Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Hard to Remember the Titans
21 Plays3 days ago
Tristan and Miles talk about one of the mellowest NFL games ever played, 11 straight weeks of dominance by JSN, and what people in Montana thought about this game.
Recommended
Transcript
Exploring the Ryman Auditorium and Nashville's Music Scene
00:00:00
Tristan Amundson
Miles, they call it the mother church of country music. I had the opportunity to visit the Ryman Auditorium a couple of months ago, and i got to say it, it was everything you could have hoped it would be. I i absolutely loved my experience there. um a little background for those of you who are unaware unbaptized in, in the mother church of country music. Um, it was originally built in 1892 as a tabernacle.
00:00:35
Tristan Amundson
Um, and shortly thereafter was converted into, a music venue. Um, it's this absolutely beautiful venue in downtown Nashville on Broadway.
00:00:46
Tristan Amundson
and it was the home of the grand old Opry from 1943 1974.
00:00:54
Tristan Amundson
And I'll tell you what, Miles, everybody, and I mean everybody, has played there. Everybody wants to play there. It is a mecca of of artists. I mean, when when you're there, you see you see the, um ah what do you call it? You you see... um This is terrible radio. you you see the posters. There we go. Tough word. You see the posters all over of different brand bands that have visited the Ryman Auditorium. You see Coldplay from Coldplay to B.B. King to Johnny Cash to Taylor Swift to Dolly Parton to you name it.
00:01:38
Tristan Amundson
They've played there. Bob Dylan. It is a Mecca of all musicians. Everyone wants to go. And while I was there, in fact, a band was warming up so we could really hear the acoustics.
Seahawks vs Titans Game Overview
00:01:50
Tristan Amundson
It was as clean and warm as you could ever imagine or hope for. Nashville is a killer town. I heard that our press corps, I heard that the fans who went to the game had a great time on Broadway. In fact,
00:02:06
Tristan Amundson
um My understanding is that one Brady Henderson of ESPN missed not one, but two flights just trying to get home because when you're in Nashville, you have a great time. The Seahawks had a great time. Miles, how are doing, my friend?
00:02:21
M dub
Tristan, great to be with you talking about some football. I do think that ah the Ryman Auditorium, a stroll down Broadway, that that Nissan Stadium is right on the river. I think these are great ways to describe what just happened between the Seahawks and the Titans because this game, the perfect sunny weather, it just it felt like ah a great part of a weekend.
00:02:45
M dub
Football and a show, lunch and a show, you know we're We're coming into this part of the season where these guys are going to be out there on the field in rain and sleet and snow.
00:02:55
M dub
And this was not one of those games. This this was a pleasant weekend outing, wasn't it?
00:03:00
Tristan Amundson
Absolutely looked perfect. The weather looked great. In fact, I have a friend who flew out for this game and i i got to admit, I had the feeling or I had the moment watching this game where I thought,
00:03:13
Tristan Amundson
you know, why aren't I there? A ticket to Nashville is not that expensive. This is probably the cheapest game of the year for the Seahawks. I mean, I was looking at, we mentioned it last week or the week before tickets, 17 bucks, 10 bucks. um You know, I'm, I'm kind of regretting it I should have gone out to Nashville for a day and enjoyed the, enjoyed the game. um Did you listen before we get too deep into the game? Did you ever visit the Ryman auditorium miles when you were in that neck of the woods?
00:03:44
M dub
I did it. Sorry.
00:03:46
Tristan Amundson
Great radio. Listen, sometimes you ask a question and you don't know what the answer is going to be. And that's the beauty. That was the honesty of the question. But, you know, that was the huge risk as well. um Miles, you want to give a little breakdown of this game and what we saw?
Game Dynamics and Key Performances
00:04:03
M dub
Absolutely, yes. I wish I'd gone to the Ryman Auditorium just to give you a robust answer there. But ah in this football game, so the final score here is thirty to twenty four The 8-3 Seahawks beat the 1-10 Titans technically by one possession, but it never quite...
00:04:20
M dub
feels like this. The game gets started with an unbelievably long drive by the Tennessee Titans, ah both in terms of plays and minutes. They go nine minutes, a significant chunk of the game, just to get a field goal.
00:04:34
M dub
And from there, the Seahawks offense really pours it on They jump out to a 30 to 10 advantage, go on a streak of five straight five straight scoring possessions along the way.
00:04:47
M dub
and with the game pretty much out of reach by the time they got into the fourth quarter. The Titans pretty much possessed the ball for the entirety of the fourth quarter and slowly clawed the game back to that thirty to twenty four final score and tried an onside kick in the last minute that was terribly unsuccessful, and the Seahawks were able to kneel it out. So this was the most safe one-possession lead of all time. This really had the the the flavor and feeling of a two or three-
00:05:17
M dub
or forward possession blowout, and yet somehow the the Titans were an onside kick recovery and a few things away from actually stealing this one, and yet there was never a feeling of danger.
00:05:31
Tristan Amundson
It was a great game, man. i I felt the same way. In fact, um I think the title of this episode really sums up the way both of us both of us felt about the game, which is is a hard game to remember. I mean, it was a game that you you you finish watching and you almost instantly start forgetting about this game. It's not a super easy game to talk about because it just... there i guess I guess when a game is this relaxed, is that the issue, Miles? when When you're this relaxed throughout an entire game and there's not really ever a moment where you feel any tension, it just kind of goes...
00:06:12
Tristan Amundson
it's almost like you're rooting just for a random team. Like you're just kind of sitting there watching the game. There's no drama. There's nothing to kind kind of draw you in. um so yeah, this was a very forgettable game. a couple of things that I thought were kind of fun or at least interesting to talk about. Obviously number one, JSN just continues to do his thing. 167 yards, touchdowns.
00:06:38
Tristan Amundson
um Holy smokes. I mean, both touchdowns were just works of art. Beautiful. um I bless the Titans heart. I don't know why they weren't double teaming JSN the entire time. um That just seems kind of crazy to me. If I was covering...
00:06:55
Tristan Amundson
Jackson Smith and Jigba if I was coaching against this team I think I would I would work very hard to just bracket Jackson as much as possible I'm not quite sure why teams aren't doing that and I have to imagine that has to be maybe some of the genius of Clint Kubiak and the way he's scheming Jackson open because I'll tell you what man on that big touchdown pass don't know if you noticed it It was I mean, he was one on one with the safety.
00:07:22
Tristan Amundson
And obviously that means that something's gone wrong and they have schemed Jackson in a way that he is suddenly being covered by this poor safety down the field. And that's just not going to work. Right. I mean, just ah ah a beautiful um play for us to watch and absolutely must have been incredibly frustrating if you're a Titans fan to see the best wide receiver in the league covered by a safety, you know, 50 yards down the field.
00:07:50
M dub
Yeah, you make a great point about the the double teaming and and how we're not really seeing it. We have kind of forgotten since JSN has been so, continued to be so dominant, but Troy Horton's been out the last few games, so Seahawks are are down an option there.
00:08:07
M dub
um Can I give you some numbers about the Jackson, Smith, and Jigba adventure through the NFL history books?
00:08:12
Tristan Amundson
Oh, please do.
00:08:13
M dub
Because there were a lot in this game. So 167 yards was his season high. Coming in, game 11, gets his season high. This is, believe it or not, just his second two-touchdown game of his career.
00:08:27
M dub
um His yards per game average on the season moves up to 119.4. And I did the math. That is on pace for the NFL's first ever 2,000-yard receiving season. 2,029 yards he's on pace for.
00:08:42
M dub
I really appreciated the broadcast. They were probably... looking for things to talk about in the second half of this game, but they really took the time to notice that JSN has surpassed DK Metcalf's 2020 season for the most receiving yards of any one season in Seahawks history. That's the entire career of DK Metcalf, the entire career of Steve Largent, the entire career of A lot of Doug Baldwin, a lot of very talented receivers.
00:09:11
M dub
JSN has surpassed them all in game number 11. And what's really crazy to me, you'll you'll hear a lot of stats about, oh, what what a big percentage of of the Seahawks offense JSN is.
00:09:24
M dub
And that's true, but I really feel like that's it's a very different situation than, you know Calvin Johnson has set the all-time record for most receiving yards in a year. And um I don't remember that Lions season in 2010-whatever vividly, but I'm just going to guess that the Lions were trailing in a ton of games and were just passing it to Megatron all the time because he was their only only option.
00:09:49
M dub
This is getting done in not very many snaps. It's just not very many snaps at all. So even though JSN is having a big percentage of the whole offense, He's not actually out on the field that much.
Strategic Concerns and Offensive Dynamics
00:10:01
M dub
So I looked it up.
00:10:02
M dub
Seattle is currently 28th in the league when it comes to total offensive snaps per game. And a big reason is just how quickly they're scoring and the getting off the field. So this game, they had 48 snaps on offense in the whole game. They generated 30 points 48 snaps.
00:10:17
M dub
and forty eight snaps And then even out of that, JSN is playing 73.4 of the offensive snaps, which which is a healthy number, but but that's nothing crazy. And then on top of that, this is happening, Sam Darnold is 20th in the league in total pass attempts. Total pass attempts to everybody.
00:10:36
M dub
So... it's It's like he's doing it's such a high-volume part of the offense in some ways, but in a lot of other ways, it's it's pretty low-volume. There's really not that many total offensive plays, pass attempts, and and passes to him. it's It's really something.
00:10:55
Tristan Amundson
Yeah, really making the most of what they got, right? I mean, making the most of the opportunities they have. It has been a really high-efficiency offense, I guess is how you'd say it.
00:11:06
Tristan Amundson
um And it's been it's been incredibly fun to watch. One thing... you know, just purely as a fan, this is a very fan centric um view, I suppose, but it's, it's how I felt in the moment when, when they said that his, um his average, right, that he needs to break the record went down from one 17 to one Oh five. That, that got me pretty happy. I'm pretty excited about that to see that, you know, this, this game really took a big bite out of what he needs to do for the rest of the year. um Because, and we've, we've talked about this a few times, man, like,
00:11:41
Tristan Amundson
he's kind of just walking to 90 to 100 yards. You know, I mean, he a couple of weeks ago, he had a 90 yard game and it just seemed ho-hum. Maybe that was even last week. I don't remember. But, um you know, 90 yards kind of feels like the default setting for JSN, which is pretty incredible to to to to think about. Are we so with all that said, right, we're we're not the the the most voluminous offense in the league.
00:12:11
Tristan Amundson
JSN is a big part of it when we are, you know, throwing the ball. Are we at risk of of becoming one dimensional? What happens? I guess. Here's my question, Miles. What happens if a team just does decide we're going to bracket JSN? Like, hey, the Seahawks can beat us.
00:12:29
Tristan Amundson
He is not going to beat us. Like, yeah. I guess I'm a little surprised we haven't seen that. Maybe that speaks to the balance this team has. Maybe what I'm not understanding is, hey, if you allow Cooper Cup the opportunity, he is going to beat you. Maybe Shahid now is going to beat you when Torrey's back. Maybe he has that capability.
00:12:50
Tristan Amundson
what
Seahawks' Defensive Strength and Key Players
00:12:51
Tristan Amundson
i guess the only caveat, the only concern I have in this game, actually, I have two. I have two concerns. One, he didn't throw any interceptions, but Sam basically threw three interceptions. Like he threw, there were three, there were three interception worthy throws by Sam Darnold. That's, that's my first concern of this game.
00:13:12
Tristan Amundson
My second concern, and I guess this is just me trying to kind of create a little bit and and being a little nitpicky, but it is like a legitimate thought that I've had the last couple of days. My second concern is,
00:13:26
Tristan Amundson
Is this a one-dimensional offense? And is there a team out there that can just say, hey, we're going to take JSN away and we need we'll let everyone else try to beat us? And I don't think they'll be able to do it. Well, I guess, yeah what are your thoughts on those two points?
00:13:39
Tristan Amundson
Sam, basically, he tried to throw three interceptions and the whole offense is JSN, at least in this game.
00:13:48
M dub
it's It's a very interesting point, and it's really interesting that this hasn't really surfaced itself as a problem in even one of the 11 games on the year. Looking at JSN's game logs on the season, his lowest game was the first victory over the Cardinals. That was...
00:14:06
M dub
Week number four, and this is not an off night. is His line for that night was four catches on five targets for 79 yards, which, by the way, is on pace for well over 1,000 yards in a season. So it it hasn't happened yet, oh which is kind of a stat. You would think that there would just be one remotely down game, one game below 1,000-yard pace in there.
00:14:31
M dub
i i I would be interested to see it. Hopefully before the playoffs. I think it would help the team grow if the team saw that before the playoffs that in and had to to figure a way to get by without JSN. And the next week, we we don't have all these ah historical on-pace numbers to to chat through on the podcast.
00:14:49
M dub
You know, very quietly... um K9 is actually 15th in the NFL in total rushing yards on the year.
00:14:57
Tristan Amundson
Huh.
00:14:57
M dub
so And this was a game where the team went for, I think, 20 rushes for 114 yards. There's that great timeshare between K9 and Charbonnet. Nobody's getting ah you know run into the ground with too many attempts. there's i think I just think you get to JSN before you you start.
00:15:15
M dub
There's a lot of plays where you look at JSN and he's open, and and that's before the progression you know, takes you to Cup or Barner or Arroyo. And um i I mean, obviously the offense is at its best when when JSN is humming, but I don't feel that concerned about becoming one-dimensional.
00:15:35
Tristan Amundson
You know it could just be as simple as great player, really good get off, good route runner and a good offensive coordinator that's scheming him open and putting him in good positions. And it could just be like, hey, man, that's a that's a very difficult thing to to fight against, even if a defense wants to, you know quote unquote, take that away. you have.
00:15:56
Tristan Amundson
if you have ah The balance that this team has, to your point, rushing the football, being dedicated to rushing the football, and then on top of that good play calling and elite skill, maybe maybe it's that simple. Maybe it's like, hey, man, you you can't really take it away when you have all those ingredients working together.
00:16:18
M dub
yeah i so Yeah, I mean, and and what a combination. Obviously, if it it was this is happening at a historically high level. So that the combination of whatever brew the Seahawks have concocted, it it's it's not simple because if it was simple, we we would see 1,900 and 2,000-yard seasons more than once or twice in NFL history.
00:16:39
Tristan Amundson
um you know my eyes were locked on Byron Murphy as usual, Miles. I can't help it. i can't I can't help it at this point. I don't have a choice. I just see Byron Murphy and I want to watch him. I find myself not watching the play at large a lot of times. I find myself almost taking plays off the game and I just watch Byron Murphy to see what he's up to in the middle and just to kind of understand his disruption.
00:17:05
Tristan Amundson
I was so happy to see the sack. I love seeing his numbers continue to rise week in and week out. um What would you think? maybe Maybe we should talk for a little bit. And and I think you should get, get into the the linebackers here a little bit as well. um But I mean, between Byron and big cat, man, just another dominant performance between both of those guys.
00:17:29
M dub
It was a dominant performance, and it didn't end up looking—I mean, it's still a four-sack game for the Seahawks defense, but it didn't end up feeling as dominant as it could have been because Cam Ward is clearly A-plus at using his legs to get out of trouble and create a positive play, and he had to do that a lot. Now, he did it a lot, which is the only reason the Titans got back in this game.
00:17:52
M dub
But without, I think he's already exceptional at that as a rookie. And if he weren't exceptional at that, this this would have been sack games.
00:18:01
Tristan Amundson
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, dude, it was it was so fun watching this this defensive line do its thing. And, know, one thing that stands out to me is you don't every game you don't see two defensive tackles, two very, very large men get sacks. You know, i mean, that's typically the role of of the small, agile defensive end. And to see these two very big men walk away from this game with absolutely just, you know massive sacks, changing the game, um that was – that's –
00:18:37
Tristan Amundson
it it It kind of tells you everything you need to know about the soul of this defense, doesn't it? Just the fact that you have um you have that kind of power between the two of them. Has anyone come as close to getting a sack and then just highway robbery not getting a sack as ah Demarcus Lawrence when he tried to sack Cam Ward? And I don't know how... I was thinking about how athletic and strong you have to be to be falling to the ground And right before your knee hits the ground, you you throw basically a strike to a guy and you know he's able to to keep the play moving. i felt bad for D-Law on that play. That was that that was a rough one.
00:19:18
M dub
When it happened live, I was very confident that we were going to see a replay that Ward's knee was on the ground. And then the replay comes and it's very clearly not. And I was shocked.
00:19:28
Tristan Amundson
It's incredible. I mean, incredible that he's been such, I mean, just another one, right? I mean, we've, we've talked about this already. What a great surprise, at least for me, it is that, DeMarcus Lawrence has just made such a massive impact on this team. Another great game, by the way, by new Osu, um, Derek Hall had a great game, gets his first sack of the year. Um, All around. I mean, it was just kind of one of those games where um everyone was getting involved. But man, I feel like you ah you need to talk to us about Pat O'Connor because O'Connell, excuse me, because he yeah he did something special in the game.
00:20:02
M dub
Yeah, i was my imagine my imagination was definitely captured by Patrick O'Connell. Watching him in this game, well, first I had to look him up first. sorry I got the info on his biography here in just a second, but it did make me think of a few weeks ago, we we had a bit of a discussion here about how Coach Mack likes to refer to what everybody else calls the practice squad as the ready squad, and we were kind of joking about it first, but then I think it really might be onto something because the the Seahawks are an incredibly injured team.
00:20:34
M dub
And it is amazing how many holes have gotten plugged in with somebody from the ready squad. And they have played, you know, when when that situation happens, you just want somebody to to kind of hold the line.
00:20:48
M dub
You don't need an exceptional game. And not only are these players... the starters The starters are the starters. okay there's there's There's no like competition. You want the starters back, but the contributions that the Seahawks have gotten from the depths of their ready squad over and over are really unbelievable. and It's making me hope and imagine that that this is actually the strength of of a Mike McDonald team. You know, he's he's still a very young coach.
00:21:16
M dub
We're still figuring out his his signature, you know, his strengths, his weaknesses, what what he is as an NFL coach. And to me, I really think this could be one of the strengths because I was kind of going, I'll get into Patrick O'Connell in just a second here after your thoughts. But I was just thinking like, man, if you can get this type of performance from, it it seems to be almost everybody on your ready squad. You're you're fairly invincible as a team, almost. Because because it it almost doesn't matter if you're healthy or not, because the level of performance stays pretty much the same.
00:21:51
Tristan Amundson
Never seen anything like it. Yeah. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. I completely, completely agree. um And it's incredibly obvious that um coaches made...
00:22:03
Tristan Amundson
made that ready squad just an absolutely massive focus for the team philosophically. um and it makes sense that a lot of it has to do with empowerment and the, and the messaging to the ready squad, right. That, um, no, you're, you're not just to your point, not just on in the back burner. Um, you, you're a vibrant, important part of this team. I was listening to coach during his press conference, talk about it, um, yesterday or, or might've been actually been this morning, uh, the, the press conference, but either way he was going through it and and just talking about, um, the the way that they practice with the ready squad and that, you know, those guys get legitimate reps and that they don't, you know, it's not one of those deals where they're just having those guys, you know, kind of cooling their, their heels and not getting reps in practice. Those guys are getting meaningful reps week in and week out. Um, And they're being told you're important. You're you're a part of what we're trying to do to win. And it's incredible to see the fruit of it. I've i've never seen anything like it.
00:23:09
M dub
Let me take you through the life of Patrick O'Connell. And this is what I love about these guys, because you look back, we talked about Brandon Peely a few weeks ago. i mean, it is a long, long journey to get to this spot where you can come into an NFL game and contribute. And I can't imagine how good it must feel because, you know, on these, on this journey, you're, you're in pretty anonymous places in either college football or, you know, the end of an NFL roster And it has to feel lonely sometimes. So for it to come through in an actual real NFL game and to finally discover after so many years, I can do this. I belong.
00:23:46
M dub
It has to just be a great feeling. I hope he's really enjoying this week as he's preparing for the next one. So Tristan, Patrick O'Connell is from Montana. And as a high school athlete, he was a state champion in both basketball and football and was also named an All-State player in baseball.
00:24:02
M dub
And somehow, so so I think of like, ah there's just high schools littered across Montana full of people who have been completely dominated by Patrick O'Connell in high school. And I'm sure there's guys in Montana today who they knew their athletic career was was over because they went up against Patrick mccon O'Connell and completely got dominated. Despite all this, he only gets a D2 offer to a school in North Dakota. He plays there one year decides to leave that scholarship in order to walk on at the University of Montana Grizzlies, paying his own way.
00:24:37
M dub
He gets signed on with this with Seattle in 2023. So this is his third year in the program. And it's amazing how many of these guys did get signed on when Pete Carroll was still the head coach. That that was Pete's last year, 2023. those three years...
00:24:51
M dub
in those three years He had only appeared in eight previous games for a total of about 125 snaps, almost all of them on special teams, just a handful on defense.
00:25:02
M dub
And that this is the ninth game of his career.
Coaching Philosophy and Team Strategy
00:25:04
Tristan Amundson
Thank you.
00:25:04
M dub
First start. And he leads the he leads the team in tackles. He has nine tackles. And it wasn't just accumulating stats. I count i went back, I watched each of Patrick McConnell's snaps.
00:25:16
M dub
I saw three Absolutely massive run stops where he meets the running back in the hole and he he was an absolute brick wall in the running game.
00:25:29
M dub
And also ah the Titans first drive of the game. It ends up in a field goal because of Patrick O'Connell. The Titans have a third and goal play. And it's a situation where O'Connell is kind of spying, sitting down in the flat in the passing game.
00:25:44
M dub
Cam Ward fakes one way, fakes the other way. And O'Connell's kind of mirroring him. And then Cam Ward takes off, tries to turn the corner on the right side. O'Connell has to has to race him from the middle of the field all the way to the sideline, makes the tackle, saves the touchdown, forces the field goal.
00:26:04
M dub
It was just incredible.
00:26:06
Tristan Amundson
It's man. I mean, it was fun to watch. There are multiple times. I'm assuming you, me, everyone listening, everyone watching the game, frankly, because we get so used to seeing um big hits and then you instantly see a flag and it's like, oh, yeah, that was Hamilton helmet. Oh, yeah, that was unnecessary roughness.
00:26:25
Tristan Amundson
And there was at least two or three times during this game where he made a hit and I instantly win. was like, oh, no, this is here's a 15 yard penalty. And they never came, which i guess just tells me he was making really good, clean hits. But the sound on the TV, the crack that he was making with those hits over and over again, got to throw Drake Thomas in there, too. Right. I mean, both of these guys were it just seemed like everywhere. And they were really.
00:26:55
Tristan Amundson
There was a time we used to call it head hunting, and I don't think that's maybe an appropriate term anymore in in football. um And certainly, we you know, we don't want concussions out there. But those guys were were bringing some wood. How about that? They were laying the wood and they were going after um these Titans and having fun out there. Yeah.
00:27:16
Tristan Amundson
it just really jumped out to me that the sound of the hits and, um, the ferocity of the hits behind the line of scrimmage often, um they both did some great work, but I mean, really, really fun. I couldn't agree with you more about Patrick from a standpoint of there's a lot of guys drinking a Coors Light or Coors in Montana, watching this game, just laughing, right? I mean, there's a lot of dudes at, at a small bar outside of Boisman, outside of Butte, outside of somewhere. And just kind of laughing being like, Oh yeah, he did that to me when I was, when I was 17, when I was 16 years old. Um, you know, the, and that's, you know, Montana is such a cool interconnected kind of place that you imagine,
00:28:04
Tristan Amundson
ah You're totally right. Like Patrick, I'm sure was the reason why a lot of folks decided, Hey, you know what? College football probably isn't my cup of tea.
00:28:15
M dub
Yeah, by the way, on this play, this third line ah goal, this third third and goal stand, um I looked at it. Seahawks had five undrafted guys out on the field at the same time.
00:28:27
M dub
Now, we've gotten used to to most of them at this point, but it's Brandon Peely, Drake Thomas, Patrick O'Connell, Josh Jobe, and Ty Okada.
00:28:27
Tristan Amundson
Wow.
00:28:35
M dub
I do kind of think, as I think about maybe the similarities between all of them, and Peely and Jobe came from other teams. The other three have just been Seahawks in their careers. it it seems to me like the Seahawks are willing to say, they're kind of looking for a type that that is really intelligent and really thinks the game through.
00:28:54
M dub
And they're willing to make compromises on size and speed. And that might be the key to, especially in the Mike McDonald defense.
00:28:59
Tristan Amundson
Thank you.
00:29:02
M dub
I think he wants the intelligent player more than than the gigantic, you know raw athletic freak out there. Is that, could that be somewhere near it?
00:29:13
Tristan Amundson
Well, I mean, it has to be right because that's the nature of the coach. I think I think that we surround ourselves ah in a lot of ways. Now, you know, obviously, there's a lot of folks that surround themselves with people that, you know, have strengths they don't have. Right. Hey, I i know I'm not smartest guy in the room. I want to surround myself with really smart people. um But I do think that it's a natural inclination, right? You want to surround yourself with like-minded individuals. And Mike is certainly a really smart guy.
00:29:42
Tristan Amundson
And so it would make sense that he wants players that see the game the way that he sees it um with the same level of of intricacy and the same detail that that he sees the game. Um, yeah and I'm, gri I'm glad you brought up, uh, Brandon Peely cause he really stood out as well. Didn't he? I mean, he was on the field. I'm looking at right now, 18 snaps, 24%. So solid, not a crazy amount of snaps for, for Brandon. And yet, um, he jumped off a couple of times off the page of a guy that was really contributing to your point was, was on the field for an important stand. Um,
00:30:18
Tristan Amundson
And had a couple of really good tackles, um stopping the run, really like holding the the line of scrimmage. And in fact, he had one. i um I don't know if you can remember it. And I'm not trying to put you on the spot. I'm blanking right now on the exact situation.
00:30:35
Tristan Amundson
But I remember there was one specific play that Peely blew it up. And he, you know, he was kind of the the reason we got off the field. Maybe it was even that that third down stand. I can't remember off top of my head, but he looked great.
00:30:47
M dub
Well, everybody defends the run really well. The Titans' run numbers end up looking respectable because of Cam Ward's scrambling ability. So Cam Ward goes six attempts for 37 yards.
00:30:55
Tristan Amundson
Yep. Wow.
00:30:59
M dub
And I'm not really sure how how you stop many of those, but there are three running backs combined. They had 16 carries for 27 yards.
00:31:07
Tristan Amundson
wow
00:31:08
M dub
so so So yeah, these got with these these guys were all really stepping up in the run. And that's another thing. The the run defense is probably... less valued across the NFL than then the ability in pass defense. And yet, I mean, that that is really turning off the run game completely.
00:31:24
Tristan Amundson
Yeah, no, it dude, it was it was pretty incredible to see. and you know, a good get right game. We have to be careful with this game, right? that This is a different a different class of team. And I think this NFL season has really showed us that there's kind of haves and have nots in the NFL this year in particular. And this is one of those teams that you called it last week, right? You called for a blowout. You called for um a really solid game from the Seahawks. um This is a game that we should win. We did win. um And i think I'll always try to make this point. I think you really have to enjoy it when you're one of the haves in the NFL versus the have nots. we have rooted for plenty of Seahawks teams where, um you know what, we barely got out of Tennessee, but we got out with a win. We'll take it, you know, and oh yeah, another stressful game. Why can't we have any games with low stress? This has been probably one of the,
00:32:23
Tristan Amundson
one of the lowest stress years I've ever watched as a Seahawks fan. I think that's 100% true. um I don't know if I've ever had such an easygoing mentality of watching the Seahawks. And because we we have had a few of these games, just to be honest, right? We have we have played the have-nots a couple of times, and and Tennessee is is on that list. um And there is ah a massive difference, right? I mean, if you just watch even what's going on in Las Vegas right now and what's going on in Dallas, those are two teams that are on a different tier than we are. um They're just they're not as good. They're not even close at to as good as the Seahawks. And I would say the same thing. They're not as good or even close to as good as the Rams, right? um they're They're not as good as some of these upper teams.
00:33:12
Tristan Amundson
that um that that are on the right side of the equation. So when we have these games, I think we just really got enjoy them because, ah you know, the NFL is a hard place. It's a hard place to make a living. And not every week, not every year is going to be like that. So this is one of those years where, um you know, we're we're really fortunate to to be rooting for one of the Habs and you just got enjoy it.
Game Preparations and Future Matchups
00:33:39
M dub
Absolutely. You know who I really felt was enjoying this game, which which is a key indicator to me about how relaxed this was in general, was ah referee Ron Torbert. I don't think I've ever seen a referee just kind of enjoy a day at the office more than he did.
00:33:55
M dub
You know, at one point, Tennessee had 12 men in the huddle, and it it seemed to me like he was laughing a little bit. He was He was kind of like, I can make a hard call in a hard game. you You guys are giving me like one star difficulty calls here. i don't did you did you notice that at all?
00:34:12
Tristan Amundson
You know, I didn't, although I always like seeing him. You know, he's he's one of those referees you notice because you've just seen him so often. He's probably one of those guys, isn't he? That if you walk, if you're walking down the street and he walked by you, you might like give him a big smile as if he's a friend of yours. Like, hey, how you doing? and then you realize I don't know this guy, but i I feel like I do just because I've seen his face so many times.
00:34:39
M dub
I like that. They might be hiding in plain sight. I mean, it might be hard to recognize these guys without the white hat on. I mean, we've never seen it. We we have no idea what's under there for for any of these guys.
00:34:48
Tristan Amundson
We haven't. No, we haven't. Hey, i'm can i'm I'm looking at your notes and I'm really curious about your third note on our shared sheet. Would you mind kind of going into this a little bit? i I want to know more.
00:35:00
M dub
Yeah, absolutely. i I started to pay attention to the green dot helmet on defense because a few weeks ago we had Ernest Jones leave the game in the middle of the gate. We should say, by the way, both Ernest Jones and Tyrese Knight were out of this game, which is what created ah the Patrick O'Connell situation. But um even at the start of the year, it was a shock to see undrafted Drake Thomas out on the field so much. So a few weeks ago, Ernest Jones leaves one of these games early with an injury. And it made me curious about what was happening with the green dot. And I was looking around. I noticed that Drake Thomas had it.
00:35:37
M dub
which I thought was just so, I mean, that has to feel cool. You know, this undrafted guy, second or third year, in the middle of all these veterans, you know, all these dogs on this defense. And he's the one trusted with the play call at linebacker, giving it to everybody. i mean, it it just that, I think, shows what a command he has of the playbook. if not I mean, it is a very unusual situation, I think, for such a young player undrafted to get that green dot. So in this game, Drake Thomas had the green dot, but it did get me curious about just the equipment situation and the preparation to do that because like Drake Thomas pops on Ernest Jones helmets. It got me curious about the logistical feat behind the scenes about when this ah hel this green dot helmet has to kind of bop around
00:36:30
M dub
the defense due to so due to injuries, which has to happen all the time. and This is one of those things that makes you realize how much goes into creating a single NFL game. You know, sometimes you realize how much work goes behind it, just the the preparation of the field or something, and it's staggering that these things ever happen. So here's what happens, and thank you to the Los Angeles Chargers for posting this on their social media a while ago and answering my question.
00:36:55
M dub
Basically, an NFL team is allowed to have three defensive green dot helmets, but only one of them is allowed to basically be in circulation or out of the equipment guy's hands at any one time. So whenever Ernest Jones had that injury in the middle of the game, what they they had a non-green dot helmet that they gave then to Ernest, and they pulled Drake as their designated second string green dot, swapped out his helmet,
00:37:25
M dub
And then somebody is third string. So then in this game, and we we did fortunately we didn't have to figure out who it was because Drake Thomas was healthy the whole game, but there was a second and third player somewhere on the defense designated with a green dot. I would guess it was somebody who was not linebacker just because of the Then you're down to Patrick O'Connell or somebody on on special teams if Drake Thomas goes down.
00:37:52
M dub
And basically, if those if all three go down, all three of those players go down, you're out of luck. You you got to call it in the old-fashioned way without the radio. So that is how the defensive green dot helmet works.
00:38:03
Tristan Amundson
That's interesting. It's kind of funny to think that there's three guys every week that have to, um I don't know, I guess that they have to get fitted for two helmets, right? So they have to have two helmets ready to go. And, you know, they, I remember playing football, you know, they'd pump up your helmet, they'd add air to it, and you could feel, you know, you get the the fit exactly how you want it. So it's kind of ah a funny idea that they have to get really comfortable with two different helmets and make sure that the, you know, the air and everything is exactly the way you want it. So that, you know, I'm sure both just feel totally natural and feel like your helmet. um Because, you know, that everything is so specialized in the NFL. No, that's, that's a really fun, that's a fun tidbit.
00:38:51
M dub
And shout out to the equipment teams across the league, because that means, you know, these helmets are being prepared on a weekly basis and almost never
Steve Largent's Seahawks Legacy
00:39:00
M dub
being used. And it's kind of a bad situation when they are being used and, you know, much more straightforward with with your quarterbacks. ah But yeah, they for every NFL game you're seeing, there are two alternate green dot helmets somewhere on the bench that have to be rotated in at a moment's notice.
00:39:18
Tristan Amundson
It's interesting. So so, Miles, last year, i remember in fact, I remember the name of the episode. Something. Welcome to Valhalla, I believe, was the name of the episode last year.
00:39:29
M dub
That's right.
00:39:31
Tristan Amundson
It was not such a ah happy episode. I believe Sam Bradford. I'm sorry, Sam Darnold.
00:39:37
M dub
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:37
Tristan Amundson
I mean, I still do it. I still do it. Sam Darnold beat us last year. um Luckily, i can confirm this, Miles. We do not have to face Sam Darnold again when we when we played the Vikings, which is a massive benefit to the Seahawks.
00:39:56
M dub
Tristan, it is a massive benefit. I've seen this game coming up on the schedule. So the Vikings are coming to Seattle home game this week. I've looked at this on the schedule for some time and obviously people got to talk about it. The Vikings had Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones on their roster last year, quarterbacks of two of the six or seven best records in the NFL.
00:40:20
M dub
Vikings have a losing record with J.J. McCarthy. And it it is just... it i there's it's it's I think it's an example of NFL teams outsmarting themselves. I think sometimes NFL GMs and coaches, they really want to shoot the moon for this 10-year perfect solution at quarterback. And i just don't know if that's the best way to do it. I don't think Sam Darnold will be the Seahawks quarterback 10 years from now.
00:40:50
M dub
And Sam Darnold is the best option for Seattle at quarterback in 2025. So you don't need to take away your best option just because he probably won't be the quarterback 10 years from now.
00:41:02
M dub
And I kind of think that that the Vikings were trying to to shoot the moon with this situation. They had all three of these guys. I mean, it's kind of funny thinking Sam Darnold was probably J.J. McCarthy's vet. you know ah J.J. McCarthy was injured last year, but around the team.
00:41:17
M dub
And the numbers for McCarthy on the season six touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 155 yards per game. He is dealing with an injury right now, and we might see the very first career start for ma undrafted Max Brosmer, but I'm not sure the quarterback under center is going to make that great of an impact on on the result of this game and how good I feel that the Seahawks will win it.
00:41:44
Tristan Amundson
And I mean, if you consider just what a nightmare this game is for the Vikings, they have Aaron Jones, who is a good yet older running back. um And he's going to have to face this run defense, which is going to be a nightmare for them to have to defend against. So. It's going to be in the hands of this young guy to start. a Minnesota native ah went to the University of Minnesota, I believe Max did, and is really well known in the area. In fact, I heard um ah the um
00:42:17
Tristan Amundson
ah ESPN beat writer for ah The Vikings talking about it this morning on the radio that ah there is a bit of a buzz around town because Max is pretty well known, right? All of these fans watched him in college. So there is some level, at least, of excitement internally, which is pretty sad because, you know, holy smokes. I mean, you know, that's.
00:42:40
Tristan Amundson
I mean, it's possible, right? It is absolutely possible that that he is, you know, the the diamond in the rough that they've been waiting for. we will see if that's the case or not. um He's going to have quite a welcome to the NFL moment going up against this defense, against this defensive coordinator in, you know, a top five loudest, hardest environments to play in. And also, you know, Seattle isn't exactly super close to Minnesota, so it's a bit of a flight too. So, yeah.
00:43:10
Tristan Amundson
He'll have his work cut out for him. It's going to be really interesting to see this game, man. Another opportunity, though, to to keep going in the right direction and get that ninth win.
00:43:22
M dub
Absolutely. I'm pretty confident it'll it'll happen. you know It's funny. I was saying last week that the Seahawks could be better served with a bit of a tougher schedule. instead of we're we're we're in an We're in a relatively easy and easy looking part of the schedule you know now. but i said that last week and then thought if the Seahawks schedule was really hard, I'd probably complain about that too from the other side. so Anyway, you play who you play. You play who you play. This is who we're playing this week. And Broken record here. I've said it a million times, but this should be a pretty easy win for the Seahawks this week.
00:43:55
Tristan Amundson
Yeah, well, I mean, we hope so. It'll be interesting to see, um you know, whenever you're playing a backup quarterback, right? that That's ah a pretty massive deal. um Pretty good defense, right? The Vikings have an okay defense, so we'll we'll see how it goes, but looking forward to it.
00:44:09
M dub
Yeah, even that is underperforming compared to its very high level last year. It's only about league average in terms of points allowed. So, yeah. And J.J. McCarthy has nothing to do with that.
00:44:19
Tristan Amundson
Yeah, I mean, or at least hope hopefully not. no That would be ah an even bigger mistake to put him in at linebacker, I think. I wouldn't do it.
00:44:27
M dub
yeah yeah Yeah, they didn't make that mistake in the front office. um Tristan, you mentioned this is one of the most relaxed seasons you've had watching the Seahawks. It is the 50th year in Seahawks history, and we honor that history by spending 50 seconds swimming in the pools of Seahawks history. um And my time, it starts right now. ah Tristan, this week the Seahawks played the Tennessee Titans. That team used to be known as the Houston Oilers. And back in 1976, they drafted a wide receiver in the fourth round of the draft.
00:44:58
M dub
And their training camp and preseason with this player went absolutely terrible. And they were prepared to cut him before the start of the season, cutting a fourth round pick before the start of the season.
00:45:09
M dub
But this player's college offensive coordinator had, in the meantime, worked with signed on to work with a brand new team in the NFL called the Seattle Seahawks. And he convinced the Seahawks front office to trade an eighth round pick in the next year to in order to get this wide receiver. And when he ultimately retired from the NFL in 1989, he was on top of the NFL history books in total receptions, total receiving yards and total receiving touchdowns being the first ever player to get 100 receiving touchdowns in his career. And he still holds all those records. They've been, they've been passed by other wide receivers elsewhere in the NFL.
00:45:50
M dub
He still holds all those records. In the Seahawks history books, I am talking about Steve Largent, the team's very first Hall of Famer with the team from year one, all thanks to this disastrous preseason trade by the Oilers.
00:46:06
Tristan Amundson
Whoa. Thank you, Houston Oilers. Thank you, Tennessee Titans, for giving us, for gifting us ah one of the greats, one of the legends, ah you one of the guys on our Mount Rushmore in Seattle.
00:46:21
Tristan Amundson
Steve Largent certainly is a part of that. um Certainly the Seahawks Mount Rushmore, but you you can make the argument just Seattle sports in general. So that's that's pretty fun. That's a fun tidbit of of how that came about.
00:46:34
M dub
Yeah, you you won't find anybody who has Steve Largent below. i mean, even all these years later, he is an absolute lock in the best 75 players of all time. Probably reasonably a lot higher given the era of passing when he was doing all this stuff. And for it to come out for to come out of of a just a preseason trade like that, I mean, that's a tough one. That's crazy. Yeah.
00:46:59
Tristan Amundson
And how long did you mention How long was he with the Oilers before ah just that spring?
00:47:03
M dub
just Just the spring. Just the spring and summer. he so Yeah, never appeared as an oiler and played 200 career games as a Seahawk.
00:47:06
Tristan Amundson
That's what I thought. Okay.
00:47:13
Tristan Amundson
Whoa. Oh, my gosh. What a yeah. I mean, talk about getting it, getting the deal done at the exact right time. If you're the if you're the Seahawks, what a what a brilliant what a brilliant move. If I was the GM that signed off on that in the Seahawks front office, I would bring that up all the time. um every argument I ever lost or I was about to lose, I would just always say, well, yeah, but I am the guy that brought Steve Larch into the Seahawks. And I feel like that's just your ultimate trump card. That'd be incredible.
00:47:44
M dub
I got a fun fact. So he he started first year of the team and the team has retired his number 80, but there was one Seahawk who did wear number 80 after Largent retired.
00:47:55
M dub
Do you know it off the top of your head? Not to put you on the spot, but yeah.
00:47:58
Tristan Amundson
You know, i can tell you my gut. I can tell you who I think it is. Was it was it Jerry Rice?
00:48:02
M dub
Yep. There it is. It is Jerry Rice who admired Steve Largent before he got into the NFL. And as a a bit of a and A mutual honor society. Jerry Rice did wear number 80 during his brief time in Seattle.
00:48:17
Tristan Amundson
That's pretty great. That's yeah, that's pretty incredible. Legend.
00:48:20
M dub
Great poll. Great poll.
00:48:22
Tristan Amundson
Seahawks legend Jerry Rice. Oh, my gosh. Well, you know what, Miles, even though Jerry, um you know, is really a 49er for life and, a you know, Raider and well, really, Jerry, Jerry's been around. But ah what I've heard, my understanding is Mr. Rice, you know, when he's when he's by himself and he's just watching football and he's looking at the scoreboard and he's he's just kind of surveying the entire NFL.
00:48:52
Tristan Amundson
In quiet moments, by himself, he has something that he says, and it's Go Hawks.
00:48:59
M dub
Go Hawks.