# Mike Florio on Hawks/Niners, Jim Harbaugh, Refereeing Issues, Joe Mixon

An episode of [Softy & Dick Interviews](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1245866571), 8 Oct 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/98a2599f-cd9b-4f2a-9be4-b22c00e585f2/907d6469-cef5-4bda-9f13-b2f100f49399/23fea075-bbd2-4e32-88e3-b4dd0017b51e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=26b16ce4-8fab-44ea-88d4-b2f100f493bc

Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain talk to Mike Florio about the upcoming matchup between the Seahawks and 49ers and whether the Hawks have more to lose. Also, Mike gives his take on whether Jim Harbaugh is finished as an NFL coach, the chances Saquon Barkley gets traded, the latest on Tyreke Hill's possible return and what happened with Joe Mixon to the Seahawks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: It's time for our weekly conversation with Pro Football Talk's
[0:04] Speaker 1: Mike Florio, brought to you by Simply Seattle. Tired of
[0:07] Speaker 1: buying and repping the same old Seattle sports gear everyone
[0:10] Speaker 1: else has? For the best Seahawks, Mariners, Krakens, Sounders, Storm,
[0:15] Speaker 1: not to mention the largest Sonics collection in the world,
[0:18] Speaker 1: check out simplyseattle.com. Now with Mike Florio, here's Softie and Dick.
[0:23] Speaker 2: All right, here we go. What a busy Wednesday afternoon.
[0:25] Speaker 3: It is my absolute pleasure to welcome in the king,
[0:28] Speaker 3: the undisputed heavyweight champion of the NFL press corps from
[0:32] Speaker 3: the NFL and NBC, profootballtalk.com, PFT Live, my friend and buddy,
[0:39] Speaker 3: personal close pal, courtesy of simplyseattle.com, Mike Florio.
[0:43] Speaker 2: Michael, how are you, man?
[0:46] Speaker 4: Gentlemen, I'm doing great today. How are you?
[0:48] Speaker 2: Good. It's great to hear your voice. Great to have
[0:51] Speaker 2: you on the air. He's chipper today. I love it. Well,
[0:53] Speaker 2: let's see if he's chipper when this conversation's over.
[0:56] Speaker 4: Hey, blow it out of your ass.
[0:57] Speaker 2: There you go.
[0:58] Speaker 5: There you go.
[0:59] Speaker 2: There's my guy. There he is.
[1:00] Speaker 3: Well, let's jump right into it, man, and talk about
[1:03] Speaker 3: this Niner-Seahawk game coming up on Sunday, 4-0 versus 3-1.
[1:07] Speaker 3: Brock Purdy and what is it, five starts, Dick, against
[1:09] Speaker 3: Mike McDonald, including when he was at D.C., six starts.
[1:11] Speaker 4: Six, yeah, six.
[1:12] Speaker 3: Six touchdowns, nine interceptions, and he's 2-4 against Mike McDonald.
[1:18] Speaker 3: Give us a take on this matchup on Sunday, which
[1:21] Speaker 3: is the biggest game of the day by far.
[1:24] Speaker 4: Interesting, interesting times, too, for the 49ers. No sacks through
[1:28] Speaker 4: four games of Brock Purdy.
[1:30] Speaker 6: Brock Purdy, one of the MVP leading candidates right behind
[1:34] Speaker 6: Josh Allen in the betting odds. And the 49ers have
[1:37] Speaker 6: gotten through this wave, this nonstop torrent of injuries.
[1:42] Speaker 4: Take that substation. We're 4-0. So they come in with
[1:46] Speaker 4: an attitude, I think, with a nothing to lose. We're
[1:50] Speaker 4: supposed to lose. We can afford to lose one. We
[1:53] Speaker 4: lost here last year.
[1:54] Speaker 6: Or no, we won there last year. What am I
[1:57] Speaker 6: talking about? They won in Seattle last year. So it's
[2:01] Speaker 6: not going to be easy.
[2:02] Speaker 4: And it is a great game.
[2:05] Speaker 6: And we'll see how much of last year's final two meetings,
[2:08] Speaker 6: the one that determined the ultimate one seed for the
[2:11] Speaker 6: Seahawks and the one that determined the divisional round, which
[2:13] Speaker 6: wasn't even worth watching, frankly. We'll see if it turns
[2:16] Speaker 6: out any differently. But the 49ers have something special. It
[2:20] Speaker 6: feels like they completely obliterated the Rams. They've had three
[2:24] Speaker 6: straight home games against overmatched opponents. and they keep checking
[2:28] Speaker 6: the boxes, and they're ready to go, and this is
[2:29] Speaker 6: their first big test.
[2:31] Speaker 5: So does that give Seattle the edge because they do
[2:33] Speaker 5: have so much more to play for? I saw a
[2:35] Speaker 5: stat today where it said about 65% chance the Seahawks
[2:38] Speaker 5: have to win the division if they win this game,
[2:40] Speaker 5: and a 25% chance if they lose this game, whereas,
[2:43] Speaker 5: as you just mentioned, the 49ers kind of playing a
[2:45] Speaker 5: little bit with house money right now at 4-0.
[2:49] Speaker 6: I think it's always important, whether it's week one, any time,
[2:53] Speaker 6: early in the season, if you have... A home game
[2:55] Speaker 6: in the division, you need to win that game because
[2:58] Speaker 6: if you lose to the division rival at home, eventually
[3:01] Speaker 6: you've got to go to their place. And if you
[3:03] Speaker 6: get swept, you've got to make up three games in
[3:07] Speaker 6: the standings to get past that team in the ultimate
[3:11] Speaker 6: final configuration of the teams.
[3:13] Speaker 4: Now, the Seahawks were able to do it last.
[3:15] Speaker 6: Year in that game against the 49ers at Levi's Stadium,
[3:19] Speaker 6: but you don't want it to have to come down
[3:20] Speaker 6: to that. So you'd like to get the first one
[3:24] Speaker 6: and then– Maybe you split, but getting swept, I think,
[3:28] Speaker 6: hurts a lot more.
[3:29] Speaker 4: So that's what adds a little extra pressure to the Seahawks.
[3:32] Speaker 4: And it's a two-game swing. Look what happened this past
[3:34] Speaker 4: weekend with the Patriots and the Bills.
[3:36] Speaker 6: Bills go in 3-0. The Patriots enter 1-2, looking lost.
[3:41] Speaker 6: And they were staring at one and three and a
[3:43] Speaker 6: three game deficit in the AFC East. They win that game.
[3:47] Speaker 6: The whole vibe changes three and one, two and two.
[3:49] Speaker 6: And the Patriots have won in Buffalo and the rematch
[3:52] Speaker 6: is week 13 in Foxborough. So it's just one of
[3:54] Speaker 6: those huge, huge games. And I understand fully why the
[3:58] Speaker 6: folks at Fox and the NFL decided to say to
[4:00] Speaker 6: the Bears Packers. You're getting a tap on the shoulder.
[4:03] Speaker 6: You're not the big game in that window. We're going
[4:05] Speaker 6: with 49ers Seahawks.
[4:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Mike Florio is with us.
[4:08] Speaker 3: And, Mike, I'm not suggesting that Jim Harbaugh is going
[4:11] Speaker 3: to get fired anytime soon, but I am wondering if
[4:14] Speaker 3: at the age of soon to be 63 in December,
[4:18] Speaker 3: we kind of saw this with Pete Carroll a little bit.
[4:20] Speaker 3: Is it maybe fair to speculate on whether or not
[4:22] Speaker 3: the NFL is starting to pass this guy by?
[4:25] Speaker 2: Because they just look terrible.
[4:27] Speaker 6: Well, look, as someone who's 61 years old, I resent
[4:30] Speaker 6: the implication that you can lose your fastball simply based
[4:33] Speaker 6: upon the peeling of the months of the calendar off
[4:37] Speaker 6: the board. I think the nine years he spent at
[4:41] Speaker 6: Michigan may have had something to do with it.
[4:43] Speaker 4: The NFL continues to evolve and change.
[4:46] Speaker 6: He hasn't had the same impact that he had when
[4:48] Speaker 6: he first was an NFL head coach. After he was
[4:51] Speaker 6: at the college level for eight years, four years at
[4:53] Speaker 6: the University of San Diego, four years at Stanford, boom,
[4:56] Speaker 6: he lands at San Francisco, immediately takes them to the
[4:59] Speaker 6: brink of the Super Bowl after they were 6-10 the
[5:01] Speaker 6: prior season. Boom, the next year they go to the
[5:03] Speaker 6: Super Bowl and almost win it. Boom, the next year
[5:05] Speaker 6: they go back to the NFC Championship. They've had two
[5:08] Speaker 6: one-and-out playoff appearances in L.A., and the pressure was on
[5:11] Speaker 6: this year, the expectation where they'd take it to another level,
[5:14] Speaker 6: and they just haven't. Here they are at 0-4, and
[5:17] Speaker 6: they've got the Broncos and the Chiefs over the next
[5:19] Speaker 6: two weeks before their bye. I can't imagine there won't
[5:23] Speaker 6: be big changes at the bye week. That doesn't mean
[5:25] Speaker 6: that Harbaugh's going to get fired, but dysfunctional teams do
[5:27] Speaker 6: dysfunctional things. So we will sit back come week seven
[5:31] Speaker 6: and see how the Chargers dysfunction it up.
[5:35] Speaker 5: Mike, one week after two horrible P.I. calls, one costing
[5:38] Speaker 5: the Rams the win, you've got an official saying F.U.
[5:41] Speaker 4: That wasn't a horrible call. Oh, okay. That wasn't a
[5:43] Speaker 4: horrible call. Okay. All right. It was a shove. Josh
[5:46] Speaker 4: Wallace shoved Pat Bryant. If you go back and watch it,
[5:49] Speaker 4: somebody coached him at some point.
[5:51] Speaker 6: If you can, with that hand that the officials typically
[5:53] Speaker 6: aren't looking at, give the guy a shove at the
[5:55] Speaker 6: right time, you can keep him from catching the pass.
[5:57] Speaker 4: The problem is he got nabbed.
[5:59] Speaker 6: I'm disappointed the NFL apparently said to Sean McVay.
[6:02] Speaker 4: It was a bad call. Why would you do that?
[6:04] Speaker 6: There was contact. There was a shove before the ball
[6:06] Speaker 6: came in. Anyway, sorry to interrupt you. It's not a
[6:09] Speaker 6: universal truth that that was a bad call. There were
[6:11] Speaker 6: two horrible calls in Ravens-Cowboys that week.
[6:14] Speaker 4: That's horrible. Inexcusable.
[6:16] Speaker 6: But the Rams-Broncos, I don't think that was a bad call.
[6:19] Speaker 6: I think it fell within the discretion that the official
[6:22] Speaker 6: has because it's inherently a judgment call.
[6:23] Speaker 2: All right, I will strike that one from the record,
[6:25] Speaker 2: Your Honor. Thank you, Counselor.
[6:27] Speaker 5: A week later, you've got an official saying F you
[6:30] Speaker 5: to Trey McBride. You've got another official saying getting up
[6:34] Speaker 5: and screaming at a player after he accidentally runs into him.
[6:36] Speaker 5: You got 30 penalties in the Seahawks game, four games
[6:39] Speaker 5: with 25 or more penalties.
[6:42] Speaker 2: What is the NFL going to do about this? This
[6:44] Speaker 2: is a bad look right now.
[6:45] Speaker 5: I had fans all around me just absolutely irate at
[6:48] Speaker 5: the Seahawks game, just wanting the game to end.
[6:52] Speaker 4: Well, and we're in an age of widespread legalized gambling.
[6:55] Speaker 6: And the NFL said itself back in the days when
[6:57] Speaker 6: it hated gambling, that if legalized sports betting ever became
[7:02] Speaker 6: the norm, normal incidents of the game would be regarded
[7:05] Speaker 6: by fans and observers as evidence that the fix is in.
[7:08] Speaker 6: The commissioner said basically that back in 2012 when they
[7:12] Speaker 6: were fighting against it. Then when the floodgates opened, they realized, hey,
[7:15] Speaker 6: we can make a lot of.
[7:16] Speaker 4: Money off of this. And that's when it all pivoted.
[7:19] Speaker 6: But They do have an issue where there's a perception
[7:22] Speaker 6: that things are happening, that something is off. And I
[7:26] Speaker 6: think at the core, the lingering problem is the game
[7:32] Speaker 6: has evolved past the ability to officiate it efficiently by
[7:38] Speaker 6: a middle-aged person with no helmet, with no pads, who
[7:43] Speaker 6: is among the gladiators trying to see and discern in
[7:47] Speaker 6: real time the blurs and the flashes and the things
[7:51] Speaker 6: that are happening.
[7:53] Speaker 4: I think that's why.
[7:54] Speaker 6: Some of these past interference calls go haywire. They're not
[7:58] Speaker 6: quite sure what they see when they're right on top
[8:00] Speaker 6: of it because they're in the middle of the crucible
[8:02] Speaker 6: and they've got so much going on around them. I
[8:04] Speaker 6: would support a full and complete reconstruction of the officiating
[8:08] Speaker 6: function from the ground up that would entail more officiating
[8:12] Speaker 6: from above. There are a thousand cameras in the stadium.
[8:15] Speaker 6: There are ways to look at this in a more
[8:18] Speaker 6: detached fashion than being down there among the players trying
[8:22] Speaker 6: to make these difficult decisions, especially pass interference. Now, the
[8:25] Speaker 6: problem is they made it subject to replay review in
[8:28] Speaker 6: 2019 after the debacle in the Rams Saints NFC Championship game,
[8:31] Speaker 6: and they completely screwed it up to the point where
[8:33] Speaker 6: they're not going to put their hand back on that
[8:35] Speaker 6: hot stove. But they need to come up with something
[8:38] Speaker 6: because you can't rely on the officials to get these
[8:42] Speaker 6: calls right because they're not.
[8:45] Speaker 3: Mike Florio, Mike, online there's been chatter about Saquon Barkley
[8:52] Speaker 3: and whether or not he might potentially become available if
[8:55] Speaker 3: things go south for Philadelphia.
[8:56] Speaker 2: I know he's hurt right now.
[8:58] Speaker 3: I know he signed through 28, but is the idea
[9:01] Speaker 3: that the Eagles would potentially entertain offers for Saquon Barkley,
[9:06] Speaker 3: is that nonsense or is there a reason to have
[9:08] Speaker 3: that discussion?
[9:10] Speaker 6: I think the first question that would need to be asked,
[9:13] Speaker 6: if that's even on the radar screen, is what kind
[9:16] Speaker 6: of havoc that would wreak on their salary cap in
[9:19] Speaker 6: 2027 if they were to trade him now. There would
[9:21] Speaker 6: be no acceleration of unallocated signing bonus money into this.
[9:26] Speaker 4: Year, but all the remaining.
[9:29] Speaker 6: Signing bonus money and other prorations, they use option bonuses
[9:32] Speaker 6: aggressively to kick the salary cap can into future years.
[9:36] Speaker 6: So when you get a Lane Johnson retirement earlier than
[9:39] Speaker 6: you expected, you get a big cap charge in 2027. 26.
[9:42] Speaker 4: Unless they find a way around that. No, 27.
[9:45] Speaker 2: No, no, no.
[9:48] Speaker 3: The dead cap is $ 26 million if they trade him.
[9:51] Speaker 4: Oh, 26 minutes, more than that, frankly, next year.
[9:55] Speaker 6: So we were doing a little Abbott and Costello thing
[9:57] Speaker 6: there with what year it is.
[9:59] Speaker 4: But that would be the first question. And if you're
[10:03] Speaker 4: Saquon Barkley and you realize this thing is falling apart,
[10:06] Speaker 4: how they may do a full reset after the season.
[10:08] Speaker 6: We don't know what Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman are
[10:10] Speaker 6: going to do. I've just been stunned. We talked about
[10:13] Speaker 6: this on PFT Live today. Nick Ceriani is a coach
[10:16] Speaker 6: who got his job done. on the efforts of his
[10:22] Speaker 6: skill as an offensive coordinator and he can't have a
[10:27] Speaker 6: functional offense either they hire a guy who's so good
[10:30] Speaker 6: he becomes a head coach the next year or they
[10:32] Speaker 6: hire a guy who's so bad they fire him after
[10:33] Speaker 6: one year and it's his pendulum that's just swung back
[10:36] Speaker 6: and forth and now with sean manning there and i
[10:39] Speaker 6: think he was anything but the first choice for the
[10:41] Speaker 6: job it feels like they have no offensive identity it
[10:44] Speaker 6: feels like they're in disarray And look at Denver, for example,
[10:48] Speaker 6: at some point, Sean Payton is going to take the
[10:50] Speaker 6: play sheet away from Davis Webb and he's going to.
[10:52] Speaker 4: Call the offense.
[10:53] Speaker 6: I never get the impression Sirianni is going to swoop
[10:55] Speaker 6: in and take over. And he's an offensive guy. That
[10:59] Speaker 6: part of it is just amazing to me. And even
[11:00] Speaker 6: though they've had great success, he's won a lot of games.
[11:04] Speaker 6: It feels like something is on the verge of just
[11:06] Speaker 6: imploding for the Eagles. And depending upon how the rest
[11:09] Speaker 6: of this season goes, I wouldn't be surprised if if
[11:12] Speaker 6: there's a reset of the coaching staff in Philly after
[11:14] Speaker 6: the season. And if Saquon senses that coming, why wouldn't
[11:17] Speaker 6: he want out? And if they can make the salary
[11:19] Speaker 6: cap hit work, why wouldn't they flip him.
[11:22] Speaker 4: For future assets if he's not going to be there
[11:25] Speaker 4: next year?
[11:26] Speaker 5: Mike, in the same week that we heard a lot
[11:28] Speaker 5: of rumblings about Tyreek Hill coming back in the league,
[11:30] Speaker 5: now we get some pretty awful new testimony from his ex-wife.
[11:35] Speaker 5: Does that muddy things up? What is the situation with
[11:38] Speaker 5: Tyreek right now?
[11:40] Speaker 4: Well, it absolutely muddies things up.
[11:41] Speaker 6: When the word started to circulate Sunday night, the Athletic
[11:44] Speaker 6: had an item the Chiefs were very interested in Tyree Kill,
[11:47] Speaker 6: who last I checked still wasn't 100% after having a
[11:50] Speaker 6: horrible knee injury last September in Monday Night Football against
[11:52] Speaker 6: the Dolphins.
[11:53] Speaker 4: And then his agent Drew Rosenhaus comes out the.
[11:55] Speaker 6: Next day and says that he's negotiating with teams and
[11:59] Speaker 6: he could sign a contract as soon as this week.
[12:01] Speaker 6: And then we find out Tuesday he's got this trial
[12:03] Speaker 6: where his ex-wife is making these allegations in open court
[12:07] Speaker 6: and there's Video and audio and transcripts and these horrible
[12:11] Speaker 6: things that he allegedly said in the NFL still has
[12:14] Speaker 6: an open personal conduct policy investigation that hasn't been resolved.
[12:18] Speaker 6: I almost feel like they deliberately tried to start the
[12:23] Speaker 6: lawnmower on getting Tyree Kill on a team ASAP, hopeful
[12:28] Speaker 6: that there will be.
[12:30] Speaker 4: A suspension imposed while he's still recovering.
[12:34] Speaker 6: I don't think he's ready to play, but I think
[12:36] Speaker 6: he'd like to find a way to get credit for
[12:38] Speaker 6: any additional games he misses now so that when he
[12:42] Speaker 6: is healthy, he'll be closer to playing. It all feels
[12:45] Speaker 6: too coincidental that two days before this trial begins, There's
[12:50] Speaker 6: this avalanche of Tyreek Hill's coming back news. The last
[12:54] Speaker 6: thing we heard from him over the summer was he
[12:56] Speaker 6: didn't have the burst in his injured leg. So I'm
[13:01] Speaker 6: skeptical about the whole thing, and I feel like they're
[13:04] Speaker 6: trying to pull something here, and I'm not sure it's
[13:06] Speaker 6: going to work.
[13:06] Speaker 3: Well, before you go, Mike, speaking of players behaving badly,
[13:10] Speaker 3: I've got to ask you if you have any insight
[13:13] Speaker 3: as to what happened with Joe Mixon. I mean, it
[13:15] Speaker 3: looked like by all accounts, the Hawks were going to
[13:16] Speaker 3: sign him and then a failed physical. Apparently nobody really
[13:20] Speaker 3: got into it. I mean, there's speculation here that maybe
[13:23] Speaker 3: the Coastal family got involved and said, we're not doing that.
[13:25] Speaker 3: You know, based on his past history, I know you've
[13:27] Speaker 3: been a little bit critical of the Seahawks, even entertaining
[13:30] Speaker 3: the Terry on Arnold thing. And now here comes Joe Mixon.
[13:33] Speaker 3: Do you have any insight as to what happened with
[13:35] Speaker 3: Joe and why he's not a Seahawk?
[13:37] Speaker 6: Well, based on the primary owner and his recent, adventures
[13:42] Speaker 6: on Twitter or misadventures that the case may be. I
[13:44] Speaker 6: can't imagine that he wouldn't have posted something about it
[13:48] Speaker 6: if he was in any way involved in the decision
[13:51] Speaker 6: not to.
[13:52] Speaker 4: Sign Joe Mixon.
[13:53] Speaker 6: I think it all traces to whatever the injury was
[13:55] Speaker 6: last year that kept him from playing.
[13:57] Speaker 4: And it was very mysterious.
[13:59] Speaker 6: He was on the non-football injury list all year with
[14:02] Speaker 6: a foot problem. Nobody ever said what the problem was.
[14:04] Speaker 6: We still don't know what the problem was. There was
[14:06] Speaker 6: all sorts of speculation last year, but the Texans never
[14:09] Speaker 6: said anything Nixon never said anything. They generally kept the
[14:13] Speaker 6: fact that he was on the radar screen quiet until
[14:16] Speaker 6: Jay Glazer of Fox said it on Sunday's Fox NFL Sunday.
[14:20] Speaker 6: And then he comes in for the visit.
[14:23] Speaker 4: Everything looks fine. And then the physical has failed.
[14:25] Speaker 6: But my guess would be it has more to do
[14:28] Speaker 6: with the foot, because I don't think I don't think
[14:31] Speaker 6: that John Schneider and Mike McDonald would have started this
[14:35] Speaker 6: process in motion if they had any inkling that the
[14:38] Speaker 6: Coastalers would be against it based upon that incident from
[14:42] Speaker 6: Joe Mixon's college days, which was horrible.
[14:44] Speaker 4: The video was awful.
[14:45] Speaker 6: And in many respects, it's amazing he ever found an
[14:48] Speaker 6: opportunity in the NFL because we were just a couple
[14:50] Speaker 6: of years removed from the Ray Rice situation. We saw
[14:52] Speaker 6: how that turned out for him once the video came out.
[14:54] Speaker 2: No doubt.
[14:55] Speaker 3: Hey, really great stuff. Insightful, as always. Informative, entertaining. And
[15:00] Speaker 3: I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
[15:03] Speaker 4: Shut up.
[15:04] Speaker 1: Shut up.
[15:04] Speaker 4: I actually did enjoy it. I did enjoy it.
[15:07] Speaker 6: I think I earned my very exorbitant pay this week.
[15:12] Speaker 2: I think so, this week.
[15:14] Speaker 4: I hope I've satisfied your expectations.
[15:16] Speaker 2: Are you asking yourself why Jackson's not here today? You
[15:19] Speaker 2: know why. I had to let him go.
[15:21] Speaker 4: Hey, man. Like Peyton Manning said, it's my job to
[15:24] Speaker 4: get paid. It's your job to manage the salary.
[15:26] Speaker 2: We'll see you in a week.
[15:28] Speaker 4: Bye.
[15:29] Speaker 3: All right, Mike Florio with us. We're going to break.
[15:31] Speaker 3: Factor Fiction brought to you by the Lucky Eagles. Speaking
[15:34] Speaker 3: of Jackson, he's not here, so we get to make
[15:36] Speaker 3: the pick again for him.
[15:37] Speaker 2: I'll tell you.
[15:38] Speaker 3: What, if we keep making winning picks for Jackson, we
[15:41] Speaker 3: just may keep making picks for Jackson.
[15:43] Speaker 2: That's right. We'll do it next on 93.3 KJRFM.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.