On the Sidelines S2E40: Seahawks win and Sounders playoffs push

This is On the Sidelines with FOX 13. It's working. Welcome to be a part of the first. Yeah. You know, first On the Sidelines podcast in a new building. You know, Veterans Day. Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans out there. So let's get it started. This is fun. We don't always get to do this live, although, Dante, I feel like you did get to do a crossover. Actually, you were there for the crossover, too. A couple times. At a Super Bowl watch party once upon a time. Yes, that was a first also. And it's good that we bring that up because we do have to talk about the Seahawks. I mean, that's got to be the first thing we're talking about. I'm going to hand off hosting duties to you. I still got to work my big board over here, but you're going to drive the bus today. No problem. Yeah, it's great to be on the sidelines. Ethan McReynolds. We have to mention, on the sidelines yet again, he's out with an injury, but he'll be back next week. That's the good news. Get back, Ethan. Yes, get back, and we hope he's getting healthier as well. I'll tell you what, yeah, it's kind of like we went from the Kingdome, new set, we went from the Kingdome straight to Seahawks Stadium. We just skipped the Huskies Stadium part, we didn't like that. We got plenty to talk about. We're going to talk about the Seahawks, obviously. We'll start with that. It's kind of one of those really, I think one of those interesting games, great for talk radio sort of thing. It's great for banter because, A, they won, and, B, they stunk doing it. And there's a lot that you can look at and argue about and break down and kind of chastise and then also praise. So, Dante, first I want to get your thoughts on the ugly win, even though there are no ugly wins in the NFL. You know what? You say they stunk, and I beg to differ. That was a professional win there. They did what they had to do. You know, it was the 11th consecutive win by the Seahawks. Over there, JV squad and the Arizona Cardinals. So we love to beat up on them. But the Cardinals were coming in with momentum. They had just beat the Cowboys, came back, Gardner Minshew threw for over 300 yards. So I thought they would be a tough test, and they proved to be a tough team. They're a pesky team, Matt. You know, but like I said before, the Seahawks have owned them for the last five years. Ten out of the 11 matchups, the Seahawks have won. A nice professional win. Okay. Missing a lot of players as well. I mean, your thoughts on kind of this is why you have depth in the NFL. This is why it's important. You can brag about your starters, but you've got to have guys that can move up and step in. Hey, when you talk about starters, you have to think about the quarterback, Drew Lock being in there. I'll be honest, I'm worried about depth when you start talking about the potential of a Jalen Milroe eventually seeing the field. That's a little too deep. That's what I'm most worried about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And here's the thing, there's no knocking a QB3 in this league. Like, QB3s aren't supposed to be seeing the field. That's the reality. But we're now in that position where that is a real possibility. And I really don't know what Drew Locke looks like these days because we saw a Bears game where they're playing from behind where Sam Darnold was in. So I don't really know what the offense is going to look like with Drew Locke coming in. He comes in, looks more like a placeholder, only 175 yards throwing. Like, what do you make of where they're at right now? Well, he was injured with an injured elbow. And then he said he also hurt his oblique. I mean, it was a gutsy performance, if you ask me, from Drew Locke. And he did everything he had to do, namely not turn the ball over because that's been the main complaint of the Twelves and the Seahawks fans is Sam Donald turning the ball over. So zero turnovers, zero sacks by the offensive line that went back to their original configuration with Gray Zabel going to left guard and Anthony Rodgers. Anthony Bradford. filling in at right guard. So you still have too many moving parts for the offensive line, but they give up no sacks, no turnovers, and still pull out a dominant win, 17-3. The Cardinals, they're on scholarship, too. This is a professional team. So to hold a professional team to three points, I'm not going to sneeze at that, Chris. My blood ran cold just for a few seconds there when I saw Locke go off the field, toss his helmet. They flipped the 10 over, and then I saw Jalen Milroe. Luke? Throwing a couple passes on the sideline to warm up, and I was like, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. Only because what we had seen in the preseason was a little bit of discombobulation. It's a learning curve. I love Jalen Milroe. I'm a huge Alabama fan. There's no, I didn't hide that bashfully at all. But it did make me just pause and go, my goodness, how much more can you lose on that? But you mentioned the offensive line. I wanted to touch on that a lot. I thought maybe Zabel moving back to left guard, Bradford moving back into right guard. Well, that continuity, and I know everybody wanted Quentin Nelson and wants him to fit right in and everything, but I think maybe he needed that time. But they got that continuity there, and they were effective moving the ball on the ground. I'm not going to say they were great, but they were certainly effective. And sometimes if your defense is playing well, you're getting to the opposing team's quarterback. That's all you need. Yes, that's all you need. And I was satisfied with the run game. Zach Charbonnet, 16 carries, 4.5 yards, I think 4.8 yards a carry. So he played well. And I'm actually surprised at the workload that they've given, you know, Charbonnet coming off of this injury. He seemed to hit the ground running, 16 carries. And then I like the way they incorporated Jadarian Price into the passing game. When you look at him, I don't think he's an every down back. I think he's more of a third down, change of pace back. And I think you should use him more in the passing game. They did that. He was the leading receiver in the game last, you know, even more yards than JSN. So I like the way they use Price. I love the way that Charbonnet is running. I think if you get better throughout the season, I don't think you need to move at the running back position like we thought of at the beginning of the season. Yeah, no, it was sorely needed to see him in the passing game because it remains that JSN is like the only wide receiver out there. Yeah, well, you need a second pass catcher now, so maybe Price becomes that guy. Yes, because it was frustrating to kind of sit there. I know that JSN, Jackson Smith and Jigba, we've kind of banned from calling him JSN. We feel he is worth more than three letters here on the On the Sidelines podcast. But Jackson Smith and Jigba, he crossed the 1,000-yard mark in game number nine. That's amazing. And I did hear somebody say, well, he's the only thing they got. I'm not that impressed because he's the only thing they got. Okay. That also means opposing defenses basically got to guard one guy out in the pass. Which to me actually makes it more impressive that he's done that. But your thoughts on, you know, you didn't have Rashid Shaheed again. It almost seemed like addition by subtraction the way he's played. Unfortunately, I don't think it will stay that way. But, you know, your thoughts on the passing game at least being effective in that game. It did the job that was necessary for this game, and that's why I brought up all the way going back to the Bears game. Now, I don't want to go too far back, but I just want to say that we have two running backs back. I'm starting to see the beginning of rotation, and I bring up the running backs because these games are going to have to complement one another. You get that running game going, that felt like it was the purpose of this game. What does it look like against other teams? Stiffer competition. Maybe not this week, we have to worry about that, but looking down the road, does that running game complement the offensive pass game? There's too many moving parts for me to really put my thumb on it right now. It's a Drew Locke, it's a Sam Darnold, it's a new offensive coordinator. I don't know where you guys come down on that. I just don't know if they can ring those plays up when necessary, unless it's... Jackson Smith and Jack Buck. I think that when you said new offensive coordinator there, and Dante and I have talked about this, but that's one of the things that's kind of a bugaboo now. Nine games in, nothing's new anymore. You had a preseason. I... It is a different offensive coordinator than last year, so in theory and technically, by title it's new. But at this point, you shouldn't be new. I mean, at this point last year, Clint Kubiak was new. And look where that was going. Look how well that was going. I still think there's a little bit of dysfunction in the offense, whether it's guys not performing, whether it's play calls. You and I are in agreement that there's just too many bubble screens. They're a little bit more effective this time. Yes. I don't want to go east-west. I want to go north-south. We want to be a physical team and set the tone. But I wanted to double back and go back to the injuries. The Seahawks right now look like a mash unit. They look like the San Francisco 49ers. And, you know, at the beginning of the season, I'm going to go all the way back. To the beginning of the season, they made these little cute little commercials, and we made fun of the substation of San Francisco 49ers and their injuries. Now look at the Hawks. When you look at them right now, that's why you don't poke the bear. This is why karma comes back on you. You made fun, you poked fun of the substation. With these cute little commercials, and now look at the Hawks. They're looking like a mass unit right now. But you know what? Look at the 49ers. The 49ers look like a mass unit with a wide receiver room, and honestly, they just went out and got a Keenan Allen who is old as all get-out, and I'm still scared of him. Yes, but that's established. We know, you know, death taxes and 49er injuries. We know those are going to come, but the Hawks usually are a healthier team, and I'm just saying, you don't play with injuries like that. You don't make fun of teams like that. That's something you kind of keep to yourself. Yeah, you're going to be limping to the bye at this point because you get the Raiders this week. A huge matchup with the 49ers following that, and then hopefully you start to get a little bit more back. But let's go back to the defense really quick. I wanted to ask you guys, first of all, your thoughts when you see that opening drive by Arizona Minshew is getting them down the field by no means dominant, but effective. Getting them down the field. Then when they got that red zone stop. And then forced a field goal, I thought, okay, that's what I was missing in that Monday night game. That's what I wanted to see in that Monday night game. And then they didn't reach the – well, they got down to the goal line again later in the fourth quarter, had a chance to make it a game. But the Seahawks' defense stopped after stop after stop, and they got to Gardner Minshew. And I know people can make fun of the Cardinals. They can make fun of Gardner Minshew all they want. That's a guy that's been playing well the last couple years. That's an offense that was effective. Okay, you make fun. They were walking up and down the field against the Dallas Cowboys late and in overtime. Fair enough. Nonetheless, it's the NFL. There's no gimmies. There's no – even if there's a weak spot, it's not that weak. I just thought that defense, missing Leonard Williams there, effective as all can be, and that was impressive to me, just how that depth shined through. They were still able to get there and force pressure and a lot of Minshew on the ground. I'll be honest, I never worry about the defense. I know that the Chicago game was ugly. I know that that one's going to cause us to lick some wounds for a while because you're going to be looking at that record. You're going to be thinking about the win-loss as we start getting closer to the end of the season and all this stuff starts to matter. But I don't worry about that defense. I just cannot bring that. The one thing that I worried about coming into the season was the secondary, and I feel like the secondary has played well. Other than that, I'm almost just at this point like, all right, we're on defense. I'm going to go get my lunch. Like, like, like. Those guys are ready to go to work. It's the offense. I just. This is terrible of me as your guest today, but I keep turning back to the offense. Because we should talk about the defense, because I feel like what they're doing is that good. Well, you talk about the defense. And when that opening drive for the Cardinals, it felt like Groundhog's Day. Because that's what the Seattle Seahawks defense has been doing all season. Letting the opponent get a score early. But they held them to three. And that was one of my complaints. Hey, let's stop them. Let's give them threes, not sixes. So in the red zone defense, which the Seahawks were dead last in the NFL, 32 out of 32 teams, they were actually 0 for 2, the Cardinals were last week. That's where the difference in the game is. You didn't give up those touchdowns. Okay. Also, the Seahawks were 2 for 2 in the red zone, with A.J. Barnard scoring two touchdowns. Two touchdowns, so you scored in the red zone. What you would want a middling team at, and offensively and defensively, you would last in the league if you didn't give them up. So you changed those characteristics this week, and you pulled off a 17-3 win. All right, we're going to take a little bit of a break here on the sidelines. Coming up, we'll talk very quick with college football, soccer. We'll talk about the Seahawks and their upcoming game against the Raiders. And go through, are the Kraken playing on a different continent? Is that going to turn fortunes around for them? We'll talk about that and more when On the Sidelines returns. All right, welcome back to On the Sidelines. Chris Swanson, Matthew Smith, Dante Jackson. Talked plenty of Seahawks last segment. I'll talk more in a couple minutes. But I want to go through some quick hits really fast. A lot else going on in Seattle sports. Let's talk soccer real quick. Playoffs, Reign FC, they got in. They did what they needed to do to get in. And then, boy, they get a tough own goal early on. Their season is over. They're basically down 1-0 in the fourth minute. And that pretty much ended the game because... Their opponents played 10 players back the rest of the way, Gotham FC. Yes, and I understand it's soccer, but you hate to lose that way, a brutal way to lose. An own goal by Jordan Bugg, one of the better players all season long. Absolutely. Went to a few Reign games. She's dynamic. I like the way the momentum of this organization is going. You know, you take baby steps. You made the playoffs. You got knocked out early, but next year you build on that. So, go Reign. Jess Fishlock, tough way for her to go out, man. I mean, a heck of a career. A Reign player through and through. Maybe the best. Talked about them. You go into that game knowing you're the underdog, but you also know that they were the underdog when they went all the way themselves once upon a time. So you look at it, and you're like, man, maybe this is that magical run. You build up all these hopes, and then it was inevitable because they're still a growing team, as you said, but it still feels like a kick in the gut, the way you say goodbye. Kick in the guts. And we talked about MASH units for the Seahawks. We'll combine the two of them when we talk about the Sounders. They do what they need to do, play pretty well to get in the playoffs, but suddenly they're going to be without some key players. This is going to be a tough one. They've got to beat Real Salt Lake. Then if that happens, that's if with a capital I and a capital F, if that happens, then they've got to play Vancouver. This is a tough road for the Sounders, Dante. Yeah, it's a very tough road as far as players, but you still have a chance. You get in, you can win, and they have the best coach, or, in my opinion, in the MLS, and Brian Schmetzer, So if any team can do it and any leader can do it, Brian Schmetzer and the Seattle Sounders can do it. Upset-minded? You know, I am a big fan of what this squad is capable of. When I start thinking about the injuries, I think about that losing streak, the tie games, they just couldn't get over the top. But we just saw what we saw with the rain. I feel like it's going to be a similar exit, unfortunately. Well, one team not exiting. It's the Kraken, but they are exiting North America. They are headed to Europe. They're going to play in this NHL series that's overseas. They've had this odd schedule where they've only played like one or two games a week. Normally you play two to three. And then they're home against the Rangers last week, that was not a pretty game. They were down four to two. Scored late to make it a game. Now they've got to play the defending cup champion, Hurricanes, overseas in Europe. Dante, they got them where they want them, right? Yeah, I guess. They got them in another country. They should be well-rested. I look forward to a surprising Kraken win. I think they're playing well. It seems like they're meshing under Lane Lambert's kind of system, a tougher team, a defensive team, although they've been scoring a lot of goals also. I think the Kraken are ready to surprise some people overseas. Okay, because they have this tendency, and this has been from day one. They play bad against teams that they should beat, and then all of a sudden you look and go, they're going to get killed in this game. And then they pull out a, you know, look, a 5-1 impressive win. That could happen here. This one surprised me this year because they came out and just kind of like kicked Calgary in the head a few times. But just recently Calgary came to town, and it's right back to that issue where you're not winning the games you're meant to win. And that comes into play late in the season, and so you just kind of hate that. College, go ahead. If you're the Sounders, you can't take anything for granted because I don't think you're a good enough franchise to say we're supposed to win that game. I think you just continue to build the momentum, continue to build the program under Lane Lambert's guidance. I think this Kraken team at the end of the season will be creeping into the playoffs. So I think they're a middling team that hopefully can make the playoffs. All right, college football. Good news for the Cougars. They avoided a loss. By not taking the field, and that's, take your baby steps, get your wins, get your small victories where you can get, and I can say that, I can say that, I am a WSU alum, so if anybody can throw them under a bus, back me up a greyhound, I will get one more. I should have looked at the rundown a little bit closer, you know, that comment was coming, okay, dang. But the Huskies, on the other hand, they were home, they have now lost four consecutive Big 10 games at home as Penn State really ran up and down on them in the first half. And it's at that point now when you're looking at the Big 10 as a whole, and the Big 10 isn't 10. You know, like you are now in the middle or they're just underneath. I think last night, I kind of think there's 18 with six wins or more. Yeah. I mean, your neck is craned at this point. And you paid a lot of money, and there was a lot of controversy over your starting quarterback coming back. You put that much money in to the premier position in that team, you're expecting to be one of the top teams in the Big Ten. Absolutely. And when they had that fourth loss, I so immediately wanted to go on social media and said, four losses, does this mean they're not making the college football playoff? Just asking for a friend, asking for a friend. Pasadena Rose Bowl, here we come. So. But they did show some fight in that second half, made it a game, had some opportunities, then had some bonehead penalties late. You know, I think it's kind of misleading because Penn State had such a big lead going into the half. They probably play a certain way, play it safe. And, you know, UW did show some fight. But I think this team needs a purge. You know, you have a coach who's supposed to be an offensive guru. But they're not looking good on offense. The defense is not playing well. This team, and I made the point years ago when they first made the move, this team belongs in the Pac-10 or the Pac-12. Or the Pac-12. Yes. This team probably regretting that decision to go to the Big Ten. You're not getting a payout like you're supposed to. You're getting a partial payout. So you're not getting the same monetary advance like you're supposed to. The other teams do. And you're getting beat all the time. So you're not winning. So I think it was a bad move for the Huskies to move to the Big Ten. I know they wish they could move right back to the Pac-12 where there would be a leader on the field. There was already head coaching talk issues with Jed Fish. Should he be the guy going forward? You had a situation late in that game. You had third and five. They take a timeout on defense to set up. On a third and five, timeout on defense. Penn State is running the clock out. They go out there and put 12 guys on the field in defense, get called for an illegal substitution. Five-yard penalty, first down, drive continues. It was a fourth and one down inside the five-yard line that Penn State went, they did a tush push and got it and ran the clock out. But, I mean, the seething rage that I saw on social media, and rightly so against Jed Fish and the coaching staff, their defensive coordinator as well on that, that is a move. I mean, you just, you can't beat yourself. They're hard enough to beat the opponent against the Big Ten refs, which are all I mean, there's corruption we've thought for years. I worked at Big Ten. I was in Madison for three years. I saw it. It's tough enough to beat the other team. You cannot beat yourself. And the worst part about that is Ryan Walters, the defense coordinator, I would have argued he was the lone bright spot midway through this part of the season. They made stops in that second half. But this is the worst performance. So now that you're really feeling your low lows as a UW fan, now the defense is starting to fall apart just like the offense has been falling apart. Like, this is not where you want to be. And they're in a vicious cycle as far as NIL because if you're a player and you're getting paid, you know, do you come back to the University of Washington next season? Do you come back? So I think they'll have problems retaining some of their better players simply because, you know, it's not looking promising right now, this program. All right, well, the Huskies have Michigan State coming up this week. That's probably a W there. I think that's a safe one. I think UW comes out of that game with a win. All right, back to the Seahawks. We've got about four minutes to go here. The Raiders active on the trade deadline. They trade Kirk Cousins, who had played well. Now you've got Fernando Mendoza is going to start against the Seahawks. If you're the Seahawks defense, you've got to be looking at your chops, but at the same time, you don't have any meaningful tape to study on him other than the preseason. But is that going to matter to a Mike McDonald defense? I think it matters. Clint Kubiak matters. And Clint Kubiak was on this team last season, so he should know he practiced against a Mike McDonald defense all season long. So you've got to watch yourself if you're the Seahawks. This could be a trap game. But if you are the Seahawks defense, this is disrespect. You have to take it as disrespect. You're going to trade away your starting quarterback and start a rookie against the dark side? I mean, if they're not licking their chops and just seething right now, then you don't have the right players in that locker room. This is total disrespect if you ask me from the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Seahawks should go and handle that. I hope that the Raiders' offensive line eat their weenies, I hope they gain 50 pounds this week because they need to create a wall. Otherwise, Mendoza's going to be on his butt. Mendoza's got some feet, though. He can move, and he hasn't been beaten up by nine games of NFL football yet. So he's fresh. Now, is he going to be able to read coverage-disguised defenses and make an errant pass that's going to end up going the other way? Make no mistake, this is a must-win for the Seahawks to go in with good momentum into the bye week so players can get healthy. You can get a Leonard Williams back. You can get maybe your starting quarterback and Sam Darnold back and a few of those injured players. This is a must-win. I said on last week's podcast, I don't think the Seahawks can lose another game. When you look at the NFC North, they have four teams that's playoff teams right now. The math is not mathing. There's not enough spots. If the Seahawks continue to drop games, this is a must win. Go into the bye week. Get back healthy. It is insanely possible that every team in the NFC North makes the playoffs this year. Possible. Yeah. I mean, if they keep at this pace, we'll see how that goes. All right. We got a minute and a half left. Puget Sound panic meter. Last week, I think I was dialed up to an 8. I'm down. I'm tempered down. Dante, you were quite high on that panic meter last week. Have you been tempered at all down, up? Yes, and it's all been Drew Locke. Drew Locke has tempered down my panic meter simply because he's playing the way that you need to play each game. No turnovers. Be careful with the ball and let the defense win the game. And as long as you have a quarterback that can do that, this is a good team. So, yes, my panic is probably down to a seven. Still pretty high because you're at must wins right now this early in the season. But Drew Locke gives me the confidence that this team can climb out of that hole. I'm going to drop mine from, I think it was an eight last week. I'm going to drop mine to a six. Okay. I'm still concerned. And my main concern with Drew Locke is his health. That's really the only concern, him making a bad decision. Look, he should have thrown a pick six last week. There was a ball that bounced right out of a defender's hands on another stupid bubble screen to the left side. That Brian Flurry seems to want to call five times a game. Luckily, it bounced right to Cooper Cup. He ran it and got a first down out of it. So, my temper's down to a six. Matt, concerns? I'll say it's a six. It's a six if it becomes a ten if that oblique is a problem on Sunday and Jalen Milrow sees the field. I want Milrow to be good, but it'll be a ten until he proves it. Be curious to see if Sam Darnold dresses as the emergency third quarterback. That'd be my guess. All right, thanks for joining us for this edition. On the Sidelines is available wherever you get your podcasts.