Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Lost The Sad Club Showdown

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, including last night's Canucks loss to the Buffalo Sabres as well as the announcement of the Whitecaps looking to build a new stadium (3:00), plus they look to this weekend's Week 15 action with NFL.com Nick Shook (29:44). 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 And a jersey hits the ice tonight at Rogers Arena as the final horn sounds The Sabres take it by a final score of three to two. I mean, we're playing pretty good and creating lots of looks. But it just hasn't gone for us, honestly. Rebats, score! Goal number four! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend.

Good morning, Vancouver, 6 o'clock on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody, sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halpert, it is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adol, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford, inbrought 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.

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Lots to get into on the program today. We begin with the guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Guest list today begins at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. Pretty interesting Thursday nighter. Falcons upset Bucks, which allows the Panthers. Yeah, the Carolina Panthers to move into sole possession of top spot.

In the NFC South, we will also look ahead. to all the Sunday games with Nick that's going to be coming up at 6.30. 7 o'clock AJ from AJ's pizza is going to join us. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything. Friday on the program, $100 gift card to AJ's goes to the best ask it. Does anything? Hashtag at AUA, put a pizza emoji in the text. Send it to 650, 6.50.

You could win a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Right after AJ in the 7 o'clock hour, Whitecaps Sporting Director, and MLS executive of the year, Axel Schuster is going to join the program. So Axel, as most of you saw yesterday, was front and center with Vancouver City Mayor Ken Good Time Sim as the city of Vancouver and the Whitecaps agreed to pursue plans for a new stadium. So I am fully prepared for Axel to answer my questions like this for everyone.

I can't say more on that. I can't say more on that. I don't know. I can't say more on that. While we're low on details, we're high on enthusiasm. So I'll handle the stadium stuff, but I'm sure you've got a few questions about what they're going to do this offseason, who might be back, what they might be looking for, et cetera, et cetera.

I still want to ask about the MLS Cup final. Still not over it. Still not over it. Axel's going to join us at 7.30. 8 o'clock Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Noted Kinnock's reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. For today's rundown, I now turn things over to our show's Dollywall administrator, Jason Bruff.

We're just going to talk about the usual stuff Dolly Wall said, we'll talk about the game last night, but like, are you sure? You sure you want to do that? I mean, I guess you have to when you lose to the Buffalo Sabers at home. Yeah, first jersey of the year on the ice. You heard that in the intro. That's fun. Maybe we can talk to Dolly Wall about that at 8.

A reminder, another day of the 12 days of Halford & Brough goes today. It's going to be at 8 a.m. caller number 5-604-280-650. If you listen to Halford & Brough every day next week, don't worry, you'll get a chance to do it then as well to win. Some very cool stuff that we've been giving away. Tickets to sporting events, restaurant gift cards. Yesterday, we gave away a $250 gift card to Waffle House,

which basically allows you the opportunity to franchise a Waffle House. We're keeping the Daily Prize a secret, though, until the winning caller calls, so you won't find out what today's is until after 8 a.m., but the winning caller again, 604-280-650, caller number 5 at 8 o'clock this morning. That's what's happening on the program. We've got a lot to get into.

That was the Deweck morning drive. And without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

Is it? You miss that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.com. Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist.

And the Buffalo Sabres won 3-2 in Vancouver last night. The first road victory in regulation for the Buffalo Sabres since April 1st, which for you schedule enthusiasts out there means yes. It's the first time they've won a game on the road in regulation this season. I don't think anyone's interested in doing the Canucks deserve better in this one act after losing it home to the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, they

outplayed the Sabres. Great. Terrific. They also surrendered two goals at five on five where the shooter was wide open. First by Dahlene and then by Tage Thompson, who's got a terrific shot. Don't leave that guy

wide open. The winning goal, the Sabres scored on the power play. And Brock Besser was out there killing penalties. And this is something he's been doing a little bit lately. And I'm like, really? Okay. He looked totally lost out there.

He was like, he was like Ricky Bobby. He was like, I don't know what to do with my hands. Like, he was like, I don't know what to do with the killing of the penalties. I mean. You told me to go back and watch it. Did you watch it? I did not do that. I will not be told what to do, especially when it's negativity.

The negativity being the play, not you telling me to do it. I don't want to watch something bad. I knew what was, when you. you said, go look at it. I was like, I'll take your word for it. I think he got whiplash on the number of times he was looking around, but like, you know, half a second behind what was actually happened. Then all of a sudden, Adog's favorite player, Zach Benson is, again, wide open in the scoring area, and he scores. And man, he's been a terrific player for the Sabres this year, has he? It was his first goal in 35 games or something like that?

My boy. First goal since March 12th. That's, but he's going to tell us. First goal since March 12th. He's going to bring it on now, though. This is the start. The Buffalo Sabres came to Vancouver and managed to do all the stuff they hadn't done since last season. Zach Benson scored a goal. That was his first goal of the season? Yes. Good Lord.

It was Benson's first goal since March 12th. Also, Alec Tuck didn't even play in this game. He was late scratch because of an illness. That put him alongside Jason Zucker on the list of impactful forwards that weren't playing for the Buffalo Sabres. But alas, in what we coined the Sad Club Showdown? Was that what we coined it going into it? The Sabers won it.

The Sabers won at 3-2 in regulation. We are already at this stage of the season, folks. It is 6.07 a.m. We're tapped on Canucks' content, even though they played a game last night, and there was about five hours of live content dedicated to the team. Postgame show was a mix of anger and angst and frustration from the fan base, who did get to voice their opinions, which I think is an important part of this process. But even listening to Sat and Bick talk about the nuances and intricacies of the game,

you could tell that they didn't really matter. Not Sat and Bick. Those guys matter a lot. But the stuff they were talking about, the breakdowns of individual plays, plays the ice time deployment and they did bring this up of you look at the four centers and the low ice times that they were deployed if the connects were in a different situation you'd be like okay you need to make a coaching change right but they're a it's a hell of a thing to say I think they should change the coach and then a very good counter argument would be what's the

point yeah why bother why bother Adam foot said yesterday and it was a small clip and I don't think He meant it to be, although no coach in this market ever means in any other words to be parsed and manipulated and analyzed as they are. But Adam Foote said after the game yesterday, we needed to play a perfect game to win that against Buffalo? Yeah. A perfect game. Yep. And I think he was referring to the center depth and the amount of missed chances they had. He didn't even try and.

He was really trying to talk up the pump fake. He said pump fake six times. He was like, we got a pump fake more. It was like a grade eight power forward in the paint. You got to get the guy off his feet. I know. You got to give him at least one pump fake. What's this a new strategy?

Just rise it up with the whiteboard in between. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever get that in high school basketball, inbounding the ball? Yeah. Just like one and then just get rid of it. One pump fake. Or one two down through is a good one too.

Yeah, yeah. You're trying to in bounds the ball. Absolutely. You're like from the bench. Pump fake. Hey, one two, down and through. That's it. This is hockey. I know what he's saying

I know what he's saying but you know he's basically saying like we are making it too obvious when we're shooting like we gotta have a little deception out there when you start

kind of micromanaging like if that's your takeaways from the game it's like we got a pump fake more what is going on here what is happening here he sort of muttered the pump fake thing every time you mentioned it

a couple times though Yeah, but I think the larger point was... Is that his feedback? At this point, yes. Is that his feedback to the team? Yeah, at this point, yes. That reminds me of when he was asked about the power play earlier in the season, and he's like, I would just get to zip it around a little bit more.

Snap it around a little bit? Was it or snap it? A little more zip it, a little more snap. Yeah, snap it around a little bit more. But the funny point is when you kind of... The defensive breakdowns on the five-on-five goals. I mean, I think Drew O'Connor was... I'm the first goal.

Was it the second goal? There was one where he was like behind the net with one of his defensemen. I think it was Dahlene. Dahlene had that shot. He just glided into the high slot all by himself to pound one passport thatcher DEMCO. And Drew O'Connor's like, I have got behind the net covered.

Yep. I got this part right here. He's waving to it. I was like that looks like a former winger that is being forced to play. Center because it is. Yeah. I mean, if you want to, if you look at the ice times last night, like here's a fun game. Try and identify who the one C was yesterday based on deployment, face-offs taken, and general

time on ice. It's really difficult because they all sort of ended up between 11 and 14 minutes. And like they were pointing this out on the post game show. There were a lot of instances where Ratu comes out and takes the draw and then off right away. And then they bring out a third winger and it does create some real problems where if you're a coach, like I am trying to get my best offensive players on the ice. It just so happens that none of my best offensive players are centers. So I'm having a hard time trying to manipulate things to get the scoring opportunities that we need. And then on top of that, they're going through

a prolonged slump where the veteran skaters, Besser, Garland, Sherwood, DeBrusk, and Kane aren't scoring. Sherwood had one last night, so I should remove him from this. But remember there was that stretch, and I think it was at the tail end of the Florida trip, where Pucks were going in like crazy. Yeah, yeah.

I remember Drans came on the station. He's like, you know this is going to be followed up by a stretch where the shooting percent drops to around 6 percent. Didn't they have like 13 goals on 56 shots or something like that? Right. And what they were doing was riding the ebs and flows of heaters and like the peaks and valleys of shooting percentage. There was no sustained plan of attack that would allow you to

generate offense when things were bouncing your way and things weren't, right? You lived and died with the bounces essentially. And last night, did they deserve more than two goals? Probably, but they didn't. They deserved more against Detroit too, but sometimes this is the way hockey goes. And then when they were asking

the head coach as to why things weren't happening and what they needed to do is answer was pump fakes. Unicorn texts in How can you blame the coach They are literally out playing teams With an HL center group Just said we're not blaming the coach

Unicorn I'm blaming I am I'm blaming everyone Wow This is such a bad situation I I wasn't super optimistic Heading into the season But I didn't imagine this

I The everything I mean There has been some bad luck With the injuries for sure. Some of them were predictable in some ways and the Canucks made bets

on guys like Heidel and Thatcher Demko and they lost the bets but some of them were also bad luck. I mean I talk about Brock Besser being out on the power play like they really miss a guy like Bluger penalty kill. Sorry on the penalty kill they really they miss a guy like that

and is it the reason why No, but like, you can't single out anything about this season. You can't, right? There's so much stuff that's going wrong. And the problem is that nobody seems to be part of the solution. No, not right now. Every single, Dranth wrote a piece in The Athletic. And, you know, he examined like, and we've kind of done this before.

Like he examined, do the Canucks do anything well? Is there one thing that they can hang their hat on? No. We've had that. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's not, there is not, usually if you're a bad team, you at least have one thing, you know? And even if you could say, well, the Canucks have Quinn Hughes doing things out there.

It was like, oh, that's a bit of a negative, though, right? Because they might not soon. Speaking of Quinn Hughes, let's turn our attention now to the Canucks captain who did speak following the game. And there's a lengthy clip here, which includes some back and forth with reporters. talking about the major story of the moment, and that is the noise surrounding his future as of Vancouver Canock and the trade rumors that are swirling. It's an extended clip, as mentioned,

there's some back and forth with reporters, so turn up your radios and pay attention closely. There will be a quiz afterwards. Quinn Hughes, following a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, talking about his situation, the noise around it, and how it might be affecting his teammates. I mean, I'm obviously human, and I feel stuff, But for me, I feel more of the results and where we are in standings.

I mean, that, you know, probably affects me more. Yeah. Do you think it affects the team? Just the uncertainty of that? I would say, you know, the same thing with the team. I think, you know, at the end of the day, I think guys are focused about themselves too and trying to get their own games going and trying to be productive and bring their best. And I think at the end of the day when guys are lacing up,

The skates not necessarily thinking about me. They're probably thinking about other things. I've talked about some of this noise, maybe affecting the team in the room. Do you think there's anything you can do as a leader to help maybe fly some of that noise down? I mean, I'm just trying to do everything I can. I mean, you watch me play. I'm trying to bring it every night and be a good teammate. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do.

It's worth noting that foot was asked that question as well, that final question about what can you do, not as the captain, but as the coach. What can you do to help silence the noise in the room? And Foote said, in short, not much. Like, it's out there and everyone knows about it. And Huggie's going through, whatever he's going through. And Foote's just kind of along for the ride. And that's fair.

I don't think that there's much he can do on a lot of fronts. I know there's some people that are skewering the coach right now. Can you teach them how to defend? That'd be nice. Oh, I don't think he's got it in his bag. I don't think it's in his arsenal. I don't think he's that guy. Skip you from Halifax, Texin.

I long for Talkett's, quote, protecting the guts of the ice foot's quote swarm defense doesn't work everyone swarms away from the net front yeah they haven't they haven't picked up the swarm very well the amount of times that

I don't even know I don't even know if it's intentional there was a goal the other day when I think it was Garland and Marcus Pedersen went to one guy and that was the winning goal in the Detroit game wasn't it was the winning goal I don't know it was one of the goals and you know the amount of slot shots that are coming in.

That is a guy, like Tage Thompson, he's got a great shot. He gets that puck in the high slot, middle of the ice. That's a dream for NHL players to be in that position, that wide open. And I was like, I'm going to beat this goalie here. So it's interesting, like, I'll try and break this down to as basic as it was explained to me and as I think I understood it. There's not a lot of teams that are doing what the Canucks are trying to, to do. As a matter of fact, someone suggested that Lindy Ruff and the Buffalo Sabres were also ones that

tried to do more of a man-on-man defending and swarm-style defending, as opposed to protecting pieces of the ice, which is what the Tocket philosophy was. Sure. You don't necessarily defend men, you defend ICE. I watched the Vegas Philly game a bit with last night. Yeah. I think Vegas ended up winning an overtime. Yeah, an amazing play by Eichol. Right. But there were like, in a terrible play by Connecticut. But there were like combined 40 shots in the game. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's just protect the middle of the ice. So it takes away the reads of who goes to get that guy,

which in your situation, two guys went to go get one guy yesterday because they're like, am I reading this or are you reading this? And you protect pieces of the ice. I know this is like, I got behind the net. Right. He's like, why are you swarming there? And they're like, no, you need a man. True.

No ice. All man here. Like, I'm a wigger. Yeah. So it becomes a bit of an issue when guys aren't getting it. And unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though. Foote's done a good enough job and this is where I'll be critical of the head coach. He hasn't done a good enough job of being able to either, one, instill this into his players or two, abandon it entirely and go to a different system.

Because that is something, especially at this stage of the season, that a head coach would consider. Okay, I want to talk a little bit about the White Cap's announcement. It was Axel Schuster there with Mayor Ken Sim and Ken Sim was definitely a politician yesterday in this. announcement. But the big questions we had before this announcement remain unsurprisingly unanswered. The bottom line is we still don't know who the caps, who's going to pay for all this, the stadium. We don't know if the lions will be part of it. And it all seems rather pie in the sky at the moment. But at the very least, the white caps do have something to go out and flog to potential partners for the next year in a bit.

They announced that there has been a memorandum of understanding. MOU from here on in. Yeah. The MOU. There's a MOU horn that we've got. It's a mo. Mo. Yeah.

There's been a moh of understanding. Let's just move past this. Yeah. So this is a quote from Axel. The next step is that we continue to have conversations with everyone who can help and could be interested in participating in partnering in this project. And if you speak about an entertainment district, if you speak about the whole piece of land there, you can imagine that a lot of things are doable there. If you just

build a stadium in the city of Vancouver and you build that as a private organization, which the caps are, and you pay it fully by yourself. Then with the cost that this comes with, you will not get into a better financial situation. So we have to be smart and we have to find other avenues for how we can make this whole thing work. Okay. So the translation is on that. as I read it, is they want to partner with maybe some real estate developers and go, look, we've negotiated with the city of Vancouver to build an entertainment district on this land. We'd like some help building the stadium. You guys can build mixed-use stuff, you know, whether that's residential or, you know,

some retail with restaurants or whatever. I mean, I'm going to get to that. Stop interrupting every time. But I will get to that, okay? So the one thing I'll say right now is I don't know if this plan is realistic because I don't know,

I don't know first, like how much does the stadium cost to actually construct and build and are the white caps willing to give anything for that? Okay. Or are they just, well, hold on a second. Okay. I don't know, again, I don't know if the plan is realistic. I hope it is.

But it's a pretty shaky time in the economy right now. Mm-hmm. And a lot of developers are having a tough go of it. So if you're asking partners to join you on a big real estate development, the projected numbers better look pretty juicy, especially if they're like, do we have to build a stadium too? It's like, yeah, you've got to build us a stadium. So how much money are the white caps themselves prepared to put into this project?

Are they hoping to essentially get a free stadium out of this? You'll remember the Canucks tried to partner with the developer at the Plaza of Nations to get a practice facility, A-Dog, and ultimately that deal fell apart and presumably because the numbers didn't work. Maybe the Canucks just were like, yeah, we're not, we don't want to pay for this because we'll be part of it, but we're not going to actually pay anything because we are the, we're the selling point of this development. I just have a question for you and I want to circle back.

So when you said that you don't know if the plan is realistic, and I know you kind of spelled that, but based on your understanding and your read on it, what did you get from yesterday that you thought the plan was? Because I actually walked away from it thinking, I'm not sure even what the plan is. I think the plan is to bring in some developers and say like,

Okay, we're going to have a stadium, but your opportunity, the developers, is the stuff around the stadium. Right. So you can build that and you can make money off that. Okay. And that's your opportunity. So what do you think about that? Right. And the city is saying, we're granting you the permission to do that on this land.

Right. Now, the sleigh with tooth nation is going to be involved in this somehow. Okay. And here's an interesting thing. Adog, are you listening? The Slaywatooth Nation quite often works with the Aqualini's in developing. They will partner up and provide their covenant on deals. And so there are a lot of potential parties that could be involved in this.

You know, maybe the Aqualini's aren't, you know, involved in this somehow. I don't know. We don't know what they're offering, right? We don't know what the numbers look like. It sounds to me like what the white cops are doing is they're going to go around to a bunch of investors and developers and be like, eh? Yeah.

You give us some idea on how you can make money on this. And by the way, we need a stadium built. See, that's what I assumed that the plan was yesterday. We're talking about the infancy, the babiest of baby first steps. and I would assume that right now the next conversations are going to be with an indigenous group

Slay with Tooth, possibly the equineas. Don't forget about the BC Lions because they were brought up yesterday as well. There's going to be a myriad of conversations going on about how do we figure out the financing behind this. The Lions will be one of the last at the table unless they're willing to put in money

but they'll be at the table, right? Well, not to start. Is there a world where we might see like this entertainment district theoretically be built and have of White Caps Stadium next to a Canucks practice facility? Like could that be a thing in that? Yeah, I suppose. Nebulous. Yeah, sure. Why not?

I mean, I think the whitecaps are basically maybe you should go to some of the meetings and you can create like the Homer Simpson car of entertainment districts. But I do think it's like, what's a corporate buzzword? They're like, we're going to blue sky this. Yeah, right? You know? Look, you've got to understand this.

With all due respect. But it seems pie in the sky to me. But with all due respect. their dream be the be you know bring the dreamers to the table well they needed something let's not let's not get it twisted like pessimism is pessimism but overall it's optimism because they got something off the ground when Garber openly said we need some some tangible evidence that things are moving in a direction where you might get a state you do you not think this is a realistic proposal it's not a proposal or scenario it's not a proposal that's what we

just said we don't know we don't know because I don't know again like if the white caps are saying like um build us a stadium you figure out the rest i don't know like i think the white caps are going to but we don't know but we don't know that what they're doing like this is this is not unlike a lot of things that we do where we go way down the road and we start coming up fine this is what they've left us to do we we honestly don't know and i and i and i think this is this is this is one of those things where i'm just going to throw it out there like the reason I say I want to learn more about this is I don't want to get taken on a ride here sure I don't want to get my hopes up and for it to be three or four years down the

line and the white caps leave town and they're like well we tried to build a stadium you know you can't say we didn't try it's like yeah but was it ever a realistic plan was it ever or did you just did you just want to go out there and be like hey is anyone going to build us a stadium here and you figure out the rest. They've still got a lot on their plate with the current plate of the team because if this was even to come to fruition, we're talking four plus years out.

So you need to still rectify your relationship with BC place because unless something dramatically changes, you're calling that place home for the what, like let's say the next three or four years at a minimum, right? Ken Sim really put the pressure on the provincial government,

which I found hilarious. He was like, the city of Vancouver has done its part. I was like, oh, yeah, how much money have you spent? How much? What have you, what have you done? It's like you had lawyers involved to put this MOU together. Like how, you've not, you've, you haven't really committed anything.

You've not, you've, you've, you've committed nothing. That's the point. And then you're asking, and then you're, and then you're like, to the, to the province. He's like, now you give the white caps a break on their lease. Okay, we got to go to break. Before we do, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from waiting rooms to exam rooms and everything in between Jan Pro

keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at JanPro.com. Coming up, we turn our attention to the National Football League. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join the program. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all.

Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your... favorite podcast app. fun. It's pretty good. This is like a Christmas fiesta? I don't know how much of this we have in our database, but hey, we got this one at least. Nice.

I like it. Halperinbroop in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Scorre Debt Freedom Hattrick, one, no more interest, too much lower payments, and three financial peace of mind. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We're an hour one of the program. We're at the midway point of set hour. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here.

I was trying furiously to find the profanity-laced tirade that Todd Bowles, head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went on. But you know what? I'm glad I didn't get it. We were going to play it over this lovely music. It would have taken away from the festive mood that we put forth. It would have been a weird mix, for sure. Our one of this program 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. To the phone lines we go. Nick Shook from NFL.com joins us now on the Halford and Burrard & Rough show on SportsNet 650. What up, Nick? Hey, guys, thanks for having me. And it's a good thing that you probably didn't get that bowl sound because it would just be beep, beep, beep the whole time because of all the things

that he went off the rails on. So, rightfully so, maybe this was a team. I go all the way back to week eight when they were going into their buy. They were six and two. They had just beat the Saints. They had big wins against the Seahawks, the 49ers, and the Houston Texans all in the docket. we were talking about Baker Mayfield being the MVP and now they're 7 and 7 and the bottom has fallen out big time 14 point lead blown yesterday the head coach goes nuts what the hell has happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

well I mean you could shock some of it up the injuries you could point to the fact that Baker Mayfield boss both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin for a significant portion of the season you know the fact that he had to lean solely on Ameca Abuka he lost his best running back in Bucky Irving for a significant stretch as well, and they've been banged up on the offensive line all year, but you also have to kind of look at the quarterback himself. And I hate to say it because I love the way he started the season, but Baker Mayfield, over the course of his career, has proven to be a bit of a

streaky quarterback, and he's on a down swing and has been for a while now. I think it all started maybe around the game they lost to the New England Patriots, the game in which they were competitive, but couldn't stop New England and ultimately fell short. Every loss has been kind of taking on a bit of a different, you know, appearance over this stretch. Last night, it could be a rock bottom for them, given that he gave up a 14-point lead to the lowly Atlanta Falcons, the division rival. A team that you cannot stop from thriving when Kurt Cousins is playing quarterback, which is a crazy thing to say in the year 2025, but it is true.

For whatever reason, Todd Bulls defense always brings the best out of Kirk Cousins. But I think, you know, if it wasn't the 14-point, you know, collapsed last night, the loss The Saints, you know, four days earlier, was just about as embarrassing. It's a team that has ran to, you know, three quality opponents in New England, Buffalo, and the Rams, and has since only won one of the last three games against three opponents that are not quality opponents in Arizona, New Orleans, and Atlanta. So it's tough to explain. I think that maybe we're always playing a little bit above their heads, at least in terms of talent. But it's definitely a team that hasn't weathered the storm of the season very well.

I want to jump around to a couple other stories, including a couple that we've talked about here throughout the week. The situation with Jalen Hertz and to a lesser degree as head coach Nick Siriani in Philadelphia, it was a really ugly loss to the Chargers on Monday Night Football. They get something of a reprieve because they got the god-awful Raiders this weekend. What did Siriani say in response to those calls that he should be benching Jalen Hertz

after that four interception performance against the Chargers? Well, he said it was ridiculous and rightfully so. And honestly, if you think about it, what is probably one of two or three cities that have NFL teams that would jump to that degree of an overreaction because of, you know. God bless Philly sports fan. Yes, exactly. So, Siriana, this is not his first rodeo in answering questions like this. I'm honestly glad that he was, you know, direct in calling it out as being ridiculous. but he also has a job on his hands that looks very similar to the one that he did not fulfill

a couple of years ago, which has solved this late season collapse. And unfortunately, again, is involving his quarterback, who, you know, accounted for all those turnovers and the loss of the chargers, but also just doesn't look like the, you know, the game-changing player that he was last year. Another element that I think we overlooked with the Eagles is the fact that Saquan-Barkley has just not gotten going this year, and a lot of that has to do with the offensive line not being fully healthy. They never really fully replaced Mackay back then at right guard.

They went with Tyler Steen, and it didn't quite work out so far. Then they lost Lane Johnson on the right side. It's just not as effective of the unit up front, and Saquan has never really, you know, had gotten into a rhythm this year. And, you know, big runs for him are like, they're like seeing a comet because it just doesn't happen very often anymore. And I think that hurts the balance of their offense. But more than anything, it's another example of how the Eagles either nail their coordinator hires

in the offseason of change or they swing and miss. Because two years ago, it was the Sean Desai and Matt Patricia, and we don't know who's calling defensive plays fiasco. And now this year it's Kevin Petulow and his first year's offensive coordinator who has seemed to upset the entire offensive room, notably AJ Brown, and they have no identity offensively and can't get out of their own way. So hopefully they fix it because if you don't get right against the Raiders, and oh, by the way, two of the last three games are against the lowly commanders,

then you've got bigger problems on your hands. Nick, I can't stop thinking about the Buffalo Bills and the opportunity they've got this season to finally win a Super Bowl. Now, it's weird because they're not even in first place in their division, New England is, and Buffalo plays New England this weekend. But what?

Just tell me what you think about the bills right now and the opportunity that's ahead of them with teams like Baltimore and Kansas City, maybe not even making the playoffs this year? This is the first year in the Sean McDermott era, aka the era in which the bills are relevant again, in which I look at the AFC and I don't see a team that I can clearly point to you and say,

well, don't beat the bills. Every team in the NFL, I think, is flawed in one way or another, and especially in the AFC. Your leaders are teams that we haven't taken seriously because they haven't been around. I mean, we're talking about Denver and New England and Jacksonville right now is your top three seats. if you looked at me in the offseason and told me any one of those three teams are going to make the playoffs

and would have, you know, the inside track on REITs in the Super Bowl, I'd have told you stop lying and making jokes. I got things to do here. I've got things to do here. And yet, here we are. Buffalo is the sixth seed, nine and four, two games behind New England. Now, they could trim that to one this weekend. But still, it's the first time that we can say the bills have a path to the Super Bowl that doesn't include having to get past Kansas City Chiefs of the Baltimore Ravens. And that is encouraging.

Now, that cannot alone guarantee that they're going to finally get over the hump because I'm a little too cynical to believe that just because Kansas City and Baltimore aren't currently in the playoffs and probably won't make the playoffs, that the bill is just going to find a way to get it done. I actually have thought that they've been a bit fraudulent throughout this year, but they are playing some of the best football over the last few weeks. And in this group of playoff teams where there is no clear contender, there's no heavyweight, I do fear, by the way, them encountering Houston and a, you know, disaster. advantageous situation in which they just can't do anything offensively and they lose a low-scoring game kind of like the Chiefs did on Sunday night that could be their downfall. But if you look at the great picture here, you're thinking

all right, Josh Allen might finally have an opportunity to get done. I just, I still need to be, I need to see it before my eyes before I can truly believe it just because of all the history of the bills falling short. Who do you believe in more? The Patriots or the Broncos. Both teams are 11-2 leading their divisions

but, you know, Buffalo is going into, I think they're at New England this weekend and Buffalo is a one and a half point favorite. It's all massive dependent. And I know that sounds like an excuse. I have more faith in the personnel assembled in Denver than I do in New England,

especially in the defensive side of the ball. Call me a throwback or whatever you want, but I still skewed toward, you know, choosing teams of stronger defenses just because it does still help you at least get close to winning a championship. And you could point to the Eagles last year is a great example of that.

So Denver's defense is better in personnel and in production and in scheme and also in potential. So I would lean toward them, but, I mean, it's hard to go against Drake May right now. I think that this is the entire AFC slate is going to be very much about who are you playing and when are you playing them and potentially where are you playing them more than most seasons. We've seen the Chiefs go on the road and get wins in Buffalo in the past. I think there's going to be some legitimate road upsets this year just because teams that might have been better than the actual division winners and hosts of home. games, you know, they end up coming out on top.

So it's going to be fascinating, though. It's going to be really hard AFC bracket to predict. But I would probably take the Broncos over the Patriots right now. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. This is a presentation of 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 for you mathletes out there. Visit them online at the Clayton Pub.com. Nick, I want to turn our attention, as we often do here to the world-famous NFL QB rankings penned by none other than Nick Shook. Where do you have Philip Rivers on your NFL QB rankings? Well, he hasn't made a start since 2020, so he's not yet in the QB index. And first, he must complete the once impossible, which is be promoted to the active roster at 44 years old, which then resets his hall of same clock.

And then also make a start at 44 years old. Sounds like it's trending in that direction, but as of now, he's not in the QB index. shit. Man, I wish the Colts weren't playing the Seahawks because I'd like to cheer for Philip Rivers. Every time like an old man is on the field, you can cheer for him a lot because it isn't going to attain the outcome of that game.

I'm sorry, but this is the craziest thing that I've seen in the NFL in a long time. What if he's just well-rested now? He hasn't played in four years. Four years is a lifetime. Okay, first off, I got a bunch of questions I want to ask about this because we were talking about yesterday. First off, there's no way this works, right?

Well, I mean, yeah, probably not. But it's just an illustration of how desperate the cults are at this point. And if there's any veteran, granted he's 44 years old, freshly 44, who has the likeliest chance of taking the field, you know, less than a week after signing with the team and being able to execute the offense, at least from a mental standpoint, it's Philip Rivers because of his time with Shane Steichen, back when Steichen was his Qie's coach with the Chargers around the time they moved from San Diego to L.A.,

which, you know, seems like an eternity ago. And, but if there's anybody that's going to be able to do it, it's Rivers. The question is, can you do it at 44 years old? I mean, I'm watching practice footage from me yesterday that the Coltsby just is tweeting out and posting on social media. And my main takeaway was, yeah, there's that throwing motion. We always need the weird short-armed, like, shot-put motion that somehow works for him. And also, he looks like he has a good.

under that jersey. He looks like Sonny Juergenson. And that's going to be interesting to see on an NFL field. There's more of them to cheer for. That's right. Martin in love, baby. Okay, we had this conversation yesterday, and I was like, I'm going to save some of this for Nick,

because you know a lot more about football than I do. And quite frankly, both of us combined. It feels like a position that is the most fundamentally important in all of sports, the quarterback position, and the one where you can be more rich. compensated than any other position, it seems weird that there's only like 30 or 40 guys that can do it with the level where you don't have to call a 44-year-old guy that's been retired for four years to try and salvage your season. How big a problem does the NFL have

in developing quarterbacks? Because there's not another position in sports where if you lose the guy, you throw up the white flag and you're like, well, our season's over now because we don't have our quarterback. Yeah, that's the duality of shifting your league toward being a quarterback first, past first league, which is what's happened over the last, you know, 15 years, both with rules and the way that offenses have evolved and the prioritization of the quarterback. It's tough because when it goes right, it goes really right.

And people love the product. I mean, I think it was 46 out of the 50 most watch programs and on television last year were live NFL games. And that speaks to it right there. But if you think about, The overall scheme of football, like, we are pretty removed from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning a Super Bowl with Brad Johnson. Right, right. Incredible defense.

The same thing is true with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. So, like, it's tough when you put that much into quarterback, and it doesn't go right. It's, it doesn't pan out well, but I don't know if it's a quarterback problem. It's more dependent on situation and talent, and, you know, eventually we see, I don't know, We look at a number of different examples, I think, over the last five years or so. Think about Tua Tuto Teno by Loa, who struggled early in Miami. Then Mike McDaniel comes in, and now he, then he blossoms, and he struggles with injuries, and now it seems like he might be a lame duck quarterback.

Kyler Murray, kind of a similar situation in Arizona. Like, it can change year to year. And so it's about as much situation as it is player talent. You've got to marry the two properly, and it's a complex situation to make sure that you're going to get the most out of some of these players. And that's why you see so many players come up short and not develop. You see the gray yard of quarterbacks that existed in Cleveland over the last 20 to 25 years, say for Baker-Mayfield's a brief run of success there.

So I don't know if it's a problem as much as just a product of a league in which a lot of things have to go right for you to succeed at no other position more than quarterback. You know, I was reading about this last night. One of the interesting theories, which kind of ties into what you were just saying, is that there's a understanding that the defensive, like, schematics and the ability to, you know, to evolve defensive formations and looks has actually gone at a rate that has kind of surpassed how quarterbacks

have developed or groomed or been able to read the defense. Like the defense have gotten that much better in a time where the quarterbacking maybe hasn't. Is that something you've heard as well? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, the complexities of some of these defenses, I think it really, I had to trace it back maybe five to seven years ago

when a lot of the defensive coordinator started leaning on quarter-shunders. shelves. And because there was a significant period in the NFL when it became a pass first league and defenses hadn't quite caught up yet. And the only like real defense that, you know, got its like a brand name was the Tampa 2 with the Buccaneers. And everybody ended up getting on board with that and, and adjusting accordingly. And these, you know, passing schemes are wide open. The spread offense makes the jump from college to the NFL. And And people are stretching the field and it just looks crazier and more explosive than ever.

And it took a while for the defense to adjust. And once they started to adjust, you know, like these quarter shells where you can just do a number of different things where you can kind of put an umbrella over the top of the defense and do a lot different things underneath, you can go to three safety looks and mix guys around depending on personnel strengths and the proliferation of the edge rusher, the prioritization of the edge rusher and the cornerback. We don't have the Brian Erlacker important in Ray Lewis's important linebackers of 15, you know, 20 years ago

because it's all about getting after the quarterback now. So it's been a big push and pull. But, yeah, defenses are just, I mean, they're really complex now for sure. And I think a lot of quarterbacks, it's kind of like offensive line play. A lot of quarterbacks go from college to the NFL and they just haven't seen these complex defenses

because college defenses don't have the personnel to be able to pull it off. Nor do they have the continuity to be able to do the crazy things that some of these defenses do. Whereas offensive linemen have been coming from college to the NFL, not prepared at all because they were never even taught how to pass that. They just been fly protecting or it's just been very basic stuff

just to go win as many games as you can in college without understanding the full breadth and scope of their position in the NFL. So it's a learning curve thing for sure. That's why you get Nick shook on your program and that's why you ask them the questions. Nick, you're the best, buddy. Thanks for doing this today. Enjoy all the games this weekend.

God bless Philip Rivers. Hopefully he gets through it okay. We'll do this again next Friday. All right. Thanks, guys. Hopefully it goes better for me over the weekend than it does for Philip Rivers. I'll go. See you, dude, thanks.

Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Yeah, Seahawks still holding steady is a 14-point favorite in that one. And I'm kind of with you. Like, I would, at this stage, I want to see him defy logic and go out, even if it comes at the expense of the Seahawks at this point. He can play well and lose. Well, I just, I look at it. And I'm like, I don't even think it's so much about being able to go out and make throws

and make plays and avoid pressure. It's literally just about not getting hurt. Because you haven't done this in four years. Yeah, he's going to get hit, though. It's going to get hit. I don't even think it's that part. I think it's when you try and move fast, having not moved fast in four years.

It'd be funny to start screaming. Everyone at our age knows exactly what I'm talking about. You're like, I can go play. Boom, hammy, gone. I can go play. I'll just take it easy. Yeah, yeah. There's no take it.

Oh, my hammy. You know what it is. Just have a couple beers beforehand. Right? Do I need to stretch? I'll just, you know, I'll take the massage gun, the Thera gun, and that's stretching for me. Yeah.

Okay, let's do some Ask Us Anything's, and just a reminder, send in your Askus Anythings into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Winner of Best Ask Us Anything, and you've got to include the pizza emoji, gets $100 gift card to AJ's, and we'll talk to AJ in a couple minutes, followed by Axel Schuster, by the way, which you're going to want to stick around for that. Kevin on the road text in, Ask Us Anything, is it fair to compare this, Canucks team to the Aves team that only got 49 points when they had McKinnon. The Aves turned it around.

Can the Canucks? The answer, I'm sorry, Kevin, is no. Because that Aves team that was so bad had McKinnon when he was 21, Ranton when he was 19, and gave Landisogg when he was 23. And none of them left. not and not well one of them left but they got a pretty good player back yeah you know and they and they want a cop with with rantanin and and with landisog right and and the the key guy there is McKinnon like he was he you know he his his NHL career kind of was up and down right to start and people were like I thought he'd be better I don't think anyone's saying I thought he'd be

better now it did take some time but they had him right they had they had a first overall pick with one of the best talent profiles that you could possibly imagine. Watch him play. The guy is a machine.

Now, the Canucks, because they are not a good team right now, are going to add some young talent. They're going to add some young talent in the draft. Maybe they're going to acquire some first round picks and add some more. But to compare them right now

with that Avalanche team, would be wrong because we don't know what they've got. We don't know if they're going to get a first overall pick. And because McKinnon had been in the league for a few years, you know, he was that much further along in his development. And they did have to go through some really tough times. I know we've got to go to break now, but do you remember when I went to the game

and I was in the media elevator going down after, it was during the dark years. Yeah. And the Canucks were a bad team, and they just dominated Colorado in a game. And I'm in the media elevator just going like, that is such a bad team. I cannot believe there's a team in the NHL

that that's bad. Even the Canucks dominated them. They have nothing. That was just pathetic. J. Pat gives me a little elbow and goes, hey. And then I look over. And Joe Sackick is also in the elevator with me.

A single tier running down. I was going to kill me. Hearing some media cranks rip his team apart. He's probably like, I hate this guy, but he ain't wrong. Damn, he's accurate. Okay, we got, we were up against him for time. We need to remind you that this segment of the show was brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926.

Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown. Visit them Richmond. Visit them online at the Duick Auto Group.com. Our one of this program, it's in the books. AJ's going to join us on the other side. As Jason mentioned, Axel Schuster's going to join us in their side. We have an open segment at.

730. We'll read some of your texts and do some of your ask us and endings. Maybe we'll get into some of the stories from the National Hockey League last night. 13 games. There's a lot to get into. Whatever the case, we got two loaded hours left on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.