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Now here's your host, Jen Mueller.

Well, last week against the Rams did not exactly go as John Boyle and I had dialed it up.

But John, I could not help but notice after that game there was actually more optimism.

Nobody's okay with losing.

But that felt very different than the Week one loss against the forty nine ers.

Yeah, and I think it felt different because you knew you just went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the NFL, despite doing just about everything on offense you could to not win that game, Like you turn them all over four times.

Against good teams, you usually get blown out.

Yeah, So to survive that almost and being in a person I mean they're like, what five six yards from being in a great spot to win that game, that really tells you something about the resolve of this team, about this defense, just how good it is.

And yeah, I think you leave that game being like, shoot, we really wish we'd have won that game, but we're still seven to three.

We get that team again and feel really good about the way just overall this teams performing.

That was kind of the feeling that I heard from the players as they walked into the locker room.

It was Okay, we'll see in the rematch, We'll see in a few weeks at our place, let's see what happens that.

Yeah, if you do that in week fifteen and you're like, okay, that cost us the division, that's a little different feeling no matter how the loss went, but like, there's so much season left.

I think they feel like, Okay, that not what we wanted, but tony of time to make good for that.

It was a little a couple of people had said, you know, in some ways, it feels a little bit like twenty twelve when you lose to the Falcons and you're like, God, this really is not fun.

But we can see where this team is going, and certainly you see that on defense, the Rams did not have a play of longer than twenty three yards.

That's pretty impressive with Matthew Stafford and what they were able to do.

We did see three guys rotating at cornerback.

That was something it was a little bit new, and I like being able to have those matchups.

Yeah, it's you know, classic what coach would say is a good problem to have.

Yeah, Like, Okay, you've got two guys who've played very well lately, and this is really the first time they've all been healthy for an extended stretch.

So I was very curious going in the week what they do with that.

And you know, we just saw them kind of mix, mix and match, and there are even times that Spoon was off the field, like they were really kind of mixing guys in and out there and really solid results against a great quarterback in a great offense.

And I do wonder how much again mix and match you see going forward.

The Rams I think are kind of the outlier, right, Like it's kind of the outlier case division opponent, just a really high powered offense.

You might not need to mix and match as much in the coming weeks, or maybe you just say, yeah, we're going to use this as a chance to refine it.

But either way, it's nice to have options because that is not the case with every team in the league.

One.

Yeah, I mean, it's great to feel like you have more starters than you need in this league because unfortunately, injuries do happen.

I mean, We've seen Josh, shob Enreeque and Spoon all miss games this year, and luckily when they do, they've got other guys to step up.

Also, be curious to going forward depending on opponents and matchups, is I could see them just saying we're gonna play a lot of dime to get all those guys on the field.

And you can get away.

With that a little bit more when one of your other quote unquote safeties is built like a linebacker.

And NICKI minmory, So that give me another solution to having you know, too many good corners is just let them all play.

I'm not sure that you're gonna need quite that many this week, and given the state of the Tennessee Titans.

We will get to that in just a second.

But how about this from the sideline.

It's hard for me to keep track of some of these numbers, but I did go back and I was just kind of making my notes on Monday morning.

Early in the game.

First two drives they go almost the full length of the field, right, And I do also wonder what would have happened had the Hawks got in the ball first instead of the Rams.

But drives of sixty two and seventy four yards early in the game.

Everything after that it was less than twenty five.

Now, to be fair, some of that is just field position off of the but boy, that defense was fighting for every single yard.

They played so well and put in a lot of bad spots.

I mean, they got just so many stops.

They held one of the best offenses in the league.

Did what over They two for eleven on third down.

Matt Stafford that was his lowest yards per completion or yards per tempt average since definitely in Detroit.

I looked this up earlier in the week, but I mean it's you really kept a really good offensive jack for I just found it.

Twenty eighteen is the last time he had that low of a yards per tempt average, So that's pretty you.

Yeah, I mean they they did.

Like you said, there was first couple of drives.

I'll argue the first drive was a little suspect because I don't get that penalty they called on spoon A.

Yeah, like the guy's trying to get up.

Yeah, I don't.

Anyway, we don't need to argue about officiating.

But yeah, I mean it's one of the best when you consider all the circumstances.

The turnovers.

One of the best performances we've seen now this defense.

And you easily could have pointed fingers after that game.

I don't expect anybody, FYI on this team to do that, but when there's such a disparity, when you look at just kind of the final numbers and you're thinking that, you know, one side of the ball could be really upset.

John.

I was not in the press conference.

I was in the locker room when you hear Ernest defend his quarterback, but specifically in the way he did it, How shocked were you?

I was a little surprised.

You know the language we heard.

You don't always hear multiple f words in a press conference, but it got the point home, like and it really it wasn't surprising me to hear him stick up for his core right because I was noticing, especially after the third and fourth interceptions, You're like, man, this is getting bad.

I was watching from the press box, you know, so commercial breaks you don't see us on TV, but offenses coming off, defense coming on in Earnest helmet off was going up to offensive players and you could just see from the body language even way up in that press box, like he was just trying to pick guys up.

This wasn't defense.

He's like, you guys put us in a bad spot again, Like he wasn't mad about it, was like we got you.

And so you see that play out and then yeah, after the game, still first quarterback about as emphatically as one could.

You know, so emphatically.

We cannot actually use that language.

I mean I don't know not when we're recording, do we occasionally use that language?

Sure, I mean yes, ear muffs for the care muffs for the kids.

But yeah, sorry to step over you there, But to me just speaks to what we've been hearing about all year about this, like how connected this group is and how close this team is.

Yeah, and that actually goes back to Tennessee last year.

But first, when you talk about adversity, how the team is going to handle it.

I really liked Mike McDonald's perspective and just kind of how he thinks about that as he shared it with the Medium.

Yeah, I think if you when you start walking around talking about process over result and then you and then all of a sudden, some result happens that you don't like, and then you start talking about the result, and you know what are we doing.

It's kind of like coaching the result, like, hey, you know tackle better, Well, okay, well, how are we going to get that done?

You know, we got to run the ball better.

Well, you can't just tell Clint to call better plays that are going to worry.

It's like you had to go back through the whole process of of what goes behind all those things.

And so if we're going to back up what we've been saying, we're just going to dial in our process.

You know, those things can change, Like we changed a little bit how we're going to practice this week because we feel like what the team needs to take the next step.

That's that's it.

That's going to be our approach.

But the mentality, all those principles that we talk about that that'll stay the same and and our goal is to continue to get better.

We realize it's a great opportunity to get better, you know, the like you leave the game saying, man, like, we can get better, and we need to do it in a hurry.

There needs to be a sense of urgency now because we've got to start playing our best football.

You wherever in season now or second half of the year, going to the last quarter of the season.

I'm not saying Mike's done this, but I have a hard time believing the head coach is not in the case in the course of a game when things aren't going well, told the corder call better play.

Call better plays.

That would be the first thing I think of.

Yeah, you know, we all get frustrated.

I'm sure that's probably some version of that has come out of just about every head coach's mouth, but yeah, I mean this has been a big talking point all years.

Is probably he made this point after the game, and like, if they make that fieldable, if they get you know, a few more years on, it's the same going into Monday.

I mean, you still have the turnover issues to correct, you'd still have this great defensive performance to look at.

It's you know, you'd still evaluate the tape the same, you'd just be a little happier while you did it, and then you'd still flip your attention Monday afternoon once they get past that to the upcoming opponent in the Tennessee Titans.

So that's you know, different coaches might use different language to get that point across, but that's such a big thing in this sport, is you got to just stick with that process, or if you get too caught up in all the other stuff, that's when you go lay an egg.

Well, and the fact that every player is using the word process over and over and over again.

In fact, I wrote kind of a little note off to the side, and I was laughing yesterday.

I'm like, you would think that professional athletes talked about results more like the outcomes.

Nope, we spend a lot of time talking about their process, which I think some people probably roll their eyes and be like, oh my gosh.

Nope, that is where you actually get better during the course of the day.

Now you talk about how close they were to getting a win, John, I gotta be honest.

Before the game, the Rams punter is punting towards the Seahawks sidelines and we are standing there and John Schneider is doing an interview with Steve Rabel, and I'm standing there with a group of people and it's like, heads up, the ball is coming over here.

And at first you're kind of laughing because you're like, what are you doing?

Like, what are you doing?

Then you watch what he did practicing and that on the final point, and it was my gat remarkable.

You get a bounce like you get a bounce and look, we have seen Michael Dixon with some amazing punts.

That was the play of the game.

Yeah, I mean for in that moment to be able to put that ball out of bounds at the one, it just yeah, I think if the ball goes out, that goes in the end zone and starts with the twenty we're talking about result here because not only do you just have twenty fewer yards to cover, but like it changes your play calling on those you're not backed up in your own in zone with By the way, I left guard who has not played a snap all year.

That yes, shout out to Christian Haynes for I mean, if if you make a bad mistake to start that drive games over, yes you grab a guy, You let a guy get by you, so like that's give him some crapit.

Yeah that I mean, hats off to Ethan Avis, but like that's a ridiculous punt and that really I think was the biggest deciding factor in that game because it, yeah, we've seen them do it over and over and I think they go get get that get that ball down to you know, the thirty yard line and kick a field goal.

Yep.

Yeah, a couple of yards would have made a difference.

But as you mentioned, it was also Christian Haynes who held his own on those first snaps when you were backed up at the goal line that made a big difference in where they ended up.

He hadn't played, you know, I hadn't played football in a minute really like or live football for that matter.

And so you know, we'll see what great situation is and you got to go man, Like we've seen in our football team, if somebody, if somebody you know, can't go for a certain amount of time, whether it's practice or games, the standard stays the same.

We expect you to go in and go rip it for us.

And he did that like it didn't bat an eye.

And there's things he's gonna learn from the game, and uh, we're gonna need him to play at high level if he needs to play this week.

Yeah, a few of us talked to Christian Hayes in the locker room, yestery, and he referred to that as a surreal moment, which is a good explanation or a good good description of like, you know, you got it.

We always hear players say it's like you gotta stay ready, and he was.

He's engaged in the game, and he says he's you know, warming up between series to make sure his body's warm.

But to be thrown in in that exact moment of okay, one yard line, go get a game when you drive.

That's a tough spot.

But that's I mean, we hear it.

It's kind of cliche, but it's true.

This like next man up mentality.

If if guys aren't ready in the moment when they're called upon, that's where the team can get hurt.

And we've seen tons of guys really both sides the ball, probably more so on defense, really step up.

And uh yeah, I mean that's to win in this league.

You gotta do that because unfortunately injuries happen.

Yeah, you spend a lot of time.

I spent a lot of time watching guys just staying warm on the sidelines right on the bike there.

You know, they're kind of blocking into each other, just kind of making sure that they've got the feel of the game.

It takes a lot of mental stamina, Yeah, to stand on the sidelines and pay attention to everything.

I think Olu might when he now he's starting, but when he's not, he might put in more miles on that bike.

Yes, yes, spin instructor.

I mean every time you look Dot, he's just got the arm things and he's just going.

Yeah.

I know this because I tend to stand next to that bike and Olu has more than once had to ask me to kindly step out of the way.

I don't have to worry about that right now because he is currently starting and while I have not seen him in that role yet this year, don't forget he was in a battle for that position, that starting position.

He had an injury that took him out of the mix.

But now, well it's like he never left that starting spot.

Yeah, seamlessly.

I mean he's same guys, ready to go, prepared, executed a high level I thought, snapped for clean, I mean, made the right calls.

It's great to have him ready to go.

You know, it shows you he's the way he's been preparing and the way he practiced throughout the off season was worthy of playing time.

You know, not like corner where you can just rotate centers.

You know, you get some point you got to make a decision and roll with it.

So yeah, I really like to kind of give credit to Lou when we get a chance too, because he's had kind of a weird couple of years that if you don't have the right and mental approach, could really mess the guy up.

Of like, you come into last season, he's a starter in camp, like, he's looking like he's a starter, and then you go sign the veteran and Connor Williams and boom, you lose your job through no fault of your own, it's just they decided to bring in a veteran guy.

And then Connor Williams shocks everyone and retires midway through the year.

So now you're like, Okay, Olu go start.

Did a great job to finish a year.

They won six our last eight games, and he was a big part of that.

Now similar this year of like coming in camp, you'd have probably pegged him as a favorite for that job, and he's getting a lot of first team reps and then unfortunately he gets the back injury and Jalen Sundel, credit to him, takes it.

Hold of it and doesn't let go.

And now Olu finds himself on the bench again and then boom, injury comes up.

Oh we need you go do it, and he's doing a great job.

So Yeah, that to me really speaks just a guys like I mean a just like the physical abilities and the understanding would be just that like mental fortitude to not get down and not feel like, oh, these things are going against me blah blah blah.

He just stepped up and did a good job.

Yeah he did, and he is going to be starting again this week and for the next few weeks.

I would imagine with Jalen Sundell on IR, tell you what before we take a look at next week's or no, rather, this week's my days are messed up before we take a look at this week's matchup.

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At this point in the year, we are of course tracking playoff implications for everything and every team in the division.

You know who else is doing the same thing, Well, it is our fantasy insider Scott Engel.

Thanks Jen and John, and we get into week twelve of fantasy football.

The playoffs are getting closer and closer, so every matchup is magnified.

Four more teams out of buy in week twelve, so we tell you who to start when faced with tough lineup.

This is as We'll start a quarterback Jared Goff top six fantasy quarterback for Week twelve.

He faces the Giants, who allow the second most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks.

Also Jacoby Brossett a top ten start this week.

In each of the last five weeks, Jacoby Brissett has finished as a fantasy quarterback one.

He's getting a lot of volume and despite the fact that Marvin Harrison is not playing, he's still gutting the ball a lot for fantasy purposes and running back.

Earlier this week, in his press conference, Mike McDonald said that Kenneth Walker is earning more carries, more touches, and that's good for fantasy purposes because he faces the Titans this week and they ranked twenty fifth in fantasy points per game allowed to opposing running backs.

Also at running back for a solid floor, go with Alvin Kamara in a PPR league against the Atlanta Falcons.

And wide receiver back to that Lions Giants game.

Jamison Williams is coming on strong.

He is in a smash spot against the Giants.

Must start as a fantasy wide receiver too this week.

Romadoonzay should also have a bounce back game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At tight end, you always look for whatever Titan is starting against the Cincinnati Bengals.

This week, it's Hunter Henry.

He is a regular target for touchdowns and nobody allows more touchdowns to tight ends to THEND the Cincinnati Bengals defense.

It's rare that you can use a defense consecutive weeks in a row, But you can use the Seahawks defense the next three weeks and just lock them into your lineup because of good matchups.

That defensive line is playing tremendous Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, the secondary Greek Woollen is playing shutdown ball again.

Devin Witherspoon he does it all.

He's back, and that's going to translate into Saxon turnovers for the Seahawks fantasy defense over the next three weeks.

For more from me from week twelve, go to the News tab and Fantasy Insider on Seahawks dot com and also check me out at Rotoballer dot com.

Back to you, Jen and John.

Thank you Scott.

All right, John, it is the Tennessee Titans this week, and we have waited a little while to have this conversation because the Titans are in a transition year and it has been a little bit of a struggle as they have tried to find their footing on both sides of the ball.

Yeah.

I mean, look, they're one and nine.

There's no sugarcoating this has been a rough year for them.

They've you know, you draft quarterback number one.

You hope that brings you, like future success and big picture wise, they're excited about cam Ward, but in the immediate there they're struggling.

I mean really on both sides of the ball.

They've you know, they're beat up a little bit and they just they've not been playing great football, but they've also been competitive at times, and you can't you can't go into the game in this league and being like, oh, this team's bad, we got it, because that's.

When you get trouble.

Well, yes, they have been in some close games.

They've only scored twenty points.

More than twenty points, excuse me one time.

That was a win against Arizona.

But it is the cam Ward factor that can play up in this game because he is coming off a pretty good game against a Texans defense that has been very solid all year long.

And so it really is the unpredictability that becomes his greatest asset.

Credible art wise, one pick, probably has more control over the offense than you would initially anticipate going into the week.

Credible arm talent, and he makes a ton of throws and from funky flat like platforms and stuff.

So you got to kind of you got to play the whole play through it.

And if you start making things up and not handling your assignments to the echo of the whistle, he can he can definitely make you pay.

You know who else echoed those sentiments, Elijah Arroyo, Yeah, it was cam Ward was his quarterback in college and he's played he knows exactly what that is.

It was kind of funny because Arroyo said, this is only the second time I'm going to play against a former teammate.

It was Kitchens last week with the two interceptions.

They were former teammates.

But he said this week is going to be a little bit weird.

And in talking about Cam he said, yeah, he is going to take some calculated risks, and that's what he loved about being his teammate.

He said, it's the risks that he takes and the ability to make every single throw that just gave you confidence as an offense.

Now, I will point out that there are only four healthy receivers that practiced early in the w for the Titans, so his targets might be limited, but you know that he is capable of doing some big things if you were the number one overall pick.

Yeah, I mean it's classic, like quarterback who can just make cool things happen off script.

I haven't watched a lot of Titans football this year, but it feels like every week you see a clip come across your timeline of some nutty throw he made on the run, you know.

Thrown across the field.

So he's the kind of player that, like, you can't assume a play's dead and he can beat you in the arm towns.

Just pretty ridiculous.

So yeah, I mean, look, this Seahawks defense has been really good, and you obviously like their chances against an offense that's been struggling, but not a quarterback you can take.

Lightly, right, and we have seen far too many weeks in the NFL where you have upsets or crazy finishes or games that you did not expect to be close that ended up to be just complete shockers.

The numbers, though, do tend to favor a really solid Seahawks defense right now.

The Titans, well, they are averaging the fewest yards per game, just two undred and forty two, averaging just four point two yards per play, the fewest first downs in a game, and the lowest third down percentage in a game.

So all of this says, hey, Seahawks, go out and do all the things that you talked about improving on last week.

Yeah, no, take care basiness.

Now on the other side of the ball, Jeffrey Simmons is the name that comes up quite a bit.

He is one that you can't take lightly, and no, Sam Darnold's going to have his eye on him because Mike McDonald knows the talent he is.

Jeffery's a great player.

These you don't see a lot of like a gap players that can play inside and out shoot.

He can rush outside to play all three downs.

We have some guys that are like that too, Murph Leo j Reid, but he's he's one of those.

He's one of the best, and he plays hard and plays physical, and they do a good job and moving around and matching him up.

So he's a guy that ran out to account for.

Yeah, you know, we just talked earlier about Seahawks having two backups in there starting interior line right now.

Again, they have all faith in the world in Oulu and Christian Hanes' a step up, but not an easy test.

I mean, this is one of the truly elite interior alignment in the league.

You know what football people sometimes like to call a game wrecker, the kind of guy who can just make make plays go really bad in hurry.

So you know that's going to be probably the biggest test his team faces on offense, is keeping him from getting that interior pressure and making life hard on Sam Darnold.

And they're on game for that matter.

Although the Seahawks did see him fairly recently.

They did in last August for practice, and if I called this forever, if I call there's a pretty viral clip of him doing some bad things to the Seahawks and bad practice.

So you know what I think was funny.

It was Leonard Williams this week saying, oh, yeah, I love I love those joint practices.

Yeah, and I'm like, I am pretty sure you have been involved in a few skirmishes in both of those cases.

Of course you like it.

You're the biggest guy on the field and you were starting stuff.

But we were teasing earlier in podcast about how a trip to Tennessee actually got the Seahawks to where they are, and that's something that you spent a lot of time diving into this week, John, just how transformative.

Maybe that's too big of a word, but having that preseason game in that time together really was for Mike and his staff.

Yeah.

I mean you talk about a team coming together with you had a lot of young players who some hadn't played together, some had, but the whole new coaching staff.

I mean it was like literally Carl Scott and Nico Thorpe were the only holdovers.

I believe last year, so it was this chance to get them all in one area.

It wasn't just I mean, the football was important, but it was you know, the team dinners they did, and just the different things.

To get them to bond to the group.

And pretty much every player I talked to yesterday about it, and Mike mcdonald' as well talked about that not just being important for that team in that moment, but really like carrying over this year again, this conversation of the togetherness of this team, that how connected this team is, the way guys played for each other.

A lot of that started back in Nashville last summer.

I found it funny that they went back and looked at the practice video.

First of all, I assumed, I don't know why, I assumed that you would just like delete that or tape over it, as if they're still using old school tape that needs to be taped over, and that is not how that works.

You tape these.

Exactly.

I couldn't watch the end of nine oh two one oh Are you kidding me?

There's only a few people that are gonna get that.

One was a popular show.

That actually did happen, And I was so mad at my brother that time, but I thought it was funny.

First of all, it is attention to detail, but truly like what you're looking at.

And Mike just laughed and he was like, I'm really glad that this was a close practice and nobody could see this.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, you think how early in this process for Mike that was like they were figuring a lot of stuff out then.

And yeah, much much better team than they were, just much more cohesive.

And but yeah, again, those those times are going to gain.

I think it's less the practices they had there than just the experience of being a wa.

Waiting to know each other.

Yeah, yep, one hundred percent.

Well you were gonna get to know what John and I need to see from the Seahawks for a win on Sunday right after this word from our presenting sponsor.

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Okay, John, here we go.

Two things you need to see for a Seahawks win.

I mean, can I just take the super obvious one, like stop turning the ball over?

Please?

I mean, way too many hours and you know, some games you can survive, at some you can't.

But just for the like long term improvement this team, even look, some of these turnovers we've seen haven't been that cost because you're up thirty five to nothing, AGAs Arizona or whatever it was.

Even if they race out to a big lead, I still don't want to see them turn the ball over.

Just play a clean game.

Avoid that.

I think that will just help the offense going forward to you know, I'll show themselves they can do it.

I'll stay with the offense.

For the other one, I want to see three running backs with ten or more carries because that's going to tell me that they did everything else in this game to get Because if you're getting a point where you know Halani Charbonney and kennth Walker, you know, it's funny Mike McDonald talk this week about kennth Walker earning some more opportunities, which I think he has, but this might not be the game.

You know, again, if they can take care of business and do what they want, you might not need Kenneth Walker to carry the ball twenty twenty five times.

And Halanie's been good one he's gone chance.

So I'd love a game where you can run the ball enough to get all those guys.

I was going to say in the run game, I would love to see their yards per carry go up.

Like I totally understand, it's a softening process.

As Abe Lucas.

Says every week, he likes to point out you, I said, I've been saying to you.

I like how he says says that to you.

He says it with a smile.

By the way, if you listen to those postgame interviews, he does say it with a smile.

He is one of my favorites to get like the nuts and bolts of what's happening on the offensive line.

But yes, that is his favorite way to describe the run game.

But still, if you could get four point eight and five yards per carry, you're doing something right.

And it's the confidence in the offensive line in some of those new pieces on the other side of the ball.

I would love to see both Derek Hall and Boye Mafey get a sack.

D Hall hasn't gotten one yet.

He's had a lot of pressure.

And I know there's all those guys are working in tandem, but I would love to see those guys see a little bit of payoff and Johnny reward for it.

I would love to hear you use the word briches.

A little bit more riches, like our friend Jim White over in Tennessee.

It's the Briches Report.

I do like that.

And in case you guys are wondering.

They probably don't know what we're talking about.

They don't.

I don't think a lot of our fans are reading about the Tennessee Titans uniform combination each week.

Or they might not have lived in the South and had people talk about your britches, but not so they decked out light blue jerseys and white britches, as Jim Wyatt, our friend in Tennessee, has reported.

So I'm going to put that on you to we'll get all.

Right, Well, I got to pick out my game day britches before I packed away.

He's already on track, folks.

That'll do it press this time.

We'll see you next week for a brand new edition of The Seahawks Insiders podcast,