Halford & Brough in the Morning - Where Will The Canucks Finish In The Pacific?

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they discuss the struggling Blue Jays (7:00), they dive more into the NHL's Pacific Division ranking predictions (15:00), plus they look ahead to Week 2 with SInow NFL writer Matt Verderame (31:23).  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.

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Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Ralph. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Ralph of 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 1. Uno of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit the 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

Tell us what's on the show today, and I'll get my laptop all fired up here. We will begin at 6.30 this morning on our guest list. Matt Vetterame from SI Now is going to join the program to talk a little NFL. Thursday night football tonight. It is the Buffalo Bills. It is the Miami Dolphins. It is an AFC East clash. We will talk to Matt about that.

We'll also look ahead to week two of NFL action. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network. There is going to be an unusual amount of baseball talk on the Halford & Brough show this morning. We're going to do quite a bit. What? Yeah. What?

Yeah. Why? Yeah. I can't tell you why yet. That's a tease. Oh. Yeah, we're going to talk a lot of baseball. Is that a tease? That might What? Yeah. Why? Yeah. I can't tell you why yet. That's a tease. Oh. Yeah. We're going to talk a lot of baseball.

Is that a tease? That might drive people away. Why are you threatening us? That is a threat. That's the opposite of a tease, Halford. Ed Natberg's going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk some MLB. Maybe we'll work in a Beetlejuice review, although I don't know if he's seen it or not yet. Beetlejuice.

I wouldn't hold your breath. Beetlejuice. I would like to launch an official complaint if this is going to be a baseball heavy show. Not baseball heavy, just more than usual. Okay.

Keep going. 730 James Myrtle from the Athletic Toronto Maple Leafs. Beat writers. Is he a baseball writer now? No baseball with James. Well, maybe a little bit. No baseball with James Myrtle.

We're going to talk Leafs. Bruff's got it out there. Leafs. No baseball. We're talking Leafs. Yeah, even better. No playoffs for the Leafs. Will Myrtle, we're going to talk Leafs. Bruff's got it out there. Leafs. No baseball. We're talking Leafs. Yeah, even better. No playoffs for the Leafs. Will Myrtle agree?

By the way, they changed after they signed Yanny Hockenpah yesterday. I love how working with this guy means that everything's got to be a hot take. So I kind of just threw out the fact like, hey, I'm not high on Leafs. I don't know if they're going to make the playoffs into like, that's a guarantee that they're going to miss. that's a guarantee that they're going to miss. That's a guarantee that they're going to miss. I was kind of like, yeah, everyone who assumes that

it's just going to be the same old, same old every year with the Leafs, which is, you know, they have a good, even strong regular season and make the playoffs and then disappointing the playoffs. All I said was like, I'll embrace it for the sake of the show. Our three podcast title yesterday, by the way, was the Leafs are missing the playoffs. All I said was, like, I'll embrace it for the sake of the show. Our three-podcast title yesterday, by the way,

was The Leafs Are Missing the Playoffs. And I made sure to post it on the Toronto page. I like it. I mean, you might as well, right? You might as well. I guess some of us just have strength in their convictions, and other people are, what's the word, weak. Have you nailed one hot take yet?

It's not about the nailing of the hot take. Well, anyone can have a hot take yet it's not about the nailing of the hot well anyone can have a hot take that's not true you know everyone anyone can have a hot take gotta hold the reservation the key is to occasionally at least be right i don't even think you know how to hot take the key is not in the delivery the key is in the cooking do you have the heat can you bring the heat uh eight o'clock, Jason Greger's going to join the program from Edmonton. We'll talk to him about the Edmonton Oilers. Well, he had a sit-down with Stan Bowman,

and that's why we're bringing Jason Greger on. It's not just to talk about, hey, Dreisaitl signed in. Is McDavid next? We will talk to him about his sit-down with new Oilers GM. Still weird to say, Stan Bowman. So, 8 o'clock, Jason Greger, 7.30, James Myrtle. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk, 6.30, Matt Vetterame.

Do you have your Kintec read ready now? Yeah, we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for? Kintec. Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night?

No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? 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. So I said, we're going to do more baseball than normal here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Part of that is we're going to lead the show with baseball. One. Another Blue Jays failure.

That's right. That's fun. Two. Slow night in sports. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot going on last night, but this story does allow us to go into the wayback machine and talk about something that both Bruff and I really love, which is the Toronto Blue Jays of the 1980s.

I'll explain in a minute. Last night, Bowden Francis, you've heard of him. A couple weeks ago, back in the end of August, he had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning. That got broken up. Now, how weird would it be if Bowden Francis did it again? Well, he did it again last night in the Blue

Jays' eventual 6-2 loss. That's right. They somehow took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, yet somehow lost in nine innings 6-2. That's weird. That doesn't happen very often. Well, that is very Jays when we're talking about this season. It's very true.

It was Francisco Lindor who broke up the no-no in the top. So I'm going to set the stage before we play the audio. Not a huge crowd, but just under 30,000 in Toronto to watch the game. They're all on their feet, right? They're all standing, clapping them all the way through the ninth inning. Because, hey, like, Bowden Francis just did this a couple weeks ago. Everyone there knew it. Did he get any outs in the ninth?

This is the first batter of the inning. Francisco Lindor for the New York Mets. Here's what happened. That's driven to deep right field. And a home run. And it's this no-hit bid. Linsanity. Francisco Lindor ties the game with a ninth inning home run.

And Alvarez slams one to deep center field. Varshow back. Takes a look. And it's out of here. Francisco Alvarez brings the hammer down with a three-run homer. Why the Francisco's got to do this like that? Yeah, the Francisco's did him dirty yesterday. Now, there was some creative Linsanity in there. Yeah, there was.

Is Linsanity back? Sort of. In New York. Lindoor's had a very good year. And that was one of the biggest hits of the season for the New York Mets. Still very much in playoff contention. We kind of doctored the audio there because some things happened in between Francisco Lindor breaking up the no-no

and then Francisco Alvarez hitting a three-run jack to eventually pave the way for the Mets to win 6-2. There was actually two pitching changes in between, right? Because Bowden Francis got hooked. They brought in one guy. He got hooked. Then another guy came in and gave up the eventual game winning jack. Yeah, my TV was off by that point.

Right, yeah. Fair enough for you. Yeah, Francis was a no decision. Which is crazy. Yeah. So you're probably thinking, for you youths out there, you're probably thinking, man, how crazy is it that a major league pitcher in the span of four starts can have two no-hitters going into the ninth inning

and lose both. And to you people, I would say, do you remember Dave Stieb? Do ya? Do you remember Dave Stieb? And they would say, no. Oh, yeah, Dave Stieb. Good mustache.

Fuck Dave Stieb. That's Dave Stieb. That's why I said Stieb. Bruff and I, when we first met, shared affinity for a lot of sports stuff, but loved the Jays of the late 80s and obviously the World Series winning teams of the early 90s, right? Remember the time that we got to meet Barfield's kid

at the NBA stadium? That was great, right? We're like, how cool was your dad? He could throw really far. That was it. He was awesome. It was like, I love the Jays. Dave Steeb was- I was asking about Al Leiter's finger blister. That was it. He was awesome. I love the Jays. Dave Steeb was one.

I was asking about Al Leiter's finger blister. That's right. That kept him on the shelf for like a year. Al Leiter had a finger blister for all of the 90s. It just never went away. He couldn't figure it out. And he was good. He was a lefty.

He was a tricky pitcher, but he always had problems with that. Anyway, Dave Steeb. Laddie, I have a trivia question for you. You are a big Blue Jays fan, we know, and you actually kept watching them pass those World Series titles. Can you name the five pitchers that have had no-hitters broken up in the ninth since Dave Ste Steve finally got over the hump and threw a no-hitter in 1990.

So it's happened six times. We gave you one of them, Bowden Francis, who did it twice. Who are the four others? I think I only know two of them in my Jays watching time. There's obviously the Roy Halladay, his initial call-up. Lost it with two outs in the ninth on a home run. And then it was Brandon Morrow. Yep, that was the most recent one.

The grounder to Aaron Hill, who he couldn't handle. He probably should have made that play. But we can't have nice things in Toronto, apparently. And that's the two I can think of. Dustin McGowan. McGowan, okay, yeah. And before Halladay, David Cohn. Wow.

Coney. Forgot about him. So if people are like, what the hell are you talking about? What's with Dave Steeb? So for those that don't know, in 1988, Dave Steeb took no hitters into the ninth inning with two outs in back-to-back starts the statistical improbability of that ever happening again in major league baseball is in the billionth smallest smallest percentile like it will never happen again now there is a fantastic um and it's very long and it's very nerdy

sports documentary by john boyce who does all of the dork town and secret base stuff I implore you all at some point when you've got a bunch of time to watch it it's a lot it's a four part series and it's on Dave Stevens you know meet Dave the Captain Ahab meet Dave

and so it's a great I mean it's great it's really well done it goes all the way back to how he was a California kid and he was an outfielder and he got drafted. They turned him into a pitcher. And they said, like, you have to understand. He eventually got his no hitter. So thank God, because I couldn't imagine if the one thing from your career was you were the guy that took two no hitters into two outs in the ninth inning and lost them both in back-to-back starts. And I didn't think we'd see anything remotely close ever again. But here we go.

Bowden Francis entering that very rarefied air with Dave Steeb in Blue Jays lore and baseball lore. Steeb never won the World Series. He was on the team when they won the World Series, but he was hurt, right? It's just like a whole career of kind of bad luck. It's good.

He was a really good pitcher. More often than not, he was the ace for the Jays. But it was often a story of really close, but no cigar. He should have won a Cy Young according to the documentary

and he did have a prickly relationship with the writers which played into that but what else is funny is that in the 80s when he pitched for the Jays in the early 80s they weren't good and the Cy Young I mean those were back in the glory days of like plus minus mattered as a hockey stat

Cy Young went to pitcher wins right if you had 20 wins, you were eligible. If you didn't, you weren't. And they didn't have enough wins, right? And then the postscript to all of this is that I didn't even realize this until doing all the research. In 98, Dave Steeb came back to the Blue Jays at the age of 40 and worked his way all the way up from the minors

and pitched three games for the Jays. It's funny how the wins thing has changed so much. I was watching a documentary on PBS, as I do, on Roberto Clemente with the Pittsburgh Pirates. And when he led them to the World Series in the early 70s against Baltimore, they were heavy underdogs. The Orioles had four 20-game winners. Four? Four. Wow. Yeah, they were just like, here's a picture.

Try and hit him. And Clemente was like, okay, and did. That's amazing. Yeah. And you know what I kept on thinking about during that documentary is just like, look at the Pirates now. Yeah, I know.

They're just like a- Sad sack franchise. Kind of like a greasy money-making operation that takes advantage of revenue sharing in their nice stadium. They don't really care all that much about winning. This was the franchise of Roberto Clemente. For a franchise that's that storied

and that much history, like Willie Stargell, right? All these unbelievable players that played for the Pirates. Barry Bonds. Yeah, that's an asterisk but the other guys um it is sad what they've become like i can understand like the marlins being like kind of a trash franchise or the rays but do you remember well i was thinking over this yesterday when we were talking with ian fernes and you know he was saying that the mariners are actually quite profitable. So they make money.

And I suggested, oh, they're the Pittsburgh Pirates of the AL. And he said, yeah, that's a good point. Like they have nice stadiums, so people don't really want to stay away. So people will show up. They might not be packing the stadiums, but attendance is high enough so that it's not a major problem. It's not like Oakland, for example, or it's not like even Tampa when people are like, yeah, even if the team is good, I'm not going there. Look at that stadium.

It's gross. But Pittsburgh has just such a richer history than the Seattle Mariners. True, and an amazing stadium, which we've spoken about before. No, no, but that's part of – that's honestly – I know. I literally just said that. That's honestly part of the problem. But this is a franchise with a long, proud history,

as opposed to the Mariners, who are just getting now to have a long history. They don't have anything prideful about history. It's a good point, because the one Mariners team, the era that everyone looks back on, was the Griffey extended era. They've never been to the World Series. Never been to the World Series.

Not even to lose it. No, I know. That's the thing. The best team in franchise history never got there. Okay, let's turn our attention. Let's do some hockey talk here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Up on sportsnet.ca right now, a very fine website. I recommend you all check it out and visit all of the advertisers.

Bookmark it. Yes. They've got their Pacific Division predictions out for public consumption. And no surprise to me, maybe to some of you, but they've got the Canucks slotted third in the Pacific Division behind Edmonton, which I think we can all kind of, you know, even begrudgingly we can agree and nod along with. I disagree with their assessment that Vegas will be number two

in the Pacific Division this year, but that's what sportsnet.ca, maybe less of a fine website than I thought. And then the Canucks slide in third. We didn't talk much about the LA Kings yesterday. No. And I'm really not sure what to expect from them. But I do have a question.

Who's their best player? Ooh, that is a good question. Is it Kopitar by default? Is it still Kopitar? Is it? Because he is in, what is Kopitar now, 37? Uh-huh. Dowdy still plays 25 minutes a game,

so he's certainly impactful. That's a very good question, Jason. Adrian Kempe? Yeah, I don't, you know know like kevin fiala i would have a problem giving those guys the nod over kopitar just because kopitar play center yeah they're both players yeah kopitar plays more he's still close to 20 minutes a night who's again that was like trevor lewis had over 30 goals trevor moore trevor moore oh that trevor yeah let's get my trevors i don't think trevor lewis has 30 goals. Trevor Moore. Trevor Moore. Oh, that Trevor. Yeah. Let's get my Trevors. I don't think Trevor Lewis has 30 goals in his career.

Right. Yeah. So the question with the Kings is, can they keep getting good hockey out of older players like Kopitar and Dowdy? And remember what happened last season, the narrative, long story short, bring in Dubois, it's going to be a game changer.

It wasn't. They traded him away and he's gone. Can they get Quinton Byfield to take another step? Because he's a good player now, but I don't think he's a great player. And they got a young defenseman named Brent Clark who could provide, they've been talking about him for a long time

now yeah can they well not that long ago he was only drafted he's a good young defenseman so can he be the push that a lot of teams need from youth to get

them over the hump for lack of a better way of saying it I don't think they're going to win the Stanley Cup, but it seems to me like the Kings... Is this fair to say that the Kings just never peaked? They just never peaked. They've lost three straight years to the Oilers, and it seems like it's gotten worse every time they've lost to the Oilers.

Okay, I mean, here's the thing. If their best player is Andrzej Kopitar, and maybe their second best player is still Drew Dowdy, you could say, well, those guys peaked. They won Cops, right? So that iteration of the Kings, yes. This current iteration of the Kings. Well, yeah, I'm talking about this current iteration.

But the current iteration. The last three years, essentially. But who, okay, here's the thing. Who's the guy? Who's the identifiable piece? Still Kopitar. Right. So I don't even know.

My question would be like, well, who's supposed to peak? Who's the guy? I mean, everyone points to Byfield, right? And I think his best years are very much in front of him. I have two additional questions. But what level can he get to? They're paying him like he's going to be a superstar. And I think that the possibility exists

because he's got all the physical tools. I mean, some of the goals that he scores are of that, okay, only like a handful of guys in the NHL can do this type thing. But do you remember when the Kings, I mean, they had Dowdy and they had Kopitar through these years. They missed the playoffs three straight years. Yep. And then the last three years, they've made the playoffs and they've had good teams,

you know, 99 points, 104 points, I think was the most that they had. So they weren't in the race for the president's trophy or anything, but they were good teams. All three times they lost to the Oilers in the first round. The first time they lost in seven. The second time they lost to the Oilers in the first round. The first time they lost in seven. The second time they lost in six. The third time it was not close, that series, and they lost in five last year.

So which direction are they actually headed? I'll put something out there. When we talk about those great Kings teams that won the Stanley Cups, we talk about Kopitar and he's still there. When we talk about Drew Dowdy and he's still there, you know who's not? Jonathan Quick, who might have been as responsible for those more than anybody.

Yeah. And they've never figured it out since Quick is left. I would say Kopitar, Dowdy, and then Jeff Carter were all in their primes. Yeah, but Jonathan Quick was like the... Yeah, no, I know. But those guys are still there. Yeah, but they're still there.

They've never figured out the goaltending since he left. And they're going this year with Darcy Kemper. A year after they went with Cam Talbot, who is being backed up both times by David Riddick. And they tried Cal Peterson. And they've had a number of guys that have come in and quite frankly just not given them anything remotely close. And I wonder if that's been Rob Blake's biggest failing failing as a general manager is not sorting out their goaltending

position like i can't imagine that anyone that follows the kings is super stoked with the fact that they have darcy kemper coming in this year to replace cam talbot right and you look at the way that they had to start playing last year i think a lot of it had to do with the fact they didn't trust their goaltending is it fair to say that daryl sutter was also a big part of those stanley cup wins because like the style he coached or not it worked when everyone bought in yep now what now what does jim hiller hockey look like i don't know the old i honestly don't the picket fence that we saw last year i mean that's the other But that wasn't even his style. That was question.

That was the style he inherited. Well, that was question two that I had about this team is, what's their identity? Because they've got enough high-end offensive players to go out and play real hockey. And what they did last year to get into the playoffs got rightfully exposed by the Oilers in the postseason in that what they wanted to do didn't work in the postseason

for whatever reason. Either they weren't deploying it properly or they just weren't able to throw a blanket over Dreisaitl and McDavid. And then when it came time to try and score, the Kings couldn't do it with any regularity, despite the fact that they've got good offensive players. Do you remember when Willie Desjardins was their coach? I do.

That was Willie's second kick in the can. But that was... I would have forgot about that. He got almost a full season there. He was sort of a tank commander. They were designed to be bad. And they're like, who's the guy that's going to come in? Did he bring in Jason Magna?

No. I thought he did. He was there solely to steer the team where they needed to go. Right? Which was to the bottom. Sometimes you have coaches like that. You need a guy, and you're like, you know what we're doing here. We know what we're doing here.

Just go out there and do your thing. But don't win too many games, and lo and behold, they didn't. So at least according to the preview, and I'm sure you're going to read a lot of previews and predictions in the next few weeks, according to Sportsnet.ca's Pacific Division preview, it's Edmonton number one, Vegas number two, Canucks number three, LA number four, and then Seattle, Anaheim, Calgary, and San Jose

rounded out the bottom four. You know, the question you asked yesterday about, is it going to be the worst division in hockey? I went home yesterday and I thought a lot about it, and that's what I do. I think lots about the things that you put out there. Put out some good questions. I do think it is, and I think it's going to be, not by a considerable margin, but a good one.

Yeah. Like, I think L.A. is an above- above average team at best. That's how I would classify them. I don't see them as a cup contender going into the year. And I think that if they make the playoffs, that's probably about where they'll be. I almost. Are they going to get the Oilers again?

Probably. Right. Then they're going to get swept because they're working in reverse on terms of success. Right. Seven, six, five, four. Now we're going to get swept. I think Vegas, and this is my hot take,

that Vegas is primed for a massive step back. I don't see them as the second best team in the division at all. We were actually talking about the Seattle Kraken in our dressing room after the hockey game because we were trying to wind down. It's a late hockey game. You're trying to bore yourself a little bit so you can get home and get to sleep.

Guys, no exciting topics, please. Let's discuss the Kraken. And the same question was, what is this team? I think you can say they're deep, but here's another good question. Who's their best player? Chenandler? Brandon Montour? Matty Beneers?

I don't think a team exists where Chandler Stevenson is their best player. He's getting paid like it. It's crazy. I'm with you. If he's your best player, you're in trouble. Brandon Montour is, well, Vince Dunn has paid a little bit more than him. So they got a couple guys making just over $7 million. I mean, has it not been Jared McCann?

Yep. He's been their best scorer. He's been their best all-around player. Because that's what Kopitar, when you ask the same question, right? It's just like you. Matty Beneers is... What level is he? If we're being generous, Horvat?

At his peak in Vancouver? That's a good one. But that's probably a generous one. And then you bring in Shenandler Stevenson, who I like and I think Vegas will miss. I like him, too. He's a good player. I like him with the price.

Jaden Schwartz, Andrzej Burkowski, Oliver Bjorkstrand. Yeah, they've got the star power. I think Beneers has another gear, though. I think Beneers might be better than Orf. If you're a Kraken fan, what's driving you to those games, though? Yeah, yeah. You want to see Shenandler Stevenson play? I don't know. Well, is's driving you to those games, though, right? Yeah, yeah. You go see Chandler Stephenson play? I don't know.

Well, is Shane Wright going to break through it all? Not according to me. Oh, you're on with me. You're on my camp. Yeah. Yeah. It's just another kind of small opinion that I have. Like, I don't really like Shane Wright, and now I'm actively rooting against this young man.

It's all about the egos here on Sports Talk Radio. All right. You're stealing my Jack Eichel bit. Yeah. Get out of here. Okay. Yeah, but Jack Eichel is not, it's not like cruel. He's made a lot of money.

He's already won a Stanley Cup. He's actually good. He's thrown it back in my face a couple times. Shane Wright is down in the AHL trying to make a career. He's very, very young. And I am rooting against him. Some guy telling Shane Wright, you know there's a guy in Vancouver who hates you, man.

He's just burying you. I don't know why. I think he saw a shift in the world juniors. He didn't really like it. He's like, that guy will never make it. Okay, we've got a lot more to get to on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about the BC Lions.

The roar is back at BC Place for the BC Lions 70th season. Get your tickets now at BCLions.com. Coming up, Matt Verderame from Sports Illustrated is going to join us. We are going to break down tonight's Thursday night football game between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. We are also going to look ahead to week two of NFL action. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. 633 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for 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, four parts.

Matt Verteram from Sports Illustrated, SI Now, is going to join us in just a moment here. Thursday night football tonight. The return of Thursday night football. That's exciting. Who is it tonight? It is the Bills and it is the Dolphins. It's actually not the return. They did Thursday night football last week. And how is Josh Allen?

It's his left hand, right? It's not his throwing arm. That's correct, yeah. He looked banged up on the weekend. I know you had it in the notes. We didn't get a chance to talk about it when we came in on Monday because there's so many other things to talk about. But obviously not a great start for the Bills in that game.

They spotted the Cardinals 14 points before rallying to win. And then you want to talk about major storylines going into this one. The Miami Dolphins, for a multitude of reasons, have been in the news all week going into tonight. And this is a classic AFC east clash um now that the the patriots who by the way the the seahawks get this weekend i don't really know what to think about

that one because you know we had ian fernandez on the show yesterday talking about the seahawks i've read just about every article i possibly could looking at week one and i listened to a couple different hits last night, guys were doing podcasts and whatnot. No one is really high on the Seahawks after that win. And I think that's- Well, the first half was so ugly. But even the defensive side of things,

people are saying like, yeah, it was good, but- Bo Nix. Right. You know? Like you're not going to get- I mean, you know- You got to start somewhere. I saw a breakdown of all the passes that Bo Nix threw. And this is interesting because Ian Furness talked about this yesterday.

He almost looked allergic to throwing the ball beyond five yards. Like it was in the playbook to keep it as. It's pretty common of a lot of young quarterbacks. Sure. And that's fair. It's not so much meant as like to condemn the rookie quarterback, but more like, what did you really prove?

If you're the Seahawks, I guess the one was like, you didn't allow any yak yards, which is the worry when it's huge. Yeah. And you made your tackles at the same time. Were you really tested? Do you remember how many times teams would throw a screen against the

Seahawks and they would just be out of answers? Because they couldn't tackle. The other big question I've got right now is what are the Cleveland Browns going to do with Deshaun Watson? And are they quietly hoping that more allegations emerge and it is a crazy thing. Emerge, and it gets to the level of criminal

because if you don't know the exact details of it, well, you're listening to the wrong show. Yeah. We're not great on details, but. Details show. Two grand juries came together and declined to indict Deshaun Watson after all those allegations came out. 24 civil suits, I believe was the total.

Of a lot of inappropriate behavior by Deshaun Watson. But having read up on it a little bit, none of the allegations would have risen to the level beyond a misdemeanor. Correct. You know, and you can argue, you can text it and say, they should, but they didn't, right? You know, and I wonder if this most recent one could. Right.

But it's not a criminal matter yet. But yet is the key word. Because it could rise to the level. Could it? It depends on, I guess, how the police investigation goes. And then you always got to remember. Is there a police investigation into it if it's a civil suit? I mean, the NFL is doing its investigation right now. And that's why Sean Watson is allowed to play on the weekend.

And is, I mean, he spoke publicly about it yesterday and just said, I was surprised by the allegations and I'm just going to focus on football. Oh, you're the only one then. Yeah, right. Because you had 24 allegations before. Yeah. So the NFL is doing its investigation right now. And I guess that would also be another wrinkle into all this as to whether or not it would allow the Cleveland Browns to get out from this void. The contract. Right. Because, I mean, that's what that's what's hanging over this.

Unfortunately, from a football perspective, like there's obviously a very, very real and important human element to all this. But the football perspective that you're talking about, I'm sure that there's a lot of people in Cleveland that are openly wondering about that. We've got Matt on the line now. Very good. Let's go to the phone lines now. Matt Verteram from SI Now joins us here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Matt. How are you? Doing well. How are you guys? We're good. Thanks for taking the time

to do this. We really appreciate it. Let's continue this conversation. Do you think there's any way that the Cleveland Browns could try and void Deshaun Watson's contract given the most recent allegation that has come up you know it's hard to do that I'm not saying that they won't take a look at it um well I mean let's let's be candid if they could figure out a way to get out of his contract they'd do it I I don't think there's any question about that, but it's not easy.

I know over at SI, we've obtained a copy of his contract and written about it. Look, there's a lot of language, and with that comes, in some cases, ambiguity. The union would get involved, obviously, in something like this. They're going to fight that. I think more details have to play out. But would the Browns look into it? Yeah, I'm sure the Browns are going to look into it, because right now they're sitting on a contract that they have no way out of

for this year and two more, and a player who is one of the most unproductive quarterbacks in football. So if you're cleveland yeah you're gonna look into it can they actually void the deal though that that's a whole nother question i and i do want to add just to clarify what we were talking about earlier in terms of who's investigating what no formal charges have been laid against deshaun watson in this latest allegation and the league's review which is the one I was talking about, has just started, which is why it's kind of, again,

and I hate saying it like this, but it's business as usual for the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson. He's uttering all the lines you would expect from someone who's coming off an injury. Like, I don't want to talk about it. I just want to focus on the game on Sunday. So we can table that one for now. The Browns do play the Jaguars this weekend. Let's start with tonight's game.

It is a big one in the AFC East. It's the Buffalo Bills and it's the Miami Dolphins. Both teams in the news for a multitude of reasons going into this game, but both teams opened the season 1-0. Didn't start great for either team, but they were able to rally and get the victories. And now you've got a very tantalizing and tasty AFC clash very early in the season here to kick off week two. Yeah, you know, it's funny.

It's week two. It's early, but it's an important game. You know, whoever wins this game immediately takes the pole position in this division, especially if you're Buffalo and you can win this game. It's a huge opportunity because then all of a sudden you're up a game. You've won in Miami.

You'll play them later in the year in your own building. Look, this is, to me, you'll play them later in the year in your own building. Look, this is, to me, a bigger game for the Dolphins. The Dolphins have to prove they can beat the Bills because they never beat them. Allen is 10-2 in his career against Miami. They've beaten them in every big spot they've ever played in, including the end of the season last year where it was for the AFC East,

and the Bills went down there and beat them. Miami's at home in this game. If you're Buffalo and you lose, it's a missed opportunity, but okay, you can break back at home and even it up and go forward. Miami's kind of got to win this football game. Miami was not great against Jacksonville. The Dolphins won

the game because ETN fumbled basically at the one-yard line. If you're Miami, you've got to show it a little bit. You've got to go, hey, can you beat a good team? Because you never beat good teams. I think this game is much more important for the Dolphins

than it is for Buffalo. It's funny, the way that you're talking about that game, despite the fact that it's early being very important, is the same way that Patrick Mahomes is talking about the Kansas City Chiefs this game this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals. And he said, look, like when you talk about early games and people are still trying to feel their way out, sure.

But this is an AFC power, despite the fact that they lost to the Patriots in week one. This is a team we might see in the playoffs. We're already jockeying for playoff position. I look at this game and I think, wow, what great storylines going into it. Obviously, you've got Kansas City and everything that they bring to the table. But the Bengals getting punched in the mouth in Week 1, I think actually makes this an even more compelling game

because you know the Bengals and Joe Burrow don't want to start the season 0-2. No. It's a hole that they've found themselves in a few times in recent years, but obviously not one they want to climb out of again. And, you know, it's an interesting game because I think a lot of times you look at this game and go,

well, you know what? Oh, and one there, the Bengals are going to get their best effort. They'll probably bounce back, but they may have the toughest assignment in football. They've got to go to Arrowhead and try to win this game.

And, you know, I think a lot of times, you know, fans look at rivalries in sports and it's more for the fans than it is for the players, you know, I think a lot of times, you know, fans look at rivalries in sports and it's more for the fans than it is for the players.

You know, especially nowadays where guys, you know, they played together when they were younger and they played together when they were in college. The Bengals and the Chiefs can't stand each other.

That is a legitimate, like, they really want to lay it on the other team as much as humanly possible. So the Bengals will have the Chiefs full attention. That's not going to be a game where Kansas City kind of goes to sleep here, as you mentioned with Mahomes, the way he talked about it.

I think the biggest question for me is, does Higgins play in this game? He didn't practice on Wednesday. He's got the hamstring. Missed week one because if he doesn't play, the Chiefs will just put McDuffie on chase, give a little help over the top, and go after Burrow relentlessly.

And to me, that's the question of this game. Like, Burrow's wrist does not look right. If that wrist isn't right, it's like Nolo's going to challenge him all game to throw the ball down the field. And I think that's going to maybe be the tale of the tape here. If he can do it, if he can back the Chiefs off, okay, maybe we've got a game. If he can't, and the Chiefs can just sit on these underneath routes and punish the receivers and blitz Burrow,

I think Cincy's going to have to score in this game. I don't see a world of the Bengals win scoring 20 points. They're going to probably have to get high 20s, low 30s because Kansas City's offense is remade and looked really good against Baltimore. Bryce Young, this is a guy who was the first overall pick in 2023, not long ago. Where is his career at right now, and what do you see in his future? It's probably kind of a little bit of a harsh thing to say about a guy

entering the second game of his second season. His career is kind of on life support right now. You've got to factor in, the Panthers are a very volatile organization with Tepper at the top. Dave Canales is not the coach who was there when they drafted him. This is a new building. And this is a building now that they've got their first round pick. Last year they didn't. Last year, hey look, you know what it was

going to be, and they were going to kind of have to just ride this thing out. That's not the case this year. If they go 2-15 again, they're taking the quarterback. I don't think there's any question they would take a Carson Beck or a Shador Sanders or a Millero

or a Ewers or whoever you want to talk about. He needs to be significantly better. I went back and watched the film of that game. He was non-competitive. It wasn't even like you watched it and went, well, here's a bunch of throws that were dropped,

or here's a bunch of plays. He looked like a backup quarterback that was hanging on to a job in the league. I mean, you just have to be significantly better. And right now, it's not there. It's not close to being there. Have you looked at the first overall pick quarterbacks in the last decade recently? Jameis Winston, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young, and Caleb Williams.

Certainly there are some winners among them. Joe Burrow, if he can stay healthy, Trevor Lawrence. But the rest of them, you're kind of, yeah, Helfer just made that eh on Trevor Lawrence. But the rest of them, you're kind of, yeah, Halford just made the eh on Trevor Lawrence. The rest of them have all had, let's put it the nicest way we could, but they've had interesting stories. You know, Baker Mayfield, I don't know, maybe he's finally hitting his groove now.

But Jameis Winston never panned out the way Tampa Bay wanted it. Jared Goff needed to be traded by the Rams in order to get their Super Bowl. What is, like, is this unusual? Is this worth pointing out? What is happening with all these teams that are getting the first overall pick and saying, we've got, of all the quarterbacks on the board, we're going to pick this guy. But for the teams, for the most part,

it hasn't worked out the way they wanted it to. I think that what's happening, some of it might just be a run of time where we'll look back and go, yeah, there was a bad stretch there. I think a lot of it, though, is teams are so desperate now for quarterbacks because of the way the league is going, the trend toward offense

and throwing football. Teams just pass on significantly better players at other positions to take a quarterback. And, you know, I think a lot of times you go and look at those drafts. I'm not sure I don't have them right in front of me, but a lot of times you go and look at those drafts, not that I don't have them right in front of me, but a lot of times you look at the guys who are drafted third through fifth at non-quarterback positions, they're like Hall of Fame players. But these teams don't take these guys at tackle, at edge rusher, at corner,

because got to get that quarterback, got to get that quarterback. Now, in some cases, too, as you mentioned, like sometimes just took the wrong guy. I mean, if the Panthers have CJ Stroud, right? Like if they, if they could go back in time and not make the trade, if they have CJ Stroud, you're not, nobody's complaining about it, but they don't have CJ Stroud. You know, that's, that's just, that's fake history. I think too, when you look at it, I mean, of all the guys you just mentioned,

the only team that I think would sit there and say, that guy has reached our expectation is Burrow. And Burrow obviously has had injury problems, but when he's been healthy, he's been great. Even Lawrence. Like, to some extent, you're sitting there and you're talking about going, you won one playoff game. And it kind of collapsed last year

and there was injuries that were part of that and all that but like you know when you look at the best quarterbacks

in the league you know a lot of times they are first round picks but a lot of times they're also not the first overall

pick so I think there's just some of it's luck and some of it is maybe desperation yeah I just wonder you

know what processes could be done differently because I understand it's really tough to project but you get the guys like Bryce Young for example that goes to Alabama I guess it must be pretty hard to project how's this guy gonna do going from a college football program that gets all the top talent going to one of the least talented teams. I'm just wondering if there's a better way to go about doing it because not all the time, mind you, not all the time, but a lot of the time it's the guys that end up being the great

quarterbacks are the ones that don't have the storied college careers with the storied programs maybe they don't go to you know an amazing school like um alabama or you know in tom brady's case it's not like he was like the man at michigan um he went to a good school but i don't know just to get your general thoughts on just like how you would best identify the guy to lead your team if you had a top draft pick to spend on a quarterback. Because as a Seahawks fan, this is something that I think about a lot. Russell Wilson was not a top 10 pick. He was not a guy that everyone was talking about. And yet when he was with the Seahawks and when he came to the Seahawks, granted they were already more of a complete team at that point,

but he was exactly what they needed. I've always felt with quarterbacks, it's so much more about the mental side of it than it is the physical side. Now, look, you get the truly, truly great player when you get them both. When you get the Mahalans of the world who mentally is as good as anybody and then also physically is just an absolute freak of nature. That's when you get a first-out Hall of Famer.

And yeah, he was 10th overall. Right. And Texas stunk when he was there. Like Cliff Kingsbury couldn't win bowl games with Patrick Mahomes. John Elway, when he was at Stanford in the 80s, Stanford stunk. Stanford was

terrible when John Elway was there. Dan Marino was picked. They were okay, but the 80s, the last year they stunk. You look back, there's a lot of quarterbacks like that. Joe Montana, Notre Dame didn't stink when he was there, but they were not. His last year,

they won the Cotton Bowl. For Notre Dame, who was winning championships left and right at the time, they were fine. And in 78, I believe they won it all. But the point is, look, I think when you look at a lot of these quarterbacks, we get way too enamored, way too enamored, with, oh, he can throw the ball 70 yards on a right. He can do the – it's like, okay, yeah. Can he identify cover two? Can he identify when there's going to be a blitz

and there's a sim pressure and that linebacker's going to drop out into the flat? That means the ball's got to go here and it's got to go here at this time. That stuff is so much more important than being able to just gun it 30 yards on a rope. Yeah, sure, that's great. And you've got to be able to have some semblance of art talent.

Don't get me wrong. You have to be able to make certain throws in the NFL. At the same point, the mental side of it is so much more. And also, too, just being that franchise guy, there's a lot that comes with that. You've got to have the mental makeup to deal with that. You are a kid. You are 22 years old in a lot of cases.

You're the savior. You're on every billboard in town. Everybody wants to talk with that. You are a kid. You are 22 years old in a lot of cases. You're the savior. You're on every billboard in town. Everybody wants to talk to you. Everybody wants to speak with you. You got guys who are adults in the room who are 30, 32 years old looking at you going, hey man, if you don't play well this year, my kids are going to have to change schools. So I'm going to need you to come in here and be an adult

now. People don't think about that stuff. That stuff to me is way more important. And it's, I think, harder to project. And it's a lot of times white guys cannot do it. It's a lot of pressure. Matt, this was awesome, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it.

We'd love to do this again with you next week if we could. Yeah, anytime. Let me know. Beautiful. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. That's Matt Verter ram from a sports illustrated talking a little nfl here on the halford and brough show

on sportsnet 650 there's some really good quarterbacking storylines this weekend to follow so in that afternoon slate we already talked about you've got you know the big matchup obviously is mahomes versus burrow in the cincKansas City game. That's going to be awesome. We are being robbed, robbed, of the most awkward reunion welcome home because Denver is hosting Pittsburgh in the afternoon game. But Russell Wilson won't be starting, of course. He'll be going to Denver. I wonder if he'll wear his pads this week.

Yeah, worse than the first week. He was terrific in his pads, and they got the win, right? They won, yeah. So, for those who don't know, Russell Wilson's not going to play again this week. Justin Fields is going to play quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they're going to Denver, where they will take on Bo Nix, the guy that is the new starting quarterback in Denver, now that

Russell Wilson is gone. I would have just been curious what the response would have been the first time Russ took a snap under center, because obviously it didn't work in Denver, right? Obviously. I agree. It did not work.

It was awful, but like they, they dumped them, you know, I mean, it was, it was fast. It wasn't there for a long time and they don't like they were,

they're not going to applaud him or anything, but I mean, would they be vociferous hatred booze? Probably. Yeah yeah let me put it another way from sean payton right move who's doing that is it shot loud boo um which fan base do you think is more disillusioned with russell wilson seattle or denver oh good question good a good question. Good question, Halford. I think Seattle's getting over it. So I think it's gone down a little bit in Seattle. I think Denver would probably be still pretty fresh. It'd be funny if Sean Payton put a bounty on him.

Yeah. Goodells are like, Sean, we warned you about this. Please don't. And then finally, as quarterback stories go in the Sunday night football game, what a great one. CJ Stroud, the second overall pick in his draft classic quarterback,

not first. Yeah. It was Bryce young. The Houston Texans are going to host Caleb Williams, the first overall pick in this year's draft and the Chicago bears on Sunday night football. The one thing about the Seahawks that in their search for a quarterback, no disrespect to Gino Smith, that I do like is that if they do add a young quarterback out of the draft in the next couple of years,

hopefully, hopefully they won't totally stink. Now, the one thing that does concern me is the future of their offensive line because their offensive line is still not fixed, and I would not want to put even the bluest of the blue chip quarterbacks from the draft behind that particular offensive line. People are wondering if Abe Lucas is even going to have an NFL career anymore.

Yeah, it's not good. Like he is – he's already had some serious, serious injuries. Charles Cross, I think you're good with that. But the whole – I don't know if you saw – I don't even know who the left guard was but the left guard on the play where they gave up one of their safeties he i i've never seen almost anything like that he like sidestepped the pass rush uh tomlinson was it yeah crosses the left what what what was he doing i don't i don't know uh you imagine

imagine putting a rookie quarterback in a situation where their offensive line is just like a disaster that's kind of what happened to joe burrow right and they just kept on getting sacked and people were thinking wow this guy's gonna get hurt and then guess what happened he got hurt yeah i mean they've spent considerable draft capital trying to address that offensive line in the last three years. Cross was, what, ninth overall? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Haynes, the rookie this year, was a third-round pick.

Like, they've spent pretty good high picks on O-linemen. You would just expect the O-line to, you know, get better at some point. But it's, I mean, it wasn't a problem. It was like a capital P capital R all caps problem. They give up two safeties in the first half. You can't do that. You can't do that. Okay.

We're up against it for time. We're going to talk a little more baseball on the other side. Adnan Virk's going to join us from MLB network. You're listening to the Halford and breath show on sports net six 50.