Halford & Brough in the Morning - Playoff Baseball Is Awesome

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk playoff baseball with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:30), plus the boys preview Week 5 with Too Deep Zone NFL insider Mike Tanier (26:52). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan, it's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Redman. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen.

703 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, 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 in Hour 2 of the program. Adnan Virk, as the music suggests, is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, I'll tell you what not to do. Don't go let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do it. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage for more.

We're coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phoneintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk, MLB Network joins us now

on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Adnan? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. That was a good movie. Real good, yeah.

What'd you do, Adog? I'm sorry, guys. I'm ready to rock here. Can you hear me now? We can hear you now. Don't worry. We blamed A-Dog. It's not your fault.

Stupid T-Bor. No, it was completely my fault. Not A-Dog's fault. I apologize. Ready to rock. Ah, T-Bor. All good. Hey, we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the playoffs already this morning.

This has been pretty awesome. I know we didn't get as many game threes as we would have liked, but that's fine. We still got one tonight between my beloved Milwaukee Brewers and the New York Mets, but let's run through some of these series that are already in the books. We started with what the Padres did yesterday. I know the series against the Braves

was great and everything, but this sets up what we're all looking forward to now. Padres, Dodgers, it begins on Saturday. How excited are you for this series to kick off? I can't wait, Mike. Every time you look at the schedule and you say, okay, I'd love to watch four baseball games,

but not sure I can do that with work, family. But what's the one game you can't miss? And, of course, that can't miss series is Padres and Dodgers, which is a perfect time for you guys, 6.30, West Coast time. It's going to be electric. And, you know, it's funny. Of the majority of MLB Network experts, a lot of us time for you guys, 6.30, West Coast time. It's going to be electric. And you know what's funny? Of the majority of MLB Network experts, a lot of us picked this matchup to happen.

Padres, Dodgers, NLDS, and even more surprised perhaps most of us are picking the Padres to win, including myself. The main issue for Los Angeles is they're starting pitching. And, you know, listen, Filarity has been an outstanding pickup for them. He'll start game one, I believe. It might be Yamamoto, actually, because he doesn't like to pitch on less than four days rest.

And he was hurt much of the season. He's only thrown four inning appearances his last two tune-ups before the playoffs. After that, very shaky. Walker, Buehler, two-time Tommy Johns had a terrible season. Landon Nack's a rookie. Meantime, San Diego. And by the way, I hope Joe Musgrove's okay because he left last night prematurely with elbow issues. But the guy who's been best pitching for Oregon State since he was a borrower is Michael King.

The way that pitch was moving is two-seamer. That sinker was incredible. King, Musgrove, Darvish, Cease, and then they're both in. You've got Tanner Scott, Adams, Suarez. I think their pitching is better than Los Angeles. There's no question LA's top-heavy offense. You cannot compete perhaps ever in baseball history with Otani, Freeman, and Betts. But look at Fernando Tatis. Nando's been unbelievable. He's so great in the postseason.

His numbers suggest that over 1,200 OPS, which is the highest in Padres history, minimum of 25 play appearances. And Machado, obviously a big hit. Jackson Merrill, big hit yesterday. Jerickson Profer is hitting a third and getting big hits. So I can't wait, man. Padres, Dodgers, and San Diego, of course, beat Los Angeles fellas just a couple years ago in the 2022 NLDS.

I think it happens again. What if it does? What would that mean for the Dodgers? I mean, they're still going to be a good team, but they're drawing a lot of comparisons

to the Atlanta Braves of the 90s who won, I don't know what, 20 division titles or something like that and ended up only winning one World Series. Yeah, it was 14 division titles, Jay, and only the one World Series in 1995, which my math isn't great offhand, but that's a pretty anemic success rate. And I get it.

It's very tough just to get there and be successful, but nobody ever dreamed of being a regular season champion. I mean, even further to the point, the Dodgers won that World Series in 2020, but you can certainly quibble with it and say, well, it was in the COVID season. A 60-game regular season isn't a true test. There was no fans there. So going back, they haven't won a true World Series since 1988. That's an awfully long run of futility considering this is a team that spends more money than anybody else in the sport. And for this year, this offseason, to spend $700 million on Otani, and if they go out there and they can't even win a round,

I mean, that would be absolutely humiliating with their talent there. Even you can make every excuse you want, but they were expecting Clayton Kershaw to carry the mail. Like, he's here in a one-year deal, and he's been hurt. And unfortunately, those pitching injuries have added up to them. Gavin Stone's a rookie who was hurt, who I think was really helpful in this series. Their main stars are there.

Let's be clear. They've still got their Otani, their Betts, their Freeman. They feel like they should be successful enough to make a World Series run, no questions asked. So if they're to lose to San Diego, bitter rival, and they don't even win a round, again, humiliating is the only word I can think of. What has been the story with Fernando Tatis Jr. since he was suspended?

Because that was back in 2022. He's battled a lot. He's had to regain the trust of his organization. I believe he had some injury issues, and now he's one of the stars for this Padres team. Do Padres fans, does the market, do they fully trust this guy, or are they still waiting for something to happen?

That's a great question. I think it's about 90-10. I think that most people, particularly Padres fans, love Tatis, and how could you not? He's got a ton of power, a ton of speed, he's outstanding defensively. He really won the Platinum Glover Award. Think about that. He went from being a shortstop to right field, and wasn't just a gold glover. He was the best defender in the sport. So he's insanely talented. He's tremendously athletic. And we've so far seen in this series, there was only two games,

but the home run, how fired up that captivated that sellout crowd there, 47,000, but also his speed. He can beat our new field single. You know, he can get to second base and make things exciting. So I think Padres fans really appreciate his talent. There's no question when you get dinged for an 80 game PED suspension,

that's going to cost you the trust of not only your fan base, but most of Major League Baseball. But what I found very surprising is I would think since that suspension, you know, his star has dimmed at least somewhat. And yet I looked at the top 10 selling jerseys in baseball for this year, and Tatis is ninth. To me, that was amazing because prior to suspension, I believe it was around seventh or eighth.

So in terms of, there's only one metric I'm using, but jersey sales, people are still buying Cano Tatis jerseys everywhere and proudly wearing them. So I think he's a great player. There's no question about it. Is there a chance he's using again? I suppose there's always a chance. I hope that's not the case. I hope he's learned his

lesson because I do generally think he's great for the sport. He's very charismatic and he's flamboyant and he's got a ton of fun out there. Speaking to Adnan Burke from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Adnan, here's a question for you. How the hell are the Detroit Tigers doing this? It's unbelievable, Mike.

I mean, if you love Cinderella stories, you can't love one better than the Tigers right now. It's essentially Tarek Scouble, who's going to win the Cy Young Triple Crown categories and was sensational in Game 1. And then just a bunch of dudes. They had seven different pitchers in Game 2. And this is the beauty of that wildcard series. Houston's the better team. They're battle-tested. But if my ace wins Game 1 and I use everything at my disposal, I'm going to win the game. And what part of baseball is so special is it's a team sport,

but it's individual players and individual moments. And no bigger moment so far in this playoffs than that Josh Hader at bat against Andy Ibanez. Andy Ibanez is hitting $1.72 in September. He's done nothing. Josh Hader has been paying $95 million this offseason, five-year deal, and he comes in thinking he's one of the best closers in the game. And instead, rather than getting a strike three, which I would have called,

I thought it was a borderline pitch, I would have called a strike three. The next pitch was a ball, and the next pitch of Banya's, it's a double as clear as the bases. That is truly baseball. One pitcher out of it, instead, the Tigers get the huge hit and end up winning the series. It's been an awesome story. It's a ragtag collection of players.

Even if you're hard-pressed, Mike, to find a star offensively, like Spencer Torkelson was a high draft, but he's been a disappointment. Riley Green's a good hitter. Cole Keith got some good hits. Parker Meadows has been good. But none of these guys are Fernando Tatis, or Manny Machado, or Aaron Judge, or Juan Soto. They're really playing above

some of their parts, and credit to A.J. Hinch. That was the A.J. Hinch series. Former Astros manager, now Tigers manager, was able to get the better of his former team, and we'll see if the magic continues. I am suspicious it will. I am picking the Guardians to win that series, and I'm picking the Guardians to potentially beat the Yankees.

The Yankees beat the Royals, but there's no question, you cannot underestimate this Detroit team and just how successful they've been. They've been the best team in baseball since August 11th, and that's why they now just won their first playoff round since 2013. When will we see Scooble again?

It's a great question, Jay, because obviously MC's a tanker in Game 1. I would think he'll try to pitch Game 3. Now, I mean, it has to be at that point because you could be down potentially 0-2 in that series and a best of 5, but I would think he's going to try to come back for that game three. If he's going to usual rest, I haven't checked the schedule, he might be lined up properly for game three.

So I think that's when we'll get him. But again, the Tigers have not had a starting pitching. It's literally, they've been running so many bullpen games, it's crazy. So I'm not exaggerating when I say it's Scoble and a bunch of dudes. That's what it's been. But I think we see him in game three. The dates are October 5th and then they get a day off. And then it's October 7th and a bunch of dudes. That's what it's been, but I think we see them in game three. The dates are October 5th, and then they get a day off, and then it's October 7th and October 9th,

so I guess it could technically be October 7th, and then I wonder if they would try and pitch him then just in case the series went long, and then they could give him another start, because ideally you'd think you'd want to give him two starts in the series if possible. Yeah, I was about to say, ideally you'd want to go game two, game five. And it's interesting.

You're right, there's always more and more days off built in. That's one of my few issues with the baseball postseason is that sometimes it's like they'll have game one and then there's a day off and then game two. But they're both games at home. I understand travel days, that I totally get. But sometimes there's a day off, and then game two. But they're both games at home. Like, I understand travel days. That I totally get. But sometimes there's these odd days off in between home games.

But the good news for the teams is you can certainly manipulate your roster, and that extra day can be critical for your starting pitching staff. And that's why I think bullpens are so critical at this time of year, which is why I'm calling Cleveland to win because they've got – we haven't seen it yet, but they've got the best bullpen at baseball. So I think those extra days off can really help you. But yeah, in the case of Scooble and the Tigers, it becomes tricky because imagine if you pitched him in game two on short rest.

Right out of the gate, he's pitching in short rest. Well, then again, game five is short rest. And then if you do win and you get the ALCS, well, obviously when's he available? Game four, like you're going to blow the guy out if you waste it too much. But you're right. Ideally, you'd get two starts out of him. Game three, Mets and my beloved Milwaukee

Brewers tonight, 4 o'clock, one game, winner takes all. How do you see this one playing out? Well, thank God we got the one, Mike. It would have been a disaster. I mean, we still missed last year, too, right? The baseball has been excellent. I mean, yesterday there was two two-run games and two one-run games, so quality of play

and competition has been excellent, but you're right. I do want to see more than just one game three. And thank God Jackson Churio provided it. 20 years of age, hits that home run off Maton and, you know, obviously Garrett Mitchell. What a massive at-bat. He comes in and is able to hit that two-run shot. Milwaukee sends it.

I think it's a great story because Milwaukee hasn't won a playoff series since 2018. They've got a terrific fan base. They've got Bernie Brewer, for God's sake. They've got a little bit of chirping with Willie Adamas and Jesse Winker. Those guys have been getting into it a little bit. So I think it's been fun to see. It's been hotly contested, and the Mets are a great story as well.

89 wins, and the fact they're even in this situation, look at how bad they were in the first half of the year. I love Frankie Lindor, and I hope that he can step up because he's been the runner-up for MVP by Ohtani this year. So I expect a great game tonight. It's been an excellent series so far and hopefully your Brewers are able to come through. I was telling...

He's loved them forever. I've loved them forever. It's been at least a week. I was telling Brough the story about Jackson Churio, how he got $82 million before he ever played a single MLB game. Is that an anomaly or is that where things are going to start going towards?

Making the bets on these guys before they hit the big leagues. So you can say, or is that where things are going to start going towards? Making the bets on these guys before they hit the big leagues, so you can say, look at this great contract we got when they blow up and become stars. I think it's an anomaly. Listen, I hope he's a great player, but I thought it was insane. This guy has not played a game that you're giving $82 billion.

Jackson Holiday, for example, is the number one pick. We all know his struggles with the Orioles I believe he had a 50 OPS plus he was a disaster could you imagine if they had given Holiday 80 million if you run an attempt for one year they go what I don't give a number one plus in baseball

he's awful and yet if you did that to Vlad Jr. let's say it would be a steal right now if you looked at his contract so I think it's an anomaly it certainly caught me by surprise will it end up being a great contract certainly appears to be so I mean when you're in if I had to pay So I think it's an anomaly. It certainly caught me by surprise. Will it end up being a great contract? Certainly appears to be so. I mean, when you're in, if I had to pay $8 million or $10 million, excuse me,

for a guy who was 2020 in his first season, it looks pretty good to me. So I think right now it looks team-friendly, but I can't imagine a lot of teams wanting to emulate that. On the subject of young breakout stars in the postseason, now Bobby Wood Jr., a lot of people know who he is. He had a very good regular season, AL batting champ and everything. I feel like this is the stage, though, because they got past the opening round. Now it's Royals, Yankees.

He's going to be in the center of the baseball universe. And, like, I'll give him credit. I know it's small sample size and everything, but you talk about clutch hitting in a super tight series. Like, you could make the argument that Bobby Wood Jr. was the difference in that series against the Orioles. Without question. I mean, if you look at that game

particularly yesterday, you'd think, oh, it's been really well pitched. No, there was a ton of hits and a ton of guys left on base that just could not capitalize on so-called clutch situations, and that's what led to frustration for the Orioles. I mean, God, the back-to-back years, they've just completely choked 5-for-32 with runners in scoring position.

And it doesn't matter if it's Gunnar Henderson or Adley Rutsch, but nobody can step up. Anthony Santander's a free agent, 44 home runs. He's going to get paid elsewhere. They're going to lose Corbin Burns. He's a top-ten starting pitcher in baseball. He might get Garrett Cole money. He might get $300 million in the open market,

especially if a team like the New York Mets comes sniffing. So it went from very quickly, oh, my God, the Orioles are such a good story. They're going to be awesome for years to come to now. Back-to-back playoff disappointments, and you're going to lose your ace and one of your best power hitters. So I don't know what the job status is of bringing a high perhaps moving forward, but give credit to the Royals. As you said, Bobby, what's the difference?

That infield single, he got to first base 4.14 seconds. That kid flies. He's unbelievable to watch, and, of course, he had the big hit in game one as well. So he's been a decisive player. I remember looking at September numbers for the Royals. This is not an exaggeration. Bobby Witt hit.410. The rest of the Royals' lineup was under.200.

It was.198. So that is literally one man carrying his entire offense for the month. The good news is Vinny Pasquantino is back, and he was obviously huge for them down the stretch. They really missed him in September. Most people didn't think he'd be playing, by the way. They thought six weeks, maybe he'll play in the ALCS. No, four weeks, quick recovery.

He's still got metal plates in his thumb. Somehow he's out there still playing. So good for Vinny, but it's all Bobby Witt. If it wasn't for Judge, he'd be the MVP, and that's why this series is going to be so much fun. Witt versus Judge, who's the real most valuable player? Real quick, do you give the Royals a shot in that series? I do.

I'll give them a puncher's chance because their starting pitching was second this year in ERA in innings. But my concern is, Mike, that two of the guys aren't going to pitch, at least in the first couple games, because they just used them. Obviously, Cole Reagans and Michael Wacca. Excuse me, Cole Reagans and Seth Lugo. So Wacca is going to pitch game three. But honestly, you're going to have to rely on what's been good starting pitching. We had two best starters not pitching, and Bobby Witt carrying you

against a well-rested Yankee team at Garrett Cole ready to go in game one. I'll pick the Yankees in four. Were you at all surprised that there was pretty much no information coming out of Toronto in terms of any changes to the management group? Mark Shapiro essentially gives Ross Atkins a vote of confidence and said there's going to be no changes, at least to the management group. I know there was some frustration among Jay's fans, but it never really seemed like Atkins was going to be fired, did it?

No, I remember us talking back in June, Jay, and I said something about if there know, if there are changes, you say, how could there not be changes? Like, this would be appalling if there isn't change. It seems terrible. And then when you saw Shapiro speak, I think it was August, it was media availability, and he made that very pointed sentence about,

I do believe in the importance of continuity. Like, oh, my God, they're going to do nothing. And I've said this before. To me, this is the worst-case scenario for the Blue Jays, is if you start next season and still Shapiro, Ack, and Schneider, and neither Vlad or Bo are signed, I mean, that is an absolute heart attack because you're just faced with the same disastrous potential situation. So I hope they re-sign Vlad.

Let's get that taken care of, $300-plus million. As I said to you last week, better than 50% chance Bo gets traded. I talked to Steve Phelps, by the way. He does a great job on MLB Network Radio, former GM of the Mets. I said the same thing to him. I said, better than 50% chance, Bo gets traded. He said, yes. I said, I think they'll try to sign him. He goes, but the contract's crazy. Because he goes, he still wants $250 million. So

he's not going to accept a five-year $100 million after the bad year. Because you can't possibly play that flat. $300 million and give him $250 million. That's insane, considering how bad Bo was this year. So, anyways, it's disappointing. I totally get that from Jay's fans. I don't cheer for them to lose their jobs, but how on earth could you look in the mirror and say,

yeah, I thought that Jay's after this season, you know, almost 90 losses, that nothing needs to be changed. That's pretty disappointing. What do you think happened to Bichette this year? You know, I don't think he was fully healthy, but I don't want to couch you with that, because that becomes an excuse. He was hurt all year, but he wasn't hurt all year. He was hurt, but then when he was playing think he was fully healthy but i don't want to couch you with that because that becomes an excuse no i was hurt all year but he wasn't all he was hurt but then he was playing

was still ineffective so what i noticed is that his bat speed slowed down you know particularly on fastball he just wasn't getting around the pitch quick enough so i mean you think you could be able to make an adjustment to speed up that bat path because he has been a guy who has led the league in hits he's a potential batting champion you know again what steve was saying to me because if you look at some of those shortstop contracts, like he'd be in line to get 10 for 250, no question about it, prior to this season. But now, I don't know what's going to happen.

So I think they've got to sit down with Bo. I know he publicly said a few weeks ago that he still wants to stay with the Jays. But I don't know. I just don't, if I'm the Jays, would I really invest over $500 million in two guys? I feel like I've got enough other concerns. And I don't know that Bozeman bounced back to what he was. You know, maybe it was one year. Maybe it was an aberration.

Probably. There's no way he could be this bad again. But maybe he's not going to be a batting champion again either. Like, there's always going to be some risk with these contracts. So I would take care of Vlad because I looked at his numbers, man. You forget just how good he was. I mean, he was the best first baseman in baseball this year. Like, that's a hell of a statement to say when you look at the other competition around him.

But when you're talking 325, 30-plus home runs, 100-plus RBI, do it now. I wouldn't be that guy who's like, well, let's just wait and see if I can do it again. Okay, great. Then that's going to give him $400 million. Get it done before he becomes a free agent. Adnan, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it.

Enjoy the game tonight and go Brewers. Yeah, go Brew Crew. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight and go Brewers. Yeah, go Brew crew. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Jay. Take care. Adnan Virk from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. I watched some of that Shapiro presser yesterday. I'm like, okay, good on him.

He did take some accountability. Said that he has to be better and Ross Atkins has to be better. And he laid out some, I would say, somewhat plausible reasons why he's keeping Atkins as the general manager and not going elsewhere. All that said, it makes me physically angry, the amount of time and effort that people have put into coverage of the Blue Jays this year, because I don't think they deserve a third of it.

I really don't. They should have deserved it it but they didn't and they end up deserving it they were they were so content to punt on the year and i know that this is a trend across baseball it's not just the blue wonder who's gonna replace you on the show what do you mean no one's replacing elia. Josh Elliott-Wolfe's pretty good. Yeah. I bring it all the time. I'm talking Blue Jays content right now.

See, I'm like the Matrix. I'm like doing Blue Jays content, complaining about Blue Jays content. They can't keep up with me. Roger's corporate. Josh is a good company man. He's too far ahead of the game. Seriously, though. Josh knows what's up. Seriously, though.

A little more than our friend Halford here. Oh, man. I'm optimistic about the Blue Jays. You shouldn't. You? I, for one, think they are a very good baseball club. And well-run. Oh.

Yes. That was a disaster of a year. Well, my favorite part of that press conference. Hold on. It was a disaster of a year. Couched is not a disaster of a year. It's like, it'll be fine. We'll come back next year.

Do it all over again. Shapiro let off his list of excuses with, oh, well, we had injuries. Somebody looked into it. The Jays were something like 21st in the league in terms of dollars, man games lost. There was a good level of accountability yesterday, but there was a real...

Jim Benning was sitting at home and was like, I know that. Man games lost. A lot of man games lost. Who were they talking about? Manoa? What was he going to do this year? Several people pointed out, they're like, okay,

good on you for shouldering a bad year. And they said it was terribly disappointing. But when it came time to explaining what the plan was to get out of it, they were real light on answers. And that is scary. Under the guise of, wow, we got things up our sleeve. Right. But everyone's like, okay, can we get a hint of what those things...

Nope. The secret plan. I don't know. I just... It felt like the season was over in what? May? June? Early June?

April. April? When did it start? And then we went through this rigmarole of a summer where it was just... I don't want to say kicking the can down the road. It's going to be another death march yeah but it's like a three-month death march in baseball that's the sad part and that's just a weird level of contentment where it's like we'll just try to get next year bill from buffalo is loving all the different sports we're talking about good

because well he said bill from buffalo texan I love the diversity on your show, boys. And I'm looking around the room and I'm like, I don't think he's talking about that type of diversity. So it must be talking about sports. Sports diversity. Well, we're going to talk some NFL. I mean, then we have a pickleball guest. Coming up next with Mike Tanier.

And then we will return to the Canucks talk at 8 o'clock when Rand deep joins us. But we didn't get to talk to Mike Tanier on Monday. Cause it was a holiday. So we'll talk to Mike about everything that happened this past weekend, but also looking ahead to this weekend in the NFL. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Before we go to break, I need to do the CFL report. We're brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. Week 18 in the Canadian Football League, and there was a big game on Friday, but not in BC. The

Winnipeg Blue Bombers at 9-6 atop the Western Division are going to Hamilton, Laddie, to take on the Thai cats and the Thai cats who red hot as of late are not out of this thing just yet, even though they have a very nice record of six, nine and oh,

they have played well as of late, of course, had that big win the comeback victory over the aforementioned BC lions last week. So keep an eye on that one. Also keep an eye on the other Friday game. The second of the Friday night football doubleheader, the lowly Stampeders 4-9-1.

What a record. Go to BC to take on the now sub-500 BC Lions. I would say this is basically a must win for the BC Lions, needing to beat the basement dwellers in the West. Finally, the final game of the Week 18 slate goes on Saturday. It is the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are now actually ahead of the BC Lions in the standings. They will go to Edmonton to take on the 5-10-1

Elks. So there's a lot of playoff ramifications at stake in the West and, of course, whatever the Hamilton Tigercats can do in the East. That was the CFL Report brought to you by Securian Canada, the official life insurance partner of the CFL. You think I'm done?

No, I'm not. I need to tell you about Tile Town. As BC's favorite hockey team kicks off a new season, receive 20% off any regular priced in-stock tile. For more, visit them at mytiltown.ca. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 734 on a Thursday.

Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, 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. Mike Tanier is going to join us in just a moment here,

our NFL insider on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuck from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, definitely don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do it. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage. Doing that read with the crazy horns in the background.

That was well done. Doing anything with the crazy horns in the background is well done. It's tough. I don't like them. One of our listeners, our dear beloved 650 listeners texted in this morning, said that he woke up

with the noise of crazy horns in his head. So it's actually permeated his sleep, which is a problem. I don't normally associate crazy horns with nap time or sleep, but this poor guy. It would make a good alarm, actually. Yeah, actually, you know what it would. Turn that

off real quick. It's not jarring at all. To the phone lines we go. Let's do some NFL talk with our NFL insider, Mike Tanier, from the 2 Deep Zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Mike. How are you? I'm doing great. You know, Devontae Adams wants to play for play for the jets and that makes one of him.

Where's Devante Adams going to end up? I don't know. The fact that he's kind of like got the message out there. Hey, I'd like to play for the jets and the jets are sitting there looking at their situation right now. It's like, gosh,

we better do it this year. We better do something this year. We'd better do something this year. Aaron Rodgers certainly would love to have Devontae Adams back. It's hard to machete through that and say, well, here are the other options because that's such an obvious big option that a lot of vested interests are going to try to get done. Now that this is out there, is there any way that he and or the Raiders can walk it back and finish the season together?

Is this sort of fait accompli, like Devonta Adams is going to be catching balls from another quarterback in another market now? You know, it's interesting. The way he messaged it is like, I would prefer a trade. That's kind of the way it's been seeping out from everything, his agent, etc. Which sounds like he keeps the door open there, too. If nothing gets done, if nothing works out, I'm not going to hold out or stomp my feet. That's how Adams has handled a lot

of things over the last couple years. He doesn't do the super diva receiver stuff. They might be able to do that. That said, what's the point? What's the point for the Raiders to say, okay, we'll keep you here for the rest of the year, and we'll go 7- 10 or six and 11, and then you won't be fully satisfied and we're in a rebuilding.

So again, I think the vested interest on everybody's part is to find something that makes sense. I'm not sure what that looks like, but I, you know, the best minds will be working on it. Robert Salas presser yesterday was hilarious.

There was a very, very savvy media member there who asked him a question. He said, if there was a player out there media member there who asked him a question he said if there was a player out there who maybe used to play with aaron rogers that might be interested in coming to the jets how would you feel about that would you ask aaron about it salah smiled and he said we're only going to talk about players that are here but it's obvious well what are the three teams it's the jets saints and chiefs yeah some of the niners might get in the mix, and there could be some weird flipping of Debo Samuel's contract. I don't know.

Sorry, go ahead. The Niners, I can't imagine the Niners doing it and adding it to all those other weapons. It sounds great, but it's like the money, the footballs, et cetera. The Bills don't really have the money. The Saints don't really have the money. Obviously, Devontae Adams loves Derek Carr. Derek Carr loves Devontae Adams.

I dare you to fit that contract into their cap ledger if you kind of start studying that a little bit. The other issue is, of course, the Chiefs. I cannot imagine a Raiders-Chiefs blockbuster trade that helps the Chiefs. Al Davis would start haunting his son like the Shakespeare play.

That's why we keep circling back to the Jets, who have a vested interest, have players you know, players there who want him and could probably squeeze it under the cap with the understanding that there is no tomorrow. They're doing this for this year, and then that's the end of everything. My question would be, like, is it worth it for the Jets to do this? Because I watched that game against the Broncos on the weekend,

and one of the uglier football games I've seen in a long time. It was raining. It was raining. It was raining. There was rain. Like in many football games. He is an older man now. He gets chilly. But it wasn't even just Rodgers and his cold fingers.

Like there was, there was a lot of problems with that jet offense. And do you have any sense, a better sense than I do of like where they're at, if they're legit or not? I know it was raining, but Sunday was gross. I love how you said Aaron Rodgers needed his shawl

and he needed some of his specialty because it was raining. It must have been acid rain to make the game look as bad as it did because I did watch that one. It sounds like you said that does not look like a team that's one wide receiver away from a Super Bowl in that game. And I'd agree. And it didn't look like a team one player away from the Super Bowl against the Niners or against the Titans.

So you had this one really good game against a really bad Patriots team. So that's the issue. You know, you can see it. You say, well, this isn't just one player. This is, you know, Devontae Adams and he'll come with a sort of connection to Rodgers. So it wouldn't take that long for them to start, you know, jibing again because they've worked together for many years.

If they do it, that's the end of any excuses. That's the end of anything. And if they do that and then they go 11-6 and lose to the Bills in the playoffs, everybody gets fired. So that's the one thing that you have to look at on the downside of this. You can't do this and say, well, you know, look at that. We won a playoff game after doing that. The money, the draft picks,

the age of the people involved, the expectations, the fact that you already see the Jets sniping at each other. If they do this, they have to realize they are burning the boats and it better get them a Super Bowl.

It's the Buccaneers and the Falcons tonight on Thursday Night Football. Is it safe to say that Baker Mayfield will not be taking any more questions about Tom Brady? You know, Baker Mayfield was doing so well in terms of flipping the script from the fact that he was kind of an elegant guy who sparred with the media early in his career. Yeah, the media had something to do with that. There were some provocateurs coming after him. But he's really flipped the script.

And he's like, no, I'm the veteran now. Well, you know, poke him too much, poke him too much about this. And this is what you're going to get. But, you know, Mayfield has a right to like assert that he's his own man. He took that team to the playoffs and led them to a playoff win last year in Tampa Bay. They are three in one. They've been beating a couple of good opponents this season. So yeah, let's, let's not talk about tom brady here let's talk about

the fact that this is a veteran team that's first place in the standing to take a commanding first place lead and uh mayfield has a lot to do with that don't you think he was also clearly well at least in my opinion just passing along what he was told by the Tampa Bay organization about how they want him to act in the wake of Tom Brady's departure yeah and I'm not sure about all that yeah because it's a messaging thing etc so I get very uh I get very skeptical when some of these like dust-ups happen in the media and it sounds like you know quarterbacks are so scripted and what they're asked if they're so scripted and the messaging comes down from higher ups etc and if they play the game right they get told about it but they play the game wrong they get told about

it so i you know i'm just reluctant to take what mayfield has done this season and like superimpose upon that this like a manufactured controversy uh it's the Jets and the Vikings, and that's from London. They're playing at Tottenham Stadium, Hotspur Stadium over in London. So that's going to be an hour time, 6.30 a.m. start on Sunday. We already talked a bit about the Jets. The Vikings had a very entertaining game against Green Bay at Lambeau over the weekend where it looked like they were going to destroy the Packers. And then the second half, the Packers made a valiant effort but fell short,

leaving the Vikings undefeated at 4-0. Are you buying this Vikings team because at least so far this season and in the first half against Green Bay, they look legit? They did look legit, and they took their feet off the gas pedal a little bit, but they had that game under control. The last touchdown was really late. I'm buying into them in that they're a playoff team. It's hard to look at that and say, especially at 4-0 right now,

with the wins they have, that they're anything but a playoff team. You start creeping into this next conversation. We start talking about Super Bowl contender and all of them. I'm waiting and seeing to a degree. I think that there's a chance that Sam Darnall will get figured out to a degree because he's had very good Septembers before and started to fade. And I think we might lose track a little bit of how good the Lions are. How good the Packers will be when they didn't throw Jordan Love out there

with a bad ankle when they didn't have to in the first half of that game. So the Vikings are very strong top to bottom. I think that they're going to be in the first half of that game. So the Vikings are very strong, top to bottom. I think that they're going to be in the playoff picture all season. I'm just not ready to put them in that next category where we say, oh, they're winning their division. Oh, there's somebody who could go toe-to-toe with the 49ers in a rematch. Same question, but this time for the now 3-1 Seattle Seahawks. You know what?

They played real well overall, especially considering the injuries they had on the defensive line. Offense was great. Offense was great. I loved it. Offense was great. Geno was great. Geno was stepping up against pressure and delivering these darts over the

middle field. That was phenomenal. The defense, you can understand what was going on there because pretty much the whole front was hurt and they were getting gashed up the middle. Again, I'm less sanguine about them because the three previous victories were against nobody. And the more the weeks go on and you look at what the Dolphins are without Tua, what the Patriots are overall, you're like, yeah, these games, these wins were not particularly convincing. So again, the NFC is very much in flux. And you have teams like the Commanders that we have to put into play

that are 3-1. And you have teams like the Eagles and Cowboys who seem to be in their feelings that two are doing. One or both of them could drop off. So I don't think the Seahawks control their own destiny in terms of being a playoff team. They have to continue what they're doing. But I think if the other contenders figure themselves out,

it's the Seahawks that are going to fall by the wayside. You're in the Philly area, aren't you, Mike? Oh, yes. Okay. So what is Sports Talk Radio like when talking Nick Sirianni these days? They might want to burn a few neighborhoods to the ground. They might want to put him on a boat out to sea and then launch like a missile at the boat.

It is ultra toxic. It is raging filled. And, you know, it's not without merit. Because, again, the way the Eagles ended last season, the level of disorganization that you've seen, they're a 2-2 team, but they don't play like a 2-2 team. They play like a bad team that gets rescued by Saquon and other superstars from time to time.

And I don't know how this plays out. I've been saying that I think Sirianni was saved by the early bye. If the Eagles had a week 9 or a week 10 bye, and they were playing like this, Sirianni would probably go. But it's hard to defend him at this point when you realize how

little he does. And the things he's supposed to defend him at this point when you realize how little he does. And the things that he's supposed to do, like fourth down play calling, have been a disaster for this Eagles team. We're speaking to Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the Too Deep Zone here on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The most disappointing team in the National Football League right now. It has to be also the NFL's only winless team, the 0-4 Jacksonville Jaguars. What is going on with Doug Peterson? This is a Seinfeld question.

What's the deal with Doug Peterson? Because it feels like this whole thing in Jacksonville is going in the wrong direction. He says he hasn't lost the room yet. Everyone's kind of nodding and saying, sure, Doug. Sure you haven't. What's going on with Doug Peterson? Oh, you know, he hasn't lost the room. The players like him.

They like him personally. Are they paying much attention to him? Doug Peterson, even in Philadelphia, was like the cool, nice teacher. He was the cool, nice teacher. And he replaced Urban Meyer, who was running around kicking people. And he comes in as the cool, nice teacher. And in the short term, the cool, nice teacher, everyone's like, hey, yeah, I like this.

The vibe is good, et cetera. What happens by the end of the school year to the cool, nice teacher, everyone's like, hey, yeah, I like this. The vibe is good, et cetera. What happens by the end of the school year to the cool, nice teacher? Kids are just doing whatever they want, and they can't really rock it back. And that's been Peterson, not just with his players, but some of his favorite assistant coaches like Press Taylor. He defends them. He supports them. He kind of runs the ship very loosely. And this is what often happens.

It happened in 2020 with the Eagles after a couple of years unraveling. It's happening to this Jaguars team after kind of last year in the second half unraveling. And you see it with the penalties. You see it with the bad third and fourth down play calls. And you see it with blown blocks and just everything sort of not being totally, like, focused and in sync with each other. So you talk about being saved by the bye. Peterson is saved by a couple of games coming up in London.

I think they have the Bears and the Patriots overseas over the next couple weeks. You're not going to fire the head coach and make the interim coach take the team, you know, run practices and things like that in another country. After that, who knows? I've been saying all week, we've been doing the joke about the Jaguars head coach getting fired on the flight home from London for like six head coaches.

We did that joke about Urban Meyer and Doug Marone and all these guys. It could actually happen this time with Doug Peterson. When do you think Christian McCaffrey's going to be back for the Niners? Oh my gosh. I'm so tired of this one injury being the one injury in the world. I don't know.

I'm sorry. Is there another injury we can discuss? I don't want to make you mad. I'm sorry. Two is concussion. I didn't mean to. Sorry. I'm just saying that there are teams that are so wracked with injuries.

We just talked about the Seahawks. The entire defensive line is out. But in the NFL, there's only one injury. It's the one that's hurting the poor 49ers. The poor 49ers have one guy out. I love Christian McCaffrey, too. I think it's week eight, week nine. I do just think it's hilarious that this is the one injury across the NFL

that we have to watch with bated breath. And it's for the one team that otherwise is usually spectacularly healthy and has nothing else going badly for them i was reading through your mailbag on the too deep zone by the way go check it out mike tannier.substack.com this is a good question you can tell everyone the answer if you were in charge of the carolina panthers would you consider going back to bryce young later in the season if so when I want to see it this week, the battle of the first overalls. What is the answer, Mike? I'd go back to him like week 31 of the NFL season and go back to him never. And I believe that

question was asked before. I don't remember. It was last week. So maybe Dalton hadn't played yet. Okay. But this has been such a, hey, are there any remaining questions about Bryce Young over the last two weeks? Dalton's big victory for the Panthers over the Raiders. And then, you know, hanging tough against the Bengals and running that offense significantly and keeping that game close to the fourth quarter. Bryce Young does not have NFL characteristics and traits.

He lacks the size. Somebody as small as him has to be faster and have a stronger arm than him. He does not have them. And I think that the Panthers will be fooling themselves. He lacks the size. Somebody as small as him has to be faster and have a stronger arm than him. He does not have them. And I think that the Panthers would be fooling themselves and are probably just sending one of those messages that we talked about earlier by saying, hey, we'll bring him out there. We'll give him another chance. That's, I think, to soothe everybody's ego and to keep his trade value high.

Yeah, it's crazy because, I mean, he was the first overall pick in the National Football League last year. This isn't that long ago. And there's something to be said for other first-round and first-overall busts getting a longer leash because I think there's careers at stake in the past where people are like, you know, my entire career is based on that pick. But what you're suggesting, you know, in a very crazy way,

might be the right thing, is like if you know it's not going to work, and at this point, I think a lot of people withinolina are probably convinced that it's not going to work you may as well just move on and not drag this thing out any further i guess the question is like who makes that call and you're right you mentioned like the careers at stake the gm and coach who made the decision already fired they're gone yeah they're gone so this next group can make that move and say that was a mistake of the past, and they can sell it to Tepper, the owner, who's an interesting character in his own right,

and they can sell that to the media. And it just boils down to with other high-round draft picks, you're usually talking about a 6'4", 235-pound individual who throws hard and runs pretty well. And you can say, yeah, let's keep working on this. And you just don't have that with this individual. I bought into him, too. I bought the bill of sale.

I was part of the hive mind who said, oh, it doesn't matter that he's short. It doesn't matter that he's skinny because he's got all these intangibles. We get sucked up into it. We can all be wrong. The entire NFL establishment can all be wrong. And when we're wrong on somebody who just goes out there and is just too small to do the job it it's hard to turn around and say yeah but look at this other thing he brings to the table I don't know what that other thing is even supposed to be so there's a similar dynamic at play with this year's draft obviously Caleb

Williams going number one and then Jaden Daniel going number two Daniel looks unbelievable that commander's offense which I'm like I can't believe that this is like Cliff Kingsbury is in charge of this thing and it looks unbelievable. It's a great story. But for Caleb Williams, where are you based on what you've seen through four weeks? Because the record is good. They're 2-2.

That's decent. Can't complain about that. He's shown some flashes. It's definitely not as dire in any way, shape, or form as Bryce Young. But I do wonder how much of Caleb Williams' year is going to be defined by what the guy taking No. 2, Daniel, does at quarterback. Yeah, and that's a thing you and I and the fans can do. The Bears can't do that.

They have to compare Caleb Williams to their goals moving forward and not say, oh my gosh, the other guy turned out to be better or in the short term is better. We've seen the Williams throws. You're right, it's not Bryce Young at all. You can see the guy can throw 100 miles an hour. He can scramble, look downfield, find something, make that happen. Runs pretty good.

Something I saw against the Rams in the victory this week that was very exciting, even the announcer pointed it out, it was, I think, second and short. He drops back the pass. Nothing is open. And he dumped the ball to the running back for an eight-yard game. And even the announcer was like, he checked down. He spotted it.

He just took what the defense got him. Now it's first and ten. Now they're driving. And I was like, yay, hooray for Gallup. That's the thing rookie quarterbacks do. They don't do that right away. They don't do that much in college often. So when they start to figure those things out

and mix it with the hero ball tendencies, that's where you get a guy who's going to have success in the long term. And that was an encouraging sign for Caleb Williams. Mike, this was great, as always. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the game tonight and all the games on the weekend. Then we'll get back to our regular schedule and we'll do this hit on Monday

to recap everything that happened on Sunday. Yes. Sound good. Thank you. Take care. Take care and enjoy your weekend. You too. Thanks, Mike.

That's Mike Tannier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone. Did you hear what Christian McCaffrey's injury was? Achilles. Achilles. What? Tendonitis. Yeah.

Yeah. And both of them. Yeah. That's the issue now. It's not just the right one. It's not just the left. There's a lot of experts on Canucks Twitter. They could probably help them out with tendonitis. It's the right and the left one, Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not just the right one. It's not just the left one. There's a lot of experts on Canucks Twitter that could probably help him out with tendonitis.

It's the right and the left one. But that's, I mean, tendonitis is tough. We know this. Heard his popliteas do. Tendonitis is tough because it can be a number of different causes. And McCaffrey's dad did an interview. I can't remember who it was with, but he did an interview and he said, for Christian, one of his weaknesses is he trains too much.

And it was like an overtraining issue. Reddit and Twitter can probably tell you about that too, with Thatcher Demko. He trains too hard. Well, we're talking about tendonitis right now. We all know that it was PDU that had the knee tendonitis last season but it can also come from um like a lot of the times what they tell you is you got to strengthen the muscles so that they can support the tendons yes but it can also come from overuse and over um over training like like uh mcafree had um, you know, with Petey,

he said he had to work around his knee injury this offseason, which can be tough because sometimes when they say like, hey, you got tendonitis, you got to rest. Yeah. That's the only thing. But it's tough because you're like, well, I got to train. Okay. I got to get stronger.

So the rehabs for different types of tendonitis are all quite different. And we will see Petey tonight on a line with Jake DeBrusque and probably Daniel Sprong against, not tonight, Friday night against the Edmonton Oilers in the Canucks final preseason game. We're going to talk to Rand Deep about that and

the other storylines around the Canucks coming up on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.