeners going to break because we have no idea what the big, major, defining difference would be

from a team that set records for winning consecutive games on the road and then goes home. Even though these last three games, a win, a loss, and an overtime loss, so the points are fine. Bruff pointed it out prior to going to break, like it just hasn't looked good at all, and it hasn't looked good all season at home at Rogers. Frank, I'm going to bring in a texter.

Here's his theory. It's Dino Bravo texting. What's going on at home? The visiting team's coach tells his forwards to get after the Canucks defense right from the opening faceoff. Knowing that the Canucks are right from the opening faceoff knowing that the Canucks are currently icing five very mediocre D-men it has not been hard for the visitors to get off to a good start and build confidence from there and after that the Canucks

are left chasing the game I find it hard to disagree with that notion so Frank loyal texter yes loyal texter thank you for the message, first off. Second, why would that be any different than on the road? Wouldn't the game plan be the exact same? Hey, get after the Canucks D. Look how shorthanded they are. Look at how they have issues and inefficiencies moving the puck. I get the idea, but that doesn't separate anything from home and road. There has to be something definitive about what is different at home

as opposed to what's different on the road. Did they even, that last road trip that they played, I think they played a spirited game against Ottawa. They got soundly outplayed in Boston and managed to win 2-0 because Lankanen stood on his head. They lost to Pittsburgh, and they were down 5-1 in that one. That was a Seeloff's game, but the defense did not play well. And then they went in and beat Buffalo and Detroit in overtime,

but they needed a last-minute goal to beat Detroit, and I think they blew a lead against Buffalo. They lost to Minnesota. The road trip wasn't terrible in terms of results, but I don't think the process was all that great no but the the process earlier on the previous road trips was unbelievable that's that's the part that so you have good process coupled with good results in in subsequent trips and then you get home and it's like, at times they forget how to play hockey.

Yeah, no, I agree. It's, it's, it's bizarre, but Frank, honestly, man, it's been a weird year here. Everything's been weird. Like everything's upside down. And the other, um, I don't even know if I want to describe this as weird, but I'll, I'll say unusual has been the whole JT Miller story. And, uh, I am wondering if you're hearing anything about when he's likely to return. He's been skating with the team. He's probably going to practice today, and I wonder if he's going to speak with the media today. That would seemingly be the logical next step.

Reported last week that Wednesday was the likely possibility for practice. Yesterday, getting him out there for the skate, obviously that helps. In terms of a game day return or game date, I'd imagine at some point on this homestand, because there is quite a bit of time between now and essentially Christmas. That said, I don't think anything's set in stone. I think part of it is up to JT Miller and his comfort level. And, you know, part of it will, you know,

he's going to have to speak at some point and address, I guess, part of what led to this and what he's feeling. But at the same time, I think they're more concerned with exactly that, how he's feeling. Another issue that's plaguing this team right now is the blue line. And we've spent a considerable amount of time talking about it and what fixes might be out there, which has led me to look pretty much everywhere at anything that might be

available, just the trade market for defenseman period. And I know that you spoke recently about the situation at Anaheim. I guess Cam Fowler is a name that keeps coming up now, not necessarily as a fit for Vancouver, but just the possibility of anyone, anyone being available. What are you hearing or what do you know about Fowler out of Anaheim? I actually really like Cam Fowler as a fit for the Canucks. I, again, I don't know the plausibility of it,

but I do know that he's nearing a milestone. He's on track at some point. He's 11 games away from being the second player ever in a Ducks uniform to play all 1,000 games with the team. Those milestones mean something. That said, I think he knows that his tenure in Anaheim is coming to an end. The team knows, I think they've been on the same page about what that looks like and how they'll process it and handle it. It's a really small window that he has.

It's a four-team trade list. But I've been told that Fowler is willing to work with the Ducks when this all comes together to find a place that fits for him, given what he's meant to the organization. And I think he's got lots of game left. I think when you look at, look, not just Fowler, but other players on that team, they've been beaten down. And Fowler came into the league at a time when the Ducks were one of the most competitive teams, you know, every year for a period of seven, eight years. And

he was a huge part of their success, you know, chewing up 25 minutes a night for teams that were going to the conference final. And since then, there really hasn't been a lot to play for. And that's not an excuse, but he's 33 and not 37. So he's always been such a gifted skater that I think he's got the ability to go somewhere and bounce back for a bit as sort of a shot in the arm. And the nice thing is, from a term perspective, if the Ducks are willing to maintain some, there's only one additional year left. So if they're willing to eat half, he becomes an incredibly attractive option

that almost any team in the league, from a cap perspective, could find a way to wiggle in. Interesting. Nashville, we just finished speaking with them, about them with David Amber, and it's a mess right now. They've lost eight in a row. Andrew Burnett's about as frustrated as you can be. I also didn't even mention this.

I had it in the notes, but I forgot to mention it. Roman Yossi left the game yesterday with an injury and didn't return, like, just to pile on some more misery. Are we sure it was an injury? He was like, you know what? I'm out. He's like, I don't want to be a part of this anymore. That's what makes me wonder. Now, not Yossi, but do you see anything potentially shaking loose in Nashville? Or would this be like, okay, the fourth coaching change of the year

is going to happen in Nashville before Barry Trotz goes and tries and shakes things up with a trade? Well, I said at the beginning of the week that I was like, the way this is going for the Preds, I'd be shocked if by the end of the week, something doesn't happen. And there's a few layers to that. I know the Preds were really active last week in speaking to teams that they thought the Preds were really close to making a deal then. But the feedback that I got to some teams from some teams that were in conversation with the Preds was that they got a sense that they weren't completely convinced that Barry Trotz knew what he wanted to do. Like had a bunch of different things on the table.

What was the right fit? And I think as bad as this has been, the knee jerk reaction is always to do something. You got to do something. We got to get this team out of a tailspin. However, in a way, it almost kind of allows you to take a deep breath because for all intents and purposes, this season is over. Mathematically, they're not coming back from this.

They're done. So knowing that, if you're trying to fix it for right now, is there a potential that you're doing more long-term damage in the future? I think that has to be what's on Barry Trotz's mind at this exact moment in time. And the other part is, everyone, Andrew Burnett was asked pointedly yesterday about his job security. He mentioned earlier in the week that he could scratch the entire roster and totally fair comment. But having been a coach himself for so long and really working tirelessly to make sure that Andrew Burnett was the right guy for the job,

I think Barry Trotz feels a lot of responsibility as a former coach to not just say hey you know what we're gonna throw a warm body on the tarmac for everyone to point out and say look he's doing something that that might not be the right course of action at some point it becomes you know untenable and you have to do something but I'd say he's really trying to resist the urge to make the coaching change and has been for a while. Tampa Bay and Nashville have a connection with some of the moves that were made over the offseason. Do you think Julian Breezebaugh is feeling pretty good about his decisions

not only to move on from Stamkos and target Gensel, but also to get Ryan McDonough back? Yeah, I think there's probably a fair bit of that. At the same time, I would say that's, I mean, look, Gensel was always going to be a great fit, and I think anywhere he goes. I just think he's a player that doesn't get enough love and attention for what he's been able to accomplish and the consistency with which he's done it.

When looking at Stamkos, though, I also don't think we fully appreciated just how difficult this has been on him, moving and the way it all unfolded, that I think for the first two months of the season, he was completely shell shocked still. And I don't know if you'll get him to admit that or not, but I think this has been a real big change that he's,

I think he struggled grappling with. So from that perspective and sizing all up, yeah. Are the, are the lightning looking pretty good? Do they come out ahead perhaps, but that also doesn't mean if Stamko stayed there in a comfortable environment and didn't have this big shake-up that he would be playing as poorly as he has been in Nashville and if you want if you're the lightning you could sit there and gloat I would certainly understand that but I'd also I'd be pretty careful because the Lightning are on pace for 95 points,

and that's a yet further decrease from the 98 that they had last year. That 95 become pretty close to flirting with not making the playoffs in short order. So careful what you want to throw out there in the universe. What did you think of the Bruins getting absolutely bombed by the Jets last night? The Bruins have had a number of games that have gotten out of hand for them and that's why their goal differential is like minus 19 despite being in a playoff spot right now. I think the Bruins have played so well under Joe Sacco to this point. I guess sometimes those games happen. I've watched them really closely. They've been scrappy and competitive, and they've definitely defended a lot better,

which has been a key focal point. Look, the Jets, I think looking at it from their point of view, they've also had a ton of frustration. This is a team that got off to the best start in NHL history, and by the time the calendar turned to the month of December, they weren't even leading their division. So that speaks to how far the Jets have kind of fallen here after a 15-1 start.

They really came back to earth. And there's probably a bit of pent-up frustration there and and for the bruins maybe just caught sleeping we're speaking to frank sarah valley from daily face off here on the halford and breath show on sportsnet 650 uh it's a light night in the nhl tonight there's only two games the ottawa senators are in action though and they've certainly been in the news this last week um i know that you reposted something with brady kachuk that you conducted a sit-down interview with him before

the season where you were asking why does his name keep popping up continually in trade rumors? When you got to revisit that in light of everything that happened this week, what conclusions did you come from? Do you have anything more on this very weird saga involving the Rangers and

soft tampering, which is a good phrase, and I'm going to keep using it moving forward, and everything that's going on with the Ottawa Senators? Good phrase or utterly asinine phrase? I mean, it's hilarious. It's made up and means nothing. Yes, 100%. That's what Halford likes. I love it.

That's the best part. Soft tampering. I mean, I want a soft paycheck for a few million dollars that i can't cash like come on what like what are we even talking about here there's no proof there's no hard evidence there's there's not even a hint like they like they don't even pretend that there's any evidence it's just a general notion of they don't like that their players being talked about and they've had to now speak to their player about it for the third time since since the season started you know what solves that winning yeah just win that takes care of all the problems for you if you're the ottawa senators no fallout um the nhl said

yesterday at the board of governors meeting as they wrapped that there is no investigation and they don't have any plans to um it was funny because gary bettman tried to play it off as if hey i've been in meetings for two days i don't really know what you guys are talking about and i i thoroughly enjoyed that um and then like literally three minutes later deputy commissioner bill daly said that he addressed the situation with michael and la. So, so much for that. But like this, if you're going to bring the heat, you better have the goods. That's all.

And like the NHL also said that in order to open a tampering investigation, evidence must be supplied. And this isn't something, as Bill Daley said, quote, we're not self-starters. This isn't something that they just open on their own because someone says it. You've got to have the goods. And the Sens not only knew that, but knew that before they said it. Well, speaking of the Rangers, how would you headline tonight's game between the Rangers and the Sabres in Buffalo? So I was just asked about this, and it was phrased to me as a loser gets lost game. I don't know what that means, but, like, okay.

Here's another thing I'll say,, yes, as interesting as it is. If you go into a game thinking that, hey, we're going to make changes based off of the results of tonight's game, you're doing it wrong. Yeah, you've already decided. That cannot be a thought. Yeah, you've made your decision already. So it always cracks me up when I hear like, hey, will this coach get fired if this team loses this game?

Sometimes these things obviously are results-oriented. Like that game against the Blue Jackets for the Bruins a few weeks ago, everyone woke up the next day and was like, hey, that was the type of game that gets a coach fired. So there are some things that you see that happen that that lead to those things but the the team is feeling it too and yeah has this been incredibly disappointing for both teams the rangers were 12 7 and 1 before chris drury sent out that memo they're 14 12 and 1 now the sabers have they've been in a spiral for weeks now in a year in which this has been you've got to make

progress and make the playoffs and end this playoff drought so look something has to give uh the rangers made their big move i think they're waiting to see how this team grabs hold of the reins now that their captain's gone and peter laviolette mentioned this week that no one has done that yet and i think the Sabres they remain next to Nashville the most interesting team in the league like Jack Quinn is a really good young player that's been that multiple times is a healthy scratch what's going to happen there um I'm sure you watched Kevin Adams press conference did that press conference kind of get away from him? Yes. I think there were probably a few self-inflicted wounds there.

And same thing with the Sens. It's not that no one wants to play in Buffalo because it's cold, it snows, and there's taxes. Actually, I've never heard a player that's been on a good team there talk down or bad about that market because the support is fantastic. It's a true sports town and it's actually a great and affordable place to live. Their suburbs are awesome. So I've never heard anyone say,

Oh, Buffalo horrible place to play. It is when the team absolutely stinks. But that said, that's not why players don't want to go there it's because their team hasn't been competitive and has been in a cycle of dumpster fires you know time after time regime after regime and they haven't found a way to get out of it and until they do no one's going to continue to want to go to buffalo and that's where the plot was lost. It's not that they have taxes and don't have palm trees.

It's that they don't win. Frank, this was great, man. As always, thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the week, and we'll do this again next Wednesday. See you guys. Thanks. Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Okay, we're going to dive into some NFL talk. I know a lot of you right now just want to hear about the Canucks. We're trying to do as many things that we can, and we also have been chasing Mike Silver, our next guest, for like three weeks to try and get him on the show. Mike is one of the best NFL writers on the planet. You've seen his work in countless places.

In addition to all the journalistic work he does at The Athletic, he's also a very talented book author. He's written a number of books. He actually wrote a book with Dennis Rodman. This was way back in the late 90s when Rodman was with the Spurs. He has a bunch of cool anecdotes about doing that. It was

Rodman's second book. It was around the time he was dating Madonna. This is how long that he's been in the game and has been doing these things. He has a second book. Right. It was around the time he was dating Madonna. Oh, okay. So this is how long that he's been in the game and has been doing these things. Anyway, he has a new book. He was a North Korean Rodman at that point? This was still active basketball Rodman. Anyway, Mike Silver is the author of a new book,

The Why Is Everything? A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution. It's about all the young coaches who aren't really all that young anymore now, but the McVeighs, the Shanahans, the McDaniels that broke in and always wanted to answer the why. If you came with an idea or a thought process or a strategy or a play call, the question was always why, and you had to be able to answer it.

If you're kidding, you got thrown out of their office. So we'll talk to Mike about that. We're also going to talk to him about a recent cover story that he did for The Athletic on Jared Goff. Awesome story. Recounting how when he got to Detroit after the trade from the Los Angeles Rams, it didn't start out with people throwing roses at his feet

and him winning a bunch of football games. In fact, it was the exact opposite. He really struggled and he was making a lot of mistakes and throwing a lot of interceptions. A far cry from where he and the Detroit Lions are right now. So we can get into a bunch of different stuff.

It'll be about 10 or 15 minutes of NFL talk with Mike Silver. Then we'll circle back on the Canucks talk in the back half. And then at 8 o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join us, who was on the call for last night's game, 4-3 loss for the Vancouver Canucks to the St. Louis Blues at home at Rogers Arena. So we've got a lot of Canucks talk still to come,

some football talk coming up next. 8.15, we're giving away a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Wreck next August, August 2025 at Rogers Arena. Be caller number five at 8.15 this morning to win a pair of tickets. We're giving away tickets every day this week. After we give away the tickets, we're going to do what we learned. We're going to do ours.

We're going to do yours. A reminder, Dunbar-Lumber text line is 650-650. Get your what we learned in. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports and hashtag it. W W L you're listening to the Halford and Brough show on sports net six 50. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas strands. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to two on sports

net six 50 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 731 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. You just wanted an opportunity to play the Jared clip, didn't you? It's our favorite clip. It's going to throw it to Jared. He did throw it to Jared.

Jared caught a touchdown. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough in 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 two of the program. I was waiting for the drop there.

Hour two, we'll be featuring Mike Silver, one of the best NFL writers in the business, my favorite NFL writer on a personal level. He'll be joining us in a minute here The highlight of Hour 2 Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick From Jason.Mortgage If you love paying too much for your mortgage

Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you I am joking Let him do exactly that Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage Our next guest is the author Of a new book that's out now. Go get it. The Why Is Everything?

A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution. Also from The Athletic, which has a great cover story up from a couple weeks ago on Jared Goff and his story with the Detroit Lions. Mike Silver joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Mike. How are you?

Well, first of all, you have impeccable taste. I got to give you that. Secondly, is this a Lions thing, like a Lions solidarity? Like, I'm trying to figure out the golf Lions Vancouver thing. Do you know what the last name of the CFL Lions coach was this year? He got fired, but his last name was Campbell. Campbell? Yeah, it was actually a little bit confusing at times.

Did he talk about biting kneecaps and kicking people in the teeth at his first press conference? He didn't have quite the same energy as Dan Campbell. I don't know if anyone does, though. One of his great lines was, you know, there was a lot of NFL buzz about Iowa state coach Matt Campbell at the time. And Dan Campbell was a dark horse candidate. And his line after the fact was in my interview,

I was basically just trying to convince him I was actually Matt Campbell. Do you think there are a lot of people like me, like I'm a Seahawks fan, and they're my number one team and always have been, but if the Seahawks can't win the Super Bowl this year, and they probably can't, I would like to see the Detroit Lions win. Do you think a lot of people feel the same way?

Yeah, I think a lot of people would be into that. You know, it's in New Orleans, which means you'd have tons of people without tans roaming around all, you know, the French Quarter and everywhere else in New Orleans for a week just with giant, like, my life is complete now smiles on their faces. So I think that would be cool. I think it would be a tough ticket.

You know, there is a little bit of Chiefs fatigue, I think, of the general public. I'm fine watching Patrick Mahomes just win every time. It's ridiculous. But I think for fans, you know, there's some Chiefs fatigue. You know, Bills, Lions are two teams that would get people super fired up. Excuse me, because, you know, they haven't won it. The Vikings would be another one if they could get in there.

But, yeah, I think it's a cool story just because Dan Campbell's very quality that sometimes drives people like me crazy, his stubbornness is also apparently his superpower because a lot of coaches would have, for example, benched the quarterback they acquired after they went 3-13-1 and then 1-6 to start the next year and fans were calling for them to be fired too. But Dan Campbell stubbornly was like, no, I believe in Jared Goff. And for example, you're seeing the dividends of that.

I mean, that's the really fascinating thing. It's not just that he stuck with him, but Goff seemingly corrected the one major issue that plagued him. Even dating back to his time as an L.A. Ram, Jason would always say just wait. Don't worry, Goff will throw a pick. Yeah, he'll make a mistake. He'll make a mistake, don't worry. And in the early days... See, that's

the irony of that is look at Goff's... It got bad at the end with the Rams, but compare Goff to Stafford who, by the way, is unbelievable. I just saw him live against the Bills on Sunday, but Stafford's the guy who always throws, is unbelievable. I just saw him live against the Bills on Sunday. But Stafford's the guy who always throws a pick.

It's like inevitable. He just apparently has completed a four-game stretch without a pick for the second, or maybe I think that matches his career high. So he's going for five. I'll be there on Thursday night against the 49ers. But as great as Stafford can be he actually is more prone to throwing a pick maybe if you count fumbles though Goff would get in that conversation from this time yeah Stafford might have better PR I don't know I don't know it was just the sense that I got personally as a fan that I wasn't particularly worried about Jared Goff but

watching him in Detroit and following his story, it's been pretty fascinating. And we were saying earlier, wouldn't it be incredible if Stafford and Goff both won Super Bowls? And that would be incredible. And so tell us a little bit about this piece you wrote on Jared Goff, because as soon as I saw the headline, it was like, oh, I really want to read this.

And then I finished the piece and I said, we got to get Mike Silver on the show. That's awesome. Yeah, I know. I've known Jared a long, long time. I've watched his peaks and valleys. And I've watched how he's handled adversity. And he's very, very cool in the face of adversity. And this guy had more adversity as a college kid than the typical number one

overall pick. You know, they call up my alma mater, what one in 11 as a freshman, when he was a freshman starter, he got pulled out of a game in Oregon because he couldn't throw in the rain. And I'll, I'll spare you the golden bear trail of tears, but you know, he had to fight through a lot. And then, you know, he not only got traded, think about um you know he had to fight through a lot and then um you know he not only got traded think about you know what he went through he had taken the rams to a super bowl

epic nfc championship game victory in new orleans it went bad with sean mcveigh by the way all of that is detailed in my latest book the why is, which is available everywhere. That's about the Shanahan McVeigh coaching crew and in all its petty and innovative splendor. But, you know, it got bad in L.A. They traded him for his replacement, had to include a lot plus him, partly just to get out of a contract they'd just given him 17 months earlier. And then Stafford goes and wins the Super Bowl while Goff is struggling. And don't underestimate the magnitude of Sean McVay's status

and the sense that he thought Goff wasn't good enough. So as Goff told me, the whole world just assumed that I sucked because, you know, really McVay's stature was that high in football circles and in fan circles. So he, you know, he goes 3-13-1 that first year, missed a couple games. The second year, they have a terrible game to drop to 1-5, and he goes into a meeting in Dan Campbell's office two days later. And as he's walking into the meeting, he's thinking, well, this is probably it. Like at some point he's going to bench me. Everyone wants him fired.

Everyone wants general manager, Brad Holmes, the guy who did the trade fired. They want me benched. And Campbell of course says, you know, no, I'm sticking with you. And then golf has an epiphany in the meeting. It just says, look, I'm just going to do my job i i'm trying to deal with all this stuff and it's so big i'm just going to like simplify it and just literally do my job and dan campbell looks at him and says that's all i've wanted you to do this entire time and then the violin violins played after that line yeah exactly in the movie that, that's when you get the montage of Josh, what are they, 33-9 since then?

But yeah, so it's a really cool story. And then the other part of it that I think is so cool is he had two faces demons, obviously, in the playoffs last year when Stafford and the Rams, who were hot, came back and they played a very tense game. And Lions fans, like with incredible emotional intelligence, you know, starting in warm up, started that Jared Goff chant. And, you know, it was very poignant. It was kind of like Stafford was our guy for a long time. You are our guy now. We understand what you're facing here and your former team and the coach who discarded you and you're our guy. And, you know,

it totally resonated and he thought it was a one-off. Like that was such a nice thing and I did it. And then it happened the next week and he's like, wow, this is weird. And, you you know now as his wife Kristen told me it's become Michigan's inside joke like it's you know there have been weddings in you know foreign countries cheerleading competitions just all over the place the chant breaks out you know in context far removed from football so So, you know, it's just a nice, cool thing. Usually when I talk about fans, I'm kind of like, you know,

I wish they understood better or I wish they weren't such cult worshippers. But in this case, it's, you know, it's a heartwarming story. We're speaking to Mike Silver from The Athletic. He's also the author of a new book, The Why Is Everything? A Story of Football Rivalry and Revolution. Thursday Night Football is a great advertisement for your book, Mike, because it'll be Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay. So the concept behind it for the listeners that are unaware, the inside story of the brilliant, hyper-competitive young coaches

who threw out decades of received wisdom and fundamentally altered the NFL. And Shanahan and McVeigh are two of those guys. So when we talk about the book first, what was the inspiration for writing it in the first place? Well, you know, back in the early 90s when I was a young beat writer covering the 49ers, Mike Shanahan showed up as an embattled coach as their offensive coordinator, been chewed up and spit out by Al Davis with the LA Raiders, fired ingloriously by Dan Reeves and accused of insubordination,

which I think was code for Mike, you and John Elway are kind of running the offense in a way I don't like, which in retrospect, good for them. They should have been. But, you know, he was embattled. Steve Young, who was playing for the injured joe montana was absolutely a battle for all his talent he was not you know he was paling in the comparison to joe who had taken san francisco to its first professional sports championships that was you know of course incredible and together they kind of you know fought through their demons and made beautiful music and so i was I was on the front lines of that and obviously have covered Mike very closely after that.

You fast forward to that staff he had in Washington in the early 2010s with these five coaches who are on the cover of this book as assistants, all head coaches now, Raheem Morris, Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan. And I've just, you know, in covering them closely and talking to all of them, you know, extensively for this book, I've just watched how their mentality was different, how they kind of changed the game. And, you know, for so long, you know, football players were not encouraged to understand their assignments on a deep level, let alone to ask questions.

It was like, we do it because it works and don't ask us that. And with these guys, it's very, very different. They want there to be a purpose for everything that is done. And they want to be able to explain that not only to each other, but to their players and help, you know, inspire their players to follow their detailed instructions because it's, you know, working towards something that will pay off. So that's kind of the mentality and the constant innovation. And, you know, we've seen it these last, you know, seven, eight years,

obviously at the highest levels of football with McVay getting the two Super Bowls, winning one Kyle Shanahan getting to two as a head coach. And of course the one is an offensive coordinator with Atlanta before that Matt LaFleur, who's doing a great job again this year with the Packers, who's been knocking on the door, Mike McDaniel, who completely revived to who was given up for dead and is now struggling and is going to have to innovate his way out of this jam and then raheem morris who was a young head coach way back in the day in tampa and has been waiting for a second chance

for a long time and i think it's going to be great things with the Falcons so they have a lot of offshoots including Kevin O'Connell who's crushing it with the Vikings I do think you know I think it'll help people understand the way football is now but I yeah as high concept as it is I don't want to I want to assure everyone there's plenty of dirt and pettiness and inside uh you know that's what i like yeah yeah exactly so i i wouldn't you know i i wouldn't just intellectualize this i i am enough of a uh you know i'm here to serve and i know that you know we all want uh wait sean mcveigh did what in cal shanahan wait because i've told you the, the McVay-Goff thing was craziness, that alone. McVay was in Cabo. Kyle was in Cabo at a different place.

McVay was with Andrew Whitworth, his left tackle. Stafford was in Cabo. And somehow that trade all went down, caught Jared Goff completely off guard, and Stafford and McVay and Andrew Whitworth were all slamming drinks at a beachside bar in celebration. So yeah, in retrospect, it was not a moment that Jared Goff particularly looks back on fondly. Is there a common psychological profile of all these young coaches? I'm always curious in what drives these NFL coaches because as someone who nobody accuses of being a workaholic,

I'm always curious about what drives these guys to work so hard and just be so obsessed and so hyper competitive and a lot of them have big egos but you know like i that this is why a book like this is so interesting to me yeah i mean i think coaches in general are insane and the way an adult coaches work is i would agree with you i have an incredibly strong work ethic but not like you know i'm but I'm not like, you know, I'm not, I'm not an idiot like these guys. Like, oh, I slept three hours a night for 26 nights in a row. So I, you know, like it's just, it's a weird business, but you know, the psychology of these five, we detail it all in the book pretty closely. I mean, with Kyle Shanahan, it's, you know, the, the father who, um, you know, was basically on the preface precipice of all-time greatness.

And then you had Kyle who kind of was your classic nepo baby on paper, right? Just knew he was good from a young age, kind of had that arrogance that he didn't try to disguise. But kind of there's a trying to finish his dad's business element of that. Sean McVay, his grandfather, John, was the 49ers general manager when I started covering them, which shows you how old I am. But I think with Sean McVay, he kind of understood his, he was a little more self-aware than Kyle in that, oh, yeah, I'm getting these opportunities at a young age because of my bloodlines. And I have to really, really, really try hard to show people I'm not just an entitled jerk and that I appreciate this opportunity and won't squander it.

And then you had Raheem Morris from, you know, hardscrabble upbringings in New Jersey and kind of, you know, a father who worked multiple jobs and fighting his way into the mix while managing to remain just a charming, unique presence. And Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel were your classic guys who just weren't good enough on the football field and tried really hard to make it as, you know, college football players and didn't get to a very high level. And yet, you know, found a way to channel that into, you know, the next logical step. The book is titled the why is everything a story of football rivalry and

revolution. Mike, thanks a lot for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the remainder of the NFL season. I'll remind all of our listeners to go check out the book wherever you get your books for this holiday season, and I am very much looking forward to reading it. Thanks again for doing this. Right on, man. I want to fight my way to the other Lions and see one of their games

or the Canucks or something. I've got to come visit your amazing town one of these days. Well, when you do, look us up. We don't go very far. We'll be right in the studio, as a matter of fact. Thanks, Mike. See you, Mike. Okay, thank you.

Bye-bye. Mike Silver from The Athletic. Again, go check out his book. It's Penguin Books, Amazon, The Why Is Everything, a story of football rivalry and revolution. Okay, so here's what's up for the Canucks today. They are going to practice at Rogers Arena at noon, and that is going to be followed by a media availability,

which could, I suppose, include JT Miller. JT Miller is not guaranteed to play tomorrow against the Florida Panthers, although I bet the Canucks would like it if he was able to play against the Florida Panthers. Not only is that a pretty good team coming to town, what with winning the Stanley Cup, that's often a sign of a good team

when you win the Stanley Cup. Sure is, bruv. They also, they need a shot in the arm. You know, they need something. Offensively, they are just not creating enough, and we've talked a lot about it on this show. I'll be curious to see if JT Miller is made available, and if he is, I'll obviously be

curious to hear what he has to say if he opens up about his leave of absence, or if he just says, hey, it's a private matter and we're going to leave it at that. I think a funny first question for Rick Talkin would be about Elias Pettersson. That would be funny. It would be pretty clever.

Drance actually ended the press yesterday. I really hope somebody does that. Can you imagine? That would be so much fun. Drance closed the press yesterday. So with JT Miller being back at practice and back in the mix, what does this mean for Elias Pettersson? You're one-two punch down the middle featuring Elias Pettersson.

What did Drance do? He asked about Petey's face-offs at the very end. Oh, God. Chaka was like, that's a good one. That's a good one. Then he walked off. Was Drance being serious, though? No, he was making a joke.

It was a lighthearted one. Are you sure he was making a joke? I can see Drance being like, I'm asking this anyway. No, he was making a joke. It was a lighthearted one. Are you sure he was making a joke? I could see Drance being like, I'm asking this anyway. No, it was very lighthearted. It was good. You know, I'm looking at the numbers that the Canucks have put up offensively this year, and this was a weird dynamic that I wanted to get into after you mentioned that they're having troubles producing offense, is that if you look, there are some guys that are having, like Hughes's offensive campaign is great.

I think that goes without saying. He's the leading scorer on the team. He has 32 points in 27 games. Petey's production, I test aside Petey's production, he's a point of game guy now. He's back up to being a point of game, which is actually pretty impressive

given how slow a start it was to the season, both in terms of on ice play with the eye test and production. Garland's been great. Garland's on pace to have a career year points-wise. Jake DeBrusque is the team's leading goal scorer. Production-wise, he's been fantastic. It's been streaky, and there have been long stretches,

especially those first nine games of the season where you weren't sure exactly what the big free agent contract was worth, but he's got 13 goals. Pew Suter's given them great offense for what he's being paid. Second on the team in 11 goals, he's got 17 points in 26 games. Sherwood's produced really well. Bluger's been a fine offensive producer. So the numbers are kind of there.

I think that's going to be the theme for this team until they figure it out, is that, yeah, some guys are having decent to good offensive campaigns, and yeah, box scores look fine, but there's a real problem with this team in certain areas that you can just see. I think offensively it's there. I think with the blue line it's abundantly clear that when you watch them play. They're playing very low event hockey

they don't have they're playing they're not creating many scoring chances but at the same time aside from a few breakdowns and if you you watch some other teams you want like watch the rangers defend like the canucks are miles ahead of them defensively in terms of limiting scoring chances and let's not forget, defenders don't just defend. Defensemen in the NHL are integral to the offensive production of a team. I would say one of the issues that the Canucks have right now, aside from having a bunch of guys that maybe aren't necessarily full-time NHL caliber, is that puck moving wasn't their strength

to begin with. Do you want some analytics here? Let's do it. Let's dive into the fancy stats. Natural stat trick. Five on five here. So this doesn't include any special teams or six on five. This is five on five.

Okay. Scoring chances four. The Canucks, dead last in the NHL. 496. If you want to compare that, Carolina, 726. Colorado, over 700. Edmonton, over 700. Pittsburgh, almost at 700.

Here's the good news. Scoring chances against the Canucks, first place, 499. Are you suggesting that they play... Now, some of this is related. They haven't played as many games, okay? But. But. But, I mean, paints a picture, right?

Yeah, it's low event hockey. Low event hockey. And that's why I think a lot of people are yelling about, talk it system! The system! And I think it's fair to question Talkett's system. I don't know.

This is a guy that came into the season and said, we want to create a little bit more offensively. I don't know if they've managed to do that. And, yeah, they've had some injuries, of course. They've had some absences. They've had some weirdness around the team. But, you know, Rick Talkettett had uh you know let's call last year his first year because it was his first four-year it was a dream season for him right the

guy couldn't do much wrong now the team doesn't look so good not all the bounces are going their way and they haven't been able to stay healthy and this is naturally what happens the coach of the year last year the official coach of the year last year, the official coach of the year last year, a lot of people starting to say, this is what happened in Arizona. You know, this is what we were worried about, this low event, dump and chase style that stifles creativity

and all it is is point shots. I mean, it's hard to watch the game last night and say, wow, the Canucks sure looked creative last night. They didn't. They didn't look creative. They looked creative right at the end. That was a nice goal.

Nice play by Pettersson out to DeBrusque. Nice play by Petey to corral the puck and then give it to DeBrusque out front. Unfortunately, we're just not seeing that on a regular basis, and I think it's more than fair, more than fair to question the coach in this situation, just as it's more than fair to question the Canucks' best players like Elias Pettersson, Brock Besser, and JT Miller when he gets back.

I think the only thing that we conclude is that Quinn Hughes has been awesome. That's pretty much the only thing that everyone is on the same page with. Yeah. It's fair. It's fair. He has been. And I think the funneling of so much of the offense through and towards him, it almost works for and against for in the sense that you're like, wow,

he uses their best player night after night against is that it does sort of become one-dimensional, predictable. And unfortunately, predictable is something that Talkit wants. And another thing that I've noticed, and I know we're up against it for time. It's fine. It's not fine. Talkit oftentimes, when explaining the margins between winning and losing or why his team didn't come up with a result on the night always points to some very small finite individual pockets or

battles that they're not winning he doesn't really talk a ton about the lack of scoring chance generation it's oftentimes talking about, well, we weren't in the perfect position to defend or we didn't win that particular battle. Don't get me wrong. His play and his style of play is very much predicated on it's going to be a low event game, but if we win enough of the battles

and do enough of the things right, we'll win enough of those low event games to be a playoff team. I think that's his approach. I don't think there's anything more complicated than that. When you get to the upper echelon of the elite NHL teams, will that win? I'm not sure, but it's going to keep you around for a long time.

It'll keep you in games. And it's probably kept them afloat in the last couple weeks when they've scratched and clawed points out of certain games. Yeah. You know? Keep it within a goal.

Last night was a perfect example. Last night was a perfect example. Yeah. They didn't really deserve to get any points out of that game but they got one. A-Dog texted the group

after they scored to make it 3-3 and what did you say? How are the Canucks in this game? They haven't played very well. Yeah. But they hung around.

Yeah. It was a one goal game. Yep. They got a six on five. Yes. And they scored. Mm-hmm. And they got a point. They haven't played very well. Yeah. But they hung around. Yeah. It was a one goal game. Yep. They got a six on five. Yes. And they scored. Mm-hmm. And they got a point.

They did. They lost in overtime. And Randy Janda is going to join us next on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.