OverDrive - Willson on Stafford's league ranking, Maye's tough performance and Darnold's injury impact

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

TSN Football Analyst Luke Willson joins to discuss the Seahawks' kicking off the season with a win against the Patriots, Drake Maye's tough game, Sam Darnold's injury ripple effects for the Seahawks, the NFL Melbourne Game in the 49ers and Rams' game, International Games in the league, Matthew Stafford's ranking, Hayes and Bro's pick and more.

If you smell What the When Wilson is cooking Hour 2 Overdrive continues Powered by Fandul Ryan Hazio, Doug Jeff O'Neill Jamie Noodles McClennon

Al's brother still to come We'll sneak in some jerrys And there's Luke Wilson Professional Pro athletes salute I mean you called it right Sam Darnold five snaps in Would blow his hip out

And you guys are finally Just back door to cover And I said it Right before he left the airways yesterday, I said, Partsie, I think you have so much knowledge being a former NFL tight end that you can think outside the box because you know too much, but he, Dan, didn't do it yesterday, my guy. Great pick.

I appreciate that, Parts. I appreciate you having the trust in me. And I'll also say, I'm pretty sure I said verbatim, doogie checked me on this. Seahawks by three. Yep. And Seahawks won by three. Some people know Ball Hay. Some people don't go to EPA.

They don't go to stats. They're not worried about who's sleeping where and when they're coming to town. We just do, we're straight ball-knowers over here. That's right. And you and the baby Robin with no chirps, you guys, you're going to be under the gun in game two. Yeah, we are.

And Al's brothers coming up in a few minutes. Big game tonight, NFC West. I mean, what a win by Seattle, but what a loss by the Pats. I mean, that is a horrendous loss considering Donald's injury, the penalties, they had a double-digit lead. I don't know how Vrable possibly explains that after the game.

That is a horrendous choke job, in my opinion. Yeah, it was funny, and I touched on Jay's show last night, but beyond all that, Hayes, just the mentality at quarterback was atrocious. Drew Locke came on in his post-game interview, and they're like, hey, what was it like, you know, coming in, like you said, obviously, Sam Donald got hurt. And he was like, I just thought to myself, hey, you know, take care of the football.

We have a great defense here. Take care of the football, and things will be fine. And you saw it all night. He looked cool, calm, collected. It was the slog. I mean, they were run the ball, play action. Like, this wasn't a run-and-gun style offensive performance by Seattle. But he was like, hey, I'm here to manage this game and let her defense dominate.

And on the flip side, you know, you look. Look at Drake May, he didn't need to do anything. He just literally needed to not throw interceptions. They would have been fine. Three picks late in the game. One worse than the next. Forcing a ball to Dobbs. Forcing a ball in third and long for no reason.

And then we get down here, you're down three. You've got a tie ball game. And it's like, no, I want to be the hero. And you lob a ball up? I mean, it's great catching wrong with Job there. But I was surprised because generally speaking, like a Vrabel-led team understands a situation. And for New England, you're on the road against the Super Bowl champs. And Seattle, I'm obviously biased, but it's one of the toughest places to play.

You're about to steal one here, and your quarterback decides, you know, he's just going to start trying to become like he's Joe Montana. And it's crazy. Partsie, if you are the former player and you know what you know and you turned into a reporter and you were on the New England's side. And Hayes just mentioned Mike Vrable needing to explain this, but if you were going into media availability, who would you want to say to what the hell was going on out there, Drake May or Vrable? To me, it's got to be May. And, you know, I listened to some of the stuff he said, like,

he owned it. And do I think the sky is falling on Drake May? Absolutely not. Like, I want to be very clear. I'm not ready to, like, write this guy off. But again, they're going to have, as we've talked about at length, we talked about yesterday, they have a much harder schedule this year. And I think they can win. I think they can beat anyone. You know, they should have won last night. But the reality is, Drake May needs to buy in that, like, hey, there's games where we're on the road and we're playing great defenses and we might need to win this thing 13 to 10, you know, or 16, 13 and overtime where there's other games where they're going to need him to make those plays because for whatever reason, let's say they're playing the bills and Josh Allen's getting

after him. He might have to try and match Josh Allen. Like that, that's where I think was the disappointing part was, yes, it was starting to shift in the Seahawks favor, but if it wasn't with the turnovers, I think New England probably hangs on. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, the picks were, they were really underthrown. They were the same pick. Basis, underthrown, back foot, you know, completely unnecessary throws. The one at the end of the game is as bad as you could ever get. Outrageous. Absolutely horrendous decision to throw the ball. Furthermore, or he kind of ran into the rush, which was unnecessary too. The pocket wasn't really even collapsing until he went that direction,

and he completely under threw it. I mean, it was just all around it was a horrible decision. And now you look at their schedule. They've got the Steelers at home, then at Jaguars at Bills. So, like, they're in tough here the next three weeks, New England. And I'm with you. Still a good team. Okay.

But Drake May was not very good in the playoffs, horrible in the Super Bowl, horrible last night. you know, they got to prove they can compete with good teams. They got to prove they can beat good teams. And what's tough right now, if I were to put an assessment on Drake May, against mediocre defenses, he is awesome. You know, against bad defenses, he is awesome. But you talk about the playoffs and you talk about, you know, the Super Bowl and last night,

the games he struggled is against top-tier defenses, and it hasn't been like, oh, you know, this defense is good. It's been like he's also been awful in those games. So, again, I'm not ready to sit here and say Drake May isn't a guy or can't be a guy or whatever, but clearly against some of these higher-end defenses, he's got to get the mental's right because I think he has all the ability, and those throws yesterday are more mental errors than anything. Well, on the flip side, place yourself back in that room where you feel like you somehow escape with a win. Yeah.

Then you get news. Donald's going to be okay, probably missed week two. They're playing Arizona in week two. They're going to win with Drew Locke. They play Washington week three. I don't even think he has to play in that game and they can win that ball game. You've got an extra long week because it was a Wednesday. Like what is the plan for the healthy Seahawks after last night?

I mean, that must have been green light 101. Stay the course right now. You know, try not to get too fired up, but you said it. you got two games that you are significantly better than both of those teams. Also, your division rivals who are more of the threat are across the globe right now, but to punch each other in the head for three hours tonight. So I look at that right now. That was a big one, you know, starting one and no.

I think it reinvigorates the fan base, especially the way it was like that wasn't a super entertaining game, but the dramatic fashion that it kind of ended. it gets Sam healthy. But that being said, I don't, I think it's a huge loss from a Super Bowl perspective not having Sam Darnold. But like the next, again, if it's two, three, four weeks,

Drew Locke can operate this offense. And the next thing I would say is if you're talking about getting thrown into the fire, you got a new offensive coordinator that comes in without the start running back from last year, Kenneth Walker, and on the first drive, loses his quarterback. And for Florida, he committed to that run game now.

And every time they showed him, he just was chewing gum a lot lighter than Pete Carroll, but just chewing gum and, you know, look cool, calm, collected. The culture in Seattle really is kind of jumping off the screen for me. Partsey, if you had Shanahan or McVeigh sit you down and said, we are going with what you say, we have a game in Australia, when do you want the whole operation to go there without like getting too scientific, just your gut instinct, what would be the best approach,

and who do you think with their two approaches, has the best chance for success? For me, I would, like what the Rams did, show up, play ball. Like, I don't want to be in Australia for seven days, eight days, you know what it is. I don't. Why, buddy? Why? This is where it gets like, it's a business trip, man.

First off, I don't like Australian accent, so that's a personal one. Wow, what a take. Okay, fair enough. There's a backstory there. I just, like, Bartz, this is a strange one for me. I know. What do you not like about the accents?

We can get into that. We can get into that. Who broke your heart? No, no. I know what's up there. I got you. But I think this whole sleeping thing is somewhat of the modern world and it's ridiculous.

You come in here, you're an NFL football player. It's not your job, okay, to talk about when you're showing up. to a game. You get a lot of people that are paid, a lot of money to figure that out. Your job is to be ready to go on game day. And at how much, and we were pampered. We were unbelievably coddled. How much do we need? Like, when does this end? You look, it's like, oh, the Niners guys are getting there eight days early so they can acclimate and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm sure that's great. And I'm sure all of them will be ready to go. And on the flip side, the Rams are

on some crazy plane that's depressurized with live flat beds and they're not going to, and they're not going to, and it's like, you know, at one breath, they talk about football, like, we'll play in a parking lot. But then all of a sudden this has become a national story because the Rams have their version of science and the Niners have theirs. And they're probably both right. But like parts, this would be my thing. Let me just say this parts. I know that your Seahawks teams, if there was a group text that two in the morning from Pete that said, show up at the building, we got a game, everybody show up and be ready to play. Everybody would be. The only negative thing, if I got that to actually be, I wish I had my long hair. That would be the only, you know, let's go.

Yeah. Button them up and let's go. Like, it gets so strange in today's day and age where it's like the end of the day, like, I get all of the things that's going on. And they're important. I'm not saying it's not important. But both teams will be ready to go on game day. They're going to be completely coddled, as all of us are. They're going to walk in there.

Like, if you're the Rams, you're getting hydration, you're getting food. you land, there's massage therapists, chiropractors, like the whole foam rolling stretch room. You name it, they got it. You need something. They might have a hyperbaric chamber. They'll have everything you need to be ready on game day. So I just, I know it's the national story. I just don't think it's that big of an ordeal. Both teams went a different way. I personally would rather go in and out like the Rams.

I like what they said about not having to acclimate coming back next week. But if I had to stay in Australia for eight days and suffer through, that miserable accent, I would do it. Buddy, what happened? What happened? Like, could you beat a guy up with an Australian accent? Or you got your heartbroken? No, I, no heartbroken guys. It's just one of those things where like you ever, sometimes I'll be listening to these Australians

and I'm like, man, this is just a tough listen. Yeah. What are we talking about here? Crocodile Hunter. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Dundee, man. Crocodile Dundee.

Exactly. Luke, you talked about the flights. regardless with it, you have to get there and that. These long flights, what's the what's the protocol for the guys? Like, who gets the grub first if there's a buffet and all of that? Is there rules where is it like offense first,

deep first? Like, are the kickers like last? You know, what is it? What's the protocol on these big flights? Yeah, honestly, it's funny noodles because one of the things I was envious of other sports were the flights. And the reason being is with the smaller teams,

they would all have these like really cool planes. We're like for us, and this is the vast majority of NFL teams, we're flying on a normal plane. It's chartered, so it's just us. But we would have kind of the thing in Seattle was, hey, on the way there, we're all in the economy

section in the back. Now, granted, you get a whole road to yourself. And it's, I'll be honest, the way back is mayhem, which is kind of wild. But, you know, if we won the one year, Pete would switch, like the coaches would sit in the first class beds on the way there.

And he'd be like, if you guys win, whatever, the 15 oldest guys on the team could sit up front. So it's pretty chill. Like you'd sit down, they got Gatorade's on your chair, there's snacks everywhere. It's not like a whole like, like, again, you're flying pretty luxurious here, not a pretty big, like, hierarchy of who gets what first. I would say that the biggest thing is making sure the FDA doesn't get alerted on the way home. That's probably the toughest. That's important.

You got to make sure the authorities are cool with everything going on. Don't set that smoke alarm off, noodles. That FD.A. Call, I ain't skirt that one. Like, would there be guns on the plane and stuff? There's been stories of that in pro sports, too, right? The one that was a bit strange was, like, for TSA over there, they would come to our facility in Seattle. So on the way out, you'd go and we'd all joke around

where it's like, okay, every, like, fifth person they would check. it's like we don't go through security and we always joked like the person would check with like blinders on like they'd be like all right you were the random person flagged and then you're on the bus if you weren't even flagged just straight on the bus so you know there was a time where I

maybe talked to a security guy had a friend of mine flagged and maybe put something in his bag but the tough part was they still didn't find it so I was a little upset about I thought I had a real nice prank everybody was in on it and it just kind of fell flat

just didn't land. Yeah, it was tough. Al's brother coming up here in a few moments, and I was talking to Doogie like I do every day, and Doogie throws a lot of stuff at me, different things he's reading, seeing, thinking. And generally I absorb it. Sometimes I say, I agree.

Sometimes I flush it. Sometimes I react with, are you kidding me with that type of question? I had a reaction to that today, but I feel like you would see I'd I with Doogie on this. Doogie was promoting the idea, that if Matt Stafford has a great season this year, he could play himself into maybe top 10 status all time

at the quarterback position. I think that's outrageous. Top 10. I don't. I don't. He is not top 10 all time. No chance. I don't care if he wins MVP and the Super Bowl MVP this year. No chance. No, hey, if he wins Super Bowl MVP and Super Bowl. He's not top 10 quarterback all the time.

How can you say that? I can give you names right now. Okay, there's five easy. Peyton, Tom. Well, I'd say Mahomes, Rogers, Breeze. In the last 20 years, there's five that are no doubters. Like, Brady Manning, Mahomes, Rogers, Breeze, I think Josh Allen's better than him. You haven't even touched on the old school guys.

I haven't hit Montana. I haven't hit, you know. L.A. L.A. You got to put L.W.A. for sure. I think Brett Farr's clearly a better. Oh. What about Sticky Danny Marino?

Stinky Danny Marino? Stinky Danny Rino. There you go. Brett Farv's a better quarterback than Mass. I love Brett Farms. Brett Farr. I love, not as recent actions. I mean, Brett Farr back in the day I'm not talking about the person. That's serious.

Brett Farr is a player for sure, but I'm not putting him over Matthew Stafford. He's three-time MVP, been to two Super Bowls, won a Super Bowl. He's got, he started three, 303 games in a row, man. I think I had the Iron Man streak forever. It was incredible. Where does Stafford fit in for you on all this?

Stafford, I'm, like, again, I'd have to look over because then you're getting back in the day where you're talking, Johnny Unitis, you know, Staubach, you know, guys like that. I mean, it's a tough combo because to me, it's like if you were to ask me to name top five quarterbacks of all time, okay, and what gets weird

with that conversation is and this is a bit of a hot take, I don't think it's that wild, but if we're not taking in a mount of Super Bowl wins, I probably take Peyton Manning as my first guy. Yep. Like, I don't think that's a crazy

No, I agree with you. The way he called his own offense, the way he thought the game. What five MVP's. Yeah, like I probably take Peyton 1. I go to Tom 2. But obviously, if we're, if we're, I. Wow. If we're going, you know, championships, all of those things, you put Tom 1.

Like, there's no doubt. It gets, but. Right. I think there's an argument that Tom's first three, he was a great quarterback, but they also had a legendary defensive side of the football. football and he in his next three he was the main reason they wanted I think that's if you look at the numbers I think that's a bit of a fair take okay so and I'm not trying to take anything away from Tom but to me that's kind of your one too you said it like I'm a bit Montana is is old for me

like it's hard for me to be like oh I'm putting Montana at three but he's better that Stafford though I would agree with you on that but I'm saying like you know modern era like I would take Montana over Josh Allen just because he hasn't won, but as far as ability goes, would you take Josh? Well, like I think, let's just go there, I guess. I think Allen's a better quarterback than Stafford personally.

I just think he's got more attributes and the way he can run the game, run the ball, the size, what he does outside of the pocket. I feel like you would disagree with that. No, it's just, it's a very, I don't disagree, but it's hard, like, it's kind of like the MJ versus Jordan argument, where there's so many of an angles you can look at this. Like, I would agree where Josh's ability off schedule is way better than Matthews.

I would agree, obviously, how much weight do you put in to Josh being able to use his legs and rush and score TDs? But I think from a mental standpoint, Matthew is clearly ahead of him, but that's not fair, too. Matthew's played a lot more years than Josh. Allen. So like it's just, and again, you never know, but it's like Josh came into Buffalo and has, you know, seemingly turned that place around where Matthew, I would say, you know, Buffalo fans might push back on this, but I would say going to Detroit in the Jim Schwartz era, even before that, like, that's a blood bad. That was, oh and 16, he walked into a place that has lost every

single game. Like, you know, that was tough. I'll never forget this, guys. I'm not joking. The year before, I think it was a year, two years where it got to Detroit, they made the playoffs and had to come to Seattle week one. So I want to say this was 2016, don't quote me on that, sort of maybe 2017 playoffs. And I was sitting there, and that was always a weird one

because all my boys back home were Lions fans. And after we beat them, you know, moved on in the next round. And after that game, I remember thinking to myself, looking on the field and being like, man, the Lions players seemed happy. Like it was the only game I've been part of where, like, we beat someone. And I generally had the feeling that they were like, oh, great, the season's done. We can finally get out of here. Yeah.

It was just such a thing. It was so. My ridiculous mind ended up going there a year later thinking it was going to be some sort of major culture change. So who's the real dummy here? But, you know, that Detroit was with the same level. the Cleveland Browns. Right. Oh, 100%.

If Matthew Stafford, correct. If Matthew Stafford's not there, maybe we'll have a different opinion of them, I don't know. Yep. It has the antithesis of the Cleveland Browns. House Brother. Do you guys think you both owe me an apology

for all the negative things you said about my pick yesterday? Can we start this year off? Can we start this year off on a better note? They do, yep. They owe you an apology. That's fair, right, noodles? Go ahead, house, brother. I mean, let's be honest.

The Seahawks shot themselves in the foot the way we never expected to happen. They lost Sam Darnel. That game, five plays into it, was completely different. If you knew Sam Darnel wasn't going to be there, then I never would have dog the pick. I probably would have assumed that the Patriots would have won that football game. But they didn't win it, and you lucked out because... Noodles. It doesn't sound like an apology.

It's not an apology. It's not qualifying it. Right? I was, brother, that's important. You know, it counts. Let me ask you two guys. Do you agree on this? that you have the biggest layup of the century.

Tonight? Dude, you can't get a moon reading down there, I was brother. No, they can't. Like, it's completely different situation.

It's, it's, it's like liquid and it's insane. I don't know what we're doing with the moons and the time. Like, did you hear Kyle Shanahan trying to talk about what day it was? He's like,

it's Wednesday, but it's Thursday. This guy, I mean, I don't know what's going on in Australia, but that guy is in an absolute blender. and I do think McVeigh is going to put him in a blender again tonight. I will say that.

Speaking of which. I have a lean. Okay. Go ahead. I got a quick one for Hayes. Hayes, do you also feel like everything that Al's Bro just said about Kyle Shanahan can be said about Al's Bro. This guy's got a lot on his plate right now.

He's been very quiet. He's got some sort of weird armpit thing going on. Is there a world where the real guy in the blender is Al's Bro? I'm not feeling the same confidence. He's already, usually the, usually the, the moon play is late in the year we need to win? I know. Like how much under the gun is this guy?

Well, I... Let's hear the man's research. He usually does his homework. He always does his homework. You have like homework? What are you like? You said you have a lean. Where are you getting these thoughts from?

Rams 3 and a half. That's the line locking it in, right? In Australia. The line is down at 3 and a half. It's been at 4 all week. It's down at 3 and a half. Go ahead, house brother. I believe in you.

And I know you can do, you know, multiple things of, you know, multiple times. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. Sure you've got a wedding coming up, but you also get a season to win. And there's priorities. Absolutely. Go ahead. Absolutely. And I'm ready to go tonight.

Like, I want to lay the points with the Rams. I mean, we've been talking about this team, how good they are. It's going to be the greatest show on turf 2.0. And I think they're coming out in Melbourne, and they're going to show it at the end of the day. And look, everyone's making this big hoopla about, oh, they just got there where, you know, the Niners. They've been there for over a week. I mean, I heard you guys talk about it on the show earlier today. The Rams sent people over.

They've been working on this for two years, two years to figure out the best time to get in there and be at utmost efficiency by game time. And I think they're going to be a ready roll tonight. And realistically, the Rams have just beaten down on the San Francisco 49ers over the last couple of years. They've won four of the last five games. They've covered for their last five games.

So this has been McVeigh's got to stick the last couple of years. He's ready to roll against the Niners. And at the end of the day, I think that the Niners, they're just getting old, they're injured, and I just don't feel like they're going to be very good this season. I have them pegged as kind of the NFC's regression candidate. Like, if Christian McCaffrey doesn't go off tonight, who's going to get the ball into the end zone? At the end of the end, at the end of the end zone against that defense? Mike Evans?

Guy missed some time during camp. Mike Evans, are you kidding me? I'm not kidding you. Nope, I'm not kidding you. How about Kittle? George Kittles playing tonight. Kittles' plan, but he's a game time decision. How about coming off in Achilles?

How about a little... Coming off an Achilles? How about a little rotational thing? We motion CMC out. We bring Debo into the backfield. We run behind Trent Williams. How about that? Debo Samuel making a comeback.

Parsi, these guys just don't understand ball. They don't understand ball. No, I'm with... I'm seeing eye to eye here with Alice Brother. McVeigh has just owned Shanahan. Shanahan had himself some problems in the offseason, too, right? A weird one that's still kind of... Very strange.

Like, oh, I was looking at my phone and never mind. And something weird was going on with Shanahan. And, you know, whatever the travel accounts for, I guess we'll find out tonight. Sports science nerds are going to be loving the outcome of the game tonight. Oh, yeah. Because someone's going to be beating their chest. Yeah. But I'm also not the biggest.

is Brock Purdy fan in the world. And it's been really quiet on him coming into a new season for a guy that has always been a question mark based on where he got picked in the draft, get paid the amount of money he got paid. But I like the quarterback battle to favor the Rams. Miles Garrett, I think, goes off tonight. Lock it in, Ellis, brother. You make a great point.

Everything across the board, screams, lay the points, Rams tonight outright. Well, what facet of the game do the Niners control at this point? Like, I think you look at offense, defense, coaching, the line of scrimmage, the run game, the passing game. Yeah, for the Niners, defensively, yeah, if everyone could stay healthy, you know, it's Nick Bosa five snaps in, you know. Yeah, that's what happens with that guy. I am with Al's bro where it's like the Niners are a hard one to pinpoint

because you say, like, what area of the game can they, you know, dominate on paper and they're older, but you look at Nick Bowie. to Drey Greenlaw, Fred Warner, if those guys are healthy, they can be electric. But that is, at this point, it's a crazy if. Big time. Right. A big time. And listen, they're a really good organization that finds a way to string it together every single year,

even with the amount of injuries they suffer, and they've suffered a lot the last couple of years. But like Shanahan on the hot seat, do you see, do you think that's possible, or is that a little bit extreme? It's weird because with Shanahan, and again, I do think whatever happened this offseason, you know, I'm sure that's not good. But it's also a bit rich when like, I don't think you can jam Shanahan when Jed York. Dude, no. I don't think the owner's going to be calling him in to ream them out. Yeah, yeah.

You get the trailer park in Ohio, I have something to tell you. Which is still like one of the funniest things I've ever read in my life. Crazy story. Oh, man. I mean, you're down bad. You're down real bad. Jed was in a dark, dark place. And to make things worse, he just had the worst gear on, too.

He had like some brutal, yeah, he had a Yankees T-shirt and like some bad sweatshorts and some bad shoes with socks. It's like, dude, you own the Niners and you're wheeling around a trailer park with 20s. Lucy. Lucy from the trailer park boys. Right. He had like $360 and $20. Like it was just the weirdest thing. Like it was outrageous.

I wish there would be like a Netflix, like, a episode of like how there has, like I picture it like the hangover. Like there had to be a series of like 30 events that led to him being there. At least that's, I kind of go, I'm like, unless it's his thing, I don't know. Well, man, there's something. Yeah, there's 32 owners in the league, and some of the owners have got themselves in some weird places. There's got to be a depth chart of some of these guys. Totally.

100%. There's a list for you, Azee B. There's a list for you. That might be one, we'll see. I don't know if Shanahan's, like, the tough part is if you move away from Shanahan, who do you get? And he's getting scooped up so quickly. He's getting scooped up.

He's such a good coach. Unless there's a Ben Johnson, out there that you think you can absolutely lock in. I don't know who's going to be better than you. I'm with you. All right, lock it in. Rams 3 and a half, Alas Brother. I love the pick. I love where we're at.

We'll be tied by midnight tonight, which will be just past 1 p.m. in Melbourne, Australia. Good stuff, boys. We'll do it again tomorrow with more picks. And then next week, as always, great seeing you guys. See you, boys. There he is, Alice Brother and Luke Wilson joining us. Hello, Canada. This is Brian Adams Radio.

by Brian Adams himself. We'll play a few of mine, a ton of my favorites, and some must-hear behind-the-scenes stories from the world of rock and roll. One thing about doing rock and roll so long as you end up meeting a lot of the people that you admire. Sometimes you even get to work with him. Adams Radio.

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