Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Concern-O-Meter

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

In hour one, Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports, they get a Thatcher Demko injury update from Elliotte Friedman courtesy the 32 Thoughts Podcast (3:00), plus the boys preview Week 11 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (26:04).  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Dowdy looking for a chance, Dowdy to the far side of the score. One-timer from Byfield, and when did Byfield wins the game in overtime. that Demko is doing everything he can to play. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday.

It is Halford, it is Brough, featuring Jamie Dodd, and we are coming you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jamie, good morning. Good morning. Adol, good morning to you. Morning. And Lidey, good morning to you as well.

Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest, two much lower payments, and three, financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal.

North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech Studio. Intech footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Lots to get into on a Friday show. Guest list today begins at 6.30 in the morning. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program.

Big win for the Patriots last night on Thursday night football. They moved to 9 and 2 on the season. We will look ahead to a huge Sunday in the NFL with Nick, which includes the marquee matchup between the Seahawks and the Rams from L.A. on Sunday afternoon. Lots more to get into as well. Big weekend in the NFL. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us at 6.30.

At 7 o'clock, it's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the show. $100 gift card is up for grabs for the best Ask Us Anything. Hashtag at AUA, put a pizza emoji into the text. The best Ask Us Anything will be chosen and awarded a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. After AJ at 705, Axel Schuster is going to do. join the program. He, of course, White Cap's sporting director, huge

news in Major League Soccer yesterday. The first is that the league is dropping its Apple TV paywall. That's a big one. I can't wait to explain that to Dollywall. He's later in the show. But the second and biggest news of the day is the beginning in 2027

MLS is changing its schedule. A summer to spring calendar to align with the European-based winter leagues. Big news at MLS. Also, there's that Whitecaps playoff game on the horizon as well. So lots to speak about with Axel at 705 this morning. You should just get Dolly on at 7.30 and spend that extra half an hour just explaining

the Apple TV segment. Because it would take that amount of time. I'm hoping with the amount of Canucks news out there, we can gloss over it. He'll ask you about it. I bet we won't be able to gloss over it. Because Rick Dolly Wall is going to join us at 8 a.m. this morning. Intrepid Canucks Insider on Donnie and Dolly from Czech TV. Lots of questions to answer with Rick.

Will Quinn Hughes play tonight and Carolina. What's the latest on Thatcher Demko and his injury? Where are things on a key for Sherwood contract? And will the Canucks be in on David Camp? Comf. Is it Comph? We'll find out, I guess. I don't know anything. I've intentionally not paid attention to the hours of coverage we have dedicated to David Camp or Com. We're all going to David Comf boot camp here over the last day. We're like, okay, we got to learn everything about this guy. Can we call it boot comp? Sure. You go nuts. All right. Working in reverse on the the guest list because I love doing this for no particular

reason. 8 o'clock Rick Dollywall, 705 Axel Schuster, 7 o'clock AJ 630, Nick Shook. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing.

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that? You miss that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies, divest in tools, resources, and safety training, visit them online

at BCCSA.ca.ca. While there were 10 games in the National Hockey League last night, a Thursday night football game, and Canada's men's national soccer team playing a friendly, we are going to start, of course, with the Vancouver Canucks because there was a lot of news yesterday with our local hockey squadron. Let's begin with the practice in Carolina at the Avisaline Arena. Again, my favorite of the dental-themed arenas. according to sports that's Dan Murphy

Quinn Hughes and Drew O'Connor were absent from practice yesterday Hughes day to day with an undisclosed injury questionable for tonight's game Drew O'Connor needed a sick day because he wasn't feeling well in Carolina Where do you want to start first Jamie? There's lots to get into it. Obviously it's got to be Drew O'Connor taking a sick day

I thought so as well No it's it's Quinn Hughes and We talked about Quinn Hughes and his Not his availability but just his overall health on the show yesterday, and then that was followed up by, as you said, him missing practice. And the official designation was day to day. Now, Adam Foote did say he's hopeful he can play tonight. By the way, the Canucks have a game day skate at 8.30. So we can give you breathless updates as they come in, hopefully from Dan Murphy about whether Quinn Hughes is there. And

you know, injury designations at this point, and especially at this point in the season coming off of the Thatcher Dempco bizarre set of fact pattern over the last week or so. they're basically a running joke. So Canucks fans see day to day and didn't do a lot to calm people down, right? There was a lot of, oh, I guess we'll see him in February then jokes from Canucks fans. I get that.

Personally, I wouldn't be shocked at all if Hughes plays tonight. I'm willing to take Adam Foote at face value when he says I'm hopeful that he plays. We've seen Quinn Hughes regularly over the last year or so fight through injuries and fight through a lot of pain, clearly to be in the lineup. Would not surprise me at all if he does so again, especially with Thatcher Dempco out.

He knows how important these games are, how important he is to this team. He's a very, very tough player. So it would not surprise me at all if Quinn Hughes is in the lineup. The bigger question is it's the one we were getting at yesterday. He's probably going to play. And even if he doesn't play tonight, he's likely going to play at some point on this road trip.

It's great to have him in the lineup. You want him, you want Quinn Hughes in any shape in your lineup to help you win. But I think we've also learned pretty conclusively now. they don't just need 75% Quinn Hughes. They need as close to the peak of Quinn Hughes as they can get. And that's my biggest concern here. It's not the availability. It's not will he play tonight in Carolina.

And, oh, if he suits up, okay, great, nothing to worry about. This is already another instance. He's already missed games this season, had to leave the game temporarily against Winnipeg. Now he's day to day. You start to have concern about these injuries and these kind of physical ailments adding up end, how often are we going to see Quinn Hughes of his best for the Canucks? That's my biggest concern. I do wonder if the staggering workload that he's shouldered, and we're not even at the 20

game mark, I want to remind everybody, I wonder if that's weighing on him mentally, or sorry, physically and mentally. And because there is a dangling carrot this season, and for Hughes, it's not like he's reaching out for it. He will be going to the Olympics pause, assuming he's healthy. Yeah. And I do wonder if the player at this point is kind of looking around. relishing the opportunity to play as much as he is,

but also acknowledging that this is a lot to be putting on one player. I mean, I think we probably should have mentioned this in the aftermath of the Winnipeg game. Being able to log 28 minutes of ice time in a game where you exit with an injury is quite impressive. Some would think it was almost impossible to do. Like, well, he wasn't even there to be able to play 28 minutes. But the moment that he was deemed okay after the quote unquote weird play that knocked him out, for a period of time. He was right back with no, like,

acknowledgement or nod from the coaching staff that they might need to measure his minutes. Right? It's like, well, he's here and he's breathing. We're going to play him to the max. And again, this early in the season, with as desperate as the team seems to grind out results, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

So I'm with you. I would expect him to probably in whether he's 100% or not. And if he's out there, it's the same logic that applies. he's going to play a ton. They're going to lean on him. We talked about this with Drance yesterday, right? Whether it's Demko, Pedersen with the defensive burden he's taking on and all the faceoffs

or Hughes in the minutes, Adam Foote and his coaching staff are riding their top guys in a big, big way early in the season. And as you said, if Quinn Hughes is available, I think for any coach, it's just too hard to resist the temptation to put him out there. Because he's so dynamic and so effective. And again, I think this is going to be a major storyline throughout this. this Canucks season is how much does the minutes burden decrease his effectiveness? How much does his physical health decrease his effectiveness? And how often do we see the best version of Quinn Hughes? Okay, now something else that's shaping up to be a major talking point and storyline and

narrative for the remainder of the Canucks season, if it wasn't already, is the health of Thatcher Demko. So we've got an extended clip here from the recently released 32 Thoughts podcast in which Elliot Friedman has a lengthy, lengthy, lengthy explanation, and a couple different theories on what's going on with Demko and what the future holds for the injured Canucks. Netminder. It is a long clip. It's about two minutes and 45 seconds. There's a lot to unpack here. So we'll play at its entirety and we'll pick it up on the other side because this is a very big development for the Vancouver Canucks as they move forward. Here now, Elliot Friedman, from the 32 Thoughts podcast on the health and the future of Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko. I just think when it comes to Demko, and they go into Carolina, like that Lankinen signing might actually be one of the most important signings of the past couple of years because he has been huge for them. And now he's going to have to be huge for them again as Demko works his way through this. I just think with Demko, it's so, you have to be so careful when discussing a time.

timeline because over the past couple years, timelines have proven to be a very difficult thing with him. And like one of the things I, like, look, I'm not a doctor, okay. I wouldn't even be allowed into a medical school to visit, but you have to wonder, like they, they talked about how, you know, he was sore last week and whatever's bothering him now has got nothing to do with what happened last week, you just wonder with all his injuries if it's all interconnected somehow that his body's been through so much and he's had so many injuries, you know, small, more than that, that there's some level of compensation going on here. And I want to make something very clear. I think that Demko is doing everything he can to play.

I heard he was really down about this one because he really wants to be in the battle. He thinks he's a difference maker. Like a lot of guys they want to play in the Olympics, but he knows and thinks he can be a difference maker for the Canucks, right? So I heard he was really disappointed about this. But I just think that over the last couple years, there's been so many things we've heard about him. and then timeline and it's off or something else pops up,

the best thing you can just do is wait. What I go by is concern meter. The concern meter as I sense it is not off the charts here. So until that happens, I don't freak out, but I don't believe in a timeline. I just think the toughest thing, I think it's the toughest thing for everybody involved is they want him to be available

and he wants to be available it's just a struggle and you're wondering if all these injuries are connected somehow lots to unpack there I like the Canucks Concerno meter I like that idea it's not high Alford just moving his arm on a dial

I did it It was on camera for those of ones They should just have that on a dozens of listeners and viewers right now They should just have that on the Jumotron throughout the entire game and fluctuates up and down based on how the games They should have it outside Rogers Arena, so you, like, see it as you drive by the viaduct.

That would be funny. You know how, like, they used to have, like, the world population clock at public places or something. It says, give me the concernometer's pretty loaded. I was like it would be like the force fire warning. Yeah, exactly, exactly. The meter that goes up and down. If you thought you were going to jump off the sky train and maybe catch a Canucks game, you're like, no, I'll just keep going. Oh, look at the concernometer.

It's pretty high today. So I think they should lean into that. The concernometer for Thatcher Demco, you can decide where your personal one is at based on what you just heard from Elliot Friedman, but I think I think this is the worst case scenario for the Canucks in terms of outlook for this season.

When Elliot says that it all might be connected, I mean, the inference there is that this is just a goalie that's put his body through a lot of physical toll over the course of his NHL career. And now it's not so much about isolating individual injuries and trying to rehab them

in the hopes that he can come back to form it's that he's on the wrong side of, you know, he's reached his apex possibly as a goalie, and now he's on the downside of it. This is my nightmare. It kind of is when you talk about going into this season and how it was predicated on having the best goalie tandem in the National Hockey League.

And that was a major talking point that Demko healthy and back and with a new plan and outlook to make sure that he stays fresh by adding Kevin Lankin into the mix, like that plan scuttled 18. games into the season. And I think my most interesting takeaway from what Freibin had to say there is, one, the idea of don't put a lot of stock in timelines when it comes to Thatcher Dempco. And maybe, you know, we heard two to three weeks from Frank Serra Valley on with us earlier in the week. And I'm spitballing here and speculating a little bit, but maybe it's a situation where in kind of a standard goalie situation, it might be two to three weeks. With Thatcher Dempco in the accumulated injury history, maybe you don't want to marry yourself to a two to three week time. line. And I did find it also striking that, you know, Elliot runs through, don't put a lot of stock into timelines here. Is it possible? This is all connected. And, you know, all these injuries are connected and they're kind of piling up on each other. Demko feels horrible because he wants to be

out there. So those are three, I would say, not great reports. And then he ends it with what the concern meter's not that high. Yeah. I don't really know what to make of that because hearing those first three things, I would think, oh, that's pretty concerning. I don't know what to make other than as I think the most important thing Friedman said there is just you're kind of never going to have that certainty with Thatcher Demko. Like if you're with any Dempco injury, if you're expecting to hear he's going to be out four to six weeks and I can take that to the bank. That's probably that time is gone for Thatcher Dempco now. Okay. Let's jump into the other news of the day for the Vancouver Canucks and that of course, David Comp, the 30 year old now, I guess, in a matter of hours.

Yes. Free agent. Available to sign anywhere after his contract was terminated. with the Toronto Maple Leafs at any time any NHL caliber player of any ilk becomes available, the Vancouver Canucks are at the front of the trough trying to get their bit

because they desperately need help right now at the forward position. That was confirmed yesterday by, of course, Rick Dollywall, who said on the Donny and Dolly show that he has been told that Canucks will definitely be in on comp. I can confirm they will be in on him.

That's not you confirming. You needed to do the shorty, end quote. Right. Sorry, that was me playing the role of Rick Dollywall on the radio. Even though Rick Dollywell will play the role of himself later on. Why, though? Like, is it just because he's set? Like, he's got a career high 27 points. I just said why. Because anyone that can, anyone that's a viable candidate to play NHL minutes is available. Signing, he's a body. Signing David Kompf would

increase the number of NHL centers they have on the roster by 50%. It would go from two to three if they say they have two NHL centers. That's true. Lucas Reichael walking into town, having not been able to secure regular time work in Chicago. And then being in anointed the 2C the moment that he got here. That's a pretty good sign for the rest of the guys in the NHL looking for an opportunity. That Vancouver is that land of opportunity.

I go to Vancouver. There's land of opportunity. Will we do anything, though? I get what you're saying, right? Like, he's one of the more offensively limited players in the league. That's just it. Is he like a force?

Yes, but they desperately need a fourth line center. They don't have one. Dear Lord. He's a fourth line center who can take faceoffs in the defensive zone and kill penalties. that is like manna from heaven for the Canucks where they are right now. I mean, how much have we talked about how desperate they are to get Teddy Blugher back? He's a 4C. They are desperate for a 4C right now.

And again, I completely understand where you're coming from Adog. And we have techs coming in and, oh, this guy couldn't even crack the leaves. Why are like, why are the Canucks going to be in on him? We're all talking about the Pedersen thing and how much they're relying on him defensively, how many draws he has to take. At the very least, you can throw David Kompf to the wolves a little bit. Hey, take a face off, puck off the glass and out, kill 30 seconds, and then go back to the bench. And I understand how incredibly underwhelming that sounds.

And it is, it is underwhelming. And if you're in a position where you're desperate for a player of David Komp's caliber, then yeah, you're not in a great spot. That doesn't change the fact that it would be a huge boon to the Canucks to have David Komp. Now, I think the interesting thing is, as you said, Rick Dollywall, affirming they'll be interested. Elsewhere in 32 thoughts. Elliot Friedman said, yeah, Vancouver will be in on it. He also mentioned Pittsburgh, Montreal, interesting Alex Newhook situation, potentially

developing for them, and they were already looking for centers. In David Komp's situation, he is walking away from, I think it's like $3 million he had left on his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So partly, yeah, if somebody is going to offer him a bunch of money, that's always going to entice him. But the other part of this is he wants to go to somewhere where he's going to. have a big opportunity. Yeah.

And the Canucks, more than any team in the NHL, can offer a center like David Comph, a massive opportunity right out of the gate. And I wonder how much that influences his decision. So to further answer your question, Adog, the conversation really isn't about David Komp. I know that there was endless coverage on the station yesterday getting into the sort of like pedantic stuff, like his like coursey four over the course of, like that part, that part doesn't matter.

The player doesn't matter. The situation. is what matters. And the situation is the Canucks could very well be in line desperately, desperately looking to secure the services of a guy that couldn't get regular minutes with another

NHL team. That should be your takeaway. Is that they did it with Reichel when the Chicago Blackhawks had essentially reached into the rope and he was days away from being on waivers potentially where someone just could have grabbed them. The Canucks stepped up because their depth at center was so low. and now we're seeing that situation play out again.

Now, I think in the case of comp, as you pointed out, there will be other teams at the trough in large part because the injury bug is hitting a lot of other teams not named Vancouver in a very serious way. As a matter of fact, we're going to see it tonight in Carolina on their blue line. We're going to see it across the board in Tampa Bay on Sunday. And you'll see it in Florida on Monday as well.

All these teams are besieged by injury, which I think only further underscores how little value Reichel had around the league. that despite all these injuries going on, he still wasn't being snagged by anybody. But this is where the Canucks are at. No one in the organization wanted to be in this situation prior to the 20 game mark, with your marquee goalie out,

with your captain and star defensemen being taxed the way that he is, and with a forward group that is so thinned out, given where it was to start and with injuries, it's not a great situation. The only thing that might keep them afloat is, and I mentioned this already, is that there's injuries across the board in the National Hunter.

Hockey League. And that's probably a decent way to pivot to tonight's opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes. So the short synopsis on the canes, a reminder 4 p.m. Puck drop from Raleigh. You can hear it all right here on SportsNet 650. Pregame coverage starts well in advance, 4 o'clock puck drop, and then we get the postgame show going well past the end of regulation. 11-5 and 0 second in the Metro. They haven't played since Tuesday. It was a 4-1 loss at home to Washington, which snapped a 4-game win streak for the Keynes, and I mentioned this a couple times, they've got a ton of injuries on the blue line right now. Slavin, Chatfield, Legault, they're all out in goal for Carolina.

This is something you're going to want to pay attention to. I don't think anybody has any idea who's going to play a net for Carolina. Over the last three games, they've had three different goalies of record. Coachetkoff, Bussie, and Freddie Anderson, who got hurt the other night in Washington, when he got bowled over and got pulled out of the game so the concussion spotter could take a look at him. So three different goalies in three different games. We'll wait

and see the morning skate's going to go about 8.39 o'clock our time. So we'll get a better idea of what to expect from Carolina. You've got a good note here, though. One thing aside, the injuries that might play to the Canucks advantage is that with the man advantage, Carolina stinks. Yeah, Carolina's really

been struggling on the power play, which is great news for obviously a Canucks team that has been really, really struggling on the penalty kill. Now, if we were doing a hockey show in the red hot hockey market of rally, we'd be saying, hey, is this a chance for the Carolina power play to get back on track against a weak Canucks penalty kill? So both teams are looking at this, I'm sure, as an opportunity to write the ship on one side of the special team's ledger. It is interesting, though, because Carolina has been terrible on the power play. And yet there's still, I think, the third highest

scoring team on a per game basis in the NHL. So even despite a power play that has not been particularly threatening they're still a really really dangerous offensive team and we've focused so much on the penalty kill there's been plenty of breakdowns at five on five for the canucks defensively and i know adam foot spoke about you know hey this is another team that can jump on your mistakes really quickly and they were working on some defensive zone coverage stuff at practice yesterday so you might get a little bit of a reprieve on the penalty kill if you're the canucks but you still have to be really really sharp at five on five and of course the same kind of truism that's been the case for Carolina for years now is they put a lot of pucks on net.

They'll send a lot of rubber at your goalie. And so if Kevin Lankin is potentially going to play all three of these games, as Drant suggested yesterday, he's unlikely to kind of get to ease into the road trip tonight. He's probably going to have a lot of work to do against Carolina. That game's at 4 o'clock tonight. A reminder, you can hear it all right here pre-post in the actual game right on Sportsnet 650. First half hour of this show is in the books. We're going to pivot to the National Football League on the other side.

Nick Shook, our insider from NFL.com, is going to join us. We will look ahead to a big weekend in the National Football League. A lot of good games on the slate, including a huge game for the Seahawks. And a reminder, you can hear Seahawks at 105 right here on Sportsnet 650 on Sunday. So lots to get into you on the other side with Nick Shook from NFL.com. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Saty R Shaw, your destination for everything Canucks. exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show.

Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Snap to May, looks to his left, he pumps, he throws it. Colton in the NFL, touchdown, Patriots, and who caught? Trembion Anderson, a hat trick for the rookie. 632 on a Friday. Oh, yeah, it's Fiesta Friday here on the Health and Embruff Show on Sports Night. 6.50. Hello. Fiesta.

Sassy. Alfred inbrough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a license insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. To learn how, visit sands dash trustee.com. We are in Hour One of the program. It's been Mui Caliente thus far. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. That audio you heard coming back from break. That was part of the New England Patriots, comprehensive Thursday night football win over the New York football jets yesterday. Joining us now to talk about that and more. Our NFL insider from NFL.com, Nick Shook here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

What up, Nick? Comprehensive. I like that. And if there's a fan base that's deserving of a fiesta today, I think it's the New England Patriots first team to establish what was guaranteed to be a winning record in the NFL this year. First team to nine wins in the National Football League. Now nine and two, now atop the AFC division, AFC East, sorry, now atop the AFC, now atop the NFL leaderboard as well.

How surprising is this for you? I think we knew that with Drake May a quarterback and with Mike Vrable as head coach, they were going to be improved, but I'm not sure anybody saw a 9-and-2 record through mid-November. Yeah, I think that most everybody did not see it. And those who can claim that they did, they were lying. Wires. Because this is simply an unbelievable turnaround for them. Yeah, they did have, you know, the quarterback in Drake May.

They also spent a lot of money in the offseason and for agency because they had an absurd amount of cap space that they needed to spend, especially after the cap came in higher than expected. So they have the tools at their disposal to, you know, orchestrate this type of turnaround, but it takes so many things to go, you know, right. And you have to hire the right coach and Mike Grable. He's got to bring along the right, you know, coordinators in a Josh McDaniels to be able to guide a second year quarterback with enough talent like Drake made to take these steps forward

that he's had. And they've just, you know, it's been a very cohesive, you know, display over the course the season. But also it's a product, a little bit of. of a soft schedule. You know, they're taking advantage of a schedule that was harder earlier than has been over the last, I don't know, a month and a half or so. But the win over Tampa Bay kind of, you know, pushes back against that.

So, I mean, I'm not going to take away any credit from this team. I think they're one of the more enjoyable teams to watch. I also look at them overall and think, you know, I can see this being a one and done in the playoffs. But you know what? This is so much better than where they've been over the last four years that I'm sure they, even they'd take it. Yeah, and of course, as we said, a huge part of that, the coach and the quarterback, Drake May, is he the NFL MVP right now in your eyes? Nick, and if he isn't, how close is he to whoever you'd have in that top spot? He's in the running. I would probably

put him top three. Right now I have Matthew Stafford in that spot, but it continues to evolve. I just think nobody's playing football quite as well as Stafford, both at the quarterback position on overall. It's an interesting group though. It's definitely an interesting group and the fact that May is in consideration for that puts him in a pretty rare cast of quarterbacks. I think it's been like

Dan Marino, Patrick Mahomes and you know, I think Jane Daniels, he got some MVP votes last year, but the group is small. There's a couple of the players that I can't remember right now and it would be you know, him

him winning MVP, him even being in the consideration for MVP right now is already well beyond any expectation than anybody had said for him. We come off of last season and, you know, Daniels was coming off of offensive rookie of the year, and he was, him and the commanders were looking forward

to building on, you know, their crazy run to the NFC championship game. And instead, the whole story's been about the other guy in his class, Drake May. We did a redraft last night in NFL Daily, and we both agreed that we would take Drake May over Jaden. It would be close, but we would take him over Jaden, the Patriots,

have to be thanking their lucky stars that they were able to select the quarterback out of North Carolina with their pick in the 2024 draft and insert him into a situation where he can finally be the successor they've needed. Well, you stole my thunder, but I'm glad that you did. That was my next question was let's have one more Drake May related query here. If you were to redo that drop, by the way, for those that forget, it went Caleb Williams first overall to the Bears, Jaden Daniels, second overall to the commanders, and then May, third overall to the Patriots.

May's going first overall in a redraft. right now, right? Yeah, he is. And, you know, when I was thinking about this before we did it last night, I thought, are we a prisoner of the moment? And then I back to May's rookie year. And he was very good then, too. They just lacked a lot of talent around him.

Their offensive line was a mess. Defensively, they, you know, they really couldn't get many stops. They needed to spend the money that they spent this offseason. They needed a changed coach, too. They needed Mike Rable. They needed Josh McDaniels to come in there and be able to flesh out this offense beyond just the basics of what Drake made us as well. but we could see signs of him being good last year in a bad situation.

And now that he's basically had upgrades in every category around him, he's been able to take those next few steps forward. I think that if Daniels hadn't gotten hurt this year, the conversation may be different when it comes to a redraft. But, yeah, I look at it right now, and I think May, Daniels, and Caleb Williams has had a nice little run lately. I think he's building a lot of steam for himself, but of that rookie class, nobody.

he's playing better than May. One more on this, because I do love this whole redraft notion. So that was the year where there were six quarterbacks taken in the top 12 picks. There's a lot of guys to choose from. The next group went Michael Pennix Jr. at 8 to Atlanta, J.J. McCarthy, 10 to Minnesota, and Bo Nix, 12 to Denver. If you were to redo that group of three, would it be Knicks above the other two? Yeah, it's almost, I feel like you know exactly what we talked about last night.

I know it's amazing. The chemistry is off the charts. It's fantastic. We're on the same page. Yeah, I had Nix there. A little bit of, I think it was the easier decision between the next two, which was who would you have, McCarthy or Pennix there? Because there's just a lot to be determined with McCarthy and Penix.

And there is with Nix, too. It's just that I feel as if the Broncos haven't really done themselves any favors with how they've operated their offense with him at quarterback this year. They've been wildly inconsistent. maddeningly so. But we saw flashes of how good he could be, you know, last season before he kind of, you know, got a little reckless down the stretch and fell out of the offensive rookie of the year campaign. It's kind of, you know, it's bothersome that they have not been able to be consistent

offensively with Nick's a quarterback this year, but I don't know if that's entirely his fault. He hasn't been great, and he's turned it on in the key moments. We've talked about that plenty with this Broncos team. They seem fraudulent because they can't put four quarters together, but we've seen the special nature, than him. So that's why it was a pretty easy choice for me to take him as the top of the next group. We're speaking of Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. This is our NFL preview

brought to by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors. That's 17 screens total for you mathletes out there. The Clayton Pub.com on the internet. So there's a lot of games this weekend, which are, I'd classify as must watch. I think Casey Denver, Sunday afternoon is one.

I think the Sunday nighter, Detroit, Philadelphia is one. But I think I'm accurate and suggesting that the game of the week is Seattle, Los Angeles, 105 our time from L.A. In a battle of the two best teams in the NFC West and maybe the two best teams in the entire NFC. Set this one up for us, Nick. What are you looking at for this clash between seven and two teams on Sunday afternoon? So the Eagles just managed to score 10 points against the Packers on Monday night. and came away saying that was the best defense we've played all year. Right.

If that is your measuring stick, this is going to set up for quite a showdown because the Seahawks are playing some of the best football in the entire NFL. Offensively, they have been a machine. Sam Donald has thumbed his nose at all those, including me, who thought it may be a one-year wonder in Minnesota with the way that he's playing this year and how he's, you know, his connection with Jackson Smith and Jake Web, but well beyond that, too. So, you know, they added Rashid Shaheed recently. You can talk about the successes of Tori Horton.

Cooper Cup returns to L.A. to face his former team now as a member of the Seahawks. And, oh, by the way, the Seahawks have one of the best and most aggressive and exciting defenses in the NFL with a very defensive-minded head coach who seems to be really, you know, settled into how to deploy this defense with a number of different, you know, blitz looks and pressure looks that will confuse opposing quarterbacks, which is going to be a great test for Matthew Stafford, the guy who is playing the best quarterback of anybody in the NFL right now in another offensive machine in the Rams who, you know, cannot be stopped. They've made it look very easy over the last month. And nobody's, you know, been on a hotter run of, you know, four more passing touchdowns in

the game than Matthew Stafford has been recently. So they, you know, the Rams, a lot of people out West, a lot of people nationally think that the Rams might be the best team in the NFL right now. I think the Seahawks have a point to prove. been on the Seahawks bandwagon for a while. I think, you know, we've talked about just the, the potential that they've showed for most of this season, and now there's finally starting to get, you know, recognition for it. And, oh, it's also an NFC West battle.

It's a battle for prime positioning in the division. So a lot is on the line here, and I think, I hope we'll learn a lot. I hope it's not a dud, you know, how some games can tend to be duds. I think this is going to be a clash of significant contenders that could teach us a lot about both teams. I've been hyping it for what feels like. 48, 72 hours here. And I've done this before, especially on this radio show, where I've hyped up a big game and then it falls flat. I am hoping that this one lives up to the hype in large part

because of the way the two teams are coming into, especially with Stafford, just being unbelievable right now. It feels like a great contrast between the high-powered passing offense. And if there's one thing you can pick on with the Seahawks, it is that secondary. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see for Sunday. As I mentioned, there are some other good games on Sunday. Classic AFC West matchup between the Broncos and the Chiefs. Now, you talked about, learning something about a team. I do wonder if we're going to learn something about Denver this year because there are some huge

positives for this team. They're 8 and 2. They've got a great record, a plus 35 sack differential, which is a wild number. They also lead the league in three and outs and penalties. And three of those wins was beating the Raiders by three, the Jets by two, and the Giants by

one. So I guess my question is what are the Broncos and are we going to find out more about them this weekend against KC? I think that we will finally get a little bit of an understanding of where they stack up in the AFC West and the AFC at large because they've been able to turn it on against lesser opponents when they need to, when they desperately need to beat the Jets, to beat the Giants. They never really even turned it on against the Jets overseas either. But to beat the Giants, those are a wild comeback.

They did it against a good team in the Eagles. And I was on the road in Philly, but that seems kind of like ages ago. But this is a team with history that, you know, it's a division rival of the team that they haven't been able to get passed for years. And if they believe that their true contenders, they're going to have to lead with their defense. And they're going to have to put together a performance very similar of how the Buffalo Bills treated the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of weeks ago, which is a complete performance that limits every opportunity that Patrick Mahomes can have in the passing game more as a scrambler or just as a play extender. I mean, the bills in that game put together the best defensive showing I've seen in probably two or three years from them. and it's going to require that from the Broncos,

but I think the Broncos are better equipped to do that. That's how they make a statement to, you know, the kings of the AFC West and to the conference at large. And the other way they do is just by playing, you know, complete football for more than a quarter. That's what they've lacked throughout this entire season. Their offense has just not been able to establish any sort of rhythm. And if they're going to need that, I think, to beat the Chiefs.

In this, in the showdown that could go a long, long way toward them potentially winning the division. You know, you've got to remember the Broncos are 8 and 2. Chiefs are 5 and 4. They're the best 5 and 4 team I can remember seeing, but they got to start to make up ground on the Broncos as well. So Denver can prove a lot with a good performance against the Chiefs. And I think if I had to guess it's going to be defensive, you know,

laden. I still don't have a ton of confidence and then suddenly finding it offensively. Someone that has definitely founded offensively this season, especially recently the Detroit Lions. So it's 6 and 3. They got the Sunday nighter against the 7-2 Philadelphia Eagles. Again, one of those markets. key games we were talking about.

I feel like, I mean, maybe this is just me, but like there hasn't been enough attention paid to just how dynamic this Lions' offense has been recently, and maybe this is because they've been so good offensively the last couple years, but I did know that Dan Campbell recently took over play calling duties, and it feels like that's

taken something to the next level there. They're second in the NFL at 31.4 points per game. Jared Goff's numbers are off the charts, and they had nearly 600 yards of offense against Washington last week. So again, you talk about contrast. You get that good

Philadelphia defense going up that high-powered Detroit offense. Feels like it could be a good matchup on Sunday night. Yeah, and a good time for this matchup, too, because the Eagles showed that, hey, you know, maybe that defense is starting to come back. Maybe that addition to Jaylon Phillips with the deadline was a wise move, and it wasn't the only addition they made.

But I think, yeah, it's going to be a good test to the Lions offense. You make a good point in that a lot of people probably have not given them enough credit for, you know, how prolific they've been offensively. But I give a lot of people grace for that because it has not looked the best at times. When it's looked bad, it's been shockingly bad. It hasn't been bad very often, but the big games that people are going to remember with

the Lions this year were both of their losses. It was week one against the Packers, Michael Parsons debut, and a limited role. But, you know, the first game without Ben Johnson is OC, and they only score 13 points. and it was really only six points. Well, what people fail to realize is after that, they scored 52, 38, 34, and 37 against three of the four teams in the ESC North plus Chicago Bears.

They're going to forget that because they're going to look at a lot of those teams and maybe save for Baltimore and just discount them. Cincinnati, one of the worst defenses in the NFL, Chicago, not super consistent defensively. Baltimore, this is before they got hurt defensively, but in hindsight, everybody's just going to say, well, they've been a bad defense for most of the year, and we already know the story of the Browns.

And then since then, it's been 24 to 9, went over the Buccaneers, a three-point loss to the Vikings, another game that's going to resonate in the minds of folks when they judge the Vikings, and then a blowout went over the commanders who, you know, unfortunately because of injury and everything else, are just one of the worst teams in the NFL right now. So if you judge offenses by opponent, which is what we often do, you know, when you're just trying to form an opinion on a team, most people will look at them and say, well, in the biggest games, they fell short. Jared Gough hasn't looked good in most of those big games, which is true.

And those three losses, he has not looked great, but man, in the other games, he's looked fantastic. And I think it's inflated the numbers a little bit, but it's given them enough evidence to believe that they've kind of found a rhythm. And now they get to test it against the Neagles defense that has looked a lot better just in the last week or two than it did in the early portion of this season. Two more for you, both at the quarterback position, one in San Francisco. So it's going to be Brock Purdy this weekend over Mack Jones, who's been feeling in admirably while Purdy was hurt. Kyle Shanahan, the Niners head coach, rejected any sort of talk or conversation about playing Jones over Purdy, now that Purdy's healthy. He said it's not a hard decision. Should it have been a harder decision for Kyle Shanahan to make the change?

I'm going to say no. First off, I'm very happy that this news has already been disseminated on this, what is Friday morning, because the Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Ricky Pearsall, whatever it is. Fridays with Kyle Shanahan have been a weekly thing this year, waiting late, you know, relatively late at least in my time zone, for him to come out and tell us that it's just another week where Brock parties

a little bit closer to being available. Mac will start again. So finally he gets the opportunity to put Brock back in the lineup. He hasn't played in six weeks. It's felt like even longer. But you're right. I mean, Mac Jones deserves commendation

for the way that he played. This is a former first-round pick who's been related to backup status. and when he was in Jacksonville, you know, he did good at times, but he also had some pretty rough outings. It has not really been the case for him with the 49ers this year, which adds to the belief that maybe you can rehabilitate your career with a year in San Francisco, just ask Sam Darnold, and I think that Mack Jones will attract, you know, attention this offseason in one way or another, but I think that when you look at the 49ers, you look at who

you just paid, and you consider, look, this is our franchise quarterback, and while Mac has been great. We will have Mac available if Brock doesn't play well or if Brock gets injured. So why not go, why cause the controversy more than anything? Go back to your starter when he's available. And so I think it was the right decision for them. And finally, in Cincinnati, how much longer does Joe Flacco

have as the starting quarterback for the Bengals now that Joe Burrow is, you know, his return is looming? And do we need to pay extra attention to the icy hot bowl this weekend between Joe Flacco and Aaron Rogers? Because it could be the last time that we see it. Oh, you know, that's a good point. I didn't even think about that.

But it could very well be the last time we see it. It's funny. You get it twice in the year with the division opponent, right? But it doesn't get nearly the attention to it because it's not in prime time. Yeah, of course we'll pay attention to it because I want to see if the Sears defense is like legitimate or not. You know, it scored some wins recently, but they're just inconsistent as a team. How long does Joe Flacco have as a starter? He'll get to about, I don't know, Thanksgiving.

That practice window is only open so long before the Bengals have to activate him. And I think that they will be eager to activate Joe. Joe Burrough. So the rest of November, congratulations, Joe Flack. And, you know, he talked about it. He said, look, I'm not thinking about that. I'm just getting ready to play Pittsburgh. And that's what a veteran does. It's a 40-year-old does. And look, worse comes to worse,

if Burrow can't play, you still got a 40-year-old who can fling the rock. Now, can you get a defense to play well? That's the big question. Nick, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do this as always. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the games this weekend. It should be a lot of fun on Sunday. We'll do this again next Friday. All right. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for coming on. That's Nick Shook from NFL.com. here on the Halford and Brough show featuring Jamie Dodd on SportsNet 650. A reminder that much ballahood, much anticipated Seahawks Rams game, Seahawks are still three and a half point road dogs in L.A. You can hear it right here on SportsNet 650 105 kickoff on Sunday. We will have the matchup between the Rams and the Seahawks right here on the radio. Now, Jamie, you while I was, you may have noticed. I sat out the Nick Shook interview.

You may have noticed during the Nick Shook interview that I was leading the charge with all of my scintillating questions. You guys were just viving. And then everyone was probably like, where's Jamie Dodd? What's Jamie Dodd doing? But as a true professional, he was putting in the work.

What do you got? Yes. As we started that interview with Nick Shook, I noticed on my timeline, one of the most exciting things that can happen in the world of Canucks Media. A new Jim Rutherford interview just dropped with our very own colleague Ian McIntyre

at Sportsnet.com. So, babe, wake up. New Jim Rutherford quotes to go through. I spent the Nick Shook interview parsing through it. And there's, as you would expect from Jim Rutherford, there is a lot in here on the short-term direction of the team, the long-term direction of the team, a lot to dig into and argue about and hash and hash over and over again. A lot of juicy stuff.

Again, as we're accustomed to from Jim Rutherford. Okay, so here's what's going to happen. We're going to go to break. On the other side, we're going to talk to AJ from AJ's Pita on his Broadway. We have an announcement during AJ's hit as well. Then we're going to talk to Axel Schuster, White Cap Sporting Director, about everything that's going on in MLS, some massive major changes to the league on the horizon.

And we'll talk about their playoff game against LAAFC coming up on November 22nd. Then at 7.30, that's right. You'll have to sit around and wait for it. We're going to dive deep into the latest Jim Rutherford interview with Ian McIntyre. It's all coming up in hour two of the program. Your job, don't go anywhere. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.