Halford & Brough in the Morning - Seahawks Football Has Returned

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest baseball news with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:26), plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks season opener versus the 49ers, as ESPN's Brady Henderson (30:42) joins the show. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Furkey'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 Adnan. Yes, Adnan Furkey joins us now. Just now, we'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 7.01 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650.

Halford and Brough 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-Trustee.com. We are now an hour two of the program. As the music suggests, Adnan Berg from MLB Network is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Our two is bratched by Jason Homonock at Jason. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason.com.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Adnan Verk joins us here now live on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. What up, Adnan? How are you? Mike, Jason, I'm great. I'm so neurotic. After we speak, I always, you know, browbeat myself. I don't give you guys good answers. So one thing I meant to mention, Mike, I didn't give enough love to Nick Kurtz.

You're asking me of the A's. He's the favorite for Rookie of the Year. Nick Kurtz is an unbelievable year. So let me get that other way. I was talking to Shane Langalears and other dudes, but Nick Kurtz, rookie of the year A's. All right, let's go. A call back to last week's hit about the Red Hot.

I was always going to call them the Oakland A's, too, by the way. I forgot they're just the singular A's now. They're like Prince. I like to think that Adnan just couldn't sleep because he didn't answer your question to the best of his abilities. I love it. Alfred was like, who? I got to bring up something else too. When you guys were off, I care what it was.

It was Jamie Dodd and somebody else. And I guess they did like a big cracking of the back or something like that or a big stretch. And they said, does that bother you? If you were there, I said, no. I said, but I'll tell you my biggest peep, having done some morning radio not to the acclaim and the level which you used. guys have done, but having failed it on Mike and Mike, I said there's nothing worse, the open mouth yawn, you don't cover your face, they laugh, they go, oh my God, Jason Brough also loses it. I go, well, that is why Brough is clearly a very smart guy. Yeah, you hate the

yawning. And we do it a lot. Mostly when you're talking. My two producers, A-Dog and Lattie, sometimes I'll be really rolling, like ripping into the Canucks or something like that, and I'll look at A-Dog and he'll just be like yawning away. And I'm like, it just absolutely takes the wind out of my sales, but it could be a message to me that I'm ripping on the Canucks too much or I'm getting boring, but I think it's mostly that they're just tired.

Well, I want clarification now, brough, so it's not, you're annoyed because it's impacting your performance to tension, but if someone's just sitting next to you, Mike just goes, I gives that big gaping yawn, you can see those tonsils. Wouldn't bother you? I go insane. Yeah, no, that would bother me too. But I try not to look at Mike during the show, so

I don't usually have that problem. All right, let's turn our attention to the baseball. here before Bruff and I get into a fight. I do want to start with the Jays. We've got to get into this Frambervaldez and Houston Astro stuff as well, but the Jays in that series against Cincinnati,

29 runs over three games, 11 home runs, setting the table perfectly and quite nicely for this huge series coming up this weekend against the Yankees. I know that there's a million things going on on an MLB network on a nightly basis, but how much attention were you paying to you, how

thoroughly the Jays mash the ball, in that three-game set against the Reds. Well, I was with the signing award winner Jake Peavy last night, and as he was saying to me, because Toronto is not going to want to leave Cincinnati. I mean, it is great American ballpark. It is a bandbox for good reason. And Zach Lattel was pitching for the Reds last night,

came over from the race. He's given up the most home runs in baseball now at 34, and like a couple of those rounds, absolutely. Barger's hitting it, Vlad's hitting it, but a couple of them, like, man, that ball is certainly carrying. And Dalton Barso, who's been out for much of the season, he's even like a home every three games.

It's unbelievable the pace that he has been on, and it's one of the biggest reasons why, I keep saying, say what you will, but the Blue Jays bullpen. And certainly a lot can be said. And I've got, you know, severe nausea, and I'm popping, you know, roll-age every time Jeff Hoffman's in the game or Little, Rodriguez, et cetera, all these guys have stumbled. Sir Anthony Jimingez. But this offense can bang.

I mean, they won 12-9, two nights ago last night, say, 13 to 9. It's a collective offense. And that's why come playoff time, I can't see them fell as being stymied for three straight games or five-strik games. They'll put up a crooked number. They're going to score runs. And, you know, what was the big issue in the last couple of seasons? lack of power, and it felt so unusual.

You go, wait, Rogers said, you hit home runs there. 2015, Edwin Encrenasial, Jose Batista, those teams built on home runs, Josh Donaldson. And the last year, as they got away from that. They signed Santander, who's been the invisible man, either they've been hurt or ineffective, but they've got the fourth most home run since the All-Star break. I say it to you guys, once they'll say it 100 times, power arms, power bats. It plays in the playoffs. And yes, it's the Reds, and yes, it's a ballpark, blah, blah, blah.

But this Jay's offense can bang. It's a big reason why you can believe in them right now. as a first place team in the East. And it's being led by Unk, George Springer. A remarkable season, but the fact that he hasn't tailed off, and he actually had a month of August, like he's got even hotter in the summer,

which is incredible for an old guy. Are you running out of superlatives to throw at George Springer for the year he's having? Oh, with a question. I mean, George has been so special. And, you know, I often look at the Phillies team and I draw comps to the Js. Like Bryce Harper's to face the franchise,

But Kyle Schwerber is the heartbeat of that team. Pending Free Agent. He's signed a lot of good contracts. He's about to get paid a ton of money. And his 33-year-old. He's going to be the runner-up to him to the Pito of time. But I look at the Blue Jays, and I say Vlad's the face of the team. But in many ways, George Springer is the heartbeat of this team.

Like when he's out there, he's such an emotional player. He's such a catalyst. You can tell the guys love him. He's fired up. And it's been remarkable. I think he's got to be in the running for a comeback player of the year. Like Jacob de Grom is in the mix because he's coming off at Tommy John. But to me, to come back for the years, a guy who's coming back from ineffectiveness,

someone who's really struggled and also to found it. This is the best year in four years. You would have sought $150 million, six-year contract. The last two years we're going to limp to the finish line, and it's just a bad deal. No, like full credit to George for rebuilding himself and being rejuvenated. And, man, 27 home runs and 72 RBI from George Springer, and we're in early September. Like, he's got a 30 home run season. You're kidding me?

That's one of the great pleasant surprises in this baseball season. He's a great duty. He's from New Britain, Connecticut. It was about 10 minutes from Bristol, Connecticut, where I worked many years at the USPN. I asked him, what did you do grow up in New Britain? Hard didn't in New Britain. They jokingly called.

He said, I went to Chili's as much as I could. Thankfully, a lot better eateries in Toronto than just Chili's that he had in New Britain, Connecticut. That's like hard hit and Mark Whitten. You're listening to the Alford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Ednan, Verk from MLB Network, joins us now. The Mariners, Adnan, got swept by the raise. They've lost five of their last six.

They've lost 14 to their last 20. Are the Mariners going to blow this? Mike, listen to this. The Astros, prior to last night's game, with significant and terrible, just melt them with the Yankees bullpen. My buddy Aaron doing another memorable ejection, by the way, six ejections,

tied for the Major League lead, modern-day Earl Weaver. The Astros going to Last Night's game had lost 11 of 20 games, yet they had made up ground on the Merr's, the A on West. Think about that. How do you go from being a sub-500 game?

No, for another game. Three games in the Mayors. I worked with Ryan Rollis-Fiff last night. You guys knew he does an unbelievable job in Merrill. games. I said, what is going on? Like, I understand you had the number one star ERA, and this year your offense scores runs. I thought you had

the best trade deadline, not named the San Diego Padres, by getting Naylor Suarez. And Ryan said to me, the pitching just hasn't been good enough, and they haven't been very good away from home. It has been an absolute tailspin. How they can't win away from T-Mobile Park, and the pitching, which has been so strong in the past,

I guess, in the heartbeat of that team, hasn't happened. You know, Ruff was actually last you, but Castillo, and how Jekyll and Heidi is, a lot of these guys have had that issue of looking for consistency with the exemption of Wu. So whether it's Kirby or Gilbert or Castile, they haven't been able to consistently count all these guys, bullpen issues. I mean, it's shocking. The thing with this, guys, the Rangers are without Corey Seeger, probably for the rest of the season, the best part of an appendectomy. Nathan Evaldi's his best pitcher, he's done for the year. Marcus Stevens is one of the best players he's done, and yet the Rangers are hot on the heels of the bears and are trying to snap.

to that playoff spot. The race after a great start where one of the worst teams in baseball did one six straight they're knocking on the door. I really hope Sal doesn't blow up Mike but I'd be awfully concerned right now by a Mariners fan.

You mentioned the Houston Astros there and we've got to get to this story because it doesn't appear as though it's going away. The Framber Valdez situation when you saw what happened during the game and then you heard Valdez's explanation

via translator afterwards were you buying the fact that this or the theory or the explanation that this was unintentional and he didn't mean to drill his catcher because he was pissed off. Listen, I'd love to believe it, but I kind of feel like I'm there some Mike where there smoked as fire.

Like, I've been around ballplayers for long enough now, and I certainly never played the game at a high level. But these guys talk to with communication as, like, the heartbeat of this team. And the amount of razin that goes on and, you know, guys get on each other, like, that's part of the game. To have a guy, like, there's times a picture to catch you get crossed up. And you see that sometimes, right? calling a heater also, they got like, the catchers had jumped and try to stop a breaking ball.

And you go, okay, that happens. But, like, to drill a 98-mile-old is a great pitcher. He's a pending phrase. He's getting a ton of money. But that felt to me like it had a little heat on it, pun intended. And, by the way, he's built like a brick, you know what. Like, he's in great shapes. And he wants to throw a 98-mile heater, that's going to hurt.

If that's the interpreter says, fine, I'm not going to dig deeper. But I don't hear a lot of clamoring right now. I'm like, oh, it happens sometimes. If it happens, then we see it a lot more often. I think he was upset about something and clearly wanted to get his message across. I mean, I think the tell was his reaction when it happened. There was no apology whatsoever. He just turned around and had his back to his teammate and looked angry.

And maybe those guys were able to quickly get over it. And then they were like, all right, we got to come up with a story. In fact, that's probably what happened. I mean, do you think this thing could have lingering issues, or do you think it was just a one-off? I think it's a one-off. I think in the heat of play, guys get fired up, they get annoyed, and they can get over it. I'd be curious how it was dealt with. Like, I think that's one of those the players internally, whoever their team leader is, probably Carlos Correa now, maybe a Jeremy Pena, who's El Tuve?

I'd be go talk to Framer and go, hey, man, like, what are we doing here? Like, I get it, but like, and then Bramber probably ventured, gave his thing. Like, I think on the airing of grievances, like whether on a team, whether in marriage, whether with your children, like, I don't think it's going to keep things bottled up. Let's, you know, it can be have a painful conversation, a tough conversation. It lingers for a few days, but it's better to get it out. So I'm sure, I'm curious. I bet you the guys I went to my crime, man, I get where you're coming from.

But can we please not do this again? We're joining with the division. Let's get on the same page and hopefully they'll do so. It reminds you, by the way, my beloved Philadelphia Flyers, but I've not had a goalie in so long and so many gullies that have not worked out, Roman Czech Monick, who was so despised by the fellow players. They were like fire shots in his head and warm-up, and he was not so affectionately referred to as the bipolar goler.

You mentioned Corey Seeger being out for the Texas Rangers, and that's not good for them, although they still might catch the Mariners. What about Roman Anthony? He's supposed to miss the rest of the regular season for the Red

Sox? It's a killer, Jay. We talked last and I told all of Red Sox fans that you know, and, you know, and the Roman Empire and how much good he's been. They say four to six. I looked at Jake Phoebe last night and he goes, he ain't coming back. And I go, September 30, he goes, October 30, he ain't come back. He goes, do you see that injury?

He goes, obliques? There's no way. He's done. And he has been so good for this Boston Red Sox offense. He's been absolute catalyst to use that word again. I use about Springer. He's been the catalyst out of the leadoff spot for Boston. Got called up the first week and a half.

Number one proxifton baseball, something a little bit. Ever since said he's been amazing. And you trade Devers, your best offensive. player. Anthony quickly becomes your best offensive player. Now he's done. I'm going to see Boston's done. They're going to have to really rely on the leadership of Alex Bregman, Trevor Story, young players, and Saddam, Rafael, Jern, Duran. I'm very impressed with their starting pitching. Very quietly, Brian Bayo has been excellent the last couple of months. G, leaders turn it around, and Peyton Tolly, the 6-6-250 rookie who gets his first turn against Paul Skeens and did not look

undeterred by the moment. But to say that Roman Anthony's absence will be felt is an understatement. He's I think vital to that team, I don't think it kills him, but I got a real tough time stand that Red Sox win the World Series that Roman Ante. They could go on a playoff run, but he's an indispensable of that team. If I were to say that I think the Mariners are going to be caught, but it won't be the Rangers, it'll be the Tampa Bay Rays. Would you think that's crazy?

Because, again, I'm a big run differential guy, and the Rays are at plus 61, and the Mariners are at plus 11. It is a great point. I mean, the raise, again, the first couple months in the season ago, here we go with the race. It's a four-team race. They're right there with, you know, the Yankees and the Red Sox.

And at that point, the Jay's you did to get things going, right? It was thought the raise would be formidable. They completely fell apart on both sides of baseball. They stopped scoring runs, and their pitching was really lackluster, especially their starters just completely came and glued. But to win that game head-to-head against Seattle last night, well, the office, now you're above 500, so you're above water, Yandi Diaz career high five hits

so they're hitting again I mean season high 19 hits overall Kirby by the way who I really like because he throws some of his strengths two minutes shortest starts of his career and something else about this race team Junior Camerreiro he might be the best thought that nobody talks about

that guy is an absolute stud and he's putting up home runs the way my colleague and friend Colonel of Spain used to do the race when he had 46 home runs back of the day like junior Cameroneiro's got 40 homers 102 rubies 845 OPS he has been amazing for that team and a big reason

why their offense has been so good and their pitching has been rectified. So I'm winning, Jay, because Texas, again, I just don't know how you can do it. You're three best players. That's not an exaggeration. Evaldi's Sieg and assuming, I can't see it. But the rating at least, they're healthy if they've got the horses and they were really good the first couple months in the year. So, yeah, I'm buying.

We're speaking to Adnan Berg from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Adnan, quick peek over to the National League here. Here's a question for you. Assuming the Brewers get one of them. Who's going to get the second by in the National League. Is it going to be the Dodgers, the Phillies, or the Padres, or I guess you can go off the board? Yeah,

no, it should be the Phillies. I mean, it should be the Dodgers, for God's a lot of stunning. Right, the fact that they have now been, they're 14 and 15 in their last 29 games, and they've played down to opposition. Like 12 of the 15 losses are against

teams who are below 500. How do you get shut out against the pirates? Pretty nothing last night. Otani was supposed to start. That's cold. Was 100% still played, so she didn't get the press, too. That's an awfully tough spot, by the way, as PV said to me, because you find out at 1 o'clock I'm pitching tonight, only 2 o'clock, 3rd, it was great.

But the offense was completely lackluster. And they're like, this is a classic playing down the opposition. So I'm not going to just say the Dodgers, because they have the most time because they haven't proved it. They're just not playing well right now. Their pitching's all back now, so no excuses. By the way, great match of today, schemes versus snail on tap. Yeah.

Yamamoto's been awesome. Otani can pitch. Obviously, Glast are really good, but they're not scoring runs right now. So I'm going to go Philly. I'm worried about the first. Philly's because they lose Wheeler, who's one of my favorite pitchers, favorite people, love that dude. But they can bang, man. They've got a great office.

Trade Tour hitting lead off. It's really good for them. And it's so funny. We were discussing last night the division leader most on upset alert and playoff time. Brewers, Phillies are Dodgers. And no respect for the brok crew. Everyone's like, yeah, that's going to be the brouwer. I hope Milwaukee can stun the baseball rule because even people within the game don't buy that they're better than L.A. or Philly.

They're going to be the one seed, but most of think they're the better team. I hope Milwaukee can prove people wrong, and I would have to get in that two spot. In what's been a truly horrific year, and we'll end here, the Colorado Rockies, and I know you love run differential so much, Jason. And without looking, do you know what Colorado's run differential

is right now? Minus 300? Minus 364. Which is amazing. That's incredible. The next closest I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. They're probably not? The next closest is minus 170, and that's the nationalists. We're going to have to win a lot of one-run games. At 39, and 101, which is their current record

Edna, how many losses are the Colorado Rockies going to finish this season with? I'm so glad you asked, because they've got to win three of their final 22 games in which to not set the record of 120 one losses set by the White Sox, which, by the way, I'm kind of impressed by

it. Remember how much we sit at the start of the year? Like, oh my God, they're going to lose $130. They're going to lose $130. So clearly they did turn it around by their standards at a significantly better second half. If they only lose 110, we'll take it. But I'm so glad you mentioned run differential. That is one record that is still for the taking.

Good news for all those Rocky fans out there. You are not going to set the record in terms of the most losses in a single season. But in terms of run differential, they're on pace for it right now. And again, it's a telling step. There's a reason why Jason likes it. So if they go with them baseball, look at it. I mean, there's a reason why the Yankees, if their run differential seems skewed because they beat up on bad teams and don't necessarily play well against good teams.

but run differential is generally a predicator of teams that are going to be successful and teams that are going to win. And for the Rockies, everyone knows that they're awful. But to be able to potentially set a record this year, hey, it's still something to play for. I'll give you the specific number. They run differential, it would surpass the 1932 Red Sox minus 3049 for the worst in the modern era. Yeah. So that's something to look forward to.

They've already done it. They could give it back a little bit, but I think they're going to get that record. By the way, I'm looking at Wikipedia now, and apparently the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Yeah. Minus 723. Tough year for the spiders. Yeah. They allowed 1,252 runs while only scoring 529.

That's a tough one. You know, only had trouble with pitching and hitting. It's so funny, the way that we're saying, it's got, I've been reading too many gambling ads on MLN Network. I thought you were to say something like Jay, that year the spotters were minus 700 to, like, to play out or something. Yeah. That would be an impressive step with their run differential.

Adnan, you're the best. Thanks for doing this, buddy. Enjoy the weekend. It should be a lot of fun. A lot of good games on tap. We'll do this again next Thursday. Thanks so much, boys. Let's go FAA.

Open OSHA. Alley's team can pull off the U.S. Open. And how about my defending champion, Eagles tonight? Let's beat those cowboys. Go birds. Thanks, boys. Thanks, buddy.

Adnan, Virk, from MLB Network here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Yeah, it's NFL kickoff night tonight. by the way you had something you want to get to there i want to talk just a little bit more about the kawai story sure because i wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg we've joked a number of times on this show about circumventing the salary cap paying guys under the table and i think we've probably even thrown out the idea of like a no show job where you know know, you can have these sponsorships. Well, what if the sponsorships are not market sponsorships and there's influence by

the team on the sponsorships, which is exactly what this Kauai thing has? And I think it's also worth noting, and a number of publications have pointed this out, that according to a 2019 report by the athletic, the NBA connection, the NBA connection. conducted an investigation of complaints that Kauai's uncle and his business partner, Dennis Robertson, had asked for improper benefits for multiple teams when Leonard was a free agent that summer. So he was asking them for, you know, part ownership of the team or a private plane that could be available at all times, you know, a house, a guarantee. Here's a, I mean, is this a smoking gun a guaranteed amount of off court endorsement money now the league investigated

and at the time they found no evidence indicating that the clippers had granted any of those lavish requests which would be illegal based on the cb a there's a reason why this is all in a document because it's to control the sort of spending and kind of protect the league from itself, really, at the end of the day. That's what a salary cap is all about. For them to have that investigation, and one of the things that apparently Kauai was asking for was this guaranteed endorsement money.

And then for this story to crop up now, first of all, I wonder how hard is the NBA going to hit the clippers if they find evidence of this? but also how many other times has it been done around the league the real issue

for Kauai right now is that the digging is going to continue into his past beyond the deal that he signed with the clippers so there is a longtime Phoenix

sports radio personality guy by the name of John Gambador we've actually had him on our show before back when the coyotes used to exist as an entity and we talked to him He was very dialed in to the sports world,

but, you know, Phoenix, Arizona in particular. So yesterday he put this out on Twitter. From what I know from sources, when Kauai signed with the Clippers, Toronto owner Larry Tannenbaum was beside himself because he believed he bent over backwards for Kauai, including calling three sponsors to meet Kauai's demand of an extra $15 million

in endorsement money. This was brought to the attention of Adam Silver as a concern over the cheating going on the league being out of control, but no action was taken as it was thought Tannenbaum didn't truly understand the rules and it was only a promise from the NBA to get more serious about these things in the future. That's interesting as well, very interesting.

The can of worms that might be opened up is that this practice, while maybe not as openly skirting the rules as this one appears to be, was going on way back when and then Kauai was very openly telling suitors, you're going to need to find me some sideline deals that are going to get money in my pocket. Isn't it just obvious that it would come to this?

Like I always think about, you know, something like insider trading. Of course people are trying to cheat. Sure. Of course they are. You know, that's, that's what happens. There are rules and then people are like, I don't really like rules.

And, you know, they're going to break the rules. I wonder if it's happened in the NHL. How many times during the flat cap were we talking about, I don't know, whatever? We were like, how are they going to make this work? How are they going to make it work financially? Like how do they fit this in?

And it's kind of like, all it takes is one guy to be like, what if we cheated? Well, I mean, let's throw some stones. I mean, look at what the Florida Panthers were able to accomplish this off season. getting everybody back under sweetheart deals under the pretense of, well, there's no state tax in Florida.

That's not cheating, though. That's not cheating. What do you mean? It's not cheating. Well, I mean, it's not cheating. What's not cheating? Do we know? Do we know what's going on behind the scenes?

And it would have nothing to do with no state income tax. No, that's the fact. That's what everyone thinks is the reason that these guys are all taking under market deals. They've got a built-in excuse at the ready. It's because they're all getting, you know, a really great deal because there's no state income tax. You know what? We have seen a lot of teams do really well

and then you're like a few years late like Houston Astros and it's like, oh, they were cheaters. They were cheating. They were cheating the whole time. Look what Belichick. You can't cheat it, North Carolina. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Well, funny you bring up the end and all joking aside about the Panthers thing. Not joking.

Oh, but you know, you talk about the NHL skirting the rules. I mean, they just fast-tracked a CBA amendment. to get the playoff salary cap in place this year so that that version of cheating is no longer. And at its core, it's all the same thing. There are rules, and then there are those looking to exploit loopholes within those rules for their benefit, competitive, financial, or otherwise. The Kauai thing, if this does end up being actual salary cap circumvention,

as deemed by the NBA, isn't going to be that much different than anyone else looking to exploit a poll in the collective bargaining agreement. This just is really taking it far afield. And most distressingly for the NBA is that it's an outside party that caught them, right? This is Pablo Tori's podcast. This isn't an internal investigation. This isn't something that was brought to the league first so the league could investigate.

Well, a lot of the times people will say was the league incentivized to investigate? Sure. Maybe they, you know, a lot of the times it's kind of like, well, how hard do we really want to look into situations like this. So we've gone from Major League Baseball to the National Basketball Association, and now we turn our attention to the National Football League.

The season kicks off tonight. The Seahawks. Cicx. I might work with that. Y'all got it up to them C-Hicks. There might be something here. The Seahawks are in action this Sunday. Brady Henderson, our ESPN Seahawks Insider, is going to

join us coming up next. We're going to break down the game. rivalry game for the Hawks against the 49ers at home. Brady Henderson from ESPN joins us next on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. 734 on a Thursday Happy Thursday everybody 101.1.1 The Edge.

You've got a seat, but you don't need it. You're listening to the Halford Brough Show on Sports 9-650. You know those you know the experienced headbangers back in the day? Like you would...

I've never heard them described as such. I know what you're talking. Yeah, yeah, like guys, Like, they put in their 10,000 hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Veteran bangers, they call them. Very strong necks. Very strong.

Don't Google that. Well, do they, though? Or do you want a loose neck? You've got to be loose and limp. Yeah. You've got to be loose and limp. Yeah. Loosen, loose and limb.

The neck you're talking about. Yes. Yeah. If you're going to head bang. If you're tight and constricted when you're banging, you let the hair do the way. Right. Well, I just want, I'm just like, if I did that right now, I would ruin my back and neck. Yeah.

You'd collapse. Yeah. Like, can you match I was Brycebruff in traction Try the head banging Yeah Is there head banging class I mean it's just

You gotta just try it And do it consistently for a while And then you'll be there It's always like a I always I was always like Envious of long haired guys Because I'm obviously in my band days

I tried to head bang But I've never had long hair So it just doesn't really work I'm really envious I always feel like it's always A red head with long curly hair I always think of the long blonde hair For some reason

Like every guitar player I've ever met that headbangs Is long blonde hair Fans, though, in the crowd. Like out of Metallica, it's like... Okay, yeah. That redhead over there with the long curly hair, he's going to be a good headbanger.

Yeah. Loose neck. He's got a loose neck. We're getting a live food delivery in the studio. What is that, Michael? Is that lasagna? Columbus, Columbus. Nice.

I've never seen this before. Nope. That's great. Just put a large tray in front of us. This is why I'm glad we're on stream. Local weather man, Michael could. just came in and dropped off a huge thing of lasagna.

Is it? I don't know. It's not hot. It's not hot. Garfield will be scoffing at this cold lasagna. There's Brady on the line. Sorry, Brady. Bro, Brady Anderson, right.

Why don't you talk to Brady while the other opens that? Well, we can't. We have to do all of our advertising reads right now. You are listening to the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. There's no way that delivery is meant for us. Halford and Breath of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt free in just two weeks, visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com, the confidence in which

he walked into the studio as well whilst we were on air. I hope this isn't like the final scene in seven. Yeah. Oh no. It's trance. I knew it. I knew it was going to be. Serf cold. We are in hour two of the program. Hour two is Bradway Jason Hominock at Jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason.orgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio Kintech footwear and orthotics working together with you and step you open the mystery box I'm going to go to the power west industry's hotline right now and speak to our seahawks insider from ESPN Brady henderson looks like sandwiches sandos nice nice

brady henderson joins us now on the halford and bruff show on sports 9 650 what up brady what's up guys i'll tell you a quick story i i timed this out i thought i timed this out kind of poorly because i was going through the starbucks drive-thru and then right as the speed medal starts playing, the lady hands me my coffee and I'm ready to go. So if Sam Darnold can play with anything close to that good of timing this season, then I think the Seahawks are going to be okay. Excellent segue into my first question about Sam Darnold. This is a piece that you wrote for ESPN.com just a short while ago. How Sam Darnold's one year, that brief year with the San Francisco 49ers, prepared him for the Seahawks. Tell us about it, Brady. Yeah, so Donald obviously

after his two-year stint in Carolina, you know, they went away from him and drafted Bryce Young with the first overall pitch. So Donald was a man without a team, and I think it was clear that he was going to have to take a backup job to really, you know, get his feet back under him and get his career back on the right track, and he found the perfect spot to do that in San Francisco. And, you know, he thought there might be an opportunity to play, at least a little bit early in the season, because Brock Purney was coming off. that elbow injury really only made one start and kind of made another relief appearance, but really the benefit was sitting back and watching and resetting and learning under one of

the game's best offensive minds and one of the better coaching staffs in the NFL, which he did from Kyle Shanahan and that bad. And he also learned, as he talked about, quite a bit from watching the way that Brock Purdy played. And he talked about that as an eye-opening experience and watching, you know, Purdy B. the point guard. You heard some quarterbacks and coaches talk about playing quarterback like a point guard, and what that means

is not feeling like you have to do it all, like feeling like you can be the distributor and you can make plays when you have to, but that you really your job is to get the ball in the hands of your playmakers. And so what you saw last season in Minnesota, that was obviously a product of being in another

great environment with a great head coach and a great staff and obviously maybe the NFL's best collection of offensive playmakers. But really, turnaround that he had. It was set in motion the year before when he really, really took a, had a strong reset here with the 49ers. What are you expecting from Sam Darnold this season? Well, I think we talked about this last time. My expectations have maybe changed a little bit over the last month or so, just compared to what they were going in in training camp.

And for those first couple weeks in training camp, you know, I still think, look, you've done. got to kind of see it to believe it. And, you know, Sam Darnold was kind of one thing for most of his career. And then, you know, it started to maybe turn over those final six games in Carolina. Then he had the, again, the big reset year at San Francisco. And obviously the pro bowl season in Minnesota, I think he may still kind of have to fight the tendency to hold onto the ball. And the eye test, you know, what you just in watching his tape, it kind of aligns with the numbers. And, you know, if you just look at average time before throw over his career,

and he's had one of the longer average times before throw, meaning he's not a guy like Tom Brady who just, you know, takes the snap and then processes everything right away and gets rid of the ball before anyone has a chance to touch him. That's never really been his game. And so I think that is probably something that he always has to fight, that Clint Kubiak is going to have to fight. So if he can do that,

I don't know if he's necessarily going to make another Pro Bowl this year, but I think he can be a very, very good above average starting quarterback. And, you know, he's got the armed talent, he's got the movement skills. You know, one thing you're going to see out of this offense is Kubiak getting Darnold outside of the pocket and having him throw on the run, which for the life of me,

I can't figure out why Ryan Grubb didn't do that. You know, when you had an offensive line that was as challenged as they were last season, he had Gino Smith just dropping back and being a sitting duck in the pocket. And that's going to be one big difference you'll see. And Darnold really does that well. He throws on the move really well, even when he's thrown to his left, which, as you can imagine, that's not an easy play for a quarterback to make. So the talent is just very, it's very obvious.

I think, you know, it's going to be one of the big questions is just how well can he play on time. and that's sort of a joke. I'd say it at the start of it, but I think that really is going to be something that goes a long way in deciding how well he plays in the season. Speaking of Brady Henderson from ESPN, our Seahawks insider here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sports Night 650. I've mentioned a couple times on the show already, Brady, that the Seahawks, it's week one. They're opening at home and their two and a half point dogs in a heated divisional rivalry game. I do wonder what this says about the home field advantage

at Loomingfield, which for the longest time had been prevalent and has kind of waned over recent years. How much talk has there been recently about the organizational priority this off-season to regain that home field advantage in Seattle? Yeah, there's been a lot of talk of it, and that really was, as you said, a priority for them. And I remember, you know, I just pulled up this story

I wrote from a couple months ago, and I think I quote as McDonald is, you know, saying something at the end of the season about how it was going to be a big priority for them. And so this is something that, you know, they have really taken a deep dive into both McDonald has, you know, just looking at his own process and also the organization has, you know, the story I mentioned was about how the team is trying to crack down on, you know, fans who like constantly resell their season tickets, you know,

because as we know, the people who buy those tickets generally are fans of opposing teams, and that was really evident a few times last season. And not that that's a trend that's exclusive to the Seahawks, you know, it really became evident last season as, you know, Buffalo, in that Buffalo home game where there was a lot of Bill's fans there. Same thing with the Packers game. Yeah. You know, they lost both of those games, and they went three and six at home.

And it's not like they went three and six at home because they were a bad team. They went seven and one on the road. So, you know, that is really something that the organization has tried to crack down on. I think that may be easier said than done. but it's all part of this bigger priority to try to figure out why not necessarily to try to figure out but to try to fix it and to regain what used to be a very obvious home field advantage i'll give you some numbers there so from 2012 to 2019 they had the second best home winning percentage uh over the last four seasons they're tied for 20 and you know under 500 at home which is crazy to big that the Seahawks have been a below 500 team at home for the last

seasons, but that's been the reality. And, you know, they have really taken, I think, some significant steps to try to fix it. And, you know, McDonald talked about changing their, you know, kind of their itinerary from Friday to Sunday. And, you know, he was looking at things with a fine-tooth comb to the point where, you know, he was talking about, you know, making changes to their eating schedule. So, you know, he is, I think, somebody who likes to tweak just by nature. and this gave him a pretty good reason to try to do that.

What do you think of the Seahawks schedule overall? To me, I'm looking at it, and yeah, there are going to be some tough games, but it doesn't look like the toughest schedule. No, I mean, you know, I think last season they definitely benefited from all those rookie quarterbacks that they pay. I mean, I think four of the five first-round quarterbacks, if I'm not mistaken, I think they played all those guys, including, you know, Bo Nix in his NFL debut, before Bo Nix really started to have a pretty good season. And so, yeah, I mean, it's just always so difficult to really talk about the difficulty of the difficulty of a given schedule when, you know, teams that we might think are good in April or even in August, you know, they end up maybe not being good and teams that you don't think are going to be all that, all that good, they end up being better than you expect.

And so, you know, I don't think the schedule, at least right now, before we see any of these teams play, looks crazy difficult. I mean, you don't get kind of some of those, those, there's not such thing as a gaming game, but you don't get the benefit of, you know, playing as many rookie quarterbacks. But I think there are some. You got New Orleans at home in week three, that better be a win. That's close. Yeah, I mean, that is, yeah, regardless of whether, you know, Shock or Rattler is starting. That should be a win. So that's maybe the closest thing to a gimmie that they're going to have.

But I just think, you know, that one of the problems is they play in what I think is maybe the toughest division top to bottom in the NFL. It's not to say that they have the best teams, but they have, I think, the best collection of one to four, meaning, like, you know, if you look at last year, this was the most tightly packed division in the NFL where only a couple wins separated first and fourth. and even, you know, the two teams tied atop the division at 10 and 7. So there was no, you know, no pushover in this division last year. And so that's, you've got to play six games against those guys, and so that's not going to be easy. I think the NFC North might be like, I think we're kind of a little bit better, although that depends on the Bears.

But, and I guess the Vikings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. By the way, the Seahawks have Minnesota at home on November 30th. So hopefully you're right about that one, Brady. Brady, can you tell us about the evolution of the offensive line through training camp and the preseason heading into week one? Has it gone as expected? Have you been encouraged or are there still some reasons to worry?

I've been encouraged. Yeah, it hasn't necessarily gone as expected just because I thought that Olu, Olu and Timmy would be the starter there. And I do think that just based on the way Mike McDonald has talked about it, that he's going to get a chance to win that job back once he really gets his feedback under him after that back injury that knocked him out for a few weeks. But other than that, I think it has, I mean, I guess it depends on when you were looking at it because certainly when they hired Clint Kubiak knowing that he was going to be installing

an outside zone scheme that really prioritizes, you know, athleticism and quickness and offensive linemen who could fire off the ball. I mean, I think I wrote this and I said it. Like, I thought that that was bad news for Anthony Bradford, who's a big, powerful. guy who probably is a better fit for more of a power blocking scheme. But, you know, what Anthony Bradford did is he really committed himself to getting in better shape. And I think there's a lot of people in the organization who are really proud of him for doing that. And they also feel like, okay, you know, you've got to, you've got to make sure

that he keeps his foot on the gas in order to not, you know, kind of lose that edge that he's gained. And I may have mentioned this last week, but I think that's one reason why McDonald waited as long as he did to announce the starters. It was clear for a while that Bradford was going to be the starter, and I think McDonald just didn't want to give him a reason to let up. But I think between maybe a better Bradford, we'll see, a healthy Abe Lucas, who, by the way, has not missed anything this offseason, which I think is maybe the single most encouraging sign.

Fingers crossed. Yeah, you know, Charles Cross has got another year, under his belt. Grace Abel looks like a pro-bowl caliber player, maybe not right away, but eventually. And I think he's going to be an upgrade over Lakin Tomlinson, who, for as good as Lank and Tomlinson was throughout his career, like he was, you know, probably on his last legs last season. And so, you know, I don't think Sondell is necessarily an upgrade over Olu, and we'll see

who ends up with that job at a few weeks. But between those personnel boosts and the fact that this system is really going to make one of easier on the offensive line. I think that this could be a pretty good, pretty big turnaround from what they were up front last season. Why has Clint Kubiak bounced around the league so much? Well, yeah, I don't think he's been fired per se. You know, in 2021, that was, I believe that was when the Vikings made a coaching change.

So it wasn't like the head coach fired him. It was, they got a new coach in, and, you know, the new head coach just brought in his own guy. And so, and that was really the case with New Orleans last season, too. Remember, they fired Dennis Allen midway through the season, hired Darren Rizzy, and then Darren Rizzi didn't get the job. So, you know, he has sort of been on the wrong end of, you know, kind of being on the tail end of some head coaching, you know, tenures. And so, yeah, and obviously, you know, he was in San Francisco.

during that 2020 season with Arnold and then got a promotion to be a coordinator in New Orleans and so yeah it's easy to look at that as a guy who's bounced around and who hasn't really stuck

but he has kind of been the product of some just bad timing with head coaches. When talking to the players, now of course they're not going to say I don't believe in him but I think there have been some players that haven't been

all that happy with the offensive coordinators various ones throughout the years. What are you sensing for the players when it comes to Clint Kubiak? Yeah, I haven't gotten any sort of whiff of that. And I think what you're probably referring to there is Jackson Smith and Jigbo when he was asked about Shane Waldron going to Chicago, and he just could not muster a single positive thing to say about it.

And I think that happened twice, so he sort of doubled down on it. You know, it's tough to really get a feel for it because, you know, I recall all this time last year, you know, people in the building, or at least on the team, we're saying good things about Ryan Grubbs' offense, and we saw how that worked out. And so I think, like, really what separates this offense from Ryan Grubbs is it's a system. And we talked about this last week where it's an established system that is connected. And it's not just this collection of, you know, this hodgepodge of plays that the coordinator really likes to where you don't really have an identity,

this is an offense that is really going to set them up to know exactly what they're good at, to have an identity, and it's going to be centered around running the ball. And so, yeah, I mean, certainly players are talking about how much they like the offense. I don't know if that in and of itself is all that telling because, you know, I remember asking D.K. Metcalf, for example, you know, sometime last summer, what he thought to see how the bread and butter was going to be on office. offense. And he said running the football.

And we all know that that was not the case. Brady, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, enjoy the game on Sunday. It should be a lot of fun. It's awesome to get back to NFL talk here on the Halfford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We'll do this again next Thursday. Sounds good, fellas. Talk to you then. Thanks, Brady. Thanks, buddy. Brady Henderson. Our Seahawks insider from ESPN here on the Halfford and Breft Show on

Sportsnet, 650. Have we figured out where these sandwiches have come from? They are sandwiches. Okay. So we know that there's sandwich. is. We think they might be from Columbus. Columbus, Ohio. Nope, not Columbus, Ohio. The Heart of East Van, Columbus. Columbus. Yeah, somebody sent them from Columbus Meat Market, but we don't know who. Columbus is awesome. They have. There was no note, so. And I've had many of their sandwiches. I think Pruff should he won first, see what happens.

But we don't know who sent them. And that's a very, very important part of this whole process. Yeah. No one's helping us out whatsoever. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it. It's not helping. If you did it I'm just going to call them in a few minutes They open at 8 so I'll just call them Yeah Yeah Get them on air

I'd be shocked if it was Them that sent them No yeah it was probably somebody Ordering by way of Columbus Yeah But if you were the one Let us know what's going on With us all this talk about Columbus now

They'd better send us some sandwiches now More sandwiches Anyway we're going to try and figure this out of the break When we come back We're going to get back into the Canucks talk Here on SportsNet 650 Ian McIntyre I'm at

Roving Canucks reporter is going to join us. He has a very must-read, a read-worthy piece of at Sportsnet.com. On the captain, Quinn Hughes, we'll talk to him about that. And everything else that's going on as the Canucks have now returned to Vancouver and are doing informal skates out at UBC, Canucks Talk on the other side of the break. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.