Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 12/23/24

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Thomas Drance are joined by Adnan Virk to chat about the Vancouver Canucks season until now, the drama surrounding this team, and previewing tonight's matchup against the San Jose Sharks. Then the guys are joined by Mike Tanier, to break down the NFL weekend, debate who the best rookie Quarterbacks are, and listen to Drance's hottest NFL takes. 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 hockey and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for an end. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ice rink. And talk about all the films he's seen.

Welcome back to Alfred and Brough. I had not heard that. That was all a surprise to me. Was that a hockey version of that? The hockey version of it. That was wonderful. Yeah, that's all A-Dog. Way to go, Andy. Sometimes the B-roll

is the A-roll, you know? That's one of those times. Halford and Brough. Brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Just call it Brough and Ruff. You know you want to. Brough and Ry wall and uh also hour one of howard and broth brough man i

can't say brough today what's going on uh brought to you by north star metal recycling i think it's the north that was throwing me off now that i think about it vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal north starstar Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid 1170 Powell Street. No Halford, no Brough. It's Josh Elliott-Wolf and Thomas Trance. And in a moment, we're going to be joined by Adnan Virk. NHL Network, he's also host of Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey.

The Vancouver Canucks. Playing. Yeah, yeah. The Vancouver Canucks playing yeah yeah the Vancouver Canucks playing on Amazon tonight they're taking on the San Jose Sharks the first Amazon game of the season by the way so adjust accordingly six o'clock puck drop uh it will not be on Sportsnet it will be on Amazon so get ready for that uh we will talk to Adnan once we get him on the line about. I want to just, we'll give you a rundown of who's on the broadcast, all of that, because I'm going to go ahead and assume that some Canucks fans are unaware

and have not watched a game on Amazon yet this year. This will be your first taste. We go to the phone line now. It is Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, host of Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey. I appreciate you taking the time, Adnan. How are you? Josh, Thomas, my pleasure, fellas.

Great to be with you guys as always. And, yes, kudos to Andy and that opening speech. I think this is the first time I noticed the Pink Panther is the first riff, like that first beat. I feel like the Pink Panther is welcoming me on here. Unlicensed Pink Panther. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unlicensed.

If you just take a couple notes, right, it's okay. It's funny you mention it. Years ago, you know, I worked nine years at ESPN. One of the biggest things they warned us about, they go, never sing happy birthday on air. Like, there's always some anchor who has a birthday, some player, and they go, no, no, because it's like an incredibly expensive right fee to pay for it.

You're right. You can't mess with those things. You've got to be careful with licensing and such. It's really an homage to the Rose Panther, Adnan. The Rose Panther. There we go. That's what it's all about. I love it, boys. Great to be with you. Great to be with you too, bud. How excited

are you for tonight? Macklin Celebrini. So for the Canucks who've lost three in a row coming into tonight's game, right, you fall. And I actually have seen fan base after fan base fall into this trap over the last four weeks where you look at the schedule, you see the San Jose Sharks, you say, this is an easy one, free two points night, because you remember last year when teams were speed bagging them 10-1, 8-2, whatever.

And then Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli and even guys like Yan Ruda and Cody Cece provide like a real NHL baseline. And they come in and they actually play pretty fun hockey. And they're not an easy team to beat right now. And then if you lose or if you struggle, the fan base overreacts. Oh, yeah. How funny or how interested are you to see this one tonight? Well, I think the whole climate around your team is fascinating.

I wish I was at the game play. Andy Petrillo is in for me as I'm here in Maple right now with my family. But, yeah, I think it's going to be fascinating for all the reasons that you mentioned. I was with Sam Cosentino, our buddy at sports at the other day at nhl network team kind of to visit us in sycocas and we were going through the western conference and i said do you think the playoff field is set as it is right we're only 30 games there's 50 games left in the NHL regular season but is it pretty much set and we're looking at it and you're like all right three three and the only one that gets tricky as you go, maybe the Flames can make a run.

And the team they get concerned about is Vancouver. Because at that point in Colorado, it was a wild card. I believe now they've jumped to third. But regardless, there's a lot of talk around Vancouver. And that's what caused myself to go, there's just a lot of chatter. You know, what's going on with the JT and the Elias? You know, what's the vibe with this team? Why aren't they where they were a year ago?

Health of goalies, blah, blah, blah. And you're absolutely right. When a team like the Sharks comes in, who on paper is a terrible team. I mean, this is absolutely an easy two wins for Vancouver. You go into the holiday break, you feel great. But I always feel like it goes the other way. Maybe it's the half-glass-empty approach. But you lose a game like this and then stew about it for a few days.

It's like, God, I can't imagine how miserable Rick Tockett would be. So Celebrini's been unbelievable. I looked at the Calderons the other day. I love Mieschka. I picked him at the start of the year. He's still the favorite to win the Calderons. Celebrini has come on strong. The kid's 18 years old.

I interviewed him on NHL Network a month ago. God, he looks like he's got pimples. It's unbelievable. As fresh-faced as you can get. Askarov's been much better for them as well. So, yeah, the Sharks are always capable of stealing a win, and I'm curious what happens tonight at Vancouver. Adnan adnan you mentioned the uh the miller petterson stuff and i i always find it interesting to see how how much this is registering outside of uh locally because

here it's like stuff like this is just going to catch on and it's going to be extremely extremely popular people are going to be talking about fans going to be talking about it but from the outside looking in is this like a is this a major storyline with this team right now or is this uh maybe not as as big as as we're making a team in vancouver no i i think listen again when you're in america you're covering obviously hockey is a national sport but there's gonna be a greater focus like i could tell you everything about the Rangers' woes right now and Bruins have been much better since Joe Sacco took over and all the rest of it, but whenever Canadian teams get talked about

non-leafs or non-halves, it has to be a major story. And the fact that on NHL Network in the States we're talking about this Miller-Petterson thing, whatever viability it has, whatever legs it has, whatever nonsense it has, it's certainly gotten more people's attention, I think, than they would like.

Obviously, if any team has any sort of dissension, then you want to keep that in-house as much as possible. And whether it's completely overblown or whether there's absolute fact to it, I mean, I obviously can't speak to that. You guys know much better than me, but the fact that I even know about it, to me, is something,

which is not something that you want if you're a Canucks fan. So just in general, what's your read on the Canucks so far this season? They've been kind of up and down. It's been maybe not the best month of December, but they're still finding a way to get points and all that. Is this a team that you look at as a team that just kind of hasn't found who they are yet or do you have legitimate concerns about what the what the Canucks might be this season well I have legitimate

concerns because at the start of the season I said listen they could be in the cup I never wow you're really big on the Canucks you're really playing to your audience you know I think listen a year ago with Seeloff's as a third goalie, you're able to make a run. So if Thatcher Dempka's healthy, why not? I just always look at fellas' talent. If you can just tell me, hey, I've got top-end talent with Hughes, Pedersen, Miller, et cetera, then I'm buying. After that, I feel like you always supplement.

I think talking to a really good coach for them and giving them an identity. But you're right. Again, from my bird's-eye view, it just hasn't coalesced so far this year. And yet, if I look at most of the National Hockey League, if I look at teams that I feel confident about, they haven't had the seasons that we thought they'd have. Again, back to Rangers.

President's Trophy a season ago. This year they're on the outside looking at a playoff spot. Avalanche, again, been in the bubble much of the year, and yet I'm not counting on a team that's got that kind of, again, top-end talent. If you're telling me McKinnon, McCarr, McKinnon could be up with Art Ross or the Hart, you know, Ransom's on pace for 116 points, forget about it. So although I think Vancouver's been inconsistent, and although I'm surprised that they haven't really taken the bull by the horns, to me, I'm like,

it hasn't been a horrible start. It's just been a herky-jerky, you know, win three, lose two kind of thing. So to me, I'm like, as long as you make the dance, you'll be okay. It's still relatively early. But I do think, much like in baseball, fellas, I look at the season and say, okay, Memorial Day is the first third, and then trade deadline is the second third, and that's obviously the final third. In hockey, I do really take stock of that Christmas break where your team is.

Like, I do think because you just physically get a pause and you can kind of assess the situation. And everyone goes home with their families and celebrates Christmas and whatnot. But you kind of go, okay, let's get this thing going. Because that second third can be really problematic. Just think about it. January, we're only going to play, what, five weeks? Before Four Nations shuts things down.

So then that's going to be an awkward two- or three-week break. And then we kick things up again. So I do think that if you're the Canucks and the brass specifically of talking, you're saying to yourself, okay, Hey, next five weeks,

let's figure this out. Like let's, let's play the 60% winning percentage over the next six weeks. So then when we get that break, we can feel better about ourselves for what will be the final third of the season. And then you mentioned the Western conference playoff race and whether or not it's settled.

For me, it's Utah for me, like Utah squandering a third period lead for two against the ducks yesterday, ultimately losing an overtime to me. That's our shootout, the shootout they lost in the shootout. Right.

To me, that's like a local story because if there's an eighth team, right, if we assume that Colorado is going to get their house in order, that I think is a possibility of being really hot down the stretch, running really hot down the stretch, and being a problem for a team, whether it's like in the Canucks or the Kings tier here, and Kings might be leaving that tier despite their loss yesterday too, it's kind of that Utah Hockey Club given the speed, the youth,

the way they've played so far. Are you taking that upstart club seriously as a playoff threat? Well, here's the thing. If you underestimate them, then that's always the most dangerous team. And I think Kaz actually said to me, Utah was the one team that when he looked at it, he was like, yeah, I think they could still crash the party. To me, I mean, certainly their start was eye-opening. You're like, oh, my God, they're a different team now.

They've got Arizona. Obviously, all that uncertainty around a team, that can't affect players. Where are we going? Where are we playing? What's this arena, et cetera? So maybe the fact that they're settled, they're feeling better about things. I still don't necessarily think they're a threat, but you're absolutely right that those are the teams that can be incredibly

frustrating because they're not quite good enough because they're giving those points instead of that extra point of the shootout. And yet they're still getting a point by getting to the shootout, so they're still in the mix. Like, it's crazy. When you look at the league, if you just look at point total, you can almost make a case for virtually every team. I know that happens in basketball

now. It's pretty nuts because the play-in, every team feels it get in. But in hockey, literally every game really does matter. It's really kind of an essence of why the regular season is so critical because you get those three-point swings where you're like, man, if we get that shootout win, especially if it's a second out of a back-to-back,

if it's a tough situation, it gives you just a little bit of breathing room. Ultimately, every single playoff race, those wild cards are going to go right down the wire, right? It's going to be 82, 83, 84 points, 87, whatever it is. But Utah's a team that I say to myself, I don't feel, if you just say gut check, are they a playoff team? No. But could they be incredibly frustrating and upset the apple cart?

Absolutely. If they were to, because every year it cart? Absolutely. If they were to like, cause every year it kind of feels like there's going to be the, there ends up being a random elite player that becomes available. Usually by the trade deadline, maybe it doesn't happen this year, but maybe it does. If Utah felt like a team that was,

was close, could you see an addition like that and a lead addition being the thing that kind of puts some legitimacy to to what they're doing because it does feel like ryan smith and utah uh they they would be much more willing to make a move like that than in previous years it is true listen the good news for the franchise is this you went from incredible uncertainty and frustration for years to clearly having a home and a young bullish owner who wants to spend and feels like he's got a real breath of fresh air. Like maybe it's too much to call Ryan Smith, Mark Cuban,

but he's got a backwards hat and he's young and he's got money. So why not? Like he can be the NHL's guy. He seems to be thrilled there. And I don't know if you guys, it actually makes a lot of sense when you tell me like, Oh yeah, of course, like Utah, like, yeah, they would support hockey. Like Salt Lake city has got a great infrastructure

for winter sports, etc. I just don't like the nickname, by the way, the hockey club. Come on. How is the Yeti not being used? Utah Yeti would have been phenomenal. But yes, could they be in a position to add, or is the pass always subtracting? Absolutely. And I think where it gets tricky is that almost every team thinks they're going to add.

I was looking at the story with the Predators, who have been awful this season, right? It's just a huge disappointment. And yet almost all their contracts, they've got no trades, except for I think Ryan O'Reilly, who I don't think they want to part with. And the story was that Barry Trotz might be looking to add. And I'm like, add? Again, there's very few teams that are legitimately bad.

Look at the standards right now. But the Predators are bad. There's no question about it. And yet I think because they're saddled with these long-term contracts and a veteran-laden core, you give $32 million to Stamkos, et cetera, you can't just punt in the season. So they're looking to add. I'm like, God, I don't know how you can add.

It's going to be very difficult to do. So in a situation like that, Barry Trotz may end up coaching. Pull a little Lou Lamorello or Harry Sinden. Like when the team's not working, Glenn Sather. Team's not working out until the GM becomes the coach again. Mary Berry doesn't. W.A. Starcher wouldn't necessarily fit that team. But I think that almost every team,

my point is almost every team is looking to add, especially at this point of the season. There's very few teams that are, I think, honest enough to be assessment and say, we're not a good enough team. Where can we get some assets? So, yeah, could Utah be adding at this point in time? No question, especially with that ownership,

which would want to make an impact. Are you kidding? If you're on the outside looking in, but you're battling for a playoff spot, you have to feel like, no, we're going to push you to a playoff spot in our first season here, get some fans. Look at the Vegas model. So quickly, they built up a great fan base because they won. They were winners out of the gate. Utah would love to emulate

that. It is Halford & Brough, Josh Elliott, Wolf Thomas, Dranz filling in for Halford & Brough, joined by Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, and host of Monday Night Hockey on Amazon Prime. Did want to throw a baseball question by you. Before we brought you on, the Red Sox reportedly signing Walker Bueller to a one-year contract, just over $21 million.

First question, what do you think of that for the Red Sox? And second question, why aren't the Blue Jays doing anything? Well, the second one I feel like will take a lot longer to answer, so I'll start there. It's got to be incredibly frustrating to be a Blue Jays fan because every single one of their contenders is making moves. Like the Yankees, I've been so impressed by. And to be clear, I still, I don't care what you want to tell me about all the moves they've made.

I just praise them. I'd still rather have Juan Soto. He's a transcendent player. He's an incredible hitter. He's going to be one of the best hitters in baseball for the next 10, 15 years, whatever the duration of his contract is. But if you don't get your boy, you've got to go make some moves. Devin Williams is an awesome closer and should translate well.

Cody Bellinger has been up and down and is a little bit overpaid, but he'll hit you 260 and 25 home runs, and if that park will play and defensively is excellent to run the bases, that's a good move for them to pick him up, and now you can move Aaron Judge to right field. And of course, the freed contract. Again, is it a bit of an overpay? Sure. Six for 160 makes more

sense, but Rodon got six for 162, and that's an overpay. So eight for 218, fine. I'll get a great lefty guy who's legit, offers me protection with Cole. Awesome. So the little red socks. Let's go get Garrett Crochet, who's arguably, he's not freed, because freed is a better track record.

But Crochet's season last year was amazing. Like, strikeout to walk ratio was awesome. Legit ace to anchor your rotation. And they've got their young guys like Brian Bale and Tanner Houck and those young pitchers that they believe in. Now if you had Bueller, I'm like, you tell me that number, and I go, that's it? Like a part of me goes, wait, $21 million for one year for a guy who had the worst regular season of his career. He had one win in the regular season, and he's battled injuries

in two-time time with John. Okay, did you watch the playoffs? That was awesome. It was absolute money. Like he was nails when he was expecting it to be. That was a classic Walker Buehler of old. So I would have been worried. I'm like, oh, I got to pay three years, 60 million for this guy.

One year for 21. I'll take a flyer on Walker Buehler for a year. Absolutely. Especially if the Red Sox, as I believe, are giving me the mix for wildcard spots. If you tell me inevitably he gets hurt a little bit, okay, fine. He's a little bit ineffective. But if you tell me to come down the stretch, he's going to be the

Walker Bueller of the past? He's somebody I can count on? Absolutely. So I love the move for the Red Sox and my old buddy Alex Cora. I mystified from the Blue Jays because again, if I look around, the Orioles got Tyler O'Neal. He gives me some power. They moved in the fences. They moved down the wall. That's good news. He's

a right-handed power hitter who's going to slug for them. Canadian, by the way. Red Sox, they made their moves. Crochet and Buehler, adding to that pitching staff, they're not done yet. And the Yankees, they make their moves. And the Jays go, all right, Jimenez. Cool. I mean, outstanding defensively. Had a down year offensively. Hopefully can get back

to being a good bat. He offers protection in case Bo leaves after the season. But if you're telling me those other teams are making those moves and you're just looking at Andres Jimenez and you think that's enough to compete, we've got another thing coming. Yeah, it just feels like with all these moves that other teams are making, it's like,

okay, now you have to make, you've got to do even more if you're the Jays and try to, just to try to be competitive. Like, that's not even to make you a clear make you a clear World Series candidate, whatever it is. That's just to get to relevancy in the division. But, yeah, it's been frustrating for Blue Jays fans. We'll throw a movie question by you before you go. It is the week of Christmas.

Do you have any, like, are you a Christmas movie guy? Do you have any underrated Christmas movies christmas movie guy do you have any underrated christmas movies that you can recommend to the masses here well it's great because i've got to tape my podcast with our buddy jason demer surely it's all unscripted and we were laughing i said you know there's this very convoluted story that at one point it's like the 23 million hell it's called your lineage ancestry you thought he was jewish so for three or four years he was jewish thought he was out on Christmas. And myself being Muslim, I've never celebrated Christmas.

So for me, Christmas has always been go to the movies and eat Chinese food. Like, it's great. So I enjoy the day and I get none of the stress having to buy presents and all this like anxiety people have. Like, no, it's all good. I just, I go see whatever big new movies out. And since I'm so fortunate because I had my podcast in a file for so many years, I was able to get into

the Critics' Choice Association, the CCA, I still get all the screeners sent to me. So it really is the best of both worlds in that I've seen everything, which is amazing.

Like, I'm so lucky. Go ahead, name me a movie. Like, Wicked, I just watched it last night. It's great. A couple of good songs, Cynthia Erivo, Mature. The Bob Dylan biopic,

A Complete Unknown, I watched that last week. But now I feel like on Christmas, I can go watch whatever I want to see, like actually in a big screen. Like The Brutalist is an incredible film. You guys haven't heard of it yet, because I'm sure it's just opening up in Vancouver,

December 21st, it opened nationwide. More theaters in January. Adrian Brody film, Guy Pearce, Shades of There Will Be Blood. I'm like, oh my God, it was so good on my laptop. Now I can't wait to actually go watch it on an IMAX. So normally my Christmas ritual is seeing a movie, and I'll be even more fortunate this year because I've seen them all.

So if I get stuck having to watch Sonic 3 with the boys, I'll just enjoy Nota K and Jim Carrey and enjoy the popcorn and Milk Duds. Yeah, I only watch Timothee Chalamet movies first release on Christmas now, Adnan, sorry. That's my new rule. It's not a Bob Dylan biopic. It's the new Timothée Chalamet movie. And the new Timothée

Chalamet Christmas film in particular. Like, guy is owning Christmas. It's like the NFL is trying to steal it from the NBA, right? But like... That could be the poll question. Netflix to watch NFLfl and mahomes or chalamet matinee christmas day chalamet come on we all want chalamet on christmas

it's an international phenomenon he's a fascinating guy because he's got movies that are obviously resonate with the critics like lady bird and uh obviously a complete no he's gonna get nominated for the record i thought he was amazing in the movie and he's transformed and the fact that his own singing is incredible. But I thought it was a fairly conventional biopic. And Dylan himself is such an enigmatic guy. The movie was enigmatic as well. It basically plays as a concert film.

And my buddy Mad Dog Rooster was so mad at me. He said, how could you be dumped in the movie? I said, it's a good movie. And I said, his performance is great. And he'll get nominated for an Oscar. He might even win an Oscar. But don't go to that movie and say, oh, so this is why Bob Dylan's a big deal. You're not going to get that.

You're just going to see this 19-year-old guy who's mumbling from Minnesota, and then he makes a bunch of big folk songs, and it's cool, and Ed Norton's fun and all the rest of it. But it's not. I didn't feel like it was at least walked the line, which is James Mangold's previous musical biopic, the great Johnny Cash movie. But back to Chalamet. Dude, he's made Lady Bird, but he'll be in Dune, too.

Like, he makes these massive movies, which, you know know science fiction people will love our host audiences love he's owning christmas the way jolly saint nick inspired him to be owning christmas killing it with his bowl game picks i mean he's unstoppable guys legit impressive and by the way i'm stoked to see the brutalist uh what was it was it filmed on iPhones or something? No, it's crazy. So the movie looks gorgeous. Like if I told you the budget, I would think it's like $100 million. It's like $10 million.

Yeah. And it's three hours and 15 minutes. And I'll do it real quick. Laszlo Toth is the main character. He's played by Adrian Brody, who's this Hungarian immigrant who comes to America escaping fascism, the Nazis Nazis, etc., and then tries to cover a better life for himself. Guy Pearce, who I've adored since Memento, has this incredible role as this really rich, tough guy, very gruff, who he hires him basically to build him this incredible dreamlike home, and then chaos ensues.

Again, Lonely Blood is one of my favorite movies. Clearly, while watching it, I said Brady Corbett, the writer-director, is inspired by that movie. It is clearly paying homage to Daniel Day-Lewis in that movie. It's essentially an indictment of capitalism, but it's dark, it's towering, and you've got to see it on the big screen. Again, on my 12-inch laptop, it didn't do it justice, but The Burbalist is a hell of a movie. Looking forward to it. Adnan, really appreciate you taking the time, and thanks for this. Josh, Thomas, thank you so much, boys.

Happy holidays. We'll talk to you soon. Happy holidays to you, man. Sounds good. There is Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, and host of Amazon Prime, Monday Night Hockey. And Chalamet correspondent for the Rough and Brush Morning Show. Yes. And I got to say, you're asking for his Christmas recommendations.

There's one that I want to recommend. If you haven't seen it, called Klaus. Dude, I was just recommending this game the other day. It came out about five years ago. Not a lot of people know about it. It's got a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're just looking for an alternative to watch with your family, it's got a great cast. Norm MacDonald's in it.

Yeah. I had not watched it until two weeks ago, and then the next day I came in, I was like, God, you have to watch it. He was singing the praises of Klaus. I re-watched Die Hard yesterday because I hadn't done it this holiday season. And it rules. It does. Just a great, great movie. You can watch it anytime, though.

No, but I don't. I only watch it around the holidays. We're not doing this, though. No, no, we're not doing this. On the other side, Mike Tenier, writer, Too Deep Zone, NFL. We'll get into the Seahawks and much more around the league. It is Halpern and Brough on Sportsnet 650. Geno Smith trying to snap the Vikings when he's three.

Back to pass, throws right, and that's it! Intercepted by Theo Jackson! And the Minnesota Vikings have won eight consecutive games. Welcome back to Halford & Brough. No Halford, no Brough. It's Josh Elliott-Wolf and Thomas Drance here with you, coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider,

powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintet, that's what you're waiting for. 650-650, the Dunbar Lumber text line, Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and reno warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at DunbarLumber.com.

Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today and this hour of Halford & Brough for Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around

to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason.mortgage. We go to the phone lines now. It is Mike Tenier, NFL writer and founder of 2DeepZone. Appreciate you taking the time, Mike. How are you? Yippee-ki-yay, and happy Festivus to everyone. Happy Festivus, happy holidays.

Appreciate you taking the time, by the way. We played the Viking Seahawks clip coming in, and I know you had written about the Vikings a few days ago and kind of how the penalties are going their way and how that might not carry over to the playoffs, but it carried over to yesterday. They got a lot of good breaks yesterday in Seattle en route to the win. How sustainable do you think this is for minnesota you're right they had a couple of breaks i mean

the most notable i think at the end is the face mask penalty that turns a sack into a first down and sets up this big jefferson touchdown when the seahawks are clinging to a lead and you know the vikings do this it seems like, every year. Their record is surprising. You look at them more carefully and say, oh, wow, there's a lot of pass interference penalties in there. Opponents keep missing field goals, or they keep making 55, 58-yard field goals and all these things. And it usually is fine until the playoffs.

And in the playoffs, you know, they're not facing mistake-prone teams. They're not necessarily getting calls. They're often not at home, and they weren't at home yesterday, but when they're at home, they do get, like, more false starts, et cetera, and that's when it peters out. Right now, I'm looking at, unbelievably, impressive win. They needed to, you know, Seahawks are a tough out. They got past them. They still have the Packers. They still have the Lions. Packers are just as strong as the Vikings. And the Lions are running plays now where they trip and fall on purpose just to

mess with their opponents. That's how far ahead of the field the Lions are. They're just making up new weird playground plays just to tinker with, to keep themselves interested. Vikings are very good. Let's see how they respond when they have to face these next two tough opponents. And

on the Seahawks' side, didn't get the win, backs up against the wall, and they kind of need things to go their way with the Rams if they're going to make the playoffs. What do you think of this season for Seattle? Like, is it a disappointment for them to be where they are now, or did they exceed your expectations for this season? You know, entering the season i looked at them and like well this is a team that kind of goes 500 or a little better 500 every year

yeah they change coaches but it's the same quarterback same receiver same playmakers a lot of the same offensive line not that many new faces on defense they look like the same team to me and they've come out this season and there's been a lot of ups and downs. And, you know, with the regular hosts, we've documented the ups and downs. They still look like the same team. You know, when they're out there and they're facing somebody's backup quarterback or they're facing a weak team, they can go out and dominate. When it's them head-to-head with another one of the teams that they're in the middle of the pack,

sometimes they hold their own, sometimes they don't, then you get a game like this one or some of the games they had against other strong teams like the bills earlier in the season and they just don't quite measure up this was a heartbreaker in that they had that chance to win in that they kind of came back from that early deficit and they just nothing came together just right they they couldn't cover jefferson when they had to gino couldn't get a comeback with a couple opportunities late in the game, making mistakes, taking sacks, et cetera. I would call it a disappointing season because if you're going to change coaches,

I think you need to change more, and I think you have to make more of a statement, and the Seahawks failed to make that this year. So, airing of grievances, time festivus let's let's get the spirit oh when the grievances are good i want to do it from a seahawks perspective first sorry okay okay okay go go go geno smith yes must be saying hey can I get a block like ever? Can he get a block ever? And that's been a journey all season because there were parts of the season where the right side of your offensive line did not exist. There were parts of it where it was kind of okay.

And I'll flip that a little bit. Can you get a block? Can you get some consistency out of your running game? Because the running backs and Walker and Charbonnet and the others have to be looking at this like, you know, third and one is impossible for us. Like, we're going to have to break two tackles to get to a line of scrimmage in some of these plays. So I think that's one of the things that the Seahawks,

I'm looking at them as a team that's not going to make the playoffs right now. They should be addressing the offensive line in the offseason. They've got to say who stays, who goes, get some depth there. That's part of it. And I think they've got to look at it schematically a little bit and say, why can't we, why are we so bad in the red zone? Why are we so bad at the goal line? Why are we so bad at third

and two? Is that the offensive line or is there something schematic that's putting us in a position where these are makeable opportunities and we're not getting them? With... So, I have a theory i want to i want to pitch this to you what do you think of this gino smith and cj stroud are having the same season oh it's very similar isn't it right yes i was thinking about it while watching

that texans game and i was like i'm C.J. Stroud isn't playing as badly as I feel like he's playing, and yet I feel like he's playing really badly. And it just occurs to me that that's how I feel watching Geno every week. Yeah, and the big difference is that Stroud, the pass rush is coming right into his face the moment he gets his hands on the ball. There's a guy in his face that came right through the center gap so it looks like he's playing terribly when you watch more carefully it's like oh he's okay he's in this intolerable position he gets the ball he has to run

right away he's scrambling and he has to kind of toss the ball and nobody but nico is coming through for him and for gino it's more like oh okay it's second 11 already because we didn't get anything on first down and then and the the pass rush is coming from my right side, and I've got to scramble and make a play. And at least my receivers are usually doing a better job getting the ball. So I think that's it. Of course, you know, the flip side of that is Stroud still has upside room to go, et cetera.

Smith has kind of maxed out with what he's doing right now. And, you know, if this team is moving forward with Geno, they have to make that commitment and say, okay, then we're going to really bulwark the offensive line. Looks like we're going to run it back with Smith, Jigba, and Metcalf, and I don't know how much the other guy has left, how much Lockett has left, but we've got to make sure that we get the most out of Geno,

and it will probably be his last season with the Seahawks. So, I mean, we're only like five weeks removed from the Rams being rumored to be making well not rumored credibly reported to be making Cooper Cup available on the trade market um they've they've reeled off this run of games they they're they control their own destiny but we're also not far removed from like we're three weeks removed from the cardinals being the betting favorite they got eliminated by bryce young yesterday i mean is are we sure there's not another twist to come another shoe to drop in the nfc west here we're not i hate that division i hate it you You're a McBride fantasy owner.

I mean, I wrote a big article feature about how the Cardinals have pulled it together, and they weren't going to swoon in December like they did like three times in the last four years. And, of course, they went out and did that. And you look at the Rams, of course, it's the Bills game. The Bills game is one in which they went out there and they stomped the Bills and they held them off at the end, and that was shocking. Because you look at the rest of their last couple of wins, New Orleans Saints quit, Niners in the rain quit,

Jets can't wait to just lay down and just fall asleep on the field at this point. So they won against a lot of quick, quick, quick teams, and then they surprised the Bills with this huge this huge win of course there might be another twist coming up because you've got rams facing the cardinals and seahawks you got the seahawks uh you know they should have a winnable game on thursday night but that could come down to that final game and if it

does come down the final game and the seahawks were not eliminated along the way, that could be the final twist. With the... So, is there reason to believe that we shouldn't just bet Green Bay minus 14.5 in round one against the Rams? Do I have a... Is it Spencer Rattler tonight? Yeah, they have Spencer Rattler tonight. But that defense is actually coming together now. I actually is it Spencer Rattler tonight? Yeah, they have Spencer Rattler tonight.

But that defense is, like, actually coming together now. I actually feel bad for Rattler because he had one good start against the Chargers who are decent. Yes. And then he got crushed by the Broncos when that defense was on fuego, right? It feels like if you catch them now, it's not quite as scary as it was that week. And now he's facing a Packers team that I don't think we're recognizing as being this elite defense, and yet they're playing.

I mean, they're the best defense in the league since week eight by DVOA. I mean, this is coming together in a pretty serious way for the Packers. Yeah, the Packers are in this tricky position where they're probably the fourth best team in the NFC and the third best team in their division, so they're easy to overlook. I also don't have a full Saints injury report in front of me, but Olave has been gone for weeks. Payson Hilsman.

Yeah, he'll be out. He'll be out. Olave's not playing tonight. Olave's out. I think Kamara's out. Yeah. And so Rattler's out there throwing to Dante Pettis. And guys like that when he gets out there.

And they have some injuries along the offense. MVS erasure. Oh, my gosh. Marquez out of Scanlon. Well, he'll have his one 30-yard catch. That we can count on. One catch, 30 yards. Maybe it's a touchdown.

Who knows? And Jawan Johnson. But the only thing I don't like about the two-touchdown spread is I don't know how cold it's going to be in Green Bay. And if this turns into one of these sort of icicle games, the Packers might just be sitting on the ball in the second half. Plus, like, a random turnover or two. But obviously, the Packers are going to win this game. I just would not lay 14 points. And what about against the Rams in Week 1 of the playoffs?

Because that's the one I'm eyeing. I'm like, oh, man, I can't wait to absolutely mash an alt line, betting on the Packers to crush the Rams. Maybe not as tasty as the three-seed matchup I was hoping I was getting when I thought it would be the Falcons with Kirk Cousins a couple weeks ago, but nonetheless, something I'm excited about. The Falcons are still stumbling around out there. Yeah, that's true, especially thanks to Rashad White. Yeah, they had a good – and you'd be catching Michael Penix

just when the new rookie smell would wear off at that point. You got a little bit of a book on him. So that's another way it could go. It'd be a little scary. You go into L.A. or you're in – Matthew Stafford's a different quarterback when it's cold outside than when he's comfortably in L.A. there. So that would be a little bit of a scarier matchup right there. But, you know, if you're a Packers fan right now, get this win tonight

and then keep your eye on the Vikings because there's a lot of things still in play. The division is not in play. But you can come in with a top wild card, and you want to be the top wild card if you can make that work. You mentioned Michael Penix and the Falcons. What did you think of his debut for Atlanta? You know what? He did everything he had to do.

Early in the game, his receivers were not helping him. They were dropping passes on him, but they overcame that. Say again? Kyle Pitts. So Jover. Kyle Pitts just broke 60. Any fantasy heart that he hadn't broken in the last three years got broken with him shot putting the ball directly to a defender in that game.

Absolutely no help from him. But you know what? Two touchdowns by the defense. Bijan out there being Bijan, just five yards, six yards, seven yard runs, grinding it out and putting Penix in a position where he did not have to do much. He could game manage and get a big, easy win against a terrible opponent. I think it was a smart move by Raheem Morris. Let Penix get out there, get his confidence up, electrify,

energize the team a little bit. Don't let Kirk Cousins go out there against the Giants and milk a little victory and be like, oh, I gave us a chance to win with my game management. No, start a new era, get this young man out there, get his confidence up, and that's what I saw from Penix and the Falcons yesterday. Jayden Daniels is going to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. I just checked the odds again.

I checked them earlier. He was like minus 20,000. Minus 20,000. I think that's it. I'm not playing that one. I'm not playing that. He's a minus 20,000 yeah I think that I think that's it I'm not I'm not playing that one I'm not playing that he's a minus 20,000 yeah um so he's gonna win he's gonna win rookie of the year but can we can we do a ranking of first round quarterbacks rookies that we saw this season like and and not based on how you'd vote for them for offensive rookie of the year, or even what they did this season,

but based on what you've seen, which quarterbacks, true talent ranking of the first round quarterbacks based on what they put on tape, so we'll exclude J.J. McCarthy. Okay, with Daniel's number one. Just like the Vikings will this offseason. Oh, that situation's good yeah it's fast you know we spent years talking about what are we gonna do with Kirk Cousins now for me what do we do with Sam Donald and JJ McCarthy

the Vikings create quarterback dramas for us we're gonna put Daniel's number one one I'm going to put Bo Nix number two even though he's been kind of propped up a little bit by that defense. And I'm going to put Drake May number three. Heck yeah. Because he has no one to throw to. He has no one to pass protect him. He goes out there by himself every week. And he's stayed healthy, and he's delivered a few plays here and there.

Threw a little scare into the Bills yesterday. And I guess that puts Caleb Williams fourth. And I think the problem with Caleb Williams right now, you know, he does have pretty good receivers. He has an adequate offensive line. They're a far worse offensive line than theirs. He's got no coaches. He's got no coaches, and he's getting no coaching. And he's going out there against opponents like the Lions.

So he's in a very untenable situation. He's made some really good throws. He's very going out there against opponents like the Lions. So he's in a very untenable situation. He's made some really good throws. He's very courageous out there, you know, stumbling away from would-be sacks and firing the ball downfield. But it's just getting worse and worse around him. Then when he presses too much, he makes a big mistake, takes a ton of sacks. He was just not put in a very good position.

All right, let me throw a player comp at you and get your take. Bo Nix, Teddy Bridgewater. Oh, that's good. That's good. Right? Yeah. Go out there, don't lose the game, distribute the short passes. I have a hard time Bridgewater comps because

his leg exploded and it kind of ended his career. We have no idea where he would have gone from there, but he was a lot like Teddy Bridgewater. He was a lot like Teddy Bridgewater in college, where he was this win-the-game phenom a little bit and you looked at the tape and were like, yeah, it's good.

Pretty good. I'm not sure what I'm looking at because it looks like he's getting a lot of help, but that's a good comp. I'm going to keep throwing comps at you just because, again, I'm a hockey writer whose show on this program, since I'm the fill-in today, is usually called Canucks Talk, and I don't usually get to talk football. So I'm going to drop all my football hot takes over the next three minutes.

All right, ready? Okay. Romeo Dobbs and Marvin Harrison Jr. Oh, I don't know. It seems like an insult. But it's more an insult to Romeo Dobbs because he's good at the catch point.

It's been on and off whether Murray has been able to get the ball downfield to Harrison. When the ball's in his radius, Harrison does get it. Except in the red zone yesterday, that was wild when he couldn't track that ball. That was an interesting one. Dobbs makes

that catch. Or Dobbs takes two weeks off because he's mad at somebody. A little bit of that going on. Hit me with another one. All right. Okay.

Malik Neigh neighbors halfway halfway between cooper cup and tyreek uh hill uh i think he's just a different guy than those i'm trying to i'm trying to say i mean he does catch a lot of short passes the way cooper cup and tyreek hill do but that's because the giants are pathetic uh you know i think i he – I mean, Drew Locke, they have to get him his screen passes. It's all Drew Locke or Tommy Cutlets are going to get to him, and they don't want him complaining about not getting the ball. But he's a jump ball guy down the field, et cetera, et cetera.

I would be looking for a comp for neighbors for, like, you know, the best receiver on, like like in the worst possible situation. And nothing's coming to me on like four hours of sleep right now. But that's my impression of neighbors. BTJ is the halfway point between Justin Jefferson and CD lamp. Who is the guy? Oh, sorry. Brian Thomas jr.

Oh, Brian. Oh, he's really good. Right. He's really good. Now you, you put him in some serious company there i think i think he belongs there i and i'll say like like jefferson it is gliding downfield speed and cuts in the open field and then suddenly he's open and you look at him and like there's no way he should be open on this he's like well he just ate up the coverage so he can

develop into that kind of guy, yeah. All right. When we look at the rookie receivers, how do you rank, and we can go beyond the first round, but we can also exclude guys like Jalen Polk, right, who don't really matter. How would you rank, like, the top five rookie receivers we've seen again, true talent, not just based on what they've put on tape this year, but based on overall what they've brought,

what you hope for them in the future. Yeah, I'm not super prepped up for this. I'll say BTJ has an outstanding job. Marvin Harrison has had his moments, certainly. I think Neighbors is as talented as any of them. But, again, it is painful to watch that offense and say, you know, the ball's not going to get 10 yards downfield. What kind of screenplay can we develop for him?

Here's one that's not overlooked at all, Ladd McConkie. Yeah. Ladd McConkie is a guy, you know, he had injuries. He belongs ahead of Marvin Harrison, man. I would put him ahead of Marvin Harrison right now because of what he's accomplished this season. I just think he's better. Okay, I'll say this.

McConkie was hard to evaluate in college because, first of all, Georgia has 80 weapons. Secondly, he was on and off with injuries that they didn't bother reporting most of the time. So you'd have these games where Ladd McConkie would have three catches for 37 yards, and you're trying to evaluate him. Then you realize, well, first of all, they were up 56-0, and he didn't have to throw the ball. And he had a hamstring injury but he was still beating

coverage and he comes out and now he's healthy and you know the charges of no one else for harvard to throw to he's done an outstanding job and he's i mean there is no offensive rookie of the year race because of daniels but he'd be a sleeper in that race if there really was one. And a fifth guy, sorry, is we throwing Keon in there to round out our top five? Keon Coleman, you know, I didn't love him coming out of college. He's been good. He's also a little bit of a pass dropper in college, a little bit of a pass dropper in the NFL.

He was talking about how they made him, you know, jump into the snow banks and everything like that as punishment for some of his drops. But, you know, he's a delicious part of the nutritious breakfast up there in Buffalo where you only need like one or two plays down then from him because they've got 15 guys to make them. And also Josh Allen will do most of it himself. So, you know, he's had a pretty fine rookie year.

Hey, Mike, really appreciate you taking the time and happy holidays. Absolutely. Happy holidays, everyone. Take care and enjoy your week. Thanks, buddy. Thanks for letting me nerd out on football for once. There is Mike Tenier, NFL writer and founder of 2DeepZone. We can talk more football on the other side, too.

No, we're going to talk... He's got it all out of his system now. We can do a little bit. I'll go all day, but I'm just saying... I'll go all day, but also when we're off radio, I'm just going to do it all day anyway. No, the, I mean, we've got a Canucks game tonight. Yeah, we can do both. I'm going to give the people what they want.

No, it's fine. It's December 23rd. But that segment was very much for me. Thanks for the Christmas present from Halford and Brough. On the other side, we will get into the Canucks and much more. It is Halford and Brough, Josh Elliott-Wolfe, Thomas Strance, filling in on Sportsnet 650.