Halford & Brough in the Morning - The DK Metcalf Revenge Game Is Here

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason talk the latest around Canada Soccer with OneSoccer lead commentator Gareth Wheeler (1:06), plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks matchup versus DK Metcalf's Steelers, as ESPN's Brady Henderson (26:32) joins the show.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

7.03 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sports Night 6.50. Halfford and Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates, B.C.'s first and trusted choice for dead help with over 3.3. thousand five-star reviews. Visit them online of Sands dash trustee.com. We are in

hour two of the program now. Gareth Wheeler from One Soccer is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two of this program is brats by Jason Homonick at Jason.Morgage, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers.

If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Don't mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech, Footwear, and Orthotics,

working together with you. step. To the Power West Industries hotline, we go. Gareth Wheeler joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Gareth. How are you? Morning, boys. How are things out there? Things are great. We are still basking in the glow of two very impressive victories for the Canadian men's national soccer team. First against Romania, then against Wales.

Four nil across both. Was there one big takeaway from you from the two wins? Or were there too many good things to just have one significant takeaway? Well, the main takeaway, big picture, is that this team finally looks like it's back on track. I think they were kind of basking in the glow, taking your words from Copa America a couple summers ago. And they kind of been struggling since just finding their consistency and regularly performing in big games. Like we saw it during the Conccaf Nations League tournament where they were completely handled by Mexico. They got knocked out by Guatemala in the Gold Cup.

So you were just wondering whether the team perhaps was potentially being overhyped or there was actually some real substance there. And I think they answered the call. I thought that Jesse Marsh and the team did a really good job staying focused. I think that Marsh came up with a lot of solutions to potential problems that they had. There were without three of their predominant or players that you would think that would start across the back line in defense come to the world. Cup next summer in Alfonso Davies and Alastair Johnson and Moyz Bombito and three players, including

a local boy out there for you guys, and Nico Seeger, really stepped up and provided something. So I think that when you're heading into a World Cup because of availability and injuries and circumstances, you're going to need solutions. And I think that Jesse Marsh came away with some. And now has a core group of, I would say, 16 players that he knows he can rely upon come next summer. And that's a big thing for any manager at this point to start coming up with those solutions and be able to project forward. It wouldn't be a true Jesse Marsh conversation unless we talked about him ruffling feathers yet again. This time it was the Wales manager

Craig Bellamy, who was none too pleased with, I guess the antics. I was still having a hard time figuring out exactly what Bellamy was upset about, but I know he was upset. What did you make of what the Wales manager had to say about Marsh following the match? I actually appreciate the candor of Craig Bellamy, because he's a competitor, right? He played Premier League football, he played on the national team level, and he just hates losing, and I completely buy it.

So when he loses a game like that at home, and he made the comment that he saw Jesse Marsh shaking the hands of his coaching staff before the final whistle went, and he sees the celebration, sometimes over the top from this Canadian team, if we're going to be honest, he sees

all that, and he simply doesn't like it. But there were not so veiled shots said Jesse Marsh. Look, I think that Marsh is a polarizing figure. He even admitted, like, going back to the UK, like, Leads United fans cannot stand the guy. Like, they just, they despise

him when he was manager of that club. He's ruffled feathers in Concordcaf. It's a product of him just kind of speaking when it's on his mind. He really doesn't have much as a filter. Sometimes it can come across as preachy as well.

I also think in the World Game, the American, the Americanness of him, the American manager isn't always well received as well. So I just think that there's a number of factors where I just think that he generally rubs people, some people, the wrong

way. I mean, it was like that when he was managing a Major League Soccer as well. Like, for the New York Red Bulls, there were a combative group and sometimes Marsh just would rub them the wrong way. He's certainly someone that you want to be on your side rather than opposing. So

I completely get that sentiment, but guess what? I just don't think that Marsh is going to change. Like, this is a guy he is, and he's our guy now, and I think that it comes with a lot of good. The only problem that could emerge is if the players start tuning out or they don't like what he has to say. I was surprised there wasn't more of a pushback on Marsh in the press conference and the build-up to the game.

He basically hit out at critics in the online space against players like Dane Sinclair and Kyle Aaron. I'm like, really, you really care what people are saying online about you? It just seemed petty and unnecessary to take shots at the fans because they're knowledgeable and they can criticize whoever they want to criticize. So this is just Jesse Marsh and who he is and the good comes with the bat and everything in between. I just hope he doesn't cause any sort of loss of composure among the team

with unnecessary distractions or unnecessary. comments you know it's funny because Halford is a lead supporter and so he told me all about Jesse Marsh before he came and I'm like I'm like okay well this will this will be interesting and there's

been a like I obviously like the way the team has been playing and that's the most important thing but there have been a few comments that he said is like I hope he doesn't put a real target on Canada during the World Cup you know I I just don't want it to backfire.

Is that fair? Yeah, I think it's absolutely fair. Some outrageous comments, where he was at Leeds, the one comment that got me, he made the comment that we're playing good football that's too bad in the world of soccer that the results matter.

It's like, what's, like, that's not exactly what the fans wanted to hear at that time. It didn't make much sense. But I'm with you, and I've been critical of his approach here over the last eight, nine months because it's become the Jesse Mars show, and I don't think it necessarily has to be.

The players are the stars. Like, we kind of went through that raw, raw team-building stuff with John Hurdman, and it came at a time where they really needed it. Now I just think that they need a top manager, someone that can bring out the best of this group, and all the chaos that ensued, like the stuff with Cogacap, the performative nature being sent off, completely unnecessary in the Nations League.

It's like, dude, like, you have a really good team here, and there's an opportunity for them to do something special, just be their head coach. Like, you don't have to be their cheerleader. So I agree. Sometimes, like, it came off as the press conference earlier in the week as almost being preachy to a fault. Like, it almost seemed like he was in a job interview.

Like, perhaps I'm just too much in the weeds here. But I do think that he brings something to the table, and I do think that he knows how to get the best out of this group. I do have some reservations about what that was. will be like if they end up playing in really hot weather next summer. You just can't play that rock and roll, like, frenetic style all the time. So there needs to be more than that. But I think that that's what we saw over these two games.

I think the team managed those two games much better, albeit against opponents that are weaker than them, and opponents that were playing, you know, World Cup qualifying games in that window. So it was kind of a secondary game. But I really like the way that Canada played. So I think that both things can be true here, that Jesse might need to kind of dial things back to a certain degree.

I'm not sure if he's able to do that. But also the team is really good. And I think that he has a good read on what's going on amongst the group. So let's hope that the latter kind of, you know, kind of trumps any other concerns. When are we expecting Alfonso Davies to be healthy? Well, he's back running doing off-field training. Look, I'm of the mindset. do not rush.

If you're Bayern Munich or Canada, I mean, we won't see him for Canada until 2026. I would be absolutely shocked if he was part of the group in the November window. And I think that Bayern Munich are in a position where it's a player. This is a serious injury that he's sustained. He's not exactly had a clean bill of health,

shown to be the most durable player from the outset. So I think it's just more about patience because next summer is obviously going to be a massive tie. and even the run-in, just in terms of Bayer Munich and their ambitions, specifically in the Champions League. I mean, I just don't think anyone can touch them in the Bundesliga. So there's no point rushing this process. And it's going to be a substantial challenge for Jesse Marsh

amalgamating Alfonso Davies back into the team. Yeah, that was going to be my next question. Ali Ahmed is, honestly, like, the white caps are so blessed to have a player like him. Like, he is, for me, he's the most underrated player on the Canadian team. like the way that he presses, defends, like he is the perfect player

for Jesse Marsh, and now he's added the element of service, like set pieces, like he's being incredible. So you have Larea who looks stable at left back, Ahmed,

you know, just in front of him. Davies is going to start, he's going to play, but in what position, how does that play out? And then on top of that, the last time that we saw Alfonso Davies

with the national team who was going down through injury and his agent through the toys out of the Pram and took a direct game at Jesse Marsh. What does that, relationship like and Davies is supposed to be your captain of your team and now they're going

through a period of good form without him. So what does all this mean? I think that this is the biggest story. The track who to follow when it comes to the Canadian men's national team over the next 10 months is just how Davies works, where does he fit and how does all the off-field stuff play into it. What do you think about where to play him positionally? I mean this is a debate that's been going on for a while now, and it doesn't seem like it's been settled. Yeah, I'd play them higher up the field, to be honest with you. I think that if they play better opponents,

it's going to be much more difficult for defenders to get forward, become involved, especially, like I said, like if you're playing a really hot weather next summer, like we saw it during the Club World Cup this summer, it played a huge role. That's why it's so important for Canada to win the group and stay in Vancouver as long as they can, quite frankly. But I play him higher up the field.

I think that Luray is suited to that left back position. He does things that very few players on Canada actually do because he's got the pace to track back. He's outstanding in protecting the ball and drawing fouls. He's great moving forward in attack. And I just think that if you have Alfonso's athleticism, those legs, I mean, he's a top top player, pushed higher up the field. I think the attack in open play gets a little bit better.

And that's where I think that Canada might have a little bit of a deficiency is just like the ability to break down teams and score and open play. I think that Davies is just a superior option there. If he's willing to work and put in the defensive work like Ali Ahmed does, then he's a ready-made solution for that left side of the field just a little bit higher up. But like I said, I mean, Marcia's decisions to me. Does he even put him even higher up the field? because Oloashei leading the line

that, I mean, I don't think that there's anything permanent about that spot. I think that Marsh prefers Tanny Olo Shea leading the line, but does he even, like, think outside the box and just have Davies pressing alongside Jonathan David in his attack? I don't know what he's thinking right now. I tend to think he'll end up at left back, but I think you've got to think outside the box based upon the form of other players

and how all the pieces of the puzzle fit because, I mean, you guys watch enough international football, sometimes the best players don't feature for respective nations just because they don't fit in terms of the overall tactical blueprint. So how did this all come together? I think this is a really good problem that Jesse

Marsh has, but one that certainly needs to be figured out in certainly a short period of time with him coming back next year. So it's funny, we had Marsh on the show a couple months ago and I mentioned at the end that I was a lead supporter and I think he was like, oh God, this is going to take a turn. But I'm in the

minority. I'm one of the few lead supporters who genuinely, I liked him, like I liked a lot of the stuff that he brought to the table. I also acknowledge he's loathed among the supporters. Like, nobody likes him. I think, and I might be not even the minority, like the singular one, but I, I've always liked the style of football that he is so committed to. Now, the rub, and you're kind of bringing this up with what might happen in the World Cup, is sometimes there's a naivete about doing it all the time, because things might not allow for it. Like in Leeds, it wasn't going to work for a multitude of reasons,

but he pushed on with it regardless. With Canada going into the World Cup, you bring up a very good point. Playing this frenetic and such a fast-paced style is great, except when the heat is sapping the life out of you. Does he have the sort of tactical acumen to change it up, or are they going to live by the sword, die by the sword, with this style of play?

Before the window, I would have said, live by the sword, die by the sword. I thought they got stuck in and showed a little bit of something different in these two games. So I think he has to adapt. I mean, this is why this style of playing, I guess I don't know what you'd refer to, but it's kind of like the Red Bull brand of football. Yeah, I mean, you know, Leipzig and Salzburg and even New York, they all play this way. And that's the Leeds United Way now, I guess to a certain degree, I guess they've changed a little bit

since Marsh has moved on, but I digress. You don't see it that often in international football because the games are oftentimes slower and much more tactical because the teams don't have much time to come together. They're playing international football on top of their club football. We mentioned what the weather is going to be like in the summer. So I think that there needs to be some tactical nuance to it. I mean, this was the one area I thought that John Herman did a,

well, he did a good job in a number of different areas, but he would determine, like they'd sit in for 15 minutes and they'd go and impress for like 20. Like there was just, there was ways that they'd go about managing the match that I thought was really affected for that candidate team under Herdman. I think that Marsh kind of needs to do something similar. And I think that, you know, what we saw from players like Lorea in Sigour, I thought that Ismail Kone was fantastic. They can sit in a little bit more, just hold on to the ball, slow down the game.

and start playing at a much more manageable pace. And so as long as that can take place, I think that that's a positive. But I still want to see what this team looks like in possession a little bit more, just when the game slows down, how they use Jonathan David and are able to break down other teams because set pieces are huge.

I think it was a step forward these last two games for a group that's really struggled in set pieces. But I think just when a team like sets up, like Mexico did last year, where they set up in a low block and they say, hey, Canada, come break us down. I think Canada needs more solutions. You just can't run around and through different teams all the time. So how that evolves, I'm curious to see, but I think it has to happen between now and next summer.

Excellent analysis, Gareth. Thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Thanks, boys. Keep up the great work, okay? Yeah, you too. Thank you. That's Gareth, Weiler, from One Soccer here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.

Jesse Marsh is going to be such a lightning. Rod at this World Cup. Not just in Canada but I think for the whole U.S. backdrop, it's such a, it's great, it's great theater. It is, yep. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's going to be a lot. Okay, I want to

go back to the Quinn Hughes situation. We've talked about it a lot this show, much to the chagrin of one of our regular listeners, but the rest seem to be enjoying it. Quinn Hughes wasn't the only Hughes that spoke to Elliot and Kyle on the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast. His brother, Jack, who's been talking a lot down in Vegas,

had some things to say about potentially playing with his brother. This time, to the 32 thoughts, guys. Here is Jack Hughes from yesterday. I mean, yeah, I think everyone was a little surprised when, like, Rutherford came out in 70 Saturday. But he's probably, like, a pretty, I don't know much, but he's probably a pretty, like, I would assume a straight shooter. And, yeah, like, at the end of the day,

he's either going to stay or he's going to go. That's how everyone is. And I know he's had a lot of great years in Vancouver and he still likes it there and wants to have a big year there. I mean, that's his number one focus is to, you know, lead Vancouver back to the playoffs. That's where his mindset's at. So I'm sure you have him on the podcasting a couple hours. But, yeah, I thought it was just funny because when was that in June? yeah yeah and like the middle of june everyone's in a media like a frenzy just talking about

like Quinn hughes and like Quinn's on the golf course you know like not doing anything so just funny how it all works out i think one of the interesting dynamics and probably by extension narratives that's going to i think play out this year is how often is this going to be brought up Will the conversation wear itself out? Will it be exercise to the point where everyone's good and satisfied with the questions and the answers? Does every win and or loss circle back to, does this strengthen the Canucks chances of keeping Quinn Hughes in the mold?

They were like, oh, that PK won't help keep Quinn Hughes in town. If they lose the Columbus on a rainy Tuesday night, we come in on the Wednesday morning and being like the Quinn Hughes percentage just went down three last night. It's going to be like the Dow Jones. Is it seriously though? The Quinn Jones? Seriously though.

I know you're, I think you're joking, but all seriousness is this is what we set ourselves up for. I also wonder if he's going to have to come out at some point and just be like, I'm not going to answer questions about my contract. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine.

But on the road, you can't do that. But also, I don't even know if you necessarily need to ask the questions. It's just that this. season is, I mean, that might be the catchphrase. They might have to put it up. It's the referendum season. Like, this is the one. What if he doesn't

say that? And then every day it connects reporters, you don't even have to ask a question. You just, like, you're like, huh? What are you thinking? And then when I get, like, three-game win streak? Yeah, is this helping? And then four-gett losing streak. How much does this take away from the three-game win streak?

Yeah, it's just going to be, it's just going to be sounds interviewing him. They're like, When things are good And then when things are bad You'd be like Oh Every time they connect score Every time all season

Adam foot looks at Quinn Hughes And gives them a big double Things are going great Can't wait for next summer And every time they get score on Foot looks away It tries not to make eye contact with Quinn It's like a running gag

For the whole year It is I mean it's I guess it's somewhat predictable But it is also crazy When you take a step back And you realize this is the scenario Yeah this is we're gonna have

I just want to prepare our listeners and Canucks fans for this because this is a whole year of this. It's going to go on all year. It's not going to stop. It'll be the number one narrative other than maybe PD. All year is what you're not going to be able to bury this. I'm kind of laughing actually because I saw lots of response on Canucks Twitter yesterday. Yes, it's still a thing of people being like, this is such a non-story, crazy media making it up.

Like it's not an issue. Who is saying that? Lots of people, man. Who is saying it's a non-story? Lots of fans. We're hearing it more and more. Yeah, lots of fans don't, I think more so because fans don't want to live in a world where they think Hughes might be on a different team someday. You know what I'm getting tired of?

People that don't want to live in reality and then just convince themselves that it's not reality? I get that, though, because I don't want to imagine a Canucks team without Hughes on it. That would be awful. I mean, I totally understand that. Yeah, but you're a big enough boy that you can, like, you can say like, that might happen. Yeah, it might. That might. But now, based on.

And life will go on. It will. well the added dynamic But now with that obviously I can say now with that audio from today I don't understand how people could have that reaction because he's even now said it himself like look we'll have to see how this year goes

and because of that all season now this is going to be a talking point my pushback to anyone that says like this is a non-story and this is a non-factors are like okay just consider this he is a top

five player all time in the history of the 50 plus years of the franchise I think you could say that right you'd put him in the pantheon right now. He's the best defenseman that's ever played for the Vancouver Canucks period, end of sentence, no sort of addendum.

That in itself is unique. Now throw in the fact that when's the last time that this organization has had this sort of like going to the summit of a contract, not dispute, but a negotiation that's this profoundly important. The Pedersen one wasn't even this important because they were toying with the notion

of trading him. But doesn't it also feel like this is about two players too, because if number 40 bounces back then there's a very good chance that the Canucks will keep Quinn but if he doesn't bounce back

then there's a very good chance that they won't be able to keep Quinn and you're in a situation where are you stuck with Pedersen or do you trade him then and is he tradable at that point? So this is like this is high this is high stakes we're talking about number one d number one center right and with

the peterson contract you got to remember that what made that one a little bit more nuanced was that there was different avenues that they could have gone down they were entertaining the idea of trading him they did want to get him to give them an answer on a contract but they were like we can go in different directions here with hues there's two directions they want to him to stay, they don't want him to leave. That's it. This is the most black and white kind of argument or debate

that you can have. There's no gray area. There's no like, well, we could imagine life without him. They don't want to imagine life without him. I mean, I know it's kind of hyperbolic, but with the Canucks lack of center depth, much of this season's success or failure rides on Pedersen. Yes. Like, it's like he's kind of the focal point, even more than

Hughes in that way, because you know Hughes will be great. It's probable the goaltending will be excellent, and it's probable the defense will be excellent. But if PD isn't on his game, they don't have the depth to carry them along that season. And it affects the wingers too. Totally. It affects the winners. It affects what Brock Bessor is going to do. Okay.

We got a lot more to get to on the program. Coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to go in a totally different direction. We're going to talk some Seahawks ahead of Sunday's game in Pittsburgh. Hawks are three-point dogs against D.K. Matt Kaff and the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Brady Henderson from ESPN.

Our Seahawks Insider is going to join us. We're going to play the Quinn Hughes audio again. after Brady, which will set us up for 8 o'clock. Thomas Trance is going to join the program for a whole half hour of Canucks Talk. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. 734 on 8th Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford, Brough, Sports Night, 6.50. You know, hockey season is alive and well when the listeners are texting in saying we're making a big deal out of nothing. God, it's good to be back. See, told you. That's the reaction from a lot of people. You hear it all year.

It also depends how much sports talk radio you listen to, right? If you listen every day, all day on the station, yeah, you're going to go a little bit tired of it. And for some of you, it depends on how full your diaper is. If it's full, you get upset. You go a little fussy. Clearly. And then you get on your phone.

And then sometimes you're seeing a little snacky snack. And if you think I'm referring to you with that comment, I am. You are listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's designed for you and specifically you. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are now in our hour two of the program.

Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider from ESPN, is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominoch at jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason. To the PowerWest Industries hotline we go, Brady Henderson, Seahawks Insider for ESPN, joins us now

on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brady. How are you? Good morning, guys. I'm doing great. Empty diaper. I'm a little hungry. I'm going to need an nap at some point, but other than that, I'm all good. How are you guys? I'm glad to hear you're well. That's good.

I want to know how the Seahawks are doing. Now, we're four days out from that disappointing loss at home to a Niners team that the kicker was so bad he got cut. Kittle got hurt and he's on IR. Brock Purdy's all banged up, yet the Niners still managed to win that game. So I ask, what's the level of frustration and disappointment among the Seahawks' players and coaches after that season opening loss. Yeah, well, it was even more than that. I mean, Joanne Jennings went down.

You know, he's their number one receiver. Well, Brandon Ayuk is out. And Iyukes obviously didn't play in that game. So their true number one receiver was also out. McCaffrey was probably a little bit banged up. So, yeah, it was one of those games where you just think, look, you only get so many opportunities to beat your division rival. And, yeah, it's got a sting for them to not be able to take advantage of it

when the 49ers were nowhere near full strength. And then when you consider the fact that they were right there at the end, yeah, that was a disappointing loss for them. And, you know, I think it was, I don't, I think the word discouraging with the offense would probably be a little too strong because it is week one. And, you know, I think if you look around the NFL, you will probably see that in a lot of years, defenses are ahead of offenses. So maybe not discouraging.

but I would say certainly fair to say that it was a hugely disappointing debut by their offense and we can dive more into that but I thought it was just interesting that some of the things that they sort of said they were going to be and they were going to hang their hat on they didn't really do

for whatever reason and so it is one game but it was a division game and again it was a chance to it was a really good opportunity to get a game ahead of what may be the biggest competition for the division Who else is going to catch balls on this team besides JSN?

Yeah, that is, you know, that was, I think, the big question, or one of the big questions when they traded D.K. Metcalfe and, you know, didn't spend an early pick on a receiver, and obviously they signed Cooper Cup, but you just got to wonder what he's got left in the tank at his age and how healthy he can stay. I think, you know, you do have, with Cooper Cup's games, you do have to look at the fact that, one he drew the defensive pass interference penalty in the end down now i i don't know if that ball was catchable so that may have been a break for them but you figure if he doesn't get interfered with maybe that's a touchdown uh he also if you if you slow down that final play that the darnal

humble he was wide open uh going over the middle of the field and you know i don't know if he walks into the end zone but i would like his chances of scoring if darnold had got to him on his progression. So you take that day from Cooper Cup kind of in context. And that, you know, it was a very quiet day. He also had to drop. But it was a very quiet day that, you know, could have been pretty productive. And so, but to your point, I still think there is a question of how much they're going

to get out of him, how many games they're going to get out of him. And, you know, how much Tori Horton can produce as a rookie. You know, he looks great in that preseason or, excuse me, in training camp. He was fantastic, and that was a big reason why they moved on from Mark Wes Valdez-Catling. But he is a rookie. He does have a pretty extensive injury history, and we already have seen a little bit of that when, you know, the fact that he took, what was it, two weeks or so, two plus weeks to get back from, you know, tweaking his ankle.

So still is very much a question mark. I think one of the interesting things, too, was they didn't get Elijah Arroyo involved at all. I think he had just the one catch. And so, I mean, he, I, look, I saw it all summer and all spring. That guy has the potential to be a big time weapon for them, even, you know, to some degree right away, and he just didn't see it in that game. Let's talk about Rieck Wullen.

That was a rough final drive for him. I actually think the touchdown was the worst because he just, he leapt into the air, kind of sold the farm when he just should have been focused. on knocking the ball away or focused on the whatever the third string 49ers receiver is that caught that

ball. What was the talk around him this week and is he going to start this week? Yeah, I guess you use Mike McDonald's wording, we'll see. And that was what Mike McDonald said when we asked him that yesterday if he won't. Oh no.

Folks, we lost him. Brady Henderson, ESPN, our Seahawks insider here on the Halford & Brough Show. on SportsNet 650. Give them a call back. See, if we can get a little bit of a cleaner line as well, there, A dog. There's a lot to get into in this game.

We haven't even talked about the opponent yet. I know Brady mostly focuses on the Seahawks side of things going into these matchups, but I think a lot of the conversations this week with various people does deal with D.K. Metcalfe, in part because of what you just talked about, they are solely lacking a, and that's just granted after one game,

but solely lacking, or sorely lacking a second receiving option on this team. Cooper Cup was darn near non-existent against the Niners. That third receiver spot, as Brady pointed out, has yet to be filled. We got Brady back on the line now. Brady, do we have you again? Yes, yeah, sorry about that. So you were asking me about Rick Wolland and whether or not he's going to start.

And the word from Mike McDonald yesterday when we asked him that was, we'll see. And he has not hid the fact that, you know, Wolland is now competing for Staps with Josh Joe, who was tremendous in that game, getting the interception. I mean, as the nearest defender in coverage, Josh Ope was targeted five times, allowed one catch for one yard. Obviously, he had the interception. That's a passer rating of zero. And if you look at what Bullen allowed, I think it was three catches on four targets, 73 yards.

Obviously, the late touchdown, and that was a near perfect passerating of 156-something-something. And so, I mean, you don't need the passerating to tell you what your eyes saw in that game. And, you know, to his credit, you know, what I asked him about it, Yesterday, he was, you know, he owned up to it and said, you know, he's got to attack the ball on the touchdown. And on the play before that, the Ricky Pearsall, 45-yard catch down the sideline, you know, he said what it looked like, which is that he knew the route. Then he ran the route for Pearsall, and then, you know, for whatever reason, he misjudged the ball in the air. Now, Pierceaw tried to make it sound like he beat him on the double move, which that wasn't the case.

if you look at it, he was with Pearsall the whole time until the ball is arriving and he just missed, I don't know if he lost it in the air or what, but he misplayed it and it ended up being, you know, another game-changing play and the odd thing about Woolen

is that for, you'll call it 90% of games, he's really good. And then there's those critical plays late in the game that he just doesn't come through on. And I'll give you some numbers to back that up. So last season, there were 500 defensive players in the NFL who had at least 500 coverage snaps.

And of those 500, he had the 16th best passer rating against, meaning 16th lowest. So for the most part, he was really good. But you saw some critical mistakes late in games. Remember that Rams game in overtime where he's got a chance to intercept Matthew Stafford and he kind of did what he did on that play in the end zone where he just doesn't. He tried to let the ball come to him and didn't attack it. Yeah. And it ended up being a catch that prolonged that touchdown drive.

I want to say he might have been in coverage on that game-winning touchdown against the Rams. And then there was, of course, the play at the end of the Minnesota game where Justin Jefferson, you know, got by him. I believe what happened there was that Rick Wollin, you know, missed a signal and wasn't on the same page as the rest of the defense. but, you know, that's on you to make sure that you're on the same page as everybody else. And so he's really good for most of the game, but there's these critical mistakes. And you just, you know, I think they're at a point where, you know, I don't know if they can live with those anymore. And, you know, it doesn't sound like he's going to just take a permanent seat on the bench. It sounds like whatever role change is going to be, it's going to, you know, just be where maybe he doesn't start the game.

And maybe he's the third guy and Job is the, you know, is the starter on the, outside. So Woolen would still play quite a bit. And look, they're playing D.K. Metcalfe. Struggles aside, I think he still gives them the best chance to stop D.K. Metcalfe. But I think whatever role changed they're going to make

this week, I think it's just going to be, I think the idea is that it's just enough, A, to reward Joe, and B, to get Wolland's attention and send the message that, like, hey, you've got to be locked in for 60 minutes and however many plays, you can't

let your focus go in and out because we've seen how badly that's cost the Seahawks. Speaking of D.K. McHav, how big a topic of conversation has the former Seahawks wide receiver been this week in advance of meeting him in Pittsburgh this Sunday? A little bit, a little bit. You know, we've only got Mike McDonald, I think, yesterday on it for a little bit. And, you know, he frankly didn't say anything all that remarkable about it. I do, I can't tell you this, though, that, you know, McDonald's, was, you know, when he was interviewing coordinators after firing Ryan Grub,

one of the big questions he was asking those guys is, hey, how are you going to build an offense around D.K. Metcalf? How are you going to, you know, how are you going to game plan for him? So I think that goes to show that, you know, the Seahawks didn't go into this offseason determined to trade D.K. Metcalf. I think this was a player who had been unhappy for a while and he was unhappy again and asked for a trade.

Yeah, I think I've reported this. I mentioned this to you guys, and I've written it, that, you know, that was not the first time he had requested a trade. That had happened multiple times in recent off seasons. What was different this time was that he was up for contract extension. And so the Seahawks asked themselves, okay, do you want to keep dealing with an unhappy player who, by the way, you're going to have to pay $35 million a year to? And I think, you know, the answer for them was no. I think they probably thought they were going to get a little bit more for them than they got. But, you know, they got something and they turned it in the Nickyman Worry, I believe.

And so, yeah, I mean, we didn't hear a whole lot from McDonald, but that was kind of the, that was what happened this off season. And I think it is important to remember that it wasn't just like this happened overnight. This was a player who had been unhappy for a while. And he had been unhappy early in his last contract, which suggests that these were issues that, you know, throwing a lot of money at wouldn't necessarily solve. I do want to jump back to the offensive side of the football with the coordinator, Clint Kubiak. What did you think of the game that he called on the weekend? From my perspective, I kind of expected a little bit more

in terms of excitement or innovation or new wrinkles or something. It seemed very vanilla to me, very milk toast. I'm curious if you thought the same. Yeah, what I found curious about it was that there was just some fundamental stuff that you figured they were going to do that they didn't do. And one of those is play action. They only had two play action dropbacks, the entire game. Now, I think maybe part of that was the fact that Darnold was getting the ball out really quickly.

And that is one thing that they, that is one positive takeaway from that game, is that Darnold got the ball out quickly, and he only gets sacked one time. Of course, we know what that one time was. It was the game's ceiling play, but he only got sacked one time, got hit two times. So for the most part, did a really good job of keeping him clean. And that was because he got the ball out. And when you do that, you are going to sacrifice some deep shots. I thought they still did find a few times to push the ball down the field,

not as much as they would want. But I thought they struck a decent balance of still getting the ball downfield some while, you know, keeping the quarterback clean and getting the ball out of his hands. And that maybe has been part of the idea of why there was only two play action plays because they probably didn't want to have, you know, didn't want to leave him back there exposed. I think that was just a sound of respect for Bosa and the 49ers' ability to dial up pressure and whatnot. But the odd part about it is they didn't get Darnold out of the pocket. And the only got them out of the pocket once or twice, which that is a big part of Koviac's offense.

And that is something that you do when you're trying to, you know, protect your quarterback and to take some pressure off of your offensive line. So there was quite a bit made of the amount of shotgun that they were in. If you look at it, it was the numbers, what's. say that that was, you know, they were primarily under center. It was kind of what Kubiak, it was roughly the same as what Kubiak did last season in New Orleans. So it wasn't an abnormal amount of shotgun. Certainly it was nowhere near what they were doing last season with Grub, but the odd part about it was not getting

Donald on the move and next to no play action. Totals 39 and a half this weekend. You think they're getting there? 39 and a half. I think the, I think the Steelers scored 34. on their own last week. So I know that both teams impact one another in terms of points being scored

but 39 a half's low. Yeah, if I was a betting man, which I am on everything other than NFL football, then I would take the over on that. Brady, thanks for doing this today, bud. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game this weekend. We'll do this again next Thursday.

All right, sounds good, fellas. Thank you. See you. Brady Henderson, ESPNR. Seahawks Insider here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. hate facing oh and two yeah it's not great especially especially because i think the niners game was very winnable yes um and this pittsburgh game is is winnable and then you've got new orleans in week three which better be winnable realistically speaking um this is a tough one going across the

country, the dreaded 10 a.m. body clock start against the offense that did put up a lot of points last weekend. Now, defensively, I thought the Seahawks did a lot of good things, reek woolen aside, against the Niners, right? They turned over Brock Purdy a couple times. I thought that they did a fairly decent job keeping points off the board, although some of that had to do with the lack of kicking that the Niners had. I think one of the stats that I saw in Rogers was like he had difficulty anytime the pocket class because he just can't move anymore.

Yeah, yeah. So if they're able to get some pressure on them, I think you're going to see a more muted offensive performance out of Pittsburgh than you did last weekend. But this is going to be a difficult task going into Pittsburgh. It always is, right?

Big picture, while our expectations were pretty tempered for this team, like I didn't have any great hopes that they were going to be anything above nine or ten wins. That would be probably a really good year for them. If they go all in two and they're staring O' and 3 in the face against a bad Saints team. That's going to be disappointing regardless of what my expectations were going into the year.

For sure. Especially in the wake of that 49ers lost. Okay. To set the stage for the 8 o'clock hour and Thomas Strance coming on to do some Canucks talk, I do want to replay the Quinn Hughes audio from 32 thoughts earlier in the show. We did this in the 6 o'clock hour. If you haven't heard it yet, Don Barlam or text message in basket is 650, 650. You can weigh in.

You can also download the hour one podcast and hear this all for yourself. as we shout out Frege and Kyle. You can download the 32 Thoughts podcast. It's out there as well. We've got the question from Freed in this as well, right? So I'm just going to let it roll. This is Frege asking Quinn Hughes about his playing future

and contractual future in Vancouver. We'll have this conversation with Drance on the other side. The question is not in the club. It's just the answer. Frege asks Quinn Hughes with the sort of backstory of he's got a buddy who's a Canucks fan and he asked Frege if he was going to talk to Quinn Hughes

down in Vegas. He said, yes, I am. Friege's buddy's question was, do we have a chance of keeping this guy, this guy being Quinn Hughes, beyond this contract? Here's what Quinn Hughes had to say. I mean, I've really enjoyed Vancouver. I'm very thankful. I mean, when I came to Vancouver, I don't think anyone thought I was going to become my, I have become. And that's happened because of the people in Vancouver management and coaching. You know, I've had three great coaches between Bruce, Greener, and Rick.

So, and management's been, you know, kind of gave me the keys to the kingdom a couple years ago, naming me to see and very grateful. As far as this year, I just feel like last year's a failure and I want to propel my game even further and propel my teammates even further and see what we can do. And as far as that question, I mean, all that. answer that, you know, with my actions next summer. But, I mean, you know how it is. Anything can change. If we have, you know, a terrible year this year, that's probably not going to be very fun. But if we have a terrific year, you know, that's what we want. That'll be, that'll be really

fun. Like, two years ago was really, really fun. So just leave it at that. That's what, that's what I said to him. I say, I guarantee you this year is going to tell the tale. I bet you that's what Quinn's going to say. Yeah, yeah, which is true, I think. So. This year is going to tell the tale. That last part where Fridge says what he says. So succinct that for you. And then then Hughes is like, yeah, that. October 9th, we're less than a month before the first Canucks game of the season against the Calgary Flames.

Hopefully it finishes better than their first game against the Flames last season because that kind of set the vibe for the entire. season, blowing that lead. They start Thursday, October 9th against the Calgary Flames. Then they, that's at home. Then they go to Edmonton. That's a Saturday night game to play the Oilers. Back for one

game against St. Louis and then they head out on the road for five straight. And we've talked about this before. We're going to talk about it again. This first month of the season, there are some challenges there.

Playing six of your first eight games away is a challenge. Yes, there could be some positives with that. Lots of time for team building, getting together for dinners. And frankly, they played better on the road last season than they did at home. But there's also two times where they're going to have to play three games in four nights. And I guess that's a good thing that they've got two very capable goalies in Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankan. But it's still a challenge just from a physical perspective. You know, they do this once on the road where they go Dallas on a Thursday, Chicago on a Friday,

and then Washington on a Sunday. You know, the Chicago game there stands out as like, ah, it's a winnable game, but it's on the second of a back-to-back. so it becomes a little bit more challenging and then later in the month they're at home and they play Saturday against Montreal and there's going to be a lot of hullabaloo as there always is when the habs

come to town and then the following Sunday or the following night Sunday they play the Edmonton Oilers and then get this the third game in four nights the Tuesday J.T. Miller

and the New York Rangers come to town. How is that for three games and four nights at home? Montreal, Edmonton, and the New York Rangers. If things go well against those teams, awesome.

If they go badly against those teams, yikes. To all, by the way, I just want to add one more, two more things because I have to do BC lines. But to everyone that's pointing out that Hughes was talking past tense, but his time and

Vancouver. Let's not do that. Let's not do that. Even for us. That's a little much. Enjoyed. Let's not do that, Greg. Enjoyed. Laddie. Let's not do that. Also, I need to tell you about the BC Lions.

God, you're the worst. It's another season of hard hits, heated rivalries, and nonstop entertainment for tickets. Visit BCLions.com and get ready to roar as one. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sports Night 6.50.