Halford & Brough in the Morning - Tonight Could Be A Feisty Affair In Edmonton

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they set up tonight's Canucks road matchup in Edmonton (6:00), plus they preview this weekend's NFL playoff action with NFL.com's Nick Shook (25:50). 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.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- wanted posters, and I understand if he smashed him in the face or got in a fight or did something, it's a whore. Olivier lands a couple, now reads! Knocks the helmet up! Thrilling! Rock and suck of robots here as they go at it right at the blue line! With a pick out towards center-right, Neil Peon moving in, slap shot, score! Good morning Vancouver 601, on a Thursday, Happy Thursday everybody. It is Halford, it is Bruff, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good

morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Gladdy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is Bratz you buy, 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 Kintec studio and we were just talking about scrolling through the long document we have for Reads. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Kintec off to a good start. Got a big show ahead on a Thursday. I know I say this every day.

Some say it's because I'm tired, monotonous, and I don't come up with anything original. Old predictable Halford. I say it's because every show is a big show. None bigger than the other. All of them equally big. Guest list begins today at 6.30. Nick Shook from NFL.com is gonna join us.

The NFC and AFC championships will be this Sunday, Sunday. In the NFC, it's the sixth seed this Sunday. Sunday in the NFC. It's the sixth seeded, those plucky upstart Washington commanders. They're going to go to Philadelphia at noon. That's a Fox broadcast, by the way. And then at three thirty, a clash of the Titans in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills, the second seed going to Arrowhead to take on the number one seed. Kansas City Chiefs, 3.30

our time. We'll talk to Nick about those two games. We'll also talk to him about some big news in the world of NFL coaching. Detroit lost all their coordinators. They're all gone. Ben Johnson's gone to Chicago. Aaron Glenn's gone to the Jets. What will Dan Campbell do?

We'll talk to Nick Schuch about that. At 6.30, 7.30, this is pretty cool. Zach Ross is gonna join us. The JCC committee co-chair ahead of the JCC Sports Dinner. It's 7.30 this morning. Zach is gonna join us live to announce the winner of this year's Jack Diamond Sports Personality of the Year Award.

We've done this before on the show. That award recognizes an individual who has consistently demonstrated a competitive and cooperative spirit all within the field of sport while making positive contributions to the community. And the winner this year is JT Miller. Didn't see it coming. Weren't supposed to spoil it like that. No, it's not.

No, it's not. Past recipients, not JT Miller. Trevor Linden, Wally Buono, Steve Nash, Rick Hansen. I believe we had Angus Reid on the show last year. So no spoilers. Thunder and Margot until 730, but we're going to announce the winner right here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Eight o'clock, Thomas Drance.

The Drancer is going to join the program from Canucks Talk, which you'll hear on Sportsnet 650 later today ahead of another big clash, clash of the bitter rivals Canucks, Oilers six o'clock tonight from Edmonton. Canucks Central goes from four to five pregame show from five to six. Batch and Randeeb have the broadcast from six onward. And then, of course, the postgame show, it's all right here on Sportsnet 650. Durant will join us at eight to break it all down. We are still giving away tickets to see 9-inch nails

this upcoming summer. I believe it's August the 10th. The show will be rolling through Vancouver as 9-inch nails are back touring. At 8.15, caller number nine, cousin 9-inch nails, right? You guys all get that. Caller number nine will win a pair of tickets

to see 9-inch nails this summer the phone number 604 280 06 50 that number again 604 280 06 50 So we'll be doing that and we got a lot more else to get into we got a lot to get into from yesterday So without further ado laddie, let's tell everybody what happened Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

Did you miss that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca for more. Yesterday the Vancouver Canucks returned to practice ahead of today's much anticipated, tonight's much anticipated game against the Edmonton Oilers. Now the practice itself,

not a ton of takeaways from it. D pairings, same. Lines, the same. Kevin Lankenin came back after missing a game due to illness. I do think it's worth noting that you say the D pairs are the same, but they're the same with Hughes and Hronik broken up. Correct. So Hughes is with Friedman, Suzy's with Hronik and it'll probably be the same as last game and Hughes will play with multiple partners, including Hronik once in a while. Hopefully Hughes has a better game. Yes. Hughes will play with multiple partners, including Hronik once in a while. Hopefully Hughes has a better game.

Yes. And it was a rare off game. And Rick Taukett said yesterday that he just thinks Hughes tried to do too much and they had a talk about it. And if you're a coin Hughes, we've seen this with Canucks players. I remember Trevor Linden, that used to be one of the things that people would say about Trevor.

When the team wasn't going well, Trevor would try and do everything himself. And, you know, sometimes he had to use his teammates. Quinn Hughes is probably feeling like, Hey, I seem to be the only top guy here who really has a jump in my step. So I guess I'm going to go do stuff and maybe he did too much stuff the other night.

And he did according to his head coach. And that was the real story of yesterday's practice, not the practice itself, but that Rick Tauket had some old school, early days in Vancouver, Rick Tauket vibes where he spoke a lot. He spoke candidly and he was pretty critical of his team yesterday. I was glad to hear it. I do want to start right there with what Jason was talking about.

Rick Talkett was asked about Quinn Hughes specifically was his captain trying to do too much the other night against the Buffalo Sabres. Rick did not hold back. Here's Talkett on Hughes from yesterday's practice. I thought last night he did. I think for the most part, he's an unreal year. He's been great at that last night was too much. You know, I want to put the team on my back and we had a talk today. He likes to talk about after games and stuff. We talked about that. That's the one thing he has to guard himself is to be trying to take the team on by himself you know the other team and I think that's when he gets in

trouble. Now there was an astute salient follow-up question here could it be from the Canucks media there was an astute salient follow-up question. It might have been an Edmonton guy that infiltrated I don't know. From an Edmonton guy? However I don't know who asked it, but there was a question asked about well, wait a minute here Could this be not necessarily about Hughes trying to do too much But Hughes his teammates constantly deferring to him because he's such a great player Rick talking ahead time for this line of questioning. Here's what he had to say Good question. I mean, I've played some great players. I mean, yeah, you just, you don't stop playing because you play with a great player. I mean, that's asinine. You know,

you want to use that great player to your advantage. So I don't know if that theory, I don't know. I mean, you have a great player. You should embrace the fact that I get to play with this player. You know, how can I be better for this guy and the team? That's just about Huggy, but about the team. So yeah, no, you just utilize that best player as much as you can for your benefit. So I've noticed a lot of people texting into the Dunbar Lumber text line with a sense of worry or concern that number one, the Canucks are wasting some of their time and effort on the And with a sense of worry or concern that number

one, the Canucks are wasting some of the greatest years we've ever seen from a Canucks player. No one in Canucks history has really come close to winning a Norris trophy until Quinn Hughes won the Norris trophy last season. And there's a case to be made that he's playing even better this season. Meanwhile, the team is not winning.

The team is in danger of missing the playoffs. And the team is possibly going to trade away one or even two of its best forwards, not to mention possibly not bringing back a guy like Brock Besser. And we're thinking, okay, well, how are we going to keep Quinn Hughes happy because he's not signed forever. And I imagine that is a concern for Canucks management too.

And a lot of the texts that come in suggest that, no, you can't trade these guys. You can't trade Miller or Pedersen because then you're essentially into a rebuild. Quinn Hughes isn't going to stand for that. And then Quinn Hughes is going to want out. Maybe somebody should ask Quinn Hughes about that though.

Obviously he's not going to answer that publicly. I'm sure I'd love to address this publicly. I'm talking about management, right? And I do wonder if Quinn Hughes is kept in the loop on certain major decisions, even asked for his opinion on certain major decisions. Different organizations do it differently. Some organizations will give the players an ear,

a voice, and others are like, you're the player, I don't care if you're the captain, we're making the decisions here. But Quinn Hughes looks tired of all the drama. So it's not like, it's not like, it's not like he's, it's not like if the Canucks, I don't think, if the Canucks make some changes, he's gonna be like, well, I'm outta here.

I think right now his frustrations are twofold. One, they're not winning enough hockey games. And they're outside the playoff picture looking in, which is not where they wanted to be after last season. So there's the very tangible, obvious, they're not playing good hockey. I think the other part of it is that as a captain, he is responsible for speaking to the media incessantly,

answering the questions on behalf of the team, having to explain away why the team's playing terribly, even though he's having another banner season. It was noted that after yesterday's practice Quinn Hughes's media availability was pretty abrupt. He wasn't happy. You know who else wasn't happy? His head coach. I think both of them probably have similar sentiments about the way the team has played this year. The captain and the coach are often in lockstep. In the case of Travis Green and Bo Horvat, they were almost the same person at times. So when you hear Hughes speak and you hear Tauke speak and you hear some of the familiar of her refrains,

like I bet, you know, if you were to get Hughes in a Quine 1, he'd probably be like, yeah, maybe I am trying to do too much out here because no one else is doing anything. I mean, it's all very valid, right? Now frustration. I mentioned in that little diatribe there, another thing I wanted to play some audio from talk it yesterday, he addressed and openly acknowledged that the frustration has

crept into this group and it's starting to manifest itself. Listen to this clip carefully because talk it does say and alludes to off-ice noise and everything else that's going on around the team. And openly ponders if that's the reason why the frustration is showing itself. All he knows is that it's there and it's happening and they need to get rid of it. Here's Rick Tauket after practice yesterday. I mean I can't speak for some guys. Maybe some guys are, I don't know, I can't tell you that. I go day to day, game to game like I tell you guys, and obviously last game was not being up 2-1. The shots were 18-11, I thought we were coming all of a sudden, but 19 minutes later it flipped.

And why is that? Because the guys stopped skating, guys started doing fancy plays, body language came back for whatever reason. You just can't do that. Winners don't do that. You don't slam gates. You know, we're up two to one. Somebody misses an empty net. Okay, who cares? Why slam a gate? This is the stuff I've been preaching since I've been here and every once in a while it creeps in, the frustration. Now I don't know if it's because of the noise or not I don't know but we have to stop that stuff. You told what? Yeah, I talk it talk and thought they were coming and then and then they weren't and that's very frustrating I use frustrating happens to everyone. Yep to the best of us and then they started slamming gates doesn't like that either I thought we were coming all of a sudden and then and then you didn't

Someone knocked on the door. Slammed the gate. Slammed the gate. Yeah, right? Yeah. It's distracting. Why is there a gate in your room? It is very distracting.

Look, as far as the actual frustration levels go, I think that the head coach is pointing this out. This is a very obvious and very direct shot at his team. Who slammed the gate? Well, he said it was after you missed the tap in on the open net, so I want to say Hronik. That was the first one that jumped to mind for me. Yeah.

JT, no! No, yeah. Sorry, force of habit. But okay. Hronik, no! Right, right, but you want to talk about the loud, demonstrative, emotional gestures. That's part of Miller's game,

or it has been part of Miller's game. And obviously talking to said, I've spoken about this in the past. We don't want it, right? And I think that's part of the reason that they identified Quinn Hughes as a guy they wanted to be captain. And what Quinn Hughes has said on a number of occasions,

being the captain is he doesn't let the highs get too high and the lows get too low. He's got a very calm, dare I say like stoic personality. Right? And that's by design because that is what the coach wants. If they wanted to go another direction and have a fiery emotional leader, they could have done that. Yeah.

But you know, Tauke doesn't want. Tauke wants composure, man. He does. He wants teams to be smart. He wants it low event everywhere. In your emotional life, low event, right? No highs and lows. Just keep it mellow. But a bench has to be composed.

It does. It's actually a really tough balance. It's a tough balance because you don't want guys composed so composed that they're decomposing on the bench, right? Like you want them into the game focused. And I guess maybe that's the better word for it, focused as opposed to composed. Just things happen in games.

Things happen. Not all of them go well. You know, one of the worst things that a coach can say is we got to score first. Because then if you don't score first, you're like, well, are we screwed now? Just play the game and maybe 30 seconds in, you surrender a goal.

Okay. Keep playing. There are two teams on the ice. Things are going to happen. Stay in the game. Way easier said than done. Way easier said than done. Mm-hmm. Way easier said than done, but when you're slamming

gates and slamming sticks and swearing, it makes it harder for you and it makes it harder for your teammates to focus on what's going on in the ice. 100%. It does really, even if it's a tiny little minor thing. Also, it gives the opponent the understanding, the thought, the belief that they're either in your heads or have knocked you off your game or that you are rattled.

And there's no point in giving anybody an edge like that. Now I also think that Tauke brought up this line of thought yesterday ahead of what promises to be a powder keg game tonight in Edmonton. In case you missed it, there's a lot of drama going into this game. Tyler Myers is not going to play because of a three game suspension for a cross check to the head of Evan Bouchard. Connor McDavid is not going to play because of a three game suspension for a cross check to the head

of Connor Garland. Now, Rick Tauke had addressed this part of the song and dance and the drama yesterday as well. Speaking about not really understanding why it was such a big deal what Garland did and why there's been such a big blowback about it. Here is Rick Tauke and ahead of tonight's game, speaking about Connor Garland. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Yeah, he held the guy, so was that wanted posters?

I mean, I understand if he smashed him in the face or got in a fight or did something, it's a hold. So yeah, I don't really care what they think. I was hoping that Tocket was going to do something like, you know, I thought Albertans were supposed to be tough. I thought they were, you know, the province where they talk about individuality and toughness and accountability and you don't go whining to someone else if something else happens, you take care of business for yourself. It was a holding penalty guys. Yep.

It was a holding penalty that you guys are freaking out over, holding. I. It was a holding penalty that you guys are freaking out over. Holding. I wanted, okay, so, because, And then you go on further. Do you need to be held, Alberta fans? Do you need to be held? Because you seem so upset.

I was, because Tauke was cooking yesterday. He dropped a lot of good lines. There was a lot of audio to parse through. I was wondering, and the back of my mind, I'm like, I wonder if he'll poke the bear just a little bit here, just a little bit and, you know, go not necessarily that route where you're calling the province of gigantic baby non Calgary division

because they don't really, the Calgary is like, we didn't do anything, but we never do anything. Yeah, we're just happy to be here. I do one. I did wonder if it was going to go that way. It did not. As a matter of fact, the final clip we'll play was Tuckett once again reiterating how it's all about composure and we can't have anybody freaking out.

No vengeance tonight in Edmonton. This game is all about getting the two points. Yeah, no, he is not going to determine to go in the corners in front of that. And he needs his teammates to be there right behind him. Yeah. And you heard Leon Dries settled. I mean, one of the best players in the league.

He said he didn't know. They're just talking about this big war. So he didn't understand why is there a war? It was about a hold and a couple of things that happened at the end. So, you know, we got we need two points. We don't need that. There's no vengeance. I mean, it's just two points for us. I'm glad Tauket did all this, by the way.

Held court yesterday and addressed the team as critically and as thoroughly as he did. I'm not gonna lie, I was getting a little worried about Tauket this season. And he lost his fire or? Not his fire, but that he was almost too concerned with what the blowback would be. And that kind of outweighed the fact that his team needed,

I mean, they needed to be called to the carpet. He needed to be honest and forthright and be like, I'm disappointed. We've been lousy. This hasn't been good enough. But I do wonder how much that happens when he just doesn't tell us. That's fine.

There's a difference though when you say it privately and when you say it publicly. That's true, yeah. And whether you think it's calculated or not or whether you're like, what the hell, I'm just gonna speak off the cuff today. I do think that it matters. Talking to slowly separating himself from the group.

He's like, I've been mad at them, I don't know what you want. These guys are a bunch of losers. Did I say losers? I didn't mean losers, but. Like, without calling him. Although he did say, he was pretty, he was like, you know, he was talking about the slamming of gates

and stuff, he was like, winners don't do that. Yeah. That's not what winners do. The follow-up question would be like, what's the opposite of a winner? And then he'd have to say it. And if we're slamming gates, that makes us. Yeah, right?

Oh no. He's hanging out there in the ether. I'm glad that he did this. I really am. I hope, for the love of God, I hope that something will trigger this group into putting forth more consistent efforts. Now, I know that the next two games

are both sort of powder keggy games. Tonight, I actually wanted to do a poll question because we haven't done one in forever. How many power plays are the Edmonton Oilers going to get tonight in this game? You think zero? I'm just joking. I put a one in front of the zero,

like I could see them going double digits. Like there's a reason that you do this. There is a reason that you publicly embarrass yourself like the Oilers have. And it's to get everybody's attention, specifically the NHL and those that officiate NHL games. Specials don't like being shown up, though. So it's a delicate public with that.

It's a delicate dance, right? I know Frege wrote about this in 32 Thoughts and we can get into 32 Thoughts talking about the aftermath of the the Dennisidman incident from a few years ago. Remember when he high-sticked an official? When he was playing for Calgary? Yeah, and Calgary went from being one of the least penalized teams in the NHL to the most penalized teams in the NHL.

Look, for all the bluster that came out of Edmonton, the essence of the entire argument was, McDavid is not drawing as many penalties as he should by the letter of the law. If you call the game like you're supposed to call it, he should have way more penalties called and way more penalties drawn. Right? That was pretty cut and dry. That was the essence of the entire thing. And then, you know, Edmond took aim at the NHL for some reason, the four nations face off anything else. Right.

In the scrum yesterday, when McDavid first spoke the first time after getting suspended, he actually said, I have noticed like maybe not necessarily looked at the stats, but I've noticed that we've gone on the man advantage less than we ever have before. Right. And he just talked about it very openly and very plainly. So I really wonder what the knock on effect is going to be from that. I don't think it's great that the Canucks are going into Edmonton tonight to take on an oilers team that is one pissed off. And like I'm anticipating like a lot of, I'm not going to lie,

a lot of power plays for the Oilers tonight. I'm just throwing it out there right now. I don't think it's fair. I don't think it's right. I also think I know how this league works. I would not be surprised if there's just an endless amount of power plays for the Oilers tonight. And I think even without Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers are gonna be real motivated. Right? Because, you know, I don't know if you don't know if you mentioned they lost, they lost to the Canucks and they lost to the Capitals. They have not had a three game losing streak this year, by the way. They're on a two game losing streak.

Yeah. So, this is going to be a tough one for the Canucks and knowing the pattern, the Canucks are going to win this one and then lay an egg Saturday against Washington Capitals. Huzzah. Yeah. We're back. Yeah. We're so back. I mean, this team has heart.

This team has a lot of heart. And then Saturday people will spend $3,000 to take their family to Roger's arena to see Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. And Alex Ovechkin will actually break Winn-Gretzky's record on that night with 18 goals, which would actually be worth the money, I suppose, but not good for the Canucks. Okay.

We got a lot more to get to on the program. We are going to duck out of the hockey talk for a bit and do some NFL ahead of championship weekend on Sunday. Uh, before we go, I need to tell you about Denny's true North taste awaits with Denny's 100% Canadian beef burgers made with get this guys new shredded iceberg lettuce. It's all on a brioche bun and all the classic ingredients

you love. On the other side, Nick shook from NFL.com is going to join us for a little pig skin talk. You're listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 PM on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Bruff in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can come with anything you're looking for.

Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour One of the program. Nick Schuch from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour One. Hour One of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go, Nick Shook joins us now on the

Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nick, how are you? I'm good. I don't know if I've ever been called the highlight of anything. So thank you for that. Buddy, you are the highlight maybe of hours one and two today. You might also be on the Detroit Lions coaching staff next season because they have some vacancies now. What do you think about all this? This is what happens when you win games, man.

This is, it's just like when you go win a Superbowl and your roster gets pillaged in the next year. Uh, you know, everybody wants to be the best, especially teams that are seeking coaches. And, uh, it was, you know, everybody wants to be the best, especially teams that are seeking coaches. And it was, you know, it was given that Ben Johnson's probably going to go somewhere. Aaron Glenn getting a job a little bit less likely, just just slightly. But the fit in New York makes a ton of sense. So they have to replace him, guys. I just want to add one thing on Glenn.

Maybe this is just me, but I felt like that Detroit Lions defense at times this year was kind of leaky. I know that they had a lot of injuries. I know that they lost their best pass rusher. And I know that there were certain times where they really balled out. But if your last game is the one that everyone remembers the most, that was like 45 at home to the commanders.

And I just wonder, wonder if maybe everyone got a little too caught up in the lions hype with that one. I get, I'm with you. I saw Ben Johnson was obviously getting the job and I know Glenn was rumored to be in the running for a lot of them, but I just wonder if that one shadow a little asterisk beside it because that defense wasn't lights out all season this year. Yeah, I would agree. I think that the difference though, is that they were still better than they were the year before. Sure. But it was just a big priority in their off season. And I think that, you know, they managed

to put together some good games after losing all of those players. Their pass rush was still a final way to be effective despite losing Aiden Hutchinson. And, you know, they end up having that game to end the record season where they hold the Vikings at nine points. So I kind of agree. That's why I felt that, um, you know, it's a little bit more surprising that he got a job than it would be for a Ben Johnson, because this was such an offensive, you know, leaning team. Uh, but I also think that the fit there made a lot of sense. I don't know if it's necessarily.

He's going to get a job anywhere he wants, but the fit with the jets, you know, a place that he has history with. They had enough sense, I think, to, uh, to keep the Jets, a place that he has history with, made enough sense I think to keep them, or to get his chances of getting a job to the point where, yeah, he's definitely got one now. How much of this has to do with trying to build a culture with the Jets and taking a culture that was lauded in Detroit and getting a guy who knows how that was built. I think a ton of it has to do with that. And it's not that, they're not a great coach,

not a great defensive coordinator, you know, defensive mind. I think he is. I just think that the Jets are in search of more than just a good defensive coach because they just went and did that with Robert Sala and he'd think, well, why are you going back to the world twice with this? But I think that they are looking for somebody who, you know, just got a first

hand experience with how to turn around a nightmare story, which is that, you know, the lions, they were basically the current state of the jets when Dan Campbell and the rest of his staff arrived. And you know, they've turned around with under the guidance of Brad Holmes, the general manager, you know, in three years, you know, they had two very successful seasons. They had a season prior that, you know, you could see the writing was on the wall, that they were going to be good at some point based on how they faced that season. So, um, yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with building culture. And I think sometimes the term culture is overused in pro sports.

Um, you know, specifically when they're referring to the Miami heat, for example, but, um, it's overused at times, but I do think that it matters when you're a team like the, like the jets who just, you know, have not found their way and added any sort of, you know, internal compass and how they want to operate as a club for a while now. And I think that this hire is the first step toward gaining that. You know, another term that's often overused in football is the turnover battles. You got to win the turnover battle. You

always have to win the turnover battle. But lo and behold, if you look at all the teams that won in the divisional round, it was their ability to protect the football, not make huge mistakes with it, played a big part in all of them going on. And now in the AFC title game, we've got two teams that put on a masterclass in Buffalo in Kansas City. Set this one up for us a little bit because when you think about these teams, you think about all the weapons they've got, the talented quarterbacks that they've got and their ability

to put up points, but it's really their ability to not make mistakes with the football on offense that's got them to this point. Yeah, in fact, that was, you know, the turnover margin essentially defined half of the weekend in ways that teams won these games. You could literally distill it down to just, well, the one team turned the ball over too much.

And that usually does determine, you know, playoff games and outcomes, or at least it will give you a good idea of who won. But it was kind of even, you know, unusually prevalent in this past weekend. And you're right, you know, in the AFC championship game, you do have two teams that take care of the ball really well. You have a Bill's team that forced three turnovers and that went over the Ravens. A game in which if they don't force those turnovers, I don't know if they have a shot of winning because the way they moved the football wasn't great.

Um, you know, it felt more like coming away from that game. Like, like the, the bills, you know, I don't want to take any credit away from them, but it felt like they didn't necessarily a hundred percent earn that, that victory as much as, you know, they were like, all right, we won, we survived, survived in advance. And the chiefs, if you really want to be honest, that's been a lot of their season is just a, we're winning one score games, two score games. And we're not doing it in spectacular fashion, but we are, you know, getting stops and we're making, you know, we're taking advantage of the

opposing teams mistakes and we are converting stops and we're taking advantage of the opposing team's mistakes and we're converting on third down. And it was kind of like that again, except the difference was the defense played so well against Houston. You know, eight sacks of C.J. Strav, that is kind of what they've been missing this year. And I know it's against the Texans whose offensive line has not been good for most of the season, but still it's a sign of improvement at a perfect time. So what it's going to come down to, you know, in this game between two very familiar opponents, it could come down to the final possession. The question is, how many extra possessions are you going to get?

Who's going to protect the ball better? This is a game where neither team turns the ball over. And it's just a, you know, a back and forth chess match in a battle of wits. I personally believe the Chiefs are not are going to be in it till they're not in it anymore till the clock hits triple zeros and they're not there anymore and I think the mental hurdle is going to be big for Buffalo but it's also setting up to be quite a classic because the Chiefs don't play super explosive football on the scoreboard and the Bills

have the capability of doing it but also but also have a boogie man to vanquish this weekend in Kansas City. Is Jaden Daniels having the greatest rookie season in NFL history? The way some people are talking about him, he might be the greatest rookie of all time in any sports anywhere. I love that there's just a little bit of sarcasm in that setup.

Some. Some. Yeah, it's like, it's a great, he's having a fantastic year. He was the runaway offensive rookie of the year and the fact that they're in the NFC championship game is stellar. Do you want to talk about turnovers though? This is a team that has absolutely gotten here because they've won the turnover battle. They forced a handful against Tampa. They forced five against Detroit. And that's where I think that the magic might run out this weekend

against Philadelphia team. It doesn't turn out of the ball as often as the two teams that they do. They just faced. Um, and they think that if they don't get those extra possessions, then Washington may not find a way to get past the Eagles and their great defense. I don't think that takes anything away from Daniel's season. And I know I'm kind of jumping the gun here because they could go in there and win that game and then they're in the Superbowl.

It doesn't, but that, that loss this year would not take anything away from what he's put together this season. I don't know if he's had the greatest season ever as a rookie. He hasn't, but he's had the most important season in Washington football history in at least the last 30 years, because they've had very little to root for. Um, they've had very little direction and, and now with the arrival of him, the change in ownership, you know, those fans feel like they can, they can root for that team again and they can believe in that team again.

And they're now a step away from a place that they haven't been to since I was an infant. So it's been a long time. And I think that, you know, he's deserving of the praise and the sky's the limit. But, uh, yeah, I don't know if it's necessarily the best season ever. When the commanders drafted Jaden Daniels, what was the reaction to it?

How many people were saying, that is a great pick, good job, they'll be happy with him, versus how many people were saying, oh, I don't know about that one? I don't think most people were saying, I don't know about that one because the quarterback class trolley attention that it attracted, there was some question of whether May was number two in this group or if it was Daniels, but it wasn't much. I mean, he just won the Heisman. You knew that Caleb Williams was a shoe and to go to Chicago, he was a lock. We kind of had that determined and it was just like, all right, well, then Daniels is going to go to Washington. May will probably go three to New England and then the fun really starts. So it wasn't, you know, I don't think a lot of people were

shaking their head at it. I just don't think that most people expected this type of season from him and fair. I mean, he played a lot of college football, you know, he started as a freshman at Arizona State, he ends up transferring LSU, he wins the highs and LSU probably comes close to winning a national title last year. If they had any semblance of a defense. They essentially wasted a phenomenal Pison season from Daniels and they had Brian Thomas Jr. on that team as well. They were extremely talented and a big reason why they had the success they had, you know, despite not getting to the national championship or even close, was because of their quarterback. So

I did not expect personally him to come in and handle this job this well right away. I was first impressed into the preseason, but I was stunned in a good way. We won, which is a game they lost to Tampa. I was just so impressed by the fact that he didn't look overwhelmed at all in his first NFL start in the regular season. And that's always a good sign of good things to come. Joe Burrow kind of had that too in his rookie year with the Bengals and and we've seen where that's led him too. So I don't think that a lot of people were, they definitely weren't questioning the pick I don't think, but I don't think most people expected this grade of the season either. Yeah, composure is just such a underrated, well,

it's probably not underrated. Uh, but that's the thing that comes to mind when I watch Jadon Daniels, he never looks panicked. He never looks like he doesn't know what's going on. Why do you think it's so hard to project these quarterbacks?

What, what they're going to be? I mean, there's just so much time and money and opportunity to scout these quarterbacks. And then, you know, some of them are taken and they look incredible, like Jaden Daniels. And some of them, even the ones that are taken top five or top 10, you watch them and, you know, some of it might be on their team, but you watch them play and

you're like, what did anyone ever see in this guy? Frankly, I think it's a little bit too much of aspirational thinking in that Blake Bortles was a top 10 pick at one time. I think even back to Christian Ponder, I think even back to Christian Ponder, because there's so much of an emphasis placed on the quarterback position, teams that don't have them, the longer they go without having them, the more desperate they become. And then they convince themselves that these types of guys, that hey, he may have the measurables, he's got the physical archetype,

and he's got the big arm. He's tall and he can move and everything else, but he might not have it mentally. Or he might not. You know, there's a number of different ways that this thing could go wrong. But but people who are making these decisions tend to overlook that because they want to follow them up with, you know, the the the the physical measurables, measurables of these players and say well if we just get him in here we can make Him into something great and I also think that we're in a bit of a run here in this last two years

We've just seen some really Challenged quarterbacks that are ready-made. I think they're going to continue to come to the NFL with a higher level of Preparation just as college football kind of gets closer and closer to the program and vice versa Just as college football kind of gets closer and closer to the program and vice versa But in the past when teams have swung and missed I think a lot of it's just out of desperation out of you know Kind of wish casting like hey, we're this is gonna this is gonna work out. It's gonna fit. He's big He's got a big arm. We believe in that without necessarily looking at you know The rest of what that player brings to the table I feel like we're gonna see that less,

but I also believe that we may see an uptake in that in this year's draft, just because it's not as strong in the position as it's been in the last couple of them. And for as much as the draft is a crap shoot, you're right, they should have a better chance of finding a successful quarterback, but they don't grow on trees as much as we would like to think that they do.

We're speaking to Nick Schuch from NFL.com here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I understand that everyone likes the bright lights and the shiny new toy of Jayden Daniels, and everyone loves talking about the quarterbacks, but the story right now, the real ones know, the story in the NFL right now is that Saquon Barkley has revived the running back position. Running backs are king.

So back. So back. Because what Barkley's done for Philadelphia, you talked about an important season that Daniels has had in Washington, no doubt, unquestioned, but what he's done in Philadelphia, what he's done for that position and how he's shown that it's not like four yards or three yards in a cloud of dust like if you want the big play dynamic scoring offense give the ball to Saquon Barkley he had touchdown runs of 62 and 78 yards in the divisional round. He's...Carroll wants back in the game so badly right now and everyone running his back and he's like give me a Saquon Barkley running backs

are back I'm excited to see what he can do against the commanders this weekend. Yeah, you know, I totally agree. He's made, you know, I mean, he's incredibly fun to watch. Awesome, awesome. He hit a reverse hurdle in a game this season, which is at what point I realized, my God, he's wearing a cleat that looks a lot

like the Lebron 4, you know, the Nike shoe. Yeah, yeah. I was like, well, I didn't even know they made made those in cleats and they took off in popularity from there as well. And oh, by the way, he's been the main reason that the Eagles have been able to stay afloat and, you know, amid many offensive struggles allowed their, uh, sorry, I was getting another call, allowed their defense to, uh, to kind of figure it out and then become the strength of their team. And, you know, really has, has then closed so many games on the ground.

I mean, even this past weekend, they get the ball four and a half minutes left, it's snowing. And I just said out loud to Nobu in particular, all right, it's time for Saquon to close another game. It's been like death taxes and Saquon finishing off games for the Eagles this year, and, you know, it makes me so happy for him because you look back to the years that he struggled in New York and the situation that he was often in and I'm so glad that the team came and offered him just a little bit more money to get out of there and it happened to be this Eagles team because this is you know what he could have been for years if he

you know maybe not every year because he was you know he struggled with injuries and everything else for a few years with the Giants, but he was stuck in New York for far too long to now see this and thank God his talent was being wasted or just, you know, L down in, uh, in New York. Just, you know, after seeing what he's been able to do this year. And it's kind of what has affected my belief in the Eagles as a team. affected my belief in the Eagles as a team. And it's also changed the market of the position because look, we can even talk about this matchup in itself, but a bunch of running backs are gonna get taken more seriously now.

I think that people are now gonna kinda come back, and you know, football is cyclical, but they're gonna come back toward the middle where it's like, you know, back in the day, we used to pay guys, we used to pay the Marshall Fawkes of the world, and the LeDanian Tomlinson, and you can keep going down the list. There's a number of other running backs that were you know

phenomenal players that carried their teams to great success and it was a key part of building a team was finding that running back. They were the Madden stars of the cover back then and then they just kind of dwindled away in the last few years. That's back for sure but if you look at this these matchups even between you know the the Eagles and the Commanders, this has been a big portion of the Eagles' production in these games. You talk about 68 and 72 yards last week, we had 23 and 39 yard touchdown runs against them in their first matchup.

And then he had a great first quarter when they played them last time, and then they bottled it up once they lost Jalen Hurts, and he was kind of nowhere to be found. And that's what helped the Commanders come back and win that game in the final second. So he's going to be a huge part of this game as well and it's been a huge part of this season. You're absolutely right and it's been incredibly fun to watch. After Saquon looked to have salted the game away, was there any part of you that kind of wanted to see the Eagles blow it because they nearly did just for what that reaction would have been? I considered it.

I wouldn't say I wanted them to, but I considered the possibility. Because Stafford threw that ball to Pukinacu on the sideline, I was like, oh buddy, they're in range. This would be a hell of a way to collapse. This would be very Eagles of them. It would also be another page in what had become a bit of a storybook of mid-tragedy season for the Rams, especially in the playoffs. Yeah, they fell short, but they made it really interesting.

It also would have been fitting of the way the Eagles have played football as a whole in the last couple of weeks because neither win has been pretty, but they are still alive and are still surviving and advancing. Okay, before we let you go, if I'm not mistaken, you've got the Chiefs beating the Bills in the AFC, is that correct? Yep, that is true. NFC, go. Went back and forth for a long time on this one. And essentially what it comes down to for me is Washington has won the last two games because they've been able to dominate in time of possession and force turnovers against explosive offenses. They are not going into that setting today.

Well, not today, but this week. What they are going into is a game against a team with a defense that's better than either of the last two teams they've played. And if they don't force those turnovers and buy those extra possessions, I don't know if they're able to find the extra possessions that they need to beat the Eagles. There's a lot of familiarity here. You go back to their second game, they don't win that game. I don't think if Kenny Pickett's receivers don't drop passes in the fourth quarter as often as they did. I'm leaning Eagles because of these two things. I think that it's pretty tight. It could go either way, but I just don't think they're gonna force

the total turnovers that they need to continue this magical run. I'm leaning eagles and I'm preparing myself mentally for covering a rematch of a Super Bowl that we just had two years ago in Phoenix. Which was a really good Super Bowl. 38, 35, it was fantastic. I'm not sure if it-

One of the best ever. If it does, I'm with you, like, you know, the rematch would be great. I'm not sure it'll pan out the same way because I don't think the offenses are as prolific as it were. Yeah, 10 to seven. Yeah, right. Yeah, the release is close.

Instead of 38 to 35, it was eight to five. Yeah, no, I mean, it could end up being like that, but I'd still be interested in watching it very much though. I mean, anytime you get a rematch like that in the Super Bowl, there's always some great storylines. But all that said, I'm with Jason on this one. I want Bills commanders. I kind of want to see the Bills.

I don't care who the Bills play, I kind of want to see the Bills in the Super Bowl. Everybody wants Bills commanders. It's fun, it's different, it's unexpected. But I think the Bills have a mental hurdle to go over in arrowhead. And I actually feel kind of gross saying this, because it's like I'm going chalk with the Eagles Chiefs. But it's just's just so what my gut says and I've made a mistake a few times of going away from my gut looking at you Vikings I'm not getting on your bandwagon And it's always a dangerous place to be on the Vikings bandwagon I

Don't like to get there often but I was convinced late in the season and it proved to be a foolish mistake I don't like to get there often, but I was convinced late in the season and it proved to be a foolish mistake Nick you are the best buddy. Thanks for doing this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy Championship Sunday. It should be a lot of fun We'll do this again either next week or the week following which of course will be Super Bowl week Yeah, guys, absolutely. Maybe we'll be checking in with you from New Orleans. Hopefully it's not still snowing down there. Yeah, beautiful Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. See you Nick. See you. Thanks guys. Yep. Nick Schuch from NFL.com here on the Halford & Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Did you see that video of the guy skating in

the streets of New Orleans? I did. Like we were talking about it yesterday behind the scenes. He was skating hard. It wasn't worried about any ruts in the ice or the ice being too thin or anything. He lost the puck a couple times too.

I don't know, it's take handling needs some work I think. Is he the only one in New Orleans with hockey gear? I think so. Yeah, that would be interesting to find out, I mean completely related from the weather that's going on in New Orleans right now, what the adult hockey scene is like in New Orleans. In New Orleans, right?

Because it has to exist on some level. I mean, I'm sure there's a hockey rink there. Yeah, but I mean, it's got, Greg's already on it. He's checking to see if there's a goalie spot available. Okay. We do have an open segment on the other side. Unfortunately, Frank Ceravalli, he was under the weather yesterday. He said, I'll do it today.

He's still under the weather. So we'll give Frank the weather yesterday. Uh, he said, I'll do it today. Uh, he's still under the weather. So, uh, we'll give Frank the week off. Um, so we've got an open segment on the other side. We can dive into the Dunbar lumber text line at 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trust of choice for contractors and rental workers for over 50 years. Visit them in one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. So we can go in there, we can read some of your

questions or comments. I also want to talk about what happened last night in the NHL because the Toronto Maple Leafs took it on the chin by Columbus. The blue jackets are an inspirational story in the NHL this season. I really hope they make the playoffs and just a reminder, we will have a Port Moody native Kent

Johnson, member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, having a really good year for them on the show tomorrow, really looking forward to chatting with Kent. And before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from conference rooms to kitchenettes and everything in between. Jan Pro keeps worksplaces tidy, clean, and

disinfected for a free quote, visit them on the internet at janpro.ca.