July 20, 2024 • 22 mins
Hugh Millen joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to react to their Baby, Come Back bracket from the previous hour, plus talks about the Huskies offensive line, Ryan Grubb taking over the Seahawks offense, and what new Head Coach Mike Macdonald brings.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Our next guest is old enough toremember probably rocking out to this in the
seventies the back of his Mustang Rosebudin high school. Hugh Mill, I
don't know what's going on in theback of his mustang. I think you
can imagine what was going on.He was doing a spreadsheet. He was
Okay, hell out of here here. How are you man? Exactly?
Hey, before we get to someactual sports talking conversation, we got some
(00:24):
questions Seahawks, Huskies, whatever.We just had a little baby comeback tournament
there on the radio show. Whatdid you think of what you heard?
Well? I think what I heardon hold, I think it's all.
Everybody is a good name. Iwould just say that the Sonics one time
had a two time All Star whowas first team All NBA Defense, who
(00:48):
was fifth in the league in MVPvoting and was a NBA Finals MVP.
He was twenty five years old.His name was Dennis Johnson. You know
the story. He traded for Paulwest Fall, who was twenty nine going
on thirty, who was, yes, an offensive player, but west Wall
for the Sonics played like thirty fortygames. Dennis Johnson went to the Suns
(01:11):
at least two or three years ofAll Star went to the Celtics. Larry
Bird said the following quote, definitelythe best player I've ever played with in
my life. That's Larry Bird aboutDennis Johnson. Dennis Johnson, they won
two titles and number three. DennisJohnson's jersey hangs from the rafters in the
Boston Garden. That hurts. Hewas on the list. He was replaced
(01:32):
by Steve Hutchinson, which I thinkis ridiculous as the number eight. I
concur with you one thousand. Youknow who else wasn't There was Don James.
He wasn't on the list either.We created to DJs. I mean
you only got to pick eight guys, right, I mean who would have
been, honestly, Hugh, whowould have been more impactful? Dennis Johnson
staying with the Sonics or Steve Hutchinsonstaying with the Seahawks. That well,
(01:57):
that's hard because there's twenty two guysin a on a football course and a
bunch of those guys that DJ wona championship with. We're getting older,
Freddie, you know, Jack Wally, all those guys. I mean,
I believe it that they beat theBears in two thousand and six. If
they have Steve Hutchinson the offensive line, they go back to the NFC Championship
game. Yeah, well, DJ, you know, like he put the
lockdown on David Thompson Skywalker. Itwas just his his toughness and all.
(02:22):
But getting to Hutchinson, Look,I don't think you evaluate a guard.
You can evaluate to guard this way. Let's say you're gonna play the forty
nine ers on money on a footballbig game. Let's say is Steve Hutchinson
he sprains his ankle and practice andhe's out. Is he gonna move the
line? Unlikely? If if hedid, it would be nominal. That's
not what we're talking about. We'retalking about a team that was the in
(02:45):
the Super Bowl, that was literallythe fabric, the glue who closed the
circle of physicality. It'd be liketake look at a guy in a tuxedo.
If you take a tuxedo and pullout all the seams on everything,
you still have the tuxedo parts,but it is completely unraveled. He Steve
(03:05):
Hutchinson and Mike Holmgren I don't thinkwould bristle with this because he said this
about Bill Walsh. So those thoseteams were so good and in their precision
passing the ball, and hassel Beckwas a starter in the Pro Bowl and
what have you. But there wasalways a question, hey, are they
tough enough? Well, Steve Hutchinsonwas the guy that was there. If
(03:25):
you had to ask opponents for histeammates, who would be the last guy
you'd want to get an octagon with, it would be Steve Hutchinson because Walter
Jones was phenomenal. But Walter Jones'idea of dominating football game has showed me
the statu sheet at the end ofthe game, and this is the words
out of Walter Jones. He looksacross the defensive end, the right defensive
end. No sackles, no sacks, no pressures, no hurries, no
(03:46):
tackles. That's domination. Steve Hutchinsonsaid, how many times did I move
that man five yards or more fromthe line scrimmage? How many times did
I pancake it? How many timesdid I bury him? Does he know
after three hours that I'm the superiorman? He had that infectious toughness about
him, and so I think thatthe team knew how he u The Ruskal
(04:10):
had had absolutely stepped on a Rakeon this one, that that that homegun
was furious and it ripped the soul, the particularly the toughness soul right out
of a super Bowl team. SoI just think the measure of it is
not just what does an offensive guarddo? What does every other player on
that team do? In terms ofthe aftermath of oh my god, you
(04:31):
ripped our heart out? Well,Hugh, we don't have an Steve Hutchinson
on the Husky offensive line. That'sfor damn sure. I like one.
I would like one. But thereis a little bit of debate on what
type of disaster and what size disasterwill the Husky offensive line be if we
can put it that way, ifwe want to put it negatively, I
(04:51):
wouldn't put it that way. Bythe way, what can you go,
Well, I just wont to knowhow concerned we are about it. How
concern should we be about this Huskyoffensive line? Well, I think there's
a lot of concern until it's proven. I mean, you just you're fresh
in your mind as a Joe Moorewinning offensive line. Now, it's it's
extremely rare. You know, Ican't have a recall. It's very rare.
(05:14):
You'd lose all the starters off thatteam and that they'd all be imports.
Now it's a new day and age. And you know, if a
guy comes in, let's say fromOhio State, O say, okay,
that's great, Well what were thecircumstances? Was he not going to play
at Ohio State or did he wantmore money? Like those are two different
questions. And then for guys thatare coming up from let's say Mountain West
(05:35):
or other lesser conferences, those typeof players, they might be a sending
and it might be a similar equationlike, hey, they were highly valued
by their team and the Huskies beatthem out over you know, five or
six other top level Power five conferenceschools. Okay, you say, that's
the makings of a hell of aplayer. So how how you you came?
(05:59):
You know that that is just partof the equation. It's why and
how right? And and then theother part is, in my opinion,
of all the units in a footballteam on both sides of the ball,
the offensive line coach is the mostimportant position coach on the field because of
the cohesion required. And I wouldsay secondary would be number two, but
(06:24):
offensive line. You had in Huffa hell of an offensive line coach.
Now, look, you know BrendanCarroll by all accounts, probably a good
offensive line coach. But I thinkthat there's so many unknown parts. I
think it's concerning. Yeah, Ijust I mean, I do like the
fact that their schedule is kind oflight early, so some time for these
(06:45):
guys to gel and figure things outbefore things get crazy in the second half.
But yeah, if they had abunch of good players coming back,
you'd feel great. They had abunch of bad players coming back, you'd
feel terrible. They got a bunchof nobody's from nowhere that you've never heard
of. So I it's unfair forus just say, look, I have
no idea, And the fact thatyou have no idea about maybe the most
important position on the team, Ithink that in itself makes it concerning.
(07:08):
But here Millin's with us and HughRyan Grubb obviously starting on Wednesday getting his
first crack at a NFL training camp. I think all of us were super
duper impressed with what he did atyou dub. But for the average fan
who maybe did not watch a lotof Husky football or didn't watch it close
enough, can you kind of giveus a take on what Seahawk fans will
(07:28):
notice right away about this offense thatmakes it unique. Well, I think,
first of all, to just makean assertion about what you'll notice,
I think it would be a littlebit premature. I mean, all we
can do. The sensible reply tothat question would be we have to wait
and see, because all we knowis what Grub did at Washington and what
(07:48):
he did at Fresno. And Istudied Jay Hayner's junior year or you know,
second to last year. I studiedit more when he had Jeff Tedford.
But we just say, okay,what's his nature? And really,
you say, okay, I cangive you all the profile of what Grub
was and how I think he distinguisheshimself, and I'm about to do that.
(08:11):
But that's with the personnel that hehad at Washington. Before the ball
would snap. At Washington, forexample, the Huskies were in shotgun ninety
two point one percent at the timethe NFL averages seventy one percent. Again,
this is before they snapped the ball. Eleven personnel that's three receivers,
one running back, one tight end. The Huskies were seventy nine percent,
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the NFL averages sixty two percent tothe times that they use two plus tight
ends. You think of the Huskieshaving great tight ends right west Over and
and Colp had a hell of acombine and got drafted, and all the
Huskies were under twenty percent nineteen pointseven percent two plus tight ends. The
league average is twenty seven percent.So even before we snapped the ball,
(08:56):
we've got some aspects. You say, okay, that's a little that's that's
significently off the norm with respects tothe NFL. But again, we don't
know how Grub's going to be withthe Seahawk personnel. Let's talk about Penix
was in the pocket eighty eight percent. That's a high number conservative protection for
the Huskies. When the Husky offensefaced a four man rush from their opponent's
(09:18):
defense four hundred and thirty two offive hundred and seventy five attempts the Huskies
had had When you look at thatfour man rush, of those four hundred
thirty two snaps, the Huskies hadtwo or more extra blockers thirty seven percent
of the time. That is fiftyone percent above the average of their top
(09:43):
opponents last year. Does that makesense to me? Like meaning they're leaving
the Huskies are only facing a fourman rush. Typical would be your rush
you block with five. But theHuskies are saying, no, let's protect
penis, let's keep running back in, let's keep a tight end. And
they were keeping U so they're veryconservative in their protection schemes. Two more
(10:05):
throwing the ball deep. Here's acouple numbers. Romadunza on every calculus was
the recipient of the most deep ballsof any receiver. To give you an
idea, plus twenty yards are morefrom the line of scrimmage. In fifteen
games, Roma dunes A forty nineattempts. Remember that forty nine temps fifteen
games. DK metcalf last twenty sixin sixteen games. Wow, if you
(10:26):
go by the rate per game,ROMADUNESA more than double DK thirty. How
about thirty plus really deep down thefield? Roma DUNESA twenty three, DK
twelve and again DK had one moregames. So and then go just go
routes. That was all over thefield. Let's just talk specifically about go
routes up the sideline. Romadonsay twentyfive catches and forty six go routes for
(10:48):
ten touchdowns. That's prodigious. Wellover fifty percent. Dk Metcalf ten catches
on twenty eight attempts for only fourtouchdowns. So Roma Dounsey had exactly two
and a half times as many opportunitieson go routes and exactly two and a
half times as many touchdowns. Soand then and then lastly the out routes.
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Michael Pennix led the nation in ballsthrown outside the numbers. The gap
between first and second place was greaterthan the gap between second and twenty eight.
So when you were watching the Huskies, what am I? What picture
are on painting? You remember it? Pennick's throwing the ball down the damn
field and outside the numbers. Now, I'm not going to compare the numbers
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outside because with the pros, becausethe pro's numbers are are further inside,
closer to the hash and blah blahblah. But those are some things we
can look for. Those were theattributes that we saw in a Ryan Grubb
offense at Washington. Well why dowe do this? We're up against the
break and we got a few morethings we want to throw at. Yeah,
(11:54):
we figure it's Friday, you gotno plan? So what the hell
is hanging out with us? Fora little bit. You've mentioned before that
you think Mike McDonald is the bestdefensive mine on planet Earth right now.
Well, if that's the case,then at least somebody on the Seahawk roster
is going to be the most likelyto benefit from that. Who's that guy
gonna be? We'll come back anddiscuss that with you. Chuck Powell joins
us at six from Cheney Stadium atTacoma. Right here on ninety three to
(12:18):
three KJRFM, W from the Rand R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio. Now
back to Softie and Dick on yourhome for the Huskies and the Kraken Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. All right, boys and girls,
back here at Cheney Stadium at Tacoma. If you're driving around tonight on nine
point fifty am, Chuck Powell backon the Color Broadcast with Mike Kurle tonight.
(12:41):
That's a must listen for the Rainiers. Reno game. Reno's got a
guy named Rinaldo Hernandez. He wasjust sending Tate measure blast. He's gotta
here. He's a catcher in DHand he's six foot two fifty. He
was just rock. I'm telling youthe guy was hitting balls in the Puget
(13:03):
sound man at a chading stadium bringBP, so keep an eye on that
name. But Chuck's got the Callhilljordanus at six pm here on the FM
side, Hugh Malan rejoined us herefor a little bonus time on the radio,
showing here, first of all,kind of a two parter. You've
mentioned before that Mike McDonald is thebest defensive mind of the planet. I
wonder number one, kind of remindpeople why you feel that way, and
(13:24):
then who's the most likely Seahawk defenderto kind of benefit from that? You
think, well, first of all, yeah, I it's a bold claim,
but I can defend it in thefollowing way. If you look at
University of Michigan before Mike McDonald wasthe defensive coordinator in twenty twenty one.
The year before, they were ninetythird out of one hundred and thirty in
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the country in points yielded. Theywere giving up thirty four and a half.
In just one season they cut inhalf to seventeen point three. That
was seventh again, third to seventhin yards, they went from down to
eighty seven to fourteen. Okay,so now you have John Harbus says,
(14:11):
I need this cat back right,And what do they do at Baltimore?
They go from points per game theywent twenty twenty one. Under Wink Martindale.
The Ravens had been eighteenth the firstyear he's there, McDonald they go
to third, and then last yearthey go to first in turnovers. The
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year before McDonald got there, theRavens were twenty eighth. Then his first
year they were eighth. McDonald's secondyear they were first. In sacks.
They got from that I'm sorry,you're ahead. Sorry, my fault ahead,
my fault in sacks, they gofrom twenty third, then to sixth
and then to first. And bythe way, I mentioned twenty twenty two
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in the final ten games, andthis is something that's going to bear relevance
as we watch the first half ofthe Seahawks season. In the final ten
games I'd mentioned in points per game, the Ravens went to third, but
in the final ten games they werefifteen points six on points per game.
That was number one in the NFLfor the second half of the season.
So his first season as defensive coordinator, the second half led the league,
(15:18):
and then his second year, whichwas last year he was first in the
entire league. So they hit thetriple crown. They hit points number one
points, number one in turnovers,and number one in sacks. And that's
with Genevian Clowney and Kyle van Ney. Clowney was on his fifth team,
he had two sacks of the yearbefore, opposite Miles Garrett Cale van Noy
was on his sixth team thirty twoyears old. Like those were their defensive
(15:41):
ends. They just have a heavypressure package and a disguise package. Now
there is a gazoo on my shoulderevery time, and it's in the name
of Steve Spagnola, and Spags ofcourse what he does in Super Bowls.
Maybe I'm wrong on that. MaybeI should say that McDonald is number two,
(16:02):
but Spagnola. If you take thosecombined UH stats, as the Ravens
were number one, you combine those, the Chiefs were number six, darn
good, but but not at thelevel the Ravens had been. And so
I think in the totality, whenyou consider all those factors, I'll hold
with what I said here. Wewere talking about the position that scares us
(16:25):
the most on the Seahawks team.Wait a minute, we didn't we didn't
get the one guy. Pause,Yeah, one guy. Who's the one
guy that's going to benefit from allthat? Yes? Sorry, well I
would say, let's let's just lookingat the Ravens. Kyle Hamilton was a
first team All NFL safety and whenyou watch him, and I've studied a
hell of a lot of Ravens tape, very very very heady player. To
(16:48):
me, I think that a guythat can fill that role in some regard
is Julian Love because Julian Love isas extremely high IQ and there's a lot
of communication that has to take place. A lot of the impact that Julian
Love is liable to bring to thisteam is not going to necessarily be seen
(17:11):
in stats. I think he's gonnahave a very good year. Now.
The one distinction that has to bedrawn is Julian Love is five ten and
three quarters one hundred and ninety fivepounds. At the combine, you had
Kyle Hamilton, a first round draftpick. He was six four and an
eighth and two hundred and seventeen pounds. The wingspan was over five inches more
(17:32):
for Hamilton. How's that play out? When I watch the Ravens, They'll
put Hamilton on the best tight end, and he's got the size, he's
got the length to play what's calledcover one, which is man to man
on third and medium downs. Whenit's money time, they could put Kyle
Hamilton on. Whether it's Gronkowski orit doesn't matter right, Travis Kelce whatever.
(17:52):
So I don't think Julian Love's bringsyou that, but all the other
facets about the IQ and what haveyou. Julie and Love should have a
really big year with Mike McDonald goodhere the middle linebacker spot. Not only
is it unproven with with Baker andDodson, all those guys are out too
right now. I mean we areon the pop. We don't even know
when they're going to play at thispoint. We were talking earlier, we
(18:14):
wanted to ask you about how importantobviously every coaching staff places a different amount
of importance in their scheme to themiddle linebacker spot. How important is that
spot to Mike McDonald's defense. Well, I think when you look at you
know, their acquisition of ro KwanSmith, that was somebody Mike McDonald's just
say hey, let's go, let'sgo make a big trade acquisition. Uh,
(18:38):
maybe you have to look up whatthey gave up to acquire ro Kwan
Smith, but you know they targetedhim from the Bears and uh, and
then he came in and he justhe ran their defense. So there was
some second and a fifth. That'sthat's a lot, right, And and
so I think that I think thelinebackers are are very important. And if
(18:59):
you want to say the reason tobe skeptical or cynical or what have you,
I would say the unproven nature ofthe Seahawks linebackers for this year,
that would be a consideration because there'sno doubt in my mind that with Rocan
Smith and Patrick Queen. And thenif you take the NFC and you take
Fred Warner with the forty nine ersand and Dre Greenlaw, because again it's
(19:25):
a it's it's a two linebacker league, right because everybody's playing nickel. So
the tandem that the linebacker tandem forthe Ravens was by far the best in
the FC. The linebacker tandem forthe forty nine Ers is by far the
best in the NFC. And youknow, those defenses are playing great ball,
and I think that the linebackers areessential to it. So that's a
very valid question, an important question. To be answered, Yeah, I
(19:48):
just think again, you got twoguys on one year deals. There's a
reason why they're improven contracts. Rightwhen it's all said and done. But
hu Milling again with us on theradio show and Hugh just to wrap it
up with this. With the Seahawkfootball team training camp starts on Wednesday,
I don't want to do the wholeyou know, give us the top five
things you'll be looking for from theSea York football team, But what is
your gut kind of tell you how? Just the vibe and the atmosphere besides
(20:11):
the obvious of a guy running aroundwith gloves on, the music playing all
that stuff, what are you kindof expecting to see and field differently on
Wednesday without Pete Carroll for the firsttime in fifteen years. Well, I
think there's always some juice. Unfortunately, I've been part of teams that they
got coaches fired. I played apart in getting coaches fired. It's not
fun, right, But when youcome in you say okay, there's an
extra sense of urgency. I thinkMcDonald has a very likable style. I
(20:34):
think that he's impressed these guys withhis brilliance. He is. He really
understands what we didn't even get.I got all these notes ready to talk
about, you know, the natureand the ex'es and o's and what have
you. So we'll do that nextweek. You got three hours. You're
on Monday, You're on Tuesday,you're on Wednesday. The rest, well,
(20:55):
I'm on every day next week,so we'll really delve into that.
So so I think that he isgot the absolute captive audience of that football
team. I think that they're ina great place mentally, and I think
they're about to be fed some reallyhigh tech schematics defensively, and there may
be some rough edges. I mentionedthat first year in twenty twenty two,
(21:18):
it got decidedly better in the secondhalf, so that could happen this year.
But I think that I think thejuice is going to be great.
You got enough new blood everywhere.I'll be shocked if it's not a sense
of a really good vibe with thenewness member. Now, it wasn't Pete
Carroll stepping away. Pete Carroll gotfired, right, and those players know
it. It's still weird hearing that. It's still weird saying that didn't you
(21:42):
think you that Pete Carroll was goingto get to call his shot. I
did a surprised me, but youknow, there was enough things unraveling at
the end. And look, Icommend the organization, and it doesn't mean
I think there can be room fortwo truths. Pete Carroll was a phenomenal,
phenomenal coach for the Seahawks. Butthe reality is that he was there
(22:03):
fourteen years. He won nine playoffgames and in his first seven and then
he won one in his second seven, and so it was a very front
loaded, excuse me, a successpattern for him, and in a lot
of ways, it was time forsomething new. And in McDonald you get
a guy again. I'll just sayit. I think he's the best defensive
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mind for now. All schemes getreplaced, but for now, I think
he's the best, and it'll befun to see what he does with those
parts with the Seahawks. All right, good stuff here, well here at
three o'clock, PP appreciate it.Here going with I'm all right when we
come back, we're gonna hear alittle bit from I think Scott's service and
Logan Gilbert as well, if wecan fit those in next On ninety three
three KJRFM,
Our next guest is old enough toremember probably rocking out to this in the
seventies the back of his Mustang Rosebudin high school. Hugh Mill, I
don't know what's going on in theback of his mustang. I think you
can imagine what was going on.He was doing a spreadsheet. He was
Okay, hell out of here here. How are you man? Exactly?
Hey, before we get to someactual sports talking conversation, we got some
(00:24):
questions Seahawks, Huskies, whatever.We just had a little baby comeback tournament
there on the radio show. Whatdid you think of what you heard?
Well? I think what I heardon hold, I think it's all.
Everybody is a good name. Iwould just say that the Sonics one time
had a two time All Star whowas first team All NBA Defense, who
(00:48):
was fifth in the league in MVPvoting and was a NBA Finals MVP.
He was twenty five years old.His name was Dennis Johnson. You know
the story. He traded for Paulwest Fall, who was twenty nine going
on thirty, who was, yes, an offensive player, but west Wall
for the Sonics played like thirty fortygames. Dennis Johnson went to the Suns
(01:11):
at least two or three years ofAll Star went to the Celtics. Larry
Bird said the following quote, definitelythe best player I've ever played with in
my life. That's Larry Bird aboutDennis Johnson. Dennis Johnson, they won
two titles and number three. DennisJohnson's jersey hangs from the rafters in the
Boston Garden. That hurts. Hewas on the list. He was replaced
(01:32):
by Steve Hutchinson, which I thinkis ridiculous as the number eight. I
concur with you one thousand. Youknow who else wasn't There was Don James.
He wasn't on the list either.We created to DJs. I mean
you only got to pick eight guys, right, I mean who would have
been, honestly, Hugh, whowould have been more impactful? Dennis Johnson
staying with the Sonics or Steve Hutchinsonstaying with the Seahawks. That well,
(01:57):
that's hard because there's twenty two guysin a on a football course and a
bunch of those guys that DJ wona championship with. We're getting older,
Freddie, you know, Jack Wally, all those guys. I mean,
I believe it that they beat theBears in two thousand and six. If
they have Steve Hutchinson the offensive line, they go back to the NFC Championship
game. Yeah, well, DJ, you know, like he put the
lockdown on David Thompson Skywalker. Itwas just his his toughness and all.
(02:22):
But getting to Hutchinson, Look,I don't think you evaluate a guard.
You can evaluate to guard this way. Let's say you're gonna play the forty
nine ers on money on a footballbig game. Let's say is Steve Hutchinson
he sprains his ankle and practice andhe's out. Is he gonna move the
line? Unlikely? If if hedid, it would be nominal. That's
not what we're talking about. We'retalking about a team that was the in
(02:45):
the Super Bowl, that was literallythe fabric, the glue who closed the
circle of physicality. It'd be liketake look at a guy in a tuxedo.
If you take a tuxedo and pullout all the seams on everything,
you still have the tuxedo parts,but it is completely unraveled. He Steve
(03:05):
Hutchinson and Mike Holmgren I don't thinkwould bristle with this because he said this
about Bill Walsh. So those thoseteams were so good and in their precision
passing the ball, and hassel Beckwas a starter in the Pro Bowl and
what have you. But there wasalways a question, hey, are they
tough enough? Well, Steve Hutchinsonwas the guy that was there. If
(03:25):
you had to ask opponents for histeammates, who would be the last guy
you'd want to get an octagon with, it would be Steve Hutchinson because Walter
Jones was phenomenal. But Walter Jones'idea of dominating football game has showed me
the statu sheet at the end ofthe game, and this is the words
out of Walter Jones. He looksacross the defensive end, the right defensive
end. No sackles, no sacks, no pressures, no hurries, no
(03:46):
tackles. That's domination. Steve Hutchinsonsaid, how many times did I move
that man five yards or more fromthe line scrimmage? How many times did
I pancake it? How many timesdid I bury him? Does he know
after three hours that I'm the superiorman? He had that infectious toughness about
him, and so I think thatthe team knew how he u The Ruskal
(04:10):
had had absolutely stepped on a Rakeon this one, that that that homegun
was furious and it ripped the soul, the particularly the toughness soul right out
of a super Bowl team. SoI just think the measure of it is
not just what does an offensive guarddo? What does every other player on
that team do? In terms ofthe aftermath of oh my god, you
(04:31):
ripped our heart out? Well,Hugh, we don't have an Steve Hutchinson
on the Husky offensive line. That'sfor damn sure. I like one.
I would like one. But thereis a little bit of debate on what
type of disaster and what size disasterwill the Husky offensive line be if we
can put it that way, ifwe want to put it negatively, I
(04:51):
wouldn't put it that way. Bythe way, what can you go,
Well, I just wont to knowhow concerned we are about it. How
concern should we be about this Huskyoffensive line? Well, I think there's
a lot of concern until it's proven. I mean, you just you're fresh
in your mind as a Joe Moorewinning offensive line. Now, it's it's
extremely rare. You know, Ican't have a recall. It's very rare.
(05:14):
You'd lose all the starters off thatteam and that they'd all be imports.
Now it's a new day and age. And you know, if a
guy comes in, let's say fromOhio State, O say, okay,
that's great, Well what were thecircumstances? Was he not going to play
at Ohio State or did he wantmore money? Like those are two different
questions. And then for guys thatare coming up from let's say Mountain West
(05:35):
or other lesser conferences, those typeof players, they might be a sending
and it might be a similar equationlike, hey, they were highly valued
by their team and the Huskies beatthem out over you know, five or
six other top level Power five conferenceschools. Okay, you say, that's
the makings of a hell of aplayer. So how how you you came?
(05:59):
You know that that is just partof the equation. It's why and
how right? And and then theother part is, in my opinion,
of all the units in a footballteam on both sides of the ball,
the offensive line coach is the mostimportant position coach on the field because of
the cohesion required. And I wouldsay secondary would be number two, but
(06:24):
offensive line. You had in Huffa hell of an offensive line coach.
Now, look, you know BrendanCarroll by all accounts, probably a good
offensive line coach. But I thinkthat there's so many unknown parts. I
think it's concerning. Yeah, Ijust I mean, I do like the
fact that their schedule is kind oflight early, so some time for these
(06:45):
guys to gel and figure things outbefore things get crazy in the second half.
But yeah, if they had abunch of good players coming back,
you'd feel great. They had abunch of bad players coming back, you'd
feel terrible. They got a bunchof nobody's from nowhere that you've never heard
of. So I it's unfair forus just say, look, I have
no idea, And the fact thatyou have no idea about maybe the most
important position on the team, Ithink that in itself makes it concerning.
(07:08):
But here Millin's with us and HughRyan Grubb obviously starting on Wednesday getting his
first crack at a NFL training camp. I think all of us were super
duper impressed with what he did atyou dub. But for the average fan
who maybe did not watch a lotof Husky football or didn't watch it close
enough, can you kind of giveus a take on what Seahawk fans will
(07:28):
notice right away about this offense thatmakes it unique. Well, I think,
first of all, to just makean assertion about what you'll notice,
I think it would be a littlebit premature. I mean, all we
can do. The sensible reply tothat question would be we have to wait
and see, because all we knowis what Grub did at Washington and what
(07:48):
he did at Fresno. And Istudied Jay Hayner's junior year or you know,
second to last year. I studiedit more when he had Jeff Tedford.
But we just say, okay,what's his nature? And really,
you say, okay, I cangive you all the profile of what Grub
was and how I think he distinguisheshimself, and I'm about to do that.
(08:11):
But that's with the personnel that hehad at Washington. Before the ball
would snap. At Washington, forexample, the Huskies were in shotgun ninety
two point one percent at the timethe NFL averages seventy one percent. Again,
this is before they snapped the ball. Eleven personnel that's three receivers,
one running back, one tight end. The Huskies were seventy nine percent,
(08:33):
the NFL averages sixty two percent tothe times that they use two plus tight
ends. You think of the Huskieshaving great tight ends right west Over and
and Colp had a hell of acombine and got drafted, and all the
Huskies were under twenty percent nineteen pointseven percent two plus tight ends. The
league average is twenty seven percent.So even before we snapped the ball,
(08:56):
we've got some aspects. You say, okay, that's a little that's that's
significently off the norm with respects tothe NFL. But again, we don't
know how Grub's going to be withthe Seahawk personnel. Let's talk about Penix
was in the pocket eighty eight percent. That's a high number conservative protection for
the Huskies. When the Husky offensefaced a four man rush from their opponent's
(09:18):
defense four hundred and thirty two offive hundred and seventy five attempts the Huskies
had had When you look at thatfour man rush, of those four hundred
thirty two snaps, the Huskies hadtwo or more extra blockers thirty seven percent
of the time. That is fiftyone percent above the average of their top
(09:43):
opponents last year. Does that makesense to me? Like meaning they're leaving
the Huskies are only facing a fourman rush. Typical would be your rush
you block with five. But theHuskies are saying, no, let's protect
penis, let's keep running back in, let's keep a tight end. And
they were keeping U so they're veryconservative in their protection schemes. Two more
(10:05):
throwing the ball deep. Here's acouple numbers. Romadunza on every calculus was
the recipient of the most deep ballsof any receiver. To give you an
idea, plus twenty yards are morefrom the line of scrimmage. In fifteen
games, Roma dunes A forty nineattempts. Remember that forty nine temps fifteen
games. DK metcalf last twenty sixin sixteen games. Wow, if you
(10:26):
go by the rate per game,ROMADUNESA more than double DK thirty. How
about thirty plus really deep down thefield? Roma DUNESA twenty three, DK
twelve and again DK had one moregames. So and then go just go
routes. That was all over thefield. Let's just talk specifically about go
routes up the sideline. Romadonsay twentyfive catches and forty six go routes for
(10:48):
ten touchdowns. That's prodigious. Wellover fifty percent. Dk Metcalf ten catches
on twenty eight attempts for only fourtouchdowns. So Roma Dounsey had exactly two
and a half times as many opportunitieson go routes and exactly two and a
half times as many touchdowns. Soand then and then lastly the out routes.
(11:13):
Michael Pennix led the nation in ballsthrown outside the numbers. The gap
between first and second place was greaterthan the gap between second and twenty eight.
So when you were watching the Huskies, what am I? What picture
are on painting? You remember it? Pennick's throwing the ball down the damn
field and outside the numbers. Now, I'm not going to compare the numbers
(11:33):
outside because with the pros, becausethe pro's numbers are are further inside,
closer to the hash and blah blahblah. But those are some things we
can look for. Those were theattributes that we saw in a Ryan Grubb
offense at Washington. Well why dowe do this? We're up against the
break and we got a few morethings we want to throw at. Yeah,
(11:54):
we figure it's Friday, you gotno plan? So what the hell
is hanging out with us? Fora little bit. You've mentioned before that
you think Mike McDonald is the bestdefensive mine on planet Earth right now.
Well, if that's the case,then at least somebody on the Seahawk roster
is going to be the most likelyto benefit from that. Who's that guy
gonna be? We'll come back anddiscuss that with you. Chuck Powell joins
us at six from Cheney Stadium atTacoma. Right here on ninety three to
(12:18):
three KJRFM, W from the Rand R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio. Now
back to Softie and Dick on yourhome for the Huskies and the Kraken Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. All right, boys and girls,
back here at Cheney Stadium at Tacoma. If you're driving around tonight on nine
point fifty am, Chuck Powell backon the Color Broadcast with Mike Kurle tonight.
(12:41):
That's a must listen for the Rainiers. Reno game. Reno's got a
guy named Rinaldo Hernandez. He wasjust sending Tate measure blast. He's gotta
here. He's a catcher in DHand he's six foot two fifty. He
was just rock. I'm telling youthe guy was hitting balls in the Puget
(13:03):
sound man at a chading stadium bringBP, so keep an eye on that
name. But Chuck's got the Callhilljordanus at six pm here on the FM
side, Hugh Malan rejoined us herefor a little bonus time on the radio,
showing here, first of all,kind of a two parter. You've
mentioned before that Mike McDonald is thebest defensive mind of the planet. I
wonder number one, kind of remindpeople why you feel that way, and
(13:24):
then who's the most likely Seahawk defenderto kind of benefit from that? You
think, well, first of all, yeah, I it's a bold claim,
but I can defend it in thefollowing way. If you look at
University of Michigan before Mike McDonald wasthe defensive coordinator in twenty twenty one.
The year before, they were ninetythird out of one hundred and thirty in
(13:48):
the country in points yielded. Theywere giving up thirty four and a half.
In just one season they cut inhalf to seventeen point three. That
was seventh again, third to seventhin yards, they went from down to
eighty seven to fourteen. Okay,so now you have John Harbus says,
(14:11):
I need this cat back right,And what do they do at Baltimore?
They go from points per game theywent twenty twenty one. Under Wink Martindale.
The Ravens had been eighteenth the firstyear he's there, McDonald they go
to third, and then last yearthey go to first in turnovers. The
(14:33):
year before McDonald got there, theRavens were twenty eighth. Then his first
year they were eighth. McDonald's secondyear they were first. In sacks.
They got from that I'm sorry,you're ahead. Sorry, my fault ahead,
my fault in sacks, they gofrom twenty third, then to sixth
and then to first. And bythe way, I mentioned twenty twenty two
(14:54):
in the final ten games, andthis is something that's going to bear relevance
as we watch the first half ofthe Seahawks season. In the final ten
games I'd mentioned in points per game, the Ravens went to third, but
in the final ten games they werefifteen points six on points per game.
That was number one in the NFLfor the second half of the season.
So his first season as defensive coordinator, the second half led the league,
(15:18):
and then his second year, whichwas last year he was first in the
entire league. So they hit thetriple crown. They hit points number one
points, number one in turnovers,and number one in sacks. And that's
with Genevian Clowney and Kyle van Ney. Clowney was on his fifth team,
he had two sacks of the yearbefore, opposite Miles Garrett Cale van Noy
was on his sixth team thirty twoyears old. Like those were their defensive
(15:41):
ends. They just have a heavypressure package and a disguise package. Now
there is a gazoo on my shoulderevery time, and it's in the name
of Steve Spagnola, and Spags ofcourse what he does in Super Bowls.
Maybe I'm wrong on that. MaybeI should say that McDonald is number two,
(16:02):
but Spagnola. If you take thosecombined UH stats, as the Ravens
were number one, you combine those, the Chiefs were number six, darn
good, but but not at thelevel the Ravens had been. And so
I think in the totality, whenyou consider all those factors, I'll hold
with what I said here. Wewere talking about the position that scares us
(16:25):
the most on the Seahawks team.Wait a minute, we didn't we didn't
get the one guy. Pause,Yeah, one guy. Who's the one
guy that's going to benefit from allthat? Yes? Sorry, well I
would say, let's let's just lookingat the Ravens. Kyle Hamilton was a
first team All NFL safety and whenyou watch him, and I've studied a
hell of a lot of Ravens tape, very very very heady player. To
(16:48):
me, I think that a guythat can fill that role in some regard
is Julian Love because Julian Love isas extremely high IQ and there's a lot
of communication that has to take place. A lot of the impact that Julian
Love is liable to bring to thisteam is not going to necessarily be seen
(17:11):
in stats. I think he's gonnahave a very good year. Now.
The one distinction that has to bedrawn is Julian Love is five ten and
three quarters one hundred and ninety fivepounds. At the combine, you had
Kyle Hamilton, a first round draftpick. He was six four and an
eighth and two hundred and seventeen pounds. The wingspan was over five inches more
(17:32):
for Hamilton. How's that play out? When I watch the Ravens, They'll
put Hamilton on the best tight end, and he's got the size, he's
got the length to play what's calledcover one, which is man to man
on third and medium downs. Whenit's money time, they could put Kyle
Hamilton on. Whether it's Gronkowski orit doesn't matter right, Travis Kelce whatever.
(17:52):
So I don't think Julian Love's bringsyou that, but all the other
facets about the IQ and what haveyou. Julie and Love should have a
really big year with Mike McDonald goodhere the middle linebacker spot. Not only
is it unproven with with Baker andDodson, all those guys are out too
right now. I mean we areon the pop. We don't even know
when they're going to play at thispoint. We were talking earlier, we
(18:14):
wanted to ask you about how importantobviously every coaching staff places a different amount
of importance in their scheme to themiddle linebacker spot. How important is that
spot to Mike McDonald's defense. Well, I think when you look at you
know, their acquisition of ro KwanSmith, that was somebody Mike McDonald's just
say hey, let's go, let'sgo make a big trade acquisition. Uh,
(18:38):
maybe you have to look up whatthey gave up to acquire ro Kwan
Smith, but you know they targetedhim from the Bears and uh, and
then he came in and he justhe ran their defense. So there was
some second and a fifth. That'sthat's a lot, right, And and
so I think that I think thelinebackers are are very important. And if
(18:59):
you want to say the reason tobe skeptical or cynical or what have you,
I would say the unproven nature ofthe Seahawks linebackers for this year,
that would be a consideration because there'sno doubt in my mind that with Rocan
Smith and Patrick Queen. And thenif you take the NFC and you take
Fred Warner with the forty nine ersand and Dre Greenlaw, because again it's
(19:25):
a it's it's a two linebacker league, right because everybody's playing nickel. So
the tandem that the linebacker tandem forthe Ravens was by far the best in
the FC. The linebacker tandem forthe forty nine Ers is by far the
best in the NFC. And youknow, those defenses are playing great ball,
and I think that the linebackers areessential to it. So that's a
very valid question, an important question. To be answered, Yeah, I
(19:48):
just think again, you got twoguys on one year deals. There's a
reason why they're improven contracts. Rightwhen it's all said and done. But
hu Milling again with us on theradio show and Hugh just to wrap it
up with this. With the Seahawkfootball team training camp starts on Wednesday,
I don't want to do the wholeyou know, give us the top five
things you'll be looking for from theSea York football team, But what is
your gut kind of tell you how? Just the vibe and the atmosphere besides
(20:11):
the obvious of a guy running aroundwith gloves on, the music playing all
that stuff, what are you kindof expecting to see and field differently on
Wednesday without Pete Carroll for the firsttime in fifteen years. Well, I
think there's always some juice. Unfortunately, I've been part of teams that they
got coaches fired. I played apart in getting coaches fired. It's not
fun, right, But when youcome in you say okay, there's an
extra sense of urgency. I thinkMcDonald has a very likable style. I
(20:34):
think that he's impressed these guys withhis brilliance. He is. He really
understands what we didn't even get.I got all these notes ready to talk
about, you know, the natureand the ex'es and o's and what have
you. So we'll do that nextweek. You got three hours. You're
on Monday, You're on Tuesday,you're on Wednesday. The rest, well,
(20:55):
I'm on every day next week,so we'll really delve into that.
So so I think that he isgot the absolute captive audience of that football
team. I think that they're ina great place mentally, and I think
they're about to be fed some reallyhigh tech schematics defensively, and there may
be some rough edges. I mentionedthat first year in twenty twenty two,
(21:18):
it got decidedly better in the secondhalf, so that could happen this year.
But I think that I think thejuice is going to be great.
You got enough new blood everywhere.I'll be shocked if it's not a sense
of a really good vibe with thenewness member. Now, it wasn't Pete
Carroll stepping away. Pete Carroll gotfired, right, and those players know
it. It's still weird hearing that. It's still weird saying that didn't you
(21:42):
think you that Pete Carroll was goingto get to call his shot. I
did a surprised me, but youknow, there was enough things unraveling at
the end. And look, Icommend the organization, and it doesn't mean
I think there can be room fortwo truths. Pete Carroll was a phenomenal,
phenomenal coach for the Seahawks. Butthe reality is that he was there
(22:03):
fourteen years. He won nine playoffgames and in his first seven and then
he won one in his second seven, and so it was a very front
loaded, excuse me, a successpattern for him, and in a lot
of ways, it was time forsomething new. And in McDonald you get
a guy again. I'll just sayit. I think he's the best defensive
(22:23):
mind for now. All schemes getreplaced, but for now, I think
he's the best, and it'll befun to see what he does with those
parts with the Seahawks. All right, good stuff here, well here at
three o'clock, PP appreciate it.Here going with I'm all right when we
come back, we're gonna hear alittle bit from I think Scott's service and
Logan Gilbert as well, if wecan fit those in next On ninety three
three KJRFM,
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