Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Shame Spiral - NHL Edition

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they look ahead to this weekend's Week 10 action with NFL.com's Nick Shook (27:51). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. I'm taken away by Brett. He's in all alone, just for Brad. Game on the line. but I do myself. You just got to dig in. Like, if there's a puck between you and I, I'm going to break your leg to get the puck.

If you knock us down, we're going to get up. And on the way up, we're going to buy it a kneecap off. Good morning Vancouver, 6-1 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford and is Brough at Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning.

Good morning. Good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Score a debt freedom hat trick. One, no more interest.

Two much lower payments in three financial peace of mind. Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech Footwear, and or Thought. working together with you in step. Big show ahead on a Friday. Lots to get into as we set you up for the weekend. A lot of guests to get to as well. It begins at 6.30 this morning. Nick Shook, our NFL insider or regular from NFL.com, is going to join the program.

Another real dog, not you dogs, like a bad dog. Thursday night or last night. I guess it was a good football game if you like mistakes and minimal offense. Broncos beat the Raiders, 10-7. What a barn burner. Yeah, I'm glad I haven't. to watch any Broncos games this year. They're good, but they're games.

I guess they can have some interesting endings, but for the most part, pretty low scoring. They are a gross seven and two, which you don't hear very often, but a gross seven and two. We'll talk to Nick Shook about that. That will also preview the weekend Sunday of NFL action with Nick Shook from NFL.com at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway.

This is your first reminder that it is ask us anything Friday on the program. The best ask us anything gets a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Hashtag it, AUA. Put a pizza emoji into your text. Dunbar Lumber text line is 6.50. At 7.30 this morning, J.C. Abbott is going to join the program. BC Lions reported for Three Down Nation. It is the Western Final in the Canadian Football League on Saturday.

Lions hit the road to take on the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in Regina. They will look to get past Saskatchewan on the road and make it to their first grade up since 2011. So that's what's at stake for the Lions this weekend. We'll preview the game with J.C. Abbott from Three Down Nation at 7.30. At 8 o'clock, we have Intrepid Canucks reporter, Rick Dollywall from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. For more, I now turn things over to our resident Rick Dollywall tour guide, Jason Brough.

Well, one of the things that Dolly wants to talk about is not the Vancouver Canucks. It's not the BC Lions. It's the Vancouver Whitecaps and MLS Commissioner Don Garber's visit to Vancouver and there's going to be a press conference today in Vancouver as Garber comes to town

amidst Whitecaps frenzy and he tries to take advantage of that frenzy by lobbying politicians and business people and trying to get some sort of stadium solution for the whitecaps because they are not

quote sustainable end quote in this market considering the BC place lease Rick sent me a picture of himself wearing a Vancouver Whitecaps jersey

the Navy blue one with the gold shirt Yeah I was like Please tell me you're wearing my hands I was going to say I've sent a block his number I'm like this picture is about the jersey right Anyway

Youhoo Rick is very excited about the Vancouver white caps Still traversing the cable landscape And we'll work through it together you know what the best part of what texting with Rick is is we have the buddy pal thing down

he calls me pal I call him buddy and we end every text with that does he spell it right sometimes sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't which is tough because there's three letters the rare buddy with one D no no no I call him buddy you're the buddy guy he gets the shorter word

for a variety of reasons anyway that's working in reverse on that guest list 8 o'clock Dollywall 730 Abbott 7 o'clock AJ 630 Nick Shook also a In addition to Ask Us Anything Friday and the $100 gift card to AJs, which is a contest. We're doing a couple of giveaways as well today. 8 o'clock, we're giving away our final pair of ACDC tickets.

That concert is next August, summer at 2026 at BC Place. Tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster. We're giving away our final pair at 8 a.m. Another giveaway at 7.30 a.m. Vancouver Giants tickets. We have a pair of tickets to give away to Monday's game against. the Everett Silver Tips, Monday November 10th, 7 p.m. Puck drop at the Langley Events Center. That one is going to be at 7.30. Don't worry. I'll do my best to remind you. The number here, though, 604-280-650. That number again, 604-280-650. Caller

number five for both contests will win the tickets this morning. Okay, that's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened?

What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.com. We will begin with the Vancouver Canucks, although there's not a ton of report from the Vancouver Canucks, who had Thursday off ahead of a busy weekend. They play Saturday at home against Columbus. They play Sunday at home. Colorado, and they will practice this morning at 11 a.m. Jason, ahead of those two games. Yeah, so we'll see if Teddy Bluger or Derek Forbord are on the ice participating in practice

and whether or not there are a possibility for games this weekend. The Canucks got their two most important players back already in Quinn Hughes and Conner Garland and then lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Kinex P.K. has been a weakness so far at just 68%. So, you know, when we were waiting for Hughes and Garland to get back, we're like, those are their only playdrivers. So we said playdrivers a lot, playdrivers. Yes, a lot of play driving.

Now it's P.K. You've got to get the PK back. And operating at a solid clip like it was late last season. Now, one of the issues, with the PKK is that some of the guys they lost, they ain't coming back because Pew Suter is in St. Louis and Dakota Joshua is in Toronto. Suter was a really good, really good penalty killer. Like elite penalty killer in the league when it comes to forwards and they're not going to

get him back. So this PK could be, I don't know what it's going to be like, but it needs to be better. These next three games in four nights are going to be tough for the Vancouver Canucks. it would be nice to get off to a good start Saturday against arguably the weakest of the three teams the jackets are seven and six they're not six and seven kids they're seven and six

they've lost two in a row including 5-1 Wednesday in Columbus so they're actually in a pretty similar situation to the Canucks like they're treading water they should be motivated for Saturday's game because they probably see the Canucks as like hey we can beat these guys

these guys. An exciting statistic to go into that match with the second and third worst penalty kills in the National Hockey League. The second worst, of course, you're Vancouver Canucks operating in a smooth 68% clip, barely ahead of them at 68.4, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Do you know who has the worst penalty kill in the NHL? You tell me. Travis Green's Ottawa Senators.

Is Greener ever had issues with the PK before? Seriously, got him run out of here. Him and Bomber. And a PD slump That's true They got He got double whack It's nice to know that that never ever

Ever happened again though It was a one-time thing under Travis Green here And it never happened again I really At the risk of looking past the blue jackets I really want to see how the Canucks stack up Against the Aves I think the abs are in Edmonton

Saturday night when the Canucks Are playing the Blue Jackets So they might not be like 100% when they play the Canucks but Colorado has only lost once in regulation this season and I think are the consensus top team in the league right now. A few of you might think otherwise, but I think most people look at this league right now

and go look at the way that Colorado's playing. Those guys are unbelievable. Nathan McKinnon, what, he has something. Last time I looked at the, he has like 10 goals and 10 assists or something like that and Kel McCar is up there. Marty Natchez just got paid. and, you know, so he's playing well. They just play so fast, especially McKinnon and McCar.

Tell me about what happened last night in the NHL because I saw some very interesting post-game interviews. Dobish, the goalie in Montreal, was crying after the game, and Ryan O'Reilly. of the Nashville predators seemed to be in some sort of shame spiral. It was a very, it wasn't a shame spiral. It was a very emotional evening in the national hockey league. There were nine games across the league and clearly a couple of guys just couldn't deal

with a late week loss in the beginning of November. It was too much, especially for Yakubovish, who you mentioned. So the story there is that in New Jersey, Esper Brought, and I believe you played the goal in the intro Lattie, scored on a breakaway 133 in overtime, Devils Rally for a four. three win against the Habs in New Jersey. New Jersey becomes the first team to 10 wins this season. So, like, a good team.

No shame in losing to them, especially in their barn in overtime. But Yakub Dobish took this one to heart. Now, before I play this audio, and it is a bit uncomfortable because the young man is not on the verge of tears. He's in the midst of them. Prior to this game,

Dobish was a perfect 6-0-0. With a 197 goals against a 930 save percentage, all great numbers. A young goalie, young Czech goalies played extremely well this season. However, the 24-year-old became very emotional when speaking with the media post-game, blaming himself for the loss. At the risk of upsetting Brough, who doesn't like these sort of cringy, awkward moments and how long they get drawn out. I don't like hearing grown men cry.

Well, you're about to hear it. Here's Jacob Dobish, very upset following. a 4-3 overtime lost in New Jersey. We played good enough to win. Just not good enough from my side. I don't know. Really hard. Yeah.

This is a tough one? Yeah. Any reason, for sure, it's a lost, but any specific reason you feel so disappointed. You feel personally, you were good. Can you just explain your feeling? right now. I mean, it just sucks. You know, last year they, not enough. Just, it happened last year. It happened this year. You know, lose to those guys in O.T. So just disappointed in myself. Just pretty much it.

You take it personally. I don't know what to make of that. I don't know what to make of that. I don't know what to make of that. I mean, I know that the natural instinct on this show is to make fun of everything. It's a defense mechanism, some say. Game 12? It's a lot. Like I said, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on.

But it was, so Mike Morial, who we've had on the show before from NHL.com. Didn't even lose in regulation. I know. You got him to the overtime. You know, and then yes, for Rotts scored on a breakaway. And obviously a bunch of the Habs players jumped to Dobish's defense. Like it's not his fault. Mike Morial, who we've had on the show before from NHL.com, is based out on your

Jersey was working the Prudential Center for the game. He said, on social media, and I quote, don't know if I've ever seen this before. But Montreal rookie goalie Yaakab Dobish, who entered this game 6-0 and O was literally in tears blaming himself for the Canadian's loss. He then said that we, the media, tried to console him, telling him to keep his head up.

Kid is putting so much pressure on himself. I'll just leave that one as that's a thing that happened last night and a jumping off point. to some other post-game audio, which really caught people's attention. And this one was from a more veteran presence, Nashville Predators Center, Ryan O'Reilly. Again, in a game in which he scored his team's only goal,

Ryan O'Reilly met with members of the media after a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, this game was at home in Nashville. This is a third consecutive loss for the Preds, who were off to a really lousy start. They're 5, 7, and 4. things are not going well. And Ryan O'Reilly, in a scathing self-critique,

took himself the task in the post-game media availability. Here's what that sounded like Ryan O'Reilly after a 3-1 loss to Philadelphia. Can't make a six-foot pass to save my life. So I was not going to have much success if, you know, I'm playing pathetic like that. So it's stupid. I don't know the answer.

If I'd won a good year in my career, and I don't. I don't know I'm going to answer, that's for sure. Did the reporters, no, you've had more good years than that. Come on, man. Mike Morial sprinted over there. He's like, I know all about boosting guys' confidence. I just did it with Dolbish.

The line. Ryan O'Reilly was named the third star of the night. Can you imagine he came out for a twirl in Nashville for that? For those of you that couldn't hear it because it was a bit muffled, he said, I know for myself, the number one center, I just turned the puck over everywhere. and can't make a six foot pass to save my life. We're not going to have much success

if I'm playing pathetic like that. I don't know the answer. Now, this is the crazy part. I watch this game. No, no, no. This is the crazy part. He said, I've only had one good year in my career.

I don't have any answers. That's for sure. Does he mean team-wise? I think he means the year that he won the cup in St. Louis. Yeah, that's obviously. Because he won the consulate and then the, Selky, yeah.

And the sulky, yeah. But I'm like, I almost wanted to run down there. I'm like, you've had other good years. That was his best year, in fair enough. It was his best year, but he's only one, yeah, it was, he's had more than one good year. I don't like. Ryan, you've had at least two. I don't like high level achievers like Ryan O'Reilly, because I'm like, what have I done?

I haven't even had a good year in my life. Not compared to Ryan O'Reilly. Guys, I think we've got a real problem with perfectionism here. Do you think that's it? Do you think that's it? I think a lot of these guys are perfectionism. Without trying to psychoanalyze two guys that we don't know and it just took a snippet of their media. I mean, would that not go hand in hand with being a professional athlete?

You're the very best at what you do. So naturally you want to maintain that perfection, level of perfection, right? Yes. But if you read into the psychology of it, there's good perfectionism and there's bad perfectionism. Also, yes. Also, another thing I've always told, always been told is that these guys throughout their entire careers up to this point, have always been the top player by far on their teams. Very good point. Until they reach the NHL, obviously.

Now, the question I have is, I don't know. I don't know if that has anything to do with a goalie, nearly breaking down in tears. Well, they're not used to struggling. They're not used to adversity like this because they've always been the best. The crazy part is that Dolbisch has. Raleigh is well into his NHL career. The interesting part is when you kind of pull back the veil and you show the vulnerability. Because part of this, and especially in hockey, is when you talk to the media, what do you say?

We got to be better. We got to win more puck battles. We got to, you know, battle harder in front of the net. And all the cliches that the rookie symposium teaches you to say so that the reporters write things and scribble down on their notebook and then they walk away. It's just very interesting than on the same night. And two guys that are, if you want to talk about the sort of opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their NHL accomplishments, Doebus, a rookie who's just learning the ropes, Ryan O'Reilly, who's as veteran as anyone in the NHL, maybe it just speaks to how much pressure these guys are under on a regular basis

and how sometimes they feel it. J. Texan with an Ask Us Anything, and it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford & Brough show. $100 gift card to AJ's at stake for the best Ask Us Anything. J. Texan, when is the last time you cried? 1987. When is the last time I cried? I don't cry very off.

Last Saturday. Right. This morning in the parking lot. No, I don't. I'm not a crier. I need to be, I probably should cry more. Everybody hurts. I've been told that I sometimes keep my feelings inside and then they come out eventually.

Who are you? Darkness, my old friend. Now, that's perfectly healthy. Everyone should do that. What's that? Keep bottle your feelings. Keep it all the feelings down. Yeah, until you explode and throw something out of right.

And if you feel like you're going to cry, just clench your jaw as tight. height as you can. That is the healthy way to do it. And then let it out an appropriate time. Like when daddy hit the empire with a beer bottle. Remember that? Yeah, remember that? And then just tell everyone you're fine.

I'm fine. Stop bugging me. Stop bugging me. You know, frankly, I like the NHO players showing their emotions and crying a bit. I'd like to see more of that. I like that level of accountability. It's a delicate, especially for this show, it's a delicate thing because, again, our de facto response is to make fun of everything.

No, that's great. I know. It shows they care. Well, we're trying. Yeah, I mean, I think we know that they care. But it shows they really care. Yeah, in those two cases, especially, right? Yeah.

Okay, some other news and notes from around the National Hockey League last night. Ryan O'Reilly's former team, the St. Louis Blues, they've been going through it recently, and they decided that enough was enough. Prior to their game, a 3-0 win, I might add, over the St. Louis Blues, they decided to scratch forward Jordan Kairu. Now, I want to play the Jim. Montgomery audio before this 3-0-0-0-win, because he

talked about the mentality that they need to bring to the ice. Here's Monty talking about how they need to break some legs in order to have some sex. Success in St. Louis. Close enough. I guess you could know. You're going to clip that. Oh, dear. Wait a minute. No. No. Success.

Well, I mean, our record and our effort last night shows you that it hasn't been easy. But I would say that if you have competitive fire in your belly, struggles like this provide opportunities to grow stronger together when you face these again. It's going to happen again during the season. But right now, we got to dig in and work our ways out of it. Like, you know, we just got to dig in.

Like, if there's a puck between you and I, I'm going to break your leg to get the puck. We have to have more of that mentality Okay I think Montgomery is a pretty good coach But this was the exact same stuff That he was doing before he got turfed in Boston Like he's not And also is breaking someone's leg a penalty

It is a penalty More often than not you're going to get penalized for that Like if you do with your stick That's a slash Because you can call your guys out And then you can healthy scratch Kyru But when you healthy scratch him And then say what you're looking for

while he's out of the lineup and it's try harder and compete harder you're putting him in the crosshairs in a big way and he did this at the end of his tenure in Boston he did it with remember he yelled at Brad Marshawn on the bench and he called out Posternak and I know I know what he's trying to do

and do you remember that rumor came up was that when the rumor came up that Marshawn and Posternock had beef was that during that time or was it was it during that time? It was prior to that it was prior to that it was prior to that but the rumor at that time was that Montgomery wanted the blues job

and he was doing the George Costanza like I'm trying to get fired right like dragging the World Series trophy around the parking lot at the back of his car wearing Lou Gehrig's jersey yeah all the things and at the time I had

I thought a look because I mean he got hired days after by the Blues like he was in he was in that job right away but now I'm looking at it I'm like as a head coach I like the fire and brimstone stuff I think it's entertaining from our perspective. I think sometimes holding, especially a guy like Cairo who was front and center when Craig Barube got fired there,

I think sometimes holding those guys to account is a good thing. At the same time, I'm a realist. I know that more often than not, the players win these battles. Like the coaches get fired, the players stick around. As a matter of fact, we saw that in St. Louis with Barubei. So I don't know how this is going to turn out. It's a big, bold move, and they did win yesterday. And Cairo hasn't been great.

He is the blue second leading scorer. But he had not recorded a point in his five games prior to getting scratched. So as we always say on this show, I guess we'll just wait and see what transpires in St. Louis. They did get a win, which they haven't had much of this season. Okay, a couple other scores I want to run through from yesterday of note. We have a tie atop the NHL leaderboard for goals. Two players right now, after last night's action, are tied with 11 goals to lead the National Hockey League. one of them, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby,

who scored a pair of power play goals yesterday as the Penguins who blew another 3-0-0 lead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they made up for it this time. And they won 5-3. That was a good hockey game. That was a good game. That was the 99th time that Crosby and Ovechkin had gone head-to-head. By the way, Ferraro was doing that game.

I texted him. Do you think Tom Wilson's going to be on Team Canada because he scored and he said, yeah, I do. I think I'm on the record saying I want them on there. I'll take the risk. I'll take the worry and the concern. Tom Wilson changes games What are the head contact rules in the Olympics?

There's no no There's no hitting essentially It's not allowed yeah No but like it's there's no like well You were going through the body And you just happen to make contact with the head right It's zero tolerance And I believe match penalties also carry a one game suspension

Yeah That's the only thing that concerns me It's a big concern Yeah it's like the fine line between You love what he brings Although I know don't say it I know the heatle line, okay? Like, I get it.

But you love what he brings because he's a game changer. Yeah. But he could also change the game in a negative way for your team. Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a good thing the Penguins won that game, by the way.

Why? Because she loves? I was going to cry. Don't make fun of it. Why are you doing it? Don't make fun of it. I'm just saying, it's the same situation that happened to Dobesh.

They blew that league. It's true. It's true. At least the penguins pulled it out. Real men cry, Greg. Greg, it's okay. I said I cried last Saturday. I said I cried last Saturday.

I won't tell you why. Finally, before we go to break, I need to talk about the other player who is tied with Sidney Crosby with 11 goals to lead the National Hockey League this year. Cutter Goce of the Anaheim Ducks. We got texts coming in, don't we?

Oh, I just laugh at it. I said, I cried last Saturday. And then you all laugh at them right away. Yeah. It was funny, the timing. The crying was also funny. Cutter Gocee is now tied to top the NHL leaderboard with 11 goals.

He was our one to walk. brought to you at Limitless A.V. last night, by the way. That thing is on fire. It can't be beat. I don't know what I'm getting, I'm feeling impressed. We should do Don Garber today, once to watch. Like, bring it home, Garber. He's going to get us.

He's like, I like to announce I got a stadium built. And I'll be like, damn, this thing is good. Reporters like, Don, we hear you are the one to watch this weekend. It's very impressive how effective it is. Anyway, Gochay scored again. The Anaheim Ducks set a franchise record by scoring seven plus goals for the fourth time this season. They did it in a 7-5 win. over the Dallas stars in Dallas on Thursday night.

Ducks are the third team in 30 years to score at least seven goals four times in the first 13 games. They are just racking them up. And Gochay's been a big part of that. He's now tied with Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead with 11 goals. Okay, the first half hour of the show is in the books. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us next to set up the weekend of NFL action. A reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday.

Get your Ask Us Anything's in. We will answer them throughout the show. hashtag them, AUA, put a pizza emoji into your text. The best ask us anything gets a $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway. You're listening to The Halford & Breath Show on Sportsnet, 650. Break some legs in order to have some sex. Success in St. Louis. Close enough.

It's Canucks Central with Dan Richo and Saty R. Shaw, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post game show. Listen, 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on-dem. through your favorite podcast app. 634 on a fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halvin Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Only a license insolvency trustee can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees.

To learn how, visit sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour one. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest price. is on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. It is time now for our NFL preview brought to you by the Clayton Public House for that preview and a recap of that dog's breakfast on Thursday night football. Nick

shook from NFL.com joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Nick. How are you? That is a pretty accurate description of what we watched last night, isn't it? I mean, my goodness, that was a rough one. Isn't that what the Broncos want? from these games, though? It's the way that they win a lot of these games. I don't know if they necessarily want that. I think in a perfect world, they would find some sort of rhythm offensively and, I don't know, not beat the Raiders by three points

because the Raiders miss a potential game. It would have been a game tying field goal or not beat the Jets 13 to 11 overseas. It would be nicer, I think, for all of us. If we could look at that record, which is now 8 and 2, and see a few impressive wins. They have a couple, but a few more against the lesser teams I think would be more comforting.

Do you consider them Super Bowl contenders because their record is amazing? Their defense is amazing and they're finding ways to win games, but... Yeah, exactly, but... I mean, I just have a hard time trusting them. I think that their defense will travel and it's going to keep them in pretty much every game.

And, I mean, it's basically been the theme for them this year anyway is, you know, the defense largely performs well. the offense takes, you know, two, three quarters to figure it out. Sometimes they fall behind. Then they have to put, you know, flip the switch and, you know, find a way to come back in the fourth quarter. They didn't have to do that last night, thankfully, because it's the Raiders who, you know, are beating them in the incompetence department. But, I mean, I was kind of hoping that Daniel Carlson would make that field goal because I wanted to see if they could do it again because this is just how they've been this season. It's frustrating for me because I'm probably one of the last people to trust a team.

Like, I really need it proven. And the Broncos just have not really produced. I mean, other than the dominant win over the Cowboys, which is when I thought, all right, they're turning the corner. This is it. They're going to find some rhythm. They play Houston. It has a good defense after that.

They win that one narrowly, and then they win this one narrowly on a short week. But the real test is going to be in 10 days, well, nine days now from now, when they play the Kansas City Chiefs at home. That's going to be the real one. Got to focus on the Raiders here for a sec. So yesterday, in a seven-point effort, the Raiders had one interception, one punt blocked, nine penalties, one missed field goal, and a touchdown negated by a penalty. It's a mess of a team, a mess of an organization. We actually had a texter in Rafe with a question is, have the Raiders built their new stadium on haunted ground?

What is up with Chip Kelly in the bubble screens and what is up with that franchise? Can you answer any of these questions, Nick? Well, actually, you know, I don't disagree with anything you're really saying there. But I do think that Chip actually called a really good game for about 12 and a half minutes last night. I think that he understood that they needed to find some way to, you know, create angles, just small creases for them to have a step or two ahead of the Broncos to be able to move the football. And I thought he did. The play calling was creative.

It was an ambitious game plan, but it was working. It caught the Broncos by surprise. But they couldn't get out of their own way, and for the reasons that you just explained. I kind of have a little bit of an issue. It was the right call on the touchdown that was negated by an offensive pass interference. It was definitely, Thornton definitely got in the way there illegally. But I also wonder if, you know, he doesn't get in the way there if, at least Tray Tucker caught that pass, doesn't finish that thing off by himself because he just had the angle on that catch.

I thought it was a great play call from Chip Kelly. It was a good design. It was executed well, saved for him. one receiver running a little too much interference, offensive interference. Now, overall, this has been the Raider story. I thought a lot of it could be chalked up to the absence of Brock Bowers. Last night, we learned that a defense can, in fact, completely take him away. He had one catch for 31 yards when he got open, you know, in a one-on-one situation

early against a rookie in today, Baron. And other than that, he was completely, you know, absent because they were dedicating a lot of resources to taking him away, and it was forcing Gino Smith to look elsewhere. And that's the problem with this team. They can't run the ball effectively because they can't create, you know, consistent running lanes. Ashton Genty has been getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, I believe, more than any of the running back in the NFL this year. No matter how hard he tries, it's just a Siffian climb, it seems for him this season. And they lack, you know, receiving talent outside of their top tight end, who's probably the best tight end in the league in Brock Bowers.

So they're just really limited. And I thought their defense got worse in the offseason, and that's proving to be true as well. and this is just something that you don't fix with a new coach in one year. I am curious, though, because Pete Carroll is, you know, he's no spring chicken, what direction does this team going? Can they find a way to at least build some positive momentum

in the back half of the season, or is this going to be a really ugly finish this year and be full of question marks? What do you make of the news that's breaking this morning that the Washington commanders will not place Jaden Daniels on IR? I guess they've got a buy week and they're going to reevaluate after the bye week. Yeah, this has been kind of in play since it became clear,

I believe the day after the injury that it wasn't as severe as we thought it was. And I know that he was seeking additional opinions just to kind of get an idea of could he come back. And I admire the effort. I admire the dedication to it, to his team and everything else. But at 3 and 6, they are not a Jaden Daniels away from being a playoffs. team. They have been so injured this year. They have lost so many guys on both sides of the ball. And yes, we can talk about, you know, oh, it was, it was a malpractice on Dan Quinn's part for having Daniels out there in the fourth quarter that lost to the Seahawks. And I can agree

with you somewhat, but they also need to get something going offensively because they have so many absences. They just haven't been able to establish any sort of rhythm. They didn't do it really at all in that game. It was clear that even with Daniels on the field that, that they they just weren't going to move the football against a very good Seahawks defense. And I don't think any of the next to change whether Daniels was on the field or not. I don't like to wave the white flag in week 10, but I just think that, you know, unless you pull off a number of upsets here, you've got to beat Detroit. Granted, you get them at home.

You got to beat Denver, which you also get at home. You got to go to Minnesota and win that game. That would be your five-week span that, because if you think, you know, four weeks would be the IR trip. You've got the next two games. You get a five-week. you know, and that's basically your biweek span right there. And then you get the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, and Eagles again. And at that point, you've got to win most of those, you know,

games in that four to five week span that's coming up just to be in contention. If you split that, you're five and eight, and it's not really inspiring. So I admire his dedication to his team, but I don't know if it's really going to be worth it in the end. Yeah, I should clarify, the biweek isn't this week. They played Detroit and then Miami next week, and then they get the buy week. So it's pretty much the end of November that this keeps open for Jane and Daniels to return. Speaking of the commanders, what did you think of that Seahawks performance? Guys, I am happy to tell you that I believe the Seahawks are one of the best probably two or three teams in the NFL.

And I feel as though you and I both thought this could be possible weeks ago, that we really liked what we know we were seeing from the Seahawks. and it's just only getting better. I mean, I don't think Washington is your litmus test because of what I just described with everything that they've been doing with all the challenges and everything. But the Seahawks are consistently playing good football,

not only defensively, but also offensively. And I think that, you know, in this weird year filled with parity, we have a hard time identifying the top tier, the upper crust of the league and who can contend for a Super Bowl. And right now there are a few teams, if any, playing football as well as the Seattle Seahawks. And I think that that Washington, whenever Washington was a great example of them going in there and taking care of business against an inferior team.

And I think that's what title contenders do, especially on the road and in a primetime spot. And they did that, certainly did that. So I'm very, very high on the Seahawks right now. Yet it's still not enough for Sam Darnold to crack the top tier of Nick Shook's NFL QB rankings index. Granted, he's just below it. He's the top of tier two. Is he the new Joe Flacco is Sam Darnold elite? So I'm going to run through it.

There's five guys. It's five guys. Five elites right now. Tier one. Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, and Drake May. Excellent company. What keeps Sam Darnel? And I should add, Lamar Jackson, although he's only been back for one week.

Drake May gets it, but Sam Darnel doesn't. Explain yourself, Shook. Yeah, okay. Well, I got to be honest with you guys, Drake May is playing. playing some of the best football. He's very good. He's very good. He is a massive reason why the Patriots are as good as they are.

I really don't have an issue with Sam at all. I just think that, like, I just need, I don't know, maybe one or two more games where, because I don't hold that. The fact that they lit them up before touchdowns, you know, on Sunday Night against Washington, it felt like, wow, that's a fantastic performance by Sam Darnold. But it's also, I think this is how bad Washington is.

It's all, you know, you kind of have to kind of just consider all the circumstances around everything. but like I think that and I also don't want to put too many quarterbacks in tier one frankly but I think Lamar is going to get up there very quickly if he continues to prove that he's healthy and the quarterback that we've always known him to be this might be the lowest have ever ranked him

and I think that Sam's probably on that track he's really played he hasn't played flawless football and I feel like made through a pick on Sunday in that close win over the Falcons and Mahomes had a clunker of a game but over the course of this season tier one is essentially guys who have played about as close to flawless football as possible or have had such great individual performances that they make the climb. The other guy that I would like to consider

taking out, but he had his best game of the season, I think, last week was Josh Allen. I could swap Josh Allen for Sam Darnold right now, but it's all about recency. It's all about week to week, and I think there may be room for one more. We'll see. We'll find out. Well, the Seahawks host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, and I'm hoping that that's not a trap game for them because if you look ahead, they go down to L.A. to play the Rams on the next week, and that's going to be a huge game. Talk to us a little bit about the situation in Arizona with their quarterbacks. So, Calder Murray, you know, is injured, right, and ends up on IR this week. It's been strange with the way that they've handled this whole situation, not from a medical

perspective, as much as what information are they willing to give, you know, saying one thing, but seeming like they're acting, you know, differently. I think Jonathan Gannon said a couple weeks ago. He said he had to reiterate it again if they went on Monday night over the Cowboys that win healthy, Tyler Murray as a starter. But they weren't really acting like that in the two previous weeks. And I know that they, you know, needed to give Kyler time to heal up with his foot, and that's why he's now an IR.

But it just felt kind of like a soft benching. Like they looked at the performance of their offense with Jacoby Brissette in there as opposed to the way it looked with. Kylie Murray in there, and they saw what everybody saw, which is our offense is better with Jacoby in there. It's more stable, it's more consistent, has a higher ceiling, and it keeps us in games. They went through a brutal stretch

of a five-game losing streak in which they lost by a combined margin of 13 points, and all of those losses came in the final five minutes of the game. So I think that you know, with your back kind of against the wall, you trust the veteran, and obviously proved itself, and

that Monday night went over the Cowboys where Jacoby looked excellent for three quarters. And I think they have defense that's coming together. Their front four looked better than they have all season in the game against the Cowboys because it was Walter Nolan's debut, their first round pick this year. So, I don't even know if I would call it a trapeum. I think

it's a divisional game that you have to take seriously because I think the Cardinals are better than their record. Now, how will Jacoby be able to overcome the Seahawks defense? That's a big question. Because in the last few years, when we've seen him play quarterback, whether it's been for the Browns or whoever else, he has struggled against the best defenses. But I do

think that he still gives them a higher ceiling or a higher chance of success in Kyla Murray, which explains why everything has unfold the way it has, or at least somewhat. And I also believe that Jonathan Gannon's making this decision for his own job because it's year three and they've got to prove that they're advancing forward. And I think that a lot of that is tied into the fact that Kyler has not seen the field and probably won't for a while. What that means for his future remains to be seen. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Some very good games on the slate this weekend, but let's keep it in the NFC West.

because there's another good rivalry game. Between the Rams and the 49ers, this one's going to be in San Fran. Rams are four and a half point favorites on the road. And I got to say, I mentioned Matt Stafford earlier in your QB index. And while they are divisional rivals of the Seahawks, I have such a high level of respect for Stafford

and his ability to continue to play such high level football. Year 17. We love all the old guys. Well, most of them. Most of them. Year 17. I'll get to the other old guy in a bit. Year 17 in the NFL.

and he's still doing the damn thing and I know that they went out and got Devante Adams and that makes that receiving core very talented but it is impressive what Stafford has been able to do this year again year 17 in the NFL very impressive I'm glad you brought up Devante Adams because that could be used as a way to discount Stafford's performance but I would like to remind everybody of what Devante Adams

in Las Vegas look like because whether it was Jimmy Garapolo throwing him the ball or whoever else else it was it was it was a waste of his time and I think that this is an example of how, you know, good Matt Stafford still is, that he can capitalize on a veteran talent like Adams, that he can continue to, you know, rely on Pooka and Akua, but it's not just that. He's playing phenomenal football.

I felt, you know, after I watched their most recent victory, I was like, what have I been doing? Why haven't I been had kept Stafford higher? Like, I watch it every week. He's been flawless. I discounted the performance, you know, when they dominated the Jaguars. I was like, oh, the Jaguars had a rough day, whatever. No, it's impossible to overlook that now.

He's playing the best football of anybody when it comes to passing the ball, any quarterback in the NFL right now. And to do it, like you said in his 17th season, is remarkably impressive. And let's not forget that we were worried that he might not play for a significant stretch this year because he spent all of camp dealing with this mysterious back injury. I don't hear any chatter about the back anymore. He's playing very, very well, even if he's got an old man injury. So I think that when it comes to the Rams and Niners, four and a half point favorites is what you said.

I understand why. I also know the Rams struggle mightily in Santa Clara. And this Niners team is annoying because they have so many injuries and yet they continue to play above expectation. I don't know if I like that. I don't know if I like the Rams being the ones expected to win there. I think I would, you know, when I look at this, I think it's going to be very challenging for them to come away with the win in Santa Clara.

Okay, well, let's do another one here. The Chargers are hosting the Steelers, speaking of old man, Aaron Rogers and the Steelers on Sunday night football. It's in L.A. The Chargers are two and a half point favorites. There's a lot of teams that I can't make sense of in the NFL, but I can't make sense of the Steelers. They've got good wins on the board.

They beat New England earlier in the year. That's a good win against a seven-win team. They smoked Indianapolis, although the final score was 27-20. That's another seven-win team. And they did that largely on the strength of the defense. but the two weeks prior, they got gouged for 30 plus points by the Bengals and then the Packers.

So I don't know what to make of this Steelers team, do you? I am going to sound like such a hater here. I really am. We like that. The Patriots game, the Patriots lost that game. The Steelers did not win that game. The Patriots fumbled away possession multiple times, including once when Ramandre Stevenson appeared to score a touchdown

and came up short because he fumbled. Now, you can give the Steelers credit. I think it was Peyton Wilson who forced that Stevenson thumbball on the goal line. It was great play. And you can give them credit for beating the Colts last week because they forced six turnovers. I'm not going to take any of that away from them. But I am a little concerned that they only won that game by seven points and that the Colts had somewhat of a shot at the end of that game.

Any game that you force six takeaways, you should win that one running away. And they haven't. So I'm still concerned about their defense. I thought that that was a classic Steelers performance against the Colts, I would love to see them do it again. I do think they're actually going to have another strong performance against the Chargers. And that's because the Chargers' offensive line is very, very

banged out. They lost Joe Ald for the season, unfortunately. That was, you know, he's a great tackle, and he was really what was keeping their line together and buying Justin Herbert time to throw. We saw a lot of this, you know, last year and the year before. In fact, one time when the Chargers went to Pittsburgh

to play at the Steelers, where the offensive lines, you know, issues, just lack of ability to protect him, completely undercut their offense and led to a Chargers lost in Pittsburgh. I hate to say it, but losing Joe Alt, I know it's one player, but it really diminished my outlook for them. It really lowered my ceiling for them. And I think that the Steelers could definitely go in there and get a win. Aaron Rogers is playing very good football as well,

but it ultimately will come down to the Steelers defense and whether they can play cohesively, which has been hit or miss this year. Well, let's talk about another enticing matchup, and that's the Monday Nighter when the Packers host, the Eagles. did the Packers peak in week one when they beat the Detroit Lions because I know they're 5, 2, and 1 and that's not terrible, but they haven't looked super impressive along the way

and they're coming off a loss to Carolina, which you don't really want to do even though the Carolina is somewhat improved. Yeah, Carolina's kind of punchy, they're a little scrappy. But yeah, did they peak in week one? They've just been a weird team. They've played with their food a lot. the defense that we thought would be very good

has only been good sometimes and even that went over the Bengals kind of got a little too close for comfort and that was a month ago that was Joe Flacko's first game with the Bengals it was one of the situations where you think like they would come away with a better more resounding victory than that

but if you kind of look at their schedule you got the whatever the commanders in week two and they were largely healthy you beat the Lions in week one you have your mystifying loss to the Browns which is just a complete meltdown in a very strange game you tied the gavel which was another strange game.

There's no real quality wins on this schedule. They had to come back to beat the Cardinals in the fourth quarter in Glendale in that game. So I think their best wins were week one and week eight, and that was their winner of the Steelers on Sunday night. That was the game that convinced me, okay, here we go. This is what their offense can be. They put up a flurry of points in the second half. Jordan Love completed 20 straight passes.

And the next week, they can't convert key downs and they lose 16 to 13 of the Panthers. So you're right. Who are they? I think their team is talented enough to get there and they need to be tested and need to be consistent. And they're going to get that test from this Eagles team that has quietly won, you know, put together two really good performances in the last two games and has, you know, added some talent in the form of Jalen Phillips to an edge rushing group

that needs, you know, an injection of talent after their departures that they had in the out season. So I think we're going to learn a bit about the Packers over the next month because even the Giants, you know, with their bad record and their losses health-wise, Jackson Dart makes them an interesting, scrappy team. We did power rankings on NFL Daily last night, and they were the team in the last tier of teams that I definitely would not want to play. So the next four weeks for the Packers are Eagles, Giants, Vikings, Lions,

and then the Bears. We're going to learn a lot about them over the next month. Nick, you are the best, buddy. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. As always, enjoy all the games this weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. All right, guys. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming on, but that's Nick Shook from NFL.com here

on the Halford & Bruff Show on Sportsnet, 650. hour one of the program in the books. Hour 2 is on the horizon. We're going to talk to AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. We're going to do some Ask Us Anything. As a reminder, $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Goes to the best Ask Us Anything. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650, 650, 650.

Hashtaget at AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text. 7.30, we're going to talk to J.C. Abbott and preview the Lions in Saskatchewan in the Western Final. Lots more to get to on the program. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet, 650. Thank you.