# Hugh Millen on Penix, Bijan, Darnold Return, Hawks RBs, UW Game

An episode of [Softy & Dick Interviews](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1245866571), 26 Sep 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/98a2599f-cd9b-4f2a-9be4-b22c00e585f2/907d6469-cef5-4bda-9f13-b2f100f49399/76e4e1b5-69b4-4e78-b7bd-b4d1000cddaf/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=26b16ce4-8fab-44ea-88d4-b2f100f493bc

Hugh Millen joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Michael Penix beating the Packers last night, Bijan Robinson’s skills at running back, Sam Darnold making his return for the Seahawks, Seattle’s running backs, plus UW football and Minnesota next. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: This is Duke of Duke Seafood, letting you know that
[0:02] Speaker 1: this hour of Softie and Dick on your home for
[0:05] Speaker 1: the Huskies and Kraken is proudly brought to you by
[0:07] Speaker 1: Duke Seafood. Why not make it a Duke's night tonight?
[0:11] Speaker 1: Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com on Sports Radio 93.3
[0:15] Speaker 1: KJR FM.
[0:18] Speaker 2: As part of our never-ending coverage for the 12th man
[0:21] Speaker 2: in the NFL, this is Football Fridays with Hugh Millen.
[0:25] Speaker 2: Sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka.
[0:28] Speaker 3: Let's go!
[0:29] Speaker 2: Proud sponsor of the Seattle Seahawks. Distilled from corn and
[0:33] Speaker 2: bottled by 5th Generation Inc.
[0:34] Speaker 3: Austin, Texas.
[0:35] Speaker 2: 40% alcohol by volume. Savor responsibly.
[0:41] Speaker 4: I'm starting to think this might be a two-segment deal here, boys.
[0:43] Speaker 4: There's a lot going on. We've got the Hawks and
[0:45] Speaker 4: Commanders on Sunday, the Dogs and the Gophers tomorrow over
[0:48] Speaker 4: at Husky Stadium. Michael Penix, Bijan Robinson last night, the
[0:52] Speaker 4: Jet Fish conversation, the Husky conversation. All kinds of stuff
[0:56] Speaker 4: going on, man. Forget what you're reading, Hugh, in the newspapers,
[1:00] Speaker 4: the internet. We decide the topics, all right?
[1:02] Speaker 3: Okay. The news cycle goes through this radio show. Good enough.
[1:06] Speaker 3: And this radio station.
[1:07] Speaker 4: But, dude, I got to ask you, first of all,
[1:08] Speaker 4: did you watch the game last night?
[1:10] Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. Of course you did.
[1:11] Speaker 4: So we'll talk about Penix and Bijan in a minute.
[1:14] Speaker 4: Did anybody catch what Al Michaels said about Michael Penix,
[1:17] Speaker 4: by the way?
[1:18] Speaker 2: Yes. Okay.
[1:19] Speaker 3: That he said he went to Oregon?
[1:21] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:21] Speaker 2: Okay.
[1:22] Speaker 3: How did that sit with you, pal?
[1:23] Speaker 2: Um.
[1:25] Speaker 3: Initially, terrible. But I think Al Michaels, and I noticed
[1:31] Speaker 3: there was an article in the Seattle Times about this,
[1:33] Speaker 3: about one comment. I thought that you had two professionals
[1:38] Speaker 3: handle it in the booth because Kirk Herbstreet didn't say, no, Al,
[1:42] Speaker 3: he's from Washington. He just kind of quickly picked it up.
[1:46] Speaker 3: And he goes, yeah, he went to Indiana and then
[1:48] Speaker 3: Washington and what have you. So he corrected him without
[1:51] Speaker 3: really sounding like he's correcting him right on the spot.
[1:54] Speaker 3: And then Michaels just understood it. He goes, yes, University
[1:58] Speaker 3: of Washington, the Huskies. By the second play, Al Michaels
[2:03] Speaker 3: had already said University of Washington and the Huskies. The
[2:06] Speaker 3: Times article said later in the broadcast. Well, yes, that's true.
[2:10] Speaker 3: Later in the broadcast, like. A second and a half later,
[2:13] Speaker 3: it got corrected. I don't understand. I will just say this.
[2:17] Speaker 3: Al Michaels is 81 years old and well past his prime,
[2:21] Speaker 3: but he's, in my opinion, a Mount Rushmore Hall of
[2:25] Speaker 3: Fame play-by-play guy. And I will just say this. There
[2:29] Speaker 3: are very few among us that do what we do,
[2:33] Speaker 3: our jobs, anywhere near as well as what Al Michaels does,
[2:37] Speaker 3: his job. I'll just speak for myself. I'm not in
[2:40] Speaker 3: his solar system. And and yeah, he misspoke. But you
[2:44] Speaker 3: know what? He handled it like a pro. I don't
[2:46] Speaker 3: really see a reason to be upset about now. Had
[2:48] Speaker 3: they not corrected it? Yeah, I'd have kept my my
[2:52] Speaker 3: I don't say feathers ruffled because that implied I'd be
[2:54] Speaker 3: a duck. But, you know, my my my paws would
[2:57] Speaker 3: be itching if if they had not corrected it. But
[3:00] Speaker 3: they did correct it in a professional way, in my opinion.
[3:02] Speaker 5: Well, here we say don't judge a book by its cover.
[3:05] Speaker 5: And it's example number one billion not to judge a
[3:08] Speaker 5: football game by the first quarter. Because the first quarter
[3:11] Speaker 5: looked like the Packers were going to win by four
[3:12] Speaker 5: touchdowns and that Michael Penix could never play in the
[3:15] Speaker 5: NFL again. I mean, it was that bad. And then
[3:17] Speaker 5: he just turned it on. 17 of 20. Give me
[3:21] Speaker 5: your thoughts on what you saw from the dog.
[3:24] Speaker 3: I thought it was great. I mean, obviously they were
[3:26] Speaker 3: really impacted by the success of the running game. But
[3:29] Speaker 3: I think that the success of the running game was
[3:32] Speaker 3: in part a synergetic effect with the success of the
[3:36] Speaker 3: passing game. Drake London was obviously the featured guy. But
[3:39] Speaker 3: I think for Penick's sake, he was seeing the field.
[3:42] Speaker 3: He started playing with much better anticipation. He had that
[3:46] Speaker 3: one play action, little glance route, that deep slant to
[3:52] Speaker 3: London over the middle. Highly anticipatory, right over the middle,
[3:55] Speaker 3: in between and around the. the linebackers. Now that stuff
[3:59] Speaker 3: he did do at Washington, but it was not his specialty.
[4:02] Speaker 3: His specialty was working outside the numbers where you don't
[4:05] Speaker 3: have to be as anticipatory. And so I just think
[4:09] Speaker 3: that there's a development in his game. He clearly was
[4:14] Speaker 3: the difference maker in that Falcon offense. I'm excited for him.
[4:17] Speaker 3: He's a good person. He's a dog. And I think
[4:20] Speaker 3: he plays an exciting brand of quarterbacking because he does
[4:23] Speaker 3: have the ability to push the ball down the field.
[4:26] Speaker 3: So I thought it was wonderful.
[4:27] Speaker 4: Well, the old cliche, a running game is a quarterback's
[4:30] Speaker 4: best friend, right? And Mike's got a big old buddy
[4:34] Speaker 4: with him in Bijan Robinson, man. I remember you and
[4:37] Speaker 4: I and Dick and all of us talking about him
[4:39] Speaker 4: in the draft. And you came on before the draft
[4:42] Speaker 4: and said he's a running back without a flaw. You
[4:44] Speaker 4: were putting him in the category of an Adrian Peterson
[4:46] Speaker 4: and LaDainian Tomlinson for– Best running back since you and
[4:50] Speaker 4: I started doing the mock draft. Went back in 99,
[4:53] Speaker 4: Zeke Elliott, the whole thing.
[4:54] Speaker 3: So no surprise, man.
[4:56] Speaker 4: I even texted you last night, asked you last night,
[4:58] Speaker 4: if you go over and do the 2023 draft over again,
[5:02] Speaker 4: would you rather have Devin Witherspoon or B. John Robinson
[5:05] Speaker 4: playing for Mike McDonald, man?
[5:07] Speaker 3: Well, it's great coffee and beer talk. And I remember
[5:09] Speaker 3: that conversation because I remember saying to you, you know,
[5:12] Speaker 3: what you just said that, you know, I put him
[5:14] Speaker 3: above Zeke and whatever, 20 whatever years. Uh, you know,
[5:18] Speaker 3: the only guys that are comparable to me were LaDainian
[5:20] Speaker 3: Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson. And, and you said, well, listen, stop.
[5:24] Speaker 3: If he's that good and you've got the number five pick,
[5:26] Speaker 3: take him. You got to take him. I remember Dick.
[5:29] Speaker 3: Do you remember that? I felt exactly the same way
[5:32] Speaker 3: as softy. And, and I said, I wasn't quite ready
[5:36] Speaker 3: to match you because of what I thought of Kenneth Walker. And,
[5:41] Speaker 3: you know, I didn't know that they would resign him,
[5:43] Speaker 3: but I thought that that'd be a little bit of redundancy.
[5:46] Speaker 3: So let's just walk through this because it is fun.
[5:49] Speaker 3: Forget the coffee. Let's have some beer over this. If
[5:53] Speaker 3: you go down that road, then there's going to be
[5:56] Speaker 3: a lot of changes. For example, you're not going to
[5:59] Speaker 3: draft Zach Charbonnet in the second round. Maybe you get
[6:04] Speaker 3: a DB, maybe don't. Remember now, that was the year
[6:06] Speaker 3: before Mike McDonald. So now if you imagine a Witherspoon,
[6:11] Speaker 3: and I thought they should have got Jalen Carter, but
[6:17] Speaker 3: because of Kenneth Walker. And yet now when I assess,
[6:22] Speaker 3: if I say, okay, if the Seahawks had taken him,
[6:26] Speaker 3: We don't know exactly how they would have got a
[6:30] Speaker 3: Witherspoon type. They wouldn't have got a guy as good
[6:32] Speaker 3: as him, presumably. But they would have had the second
[6:34] Speaker 3: rounder with Charbonnet that could have been used. They could
[6:36] Speaker 3: have traded Kenneth Walker, who had been a first rounder,
[6:39] Speaker 3: probably could have got a second rounder for him. And
[6:43] Speaker 3: so then maybe that second rounder would have been used.
[6:45] Speaker 3: But remember now, Eamon Worry was a second rounder, so
[6:47] Speaker 3: he could get an impact player. I would just say this.
[6:52] Speaker 3: I don't look back at this because we got another
[6:57] Speaker 3: Lombardi trophy.
[6:57] Speaker 2: Of course.
[6:58] Speaker 3: And I would say as a player, if we just
[7:01] Speaker 3: talk about the player. B. John Robinson has 79 touches
[7:05] Speaker 3: this year in three games. He's over 26 touches per game.
[7:09] Speaker 3: There's no way you can tell me that a DB
[7:13] Speaker 3: is going to impact a football game as much as
[7:15] Speaker 3: a running back with that skill set. What's his skill set?
[7:18] Speaker 3: He is elite, probably best in the league at stop
[7:22] Speaker 3: and start. He's elite, maybe the best in the league
[7:25] Speaker 3: at lateral quickness. He's elite at instincts, vision, setting up blocks.
[7:31] Speaker 3: Absolutely the best in the league. Now, his long speed
[7:36] Speaker 3: is maybe not elite, but still top 10. His finishing
[7:39] Speaker 3: strength is not elite, but still top half. So he
[7:43] Speaker 3: is a running back, in my opinion, without a flaw. Oh,
[7:46] Speaker 3: you know what? I'll take it back. There's one thing
[7:48] Speaker 3: that he is worst in the league at, being a diva. Everybody,
[7:53] Speaker 3: you don't have to study long to understand how much
[7:58] Speaker 3: people rave about this guy as a person. Total team guy.
[8:03] Speaker 3: He's 24 years old. And I would just say this.
[8:06] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[8:07] Speaker 3: The guy B. John Robinson finds yards where there are none.
[8:10] Speaker 3: He finds yards like Easter eggs. He's the kid that
[8:14] Speaker 3: comes back every year, and his basket always has the
[8:17] Speaker 3: most eggs. And you say, how do you do it?
[8:19] Speaker 5: I don't know.
[8:20] Speaker 3: I found an egg under a 500-pound log. How the
[8:23] Speaker 3: hell did you get the log up? I just lift
[8:25] Speaker 3: it up with one hand. He does stuff. How do
[8:27] Speaker 3: you do that? I got to ask you a question.
[8:29] Speaker 4: I got to ask you a question, though, because I
[8:31] Speaker 4: think all of us do agree. Look, we're doing pretty
[8:34] Speaker 4: good with Spoon, right? We want a title. He's maybe
[8:37] Speaker 4: the best corner in the NFL. Things are pretty good.
[8:40] Speaker 3: Is B.
[8:41] Speaker 4: John Robinson a better running back than Devin Witherspoon as
[8:44] Speaker 4: a cornerback?
[8:44] Speaker 3: Yes. Yeah.
[8:46] Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.
[8:46] Speaker 3: I mean, you throw on the tape, even against the Rams,
[8:49] Speaker 3: you know, you had Puka Nakua beating Witherspoon pretty handily. And,
[8:56] Speaker 3: you know, even to the point, Reek Woolen, when they
[8:58] Speaker 3: went number one, man on man, they were putting Reek
[9:00] Speaker 3: Woolen on Puka, not Witherspoon. Witherspoon is, to me, he's
[9:06] Speaker 3: not just a corner. I play with Deion Sanders. When
[9:09] Speaker 3: he got drafted, I was with the Falcons. So I've
[9:12] Speaker 3: looked at Deion his entire career. He's not a corner.
[9:16] Speaker 3: He's a defensive back. They put him at nickel value. Certainly,
[9:21] Speaker 3: they play him at corner. He'll play the hook zone,
[9:23] Speaker 3: the curl flat. He's a very versatile player, and he
[9:26] Speaker 3: is a force multiplier. The argument to be made for
[9:30] Speaker 3: Devin Witherspoon is in a league of competitors. He is
[9:34] Speaker 3: an uber competitor who loves football and is the emotional
[9:39] Speaker 3: straw that stirs the drink for that defense, his swagger,
[9:44] Speaker 3: what have you. So if we're just talking about impact
[9:47] Speaker 3: as a football player and we remove that, then I say,
[9:49] Speaker 3: give me B. John Robinson. I'll take him over Devin Witherspoon.
[9:53] Speaker 3: If you then say, wait a minute, Devin Witherspoon is
[9:56] Speaker 3: far more than just what you study on the tape.
[9:58] Speaker 3: It's how he impacts.
[10:00] Speaker 2: Others.
[10:00] Speaker 3: And by the way, the Seahawks play their number one
[10:02] Speaker 3: in the NFL and in what's called cover six, that's
[10:04] Speaker 3: a too high structure. And if you play the strong
[10:07] Speaker 3: flat in that defense, you got to cover a lot
[10:09] Speaker 3: of ground to the field because you're doing it to
[10:12] Speaker 3: the field side, right? Away from the boundary. And, and,
[10:17] Speaker 3: you know, just quarterback one-on-one, you say, oh, you see
[10:19] Speaker 3: cover six, work the strong flat. Well, when you've got
[10:21] Speaker 3: the turbo button out there in Witherspoon, it takes the
[10:25] Speaker 3: weakness of the defense and it erases the weakness. So
[10:29] Speaker 3: I'm not looking back with Witherspoon. I mean, you can
[10:31] Speaker 3: only have, unless Bijon got you two Lombardis, we're sitting
[10:36] Speaker 3: with one Lombardi, but I would just say, I would
[10:39] Speaker 3: just say right now. He's awesome. Beeson Robinson touching the
[10:43] Speaker 3: ball 26 times. He takes a good team from a
[10:46] Speaker 3: great team more than just about any defender I could imagine.
[10:50] Speaker 5: Hugh, you've got a quarterback that's back. He has thrown
[10:53] Speaker 5: two passes in. training camp slash regular season thus far
[10:58] Speaker 5: coming off the hip injury. Do you call the game
[11:01] Speaker 5: any differently considering that? And also considering that you're playing
[11:05] Speaker 5: another team that has a backup quarterback than you would
[11:09] Speaker 5: if Sam were healthy and maybe playing a good team.
[11:12] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you kind of ease them into it
[11:13] Speaker 3: a little bit, but, uh, He's looked great in training camp.
[11:19] Speaker 3: I think he was a little rusty on Wednesday and
[11:21] Speaker 3: then on Thursday I think he just lit it up
[11:25] Speaker 3: and it was the Sam Darnold that the staff is
[11:27] Speaker 3: expecting to see. The second play of the season this
[11:32] Speaker 3: year against the Patriots, they went to a play action.
[11:37] Speaker 3: He turned his back to the defense and then whistled
[11:39] Speaker 3: that ball in on a skid route into a tight
[11:42] Speaker 3: little window. I mean, he was ready to excel coming
[11:46] Speaker 3: out of 2026. So I think that in some level,
[11:52] Speaker 3: you don't see how the game flows. But a year ago,
[11:55] Speaker 3: Sam Darnold, the Seahawks had 11 explosive plays, the commanders
[12:01] Speaker 3: only had six. The rate was 23% to 10%, but
[12:06] Speaker 3: Darnold was only pressured 4% of the time, while the
[12:09] Speaker 3: Seahawks defense pressured commander quarterbacks 31% of the time. So
[12:13] Speaker 3: there was a, you know, that was a whitewashing back
[12:16] Speaker 3: in Washington. I expect a lot of the same, but
[12:19] Speaker 3: it'll be interesting, Dick, to see, you know, just how
[12:22] Speaker 3: they ease him back. But I think that he's going
[12:24] Speaker 3: to tell you, I'm ready to go. Here's what I
[12:25] Speaker 3: don't want to see. I don't want to see run
[12:27] Speaker 3: on first down, run on second down. And now, oh,
[12:29] Speaker 3: now it's third and six. They brought in their dime package.
[12:32] Speaker 3: quarterback bail us out the best way to get a
[12:34] Speaker 3: quarterback in rhythm let him throw in first and ten half.
[12:36] Speaker 4: The time absolutely i mean look the numbers may not
[12:39] Speaker 4: be gigantic when the game is over because they may
[12:42] Speaker 4: not need gigantic numbers i mean three of his last
[12:45] Speaker 4: six and four of his last nine games a year
[12:47] Speaker 4: ago he was under 200 yards but yeah you know
[12:49] Speaker 4: he was very efficient so i mean i guess there's
[12:51] Speaker 4: a difference between what the box score looks like and
[12:54] Speaker 4: how efficient he is like Is he going to be rusty?
[12:58] Speaker 3: Is he going to be missing throws?
[12:59] Speaker 4: Will he come back and say, yeah, maybe one more week,
[13:01] Speaker 4: and he'll make that throw to Cooper Cup or make
[13:04] Speaker 4: that throw to Jackson Smith and Jigbutt? What are you
[13:07] Speaker 4: expecting out of him as far as efficiency on Sunday?
[13:10] Speaker 3: Well, I think he's a damn good quarterback, so I
[13:12] Speaker 3: expect him to play damn well. I could see maybe
[13:15] Speaker 3: some rust the first part of the first quarter, but
[13:18] Speaker 3: if he's getting decent protection, I expect him to be
[13:21] Speaker 3: on the money. Now, I do think the Seahawks have a—
[13:24] Speaker 3: you know, a view from 30,000 feet problem with their
[13:27] Speaker 3: offense that they have to get Rasheed Shaheed going. Or
[13:33] Speaker 3: Torrey Horton. They have got to get a number two receiver.
[13:36] Speaker 3: I don't think they're going to reach their potential. And
[13:39] Speaker 3: everything that we learned from last year about Shaheed, well,
[13:41] Speaker 3: they acquired him on November 4th, so he never really
[13:44] Speaker 3: had a training camp in an offseason with Sam Darnold. Well,
[13:47] Speaker 3: he had that this year. So to me, Shaheed has
[13:51] Speaker 3: got to– that's got to improve. And so this would
[13:56] Speaker 3: be a good time to do it. I like the
[13:57] Speaker 3: fact that he's playing now because the game that I
[14:01] Speaker 3: really have my eyes on, I wouldn't think this as
[14:03] Speaker 3: a player, but as a fan, I'm sitting there thinking,
[14:07] Speaker 3: I think we can beat Washington. The way the Chargers
[14:10] Speaker 3: are playing, who knows? Now, they have a high ceiling,
[14:13] Speaker 3: but right now they're hovering around the floor. And so
[14:16] Speaker 3: they have to find themselves with Josh McDaniels and whether
[14:19] Speaker 3: or not Justin Herbert can adapt to that that anticipatory
[14:23] Speaker 3: style that Josh McDaniels has, but it's the 49er game.
[14:29] Speaker 3: I want Sam Darnold primed in oil. I want that
[14:32] Speaker 3: pump primed. when the 49ers come to town, you know,
[14:36] Speaker 3: two games from now, I guess three games from now.
[14:38] Speaker 3: October 11th.
[14:39] Speaker 5: Yes.
[14:40] Speaker 3: And so if there is some rust, let's kick it
[14:43] Speaker 3: off this Sunday. Okay. And they can withstand a slightly subpar,
[14:50] Speaker 3: you know, let's say it's a B game from Sam Darnold.
[14:53] Speaker 3: They're still going to win that game, but let's get
[14:55] Speaker 3: them ready to play an A game against the 49ers.
[14:59] Speaker 5: I heard you talking a lot this week on the
[15:01] Speaker 5: morning show about just the different running styles between Price
[15:04] Speaker 5: and Emmanuel Wilson. You've got your primary inside guy in Wilson,
[15:07] Speaker 5: your primary outside guy in Price. So how do you
[15:10] Speaker 5: keep the defense off balance when you have a back
[15:13] Speaker 5: that is primarily an outside runner and one that's primarily
[15:16] Speaker 5: an inside runner when the defense knows, oh, this guy's
[15:18] Speaker 5: going to bounce and this guy's going to run inside?
[15:21] Speaker 3: Well, just to put numbers to that, thus far, you've
[15:24] Speaker 3: got Price– On D gap, that's Diaz and David, so
[15:28] Speaker 3: that's the widest. 11 carries, 83 yards. That's 7.5 yards
[15:31] Speaker 3: per carry. They're at 1.7 yards per carry when he
[15:35] Speaker 3: goes inside. That's A, B, or C gap. That's a
[15:38] Speaker 3: big discrepancy. But if you said to most football coaches, hey,
[15:43] Speaker 3: you only get to go into the game with one
[15:46] Speaker 3: running play in professional football. Now, Mike Holmgren would say, well,
[15:50] Speaker 3: if I'm at BYU, I'll just give me the one
[15:52] Speaker 3: running play. It'll be the draw. And Mike Leach would
[15:55] Speaker 3: say the draw. But let's get back to a little
[15:58] Speaker 3: closer to reality in NFL football. If you said, okay,
[16:02] Speaker 3: you get one running play for the entire game, most
[16:06] Speaker 3: every coach would say wide zone.
[16:08] Speaker 1: Why?
[16:09] Speaker 3: Because the wide zone starts to the outsides. But and
[16:14] Speaker 3: then the running back is reading the end man's block.
[16:18] Speaker 3: If he can get out, if he can hook him,
[16:20] Speaker 3: then the running back is going to go outside. He's
[16:22] Speaker 3: going to take it to the sideline. If he can't
[16:23] Speaker 3: hook him, then he goes to the next read. Maybe
[16:26] Speaker 3: it's the three technique and say, OK, did we hook
[16:29] Speaker 3: the three technique? If we didn't hook him. Then we're
[16:31] Speaker 3: going to keep going back inside so it can hit
[16:33] Speaker 3: all the way back right over center, right over the A-gap. Now,
[16:37] Speaker 3: the gaps flow because the defense is flowing, so the
[16:39] Speaker 3: landmark on the actual field doesn't look like the A-gap.
[16:43] Speaker 3: But in terms of where the players are, it starts
[16:45] Speaker 3: at the D-gap, but it ends up at the A-gap.
[16:48] Speaker 3: It's still the same call. So if you just went
[16:50] Speaker 3: in and you said, hey, Jadarian Price is our wide
[16:54] Speaker 3: zone runner, it actually has a lot more versatility than
[16:58] Speaker 3: it sounds. Now, I'm not saying that you do that
[17:01] Speaker 3: because he still has to run the ball on the inside,
[17:03] Speaker 3: but wide zone is the most versatile run in football.
[17:07] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
[17:08] Speaker 3: And that's where Price is, you know, that's his strength
[17:13] Speaker 3: because he has the acceleration. And the defense has to
[17:18] Speaker 3: flow faster, which creates better cutback lanes. So I think
[17:22] Speaker 3: we're going to be okay. It's not Kenneth Walker, but
[17:25] Speaker 3: the combination, I think, the way Emmanuel Wilson played. You know,
[17:29] Speaker 3: a little bit of an inside versus outside. Yeah, there's
[17:32] Speaker 3: going to be a tendency. But as I just described,
[17:35] Speaker 3: the wide play can turn into the inside play depending
[17:37] Speaker 3: on how it's blocked and how the defense flows.
[17:41] Speaker 4: 1976 was your bar mitzvah year. You were 13 years old,
[17:44] Speaker 4: I believe, in 1976. And that's the last time Minnesota
[17:50] Speaker 4: came to Husky Stadium.
[17:51] Speaker 3: I don't know. Maybe you were there. I've never been
[17:53] Speaker 3: to a bar mitzvah.
[17:55] Speaker 2: Really?
[17:55] Speaker 3: Come on. Never been to a bar mitzvah?
[17:58] Speaker 4: Wow.
[17:58] Speaker 2: All right.
[17:59] Speaker 3: Anyway, my point. I don't have Jewish friends.
[18:01] Speaker 2: Okay.
[18:02] Speaker 4: Well, you're exactly right. You did up until about four
[18:05] Speaker 4: seconds ago, and now you don't. Tony Dungy and Warren
[18:09] Speaker 4: Moon were the starting quarterbacks the last time Minnesota came
[18:12] Speaker 4: to town. So we're going to come back and talk
[18:14] Speaker 4: about the game, all right? Because I think there's a
[18:16] Speaker 4: lot of Husky fans that are curious to see what
[18:18] Speaker 4: this offense looks like against a Big Ten defense. Didn't
[18:21] Speaker 4: look so good in the first couple of games. Looked
[18:23] Speaker 4: better against Eastern, but... It was Eastern. And we got
[18:26] Speaker 4: a big debate brewing right here. We got a little
[18:28] Speaker 4: bit of a, I don't want to call it a rhubarb,
[18:30] Speaker 4: but it's a bit of a debate between Jackson, Dick,
[18:32] Speaker 4: and the audience has jumped in on this.
[18:36] Speaker 3: So we'll get your thoughts on that.
[18:37] Speaker 4: We'll talk about UW-Minnesota with Hugh next on 93.3 KJRFM.
[18:43] Speaker 1: This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
[18:45] Speaker 1: brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
[18:47] Speaker 1: it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
[18:53] Speaker 1: back to Softie and Dick. on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
[18:58] Speaker 4: A big thanks to our friends at Duke Seafood Restaurants.
[19:00] Speaker 4: What do you say we all make tonight at Duke Seafood?
[19:02] Speaker 4: Now get your table at dukesseafood.com. Hugh Millen rejoins us. Hugh, Minnesota,
[19:07] Speaker 4: don't you know, in town tomorrow. I wonder if Ryan
[19:11] Speaker 4: Walters will grab, I don't know, Ramzak Thruin, Derek Coleman-Brusa.
[19:15] Speaker 4: I want you to kill all the gophers out there.
[19:17] Speaker 4: Every single one. That's an old Caddyshack line, by the way. Anyway,
[19:22] Speaker 4: I'm sorry about that. Let's talk about the topic du
[19:25] Speaker 4: jour from our show, though, before we break down Minnesota.
[19:28] Speaker 4: Drake Lindsey, you know, they got a big defensive end, Wardaddy,
[19:32] Speaker 4: who had 12.5 sacks a year ago. So Dick and
[19:35] Speaker 4: Jackson and I have been just talking on the air
[19:36] Speaker 4: that Dick is kind of a little bit down on
[19:39] Speaker 4: how many people are writing the season off, right? No
[19:42] Speaker 4: CFP for us after the way they looked in the
[19:44] Speaker 4: first non-conference games. And then this spawned, I think, a
[19:47] Speaker 4: bigger conversation about Husky fans. that really don't yet maybe
[19:51] Speaker 4: fully believe or maybe are not getting behind Jed Fish
[19:55] Speaker 4: as much as maybe they should after two and a
[19:57] Speaker 4: half years.
[19:58] Speaker 3: What's your take on all that? Well, obviously not being
[20:01] Speaker 3: in the heads of all Husky fans, I can only
[20:05] Speaker 3: speculate as to my sense about it, which would be
[20:10] Speaker 3: in no particular order, the question, is he going to stay?
[20:14] Speaker 3: There were numerous reports that his Florida, his alma mater
[20:19] Speaker 3: job came up and they wanted that. Florida went another
[20:24] Speaker 3: direction that he wanted the Michigan job where he had
[20:26] Speaker 3: coached and that went another direction. I find those reports
[20:33] Speaker 3: to be credible. And so I think that that speaks
[20:37] Speaker 3: to some of the concerns that maybe fans had about him.
[20:40] Speaker 3: I think that there's the teacher's pet issue with DeMond Williams,
[20:45] Speaker 3: who spoke about DeMond being a Heisman Trophy winner before
[20:48] Speaker 3: he's even a starter, that he would be the face
[20:51] Speaker 3: of the program. He got the job with no competition.
[20:57] Speaker 3: The NIL blunder, that it didn't seem like there was
[21:02] Speaker 3: any repercussions against DeMond, at least outwardly. It didn't seem
[21:06] Speaker 3: that way. You know, two minutes to go in the
[21:08] Speaker 3: Apple Cup. Why is he in the game? Wait a minute.
[21:10] Speaker 3: Why is he throwing the ball down the field to
[21:12] Speaker 3: get 59 points? That ain't Don James. Like, I think
[21:16] Speaker 3: there's a number of other things. And then offensive coordinator,
[21:18] Speaker 3: the fact that he, you know, he's already got a
[21:20] Speaker 3: lot on his plate as a head football coach. You
[21:24] Speaker 3: are the GM and the head coach. And that's true
[21:27] Speaker 3: of every, So in college, there's a lot on your
[21:30] Speaker 3: plate anyways. I understand that they have people under them
[21:33] Speaker 3: to help them, but then to say, well, I want
[21:35] Speaker 3: to be the offensive coordinator. Okay, fine. If you're going
[21:38] Speaker 3: to fire your offensive coordinator not to replace him, then
[21:40] Speaker 3: let's get some fireworks going. And it just seems like
[21:44] Speaker 3: it's been stuck there. So I think there's a question
[21:46] Speaker 3: about whether or not he really should be the playoff.
[21:49] Speaker 3: play caller. So I think those are some of the
[21:51] Speaker 3: reasons that Husky fans might have some angst about the
[21:54] Speaker 3: whole situation.
[21:55] Speaker 5: Fair enough. When we used to look at the results,
[21:57] Speaker 5: the results being a bowl after a shredded roster in
[22:01] Speaker 5: year one, a nine win season and a bowl win
[22:04] Speaker 5: in year two, and now three and oh, in year
[22:06] Speaker 5: three with two really good recruiting classes.
[22:10] Speaker 3: Is it fair to say that Jed Fish has done
[22:11] Speaker 3: a good job since he's been here? Well, it depends
[22:15] Speaker 3: on good. There's varying levels of good. Right now, you'd say,
[22:18] Speaker 3: what's the signature win? I mean, was it at Maryland
[22:22] Speaker 3: coming back in the fourth quarter? Maryland won four games.
[22:24] Speaker 3: Was it at home against Illinois when they were 23rd? Well,
[22:29] Speaker 3: they end up losing four games and well out of
[22:32] Speaker 3: the top. I don't even know if they won a
[22:34] Speaker 3: bowl game. So there hasn't been that one game where
[22:39] Speaker 3: you say, wow, I'm surprised the Huskies won that. with
[22:43] Speaker 3: Jed Fish, not one. So when you compare that to
[22:47] Speaker 3: Sark knocking off USC when the Trojans were ranked number
[22:51] Speaker 3: third in Sark's first year, damn near beating LSU. There's
[22:56] Speaker 3: enough of a good history here in this program that
[23:01] Speaker 3: you say, okay, I'm kind of ready to go. I mean,
[23:04] Speaker 3: you had Jim Owens, Don James, and Chris Peterson all
[23:07] Speaker 3: won the conference championships in year three. And that was
[23:12] Speaker 3: when they took over varying degrees of a, you know,
[23:17] Speaker 3: decrepit or I don't want to say decrepit, strike that,
[23:20] Speaker 3: a rebuilding program. And in all of those cases, you know,
[23:25] Speaker 3: to win the championship in year three. So we'll see,
[23:27] Speaker 3: you know, the future will tell. And for them to
[23:32] Speaker 3: make the playoffs, they're going to have to likely go
[23:35] Speaker 3: seven and two in Big Ten play. And thus far,
[23:39] Speaker 3: Whatever you thought of the team coming into game one,
[23:45] Speaker 3: I don't see how you could not feel a little
[23:49] Speaker 3: bit worse about the team now after watching them three
[23:52] Speaker 3: games than you did in August. Maybe I'm wrong on that.
[23:56] Speaker 3: Maybe I'm wrong on that. But there's reason for it.
[23:59] Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know. There's not the gelling.
[24:02] Speaker 3: We're not seeing DeMond develop the way. He was talked
[24:06] Speaker 3: about and what have you. All of that can start
[24:08] Speaker 3: to change tomorrow. But yeah, but that's kind of my answer, Dick. Yeah,
[24:12] Speaker 3: that's good.
[24:13] Speaker 4: I mean, I do think that there are there is
[24:15] Speaker 4: context to what you talked about. There's other coaches winning
[24:17] Speaker 4: a championship in year three. None of them had to
[24:20] Speaker 4: take over a roster that lost every offensive starter from
[24:23] Speaker 4: the year before and got blown to bits. So I
[24:27] Speaker 4: do think there is some context there for sure. But
[24:29] Speaker 4: I think I think all of them had access.
[24:31] Speaker 3: No, for sure, for sure.
[24:33] Speaker 4: But to rebuild it like that, I mean, I don't know, man.
[24:36] Speaker 4: I mean, that was a pretty damn hard job. I mean,
[24:39] Speaker 4: what Kalen DeBoer had to do with Nick Saban replacing
[24:41] Speaker 4: him and then Jed Fish replacing Kalen with the roster
[24:44] Speaker 4: getting blown to kingdom come, there are difficulties there for
[24:48] Speaker 4: both coaches, 1,000% sure. All right, let's talk about tomorrow,
[24:52] Speaker 4: all right? UW is a 10.5-point favorite. Minnesota hasn't been
[24:56] Speaker 4: here in 50 years. It was Tony Dungy and Warren Moon.
[24:59] Speaker 4: And let's start with a quarterback. I mean, they're bringing
[25:01] Speaker 4: a guy in here who the NFL is coveting right now, 6'5, 230.
[25:05] Speaker 4: He's an absolute pro prospect. He's one of the top
[25:08] Speaker 4: five quarterbacks on the board for a lot of people.
[25:10] Speaker 4: And Drake Lindsey, what are you seeing from this guy?
[25:13] Speaker 3: Well, I watched the Mississippi State game because that's their
[25:18] Speaker 3: competitive opponent, the only one that they've had. And that
[25:23] Speaker 3: game was at home at Minnesota. And what I see
[25:27] Speaker 3: from Drake Lindsey and I, I've seen his highlights and
[25:30] Speaker 3: what have you and seen his skill set, but really
[25:34] Speaker 3: put under focus that game against Mississippi State. Big dude,
[25:38] Speaker 3: big strong arm, quick release, but I would say he
[25:42] Speaker 3: wears a knee brace on his left leg. I don't
[25:44] Speaker 3: know if that's an indicator of a prior injury, but
[25:47] Speaker 3: he just doesn't move. I mean, there is one spot
[25:52] Speaker 3: to find that guy, and it's seven yards behind the center.
[25:56] Speaker 3: You can find him by Braille. This should be an
[25:59] Speaker 3: opportunity for all pass rushers for the Huskies to get
[26:02] Speaker 3: after it. Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles could be your
[26:06] Speaker 3: defensive end for the Huskies tomorrow night because there's only
[26:10] Speaker 3: one place that quarterback's going to be. He simply won't stumble.
[26:14] Speaker 3: In watching their tape, guys, I looked and I was like,
[26:19] Speaker 3: it's as if somebody said after the second day of install, okay,
[26:24] Speaker 3: you have to stop. You don't get to install anymore.
[26:26] Speaker 3: Everything is just basic and vanilla. They line up mostly
[26:30] Speaker 3: 11 personnel with the one receiver, one tight end, three–
[26:34] Speaker 3: excuse me, one running back, one tight end, three receivers.
[26:37] Speaker 3: And they're mostly in shotgun, although he will get under center.
[26:42] Speaker 3: But they don't have any creativity in their formations. They're
[26:46] Speaker 3: generally wide. They don't stack. They don't bunch. They don't
[26:49] Speaker 3: have any creative motions. There's no unbalanced– They literally don't
[26:54] Speaker 3: move the pocket. No naked bootlegs, no sprint outs, no dashes.
[27:00] Speaker 3: As I said, he's going to be in one spot
[27:02] Speaker 3: for you. I don't see great speed at the wide
[27:06] Speaker 3: receiver position. Every time Mississippi State went man-to-man, they were
[27:11] Speaker 3: covered like a blanket. And there's just nowhere to go.
[27:15] Speaker 3: And so I was not impressed with that offense at all. Now,
[27:21] Speaker 3: I like his skill set. And then, oh, by the way,
[27:28] Speaker 3: their running game. Oh, my gosh. To say vanilla wouldn't
[27:32] Speaker 3: even begin to tell the story. They're just right inside zone,
[27:36] Speaker 3: inside zone, inside zone, inside. And I'm like, are they
[27:38] Speaker 3: going to do any powers or counters? Are they going
[27:40] Speaker 3: to do any traps? They can do any pin and poles.
[27:42] Speaker 3: They finally, by the end of the first quarter did,
[27:45] Speaker 3: they did a couple of wide zones, but they don't
[27:47] Speaker 3: have great team speed. So it's, it's really that they
[27:52] Speaker 3: are not going to challenge you mentally with what they bring.
[27:56] Speaker 2: Right.
[27:57] Speaker 3: And then if you can pressure the quarterback, he's not
[27:59] Speaker 3: going to move. I got to think Ryan Walters right
[28:03] Speaker 3: now cannot wait to get to 8 p.m. tomorrow night.
[28:07] Speaker 2: Love it.
[28:07] Speaker 3: Because he can just turn this. And then, you know,
[28:11] Speaker 3: I assume you're going to ask me about the other
[28:13] Speaker 3: side of the ball. But, yeah, I like their quarterback
[28:16] Speaker 3: in terms of how he throws the ball. That's about
[28:19] Speaker 3: all to like. That doesn't mean that he's quarterbacking well.
[28:22] Speaker 3: And that doesn't mean that the people around him are
[28:25] Speaker 3: in a position to help him look like a NFL prospect.
[28:28] Speaker 4: By the way, just real quick, on the knee brace
[28:30] Speaker 4: he wears, he had a knee injury when he was
[28:32] Speaker 4: in eighth grade playing in an AAU basketball game, and
[28:36] Speaker 4: he's been having knee problems ever since. That's why he
[28:38] Speaker 4: wears the knee brace.
[28:41] Speaker 3: His refusal to move reflects that, and they don't put
[28:43] Speaker 3: him on the move, and so he kind of looks
[28:45] Speaker 3: like an unathletic Carson Wentz in the pocket. It's just
[28:49] Speaker 3: kind of how I, and not that Carson Wentz is
[28:52] Speaker 3: some kind of Lamar Jackson, but But at least Carson Wentz,
[28:57] Speaker 3: you know, can hurt you a little bit with his feet.
[28:59] Speaker 3: This guy is just, he's grounded. We got two minutes left,
[29:02] Speaker 3: by the way.
[29:02] Speaker 5: You mentioned seven yards behind the line of scrimmage and
[29:05] Speaker 5: that triggered my brain and remembering what you said about
[29:08] Speaker 5: the Mon Williams last year is the Mon still dropping
[29:11] Speaker 5: back too far. Like he did last year.
[29:15] Speaker 3: I think it's improved a little. I haven't gone to
[29:19] Speaker 3: school on that. I wanted to wait to, you know,
[29:21] Speaker 3: watch a couple of conference games. But the idea would
[29:24] Speaker 3: be if you're 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage,
[29:26] Speaker 3: even if you throw shallow, you just do the math
[29:29] Speaker 3: of how far are the balls in the air. Defenders
[29:31] Speaker 3: can react on the ball. You know, you just watch
[29:34] Speaker 3: the Oregon tape and you see how deep he is.
[29:36] Speaker 3: And then when he throws a shallow, the you know
[29:38] Speaker 3: boom there's no opportunity for run after the catch so
[29:41] Speaker 3: so I thought that he was too deep I don't
[29:44] Speaker 3: want to talk out of my my hindsight dick on
[29:47] Speaker 3: that one because I'm waiting for the Big Ten to
[29:50] Speaker 3: study it but you know just to leave myself here
[29:54] Speaker 3: on this I also peeked at the the the Minnesota
[29:58] Speaker 3: defense and I thought it looked like they were playing
[30:01] Speaker 3: with eight guys. No team speed, taking bad angles. At
[30:05] Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage, Mississippi State on both sides. I
[30:08] Speaker 3: mentioned the inside zone when Minnesota was on offense. They
[30:11] Speaker 3: couldn't get pushed. On the other hand, when Mississippi State
[30:14] Speaker 3: had the ball, Minnesota, they were getting pushed all around.
[30:18] Speaker 3: So I know this is a Big Ten team, and
[30:22] Speaker 3: I don't do predictions. So I'm not going to say
[30:25] Speaker 3: what I think will happen, but I'll tell you what
[30:27] Speaker 3: should happen. washington it should have a dominant win tomorrow i.
[30:30] Speaker 4: Love it well and then they've got some injuries on
[30:32] Speaker 4: their line too their center ashton beers may not play
[30:35] Speaker 4: so they're all american or are all big 10 guy
[30:38] Speaker 4: i think greg johnson's his name he may slide over
[30:41] Speaker 4: to center.
[30:41] Speaker 3: There's no creativity there yeah they have no creative like
[30:44] Speaker 3: i said they they stopped installing after.
[30:45] Speaker 4: Day two well i'll tell you what i'm gonna do
[30:47] Speaker 4: i'm gonna run to the emerald queen and put the
[30:49] Speaker 4: mortgage payment on the dogs minus ten and a half
[30:51] Speaker 4: after hearing that are you kidding me i love it i.
[30:54] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[30:55] Speaker 3: I was not impressed with the gophers watching that tape.
[30:57] Speaker 3: I'm just going by what I saw against Mississippi state.
[30:59] Speaker 3: Love it.
[31:00] Speaker 2: All right.
[31:00] Speaker 3: Good stuff. Enjoy it. And we'll talk on Monday. All right, pal.
[31:03] Speaker 3: Have a great weekend.
[31:03] Speaker 5: All right.
[31:04] Speaker 4: Humoring with us. We're going to break a little fun
[31:06] Speaker 4: with audio and then bill Kruger. We'll put a wrap
[31:08] Speaker 4: on the Mariners season next on 93, three KJ RFM.

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.