Transcript
Tristan Amundson: Miles, today's episode starts with traveled from Baghdad to Scandinavia.
Tristan Amundson: He was sent by his employers to better understand and document the North. Now, Miles, it's kind of crazy. By miracle, really, Ibn's letters and notes survived this whole time, which is just kind of mind-boggling.
Tristan Amundson: And um it's an incredible story that you get from him, just what he learned and and living amongst the Vikings. Eben witnessed a lot of things.
Tristan Amundson: One thing was something kind of like a Viking prayer. Now, it's important to kind of realize that this prayer was obviously translated into um Arabic.
Tristan Amundson: And as there was very little very little written tradition of the time and place, it's one of the best accounts we have, which kind of makes sense, right? They they they didn't have a great written tradition. It was all an oral tradition in the North at that time.
Tristan Amundson: Here's the thing. That same prayer, a millennia later, was adapted for the 1999 movie, The thirteenth Warrior. And I'd like to read you that prayer because I think it really sums up the game for the Vikings as a whole.
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: Here we go.
Tristan Amundson: Lo, there do I see my father. Lo, there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers. Lo, there do I see the line of my people back all the way to the beginning.
Tristan Amundson: Lo, they call to me. They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.
Tristan Amundson: Miles, I think it was pretty brave of those Vikings to come up to the Pacific Northwest and we really feasted on them. What did you think of that game, man?
M dub: Tristan, that's really beautiful that this game, the tenor and feeling of this game was foreshadowed low those thousand plus years ago. um i do have some thoughts on the game. I am curious, though, you mentioned his letters.
M dub: ah was was The post office really must have been working back then to get to get from Scandinavia to, sorry, the the Middle East, is that what it was?
Tristan Amundson: Baghdad. Yeah.
M dub: ah Baghdad.
Tristan Amundson: So, yes.
M dub: So, yeah, I mean, that that takes some specialty stamps to mail from Oslo to Baghdad in the year 1900, glad he figured it out.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah. I mean, keep in mind, it couldn't have been the USPS, right? Which my my brother is a proud postal worker. um it it wouldn't have been our branch. So I think it probably was like more of ah a first class FedEx type thing. You know, when you get those really nice FedEx, kind when you get a contract or something like that in the mail that you got assigned something big, I have a feeling it was one of those kind of more rigid folders um that were going back and forth. But, you know, the beauty is FedEx is always on time. And I'm sure even was able to
Tristan Amundson: um You know, send a carrier pigeon, get that FedEx delivery. And he was off to the races um in 19. I'm sorry, not 19 in 921, 921 Even Fadlon, if you want to if you're if you're keeping track at home and if you want a ah really, really good story.
M dub: I appreciate that. um in In that time, was this game yesterday the low point in the history of Viking culture?
Tristan Amundson: Yes, that's interesting. If you were to take that macro wider lens, if we took a step back and you looked at um you know the You could argue the fall of Viking culture would be when Christianity found its way into the north and really started changing the conversation around, you know, the gods of Odin and Thor and, you know, all the usual suspects up there. So you could say that was a low point theoretically in in Norse.
Tristan Amundson: culture, quote unquote. um Obviously, a lot of high points, a lot of great discoveries of those Viking peoples. um Yeah, I think Sunday, I think yesterday was the worst, lowest point in all of Viking history. And it's saying a lot. But listen, there's not a lot of shutouts happen in the NFL. um To pitch a shutout, you got to do something special. And, ah you know, on the other side, I'm sure that really hurts.
M dub: It absolutely does. We also have to include the 1998 season in terms of the you know the high points in that one thousand plus years of of Vikings history. that That was a great year. um Tristan, can I recap this game for us at which was a 26 to 0 victory for the Seattle Seahawks? Give a little one minute summary just for the historical record that we are contributing to today.
Tristan Amundson: Absolutely. This is part of the oral tradition. Proceed.
M dub: fake
Tristan Amundson: That wasn't fair.
M dub: Yeah. so Sorry.
Tristan Amundson: I'm sorry.
M dub: Sorry. Yeah.
Tristan Amundson: I'm sorry. No, that was my fault. You you go.
M dub: No, it good I mean, you're right. It's funny because it's true. This is part of the oral tradition and I will be proceeding. Okay. All right. The first quarter of this game was a was an absolute defensive coordinator...
M dub: defensive coordinator's dream. Both defenses were absolutely dominating the other offense. When the first quarter ended, we had seen between the two teams a total, a total of 63 yards, and it really felt like every field goal was really going to matter in this game.
M dub: As the rest of the game continued on, though, it was clear that the Seahawks could at least make some inroads into Viking territory, whereas the Vikings at the end of this game had only played 12 snaps in their offensive half of the field.
M dub: On three of those 12 snaps, they committed a turnover, and the Seahawks, field goal by field goal, slowly inched away to create this win, and it is highlighted by their first touchdown of the day, which took place in the second quarter.
M dub: The record books will show that it is a 85-ish yard touchdown return by Ernest Jones on an interception. But the oral tradition will show that, I mean, i kind of felt bad for the guy. I honestly thought he had been playing a pretty good game until then, and I was making notes to that point. But...
M dub: Rookie quarterback Max Brosmer of the Minnesota Vikings does commit one of the one of the funniest one of the funniest plays. You'll see that it will go up there with the butt fumble. It'll go up there with that Colts play where there's just two guys snapping the ball and nine other guys just standing in a crowd by the side. I mean, this is up there in terms of one of the all-time bloopers and really was when the game started to separate and it was just all Seahawks the rest of the way.
Tristan Amundson: it it was such It was such a fun play to watch unfold. You could see Demarcus Lawrence just laying such great pressure. i i don't know if you felt this way. I instantly felt bad for um ah for his shoulder because i can't imagine...
Tristan Amundson: what it would feel like to have to Marcus Lawrence grab you by the arm and not let go, which is the, that's how the, that's how it started. Right. When, once he gets his way to the QB, he grabs his arm and I could just feel that, that shoulder kind of slowly dislodging a little bit.
Tristan Amundson: And you imagine two things are happening simultaneously. One, The game is at an all-time high pace in that poor man's brain, right? he is The game is now speeding up on him.
Tristan Amundson: And I listened to Ernest Jones's um press conference. And they asked him about the moment, obviously. And he said exactly what I figured, which was, he was like, he's like, when you're in a moment like that, he he said, it's incredible how slow it feels.
Tristan Amundson: And he said, you know, i was in position. I knew where I needed to be. He's like, i'm watching D-Law do this s sack. And I think to myself, he says, I think to myself, there's no way going to throw this ball.
Tristan Amundson: And And obviously he he did throw that ball and not only threw it to him, but it's kind of funny to think he threw it. Obviously, I think he was trying to throw it out of bounds and that that didn't work out for him. But in the course of doing so, he he literally threw the ball underhand to Ernest Jones, Miles, which I just imagine like the moment was slow for Ernest. And then also it the literally it was an underhand toss to him right into his chest and off to the races he went.
M dub: Yes, it was one of the few pick sixes where the defensive player gets a running start at the ball at the interception and is ready to go for it. I have a a ton of observations about this play. there was There was a lot going on. But the main one, I think, I didn't feel – I felt bad for Max Brosmer in general and not just the shoulder because here's the situation.
M dub: the vikings The Vikings recover a fumble that the Seahawks created, and they're 13 yards from the end zone, and they're trying to punch it in, and they're in a fourth and one. so So they haven't created first down yet. It looks almost inevitable that they're going to score and that they're going to take the lead here.
M dub: It's fourth and one. And this has come up a surprise. I'm shocked how many times this has come up as we've talked about it this year. Your third and one play calls, your fourth and one play calls, these short yard situations.
M dub: I can't believe how many times the play call just doesn't fit the moment. and what i'm What I'm talking about here is it is a play action pass that they've called, which means that with with with one yard to go, this one crucial yard to get,
M dub: Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings coaching staff is asking Max Brosmer to be, but for just a second, but an important second, to be running the opposite way with his back to everybody else of the entire play. That's what play action is. is is you You have that quarterback vulnerable in that position for you know a quarter of a second, but...
M dub: It just, when you say it like that, you called play action on fourth and one right next to the end zone. i mean, it just doesn't make any, there was there was no way this was ever going to work. Now it didn't have to be, didn't have to work out as badly as it ended up doing for the Vikings, but I just could not believe that that they put this guy in this situation. and But that this is not all that the Vikings did.
M dub: Vikings coaching staff did did this guy on this play, but just that fact alone, did that stick out to you at all? I couldn't believe what I was saying.
Tristan Amundson: You know, it's such a really great point that if you think about what they could have done, right, if they said, hey, this is Max's first game in an insanely hostile environment against one of the best defenses in the league, and we've we've gotten down to this point in the field, it's fourth and one.
Tristan Amundson: what What are our options? I would say, i think you would you could argue this, but I think most people would agree in this scenario, Again, you don't have Josh Allen at quarterback. You don't have Patrick Mahomes. You don't have Matt Stafford. You don't have, um you know, any one of these elite quarterbacks. You have a rookie quarterback making his NFL debut.
Tristan Amundson: Option one is kick the field goal, correct? I mean, there you go. Like, if we want to talk about, hey, let's take care of our guy. Let's take advantage of the opportunity. Option one.
Tristan Amundson: And by the way, we have a great defense. We're going to win this game by defense. Option one is kick the field goal. Now it's 2025 and ah offensive coordinators are super smart now.
Tristan Amundson: So we can't kick field goals anymore. It's just unacceptable. We can't do that.
M dub: Thank you.
Tristan Amundson: So option two would be find a creative way to get it to a running back really, really fast. Okay. Oh, fair enough. So maybe we run the football. Maybe we we just go for a running play, right? It's fourth and one. That is certainly a down and distance where you could argue that. Maybe you do the fastest like kind of screen pass or something like that in the history of mankind. OK, maybe that's asking a little less of him.
Tristan Amundson: the fact that they kind of just go for it. And I think I have a feeling maybe that ball was eventually supposed to go to um Aaron Jones. um When you watch the play, Aaron starts kind of running towards the corner.
Tristan Amundson: Unfortunately, Nick Emanruri is on him and there's just not going to be any place to go on that ball anyway. um But yeah, what when you mentioned that, just where my mind goes is,
Tristan Amundson: A rookie quarterback, as a coaching staff, your job should you should really be thinking keenly about protecting this guy in this environment and putting him in a position to succeed and and maybe even babying him a little bit. And that was the opposite. Like play action pass, fourth and one on the road. First game you've ever started.
Tristan Amundson: Pretty rough.
M dub: Believe it or not, Tristan, it doesn't end there. So I wanted to take a look because we we've seen in this situation, Coach Mack can dial up some pretty some pretty intricate stuff that can really bedevil the opponent. But looking at this play, that's not what happened.
M dub: It ended up being a pretty straightforward four-man rush for the Seahawks. D-Law is on the left side of the defense. And as the Vikings line up, They've got both a tight end on the line of scrimmage and a fullback in the backfield on D-Law's side of the play.
M dub: So you would have to imagine that DeMarcus is thinking, you know you know, my role is to occupy hat on a hat and somebody else on my team is going to make a play. I just got all this weight on my side of the field.
M dub: And yet, as this play-action moment is happening, everybody just leaves him alone. And so he just has this straight... it wasn It wasn't some sort of brilliant play call. He he just can run at full speed ah right into into the backfield and starts, I mean, if this interception doesn't happen, it's still a 20-yard sack, and we're talking about it as one of the great plays of the day.
M dub: D-Law made, i mean, obviously a great player with one of his, but perhaps his best game as a Seahawk. if Well, there's there's quite a few candidates, but It wasn't really, he didn't he didn't have to beat anybody on the play. I mean, he's he's he's good enough as it is when he puts somebody in front of him, but but when the seas just part and you just let him have a free run, I mean, yeah, I just couldn't believe it.
Tristan Amundson: it was It was pretty great. they I heard them ask Ernest during the press conference, you know, quote, and I believe it was Brady Henderson of ESPN who asked, was it on your bingo card? It sounds like something Brady would say. ah I'm pretty sure it was Brady. Was it on your bingo card um to be number two in the league in interceptions this year?
Tristan Amundson: And I loved his answer because yeah yeah his answer was yes. And he said the the goal was six with 10 turnovers. um If you're curious, that was number five in both categories for him on the year. So he has a total of five turnovers, all interceptions so far this year, which is second in in all of football, which is pretty wild for a middle linebacker to be um one of the lead leader lead.
Tristan Amundson: league leaders there we go in interceptions um on the year that's pretty pretty incredible um I don't know Miles did you get a chance just to make this kind of a little personal cause because because I mean these are real people and and it was a really kind of ah a great moment did you get a chance at all to listen to to Ernest after the game or um or or kind of hear his story going into this game
M dub: You know, I didn't get a chance, but I know you did, and it it sounded like there's there's a lot going on. ah There's a very meaningful season for him in some different ways.
Tristan Amundson: A lot under the hood. So I think we we maybe talked about this previously, but he lost his father um ah this summer, which you can imagine. We we can all imagine the pain of that moment and and just how heart-wrenching I'm sure that was for Ernest. And and i He didn't say this specifically, but I don't think I don't think it takes a ah psychology degree to imagine that that was a um a pretty big moment, ah a rocking moment for him um personally this year. And obviously he's had his his share of injuries as well that he's been dealing with. And
Tristan Amundson: He shared very clearly with the press, and i and i then I heard him give his speech to his teammates, and it it seems really important to him, so I'm going to say exactly what what Ernest said, which is he he rededicated his life to Jesus and had had to really kind of look at himself in the mirror and ask himself, am I am i being the guy that i know I am? you know Am I being the person I know I i am to be? i don't know if I speak.
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: Didn't say that super well. um But the answer was, in at least in his mind, like, no. And it it took that moment of let me take a step back. And it sounds like that happened very recently for him, maybe even like earlier in the week, kind of recently of let me let me kind of take ah a self-evaluation here and philosophically look at where I'm at, and look at what I'm doing with my life. Um, and, uh, he, he made a turn as, as Pete would say, you know, in his life, um, that, that is very real to him and, and, you know, kudos for that. And it was really cool, man. I, he got the game ball.
Tristan Amundson: And he was very emotional when he was talking to his teammates about um what the team meant to him and ah and just what it meant for him to be playing together and and to, you know, in his words, to be with his brothers and and all this kind of stuff. So. Really, really cool moment for Ernest and obviously to have a ah high performing game in some ways when he when he frames it in that context that the game almost seems kind of silly. Right. But he didn't make it sound that way because the game's important to him and he was able to to do something really special. So really cool week, I think, for Ernest Jones and I think an important year for him and was was just really happy for him all around.
M dub: Absolutely. Incredibly, this is only his 20th game as a Seahawk, but he really feels like an all-timer, and I think it is because you you really can't tell how much it means to him.
M dub: and what i The first thing I think of with Ernest Jones is the man usually has some sort of brace on his body when he's out there.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah.
Tristan Amundson: yeah
M dub: He's he's only 26 years old, but plays the game really physically and clearly plays through a lot because... there He's not at 100%, and he might never be the rest of his career, but you can tell he's putting it all out there. and twenty i mean He feels like a a much older player because of the level he plays at, but 26 years old, hopefully he's got a lot of football left in him, and hopefully it's for the Seahawks.
Tristan Amundson: I 100% agree. one One kind of funny part of the story to to make this a little more lighthearted was ah he was talking about how you know he got the ball right. So he mentions it. Everything slows down.
Tristan Amundson: And he's like, the first thing I noticed was there's nobody in front of me. Right. So he's just running as fast as he can. And then he said he looked up at the screen. Right. Because he can see the video screen as he's running.
Tristan Amundson: And he sees someone like catching up to him really, really fast. And, you know, he said for a second I freaked out and then I realized it was Reekwollen. And he said that kind of the way that it showed up on the video screen and him looking up and down, it was kind of like, you know, and an old video game or pixels where it's like, you know, every time you look up, it's like way closer and it's just kind of almost like in chunks Reekwollen was was closing in on him. And I mean, just kind of.
Tristan Amundson: talking about just the insane speed of reekwollen to kind of come out of nowhere and to beat him basically to the end zone. And I think even that's kind of cool. Reekwollen, right? It would have been nothing wrong with him just to watch or just to have a like a really fast jog to celebrate with his teammate in the end zone.
Tristan Amundson: I think there is something to be said about the togetherness of this team that instead what Rick Willen decided to do was run as fast as he could to catch up to him, to be there with him the second he crossed the end zone. I think that's kind of I think it speaks to togetherness and and the playful um nature of this team as they're they're on the field together.
M dub: Absolutely. And on a personal note, I appreciate Ernest running it through the finish line and not opening the door for a potential blooper, has as has happened increasingly often ah elsewhere in the football world lately.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah, no, I mean, he yeah he did his job, right? He just got that touchdown for us. And man, huge turning point of the game, right? I mean, you you you're watching this game at that point. It is three to nothing, right? Which, again, kind of speaks to the, you know maybe just kick a field goal, tie up the game if you're ah if you're the Vikings. But instead, they go for this.
Tristan Amundson: And you go from quite a swing, right? This could have been a 3-3 game, and instead it turns into 10-0 game. So, you know, you suddenly have this massive swing, and it certainly felt like an exhale moment, I think, for all of us of like, okay, this this one's going in exactly in the direction we want to go.
M dub: Right, and it felt increasingly unlikely that the Vikings offense was going to be able to overcome that. And sure enough, that first field goal was really all the Seahawks ever needed, but it it was important to get the insurance points.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah, get a get a couple more than three, I think would be good. But technically didn't didn't need any more. um Talk about these defenses, man. I mean, it really was. Now, it's a tough one, right? Because we're all disappointed that the Seahawks ah offense wasn't humming earlier in the game.
Tristan Amundson: At the same time, we do know, just you know being intellectually honest, that this is a very good Vikings defense, one of the better defenses in the league. And let's talk about the defenses for a little bit. For me, the the older I get, the more I watch football. And I think this is probably true in basically any sport. Defense really wins championships. And good defense is...
Tristan Amundson: is better than good offense. Good defense beats good offense. And we've seen this now a couple of times. And I feel like this game was a great example of that. Now, on the Vikings side, they they are very limited in offense, right? So limited offense goes against a good defense and it just lights out. it It ends up being zero points, as we saw.
Tristan Amundson: um on the On the Seahawks side, I do think the Seahawks have a pretty good offense. And it just goes to show what a great defense does.
M dub: Yeah, you know, Tristan, as it's funny. This game was 26-0. Last week, the Seahawks won 30-24. I came away with a lot more concerns about this game, despite the more lopsided score. And it does have to do with how well the Vikings defense and their coordinator, Brian Flores, played the Seahawks offense.
M dub: ah Really, there's this would be the only hitch on the road for the Seahawks ah offense since week one, that loss against the 49ers. And I think in many cases, the Vikings played even better against the Seahawks than the Niners did in that game.
M dub: Total numbers, it was just 94 net passing yards for the Seahawks offense on 30 passing attempts. That includes yards lost due to four sacks.
M dub: JSN only gets two catches for 23 yards. um So I was curious because we know Brian Flores has this reputation for blitzing the quarterback a lot. Heading into this game, the Vikings were number one in the NFL with a 42.9% blitz rate, which is about double, ah more than double what the Seahawks are doing, more than double what a lot of teams are doing.
M dub: It's an incredible amount of pressure, and the the Vikings generate pressures ah heading into the game at the number two rate in the league at 29%. So those are already league-leading numbers, and they completely blow those both out of the water in this game.
M dub: Just in this game alone, they blitz 63% of the time, so more often than not on a pass play, they were blitzing. and it generated pressures 36% of the time.
M dub: I think those numbers actually hide the the type of feeling that it was with the Vikings defense because there were many plays where you have five, six, seven guys at the line of scrimmage all kind of, you know, looking like they're about to rush. And on several of those People drop back, and it's really just a four-man rush, but there's so much extra around it, and you've just gotten blitzed on the last two plays. It feels like another blitz is coming.
M dub: Even those four-man rushes felt like a blitz. They were very productive. On the play in the second quarter, I think it was, where Sam Darnold is sacked and loses the fumble, it's a six-man blitz, which is really aggressive.
M dub: And the Seahawks really struggled to figure it out. I think they were making progress towards figuring it out in the third quarter. That was the team's most productive quarter of offense. And I think what Clint Kubiak started doing was have more plays with two tight ends out there, Arroyo and Barner. And I think that's really important because that way the tight ends can get a chip on a blitzer and then release really quickly and be and be there to be able to catch a pass. And that was really the Seahawks' most effective offense was like a short distance pass to Barner, and then he would have a lot of yak after that.
M dub: But if they still didn't do enough of those plays to kind of get... the the point of that of The point of doing that type of play would be to do it often enough to get the Vikings to stop blitzing, and then the Seahawks could actually get into their explosive ah offense.
M dub: But we we were asking last week, How do teams defend JSN? How's nobody figured it out? The Vikings just figured it out, and it was get pressure in Sam Darnold's face before JSN's route can fully develop. And it was really effective, and I'm hoping that it's just the Vikings that can pull things off and that they haven't just shown everybody, no, here's how you actually attack the Seattle offense.
Tristan Amundson: You know, i love this point, Miles. I was listening to Coach during his press conference and and on his weekly radio hit talk through this a little bit. And he was asked a similar question, right? Like, is this a blueprint? And his response was, his responsibility was no. And the reason why is because he said, like, what Brian Flores is doing is is really unique in the league. And there's not a lot of other teams that have the the scheme plus players plus will to pull off what the vikings do and how they do it um and he basically said like if you're another team you basically would have to throw away everything you're doing just to have this kind of vikings type of game plan and you you probably don't even have the right personnel to to pull it off and and and the continuity of personnel either. So he kind of brushed off the idea that that this was a a blueprint kind of game. We'll see, right? I love that we asked the question last week. Hey, is it is this the the key to stopping the Seahawks? Which it sounds like it kind of is, right? i I do think the other thing that comes to mind, tell me what you think about this.
Tristan Amundson: the they knew the only way they were going to win was to go for broke, right? They knew like, okay, we're going to have to, we are outmatched in this game. We are going to set our portfolio to aggressive, right? We we have no bonds we're investing in. We are only going to invest in super high growth, hyper high growth companies. And let's just see what happens. And we're just going to ride, you know, the risk of that.
Tristan Amundson: And most teams aren't going to do that because most teams are going to have more to play for. But the Vikings, they knew they only had one path, which was chaos. And so they brought the chaos and it it definitely worked. um But to your point, they made the adjustments.
Tristan Amundson: I think that's a big part of this, though. Tell me what you think about that. Just the idea that. The Vikings really had no other choice but to do this. So that's what they did. Other teams aren't necessarily just going to throw, you know, throw caution to the wind because they're going to have more to lose.
M dub: That's really interesting. I do like the point, you relaying what Coach was saying about how you know, you you can't just change on a dime like this as a defense just for for your one Seahawks matchup in the the middle of the NFL season.
M dub: um Hopefully that that logistical hurdle, I think, could could could stop teams from being able to do this. But, um you know, I remember several, ah towards the beginning of the year, just after the first couple games of Darnold, I was talking on here about how i I really feel like he's a quarterback without weaknesses and That's the thing about the NFL. that It really ends up showing every inch of you. It it does feel like the the reaction and decision-making when it's a quick... I mean, very few quarterbacks are great at this, but to make a really good decision when there's a quick pressure in your face um wasn't great in this game and obviously very hard hard to do very well, but...
M dub: um I I'm curious to, I'll be curious to see how much blitzing we're going to see in the next couple weeks. Um, cause cause I can really see it going either way that that this was just the aberration. It'll just be Brian Flores or if, if things are kind of turning a little bit as can happen in the NFL. Um, you know, the Colts were really dominant through the first half of the season and, and,
Tristan Amundson: wait
M dub: teams figure it out, you know, so we'll, we'll see if, if this is the start of a figure out or, or if it was, i mean, I want to position the Seahawks fan. We're talking about if, if the, if defenses are figuring them out, they, they did win this game 26 to zero, but um I think everyone can agree that the passing offense was pretty ugly. the The rushing offense was great though. I mean, that's the other part of it. that The, the, the running attack but was excellent.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah, you know you know that you're living life or the right way and living life really good when you're nitpicking a 26 to nothing win, which is exactly, I think you're totally right to do it.
Tristan Amundson: And I'm obviously doing it as well. We're doing this together. um But I had that thought as I was kind of, I was thinking to myself just in some ways how disappointing this game was.
Tristan Amundson: and Then I had to really remind myself like, well, you did win 26 to nothing. So, um you know, it really couldn't have been that bad. But I think that just, That goes to show the expectations and it goes to show that that we know the upper limits of this team and how good they can actually be, um which is which is really high.
Tristan Amundson: I think you bring up a good point. Whenever I think about sacking a quarterback, though, and how pressure affects quarterbacks, I think about the games that I watch Tom Brady play.
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: when they were able to get pressure on Brady and like watching his game fall apart in those situations. I'm not obviously one of the greatest of all time, but I think that's kind of my point. Like if you put enough pressure on anybody, they start, they start getting happy feet and and not looking that great. um Now, you know, I think the the question is really more than anything, how, what answers can you give the quarterback and how can you change the game plan? um And I, listen, i I, as, as much as the fun high flying offense is fun, as good as this defense is, i think I'm okay with taking a more conservative approach, running the football a little bit more.
Tristan Amundson: One thing that I was really um impressed by with Sam, and I was very happy that coach backed me up on this during his press conference,
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: his words, not mine, but I was thinking this. I really liked the good s sacks that Sam was taking. And what I mean by good sacks was he didn't lose his mind.
Tristan Amundson: He didn't do what Max did, which is, you know, try to throw the ball away at the last minute and make a massive mistake. I liked watching Sam Darnold just take a couple of those sacks and just live to, hey, we'll punt it away. It's not the end of the world.
Tristan Amundson: I think that's really important. And we need to see that more and more because he does certainly have a propensity to lose the football, taking some good sacks. I think it's good for him to see that and and realize, hey, I can take this sack. It's not the end of the world. We'll punt it. We'll give it to our defense. I'll get the ball back and we'll just rinse and repeat.
M dub: Yeah, I mean, the the the NFL play of the year that's most similar to the Max Brosmer play was that the it was a fourth-and-one situation against the Steelers in one of the very first games of the year that fortunately didn't get all the way back to the house, but almost did with with Darnold making a very similar panic decision.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Did you see, um did you notice the QB sneak, the AJ Barner, the way that the Vikings were defending it? I thought this was, was fascinating.
M dub: Is it the the horizontal man?
Tristan Amundson: but the The one time I've watched football and I thought to myself, I think I could do that. Like, I think it would hurt a lot. I don't want to do it. But like, though, that's the one position. I think if you said, Tristan, all we need you to do is just lay horizontally and we're all just going to crash into you and it's going to be one of the worst days of your life.
Tristan Amundson: But. I think like athletically I could do that, that, that play miles. I don't know if you had the same thought of like, put me in coach. I could do that play. um I had never seen that before, man. Have you seen that before? It's a, it's a novel way to try to, to stop this, this new um kind of novel way of, of getting one yard.
M dub: I love it. I mean, necessity breeds invention. that I hope this play is not banned because because, yeah, the defense could lock it up at at any moment. I mean, that that light bulb moment could come on and and just infect the entire NFL.
Tristan Amundson: I'd be so nervous if I was the defensive coordinator that was bringing that idea. I feel like that's the sort of idea that like some assistant was like, oh man, I almost don't want to present this tomorrow in the meeting because like I could get ridiculed and this could be like a really rough moment when I say, hey so we're going to take one guy.
Tristan Amundson: And he's just going to be like a little log right in the middle of the defensive line. And we're all just going to crash on his body and it's going to do this and this and this for us. Like, I feel like it's one of those you present that idea and then you just it's just silence in the room. And there's that pregnant pause and you're just waiting. Am I about to get annihilated by head coach or is someone going to say, hey that's a pretty good idea. Let's let's try that.
M dub: um but I almost feel like he had to it had to be that guy's passion project. you he had to really believe yeah yeah I almost feel like he had to really thump the table and and stand up and give a speech for that. and And it had to be brewing for weeks and weeks in his mind in order to, I don't know, we wish we could see it.
Tristan Amundson: It's so funny, man. It was weird to see. I was shocked to see that on the TV copy as I'm watching it. And you just see this dude lined up in a way I've never seen someone lined up in football. It's the great thing about sports, right? You see something new almost every time you watch it. And this was this was the newest One thing I wanted to mention, you know, my eyes don't leave Big Cat and Byron Murphy.
Tristan Amundson: By the way, two Byron Murphys on the field this week, Miles. Did you notice that? we had by
M dub: ah Byron Murphy at all times, yes.
Tristan Amundson: We had Byron Murphy Jr. as a cornerback for the Vikings. And of course, we have our beloved Byron Murphy III. Am I right there, Miles? to see our Is ours Byron Murphy Yeah.
M dub: I don't know. wow wow um I have no idea.
Tristan Amundson: i think that's I think that's correct. Next time you're talking, I will do a quick little chat GPT. I'm pretty sure that that ours, our beloved Byron Murphy, is the third. So it was junior versus the third.
Tristan Amundson: um and But the reason I bring up BMURF in the first place was it's another example you brought up before, right? We don't have to blitz often. And the reason why is because between D-Law and Big Cat and BMURF, and Chenna and um Hall and ah ah you know all of these guys.
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: It's just, it's an absolute, it's it's a horror film for offensive linemen. And I feel like the best example of that was the first drive the Vikings had.
Tristan Amundson: First of all, did you notice the first couple of plays? Like, I think the first five or six plays from scrimmage were all Aaron Jones, which i feel like was a very... good thing that that the offense did. Like, hey, don't worry, kid. like Aaron Jones is going to be the offense of Injun of this game to start with.
Tristan Amundson: And then the very first play that they don't hand it off to Aaron Jones or or you know a quick dump pass to Aaron Jones. Leonard Williams, he went through that guard so fast.
Tristan Amundson: I mean, it's as if the guy didn't exist. He went through him like a ghost. And the hit he put on poor Max, I don't know if you felt it in the moment. I i screamed at the at the TV. It was an audible just joy. And to me, that was the moment. like, oh, this this is going to be a long day in the office. Did that play just kind of hit you the way it hit me? i i just It was a classic Leo moment.
M dub: There were many plays to to pick from, and we should say, I don't think we've mentioned this, we really focused in on on the headlining interception, but The defense creates five turnovers in the game, including four interceptions, which is just a truly massive accomplishment.
M dub: There's four sacks in there as well. I almost felt like, because even before Leo has that sack, I think Chenna gets a sack that is called back for a penalty.
Tristan Amundson: Yep. yep
M dub: And I think that was the one for me where I realized how long of a day it was going to be because he gets the sack, it gets called back. And it was just kind of like, dang it. You know, all right, get another one. You know, like the feeling was a little bit like we can get another sack here, which is not how it's supposed to work. That's supposed to be a really devastating moment when one of your 10 sacks on the year gets called back.
M dub: ah But I feel like the Seahawks were like, let's just get another one here. That, you know, bad call. And here we go.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah, I mean, listen, you know it's a tough day at the office, and I'm i'm looking up these numbers right now just to be ah to be exact. But let's see. Justin Jefferson had two receptions for four yards. That was that was his day.
Tristan Amundson: um And then the Seattle defense... had, and I just want to get the exact interception. They had four interceptions. Is that right, Miles, on the day? Four or five?
Tristan Amundson: i
M dub: They had four. They had four.
Tristan Amundson: They had four interceptions on the day. So Justin Jefferson caught the ball twice. We intercepted the ball four times. That's i mean, that probably tells you everything you know about the game, right? I mean, it was just that kind of a game for for the poor Vikings. um Really, really rough to see if you're if you're a Vikings fan, I'm sure. um Really fun to see from our perspective, just the ball hawking that was happening in this game.
Tristan Amundson: Reek Wolin, man, I mean, i think it's worthy to mention, right? He just continues to show. week in and week out, kind of showing us the old reek. And um yeah again, you know, let's not make too much of this game specifically because poor Max, I mean, was put in a really, really bad situation. um But this is not the only game we're talking about reek woolen like this, right? He has been great and he continues just to kind of stack week after week.
M dub: I wasn't thrilled with the interception return. I will say that was the fumble.
Tristan Amundson: Sure.
M dub: You could see it coming.
Tristan Amundson: Sure.
M dub: There there was a yakety-sacks element to that play. There was another member of the secondary that stood out to me, which which was Tai Okada. I was watching the All-22 film.
M dub: the The one fumble that the Seahawks create was DeMarcus Lawrence punches out the ball from Aaron Jones, and Tai Okada recovers it. And you think, simple enough.
M dub: But watching the film of that play... Ty Okada is dropping back in coverage from safety. And Aaron Jones, it goes down as a three-yard reception for Aaron Jones. So he catches the ball and he goes three yards before DeMarcus Lawrence creates the fumble.
Tristan Amundson: Mm-hmm.
M dub: At the moment Aaron Jones catches it, Ty Okada, I counted it, he's 25 yards away from Aaron Jones. ah cost So somehow in the in the amount of time that Aaron Jones runs three yards, gets the ball punched out, and the ball barely touches the ground. Tai Okada has covered 25 yards of territory. I mean...
M dub: Coach Mack does use the phrase shocking effort. And just like ready squad, you want to say, hey, that's corny. That's not a real thing. But that is shocking effort. I mean, Ty Okada is nowhere near the play. though the The coverage kind of takes him into the center of the field. And then he he he he comes across to to the offense's right side in order to recover that ball.
M dub: It was shocking effort. Earlier in the week, the Seahawks did reunite with Quandre Diggs. He plays a handful of special team snaps in this game. He was cut from the Titans a few weeks ago.
M dub: I know Quandre Diggs is a big name, but in my opinion, Ty Okada was questionable throughout the week with the health thing. It seemed to me like Quandre Diggs was signed as Ty Okada Insurance, not the other way around. I don't think Ty Okada's role is is really being threatened by Quandre Diggs here, and a play like that is exactly why.
Tristan Amundson: Absolutely. Yeah. Listen, um shocking effort. um Ball finds energy is another one I hear coach say a lot of. And as you really like painted a great picture of Ty's effort on that play, I think about the strip sack that Sam had.
Tristan Amundson: And Cooper Cup coming back to the line of scrimmage and jumping on that ball from maybe not quite as far away as Ty was. But man, I mean, he was at least 15 yards or so away and came running in there and jumped on that ball.
M dub: Thank
Tristan Amundson: Ball finds energy, which is a great life lesson. And both of these guys, really a lot of these guys playing with shocking effort. Coach mentioned. Just going back quickly to that um that ah that tackle and forced fumble by Demarcus Lawrence.
Tristan Amundson: i I, this is pretty crazy high praise. He said that might be his favorite play of all time, his favorite defensive play of all time. And I'm sure it wasn't um Aaron Jones's favorite defensive play of all time, because that looked like that hurt really, really bad.
Tristan Amundson: um Because to say he punched it out, that's the only part of the story, Miles, that I might push back on your... your um description because I don't know what it was that DeMarcus Lawrence did to poor Aaron Jones, but it was like a punch body slam.
M dub: you
Tristan Amundson: It's one of those moments where you, you thank God you don't play in the NFL because imagine, imagine a guy the size of DeMarcus Lawrence hitting you the way that he hit Aaron Jones to get that ball out.
Tristan Amundson: shock I mean, again, you said it right. Shocking effort.
M dub: Just to, I've confirmed with our fact-finding team, I was going to joke that our Byron Murphy was Byron Murphy Sr. and the Vikings guy was Jr., but that is literally the case. it is It is Byron Murphy II.
Tristan Amundson: Oh, well, for us.
M dub: For us. ah
Tristan Amundson: Wait, the second or the third?
M dub: Our Byron.
M dub: ah The II.
Tristan Amundson: He's Byron Murphy the second. Okay, got it. Interesting. Yeah, okay. Well, I was close.
M dub: um so Yeah, yeah. Tristan, should we move on and and look ahead to next week briefly? I don't think we each have a ton to say about this game. The schedule continues to be ah quite odd. The Seahawks will be traveling. They've made a lot of trips to the East Coast. They've handled it very well each time.
M dub: They will be in Atlanta. I just watched the Falcons lose a game to the Jets that was... Looks a little bit more like a USFL game in the fourth quarter than an NFL game.
M dub: What's really funny about this one, to be interested, is that there's a little... I mean, the win is most important here. I'm not going to totally outsmart myself, but even if the Seahawks win, they lose a little bit because the Los Angeles Rams...
M dub: owned the Falcons 2026 first round pick last spring. The Falcons moved up from 46 to trading with the Rams. That was a big mistake. If the draft were held today, the Rams would take the Falcons pick at number nine overall kind of scary, but Seahawks still need the win here.
Tristan Amundson: Whew.
M dub: The draft will come later.
Tristan Amundson: we We hope that the the Falcons go on a win streak, that they they win out the rest of the season after this Sunday. But my only thought on this game is Bijan Robinson is absolutely unbelievable.
Tristan Amundson: he He might be the best running back in the league. So it will be a great test for our run defense to see how well we can hold up but against Bijan. And then I guess the other thing, just to add insult to injury for for the poor Vikings, this will be a classic matchup, right, of former Vikings quarterbacks.
Tristan Amundson: um, going at it, Sam Darnold versus Kirk cousins, because Michael Penix jr is hurt. So, um, yet another quarterback that, um, that they could have had that they let go, um, which is, is just kind of, kind of crazy.
Tristan Amundson: Don't get, um, tired of good, I think is, is the old adage, right. That, um, As sports fans, we we forget and we we move on so quickly. We move on from Norv Turner when he's turning in 14-2 seasons for the San Diego Chargers as if you know he's just clocking in and out.
M dub: Yeah.
Tristan Amundson: And we say, Norv, you're not good enough. We don't want you. And you know San Diego went on to do some pretty bad things after they fired Norv. The Vikings have have kind of done the same thing, right? They keep moving on from great quarterbacks looking for the next shiny object.
Tristan Amundson: Um, don't get tired of good. And, um, this will be a challenge certainly against Bijan Robinson. i think Kirk cousins is, ah you know, he's a good quarterback, right? He's it's a certainly a professional quarterback. I don't know much more about the Falcons besides that. I couldn't tell you much about their defense. Um, I honestly couldn't tell you much about their position players besides Drake London and Bijan Robinson, but, but Bijan Robinson is, is really, really good.
M dub: Well, can tell you they'd pick ninth in the draft if it were to happen right now, and they just lost to the Jets. So I think those are two powerful pieces of information.
Tristan Amundson: So that does, those are, those are good. Those are good pieces of information for sure.
M dub: ah Tristan, we have been looking at the highlights for the most part in the Seahawks' 50th season in the segment 50 Seconds in Seahawks History. Tristan, I've got a lot of heavy hitters, some really high points and the in Seahawks history loaded up for the rest of December.
M dub: But Tristan, can I take us through a low point and and what could have been this week?
Tristan Amundson: Please. Please do.
M dub: this This was something I was shocked to learn doing my research for for this segment. I wonder if you have any memories of it. 50 seconds starts now. In the mid-90s, after the Raiders and Rams left Los Angeles, owner Ken Baring of the Seahawks tries to move the team to Los Angeles, but does it without permission of the league.
M dub: In the winter and spring of 1996, team workouts and a temporary front office are literally set up in Anaheim, California,
Tristan Amundson: Thank you.
M dub: The team moves their but operations back up to Seattle a few weeks later when the NFL threatens to fine them for just leaving their town without permission. The Seahawks only get reestablished back in Seattle when plans are made to sell the team to Paul Allen, which he buys for $200 million dollars the next year in 1997.
M dub: Allen negotiates for taxpayers to pay $300 million to help build the new stadium, which is a bill he could have afforded on his own. But now that Allen purchased the team, it definitely established the Seahawks in Seattle for good. Before he bought the team, they had four playoff appearances in 21 years. Since he did, it's 16 playoff appearances in 20 years.
M dub: But Tristan, it could have been the Los Angeles Seahawks and for a few or the Anaheim Seahawks. And for a few weeks, it literally actually was.
Tristan Amundson: And I live in that area now. So, I mean, it would have been really convenient for me, I guess, although I probably wouldn't have been a Seahawks fan anymore. I wouldn't have had any reason to keep watching if they were playing down here. So, um, thank God for, ah Paul Allen swooping in and buying the team and and taking care of the city in that way.
Tristan Amundson: um I do remember, and I think this is the same time I could be wrong, but I do remember it as kind of famous, um, ah ah Seattleites laying down in front of the moving vans um and not allowing, you know, literally not allowing the the vans to move, which it speaks to just the fervor of the Seattle fan and and kind of the brotherhood up there.
M dub: Thank you.
Tristan Amundson: And, and Hey, this is our team and you're, you are not taking them. we We will be run over before you take this team away from us. um And you know, good Good on Paul Allen for being the right kind of owner that um invests in a team and and is a first class operation and keeps the team locally where it belongs. um You know, Seattle has had plenty of bad memories of ah bad owners like Howard Schultz that that did the wrong thing and, you know, ah you know sold sold to the highest bidder and instead of of keeping a team local. So, yeah. Yeah, good on Paul Allen. We would not be having this but this podcast if it wasn't for him stepping in and saying, hey, here's some of that Microsoft money. Now let me ah let me have ah have have a team.
M dub: Talk about an investment. I mean, I don't have $200 million in my bank account today, but as far as an investment you can make and how it grows over 30-year period, I mean, not that he needed the help, but I mean, it only cost $200 million to buy an NFL team in 1997.
Tristan Amundson: Yeah. You know what I do remember is I remember being on a peewee field and talking about how cool Quest Field was going to be at the time it was going to be Quest. I believe Quest was the first name. um And we we were talking about how cool that first Seahawks home game was going to be when it was snowy. You know, we had grown up.
Tristan Amundson: with the Kingdome and just the idea that we were going to have a snow game in Seattle someday. i remember, I remember the feeling of the smile on my face when one of my teammates said that, like we are going to watch a snow Seahawks game at home. And I just remember the excitement of that thought.
Tristan Amundson: And um obviously, we've had we've had plenty of good ones since. um And that's been a great stadium, right? I mean, it it really has made a great mark on that part of town. um Soto has become an awesome sports district for the city. So um it all worked out really well for us.
M dub: And if the people don't live in Seattle, just say the Seahawks and the Mariners are next door neighbors and we got trains and light rails, electric trains, other trains, all all coming in and out ah of the whole place.
M dub: It's a very European plaza of sports and culture.
Tristan Amundson: Miles, you were on those trains recently. Did you hear what was was I mean, if you don't mind sharing, like what what was it like? What did you hear on those trains? Was there a phrase that anyone was was kind of repeating over and over again as you found yourself on the train um going past the stadiums?
M dub: You know, there's something about the rhythm of the wheels. It it created this kind of rhythmic noise that that just kept on ringing over and over in my head. ah and And it went like, go Hawks.
Tristan Amundson: Go Hawks.
