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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Seahawks Insiders. Getting you ready for Seahawks football every Sunday. Now, here's your host, Jen Mueller.
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Speaker 2: Sometimes, though, we are getting you ready for football on Thursday, which is exactly what is happening this week. Seattle getting a chance to turn the page quickly after a disappointing loss to the 49ers. And, John Boyle, what was it that Julian Love told us not too long ago that that's the benefit of the Thursday night game?
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: It's as much as guys don't like it physically it's really tough i think there is you know it's almost sounds cliche because we hear it so often but like if you're coming off a tough loss there's a lot of value and like we're not going to spend monday and tuesday into wednesday thinking about the game we lost before we get to work on the next game it's you're back in the building monday turning the page moving on to the next game and i think you know he he's i think i came out of the term he is like they're they're a hungry team i think is what he might have said like they They know they could be a lot better than their 3-2 record, and they're eager to clean some things up and go show it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Julian was saying, you know, you don't think about it. You just go out and do it. So we're not going to worry about how our bodies feel. We'll kind of figure that part out. Cooper Cupp also was talking about just kind of the feel and the uneasiness.
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Speaker 5: You don't like that feeling after a loss. And I don't know.
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Speaker 2: I'd love your read on this, John. Do you think the uneasiness is truly... just related to the outcome of the game? Or do you think the uneasiness is there's some question as to why the pieces aren't fitting together the way this team knows it could?
00:01:31
Speaker 4: I think it's the uneasiness is they know they're like they're getting in their own way and it's causing them to underachieve. It's like this is a team that obviously had a great season last year, won a title and has the pieces in place to be that type of team again. But they're not doing it right now. Julian Love said we're a good team right now. We're not a great team. but were capable of it. And he also made the point, like, they weren't very happy coming out of the win against the Chargers either. This isn't just a results-based, oh, we lost a tough one. This is three games in a row now where some real serious mistakes has either cost them the game in the case of two losses or caused the game to be a lot closer than it needed to be.
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Speaker 2: You know, I will say the vibe in the locker room after the Chargers loss, they were more upset. And I'm not saying they were not disappointed to lose to the 49ers. I do think they had more answers after the 49ers game than they did necessarily against the Chargers. What stood out to them against the Chargers were all of the glaring errors. 49ers, it's like, yep, we know exactly what happened. We know how to fix this. We know where we're attacking this.
00:02:33
Speaker 4: And not to make this whole conversation recapping Julian Love's press conference, but the other point he made is like, he's like, I've been on teams, you know, probably referencing some of his Giants teams, but maybe even some of the earlier Seahawks teams where it's like, I've been on teams where you think you played really good football and you still lost. And you're like, there's times, there's teams around this league that's like, even at your best, you're not going to beat certain teams. And that is the exact opposite of what the Seahawks team is like. Going back to really that week 11 loss to the Rams last year, they came out of that game like, okay, this is supposedly the best team in the league. Everyone's talking about the Rams. We turned it over four times and we're right there at the end. And that's how they feel. I mean, 49ers, by all accounts, right now at least, have the right to say they're the best team in the NFL. You gave them 21 points off turnovers, and you were, I mean, a controversial fourth down call away from sending that game to overtime.
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Speaker 1: So there is that sense of like, we're getting in our own way, but we.
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Speaker 4: Don't feel like anybody's actually better than us if we just do things right.
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Speaker 1: That's kind of what I got from Julian.
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 2: Also, Julian had said, There are games that you lose that you think you played, but you lost by two touchdowns.
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Speaker 5: That's the other part of this, right? You're not losing by two scores.
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Speaker 2: You don't feel like this game is out of reach or unattainable at any point in time.
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Speaker 5: I mean, they've lost by what? A total of five points?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, three points and two points, yeah.
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Speaker 5: In these two games.
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Speaker 1: We should have just brought Julian in here and put him in the other chair.
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Speaker 3: Oh, man.
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Speaker 1: He could have just recapped this for us. I think they're in meetings right now.
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Speaker 5: I think, yeah.
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Speaker 1: We're just recapping because he's so good.
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Speaker 5: I know he is.
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Speaker 1: So good in a press conference.
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Speaker 6: Good.
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Speaker 5: He is really good.
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Speaker 2: It is a short week. Here's something else that we learned about Julian Love. He has never played a game in Denver.
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Speaker 1: That surprised me.
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Speaker 5: I don't know how this has happened.
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Speaker 1: It makes sense.
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Speaker 4: He's an NFC guy. You only go to an AFC tournament every eight years. He probably just missed it in the rotation and came here.
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Speaker 2: Well, either way, he is going to have to do this on a short week and at altitude, which is something all the coaching staff knows, too.
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Speaker 3: We've done it multiple ways. You're fighting kind of a battle on two fronts. It's the health, body, battle of um trying to get your body ready to play the best you can and so um how you recover and how you how you kind of get reps without going full speed there's a there's an element there it's also something we said about getting your body moving at some point before the game so that's something we consider that's that's number one and then two it's uh into the balance of having a great clear concise aggressive plan that uh you could go execute at a high.
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Speaker 1: Level Yeah, it's funny. Altitude's almost like the international game time zone.
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Speaker 4: Like, there's different approaches to it and different signs. But really, like, the only way you're going to adjust to altitude is spend time there. And Thursday game, it's not like you have that option. So you get out there and you hope that you're, you know, in good enough shape in general to weather that. But, yeah, there's not really a lot. You know, you can't simulate altitude at practice. You can simulate crowd noise. You can simulate water if you need to get.
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Speaker 1: The balls wet or whatever. But, yeah, altitude, that's just a thing you're going to have to live with.
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Speaker 5: I know.
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Speaker 2: My grandparents, my extended family, grew up in Colorado. And every time I go, the first workout that you do, you're like, you're sucking wind.
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Speaker 1: You go for a run and you're like, I am so out of shape.
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Speaker 5: That's exactly right.
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Speaker 2: But then you can convince yourself you're in better shape when you get back to sea level. And it's just, It's a real mind game that you play with each other.
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Speaker 5: Look, here's the other thing.
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Speaker 2: We can talk about the opponent, and we will, but on a week like this, when it's a short week, it really does come back to, hey, what are we doing, right?
00:05:58
Speaker 5: The focus is always internal.
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Speaker 2: And on the offensive side of things, there's some question marks, whether it's in the run game, it's the turnovers, it's third down, and it's still only a quarter of a season with your offensive coordinator. So there is room for growth. certainly on offense, but Mike McDonald sees even more.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: We expect to grow in all three phases. There's a sense of urgency to go. I think sometimes you grow best by kind of doubling down on your core competencies and the things you believe in. I think that's something we want to focus on is making sure that we're all aligned in all the things from players to coaches and how we want to play and how we want to execute and what's expected of us. But yeah, I mean... We're growing on defense. We're growing on special teams. I think you saw our special teams take a jump yesterday. Offense is right there with them, but there's a sense of urgency to get going.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's one of these inevitable, you always hope to just have the smooth transition. But when you change coordinators, even if it's a similar scheme, there's going to be some growing. I think it's also a little unfair to say, oh, new coordinator, that's why these things are going on. I think the issues at running back, health-wise are probably the biggest factor right now in what we're seeing in offense, not just because your two most skilled running backs are hurt, but also, you know, you're turning the ball over multiple times in the run game, which just you can't do.
00:07:21
Speaker 1: So that's a big factor. I do like kind of an aside.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: I think it's important the way Mike McDonald, like the language there, like he's a defensive guy.
00:07:28
Speaker 1: He runs his defense.
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Speaker 4: For him to make this, you know, you ask a question about the offense and the coordinator, and he turns it to the defense and the special teams. I think that's kind of a broader topic right now for this team is, The offense, there's no getting around it. The offense has put the defense in some tough spots in both these losses. But you're not hearing the griping, the finger pointing, all that. That's important for a team that's going through a little bit of a rough patch that guys are staying together.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think that that is the differentiator. And I made a point to ask guys about that in the locker room. I made a point to look for that during the game. I mean, look, we have seen this with some of the best Seahawks teams in the last 20 years.
00:08:04
Speaker 5: Things would get heated on the sidelines.
00:08:07
Speaker 2: And they loved each other and they appreciated the skill set. But I have seen more than one shouting match on the sideline. I did not see any of that on Sunday. I've not seen any of that this year. In fact, what you see is both sides of the ball high-fiving each other. The defense saying, okay, we got you.
00:08:24
Speaker 5: No problem. We're going to go out and do this.
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Speaker 2: It's Cooper Cup today saying, you know, sitting in the quarterback room, in the wide receiver room, everybody's critical.
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Speaker 5: But it's not of each other.
00:08:34
Speaker 2: It's of themselves. I mean, we say that, and again, it might sound like nice coach speak. John, you and I have been around teams where that is not true. It is really easy to say, and it is really hard to not let emotions get in the way of what could be happening.
00:08:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
00:08:50
Speaker 4: I mean, you can say one thing in press conference, but if you're around a team, you can sense it probably more than anywhere, like you're saying on the sideline, which I'm not down there, but you are in the moment if guys are mad. But then what you end up hearing from players is like, They're not mad that the offense put them in that spot. It's, you know, Ernest Jones being, like, mad. If they get the ball in the 11-yard line, we got home to a field goal. That's the mindset. So it's like, to them, it's like, okay, we didn't do our job because they still got in the end zone, even though they were put in a pretty crappy spot.
00:09:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say body language has been really remarkable. Nobody's throwing helmets. Nobody's, you know, it kind of got that bad body language going on. But that offense... it does have an opportunity this week against the Denver defense. And I'm thinking specifically in the run game, it was really tough to get anything going last week, 89 yards. It's the second lowest total this year. But when I look at the Broncos, John, they're 25th in the league, excuse me, 29th in the league in rush defense, allowing about 142 a game.
00:09:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's something this offense really needs to be able to lean on.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: And again, the.
00:09:53
Speaker 4: Injury situation is unfortunate. But we've seen you know, a couple games this year they have been able to get Emmanuel Wilson going, and we'll see if they want to, you know, add anybody to the mix this week with Robert Henry, who they signed.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: Maybe he's active. We'll see if he's ready to go.
00:10:08
Speaker 4: But, you know, I think they're going to expect more out of the guys they got because that's who they have right now, and you hope to get Charbonnet back real soon. But, yeah, whoever's on the field, they got to execute better. First and foremost, they obviously have to take care of the football. But they need to get more of that run game.
00:10:21
Speaker 2: Well, and we know the story behind the turnovers for Seattle and the number of points that it has led to from opponents. Denver's defense has been really good at taking the ball away. They've got seven takeaways, including a pick six. They've had at least one takeaway in four of five games. They also have a couple of fumble recoveries. That is halfway to their total from last year. So it is an opportunistic defense. You do not want to give them these opportunities.
00:10:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
00:10:50
Speaker 2: I also think when you're looking for players to give you more, JSN's name is not at the top of that list. I think he has established himself as the go-to, and yet he was awfully hard on himself after that game, and Mike McDonald noticed.
00:11:06
Speaker 3: I'm not surprised to hear that from Jax, but, I mean, is there a player you trust more with the ball thrown to him on the planet? I don't think so. It doesn't change one bit the way we see it. It was a really tough catch. I know he wants to come down with it. We obviously have faith that he'll catch those passes, but nobody we trust more than JSM.
00:11:28
Speaker 4: The reaction in the press box, and probably the whole stadium, like when he didn't come down with that catch, again, not like an easy routine catch, was like, you're just so used to every big moment him coming through. So it's like, kind of the stun, like, oh, wow, he didn't catch it. But yeah, and then he comes in, does a postgame press conference, and he's, you know, very hard on himself saying, you know, I got to catch the damn ball and Um, it is, it's hard. Cause it's like, obviously in that moment, you're like, it is, you count on your guys to make plays and you didn't do it, but it's like, you're not the team you are the last two years without him being the best receiver in football.
00:11:57
Speaker 1: And he's such a huge part of what you do.
00:11:59
Speaker 3: It's hard.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: He can be hard himself. It's hard for anyone else to really be too critical of him.
00:12:04
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:12:04
Speaker 2: And you're also not in this position as being one of the best teams in football over the last couple of years, if it wasn't for Sam Darnold and Sam will be the first one to tell you that those turnovers are unacceptable because And I think, again, in hearing from Cooper Cup today, he does have a remarkable ability to flush the play and get back on track, which is noticeable. And I thought Cooper's comment today was interesting of you can tell when somebody gets to the line of scrimmage and they have not let go of the last play.
00:12:35
Speaker 5: I thought that was just kind of an interesting aside and story.
00:12:37
Speaker 4: And I think with players like that, it's always important to point out, too, that he's it's not just how he's got to flush in the losses. Like if you talk to him after. he has one of the best games of his life in the NFC championship game. He's still going to be the same kind of demeanor after a phenomenal game.
00:12:52
Speaker 1: Then, okay.
00:12:53
Speaker 4: He turned it over a couple of times in this one. So that's, I think in general thought position, that's important.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: And he has it.
00:12:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker 5: And it's not about forgetting.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: You still come back to it and try to correct your mistakes, but leadership is one.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Of those qualities that Sam possesses in spades.
00:13:08
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think Sam's a great representation of everyone. We have an offense and really our football team. I mean, We get a lot of questions on offense, but as a team, there's things we fell short of yesterday. We take ownership of our area responsibility. And when your quarterback is one of those guys leading the charge saying that, hey, I've got to do X, Y, and Z better, I think it sets the table for everybody else at play to have the same mentality. And I think if you have that mentality, you've got a really good chance to improve. So like I said this morning, I really love our group. I love the people involved. I trust them. Let's go have that, you know, let's go get better.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that gets overlooked, and we've said today so many times, oh, we talked to Cooper. Oh, we talked to Julian. JSN talked after the game. George Helani talked after the game, right? There's a lot of guys. Here's the other thing that gets overlooked. None of those guys have to talk.
00:14:01
Speaker 5: And they did.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: And they explained exactly what happened. And their messaging after the game was very clear. It was very on point. They all had accountability. And I really appreciate, I mean, I appreciate that as a sideline reporter. But again, I have been on teams where that is not what it sounds like after a loss.
00:14:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think you're in this business enough, you can be around some teams where you can tell, like, just the team is down.
00:14:26
Speaker 1: They don't want to talk to media.
00:14:28
Speaker 4: It's pretty easy after a game to sneak out of that locker room without having to talk to anybody.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: You don't see that with this team.
00:14:34
Speaker 5: Yeah. You know what you do see with this team?
00:14:37
Speaker 2: What? lot of pressure by the defensive line and a couple of sacks against the quarterback.
00:14:44
Speaker 6: Who had yet to go down this year I did I cheered on the sidelines yeah I felt like that streak had a real good shot at ending with Purdy coming.
00:14:55
Speaker 4: In that game with those sacks like the that Seahawks front is too good and the coverage behind him is too good like you're gonna put him in some tough spots and sure enough Byron Murphy At one point, Byron Murphy had two sacks, and the NFL had none on him. Ernest Jones added to the mix later, but he does. I think I tweeted that during the game. It was like, Byron Murphy, two sacks, rest of NFL, zero.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: Zero, yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: He's going to get his opportunity this week against Bo Nix, but before we get to that matchup, I mean, Mike McDonald needs to sing his praises.
00:15:25
Speaker 3: Byron's playing dominant football right now, and I think we've got to do a better job around him so he can, you know, so those plays come to life a little bit more, setting up some of the more past situations where he went on early downs. But yeah, Byron's playing really great.
00:15:41
Speaker 4: I remember in some of the years, the Seahawks teams were like kind of in that good, not great mode. And the thing you hear from like a Pete Carroll or John Shires, they talk about like game wreckers. Like those are like the hardest guys to find. And those are the elite teams has those game records. This team's got legitimately two of them. Like I saw during the game, some of you tweet that like, oh, this is, you know, Byron Murphy's the best defensive and tackle in football.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: I'm like, is he the best on his team? And that's no knock on Byron Murphy. That's just how good Leonard Williams is.
00:16:07
Speaker 4: You've got just two absolute studs in that line, plus a bunch of really good players around him. It's not just those two, but it's like, man, when you start there with the defense, you've got a chance to be special.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and that brings us to our conversation about the Denver Broncos and what we can expect from them. Look, it is a team that we have not seen very often because of the way the conferences line up. But Denver has faced the Rams and the 49ers already this season. Now, here's what we know, that there was a change made as to who the play.
00:16:37
Speaker 5: Caller was on offense.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Sean Payton took that back.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: Sean Payton took that back. And here's where they improved. With Sean Payton calling plays last week against the Chargers, Denver scored 10 first-half points. They had scored 13 first-half points in the four games combined leading up to that. I don't know that any of the other numbers were on the positive side of things, John. Did you take a look at some of Bo Nix's numbers and what they were doing?
00:17:07
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:17:08
Speaker 4: I mean, I haven't dug super deep into it yet this week. But, yeah, I mean, their offense has not– I mean, this was a team coming the year that was going to win with elite defense.
00:17:17
Speaker 1: And, you know, they would hope good offense.
00:17:19
Speaker 4: And so far the offense has– you know, their defense has still been carrying it, but their offense has not been up to snuff. And I don't know, you know– Bo Nix is obviously coming off a pretty significant injury at the end of his season in the playoffs, and you wonder if that's a factor. He's a guy that can run around normally, and that's part of his game. So, again, I haven't watched enough of them to make judgments, but just numbers-wise, it's clearly not where they want it to be.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nix threw for 123 yards last week against the Chargers. That is the second lowest total of his career. Denver as a whole, it was just 224 yards. And that ankle injury is something that Devin Witherspoon brought up in a conversation that we had today. Because I asked, you know, how much does it change when you have a new play caller? Like the pieces are still the same. And he said, you know, there's a couple of things. Number one, you're not sure what the go-to plays are going to be because you don't know what Sean Payton feels most comfortable with. And he said, number two, people forget that that injury is still a factor, right? Like you're healthy enough to be out there playing. You might even feel your version of 100%. But he said that it changes like making sure that Bo Nix gets into some version of an easy, you know, pitch and catch rhythm.
00:18:26
Speaker 5: And I thought that was.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: Interesting because I wouldn't have thought that that injury was still a factor. I'm not a quarterback in the NFL, but I'd forgotten about that. And certainly seems like there's some big opportunities for the defense up front.
00:18:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, this is a, you know, there's opportunities for this defense against any opponent.
00:18:42
Speaker 1: They're good enough.
00:18:42
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think they look at this as a team that you mentioned, like getting the ball out quick and doing things like that. This defense is so good. The pass rush might not be there if they're getting the ball quick, but they're so good at rallying and tackling and limiting those plays. So I think this Seahawks defense, you know, again, we'll talk about this more, but if the offense can take care of the football and not put the defense in bad spots, I think this could be.
00:19:04
Speaker 1: A really good opportunity for the defense to have a good game.
00:19:06
Speaker 2: Yep, and the number that I should have looked up was how many third and longs has this team been forced into because Denver converted just one of their 12 third down opportunities last week. So I would surmise that they were in some third and long situations that, again, are pretty favorable for the Seahawks. I mean, we're getting kind of towards the end of our conversation, but here's what I want to point out. There's a lot of things that can happen, and we have seen some trends in the fourth quarter where the defense just hasn't been the stoppers that we have gotten to know them to be. I could have said that a little more eloquently, but you know where I'm going with that one. Since the start of 2024, the Broncos.
00:19:50
Speaker 5: Are 11 and 10.
00:19:51
Speaker 2: That means they have a winning record when they trail in the fourth quarter.
00:19:56
Speaker 5: That is the most such wins. It is the highest.
00:19:59
Speaker 2: Winning percentage in the NFL during that time. And if you get them in a one score game, they are probably going to win because they won 11 one score games last year. They are 3-0 in those games this year. What I'm saying is don't leave the game to the fourth quarter.
00:20:18
Speaker 4: Get a nice cushy two score lead.
00:20:21
Speaker 5: That's right. I need a two score lead, John.
00:20:23
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:20:24
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Well, since John is giving me that look, I'm going to say it is time to get the two things we need to see from the Seahawks to get a win in Denver this week. And I'm going to guess we have the same two things. We have at least one of the things. John, do you want to tell the people what we have? I'm going to guess the one we have is turnovers. Because look, you can't turn the ball. There's different players to blame. There's different coaches will say it's on us.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: But Whatever the cause.
00:20:55
Speaker 4: You cannot turn the ball over the way this team has in losses. Seven turnovers in losses this season. Opponents in the last three games, including that Chargers game, have 45 points off turnovers, including two defensive touchdowns. That's not winning football. You can go back to last season. This team, since this time of year last season, the Seahawks team is all but unbeatable if they just take care of the football. They are 17-3 postseason included since the They started 3-2 last year also. Since then, 17-3, three losses, featured 11 turnovers. So just don't do that, and you're fine.
00:21:32
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:21:33
Speaker 5: I'm going to say, so I agree with you on that one.
00:21:36
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: And I could go a number of ways, but here's what, I mean, if you just stay on the field on third down on offense, you're right there.
00:21:46
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to go third down. Wow.
00:21:49
Speaker 5: Were you really going to go third down?
00:21:50
Speaker 1: I have it right in front of me.
00:21:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: If you just stay on the field, I mean, that solves most of your problems because it means that you're running the ball efficiently. Hopefully it means that you're scoring in the red zone. Your defense isn't put into those positions.
00:22:03
Speaker 5: Like it's right there.
00:22:05
Speaker 2: And I know that they have had some amazing plays where you don't even get to third down, but just grind it out because that Thursday game, it is always a tough one.
00:22:14
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:22:15
Speaker 4: I mean, you are almost 50%. You're six for 13 in week two. And since then it's three for nine, three for 12, three for 12. And you hear this all the time from coaches and players, like third down is really a first and second down stat. And that's where we've seen these last couple of games where the X have gone three for 12 on third downs. Like they're getting in bad third down situation. So to me, being better on third down, isn't necessarily you're executing better on third down. It's that you, like you said, you're running the ball, you're getting those short gains.
00:22:39
Speaker 1: You're not getting sacked in early downs.
00:22:41
Speaker 4: We saw, I think it was the very first play, this offensive play of the game last week, the CX get a seven yard run, immediately take a seven yard sack. So it's just, staying on schedule and getting those easier third and shorts. And I think this offense can look a heck of a lot better if you do that.
00:22:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have overthought this matchup as much as we possibly could on.
00:22:59
Speaker 5: A short week.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: We're hoping the Seahawks just go out there and let it rip on Thursday. We'll be back with you next week to break it down and see what happened on another episode of the Seahawks Insiders Podcast.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Seahawks Insiders. Getting you ready for Seahawks football every Sunday. Now, here's your host, Jen Mueller.
00:00:10
Speaker 2: Sometimes, though, we are getting you ready for football on Thursday, which is exactly what is happening this week. Seattle getting a chance to turn the page quickly after a disappointing loss to the 49ers. And, John Boyle, what was it that Julian Love told us not too long ago that that's the benefit of the Thursday night game?
00:00:27
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:00:28
Speaker 4: It's as much as guys don't like it physically it's really tough i think there is you know it's almost sounds cliche because we hear it so often but like if you're coming off a tough loss there's a lot of value and like we're not going to spend monday and tuesday into wednesday thinking about the game we lost before we get to work on the next game it's you're back in the building monday turning the page moving on to the next game and i think you know he he's i think i came out of the term he is like they're they're a hungry team i think is what he might have said like they They know they could be a lot better than their 3-2 record, and they're eager to clean some things up and go show it.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, Julian was saying, you know, you don't think about it. You just go out and do it. So we're not going to worry about how our bodies feel. We'll kind of figure that part out. Cooper Cupp also was talking about just kind of the feel and the uneasiness.
00:01:12
Speaker 5: You don't like that feeling after a loss. And I don't know.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: I'd love your read on this, John. Do you think the uneasiness is truly... just related to the outcome of the game? Or do you think the uneasiness is there's some question as to why the pieces aren't fitting together the way this team knows it could?
00:01:31
Speaker 4: I think it's the uneasiness is they know they're like they're getting in their own way and it's causing them to underachieve. It's like this is a team that obviously had a great season last year, won a title and has the pieces in place to be that type of team again. But they're not doing it right now. Julian Love said we're a good team right now. We're not a great team. but were capable of it. And he also made the point, like, they weren't very happy coming out of the win against the Chargers either. This isn't just a results-based, oh, we lost a tough one. This is three games in a row now where some real serious mistakes has either cost them the game in the case of two losses or caused the game to be a lot closer than it needed to be.
00:02:05
Speaker 2: You know, I will say the vibe in the locker room after the Chargers loss, they were more upset. And I'm not saying they were not disappointed to lose to the 49ers. I do think they had more answers after the 49ers game than they did necessarily against the Chargers. What stood out to them against the Chargers were all of the glaring errors. 49ers, it's like, yep, we know exactly what happened. We know how to fix this. We know where we're attacking this.
00:02:33
Speaker 4: And not to make this whole conversation recapping Julian Love's press conference, but the other point he made is like, he's like, I've been on teams, you know, probably referencing some of his Giants teams, but maybe even some of the earlier Seahawks teams where it's like, I've been on teams where you think you played really good football and you still lost. And you're like, there's times, there's teams around this league that's like, even at your best, you're not going to beat certain teams. And that is the exact opposite of what the Seahawks team is like. Going back to really that week 11 loss to the Rams last year, they came out of that game like, okay, this is supposedly the best team in the league. Everyone's talking about the Rams. We turned it over four times and we're right there at the end. And that's how they feel. I mean, 49ers, by all accounts, right now at least, have the right to say they're the best team in the NFL. You gave them 21 points off turnovers, and you were, I mean, a controversial fourth down call away from sending that game to overtime.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: So there is that sense of like, we're getting in our own way, but we.
00:03:23
Speaker 4: Don't feel like anybody's actually better than us if we just do things right.
00:03:26
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I got from Julian.
00:03:28
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Also, Julian had said, There are games that you lose that you think you played, but you lost by two touchdowns.
00:03:36
Speaker 5: That's the other part of this, right? You're not losing by two scores.
00:03:39
Speaker 2: You don't feel like this game is out of reach or unattainable at any point in time.
00:03:42
Speaker 5: I mean, they've lost by what? A total of five points?
00:03:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, three points and two points, yeah.
00:03:48
Speaker 5: In these two games.
00:03:48
Speaker 1: We should have just brought Julian in here and put him in the other chair.
00:03:51
Speaker 3: Oh, man.
00:03:51
Speaker 1: He could have just recapped this for us. I think they're in meetings right now.
00:03:55
Speaker 5: I think, yeah.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: We're just recapping because he's so good.
00:03:57
Speaker 5: I know he is.
00:03:59
Speaker 1: So good in a press conference.
00:03:59
Speaker 6: Good.
00:04:00
Speaker 5: He is really good.
00:04:01
Speaker 2: It is a short week. Here's something else that we learned about Julian Love. He has never played a game in Denver.
00:04:06
Speaker 1: That surprised me.
00:04:07
Speaker 5: I don't know how this has happened.
00:04:09
Speaker 1: It makes sense.
00:04:09
Speaker 4: He's an NFC guy. You only go to an AFC tournament every eight years. He probably just missed it in the rotation and came here.
00:04:17
Speaker 2: Well, either way, he is going to have to do this on a short week and at altitude, which is something all the coaching staff knows, too.
00:04:25
Speaker 3: We've done it multiple ways. You're fighting kind of a battle on two fronts. It's the health, body, battle of um trying to get your body ready to play the best you can and so um how you recover and how you how you kind of get reps without going full speed there's a there's an element there it's also something we said about getting your body moving at some point before the game so that's something we consider that's that's number one and then two it's uh into the balance of having a great clear concise aggressive plan that uh you could go execute at a high.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: Level Yeah, it's funny. Altitude's almost like the international game time zone.
00:05:03
Speaker 4: Like, there's different approaches to it and different signs. But really, like, the only way you're going to adjust to altitude is spend time there. And Thursday game, it's not like you have that option. So you get out there and you hope that you're, you know, in good enough shape in general to weather that. But, yeah, there's not really a lot. You know, you can't simulate altitude at practice. You can simulate crowd noise. You can simulate water if you need to get.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: The balls wet or whatever. But, yeah, altitude, that's just a thing you're going to have to live with.
00:05:27
Speaker 5: I know.
00:05:28
Speaker 2: My grandparents, my extended family, grew up in Colorado. And every time I go, the first workout that you do, you're like, you're sucking wind.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: You go for a run and you're like, I am so out of shape.
00:05:39
Speaker 5: That's exactly right.
00:05:40
Speaker 2: But then you can convince yourself you're in better shape when you get back to sea level. And it's just, It's a real mind game that you play with each other.
00:05:49
Speaker 5: Look, here's the other thing.
00:05:51
Speaker 2: We can talk about the opponent, and we will, but on a week like this, when it's a short week, it really does come back to, hey, what are we doing, right?
00:05:58
Speaker 5: The focus is always internal.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: And on the offensive side of things, there's some question marks, whether it's in the run game, it's the turnovers, it's third down, and it's still only a quarter of a season with your offensive coordinator. So there is room for growth. certainly on offense, but Mike McDonald sees even more.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: We expect to grow in all three phases. There's a sense of urgency to go. I think sometimes you grow best by kind of doubling down on your core competencies and the things you believe in. I think that's something we want to focus on is making sure that we're all aligned in all the things from players to coaches and how we want to play and how we want to execute and what's expected of us. But yeah, I mean... We're growing on defense. We're growing on special teams. I think you saw our special teams take a jump yesterday. Offense is right there with them, but there's a sense of urgency to get going.
00:06:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's one of these inevitable, you always hope to just have the smooth transition. But when you change coordinators, even if it's a similar scheme, there's going to be some growing. I think it's also a little unfair to say, oh, new coordinator, that's why these things are going on. I think the issues at running back, health-wise are probably the biggest factor right now in what we're seeing in offense, not just because your two most skilled running backs are hurt, but also, you know, you're turning the ball over multiple times in the run game, which just you can't do.
00:07:21
Speaker 1: So that's a big factor. I do like kind of an aside.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: I think it's important the way Mike McDonald, like the language there, like he's a defensive guy.
00:07:28
Speaker 1: He runs his defense.
00:07:29
Speaker 4: For him to make this, you know, you ask a question about the offense and the coordinator, and he turns it to the defense and the special teams. I think that's kind of a broader topic right now for this team is, The offense, there's no getting around it. The offense has put the defense in some tough spots in both these losses. But you're not hearing the griping, the finger pointing, all that. That's important for a team that's going through a little bit of a rough patch that guys are staying together.
00:07:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think that that is the differentiator. And I made a point to ask guys about that in the locker room. I made a point to look for that during the game. I mean, look, we have seen this with some of the best Seahawks teams in the last 20 years.
00:08:04
Speaker 5: Things would get heated on the sidelines.
00:08:07
Speaker 2: And they loved each other and they appreciated the skill set. But I have seen more than one shouting match on the sideline. I did not see any of that on Sunday. I've not seen any of that this year. In fact, what you see is both sides of the ball high-fiving each other. The defense saying, okay, we got you.
00:08:24
Speaker 5: No problem. We're going to go out and do this.
00:08:26
Speaker 2: It's Cooper Cup today saying, you know, sitting in the quarterback room, in the wide receiver room, everybody's critical.
00:08:32
Speaker 5: But it's not of each other.
00:08:34
Speaker 2: It's of themselves. I mean, we say that, and again, it might sound like nice coach speak. John, you and I have been around teams where that is not true. It is really easy to say, and it is really hard to not let emotions get in the way of what could be happening.
00:08:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
00:08:50
Speaker 4: I mean, you can say one thing in press conference, but if you're around a team, you can sense it probably more than anywhere, like you're saying on the sideline, which I'm not down there, but you are in the moment if guys are mad. But then what you end up hearing from players is like, They're not mad that the offense put them in that spot. It's, you know, Ernest Jones being, like, mad. If they get the ball in the 11-yard line, we got home to a field goal. That's the mindset. So it's like, to them, it's like, okay, we didn't do our job because they still got in the end zone, even though they were put in a pretty crappy spot.
00:09:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say body language has been really remarkable. Nobody's throwing helmets. Nobody's, you know, it kind of got that bad body language going on. But that offense... it does have an opportunity this week against the Denver defense. And I'm thinking specifically in the run game, it was really tough to get anything going last week, 89 yards. It's the second lowest total this year. But when I look at the Broncos, John, they're 25th in the league, excuse me, 29th in the league in rush defense, allowing about 142 a game.
00:09:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's something this offense really needs to be able to lean on.
00:09:52
Speaker 1: And again, the.
00:09:53
Speaker 4: Injury situation is unfortunate. But we've seen you know, a couple games this year they have been able to get Emmanuel Wilson going, and we'll see if they want to, you know, add anybody to the mix this week with Robert Henry, who they signed.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: Maybe he's active. We'll see if he's ready to go.
00:10:08
Speaker 4: But, you know, I think they're going to expect more out of the guys they got because that's who they have right now, and you hope to get Charbonnet back real soon. But, yeah, whoever's on the field, they got to execute better. First and foremost, they obviously have to take care of the football. But they need to get more of that run game.
00:10:21
Speaker 2: Well, and we know the story behind the turnovers for Seattle and the number of points that it has led to from opponents. Denver's defense has been really good at taking the ball away. They've got seven takeaways, including a pick six. They've had at least one takeaway in four of five games. They also have a couple of fumble recoveries. That is halfway to their total from last year. So it is an opportunistic defense. You do not want to give them these opportunities.
00:10:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
00:10:50
Speaker 2: I also think when you're looking for players to give you more, JSN's name is not at the top of that list. I think he has established himself as the go-to, and yet he was awfully hard on himself after that game, and Mike McDonald noticed.
00:11:06
Speaker 3: I'm not surprised to hear that from Jax, but, I mean, is there a player you trust more with the ball thrown to him on the planet? I don't think so. It doesn't change one bit the way we see it. It was a really tough catch. I know he wants to come down with it. We obviously have faith that he'll catch those passes, but nobody we trust more than JSM.
00:11:28
Speaker 4: The reaction in the press box, and probably the whole stadium, like when he didn't come down with that catch, again, not like an easy routine catch, was like, you're just so used to every big moment him coming through. So it's like, kind of the stun, like, oh, wow, he didn't catch it. But yeah, and then he comes in, does a postgame press conference, and he's, you know, very hard on himself saying, you know, I got to catch the damn ball and Um, it is, it's hard. Cause it's like, obviously in that moment, you're like, it is, you count on your guys to make plays and you didn't do it, but it's like, you're not the team you are the last two years without him being the best receiver in football.
00:11:57
Speaker 1: And he's such a huge part of what you do.
00:11:59
Speaker 3: It's hard.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: He can be hard himself. It's hard for anyone else to really be too critical of him.
00:12:04
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:12:04
Speaker 2: And you're also not in this position as being one of the best teams in football over the last couple of years, if it wasn't for Sam Darnold and Sam will be the first one to tell you that those turnovers are unacceptable because And I think, again, in hearing from Cooper Cup today, he does have a remarkable ability to flush the play and get back on track, which is noticeable. And I thought Cooper's comment today was interesting of you can tell when somebody gets to the line of scrimmage and they have not let go of the last play.
00:12:35
Speaker 5: I thought that was just kind of an interesting aside and story.
00:12:37
Speaker 4: And I think with players like that, it's always important to point out, too, that he's it's not just how he's got to flush in the losses. Like if you talk to him after. he has one of the best games of his life in the NFC championship game. He's still going to be the same kind of demeanor after a phenomenal game.
00:12:52
Speaker 1: Then, okay.
00:12:53
Speaker 4: He turned it over a couple of times in this one. So that's, I think in general thought position, that's important.
00:12:57
Speaker 1: And he has it.
00:12:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker 5: And it's not about forgetting.
00:13:00
Speaker 2: You still come back to it and try to correct your mistakes, but leadership is one.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Of those qualities that Sam possesses in spades.
00:13:08
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think Sam's a great representation of everyone. We have an offense and really our football team. I mean, We get a lot of questions on offense, but as a team, there's things we fell short of yesterday. We take ownership of our area responsibility. And when your quarterback is one of those guys leading the charge saying that, hey, I've got to do X, Y, and Z better, I think it sets the table for everybody else at play to have the same mentality. And I think if you have that mentality, you've got a really good chance to improve. So like I said this morning, I really love our group. I love the people involved. I trust them. Let's go have that, you know, let's go get better.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that gets overlooked, and we've said today so many times, oh, we talked to Cooper. Oh, we talked to Julian. JSN talked after the game. George Helani talked after the game, right? There's a lot of guys. Here's the other thing that gets overlooked. None of those guys have to talk.
00:14:01
Speaker 5: And they did.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: And they explained exactly what happened. And their messaging after the game was very clear. It was very on point. They all had accountability. And I really appreciate, I mean, I appreciate that as a sideline reporter. But again, I have been on teams where that is not what it sounds like after a loss.
00:14:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think you're in this business enough, you can be around some teams where you can tell, like, just the team is down.
00:14:26
Speaker 1: They don't want to talk to media.
00:14:28
Speaker 4: It's pretty easy after a game to sneak out of that locker room without having to talk to anybody.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: You don't see that with this team.
00:14:34
Speaker 5: Yeah. You know what you do see with this team?
00:14:37
Speaker 2: What? lot of pressure by the defensive line and a couple of sacks against the quarterback.
00:14:44
Speaker 6: Who had yet to go down this year I did I cheered on the sidelines yeah I felt like that streak had a real good shot at ending with Purdy coming.
00:14:55
Speaker 4: In that game with those sacks like the that Seahawks front is too good and the coverage behind him is too good like you're gonna put him in some tough spots and sure enough Byron Murphy At one point, Byron Murphy had two sacks, and the NFL had none on him. Ernest Jones added to the mix later, but he does. I think I tweeted that during the game. It was like, Byron Murphy, two sacks, rest of NFL, zero.
00:15:15
Speaker 1: Zero, yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: He's going to get his opportunity this week against Bo Nix, but before we get to that matchup, I mean, Mike McDonald needs to sing his praises.
00:15:25
Speaker 3: Byron's playing dominant football right now, and I think we've got to do a better job around him so he can, you know, so those plays come to life a little bit more, setting up some of the more past situations where he went on early downs. But yeah, Byron's playing really great.
00:15:41
Speaker 4: I remember in some of the years, the Seahawks teams were like kind of in that good, not great mode. And the thing you hear from like a Pete Carroll or John Shires, they talk about like game wreckers. Like those are like the hardest guys to find. And those are the elite teams has those game records. This team's got legitimately two of them. Like I saw during the game, some of you tweet that like, oh, this is, you know, Byron Murphy's the best defensive and tackle in football.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: I'm like, is he the best on his team? And that's no knock on Byron Murphy. That's just how good Leonard Williams is.
00:16:07
Speaker 4: You've got just two absolute studs in that line, plus a bunch of really good players around him. It's not just those two, but it's like, man, when you start there with the defense, you've got a chance to be special.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and that brings us to our conversation about the Denver Broncos and what we can expect from them. Look, it is a team that we have not seen very often because of the way the conferences line up. But Denver has faced the Rams and the 49ers already this season. Now, here's what we know, that there was a change made as to who the play.
00:16:37
Speaker 5: Caller was on offense.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Sean Payton took that back.
00:16:40
Speaker 2: Sean Payton took that back. And here's where they improved. With Sean Payton calling plays last week against the Chargers, Denver scored 10 first-half points. They had scored 13 first-half points in the four games combined leading up to that. I don't know that any of the other numbers were on the positive side of things, John. Did you take a look at some of Bo Nix's numbers and what they were doing?
00:17:07
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:17:08
Speaker 4: I mean, I haven't dug super deep into it yet this week. But, yeah, I mean, their offense has not– I mean, this was a team coming the year that was going to win with elite defense.
00:17:17
Speaker 1: And, you know, they would hope good offense.
00:17:19
Speaker 4: And so far the offense has– you know, their defense has still been carrying it, but their offense has not been up to snuff. And I don't know, you know– Bo Nix is obviously coming off a pretty significant injury at the end of his season in the playoffs, and you wonder if that's a factor. He's a guy that can run around normally, and that's part of his game. So, again, I haven't watched enough of them to make judgments, but just numbers-wise, it's clearly not where they want it to be.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nix threw for 123 yards last week against the Chargers. That is the second lowest total of his career. Denver as a whole, it was just 224 yards. And that ankle injury is something that Devin Witherspoon brought up in a conversation that we had today. Because I asked, you know, how much does it change when you have a new play caller? Like the pieces are still the same. And he said, you know, there's a couple of things. Number one, you're not sure what the go-to plays are going to be because you don't know what Sean Payton feels most comfortable with. And he said, number two, people forget that that injury is still a factor, right? Like you're healthy enough to be out there playing. You might even feel your version of 100%. But he said that it changes like making sure that Bo Nix gets into some version of an easy, you know, pitch and catch rhythm.
00:18:26
Speaker 5: And I thought that was.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: Interesting because I wouldn't have thought that that injury was still a factor. I'm not a quarterback in the NFL, but I'd forgotten about that. And certainly seems like there's some big opportunities for the defense up front.
00:18:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, this is a, you know, there's opportunities for this defense against any opponent.
00:18:42
Speaker 1: They're good enough.
00:18:42
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think they look at this as a team that you mentioned, like getting the ball out quick and doing things like that. This defense is so good. The pass rush might not be there if they're getting the ball quick, but they're so good at rallying and tackling and limiting those plays. So I think this Seahawks defense, you know, again, we'll talk about this more, but if the offense can take care of the football and not put the defense in bad spots, I think this could be.
00:19:04
Speaker 1: A really good opportunity for the defense to have a good game.
00:19:06
Speaker 2: Yep, and the number that I should have looked up was how many third and longs has this team been forced into because Denver converted just one of their 12 third down opportunities last week. So I would surmise that they were in some third and long situations that, again, are pretty favorable for the Seahawks. I mean, we're getting kind of towards the end of our conversation, but here's what I want to point out. There's a lot of things that can happen, and we have seen some trends in the fourth quarter where the defense just hasn't been the stoppers that we have gotten to know them to be. I could have said that a little more eloquently, but you know where I'm going with that one. Since the start of 2024, the Broncos.
00:19:50
Speaker 5: Are 11 and 10.
00:19:51
Speaker 2: That means they have a winning record when they trail in the fourth quarter.
00:19:56
Speaker 5: That is the most such wins. It is the highest.
00:19:59
Speaker 2: Winning percentage in the NFL during that time. And if you get them in a one score game, they are probably going to win because they won 11 one score games last year. They are 3-0 in those games this year. What I'm saying is don't leave the game to the fourth quarter.
00:20:18
Speaker 4: Get a nice cushy two score lead.
00:20:21
Speaker 5: That's right. I need a two score lead, John.
00:20:23
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:20:24
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Well, since John is giving me that look, I'm going to say it is time to get the two things we need to see from the Seahawks to get a win in Denver this week. And I'm going to guess we have the same two things. We have at least one of the things. John, do you want to tell the people what we have? I'm going to guess the one we have is turnovers. Because look, you can't turn the ball. There's different players to blame. There's different coaches will say it's on us.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: But Whatever the cause.
00:20:55
Speaker 4: You cannot turn the ball over the way this team has in losses. Seven turnovers in losses this season. Opponents in the last three games, including that Chargers game, have 45 points off turnovers, including two defensive touchdowns. That's not winning football. You can go back to last season. This team, since this time of year last season, the Seahawks team is all but unbeatable if they just take care of the football. They are 17-3 postseason included since the They started 3-2 last year also. Since then, 17-3, three losses, featured 11 turnovers. So just don't do that, and you're fine.
00:21:32
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:21:33
Speaker 5: I'm going to say, so I agree with you on that one.
00:21:36
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:21:37
Speaker 2: And I could go a number of ways, but here's what, I mean, if you just stay on the field on third down on offense, you're right there.
00:21:46
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to go third down. Wow.
00:21:49
Speaker 5: Were you really going to go third down?
00:21:50
Speaker 1: I have it right in front of me.
00:21:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: If you just stay on the field, I mean, that solves most of your problems because it means that you're running the ball efficiently. Hopefully it means that you're scoring in the red zone. Your defense isn't put into those positions.
00:22:03
Speaker 5: Like it's right there.
00:22:05
Speaker 2: And I know that they have had some amazing plays where you don't even get to third down, but just grind it out because that Thursday game, it is always a tough one.
00:22:14
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:22:15
Speaker 4: I mean, you are almost 50%. You're six for 13 in week two. And since then it's three for nine, three for 12, three for 12. And you hear this all the time from coaches and players, like third down is really a first and second down stat. And that's where we've seen these last couple of games where the X have gone three for 12 on third downs. Like they're getting in bad third down situation. So to me, being better on third down, isn't necessarily you're executing better on third down. It's that you, like you said, you're running the ball, you're getting those short gains.
00:22:39
Speaker 1: You're not getting sacked in early downs.
00:22:41
Speaker 4: We saw, I think it was the very first play, this offensive play of the game last week, the CX get a seven yard run, immediately take a seven yard sack. So it's just, staying on schedule and getting those easier third and shorts. And I think this offense can look a heck of a lot better if you do that.
00:22:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have overthought this matchup as much as we possibly could on.
00:22:59
Speaker 5: A short week.
00:22:59
Speaker 2: We're hoping the Seahawks just go out there and let it rip on Thursday. We'll be back with you next week to break it down and see what happened on another episode of the Seahawks Insiders Podcast.
