Halford & Brough in the Morning - No, We Won't Stop Talking About Quinn Hughes

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they talk last night's Thursday Night Football action with NFL.com's Nick Shook (28:09). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough You're listening to Halford and Brough. Swung on popped up. Lugo backs up. He makes the catch. Polanco tagging. Here comes to throw. Polico steaming home. He slides.

He's safe. As a Mariners win. On the ground at first, picked by Blatty. He goes to the back, and Kevin Gossman has pitched a shutout. I mean, I'm gas, but look at this crowd, you know. Look at, like the city, you know, everybody's fired up. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday.

Happy Friday, everybody, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is brough. It is SportsNet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. A beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

And Lattie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bradford of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle.

You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street. Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Much like Kevin Gossman in that clip, we're gassed, we're tired, but we're energized by the crowd. The tens of listeners out there right now on a Friday, ready to get set for the weekend. There's a lot to get into on the show today. We've got a big Friday show here. The guest list today begins at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. How about those Green Bay Packers? They continued their terrific

start to the season last night big win Thursday night football with a more than comfortable than the score indicates 27 to 18 win over Jaden Daniels and the commanders we'll look back on that with Nick we'll look ahead to week two with Nick that's all coming up at 6.30 7 o'clock

Luke Fox is going to join the program SportsNet NHL writer he recently returned from the NHL's media tour in Las Vegas where he wrote on a ton of different topics he's got articles up on sports net right now about Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, Sydney Crosby, Charlie McAvoy, Linus Allmark, Matthew Nyes, Dustin Wolf.

So we'll get into all things NHL with Luke at 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30, it's the Moge. Yes, it's the Moge. BC Lions play-by-play, man. Lions are back in action tonight hosting the Red Blacks of Ottawa in a rematch of last weekend's loss in the Canadian Capitol. Huge game for playoff implications with the Lions at 5 and 7 and the Red Blacks at four and eight. Classic playoff battle with classic playoff records. Kick off at 7 o'clock tonight

from BC Place. We'll set it all up with the Moge at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Kuck's reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. As per usual, I have no idea

what to expect from Rick today. It's a thing he and his handler, Jason Brough, they keep to themselves. And I only get to find out at 6 o'clock in the morning on a Friday. Handler kind of makes it sound like he's in the zoo. Yeah.

Which is, you know, yep, yep, yep. We're going to talk about Quinn Hughes and Ryan Johnson, the future of Ryan Johnson. I think there's some buzz around the NHL about Ryan Johnson. People have been real impressed with the job he's done there. Okay, so 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall, 730, Bob Marjanovich, 7 o'clock, Luke Fox, 630, Nick Shook. A friendly reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. AJ will not be joining us today. However, the contest still lives on a $100.

gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway for the best Ask Us Anything. And those listeners I was praising earlier in the show, they've come through already. There's a lot of competition right off the bat. And they're all doing it the right way. That's the important thing. They're doing it the right way. They're hashtagging it, AUA. They're putting a pizza emoji into their text.

They're also putting their name on the text, which is an underrated but important part of this whole thing. So get them in. Ask us literally anything. Best one wins a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Dunbar Lumber Tech's line is 650, 650. Okay, that's enough of me rambling. Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened.

Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed it?

You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies of best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BEC, CSA. dot CA. The biggest news from the hockey world yesterday was that the National Hockey League issued a ruling regarding the status of what's now known as the Hockey Canada 5,

Dylan Dubay, Calfoot, Alex Foreminton, Carter Hart, and Michael McLeod, who are each members of of course, Hockey Canada's 2018 National Junior Team. I will read the crux of the statement from the National Hockey League now. Given their conduct, we carefully evaluated the players acquittal in court and the time spent away from the game. Taking into account that the players have been away from the game for 20 months, including since their acquittals in July, we have determined that the players will be eligible to sign an NHL contract no sooner than October 15th of 2025 this year. What's more, they are eligible to play in NHL games no sooner than December 1st, 2025, bringing their total time out of the league

to nearly two years. So they can sign a contract October 15th, but they can't play until December 1st. Is that an added suspension? Yes. I think the idea was to make it as close to a two-year ban from the game as possible while also finding a sort of logical start point for these players to resume their national hockey league careers. So Carter, Hart is going to be the most intriguing guy, right?

Just because he's a goalie, but also, would you say he played at the highest level of the hockey Canada 5? I know Dylan Dubay had some good seasons, although his final season in Calgary was not good. Maybe he was distracted. I don't know. We spoke with Don Waddell, the general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets and posed the question about Carter Hart to him because the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of, I'd say, a handful of teams actively looking to improve. Right, there would be another one.

We just didn't talk to anywhere from the... He's just hanging out in Edmonton now. He's doing. Who's that? Carter Hart. Just to... But just to answer... So he's just hanging out in Edmonton?

I don't think these guys... Okay, go on. Just to answer his question, though. So, I mean, on the record from an NHL executive, we did confirm that they had had the conversations about Carter Hart. So I don't think that this is speculation at all. that Hart of the five would probably be the most likely to sign an NHL deal when he's eligible to on October 15.

The other guys might do it as well, but Hart is probably the most in demand of those players right now. Is it fair to say that this story was a much bigger story in Canada than it was in the United States? Yes. It's also fair and important to point out that according to multiple sources of Elliott Freedans, who first put this story on Sportsnet.com, part of this agreement is that the players have given up their right to appeal. I only mentioned this because the NHLPA released a statement as well. And the end kicker of their statement was that we now consider the matter closed and look forward to the player's return.

I mentioned this because it seems like the PA and the league are both looking to close the investigative chapter and the punitive part of this and move on from it. They want to move on. But the reason I asked that question about was it a bigger story in Canada than the United States, If he goes to a team in Canada, that's a major media story. And as always, I know the Oilers have done things in the past that people are kind of like, eh, I don't know about that. Bringing in players, bringing in executives.

This is... This would be in a different category, Jason. I think that's very fair to say. And I think your original question is valid because this was a very, very, very prominent story in Canada. you sign with an American team there are going to be members of the fan base that don't like it but I don't know if it's

quite the PR risk you would absolutely not face the media scrutiny that you would in a Canadian market I think I can say that pretty confidently yeah and that might be the path I know what you're saying Greg about where Hart is from and where he's currently residing and training and Andy you bring up

a good point the oil one's just assuming that's where he's going to go the Oilers need goaltending help possibly more than any team in the national hockey league given what's at stake not just for this season but with the future of connor macdavid but i'm with you on that it's going to be a huge and rightfully so like i'm not trying to pin this on like the jackals in the media looking to drama of the story this will be a huge story in any canadian market given how this rise to the ranks in the canadian legal system in with the canadian hockey canada scott texon edmonton hired stan boleman

they one thousand percent would stoop low enough to sign carter hart but would carter heart signed there. It's less about what the Oilers would do and it's more about you know, Alex Formanton just decided to go to Europe. He's playing in Switzerland right now. Like he, I don't know

if he, I don't know if he, I think he just wants to move on from this. And he was a decent player for the senators, was he not? So, yeah, I think it's, remember these guys are unrestricted free agents, except for Foremanton, whose rights are still with the Ottawa senators.

That's correct. He's an RFA. These guys can go anywhere they want. If you were Carter Hart, I mean, yeah, you'd have a chance to for some success with the Edmonton Oilers, but man, the scrutiny on that as a goaltender would be off the charts, not only because you'd be goalie for the Edmonton Oilers, there'd be a lot of people cheering against you. Regardless of what happened in the courts, there is still a sense among many that these guys did something wrong. Maybe not illegal, but did something wrong. The NHL. The NHL feels that they did something wrong. Maybe not illegal, but something wrong. It's a good point to bring up that there's almost like three layers or tranches or whatever of this. There's the legal system in Canada, which the five

have already gone through. There's the NHL, which made it very clear in its statement, and that's why I didn't read the entire statement because it was very lengthy that they did a thorough thorough investigation and had different conclusions about the behavior in terms of a like there's a moral code that the NHL wants to try and uphold the behavior of their players that doesn't always follow a legal precedent and then there's the third part of it and that is the ticket buying public and the fans response to this and that matters right they does matter that's something that each team is going to have to investigate on its own and see if they're willing to take the risk of bringing a player aboard.

Okay. There's also, in the case of Carter Hart, he hasn't played an NHL hockey for a while. That too. Throw them into a situation where you're expected to win a cup? Yeah. I don't know. I thought, as we move on to baseball,

I thought that pitchers were not allowed to throw complete games anymore. Well, you're wrong, Jason Brough. Because Kevin Gosman did it yesterday. Pitching a two-hitter and little asterisk that needs to be mentioned, the hits were both singles, which I think should count for more. His fourth career complete game, 100 pitches on the nose, 6-0-0-1 over the Astros last night. Let's hear the final call, the final pitch, the 100th pitch of the night, as Gossman, through a beauty, a gem, if you will, a Gossman gem, and a 6-0-1 over the Astros. The O-1, down to first, Guerrero's got it, and Kevin Gossman just threw a two-hit shutout.

this afternoon, his second career shutout, his fourth career complete game, and as good a performance as this team has had all season. So in case you're wondering, because Jason is kind of right, it's a rarity in baseball that someone goes the distance. First one in the major league since August 1st. We went over an entire month of Major League baseball. That is crazy. They were talking about some of the career complete games during the broadcast yesterday and And they were like, you know, Scherzer has, I don't know, 18 or something like that. And then they were like, Dave Steep has 134 or something like that. Yeah.

He used to go complete games and lose. The complete game. Let's find out there. Keep them out there. The complete game under 100 pitches, though, is not something that's done even throughout the course of the Blue Jay's history. I think 10 times it's been done. So, yeah, he did it in 100 pitches.

So he was so close. The game took two hours and seven minutes. That's a Burley. That's my- I'm calling that a Mark Burley. Yeah. That's my kind of baseball game. He retired the final 17 batters that he faced in the game, Gossman did.

Six of them by strikeout. Again, both hits. He allowed were singles, like a fantastic, fantastic performance from Gossman and the Blue Jays. I consumed a lot of baseball last night, watch that game. I also stayed up till the wee hours of the evening watching the Seattle Mariners do it yet again in extras. They only win extra ending games and they only win games that go past 11th. There was the 13th, two nights ago.

It was the 12th last night. I'm going to forget the guy's name in Realtz. Was it Harry Douglas? Harrison Ford. How did you forget that name? Harry Ford. Harrison Ford, you forgot that name? It's Harry Ford.

But he's actually Harrison. That's his legal given name. Never had an MLB hit in just four MLB played appearances. And it wasn't quite a hit, but it was enough to get the winning run across. We have the audio. Here's what it sounds like. Mariners win in the bottom of the 12th last night.

Another big win for the M's as they move into a tie atop the AL West. Harry Ford with the Heroics. Swung on popped up. Lugo backs up. He makes the catch. Polanco tagging. Here comes the throw. Polico steaming home.

He slides. He's safe. And the Mariners win. Sir Harry Ford walks it off with a sacrifice fly. Mariners win 7 to 6. They are in first place with the Houston Astros. I think the broadcaster really dropped the ball there. He could have had a Harrison Ford line that he could have used.

Do you want to, okay, can you get the TV call up? I want to, because this one is also missing the Harris, any Harrison Ford reference. Nothing? Like, get off my plane. I do like this. He doesn't belong in a museum. Can you imagine? I call it has nothing to do with baseball or heroics whatsoever, just a Harrison Ford line.

This one is, this is the TV call to you. I actually like this one because it's a little bit more simplistic and it really hit the heartstrings but no Harrison Ford reference but Mariner's win last night. A Bateson, he doesn't need one. You're right, he does not.

Give me a sack, Harry. What did you ask for? Is it deep enough? Polanco is on his way home. Here it comes. He's sick. Harry Ford. Harry Ford.

Welcome to the big leagues. The Mariters are in first place. So as a play by, play guy. He did the castle run in full parsecs. Allegedly. As a play by play by play. Bobbin and I'm out texting, why does it have to be snakes? Yeah, that's a good one too.

As a play by play guy, this isn't ask us anything for you. Where are you on the simplicity of just saying the player's name over and over again when they do something big? I am a sucker for it, but I also realize it's maybe lowest common denominator stuff. Like, it's the easiest thing. I like it because it's pure. It's emotional, right? I find the canned lines to be a little cheesy to me.

Yeah, that's fair. It depends how you deliver it. If you deliver it well, then it can work. But, yeah, I like the repeating name. I honestly think my favorite, well, Shorty's, they've slayed the dragon is my favorite overall. But Bob Cole's Desjard Dan is an incredible call. You can do a lot with the enunciation and like where you emphasize the syllables and everything. But there's something about it, you're right, that's very pure.

It's always like, I've run out of things. Yo, Sackick. I've run out of things to say, I'm just going to say the guy's name. And it works in certain instances. Anyway, it was a very exciting day in the world of baseball yesterday. And it was a very exciting day. Yes. I'm just laughing.

People are texting in a lot of Harrison Ford lines. And then someone texted in, is Harrison Ford the gimmee back my son guy? I'm like, no, that's Mel Gibson. And it reminded me, I was watching. watching a golf tournament recently, and you know how they yell out mashed potatoes or something like that? There was a time when people were yelling out, give me back my son. I heard a guy screw it up. Like on TV, someone hit a shot, and he goes, give me back my child.

And like, you can't. You can't. If you're going to yell something like mashed potatoes or. something stupid on a golf course. Bababooey. That's a big one. Get the line right, man. Give me back my child.

Give me back my child's brutal, by the way. That's a brutal mistake. Didn't you gack a line yesterday from, what was the line? It was right at the beginning of the show. Oh, it was a Buffalo Bill line. Oh, yeah, yeah. I screwed that line up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It happens sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But give me back my child is brutal. Yeah, yeah. Okay. puts the lotion in the closet. I want to move on to, before we go to break, I do want to talk about the football game last night,

and this will tie in nicely to our next guest, Nick Shook from NFL.com. Another, another very impressive victory from the Green Bay Packers yesterday to push them to 2-0. Jordan Love, 292 yards and two touchdowns. Pack beat the commanders 27 to 18 on Thursday night football.

If you couple that with their win in week one, a 27 to 13 win over the Detroit Lions, the Packers already have two wins over playoff teams from a year ago. They held both of them to under 20 points, and the Packers are off to their first two and oh start since 2020. Let's hear the game winning score, Jordan Love to one of the stars of the night, tight-in Tucker Kraft, who set a record of his own. Packers beat the commanders 27 to 18 on Thursday night football.

Jacobs to the right side of love and the shotgun slot left. And faking the handoff. Love rolls right, throws, ends up. Oh, he's got him. Touchdown! And a Lambeau leap on a beautiful play faked by Jordan Love. Tucker Kraft, eight-yard, touchdown reception. It is 23 to 10, Green Bay. Okay, so it is Ask Us Anything Friday,

and the Canaver texts in. After last night's performance, do you guys think the Packers are the Super Bowl favorite? it's too early two games in is too early but if you were to talk about could you have a better start to the season and I'll even I'll dial this back

to before the season started when they made the Micah Parsons trade you know what the Parsons trade felt like you know those teams at the NHL trade deadline who make the big splash and then it invigorates the rest of the team yeah you remember Dylan Larkin last year with the Red Wings talking about

how disappointed he was that the Red Wings didn't do anything it was validated the fact that that trade can really like give you give me the boost Greg yeah it's kind of like oh we got what a freaking boost we got this guy now like we're already a good team and we got this guy now

that's the Packers with Micah Parsons yeah right now so I'm going to play this audio too after the game yesterday now remember the Packers defense has held two playoff teams to under 20 points to start the year and they've done it with Parsons basically playing part time he's still on a snap count

he only played 44 snaps last night He played even less in the opener. He still has one and a half sacks. And he leads the team with eight QB pressures. Here's the audio of what the Packers fans had to say last night. And when Michael Parsons was doing his postgame media availability. Layout for a second because this crowd has something to say. I know you guys know what they're saying.

They're saying thank you, Joe. Thank you, Chrisa Thompson. I will say this. If you're looking for early season Super Bowl favorites, as the Canaver is, Green Bay is in the top five, without question. That is a team that does not have a lot of weaknesses. Watch that whole game last night. They made the commanders look super ordinary through three quarters.

Like the commanders put up their only touchdowns in the fourth quarter when the game was kind of already dusted. That's a very good football team there. We'll talk to Nick Shookmore about. this as well. Okay. What else we got? I will reset what's going on

on the show today because we got a lot to get into. Friendly reminder, get your text in, specifically your ask a set of things. You, like the can of our, could be in the mix to win a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650,

650. Hashtag it, AUA, put a pizza emoji into the text, and you will get a chance to win a $100 gift card. There are a lot of Quinn Hughes, ask us anythings. Nate and Richmond, ask us anything. If Quinn Hughes forces a trade and leaves the team, wins a cup, and has major success elsewhere, do the Canucks still retire his jersey?

Oh, my. Isn't that like taking a girl out to dinner, dropping her off at another guy's house, and then picking her up again in the morning? Well, the answer is no, he is dead to me. That's the answer. If he forces a trade? Yes. Or if he says, let's say it doesn't force a trade.

Let's say he tells the Canucks, my intention is not to resign here. And then they're like, okay, we'll trade you. Then you're just ostensibly forcing a trade. Yeah, yeah. Which is different, but also kind of the same. Well, you could keep them for a year. Like, if McDavid were to say to the Oilers, I'm not resigning, they would keep them for this year.

I don't like this particular A year. No, neither do I. I'll tell you why. yesterday we had the audio that was fresh to the show and quite frankly fresh to everyone because 32 thoughts dropped maybe like an hour before we got on the air and it was hot new sexy relevant audio about Quinn Hughes's contractual future it was newsworthy in any way any way you slice it it was and we played it and we dissected it and a lot of people were very very irate about that choice that we made.

And I remember sitting at the break, I'm like, why is everyone so, like, up in arms about this? Why are we getting so much pushback? And why don't people not want to hear this? And then I, you know, stupid Halford clued in. It's like, because they don't want to acknowledge the possibility of Hughes leaving. Halford is like, is this called empathy?

What is this thing? I'm trying to put myself in empathy. Other people's shoes. And then I did it. And they were like, I don't like this. didn't care for it in the slightest. But I get it. People are very sensitive.

This might be the most sensitive fan base heading into a season in Kinnock's history. Should we call this the sensitive season? Honestly. Should we point it? Yeah, walking on eggshells.

Fragile Frankie Merman, just digging a hole. Like, I get it. I got to go to the woods. No, Frankie. But here's the thing, I get it. The other thing, too, and it's maybe something like I do understand that people are irate about him potentially living and talking about it ad nauseum might bother people. Someone texted in

way too much Quinn coverage, just my opinion. See, there it is. Oh, it's, you know, it's only the, like there's two massive stories. Only the possibility of your franchise player leaving. What are you going to do? I'm trying to acknowledge these people. What are we expecting out of Nils Hoglender their season? That's the fourth line looking. There is something to be said about this happening

at a time where people are starting to get excited about a new season and the possibility of rebounding from last year's bad season. And there are other things out there. But again, I find it hard to believe that anyone in their heart of hearts, even if they don't like the conversation, can't acknowledge that it's a, it's massive news. It's the first time since the comments made by his president of hockey ops in June that Hughes has actually addressed this and given a very specific timeline on when the decision making process is going to happen. It's a big thing. So again, we will try and

empathize with the listeners as much as we can and we are going to talk about a lot of different things but at the same time we do try and follow the biggest stories in sports and this is absolutely one of them

okay we're way up against it for time NFL talk on the other side Nick Shook from NFL.com you're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650 633 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford Embraub of the morning is brought you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks.

This is them online at sands-trustee.com. Still an hour one of the program. We're at the midway point now, though, and Nick Shook from NFL.com. It's going to join us in just a moment. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them in 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

I'm looking at the NFL schedule this week, and I just looked at the first two games, and I'm like, ooh, those are kind of spicy. Giants and Cowboys, because the Cowboys better win that. And also, like, Russell Wilson can't do that again. He's got one more week. got one more week. And then right after that, I'm like, ooh, Bears, Lions, the Ben Johnson game. Let's go. And we got an early morning

Seahawks game as well, because they're going to be in Pittsburgh. Nick Schick's going to join us in just a moment here. A couple more things I need to do. One, I need to tell you that our NFL preview on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 is brought you by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to Post game. The Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors. Visit them online at the Clayton Pub.com. to the Power West Industries hotline we go from NFL.com.

Nick Shook here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Nick. How are you? Great. Thanks for having me, guys. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate you taking the time. Let's start with the Green Bay Packers. Could they have had a better start to the season than what they've done against the Lions and now last night against the commanders? No, I don't think they could.

And you know what I think about it? kind of feels like retribution or at least just, you know, something that they earned last year with what they had to deal with, and they lost Jordan Love in the Brazil game, you know, on a poor field in week one and had to play with Malik Willis. And while they won those games last year, they never quite got, you know, on the role that they wanted to get on. And they're certainly headed toward that right now. And the big difference between last year and this year's is obviously the addition of Michael Parsons, but it's just a more complete team. And it's a defense that I think is going to try.

and play well against anybody because they just shut down, you know, one of the better offenses the NFL last year granted with the new offensive coordinator. And then they just completely bottled up Jaden Daniels and the commander's offense all night. And I'm just, I'm very impressed by the strength of this team.

You know, when they made the trade for Micah Parsons, ever won, you know, the story that came out of there was that they believed that this is the year and that they had to go all in, that they had a real shop this year. And I thought, yeah, you know, maybe I'll have to prove it to need. We'll wait and I know it's only two games, but now I'm starting to see some clues of what they saw in their team.

They have a lot of individual talented playmakers on both sides of the football. The defense, I think it goes without saying. Offens, like, everyone knows about Jordan Love. Jacobs can run the ball really well. You've got like this breakout candidate in Tucker Kraft, who's looked unbelievable, especially last night. The receiving group, I know the reed injury is going to hurt, but it's still got some talent as well. It just feels like they maybe, not necessarily snuck up, but they've got all this talent, And they're fast-tracking it a bit with the Parsons thing.

And maybe the Parsons trade gave them that jolt of energy that teams sometimes need to take that next step. Now, there is an interesting concept. And maybe you're right. Because it did the timing of it, you know, all the activity that was surrounding that and just the attention. But I think that if they don't play the way they did against Detroit and week one, we're having a different conversation right now,

It's truly, I think, just the total combination of talents on the defensive side. Jeff Halfley, you know, a guy who left Boston College as a head coach to be the D.C. in Green Bay last year, now he's fully equipped and able to really do what he wants to do schematically. And, you know, watching the game last night, you know, we watch on Amazon Prime Vision, you get the real, the good view, you know, from behind the quarterback. And you can really see what a defense is doing on a per play's live base. and he's disguising coverage is left and right. And I think that, you know, disguises are going to be part of most teams' approaches,

but he's able to do so many different things because they don't have any real weaknesses. We'll see in the back end, you know, they did lose Jaya Alexander, which might have been a win for them in the long run. We'll see how the back end holds up over, you know, the course of the entire season. But this front seven they have and the athletes that they have with Roshan Gary and Micah Parsons and Edge Cooper, they can do a lot of things. and especially when it comes to getting after a talented quarterback and bottling them up, and we saw that last night.

Just on the commanders before we move along here, a one-on-one start, it's fine to the season, lost to a good opponent last night. But, you know, when they came into this season, I remember thinking, like, Jane Daniels is really good and really young, and he's surrounded by a bunch of old guys. Like, Austin Eccler, he's a veteran.

Now he looks like he tore his Achilles last night, so he's done for the year. They traded away Brian Robinson. Then it's like, Debo Samuel, he's old. Zach Ertz, he's old. They've got older guys at skill positions who they're going to need to count on and I wonder what it's going to look like for them

because it's not a bunch of youth around Daniels. It's more veteran guys who are looking to maybe capture some of their past glory. Yeah, and that was my concern with this team going to the season. They went on DC radio about a month ago and I compared them to the 2007 and 2008 Browns, which is a team that was veteran-laden and won a lot of games in its first season

because they were trying to kind of hang on to their careers and they had the experience necessary to know how to go out and win and the next year they fell apart. And it was because so much of that team back then in Cleveland was a bunch of, it was a good assembly of veteran defenders, veteran contributors in the offensive side. They probably have a little bit more young talent than even this commander's team does. And they realize the next year that it's hard to replicate when you have an older team.

The only difference was is they had Derek Anderson at quarterback and this team has Jane Daniels. But as we saw last night, when the supporting cast isn't doing its job, it's hard for Daniels to, you know, make the magic that he made last year. I'm concerned about their running back depth, you know, especially after losing Eckler. Huge bummer for him, by the way. That's just a rough way to potentially have your career end. But, you know, football.

It's a merciless sport sometimes. But, yeah, and defensively, Bobby Wagner is the face of your defense. But, you know, he's getting to that point now, too. Wow. He's Marchand-Ladamore looks, I know. You know, it pains you guys, and I'm sorry. Wagner's amazing. He's amazing, but he can't be the face of your defense.

He had like 12 tackles last thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, you have Duran Payne up front, but, like, if you think about it, who is the quarterback of that defense and probably one of the best players in that defense, it's still Bobby Wagner. And that's a bummer for me.

They let Jeremy Chin go in free agency, which I disagreed with, and Marshawn Latimore looks very washed. He's getting routinely dusted by opposing offenses, opposing receivers in a weekly basis right now. and they let Dante Fowler walk, and they, I mean, let's think back two years ago. They got rid of Montes, sweat, and Chase Young. So there's been a lot of turnover there, and I just feel like they were finally at the potentially at the breaking point.

It sounds like overreaction, but just over the course of the season. They looked old and slow last night defensively. They look like, you know, even with the Packers not having their top receivers out there, that they, you know, it didn't matter because the commander's defense was just kind of old and slow. And I think at one point out, Michael was like, what did they just worn down? Yeah, it was a short week, but it's also an older defense. Worned down by life.

Okay, we talked to lead with the Green Bay Packers. Let's stay in the NFC North because personally I think this is the most fascinating division, especially after what happened in the Vikings Bears game last week. It's going to be the Bears and the Lions in the Ben Johnson Bowl. Ben Johnson still holds a bit of a weird feel up here in Canada, but we move on. What do we expect out of the Lions after the performance against the Packers last week? That's a good question.

I think we're in this weird place, right? Where we have one week and one extra game to work with in terms of context. So you really don't know much, right? But as we see the Packers rattle off two impressive wins, we start to already look back at the Lions lost to them in Week 1 and go, oh, well, maybe the Packers are for real. You know, maybe it was the lion struggling out of the gate so much as the Packers' defense is extremely good. We don't know that yet, but I do think that there's things that they need to accomplish this week

to make me feel better about the state of their offense in the post-Benz-Johnson era, which is protecting Gough more effectively, limiting a defense from moving him off of his spot, working out of the play action, running the ball. They didn't run the ball well at all last week. and that's a key part of their offense just to set up the play action which golf works out of so well and when those things aren't working

a lot of that talent over there kind of goes missing because you just can't do what you want to do so they just need to have a better offensive game I think and I think if that's the case the defense didn't play poorly in week one it's just that their offense you know didn't score a touchdown until garbage time that needs to be better so I think

you keep golf protected and you run the ball more effectively and things are going to turn your way what about the bears I hate to say it but offensively again protect Caleb Williams I know this is going to sound like the same thing

I just said about Jared Goff but they didn't run the ball well either they didn't protect Caleb Williams really well but Caleb Williams also didn't do himself any favors he needs to kind of settle into this offense just the flow of the offense you know he's trying to be supermail a little bit too much and defensively they probably are going to get

Jalen Johnson back at cornerback this week, which would be a huge get, a huge return for them. But they also need to win the trench battle, and I don't know if they're necessarily going to do this. This line, offensive line has been remade a bit in the off season because of some departures. It did look really great in week one. If that ends up being a stalemate, I think the bears have a much better chance because where they really lost, before they lost because of J.J. McCarthy, they lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball in the second half of that game. So there's going to be a lot of emotions. And a lot of familiarity involved.

And even when Ben Johnson was with the lions, the Bears strangely kind of had their number on occasion over the last couple of years. We'll see if he's got something up the sleeve that turns the tie. But I think if, you know, if we're being completely honest, it starts with Caleb and dialing in the accuracy

and being a little bit less erratic in the pocket than he was in the second half of Monday night. My high-level elite, sophisticated football analysis on Caleb Williams is that he throws the ball too hard. There's no, he has the touch of a blacksmith when he needs to do something in the flat or it's just like I'm going to throw rockets every time it's like hammering every three foot put into the into the whole hard as human as possible if it misses I've got 15 feet

coming back kind of like no touch whatsoever and I that's weird from a guy that went first overall to me yeah uh the touch of a blacksmith is a great way to describe it and I think it's it's one of those cases of some quarterbacks with that type of arm talent they come up through the ranks relying on that arm talent and And, like, Caleb had this habit last year where he would just stand in the pocket and his feet would stop as he was surveying. And he almost, like, looked like he just froze. And then at the last second, he would just rip a bullet somewhere. And you don't know if it was actually going to be on target or not.

But when he did complete, you're like, oh, he wasn't freezing. He was just waiting. Wow, that's got, that's a great arm. But it kind of doesn't fit into what you need to do as a quarterback at the NFL level and just the rhythm that you need to be in the pocket and everything else. So I think he's overly reliant on his arm, like you said. And I think that's all part of it. his growth. It's just that, unfortunately, we live in an era now where you've got to deliver results pretty quickly. And we're in year two, and now folks that are ready to give up on them

already, which has proven to be a bad decision in the past for some guys. And I caution patience, but he's got things that he definitely has to work on to get better. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. You wrote about this this week, Nick. What does the future have in store for Seahawks quarterback, Rieke Wullen? I'm sure that's been the talk up there all week, right? There's been a lot of requalant texts, a lot of requalant. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that's the nature of football. I think about cornerbacks sometimes like I think about offensive line. And not in any way are they similar except for the fact that they don't get attention unless they screw up. And that was the case for him because he actually had a pretty solid game for the most part. And then in some of the biggest moments, he was nowhere to be found. And that was true, you know, throughout the second half, the fourth. quarter, all of that. At one point afterwards, when we did NFL daily, I was like, he's going to want

to burn that tape because in the fourth quarter, whether it was letting Pearsall get loose down the sideline for the big gain or losing jump ball battle to Jake Tanges, which nobody knew Jake Tondis's name. It was a rough day for him, and they love Jack and Job. So what's going to happen? I honestly think based on Mike McDonald's responses this week, I think he's going to see Job out there a lot more than Rieke might not be a full-blown benching, but I do think that you're going to see a lot more of them out there

because I don't think he has the patience to deal with inconsistency defensively when this is a defensive-minded coach whose scheme had him in the right place and Rieke didn't execute in key spots in the game that they, I mean, he should have won that game. I'm sorry, no knock-off winners with the Seahawks. They weren't a better team that day, but they were in a better position to win that game than the final score indicated. So, yeah, I think that his patience is going to run out.

We're going to see at least a rotation if not a benching. Yeah, I mean, we've been talking about that all week. You know, the Niners are cutting their kicker. All the guys are hurt, and the Niners won that game. It was extremely frustrating. Aaron Rogers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, that's the Seahawks opponent this week. Are the Seahawks going to be able to get after Rogers? I think so.

I hope so. If you talk to a Steelers fan, they're going to tell you, well just line up over Broder Jones and you'll get after him because Jones had a rough day in week one the students have done a really good job of revamping this offensive line over the last couple of years more on the interior than the outside and it held up well for them pretty well in week one but it's also about play design and Arthur Smith getting Aaron Rogers out of the pocket

I know it sounds crazy to say about a 41 year old but he was rolling out a few times and making some laser-like throws in that win over the jets So I love what the Seahawks do up front occasionally. Like, DeMarcus Lawrence just kept popping up on the film this week. I just kept being like, oh, watching it live on. I was like, who is zero? Oh, wait, that's DeMarcus Lawrence. Yeah, they have talent up there.

They're got to need to be better in getting after the quarterback than they were against Brock Purdy. I didn't feel like that was consistent enough in the week one. Two O and one teams, one of them surprisingly, I think, are going to go head to head this weekend, the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns. This is something else you wrote about. Did Grant Delpit of the Cleveland Browns really say that it is, quote, unquote, not hard to tackle Derek Henry? Yeah, he did.

And the day earlier, Jerry Judy said there was like no challenges at all when it comes to facing the Bengals secondary. I don't know what the Browns are doing. I guess they're just, they may just feel as if they can just trash talk their way into every game. And we'll see if they back it up. This is an unbridled level of confidence for a team that won only a hands. of games last year. But that is who Jerry Judy is,

and I guess that is who Grand Delpit is to an extent. Now, the Brown's social account quickly followed it up by tweeting a clip of him, you know, laying in the wood to Derek Henry last season, but what they,

what most people might feel to realize is that when Henry goes down in that clip, he's also getting hit on the opposite side of him, and he just kind of topples over like a top-heavy tower, which he could do sometimes. Like, the Browns need to have that identity

going into this game. Because if they show a bunch of respect and everything else, it's going to end up going nowhere for them. If they walk in and they're like, oh, yes, Ravens, yes, we respect you, we are the little brother in this division, they're going to get rolled by a team that, you know, has a lot of motivation to come back and win, especially at home. And also, not to mention the fact that the Ravens are celebrating their 30th anniversary

of their existence, which happened because the Browns were stolen from Cleveland and moved to Baltimore. And we can make no bones about it. That's what happens. So they need to come in there with a chip on. their shoulder and just for the, I don't know, defend the honor of the city they call home, I suppose. Right. Ravens are 11 and a half point favorites. I think that's the biggest line on the board this week. Arguably the game of the week, Eagles at Kansas City. If the

chiefs fall to 0 and 2, I guess that'll be pretty interesting. Yeah. I don't feel like it's going to happen. the concerns about Xavier worthy are fair and valid and yet at the same time I don't know how he's like he's he's at practice with a shoulder brace on the guy dislocated his shoulder in week one I know it's a little bit over a week ago by the time that they take the field this weekend but I mean I can't imagine how a guy's going to reach up to catch a ball when his arm is limited by his shoulder brace but yeah I'm not I'm not the trainer so we'll let that roll but yeah yeah You're right. There's no way the Chiefs go 0-N-2 to start the season. Frankly, I hope they don't, just because I don't want to hear the discourse. I don't want to hear everybody saying, oh, the Chiefs aren't winning that division. The Chief's dynasty is over. Let's let that happen in over time.

Like, let's not jump to conclusions after two weeks. They also played pretty well in week one against the Chargers. They just, I think they got a step behind the Chargers and never quite caught up. Mahomes had a great game. And I think that he's going to have a great game against this Bengals defense, which isn't as good. as the Chargers unit. And I can say that confidently, even though the Browns threw two picks and they only put up 16 points, those who watch that game understand that the Bengals defense still has some issues.

And I think that the Chiefs are going to take advantage of it. So, yeah, I would agree with you on that. We had one particular listener who pointed out, like, no one seemed to be giving the Chargers any sort of credit after that win. It was all about what the Chiefs didn't do. And I was like, yeah, that's fair because I thought one of the best games I've seen Justin Herbert play ever. I think Herbert got a lot of, got a lot of kudos. But I think the entire, like, team should have deserved a lot of credit for the way they played. Because, like you said, the Chiefs played a good game with the Chargers went out and played exceptionally well, I thought, given where the expectations are going on.

He played well in Brazil. Yeah, and they've never played well against the Chiefs. So there's that, yeah. I don't know, what did you think of the Chargers in that game? I totally agree. Yeah. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I thought that they were well coached.

The game plan was strong. Greg Roman, you know, he's known to be a run first guy, who he's been over the course of his career and his many stops. And they were a run first team last year. So everybody comes to this game thinking, all right, they're going to run the ball all over the Chiefs. That's going to be their goal. They're going to be the rough and tumbled Jim Harbaugh Chargers. They come out and run play action just incessantly, relentlessly against the Chiefs and go right down the field. Herbert's slicing and dice into the air because he's being – he's able to work off of the run off of reputation in week one,

which is a crazy thing to see live. Yeah. Like there's no proof prior other than you go back to last season that you need to key against the run. That's the duty of week one. And it was a great well-executed game plan. and good complimentary football, their offensive line held up well. I thought Trey Petkin, safe for getting smoked by George Carl Lofus a few times, did well, too. And it was just, it was a great example of a team that I think is really stepping into its next phase of success under Jim Harba.

The culture imprint is clearly there. And I also think, by the way, the Chiefs secondary has problems. And when we go back to that whole Bengals' Chiefs thing, I think that the Bengals are going to put some points on the board, and it's going to be a high-scoring affair. I think about it. I think that Patrick Mahomes was going to have to duel with Justin Herbert, just like he's going to have to duel with Joe Burrow like he just tried to duel with Justin Herbert last week. Week 2 schedule is very enticing. There's a lot of good games on the docket. Nick, thanks a lot for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the games this weekend, including a Monday night double header. We'll do this again next Friday.

I don't know if I feel the same way about the doubleheaders. Do you do? But yeah, we'll enjoy all the football. See you again next week. See you, buddy. Thanks. Nick Shook from NFL.com. here on the Halford and Brush Show on Sports 9-650. So I'm excited for one of those doubleheader games. The first one's Buccaneers and Texans, man. Chargers at Raiders, though. Yep, that's always a good one.

Both 1 and 0 to start the season. So consider this. The final four games of this week's NFL slate, the 125 R-time kickoff, Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and the Chiefs. That's pretty much much watch, right? That's a great one. Must watch, not much watch.

The night game is Atlanta and Minnesota. soda. Now that, my friend, is a rematch of the quarterbacks from the 2024 NCAA title game between the U-dub Huskies, Michael Pennix Jr., and J.J. McCarthy, formerly of Michigan now with the Minnesota Vikings. Although Pennix is now 33 years old. Yeah. You know, it happens overnight. You get old. He was old. Now he's older. Yeah. And then, of course, as you mentioned, you got the doubleheader on Monday Night Football, a true doubleheader because the game starts three hours apart. You get Tampa Bay, Houston. which you know what two playoff teams from a year ago right now okay and then you got the classic

a fc west rivalry the chargers and the raiders i am so happy so happy that football is back and it's gotten up to a great start week one was awesome the sunday night it was great i thought last night's game was good as well very much looking forward to week two i'm very much looking forward to the remainder of this show got a lot more to get to on the halford and brough show on sports net 650 a lot of n hl talk coming up luke fox n hl writer from sports net is going to join the program. He was down in Vegas for the NHL's media tour and wrote a ton of articles about a ton of different topics. Wrote about Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes, Sidney Crosby, Charlie McAvoy, Lena's Allmark, Matthew Nyes, Dustin Wolf. Lots of stuff to get into with Luke

at 7 o'clock. 7.30 Moge is going to join the program ahead of tonight's Lions games against Red Blacks at BC Place. Eight o'clock, it's Dollywall. And then at 8.30, we're going to give away the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. For the best, ask us anything. You're Listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.