Real Hawk Talk Episode 328: Pete, Mike, Final Preseason Game

hey everybody it's Brian before I did this Seahawk stuff full-time I worked as a manager and Senior leader so I know how lonely it can be to try to find someone you trust to talk through people issues org issues process issues as you try to lead an organization Ryan Cleveland of Ryan cleveland.com is someone I trust to have those conversations with he specialized in working with CEOs and business owners and you can get a complimentary free Discovery session to see if it's a good fit for you just go to Ryan cleveland.com to sign up and start now hello everybody Welcome to the 328th episode of real Hawk talk I am Brian Mouser you can find me on Twitter and Instagram hawkblogger and uh I'm I'm starting tonight with a kind of a surprise um there was not one not two not three not four there's four reminders in chat about what time real Hawk talk was going to start this week 7:00 p.m. Pacific time and and Evan Hill asked like I don't know like maybe an hour after I was like 7 o'clock we're all good he's like so we're doing six o'clock tonight and it's Evan that is the one that's actually here on time and Nathan Ernst is late dude how do you explain that man I don't so these Twitter gc's like we need to be can we pin comments in Twitter group chats I feel like that assumes there's any active development going on on that platform that's fair I you know what you know what not to so here's the here's the thing you know this about me Brian I'm normally a very detailed person I'm a calendar person I'm ty a calendar person I am an I'm a little bit of an a-hole like when it comes to like that type of type a rigid you know I'm just rigid um but what I do is I our chat get going sometimes and I just don't scroll all the way up so but in this case it sounds like it was barely above my messages so you literally came in after my message and started talking about some sort of Bitcoin something or other and I'm like so so it was like it was like right there uh but it's okay dude you know I think what I'll start doing is I will I will baby you I will I will put a calendar invite in in your calendar cuz I I understand being calendar driven like I I used to be calendar driven and and like if if you don't see it in front of you you forget about it I I get it and you're not even as old as I am not even close I I literally at the point dude where I can be on my phone in an app thinking like oh I got to go to this other app and do whatever it is and I forget by the time I by the time I switch apps I forgot what I'm doing there that's how old I am and uh I am verifying that you did say it like 15 times [Applause] so uh we do get to welcome to the show Nathan erns not too late three minutes is that doesn't even qualify as late for most people uh nathan11 on Twitter how you doing Nathan pretty good uh since since you mentioned that you were uh of of age um of a certain age you also work out quite a bit um you take good care of yourself um how many injuries on average are you nursing uh at any given time are you it's an excellent question so there there's some premises in there I got to correct first of all so I I I kind of do this with taking care of myself I will either be in a death spiral of you know thousands of calories of desserts every day or and like no exercise or I'm like on top of it and so the the most injury-prone I am is the first week especially the first couple days of getting back into a workout routine so I've learned through many years of problems um that I go when I first start I go like 40% 30% it's very hard like I'm like when I work out I like go after it so it's hard for me to back off but I have to start off slow or I'm just done I I get hurt how like it sounds like you have a a story to tell no I've just yeah it's been injury Riddle as of late I've got like a shoulder thing I got an old knee injury I got a quad injury and this thing is the worst it's not even like that or anything but it's like I just strained it and it I don't know it hurts the stand around it's a bummer so yeah I feel like I'm just bouncing from one injury that I'm tending to another um but I've been you know keeping my momentum up and everything so that's been but yeah go ahead these injuries like during working out or like normal day-to-day activities like how did how did it happen working out working out okay yeah um your left shoulder oh that no that one I just sleep on it and it doesn't like that and so yeah that one that's a day-to-day activity yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Josh Cashman has named uh him Nathan esgd uh that's that's harsh dude that's harsh for both people involved har um you know I've got enough I'm I'm in the my arc of of injury is that like late 20s early 30s I had enough like I separated a shoulder diving for a a baseball in a game made the catch but you know hurt the shoulder that became like a a chronic issue whenever I play basketball If I blocked a shot my shoulder would separate and like it got to the point where I couldn't play basketball without causing all sort so I've started I started like winnowing down the sports I played and so I I I now I'm at the age where I'm like okay I'm going to get in good enough shape or I'm just going to play sports and I don't really care if I hurt myself anymore because like what am I saving it for like uh that I'm hoping I can get back to playing like outdoor soccer next summer is like a goal maybe indoor socer soccer this uh this winter I I do enjoy a little bit of that but I did not realize you were a soccer player I I know that this is already we're prebloom Fielder or striker yeah that's what you're asking yeah yeah got I was pretty fast like relatively speaking not like NFL fast but that was that was I was definitely a a sprinter not a a distance Runner I'm short as all the videos show everyone's loving me being like I won't tell you what some people refer to me as it's not fit for but anyway it's it's pretty funny people watching me um so I got to tell you guys a quick story before we we will get into all this stuff we got great stuff to talk about we got Pete Carol stuff to talk about we got I got some sound from McDonald I want to play for you guys and get your reactions to um so I got to paint a picture though for you cuz we're talking about exercise so I had the choice of kind of driving to the vmac um and taking a shuttle from like the landing during training camp like a for the reporters to the things or I asked if I could bike it's like a seven eight mile bike ride I was like they're like yeah you can bike so I've been biking two and from the vmac but that means that I walk in to the Seahawks facility with all these professional people wearing Spandex uh it's like it's it's quite the scene I'm like sweating and I walk in there and I walk into the media room and every day every's like oh Jesus like dude what are you doing um so then I change and and like um but that has been like I don't know about you guys but finding something that you can exercise as part of your day is actually really nice but it's very embarrassing too so um you know I'm willing to make that that sacrifice but I thought you guys would appreciate knowing how uh how much I'm willing to humiliate myself for my my fitness what color is your is your spandex Brian well I mean the shorts are black but like the the shirts all veryy like biker bike bike jerseys are all very loud okay so this isn't like one of those one pieces where it's like like I I envisioned like hyper close like yeah you know it's not a one piece but it's it's it's not great there's no I don't think anybody in the world looks good in biker clothes they're they're pretty bad looking but speaking of looking good I I have to ask you this Evan um so you you post all these thirst traps on your Twitter account I do not yes you do do not yes you do you post these pictures of you working out how how many people have slid into your DMs from your your your thirst trap pictures approximately three people really so greater than zero but less than I would have thought yes and the gender makeup is not [Laughter] my got it got it got it got it um Jen Maz is like you can wear sweats Brian Jesus you know what like I get this from my my my uh family as well like I I've biked I used to bike to work like 20 miles and like there's just one way I bike at this point it's the most comfortable for me and I don't care if other people think I look stupid that's kind of I'm that age so that that's just kind of how it goes um all right we missed a Super Chat I want to get to I think just one we also have Beverly Sheriff no way this may Beverly are you Jam's mom or family member because I interviewed Jamie Sheriff today and uh I'm wondering if Beverly if she's tuned in let us know but we have Mike jerell's dad is a member I don't know if you guys know that he's a member of of YouTube channel now hopefully Beverly is also but either way she's a club level member and I wanted to welcome Beverly so that's very very cool and then there was a super chat from 12th man North that says evening gentlemen need your training camp feedback on G Scott's take that Howell has basically closed the gap on Gino as a starter thoughts I think blocked on Twitter what's that blocked on Twitter has me blocked on Twitter yeah of all the people on sex Twitter you've got to be pretty high on the list of percentage blocked I would guess probably but I don't I don't think I've ever interacted with him so that's why I was kind of surprised to see it yeah I don't know I don't know I mean I like G he's a nice guy um Nathan you've watched these games the last couple weeks you've seen Sam how play uh is there anything in there that you're like yeah man let's let's let's open up this competition more I don't think I've seen him do anything that I wouldn't expect Gino to do in the same situation um he's ran a little bit more um Gino can do that though uh so no I can't I mean the guy's playing entire halfs of preseason football like this is not a competition right now and that's not to say anything about who he is as a player or like what his long-term trajectory might be as a Seattle Seahawk but like I I don't think there's no I don't think that's happening yeah if the if the phrasing was has closed the Gap that's a factual statement because Sam Howell the the Gap was Grand Canyon wide and now it's it's there like they're within the same vicinity you could probably you know see it from the other side but no any implication that this is like a real competition is just not true I I vehemently disagree with that and I think most people would as well um all right so a couple things before we get into some of the video of of Mike McDonald we got to talk about the Pete Carroll thing did you guys get a chance to hear any of the audio from Pete Carol the interview with Doug Baldwin sounds like you did Evan not the audio but like quotes yeah so um I played some of that sound for folks this morning and I was curious if if you guys had any reactions to at least what you've read uh about what Pete said um Evan we can start with you since it sound like maybe you got a little bit more exposed to it yeah there was one thing that really stood out to me um and again didn't listen to the full conversation but um I first of all I thought them running into the parking lot together like incidentally was super funny to hear about running into each other in the parking lot yes like like not in their cars um I'm just imagining like how awkward that I mean Pete Carol's not awkward so I don't think it'd be awkward from Pete's perspective but I could I think Mike Mack is a little awkward so I could have seen that interaction just being like I don't know kind of funny to witness from like a third person perspective but I the one thing that did stand out to me that I thought was like super uh respectful and honestly just like a testament to Pete and everything he did in Seattle is he mentioned very intentionally not quoting you know specifically here word for word but he said basically he he was staying away from the team in the franchise pretty intentionally letting the guys do their own things I forget the exact words but I think when you have a re when you have a franchise reset with this especially with like a leader that was so beloved across the organization across fans across players across the entire staff you know it's been what 14 years that Pete was you know the head coach here you you really do I think need to give some like emotional breathing room to the new guy to let give him the opportunity to really like establish his footprint and by the way I think this is like with any organizational major leadership change like this when somebody is so beloved like it's probably wise and respectful to withdraw their presence so I think I just found that super cool from Pete like I know he loves everybody in Seattle know he's super close with the ownership and everything like that and I'm sure Pete probably wants to be running up and down the football field right now but um I just thought the fact that he communicate not only the fact that he's doing that intentionally sort of staying away from the franchise but also is publicly communicating that I think is not only like a sign of respect towards Mike Mack but I think just a testament to his legacy like this guy is doing it the right way he's handling this transition perfectly I know there were questions about how involved he was going to stay with the team you know and all that sort of stuff and I know it's very delicate but I just like couldn't be more impressed with how he's handling this and frankly I expected nothing less so yeah Nathan you know it's it's one of those things where I when I've I've listened to the the interview and I listened to that sound I've been under the assumption that Mike McDonald was kind of keeping distance and was kind of being a little bit proud um a little NIH about about not wanting to reach out to Pete Carol and do things his own way but it sounds almost the opposite that Pete's basically kind of not wanted to have that contact and as much as I think Pete is a Class Act I also like you know how he felt about the Jets thing when he got fired you know how he felt about the New England thing like that sticks with him and I think that is probably stuck with him as well I don't know if he want I don't know if he's doing the distance for the Seahawks sake or if he is like not ready to have that relationship it honestly it bummed me out a little bit because I feel like Mike McDonald could benefit a lot from having Pete as someone he could reach out to my guess is Pete's not ready for that I was kind of curious what what your thoughts were yeah I didn't hear the audio so it's hard for me to get a read on it I would say there probably a lot of things though that are going into it like you're probably not wrong like there's a little like he the I think a lot about his comment about like it's all you now John uh and how much of that is like like no it's all you got you got to do this by yourself now um but I'm sure there's lots of stuff going on too like I mean he's obviously having to transition so maybe he's trying to be intentional about it from that perspective and you know I don't know whether Mike's being too proud or not but like I'm sure he wants to make his own name and all that too um so just a lot of weird things that I think it makes the most sense for him to uh you know just yeah be away and um sounds like the relationships are fine um like there's I mean I don't know if there's no hard feelings but there's not animosity so like I don't think there's going to be any questions about like hey Pete you want to come back in the year and raise the 12th man flag or you know get him in the Ring of Honor have him spe you know all that stuff I'm sure it'll still happen so uh do we know who approached to in the parking lot was like one of those where Pete's like kind of like this and probably flipped I think Pete flipped his keys to McDonald to park for him realizing that he's a new coach sure I wanted I want a video feed from the seaha security team on that interaction I want the play byplay what what do you guys think would be the appropriate game or type of game to have Pete raise the 12th man flag NFC Championship game against the 49ers do I was wondering that but like that's historically that has always been Paul Allen or I think yeah those have always been Paul Allen um so I don't know if owner like if jod would be the person who would do that but in a lot of ways I would love to see Pete in that moment I mean the other thing is like kind of going back to it though you don't want to have Pete overshadowing it right like do you like let's if they get to the NFC Championship this year or next year and like is Pete really the guy you want I don't know like it feels like this is a new thing this is a fresh thing and it's not like it'd be bad to have Pete there but is that is that the guy like I feel like there needs I feel like Mike needs to do he needs to have his own moment first and so like I think it probably needs to be like it shouldn't be this year probably shouldn't be next year like what but like if Pete comes out and he's like nope I'm done I'm retired I'm never coaching again and they want to get him into the Ring of Honor next year or something like that then then do that but I don't know I feel like just for the same reasons like he needs to let this team and Mike and and everybody have their own moment yeah I think it has to fit two requirements has to be a playoff game and it has to be a game where their backs are against the wall dude of some major injury or whatever because that is your magic trap card and you can only use it once and let me just say there's no way they're losing that game Pete's like 82 though they can't be too picky here like not that old but gon be doing at like 105 okay true it's true I I kind of agree with Nathan not about the 82 but just about I I want to make sure he gets to do it so I don't think they should wait that long but I do also agree like I am already like unreasonably at the point this is totally unreasonable but I'm going to own it I've already gotten to the point where I believe Mike McDonald's going to be here for a long time like I'm not in an evaluation phase with Mike McDonald at this point I'm like how high can he go that's my mindset how long can he be here with that in mind like yeah like let's figure out how long he needs till he sets it in but I'm looking forward to the Ring of Honor point I feel like that will be the moment where the it's kind of the the circle is is is squared or whatever they say and Pete's kind of back like there'll be a conversation I'm sure they would talk at that point and I think communication lines would open back up and I love the idea of in whenever that is couple years three years whatever that Mike McDonald Pete Caroll like meet in the parking lot again and and have dinner together this time and and just swap stories like I would love that I think a lot of fans would love that um but yeah it's it was really I don't know you guys didn't hear the Audio I highly recommend you listen to it just hearing Pete's voice it it hit me a little bit just hearing like I was like wow I've not heard that voice in a while hearing him talk to Doug ball alwin who did the interview it was it was a really good it was a good listen so definitely recommend it um so Switching gears but related to this I had done some research about 10: a.m. starts for the Seahawks and I don't know if you guys know this I know you know that 10 a.m. used to be like an absolute curse for Seattle right I don't know if you knew how much of a curse it was that I thought that no other Seahawks coach had ever had a winning record on 10 a.m. games turns out Chuck Knox was two games over 500 he's like I don't know what it was but he was barely over 500 so he was the only other coach the Seahawks only won 40% of their 10 a.m. starts before Pete Caroll started here they won 60% during the Pete Carol era so like he had something going that no one else had figured out so I wanted to ask Mike McDonald about it and here is what he said well we I was very well aware of that stat and uh you know a commend everybody involved in how they how they've done it around done at a high level and we're trying to implement a lot of the same uh methods that they've done in terms of when we're traveling the sleep you know the sleep schedules things like that so um you know hopefully we keep the trend going thing there is like he knew I read him the numbers he's like I'm very well aware of this stat and you know commended the people have done it before just curious like how did that like knowing that we just heard about the Pete Caroll like level of interaction what what's kind of your reaction to that Nathan well I so I actually heard you ask ask this question uh it was a good question and I remember though I want to say when he first got hired even he mentioned this um like maybe even in like his opening press conference he mentioned like hey getting ready for 10 a.m. starts or something like that um so I do like I believe him when he says like I'm very aware of it and um something they've been paying attention to um he's a really big Sports Science Guy too right so he is yeah so I'm sure this is something that they just hopefully they just have this in the building like I'm sure like Pete obviously deserves a lot of credit for turning that around and also just having teams that could win anything at a 60% rate um but I'm not I'm guessing that Pete wasn't necessarily masterminding like how exactly they were able to pull that off and keep their guys in good shape um and he probably relied on the same Sports Science guys that are still there that like that knowledge should be in house so hopefully it's something that he can keep rolling forward and I think the way that we've seen this team be prepared and how they' played and stayed clean and kind of everything they do um you know that so far in the preseason like hopefully that's something that it's a positive sign that they're going to be able to pull this off and keep their keep everybody ready and and crisp Evan any thoughts on that before I play the next one I didn't think so all right next bit I I I wanted to to play is uh Mike responding to a question about third downs and he was asked about I think it was Aaron LaVine asking about it about that third Downs been better well third Downs been better on offense but on defense it was good the first game not quite as good the second game listen to how Mike McDonald talked about third down defense we on offense defensively not so much uh I don't know what the actual numbers were I think they're like 30 something per but you don't count penalties and then I think there's another stat like you know they converted like four S third and 10 pluses which is like a huge no no um so you know we looked at our execution in those situations um you know you can't be getting man penalties on Third and long in The Fringe area so uh you know there's there's a lot of room for growth on defense I thought we took a step back this week so uh you we got in that area okay yes that's what I I want to hear your thoughts on that it I said this like at the beginning of like training camp and I kind of got a lot of for it on Twitter but like it it feels like he's just more blunt about some of the areas they need to improve on um than be was Am I Wrong wait say that again it feels like he's just a little bit more blunt in terms of oh their areas for improvement like he doesn't it doesn't seem like he mince his words he's like yeah we uh we sucked on Third and long today like we got to clean it up we took a step back that's nice to hear very different like real it's like not only an upward incline right yeah yeah before I respond to that Nathan what were your thoughts uh no I think I think you in the last last week pod you you know I think you described him as like when he wants to tell you something he's going to tell you like flat out and this is an example of that and then but like there's a lot of things he doesn't want to talk about like injuries or things like that uh and and you maybe get less out of him in some of those areas so it's an interesting like deal with him but yeah he's really blunt um and I like it too because I feel like sometimes coaches get Cy about weird stuff like other coaches aren't going to know they went they they let the other team convert four of seven third and 10 or whatever third and 10 plus like everyone knows this so like he obviously feels comfortable like yeah we sucked ass on Third and long and like it's cool that he's willing to talk about things that are obvious too yeah I mean that's part of what I liked what struck me was yes he's blunt he also he was highlighting the things that were very frustrating to me as a fan watching that game how many times have the Seahawks been a team that give up third and long conversions right and for him that's not like oh that was bad we're going to Min just like that's like a no no like that that that cannot happen and then he talked about the other thing which was penalties and like we cannot give up third there's four I think there was four third down conversions on penalties alone in that game and for me it is comforting whether it's realistic or not or like reasonable or not to know that the head coach is seeing the same flaws and and knowledging those same flaws because then it if you don't acknowledge what the flaws are and you don't like name them your chances of actually doing something about them I feel like get less and as much as I love Pete and I'm sure in the in the room like inwardly Pete's messaging was probably different but I have to imagine Pete was never like hey this isn't good enough that's not the way he talks and so I do think there's times where it gets a little bit Lost in Translation of like no we are not at the fraking bar like this is not acceptable and I don't think that's going to be a problem with McDonald I think the guys are going to know exactly where they stand and exactly where he stands um which I think is is cool um so Nathan we will do Patron questions after this next uh we're going to play one more sound for Mike McDonald I'm going to do some super chats that I know are waiting so we we won't forget those but I want to play this last one this this was this is one so I've asked Mike McDonald about analytics and about decision making um for for coach and I don't know if you guys paid close enough attention to the the Titans game there was an opportunity for McDonald at the end of that game to go for it on Fourth and short in Titans territory with two minutes left or take a long field goal he chose to take a field goal and I did some math about this and it's a little hard with the preseason you don't have all the data you need to really get a true fourth down you know calculation but roughly speaking it was probably a 3 to 4% better win probability to go for it than it was to kick it but it wasn't like it wasn't crazy like different so I wanted to hear I asked him like is your process for doing that the same in preseason as what it will be for regular season and here's what he said process yes same decision don't know you know how how things change um you know there's all the numbers involved we've debriefed on it it turned out to be about even um whether to go go forward or not but um you know when you go backwards on you know after a half yard line figured give a j m another shot and um put it in defensive Hands To Go close it out and and we didn't do that in a situation like that do you have somebody in your ear telling you the probabilities or is that all we have like we have language that we share so you're not you know it's not this convoluted like like math equation or whatever but uh Brian ER gives me gives it to me in real time and um those are things that you know going into that series of downs so I kind of knew what we were going to do based off the result of the play and um based on how it shakes out then you you make a final decision like I said we'll let the data drive a lot of the information we're going to do but at the end of the day you got to make you feel is best for your team and what's your what's best what drives what drives much of the the the decision making you heard him you heard him Nathan are you okay right now you're in well actually I'm a little sad because I think there was a little bit extra on the end of that right um one well the thing that caught my my attention really was one I don't think he knows his kicker's name which is understandable J is is it called JM it sounds like Jake Myers uh and also how how concerning is it that our head coach already has to send the kicker out to build up confidence he's had such a terrible pre-season that he's already like ah you know the data set we go with the data but this dude shook we got to get him back out here see if we can work through this a little bit Yeah I hadn't thought about just how tainted uh Jason Meers is is infecting the mind of our our coach but seriously though Evan I mean I had the same reaction is you like how can you imagine is there a better answer he could have given from your perspective of what you want your head coach to say about how to handle fourth Downs no and to be clear let me confirm something he said Jason Myers was in my ear before or he said no no Brian uh Brian SS I think is his name he's kind of his guy or something he's yeah he's a kind of an analytics game planning guy yeah do you did Pete have like an analytics guy in his in his headset I'm dead serious the way that Pete described it was he got hormonal is how his words not mine and he needed someone to be in his ear to control him from you know doing something he'd regret and tater was the guy designated to be in his ear to tell him like what the right thing to do was so you go from and like we love Pete we just talked about how much we love Pete that's not this is isn't just just to screw up with Pete but like that is a massive Gulf of a difference between a coach who is making purely emotional decisions that has a guy that has no analytics or data to to work with giving him information don't be hormonal or do to what we just heard from Mike McDonald I mean Nathan I mean like as someone who is very an analytically oriented how did that hit for you I mean I think it's really cool like obviously the process is there they have a legit like like you're saying someone who knows the data a little bit uh not just a crony um I thought his immediate answer was really interesting too like the process will be the same the outcome might not um which you know we'll see how that ends up shaking out like we'll see how much he ends up overriding the data like I mean this is a scenario where he went against the data um maybe a small thing but still the the right choice was to go for it so we'll need to see how it plays out but yeah it's exciting that they have a modern approach to this uh which is just not something Pete brought to the table no I I mean I just got to recap real quick he knew the data he knew he has a process they debriefed on the process afterwards he knew then afterwards how close it was he had already evaluated whether that they made the right from a decision-making standpoint like check check check check check and then he's like you know yes this was a situation where we're trying to Plate our kicker a little bit and so that factored in but it won't necessarily they did ask about that later but um but that he's going to be he's going to let the data speak for itself I mean I do think the proof will be in the pudding it is a lot harder to make that decision in a game when the game games on the line and you can take the lead with a field goal that is a tough moment to say go for it it just is um so he we'll see in the moment what he will do but I thought that was fantastic to hear and a pretty big uh ju to position with what we've seen on the Seattle Sidelines for really ever I just want you to know I'm like 10 page refreshes deep on Brian A's Twitter feed right now just to see what type of man this is Whispering into Mike Max here okay tell us I didn't know he had a Twitter feed oh I found it baby I found it um I don't know if I'm gonna put him on blast but let's his Twitter bio it says it's three steps get about six hours of sleep not sure how I feel about that number two eat a breakfast number three stay hydrated not bad advice not bad advice I don't know if that's like a an edict that I'd want to live by and that's necessarily but anyways we're stop let's get to some super chats and then we will get to patrons so um questions Nathan if you can pull those up we'll get to those in just a moment Colin ledstrom who is a patron and a YouTube member says my take coach mik is dialed in he gets it I think we all agree with that Colin uh thank you for the Super Chat Connor Moe Super Chat also YouTube member says with the depth of wide receiver how would you feel about moving on from Tyler Lockett this year how big would the drop off be either of you thinking Tyler Lockett doesn't get on the team this year yeah he'll make the roster this year I mean it's like remember they like reorganized his money right yes that is the key thing uh they restructured his deal they can't cut him it would it would let's put it this way let's just Nix it in the butt real quick it would it would cost um several million to cut them it's not happening yeah yeah I he's here this year um I do think that the question is has some interesting validity and there it's a very deep room they're likely going to cut somebody who is younger and could play with his team for longer um but I don't think that there's any question that Tyler Lockett deserves to be on the team and will be on the team uh another Super Chat from ROM says longtime subscriber love this channel I like Hawk bloga mornings but this is my favorite that's okay I'm I I love this myself Brian your energy is infectious well uh there is no vaccine for that but I appreciate your support thank you um oh my gosh Eric Tams has gifted five memberships love this this is uh my favorite thing that people do brings more people in if you want to gift memberships you got to be either on desktop or on Android um if you want to receive a free membership you have to turn on gifting in order for that to be possible I'm getting a lot of people saying uh I just got an email say saying I got a free membership thank you like uh they weren't even watching at the time so I think it's a really fun way that people are getting these and if you do get one really consider paying it forward and you can pay it forward by either you know gifting it to other people or by continuing your membership stay part of the community support the show support what we're doing here um all those things are really appreciated But Eric thank you so much for gifting appreciate it so um all right Nathan let's get to patreon questions patreon.com hawkblogger we just got a new Ring of Honor member this week which is a huge deal and that person who I'm not going to name because I like to keep things a little private um is going to be at Daniel or at least going to be invited to be at Daniel's broer with the with us as well as Jeff and some other Ring of Honor members in just a few weeks so looking forward to that Nathan what do we got in terms of questions this week uh so brexton uh says you know in baseball you have players with the moniker of quad a uh great AAA level players that always have troubles succeeding in the major leagues um has there been a Seahawks player this offseason that you think is an equivalent of that Evan who's your uh quad a player for the Seahawks right now I don't even know what that means guys explain this to me so in baseball in baseball there's players you know how there's minor leagues in baseball triple A is the highest of the minor leagues so sometimes players are like too good for for the AAA level but they're not good good enough for the majors so they call them 4A players that they just kind of like fall in between they're not quite there you remember Dustin akley Dustin akley was a qua a player okay do you have so Seahawks equivalent who is who is doing great or who is exceeding in the preseason that you think it's not going to be a real uh a real Pro or at least not a real contributor this year it hasn't drid made a couple plays this preseason has he he had a 22 yard end round and against the Chargers so that that counts like he's had a few catches that's kind of who my mind goes to probably won't make the roster but like might fall in somewhere I was teaming you up for some Sam how hate I know that you are not a I'm not a hater I'm just a Sam H how realist Matt or Brian over here is a Sam how cult member okay you thought about G Scott in that take closing the Gap I thought that came from Brian this guy's been glazing him for weeks on end it's Brian who's your quad player uh I would [Music] say maybe maybe ESOP Winston um really good player I think he can be a solid like 3 four five receiver but probably not someone who's really got highend upside beyond that I don't know if that that's a good fit but that's who comes to mind is Wallace what kind of role is Wallace going to have in the regular season Kon Wallace yeah I think he's the third safety I think he's gonna be on the field a lot interesting okay yeah I wonder if he might fall into that a little bit but I guess we'll see um okay uh Troy Fagan Byron Murphy enjoyer says simal has played well in the preseason uh seems to be coming along in practices now two if there was a QB needy team with an elite trench player like a guard or maybe an edge Defender would you consider trading how uh and rolling with Walker as backup QB I'm gonna say maybe let's drop the elite part of this because I don't think you're trading Sam how for michah persons or anything uh but Brian is samh how uh on the trading block is is he somebody that Seattle could shop for some immediate help I mean this could have been a topic in the first two weeks of Camp um because despite what Evan says which is often untrue um I was sharing in all my notes and all my shows that Sam how was not playing well and was really really really not playing well and that PJ Walker looked potentially like the better quarterback and it's been a huge turnaround since then and I think Sam how has played two very good football games in the preseason especially this last one and I just don't see any benefit in trading him that's not that's not the guy I would move he's 23 years old he gets a chance to learn under Gino Smith and Ryan grub um I I just don't see the upside to doing that so no for me it's it's a no um I don't think you get back anything worth what you'd be giving up Evan Sam Browns wants to know who is the better Seahawks kicker Steven hka Blair Walsh Sebastian Janikowski or Jason Myers I don't what stepen hka ever uh an allpro I don't think he was Jason Myers was a alternate second team allpro or something like that right was he I'm looking this up I think he was at least I've been declaring it on Twitter for a couple years if he wasn't on it this year then this last year then no I don't think he's ever been an ALT Pro didn't he have I'm looking it up right now Stephen hka by what I'm seeing never has even made a pro bowl see selected a first team NFL players all pro team no wait that's I don't see any record of him making he made three he made two pro bowls so he's a pro bowl kicker answer the question Evan it's Jason Myers and it's not close I mean the crazy thing is that uh Janikowski had a higher field goal percentage for the Seahawks I don't know if that's true can you imagine janow there's no way can you imagine janakowski trying to tackle in this new kickoff thing where all the kickers are making the tackles you remember him trying to make tackles right on kickoffs it was it was like I remember him trying to move it looked horrifying like that dude was ready to break like rotate his chest and it was like not not happening uh okay Brian Rob kir wants to know as we head towards cutdown day who is one player you think may surprise fans by being cut o um let me pull up my roster to give myself a better view um maybe maybe the two Auburn cornerbacks James and pritchet I think there's a chance that they both get cut and that tyoka makes it as a fifth safety so that's that's one that's I'll give you two names but those those would be two guys I think maybe and do you have a surprise player that will make the team I guess I just gave tyoka so that that would be one um I think yeah I think I'll stick with that because I don't know that there's anyone else I'd call a surprise make at this point should I get my my hops up for uh esap Winston I know you just shouted him out of the qu guy I don't think so I just think DQ young and lisus Chenal are more valuable in more ways I think Esa Winston is probably the best receiver pure receiver of the three of them but when you Tak special teams blocking um you know being able to run with the ball those guys just offer things that I think ESOP can't is it is it five or six that they carry a receiver I forget it varies I got on keeping six this year um with ESOP being just below the cut got it uh so Ed Chan has a question for Brian but Evan I'm sending it your way um talking about extending Gino Smith um what do you think a g extension could look like right now uh and one that you know Gino would assumably want or assumingly want um and just show throw that out of the comparison Jared gof got 153 million over three years 113 guaranteed is he getting gol money man well let's let's set it in context right now so right now 8 nine 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 right now Gino Smith is the 19th highest paid quarterback in the the NFL it's a great deal that's such an absurd deal so let's just put that in context uh first how absurd that is on an average pre-year basis there was that report that came out I think last week or this past week that the Seahawks had at least been having discussions with his representation which is not like a huge shocker now I what what I could see them doing as most likely is I so if you remember his original deal that he had with Seattle it included escalators where if he hits her in basically benchmarks then his salary would increase for the following year and retroactively apply against the cap I wonder if they bump that up for him pre before the season because they wouldn't have to adjust anything cap wise before the season begins to do that right so I almost wonder if they just tweak like the escalators and make it more maybe not obtainable but more in value he he the reality is is this the season is close they could get an extension done if they really wanted to um it would save them cap space like there's no reason not like if if they could come together on terms there's no reason they can't do it right now it's really whether or not you want to Shell out you know I don't know 45 46 47 million a year for this type of guy for the next three years I think you do um but I'm not sure the franchise 100% is in agreement with that so you know who knows I mean I I I I let me let me go blunt and on the record here I'd have no problem giving him like three years 135 140 145 like come on it's not that big of a deal this like I don't think how is challenging Gino in any meaningful way right now or this year but I do think he is he does complicate the extension because even if you're like even if the team is comfy with giving Gino like a three or 150 or three or 140 or whatever if how is looking good and you can get him for a lot cheaper and now you roll over Gino being the 19th highest paid QB to how being the 19th highest paid QB like that does get tempting it's obviously a gamble because Gino is fairly known at this point and has played extremely well um but yeah I wonder how much he complicates the extension conversation here's the thing I want to jump in real quick how has been playing better how has not shown the ceiling to even reach Gino's I think typical game let alone his best game and there's questions already from people about whether Gino is good enough to beat the 49ers to win the big game all that kind of stuff so I personally as much as I like Sam how I like the trade I like that he's on the team I think he can develop I I'm always looking at like what's a player's ceiling I don't think he's shown a high enough ceiling yet to where I'm ready to say yeah let's get the better deal because I think you could get a better deal and drive off the lot with you know I was going to say Hyundai but Hyundai are kind of nice now um so you know what I mean um that that's that's the thing the Seahawks have to be careful about it's just CRA the quarterback landscape is so stupid like Josh Allen right now who who feels like he just got paid is the 14th highest paid quarterback he was just asked about that he had a great answer today about that what did he say he's like you know I had my day I feel pretty good about it and I I'm sure I'll have my day again you know sometime down the road he's just like he's like I got enough there's a great answer who are the top five I don't know if I could name the top five try to try to name them in top five or just any of the top five how about that I mean cousins nope no okay uh Jordan love Jordan love is number one right yeah I did know that number two two oh wait no they're they're T he's tied he's tied with the first person in terms of average per year all right uh momes momes is uh 13th good Lord um oh this is gonna be embarrassing um I don't know just tell me Brian any guesses you got you got Jordan love which was one of the five uh is goof up there now Goff is five oh he is okay just at 53 million a year is Tua up there now he is number four at 53.1 and then you're missing a guy who come on givs the chief struggles a little bit oh Lamar no no then it's Joe Burl Lamar Lamar is number seven at 52 million but Trevor Lawrence is tied for first guys he just got his deal yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's absolutely embarrassing it is and just honestly the grand scheme of things like it it makes it makes total sense to just pay Gino I think like give him give him high guarantees through year two see if he bites on a three short year you know three-year deal I I don't think you need to like make this super long I don't think he's gonna require something in the top five to 10 range like I think this is a guy who wants to be in Seattle with this coaching staff and I feel I think he feels support here so I I don't think he's going to bankrupt you uh okay um last question uh Hawk fan mattman uh wants to know Brian if you can offer any observations in how the coaches interact with the players he's hoping we don't have any BL Brian florid style berading going on I I am curious because like you said earlier like Mike is gonna let you know where you stand um and you know not everybody May respond to that level of straightforward the same way so how does he kind of balance that what can you share and what you see there yeah there's I mean there was a moment that got a lot of the press attention where Mike called out I think it was Nelson Caesar maybe some of these younger players that were walking off the field without going and signing autographs MH and they're like that's not something Pete would have ever done like especially in front of fans and whatever but my experience so far has been almost all positive like really positive reinforcement stuff I hear from the offense heard Scott Huff Brandon nen today hear from Aden dirty Aden dirty for sure is very positive um they will have them they will correct them and say no we got to do that again he did that with Byron Murphy today he's like nope do it again but none of it's corrosive I think it's it's a very positive and Kayon Wallace in his interview today was like man Mike McDonald's funny he's always corny trying to be the funniest person in the room and you know he's not but it's kind of funny because he thinks he's funny um so like I think he's he's got a good kind of Quirk to him that's hard to imagine I can't imagine him trying to be the funniest guy in the room he thinks he's pretty funny huh all right um all right last question Evan uh Cleveland is expected to play their starters for a good portion of the final preseason game uh how much do you think the Seahawk starters should play should play yeah if you were if you were coach how much would you play your starters this week I'd probably keep them in Rhythm to a semi degree like I I'd probably play them a quarter Brian do you have any idea what they're planning has he shared well this is pretty fascinating actually um so Mike McDonald has indicated that he's going to play starters he didn't confirm that but he's he's implied that then it came out today Kevin stefansky for the Browns was like yeah I was texting Mike McDonald about what we're gonna do and you know I don't know if deshaun's gonna play if he can practice tomorrow then he will but he went on about how he and Mike had kind of coordinated and I was talking to people it's like I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to say that because these games there's money on these games and if you've got an NFL coach talking about how he's colluding with another coach about how they're going to handle things and it's not just like a legitimate game uh I think I think be an issue that's true 100% is true that don't bet on preseason games what is wrong because there's degenerates I mean like I mean people bet on whatever they're going to bet on I mean some people just do it because it's fun I mean why do most people bet it's actually not to make money it's because they're bored and they want to have a reason to watch something like and so I think the preseason is a perfectly logical place to say I'm going to put some money on this and just have make it a little more fun because it's killing me anyway the point being I think he's going to play as starters I think it's fascinating that there's such a Divergence between different NFL teams like Atlanta is not even wanting to play Michael pennx who's not supposed to play for the next few years they're like we don't need to see him in these games like that is so dumb it's so weird it makes no sense but they're not alone there's like the Rams don't pretty much don't play any starters you know like a lot of teams just go the whole preseason without playing anybody and and so it's interesting McDonald's like no I want us to play I think we're going to play some starters the penck situation feels unique though right it is it's it's uniquely bizarre yeah everything about a pic situation is uniquely bizarre like nothing I'm such fan man I'm just disappointed cuz I was like this is the chance I'm going to get to watch him play for the next few years and they're taking that away that that that's disappointing for me all right I just love that the moral of today's pod is that you should bet on preseason uh football it's a good time to do it uh have some fun put something on the line on you know fising uh Pros all right that's it that's I don't know if I mentioned it but that that last question was from Amman wadell but that's it for patreon questions thank you Nathan and thanks everyone at patreon.com blogger in the slack channel for asking those questions every week we do our best to answer them and it's fun by the way next week is prediction show time so we are starting actually for the first time guys I've started asking for Patron and YouTube member input on what we should be predicting this year so uh I will start putting together that spreadsheet for us to fill out sometime soon I might actually make it into a Google form like uh we'll see we'll we'll figure out how I'm going to do this but um looking forward to that I opened up that question uh thinking it was the uh pod questions and I'm just looking at like jsn yards and TDS I'm like what the hell kind of questions are the get it together guys come on Lost yes it should be fun all right I know I know we probably only have Evan for a little bit longer but let me there's a few super chats and then I want to ask you guys a few questions about this weekend's game like couple questions and we'll wrap so uh we got a super chat from Axel MTG says what is Jamie Sheriff's future with the Seahawks going to look like can he stay on the practice squad without being picked up by another team I think he can I mean he came on to the team very late in Camp he's played well in these two preseason games I think there's a decent chance I think it is a question whether he will be signed to the practice squad because Nelson Caesar has also been good during camp and during the games but I think Jamie Sheriff has just been like surprising I would like to see him play against higher level competition all his snaps have come against threes and fours so um it would be good to see him you know get a chance this weekend to to learn a little bit more about him um all right next there's so much that happened while we're doing super uh while we're doing patreon questions uh we got a new member painsaw chenis I don't know what that is gonna is that a name I think it's a spoonerism why don't you flip some of those letters around and I I choose not to okay um so thank you for becoming a member I appreciate it Isaac lipnik 12 for life has gifted five more hawk blogger memberships man Isaac thank you so much uh you're really making somebody's day five people's day and and also my evening so appreciate it and thank you for all the support uh and then oh my gosh painsaw comes in here and gives 10 memberships so I love paying it forward this way I'm wondering if if this is something that that that is on his mind or her mind I actually don't know the gender of this person but um really really appreciate you gifting 10 membership so thank you um for doing that growing the show grow in the channel very cool Italian Knights 78 gifted five memberships this is amazing so we I don't know if you guys know this we like well over 500 members at this point um I think we could be getting close to like thousand members which is going to be fun during the season because then we can do members only chat for post game and have a lot of people have access and not have to worry about 49ers fans coming in and if somebody if somebody gets 250 subs tonight I will t too Jason Myers on my chest I'm not you won't though you won't do it I can't commit to this I can't commit to this we've done this before um but I appreciate the idea uh all right let me see if I missed anything else from oh wait another Super Chat from Troy if four of you were out were Inside Out movie characters do you guys know the movie Inside Out I have not seen this movie and somebody was just making fun of me for it do you know what it's about though like it's like inside your head you've got someone who's Joy someone who anger like rage like that so you know the basic premise who would each of you be Dana Brian Evan Nathan and Jeff clearly I would be Joy disgust sadness and anxiety all right you guys gotta arrange these who's who I think I'm Joy obviously that one's easy I think that's Dana all right fine oh yeah that's Dana I think I'm anxiety yes yes 100% well great that leaves anger disgust and sadness for me and you Brian I think Jeff is disgust that's true oh yeah 100% actually yes so you and me between I think I might be anger I might be sadness I went back I went back and listened to some of your rant Brian late last year after the steers game let me tell you I that was a different human being we were doing all of us were different people back then you know there's there's the other ones too there's the UA lady the French lady the fren I don't I haven't seen the second one so I don't know if these oh okay but I uh I love this question that's pretty funny Troy and and uh to your point Evan all this is fun in games until the real games start I won't be able to control whether I'm angry or not like that's going to be up to the Seahawks so um we'll just see um wait Jason's asking asking how much is a membership uh it's 299 for hawk nest level 299 a month um is is cheap just to get in Club level is like I think six bucks a month and and and sweet levels 25 bucks a month that's the we got to raise those prices inflation I know well we try to keep this inclusive my friend um all right uh last few minutes let's talk about this last preseason game so they're they're going to play their starters most likely they're playing the Browns um Evan for you what what are you hoping to see in this game is there anything that you other than staying healthy obviously anything that that you care about in this game that you're gonna be paying attention to yeah um I would love to see this is kind of like a an a continued answer off of what I what I feel like we saw in week one I want to see a really disciplined defense I want to see limited T you know tackle misses I want to see clear communication you know communication was an issue actually that um Mike Mack called out is an area of improvement that they need to make over the over the past couple of weeks you know the whole close your eyes uh hear the play type of type of thing um I'd like to see them well you know communicating well with each other um you know their coverage lot their coverages line up they look like they know what they're doing I that was like one of my biggest frustrations with this football team over the past couple of years is they just felt unprepared defensively and so many different scenarios so I'd love to see that execution just continue to to rise defensively it's not a sexy answer but it's it's what it's what I feel Nathan how about you what was the question what do I like need to see what do you what matters to you in this game like I mean it's a preseason game start other than health obviously starters are going to play some what would is there anything that would give you more confidence about the season if you saw it happen in that game or vice versa that would like be like oh man this might be worse than I thought um well definitely be keeping a close eye on all the roboting by the linebackers uh no you won't I will actually um I want to see how T teres KN is uh fill in those hook zones and uh I mean I actually am legitimately curious about this like it's I know like Griff is smiling somewhere it's you're such a ding it's a fair question like Knight played well uh but like they got gashed on some stuff there um and I mean I don't know like are we're not going to see either Baker or Dodson uh this week right uh we will not see Jerome Baker We will see Dodson will we okay yeah yeah yeah the starters are playing he'll be out there okay yeah I mean it will be really interesting to see how the defense works around that and how The Starters play it compared to how rigan and Knight and oconnell play it um I mean that is really like honestly the only thing I'm probably like really closely watching as like some kind of indicator for what the season is going to be like um beyond that I don't know I'm kind of excited like I feel like they were doing they were more active on the defensive line against uh the Titans and so like you know playing doing more of the twists and stunts it'll be fun to see if they show more of that and how will they execute it um especially with the starters out there like you know sheriff and some of these other guys were uh you know they were being pretty effective disrupting the quarterback what's it going to look like when you got you know nosu or somebody like that out there doing it um but no I don't know I don't know I I I just I'm desperate for the season to start because like so much of the preseason I like I don't know what I can't like there there's nothing I can take from this really right now um so yeah that the the robots I want to see the robots yeah the the whole 18 Game season thing I think is wrong for like a lot of reasons especially for the players themselves but as a fan I won't mind having a shorter preseason like it's like I'm ready to um all right guys uh let's let's leave it there I appreciate uh everyone taking the time tonight to to hang out and and talk before this game I'm going to actually be at the game covering it in the Press Box first time I've ever done that for a game in lumen field and we're going to do a chat party we're going to do it I can't stream from the Press Box I got the no no on that but there's nothing that's keeping me from having my laptop open and chatting with all of you during the game so I'll share my thoughts in there whoever wants to join it would be great to have you 7 o'clock on Saturday uh and then we will really kick off next week will be the prediction show and we're going to be into the final countdown till the games start to count so we will talk more about Bo Knicks we'll talk more about everything else in future shows if you haven't given the show a like and click subscribe please do and then obviously sign up as a YouTube member join at patreon.com Hawk blogger and I will see you tomorrow morning for hawkblogger mornings till then oh we got Jeremy Damon as a new member welcome thank you for joining right before the end love it Jeremy welcome to the crew uh I'm Brian ne how you find me at hawkblogger on Instagram and Twitter this has been episode 328 of real Hawk talk hey folks this is Brian Mouser thanks for listening to the show hope you enjoyed it want you to know that real Hawk talk is available on all major podcast platforms go ahead and subscribe have all podcasts delivered directly to your phone after each and every show and then go ahead and leave us a festar review helps us out gets more people to the show then if you haven't already done it go to patreon.com blogger and subscribe for just five bucks a month get you immediate access to our slack Channel join hundreds of folks in that Community to talk Seahawks about wins losses and all things in between not to mention become eligible to win giveaways for Seahawks tickets and get to ask questions of the real Hawk talk crew every week on the show finally if you haven't gone to Hawk blogger.com recently head on over tail the tape morning after articles are there every week hoping to see you there thanks for tuning in thanks for supporting the show Gow Bo