Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Jays Are Setting Up For A Halloween Classic

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with MLB Network's Adnan Virk (1:28) about how the Jays can win the World Series in six games on Halloween, plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks game at Washington with ESPN's Brady Henderson (24:58). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

It's time to chat with Adenan. It's Adnan Furkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Adenan. Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now. We'll head out to the ball game and talk about all the films he's seen. 7.02 on 8th Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford, Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in our two of the program, Adnan, Burke, from MLB. Network is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is bratsed by Jason hominock at Jason dot mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find

the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason dot mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you and step. To the phone lines we go. Our next guest joins us, courtesy MLB Network. It is Adnan Verk, as always here on the Halford & Brough Show on a Thursday. Good morning, Adnan.

How are you? Mike, Jason, a pleasure. It's always fun to catch up with you guys, especially when the Blues is a 3-2 in the World Series, which is not a sentence I thought we'd be saying months ago. I will say this, as much as I love that jingle, that wonderful open you guys do for me, it made me pause for a second, thinking soon,

Andy's going to be calling me going, hey, great job, we won't talk to you again for another five months. Is that okay? What did he say last time? That's 11 weeks. Talk to 11 weeks, bud. 11 week break, because I got to avoid A dog. We'll deliver the news.

Well, Adnan, for now, I think we should not only celebrate the Blue Jays success, but celebrate you and I, because we are incredible baseball analysts, because we talked to you right before it was last Thursday, and game one was on Friday,

and we both agreed that the X factor in this series, maybe the reason that the Jays could pull an upset, was a young kid by the name of Trey is Savage. Have you ever seen a performance like he did yesterday? today by the kid.

I'm so glad you brought it up, Jay, because you know how hard this business is, and we're not necessarily in the prediction business, but people do look at us as knowledgeable people. You guys would know. What do you think? So you're right. I vividly remember you saying, I think his savage is the key. I mean, you think I couldn't agree more. And then we're vindicated last night. Twelve strikeouts over seven innings, three hits and one earned run, and his mound presence was unbelievable. Here's the thing, fellas. We know that you have to have the tangible qualities to be a star in sports. But the intangibles, It's always that unknown.

This guy was pitching it for 327 people. That's not a misprint. 327, six months ago. This was his fifth level of professional baseball. He had thrown 14 innings prior to the postseason beginning, and all of a sudden he becomes the Game 1 World Series starter. And he was fine, but then in Game 5 he pitches, one of the greatest performances we've ever seen.

Like, you can think about any big game pitcher, Sandy Kofax, Bob Gibson, Kurt Schilling, Madison, Bumgarner, and his Savage is now going to be on that short list. I mean, it was nothing short of masterful. And people are now telling me, like, oh, were the Dodgers' offense overrated? I'm like, well, clearly they have not performed their expectations. But it's about time you give some love to this Blue Jays pitching staff. Like the story of why they're up three, too, is because their contact-heavy offense

has been not neutralized by the Dodgers starting pitching. Twice they've beaten Snell. You know, Shane Bieber outpitched Otani. And last night, the Savage out-pitched Blake Snell. So, yes, the J's office has been a great storyline. five runs in the game three, six runs in game four in game five. They scored 17 runs in Los Angeles. That is awfully impressive, but you have to look at their starting pitching and going,

it doesn't matter how many runs you score, you've got to pitch. And Trey I Savage stepping up the way he did, and Jay, we may not have seen the last of him. You know as well as I do. Bumberger can pitch a game five and then pitch one or two in game seven. So I would not be shocked. Game seven, you're going to see Trey Yavis for one, if not two innings. Is Mookie Betts like the opposite of Trey Yassavage right now? old guy pretty down on himself.

After the game last night, he said, I don't want to speak on anybody else, but for myself, I've just been terrible. We've been talking so much about the Blue Jays side of things. I do want to ask you a little bit about the Dodgers side of things because they're not done yet. You know, they could go into Toronto win these two games. That could happen, but right now they must be a little bit shell-shocked.

no question about it i there are people who predict the jays to win this series and you can call me a homer and just that was biased but i did predict jays would win in seven having said that i did not expect that they would win two or three games in los angeles i don't think anyone expected that i think most people thought you get a split at home and then you get one in l.a and then maybe you win six and seven that was my recipe for potential success the best case scenario the idea the jays winning in six games against the mighty dodgers is awfully impressive. And for Mookiee Betts specifically, Jay, he's a wonderful guy. I've interviewed him a handful of times. He's down to earth. He's funny. He's charming. He's my height. Of course,

I'm going to love a guy like Mookie's Betts. He's a two-time MVP, but he's been abysmal. There's no question about it, dude. Like, you go up and down that line up, and originally I said, after the Dodgers, one, two, three, it's not very good. But think about the fact that Mookie Betts, in an effort to stir some offense. Roberts batted him third and moved to the catcher. Will Smith batting second. And instead, Mookiee does nothing. He's not three for 24. He's eating a buck 25 so far in the World Series after having a very disappointing regular season. And what's surprising to me is that September he actually hit. September was his best month. So you know what? He had a season-long funk. September he looked good. I believe

the division series was going to the Wild Card Series. Look, right, he's back. But he is plummeted. And it's tough to watch. Because quite simply, if the Jay's win in six, which, by the way, it's not inconceivable. I know everyone's just assuming Yamamoto is going to shove. And he's awesome. No question about it. This guy's a big game pitcher, completely. games back-to-back. First got to do that as far as back-to-back appearances is Perchilling in 01. The first one, multiple complete games that post-season since Madison Baumgart. But Gossman has been excellent. Gosson is a 2.55 B.R.A. in the playoffs. And he pitched six innings one running game two before giving up a couple of solo home runs

of the seven. So it is not inconceivable that Yelamoto is very good, just not great, that Gospon matches him, and the Jays score a couple runs off that Dodgers bullpen, and they win four two and six. And for Mookiee bets and that Dodgers, offense, it's going to be on them. Like true, Blake's style has not been at his best. Yes, Otani gave up four runs over six, but really, it was one bad pitch to Flattie, right? It was that home run. Other than that Otani was incredible, and then gave a couple runs

when he got tired in the seventh. The story will be if L.A. doesn't win. Not that the Jay's hitting overcame the Dodgers starting pitching. It's at this Dodgers offense, with all their money, all their MVPs, did not step up. We're speaking to Adnan, Virk from MLB Network here on the Alford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

I'm glad you brought up Yamamoto, because that's where wanted to go next because he has been literally unhittable in his last two starts. If you go back to what he did against the Brewers as well in the NLCS and then what he did in that first game against the Jays. Now, look, the Jays have hit staff aces hard in this postseason. I go back to what they did with Freed in the Yankee series. Take your pick. They managed to rough up all of the big starters for the Mariners in that seven gamer in the

ALCS. They've been able to get after Snell. And Snell was like Yamamoto. He was unhittable going in to this World Series. The question is, what do they need to do differently the second time out against Yamamoto to get some offense that they couldn't get in that first start? Yeah, it's a great question, Mike. The sport is all about adjustments, right?

And you often hear how starting pitchers get lifted because they don't want the hitters to see them the third time through the order. So theoretically, the J-Sad not based Yamamoto previously, now they'll have the advantage because they know what they're dealing with. I actually go the other way. I think he has to be advantage because he hadn't faced them before. He dominated them. So now he goes, oh, okay, I know what to do.

I just need to do exactly what I did last time. So for the Blue Jays, they're the ones that have to make the adjustment. You saw it last night against Snell. Like, when it's been from the beginning of time, these starting pitchers always say, establish your fastball, fastball command. The problem for Blake's Nell is the J's doing exactly that he would do that. Like that fastball, the flag was middle, middle. Like, of course, he's just going to rake.

So there's this whole thought of like, well, establish your fastball, fastball command. But if the Jays are hungry and ready to ambush them, which is exactly what happened, you're quickly down to 2-0. So I think Yolmoto is much more clever and crafty. I don't want to make him sound like he's a soft toss. Trust me, he throws 96-97 as well. But that splitter is absolutely devastating. And that is what is so tough is you think it's a four-team fastball top of the zone, and then the ball dives to the last second. So as you start your swing, the ball dives down, and you look silly as it goes down the zone.

I think that Yomoto is not going to challenge him as many fastballs. I think he's going to go off-speed early, his splitter, and particularly the pitch that was unbelievable for him, which he didn't for a lot of was his curveball. So I think the Jays have to realize, hey, you can't sit fastball. We better get ready for early in the count, splitters and curb balls, and then maybe he'll use the fastball to put us away. It's almost like pitching backwards, because what he did was so successful. There's two schools of thought.

One of here, Yamamoto, let me do exactly where he didn't hit me, but no, baseball is complicated. He'll adjust a little bit because he knows Toronto has now seen him. The change just have to hold their adjustments are better, because the guy has been lights out so far. I'm glad you mentioned adjustments in pitching backwards because that's what they forced Snell to do yesterday. So Snell's first three pitches yesterday were all fastballs and we all know what happened on two of the three. After that, he then had to throw 22 consecutive off-speed pitches.

So he almost had to like flip the script entirely and the J's kind of forced him to do that by jumping on him early. So it's a good point there with Yamamoto. I wanted to ask another Dodgers-related question here. How much scrutiny and criticism should Dave Roberts be facing right now? I think it's considerable. I mean, if you're the manager with all the roster, all the money can buy, you know, you've got to come through here. And overall, this season, again, I understand that there are only two wins away from winning the World Series,

but it's been a bit of a disappointment. The Blue Jays won more regular season games of the Dodgers, 94 to 93. To think the Dodgers at one point we were thinking, because they challenged the Mariners' record, 16th, they couldn't even win 100 games. But fine, they made the plans. It weren't even a buy. Like, they had to play the longer. is okay, no problem. Their whole strategy

was, we don't care about the regular season, just wake us up, come playoff time, and then we're going to shove, especially with our great starting pitchers. And the rest they had worked prior to the World Series, 1.40 here starting pitchers. But if it falls flat now, it's got to be a fall guy, and it can be Andrew Friedman, the VP,

it's not going to be Brandon Goams. It's going to be Dave Roberts. And he'll still keep his job, because they're in the World Series, but it's funny how tenuous these jobs can be. Like, Aaron Boone this year faces all the pressure because the Yankees go out, despite the fact he made the World Series last year. But that's the price of doing business with these teams.

And similarly, for Roberts and the Dodgers, it is not enough to make the World Series. 20-20 they won, but how many people discount that and go, oh, come on, that was that truncated 60-game silly season. It counts, but it doesn't really count. They won last year. That's a legit World Series to help. No question about it. But if you can't go back to back, when you've got this talent at your disposal, it'd be

easier for Doc if Otani was hurt, or Mookie got hurt, or Freddie was battling an injury. But there's no excuses. got their full oceanal. All their starting pitchers are there. They have not performed. Now the manager has to motivate them and convince them they're going to win two games on the road. Outside of Los Angeles, are the Blue Jays picking up some

temporary fans at least? Just because I imagine being the underdogs, people love an underdog, and people love teams that overachieve, and the Js are overachieving right now. That's a big part of it, Brough. And I worked nine years at ESPN, and I met two Blue

fans, neither who were Canadian. And I was stunned. I said, just explain this to me. Now, I know people give me a little weird, obviously, you guys know I'm a Flyers fan and I'm not from Philadelphia, so I just explain it to me. So the one guy said he was on from Syracuse. Like, okay, fine, Syracuse, AAA team, that makes sense. Blue Jays were there. The other guy goes, well, I just loved winners as a kid, and

19-19th year, they're the best team in baseball. But there's going to be more people who will do that. Like, there's going to be people who are 15, 16 living in America going, oh, my God, this Blue Jus team is so much fun to watch, I'm just going to become a Blue Jus team that wins. But for the objective, educated, you're right, bro. They've all said this team is so much fun.

My dear friend Tim Kirchin, who's covered baseball for 40 years of the ESPN, said to me, I'm pulling so hard for this Blue Jays team. And I said, why, Tim? I think it's not only that I love Toronto, I love Canada, you're great people, you deserve it, it's a great fan base. He said that they are a team of overachievers. Like, you look up and down that line, but there's no Goliath, with the exception of Vlad. Vlad is a superstar. He's proven at this postseason. He's going to win the MVP if the Jay's win, and everyone's generally happy for him because he stepped up time after time. but if you looked at a guy who really symbolizes the Blue Jays,

this team, you'd say a name like Ernie Clement, you'd say a name like Alejandro Kirk, he'd say a name like Davis Schneider. Like when you look at those dudes, you go, there's no other sport you guys would play but baseball. Well, you look at David Schneider, that stash and those goggles go, that's not a basketball player.

This guy's a baseball player, and you guys have overachieved and gotten the best out of what you can. And I think that you're right, that's an irresistible storyline. Again, if you're just an objective baseball fan, you probably hate the Dodgers because they spend the most money and they won last year, right? So you're already anti-L.A.

If you don't have any animus towards Canada, which why would you? And then you just watch the baseball being played. You go, this is just a collection of good dudes. Like, the only guy I could think might be a little bit polarizing. Maybe is Max Scherzerzer. Maybe some fans go, I don't care for his answer. He's kind of annoying on the mountain. Or Springer for his history.

Right. Yeah, Springer, exactly. Yeah. That's it. I'm like, who isn't cheering for Tray of Savage? Who doesn't think Kevin Gossman's a good dude or Chris Batson or Hoffman? They're all easy guys to root for. Hey, Adnan, who's the leading candidate for World Series MVP right now?

Well, I think it's Vlad. It's just because the fact he hit, the big home run, obviously, not only a snail in game five, but also in game four off Otani. Like, any time they've needed a big hit, he's done it, he's hit 440 in the playoffs, you know, 1350 OPS. But I wish we could make a little bit of a case for you, Savage, Mike. Like, if he pitched a little bit better in game one, they do really love the starting pitcher MVP,

and it's not another question if he pitches in game seven. Like, here's the thing. If it goes according to script, which things never, do. But if it goes going to script, Yamamoto's going to shove, complete game, Dodgers win three, one, game seven. Max Scherzer is starting a game seven. So the three of us know, that's going to mean an awfully short leash. Like, good luck taking him out of the game. He might fight John Schneider,

but like, I can't see Max pitching more than like four and a third. Schneider, like, remember how he pulled Barrios and Atkins through one of the bosses? And no, that John Schneider's call. I can't see Max weighing more than like three and a third. He'll like, give me 10 outs. And then it's going to be, you know, basket for an inning and you savage for an inning or two. And who knows, every single guy he could do is he will do. So if you Savage, like, pulls a mad bum and he comes to the seventh inning

of game seven and pitches three in a team might win MVP. Right now it feels like it's blah, but your Savage could be in the conversation. I think they'd have to pull Scher like mid-inning because I don't think Schneider would be able to drag him off that mound. Although he was... He said P. Walker out there's like, you do it.

Scher was pretty ready to come out the other day when Otani was on... He looked... Shurzer looked like Scherzer looked like a guy that was getting kicked out of a bar that knew that he needed to go. You know what I mean? Like he was like, yep, that's fair enough. I'm out of here.

So I worked with Alex Avila, who was a catcher for the Tigers and Nationals. You know, played with Scherzer and all those guys. And I said, you know, he strikes me as a kind of guy who never says he's done. Like no matter what he always wants to pitch. And Avila, to your point, he goes, no, he'll tell you. I'm like, really?

He's like, oh, in between innings. Like, he's not going to do it public like, oh, I'm gasped. but in between innings, if the manager comes up, because you're good, he's like, yeah, I'm done. Like, he won't say, I have nothing left. If the manager says, Max, would you like to keep going, he would say, fine. But if you just said, you're good, he's like, yeah, I'm done.

So even the ultimate competitor will tell you when he's gas. So that's a good thing. Okay, so Adnan, before we let you go, big question. How does this thing end? When does it end? I predicted on nothing less than CTV. I was interviewed. That's the big celebrity here,

Toronto. As Nathan Downer, Michelle Dubay asked me to give my prediction on CTV, and I said, listen, guys, you're going to think I'm just being a homer, but I'm calling the J's in seven. I think ultimately their contact-heavy offensive were working against the Dodgers pitching, so I've no reason to stay away from that. I'd love to see it in six. God, the symmetry of Joe Carter ending it in six in 93, and now 32 years later, but I'm going to say it goes seven. Jays winning seven. We will find out by Saturday. Adnan, thanks a lot for doing this today, buddy. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the next couple of games. It's going to be a lot of fun.

We'll do this again, and we'll find out who's won the World Series next Thursday. It's been a fun ride, boys. Enjoy it. We'll talk soon. Thanks, dude. Appreciate it. Adnan, Verk from MLB Network here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So, Laddie, you there? Do you offhand remember how many

pitches Snell through last night? He got up in the hundreds, right? He's like 112. 11, 112? Did both guys eclipse 100? You Savage Eclipse 100, too. Those brainshiles. It was a real throwback game. Yeah. In the Blue Jays, you know, the brass, you get a lot of flack for their analytics,

letting you savage go 100 pitches. Oh, boy. So I took the liberty of going into the archives and trying to see the record for most pitches thrown in a postseason game. The regular season record, in case you're wondering, is Nolan Ryan back in 1974, who threw 235 pitches in a game. 235 he pitched and then he smoked a pack immediately after the game he pitched 13 innings in a 15 inning

regular season game okay but in the playoffs playoffs the record for most pitches thrown in a postseason MLB game is 159 thrown by Steve Carlton back in 1980 so I know that they're well short I'm assuming this is modern era yeah I didn't go back to like Mordecai three fingers brown How many pitches did Jack Morris throw in game seven? I don't know.

He's not even on this list. So there you go. It must have been very efficient. Well, I mean, you know, when you're getting into the 151, 160 category, like again, 159 for Carl. 126 pitches. Yeah, see? That's pretty efficient, though. That is, considering how deep that he went into the game.

So people didn't start doing tracking pitch counts the way that they do now, but you can go back and look at the Archive, just manually count them. So, Carlton 1.59. So, like, you look at the performances last night, and I know the guys didn't get into the 9th or anything, but a little bit old school baseball. It warmed the cockles of my heart, watching those guys get up there and throw, and throw

until they were exhausted. I mean, you savage sweat so much yesterday. That hat was looking. His hat was looking disgusting by the third inning. Like, dude was sweating. And I'm like, that's a guy that's earning that 57K right now. He's out there and he's grinding, and he's going to go plus 100 pitches, which is awesome. Some of these names that he was

tying for records. It was guys like from 1898 and it was one guy I saw he tied his record for something and it was in his rookie season he had 44, 44 starts and 43 complete games. Yeah and all their stories end it's like he died in a coal mine at 26. Yeah,

it's crazy. And now he's tied with Trey a Sabbath or whatever. I want to hear from listeners about their Halloween plans for Friday. If you've got kids trick or treating like what's, like the game starts at five. That's prime trick-or-treating time.

Are the streets just going to be like full of people looking at their phones and that sort of thing? And some of them will say, well, you can tape it. Like, no, no, no. Come on. This is like the World Series, man.

You're going to watch this live. How about the additional like curveball to use some baseball parlonson? There's an atmospheric river coming in on Friday as well. Cancel Halloween. Let's bump it back. Let's bump it back. Put it this way.

If you got the World Series game on and you've got the fireplace on, it's nice and cozy inside. And you look outside and it's poor. rain do you not just hand your kid the box of 120 no just give them two hundred dollars or something no give them the box of candy you buy yourself something nice kid you'll be buy two boxes of 120 mini bars and you're like one is this is your trick or treating just eat the box eat that and then the other one wow do it eat the box eat the box desperate times call for desperate

measure and then the other box you just leave outside you're like that's the outside box just leave that one outside and let the kids put their hands in it. And that's it. Clip all of this. Happy Halloween is solved. And Halloween is solved. Dad of the year. Okay.

Oh, you know what we got? Also, can you imagine what it would be like to be in Toronto on Friday night? Chaos. Awesome chaos, but chaos. I mean, I'm old now, so I don't really want any part of that. But can you imagine what a night out would be? Like, you go, it's Halloween, which is always a fun night.

when you're in your like 20s and you've got this baseball game on might win the World Series even if they don't you've got the game 7 to look forward to so you're not going to be super upset plus it's like Friday night party time it's going to be amazing

do we have the budget to send me there is that too much you're too old man you're too old those days are all over for you party right I've got to eat candy I've never seen you party in their life you don't think I would

for a World Series he will have precisely one beer and then called 9-1-1. I've been saving it. I've been saving it all for this one moment, Jason, bro. Okay. We got to do the One to Watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V., Vancouver's Most Trusted Audiovisual Integration experts.

So yesterday, you know who the one to watch was, right? Trey is Savage. Yeah. You got the one-to-watch bump and had the... Who is it tonight, McKenzie McEcker? Well, okay. Good old MacBack? Let's...

Just ruined it, bro. Let's flip the script on this. I'll ask you guys. Let's pick one of these Vancouver Canucks forwards who's yet to score a goal this season. So the options include Evander Cain, Drew O'Connor. Are we putting them in the same category now? Technically, Lucas Reichel, although he's only played in three games.

Archdeep Baines is in that mix as well. You want to go, Linus Carlson, you want to go with Evander Cain? Because if the one to watch bump is legitimate and true, then we should use it for good and use our powers to promote an accentuated Canuck. So tonight's one to watch, brought to you by Limitless AV, is Evander Cain,

who with the power of the one to watch is going to get off the Schneide. He's going to get his first goal as Vancouver Canuck. Okay. What do you think? Let's hope it works, man, because they need goals scoring from someone. Limitless A.V is Vancouver's most trusted

audiovisual integration experts, specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at Limitlessav.com. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Big Nazar.

Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets, weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650, or wherever you get your podcast. 7.32 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough. Sportsnet, 650. Halper and Brough of the morning is brought to you a Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with the financial fresh start. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour two of the program. We're at the midway point of the show. And Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Hominuk, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers.

You can visit them online at Jason.com Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers, shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Don't mortgage. To the phone lines we go, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider from ESPN,

joins us here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Brady. How are you? Well, I'm great, fellas. I didn't know what to do with myself last Thursday when we didn't talk. So it's good to be back on the airways with you. I was going to say, it's been so long. I was actually trying to think the last time that we talked about the Seahawks,

they're going to go 12 days between games, having gone from a Monday nighter to the by to now a Sunday night football game. So it's very nice to have you back on the program, Brady. It gives us a sense of normalcy here. And I think Jason wants to get things underway with the first question. Well, actually, Brady, I want to ask you. I want to go back to that Monday nighter against the, Houston Texans and just ask you like what was the atmosphere like inside the stadium because the

Mariners had just lost and everyone inside that stadium knew about it and when I turned on the TV it kind of felt like like the Seahawks were playing well they were in control of the game but it felt like there was something missing from the atmosphere yeah you know I I heard or I saw that I think some people kind of commented on that same thing. It's funny, like, I'm there, but when you're kind of behind that flexiglite, whatever material that is in the press box, it does kind of mute everything a little bit to the point where if it's extra rocking, I can't really tell. If it's a little bit kind of deader than normal, I can't really tell. So it all looks kind of the same to me.

It looked and felt like a primetime game where they're winning. But I do know that, you know, like walking into that stadium just because of the timing of the two games, like the Bears, Jay's game was already going on. And you walk into the, you know, to the stadium a couple hours before kickoff, and every TV in the building is playing the baseball game. And, you know, there's people there who probably showed up earlier than they normally would to watch the game. They're playing it on all the TVs, and you go, I get into the press box, and it's in the press box, and then on the big screen, it was playing, you know, like in the actual

stadium itself. And there was this one funny moment where half of the giant video board is the baseball game. The other half is this, it's just not a rotating thing, but the other half is this non-smoking ad, which I thought was perfect, because everybody who was watching that game in Seattle probably would have wanted to light one up because they were so nervous. but I didn't notice like the atmosphere kind of like the air getting sucked out of the stadium but I do know that people were in the stands

I saw a couple of people comment that that was the case. Okay, let's look ahead to Sunday night football in Washington. Washington, D.C. that is not the state of Washington. Seahawks are going to take on the commanders. Let's start with the Seahawks health, although I guess lack thereof in the secondary.

Coming off a by, you'd expect everyone to be healthy and rested and ready to go, but that's not exactly the case. Get us up to speed here, Brady. Yeah, there were 12 guys. Well, let me first start by saying that Julian Love, that's the big revelation yesterday, is that he was on track to return this week,

along with Devin Witherspoon and with Derek Hall, and it sounds like Hall and Witherspoon are both going to be back as expected, but Julian Love, according to Mike McDonald, suffered a setback last week with his recovery from the hamstring injury. So when you suffer a setback on a buy, week, presumably that means that he was rehabbing and something went awry. So McDonald's said that his status for this game is now in jeopardy. And when a coach says tennis is in jeopardy,

I take that to me. He's probably not playing. And somebody has McDonald's a follow-up about whether or not IR is in play for Julian Love and he said it is. So, I mean, at this point when it's been back and forth like this and when he couldn't even get healthy and stay healthy over a bi-week. It seems like, you know, look, these people know way more about the injury than I do, but it just seems like, you know, seems like I.R. might be just what they resort to at this point.

And, you know, the way that Ty Okata has played in his absence probably gives them a little bit more, you know, maybe a little bit more leeway to do that. But that was the big revelation from yesterday is that Julian Love, but he doesn't sound like he's going to play in this game, and it sounds like he might be out for a few weeks. Well, they must have made some adjustments on defense as well after Baker Mayfield kind of embarrassed them, to be perfectly honest with you.

I know they were dealing with injury issues then, and I think Rieke Wollin went out during that game, so they're maybe in a bit of a panic, but they look pretty good defensively against Jacksonville and Houston. Yeah, and I'm, certain the quarterback has some to do with it. I mean, Baker Mayfield is playing lights out, and Trevor Lawrence might be the most overpaid player in football, and C.J. Stroud is a good quarterback who just really hasn't been able to follow up. That great rookie season that he had,

and he was also missing his top receiver by the end of that game as well. So I think, you know, from what I understand, and McDonald kind of said part of this, but that Tampa Bay game, you know, he took a lot of responsibility for his game plan. And from what I understand, and he just put way too much on their plate. I think they had some backup guys in there that maybe exacerbated it, that you just guys were kind of mentally overloaded. But, you know, since then,

you've seen Nickyman-Wory really start to come into his own and really start to get his feet wet in that nickel roll. And, you know, like, every, every, for the last few weeks, it's looked like, okay, their secondary is going to finally be back to full strength. And now what kind of options does that give them? because now you've got, you know, when healthy Witherspoon is there nickelback, but now Eman Worry is basically played every snap there in the last couple weeks, and he's done really well.

So, you know, there has been this question of what do they do at nickelback. Well, now, you know, I think Love's injury may kind of complicate that a little bit. And I think it also may complicate the Riekewollen, you know, trade situation. Obviously, two completely different positions, but I just wonder if you're the Seahawks. if you if you've already had a bunch of guys in and out there like are you I wonder if that could make them a little less inclined to want to part with someone knowing that you know there's already been so many moving parts there that maybe and you're already going to be

playing with one like true backup in there for who knows how long and tie okada so I I just wonder if that could creep into their thinking I still I know that all that trade Greek woman trade speculation is very real and it's very well-founded and I still think it could happen but I do wonder if the love injury may impact that slightly. We're speaking to Brady Henderson, our Seahawks Insider

from ESPN here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sports Net 650. Seahawks are in prime time this weekend, Sunday night football in Washington against the commanders and speaking of those commanders, Brady, I know we have some focus on the Seahawks here but I do have a couple commanders-related questions and the first

is with a familiar, very familiar face to the Seattle Seahawks, and that is Bobby Wagner. My question is, does Bobby Wagner actually physically age? Because he is second in the National Football League in tackles right now at the age of 35. When I thought he might be past his expiry date, he's still going and going incredibly strong. Does the guy actually age? It is amazing to be able to play like in every down position at that age.

I mean, you see, you know, sometimes you see pass rushers, like Von Miller right now, I think is right around the same, maybe a year older, and he's playing for Washington, but, you know, he's a kind of a situational pass rusher who's playing 25-ish snaps a game. It's just, it's remarkable to do it, you know, 95 plus snaps a game. I also wonder if that's the best route, because nobody past 30 is as fast as they were when they first entered the NFL. Look, frankly, for as great of a player as Bobby Wagner is, he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I think you did see some of the speed, you know, was diminished when he was in Seattle and really in that, you know, before he left the first time. And so it is kind of remarkable that they are playing him every down.

I'm sure that that's his preference to play every down because he's one of those guys that probably just doesn't want to come off the field. But, yeah, I mean, he's obviously playing well enough to continue. you to put himself in position to get contracts and to get resigned and to play every down, I just wonder at this stage, if that's really the best thing for

everybody involved. That said, remarkable player, remarkable person, and it is just, it's incredible to think that he's still doing it at this age. Yeah, it's funny because like the tackles, the total tackles thing is, like, it's great as a statistic,

but in hockey we talked about like sometimes when guys are a top the NHL leaderboard in hits. It's not necessarily a good thing because it means they don't have the puck that often. They're often chasing other guys around trying to get hits. And in the case of Wagner, like the reason he has so many tackles is because the defense is out there a lot,

providing him the opportunity to make the tackles. And the reason that that's happened with Washington this year is because Jaden Daniels has been in and out of the lineup so much. And, you know, Monday Night Football, they have Marcus Marriota out there. And it wasn't great for Marriota there. Are the Seahawks expecting to face Jaden Daniels on Sunday night football when they go to Washington to take on the commanders? Yeah, well, I, you know, I sort of asked Mike McDonald about that yesterday about what's

it like, you know, when you're putting a game plan together and you're starting to practice without really knowing which quarterback you're going to face. And he said the helpful thing with, at least with this offense they're playing, is that it's basically the same. You know, they have Mariona run the same offense as they have Jane Daniels run, and they don't really change things up depending on which quarterback goes in there. So, you know, they're going to prepare for both, but it doesn't sound like you're preparing for two totally different schemes. Sounds like, I believe, Daniels practiced yesterday, so, you know, we'll see what that looks like.

I know that knee injuries kind of bothered him for a lot of this season, and it's really, you know, he really just hasn't been able to put together nearly the kind of season that he had as a rookie last year. so at this point Seahawks probably hoping that they have to face Marriota just because he's not the dynamic runner that that Jaden Daniels is

and I'm fighting a sneeze right now fellows I apologize if I have to This is fascinating This is good But yeah I mean I think the good news for them is that it doesn't sound like their preparation is going to have to change a whole lot depending on regardless of which quarterback is in there

We're speaking of Brady Henderson on the version of it sneeze here on the Halford & Brough show on Sports Net 650 I got two more for you here, Brady, real quick, before we let you go. One, buy week is always a week for a reflection in an organization. What did Mike McDonald have to say about taking a step back and judging and valuing and analyzing his team who are five and two going into the break and then coming out with a chance to go to six and two against a commander's team that is two games below 500?

Yeah, I thought his comments about, you know, how they have an identity and how they don't have to reinvent themselves because they know who they are. I thought that was interesting because it sounded like a coach who was speaking from experience of having lived on the opposite end of that spectrum, which was last year when that whole season, like especially around midseason and especially on offense, they didn't have an identity. They didn't know what they wanted to be on offense, let alone how to get there. You know, it was a defensive-minded head coach and a pass-obsessed offensive coordinator whose styles were very much at odds. And so, I mean, that's why Ryan Grav got fired after one season. So, you know, they have everything they need on offense. I mean, they have alignment between the coach and the coordinator.

They have a proven system. They have a commitment to the run game. It's just a matter of execution. And so I'm sure that that was a big focus for them over the by is, okay, figuring out how they get the run game going. He said that they have a pretty good feel of what they do well, although I do think that one of the things they do well is running out of 12 personnel

one running back two tight ends and I wonder if that's going to change if their kind of preference towards that personnel grouping is going to change now that Robbie Utes is back because I think without their fullback they haven't run as much you know 22 or 21 personnel with the two running backs in there

as much as they would have liked so I do think that's going to change but, you know, he talked about, you know, not, like, sticking to what they do and not really, you know, not, like, making wholesale changes. Now, I did ask if they considered making a change up front, personnel-wise, meaning, like, I didn't name any names, but I'm talking about, you know, are you considering making a change at either center and or right guard? And he kind of hesitated, but he said no. So for the time being, it sounds like they're going to stick with their current starting five, but I, you know, If Anthony Bradford continues to struggle, I don't know if he has the entire season to do that. And obviously the trade deadline is a week away.

And we'll see if there's any move to be made there. I think at offensive line in particular, typically that is easier said than done. I know you're not doing this intentionally and that you're just answering the questions. But I got to point out, like every time that we've had you on this season, I think there's in some way a conversation has come back to Ryan Grub. and the job he did or I guess maybe didn't do last year as the offensive coordinator

as more time elapses and more things go on is it becoming more like painfully apparent that the grub experiment wasn't like a spectacularly failed one? Well, it's just becoming more and more confounding as to how and I sort of get some of it, but how they ended up how a defensive-minded head coach hired a guy who is like I said,

obsessed with throwing the football, just because right there, I mean, anybody would tell you that that is a marriage that is doomed to fail. Now, I understand kind of some of the logistics that were at play, which was that the Seahawks hired McDonald, you know, he was, I think, the second to last guy in a cycle who was hired, so that was late January, end of January, that they hired him, whereas most of the other teams had filled their vacancies and got a head start on building staffs around the new head coach. you know, it wasn't until early February until the Seahawks were starting to look for offensive coordinators. And by that time, I think a lot of the best candidates were really picked through. And, you know, there was kind of a pre-existing, you know, relationship between those two guys. I don't know if, I can't imagine that he was McDonald's first choice. But I think by that point, they didn't really have a whole lot of alternatives. And obviously he had been, you know, putting up, or UW's offense had been putting up crazy numbers right in the Seahawks backyard.

But I know that as they were interviewing him, that was something that McDonald really had to get comfortable with. So he wasn't like naive to the fact that, you know, they had two pretty different styles. But I think that he ultimately thought that Grub would really shift gears in a way that he was either incapable or incapable or unwilling to do. Brady, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it.

Enjoy Sunday night football. It should be a lot of fun. We'll do this again next Thursday. All right, guys. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming on, bud. Appreciate it. That's Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN here on the Halford

and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. So one of the many tangents, many roads, the journeys that we take you on on the Halford and Brough show on a daily basis, in part because we have like advanced ADHD as a show and we can't stay on topic. We just jump around a lot. And one of them that we mentioned earlier in the show was, I wonder what parents are planning to do on Halloween because tomorrow night,

prime trick-or-treating time coincides directly with game six of the World Series between the Blue Jays and the Dodgers. We got a lot of texts into the Dunbar Lumber Text line about this. Jay, I offered my 8 and 10-year-old children 30 large chocolate bars to forego trick-or-treating and allowed them to eat one large bar per inning. Wow.

Per inning? That's not going to end well for you. That's not going to, Jay Adak would like to come over. Al in New West, my buddies and I have been talking Halloween plans for a couple days now, planning to bring a speaker and just have the radio broadcast while out trick-or-treating. Sportsnet 650. Download the app. I think there's going to be a lot of people in that situation, though. I just, I want the weather to be good.

It's not. I know. So there's a couple interesting. dynamics at play here. Like, one, there's going to be parents that are going to be forced to brave the elements and potentially missing the game, which is a real double whammy for the parents.

I do wonder... Because it's miserable watching your kids have fun, right? And they're just so happy and excited. There's that part of it. It's a real turnoff. Let's just hope the Dodgers take an early commanding lead and you can just write the game off and enjoy your trick-or-treaty. There's a good solution. Yeah. Could you, as a parent,

go to the line of scrimmage the parenting line of scrimmage and have your kid look out the window and say look at that weather out there it would be the equivalent of going in the line of scrimmage

and you see like a blitz coming you know we might have to change the package here we might have to... Hot route I don't know what a hot route is anyway could you suggest to the child with a lot of negotiating stuff at the ready candy maybe

maybe you want to go a chocolate bar pudding I don't know seems like a bad idea health-wise but could you with a torrential downpour say hey

do you really want to go out tonight don't plan here's the thing you can't plan it in advance because when a kid first hears about not going out trick or treating

they're going to lose their minds right there's going to be a tantrum they're going to throw stuff on the ground you never know what's going to happen but when you're sitting at home and it's cozy

you've got candy there if you just tell you you you You could, like, hey, go look outside for me. Tell me what the weather's like. Right. And it rains coming in sideways. Kids are dumb, but they're not that dumb.

Could you, could you, I don't know, like, get them in trouble for something they didn't do? Like, trumped up charges or something like that and just be like, listen, you're grounded. Yeah. Why? I told you to clean up your room a week ago. No, you say, you're grounded. Like, why? You know what you did.

You know what you did. And, like, they've probably done something wrong. It's true. And they were like, what? I didn't do anything. I was like, you know what you did, and that's why you're not going trick-or-treating. There's a non-zero chance that they'll be like, okay.

I think that's called gaslighting. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? I think that might be negative towards a kid's development, but. You know what's negative? We could try it. Missing the Jays game.

It's true. And look what gaslighting is done for society and politics. Yeah, it's great. It's made all of it better. Yeah. Reagan love tariffs. All right. Scott and serves.

for the game tomorrow, I'm moving a TV to the garage and watching the game while handing out candy, candy for the kids, and beers and coolers for the adults. What a great guy. Scott and there he is. Kids come to my garage. Yeah. I got beer in baseball. No, he said beer for the adults. I know what I'm saying. You just leave the bowl. And coolers for the teenagers. Yeah, right. Dan, hey, grab a smeared off ice. Dan Texan, I don't know if this is much of a plan, but I'm planning on forcing myself to vomit around 4.30. Then my wife will be forced to take the kid out. You know what?

That's just crazy enough to work. The old two-finger vacation day. That's crazy enough to work. All right. I applaud you, Dan. That's outside the box thinking there. The two-finger day off is they used to call it back in the day. All right.

We got to go to break. When we come back, it's the final hour of the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Thomas Drantz is going to join us from the, The Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk. We will dive back into the Canucks Talk because the Canucks, of course, you're playing tonight at 5 o'clock in St. Louis against the Blues. We're also giving away a pair of Vancouver Giants tickets. It won't be at the break.

It'll be when we come back. Call right at 8 a.m. 8 o'clock on the dot. The number 604-280650. That number again, 604-280-650. Lucky caller number five. We'll get a pair of tickets to see the Giants take on Colona. Saturday, November 1st, that's this Saturday at 7 o'clock at the Langley Events Center.

A quick note, yeah, Laddie, what do you got? What? I was just reminding you what at? Brees you had next. What do we have next? Tell the listeners what we got next. Well, it's a Canucks game night, so I think you know what the... Oh, that's right. A Canucks game night. People got a Panagopolis O for it. That's close. It's smooth. It is a Canucks game day, as we mentioned. They're going to play the blues tonight at 5 o'clock. All Canucks game day coverage on Sportsnet 650 is brought to by Panago. Go for the win.

buy two medium Panago pizzas and score free cheesy bread. Use code Canucks deal at panago.com. Panago for it. Restrictions apply and it's game day only. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.