00:00Let's start it in your neck of the woods there in Seattle there,
00:03and let's talk Rams and Seattle going into this ballgame here.
00:07Obviously, potentially, this could be, if you don't,
00:10I wonder if you agree with me on this.
00:12This could be potentially the winner of this game
00:14is going to be your Super Bowl winner.
00:16But, Warren, how do you see the game shaping up,
00:19and what do you think some of the keys are in this ballgame, Rams and Seahawks?
00:25It's like it's been the whole playoffs.
00:27Whoever takes best care of the football is going to have a whole lot
00:29to deal with it.
00:30The last time the Seahawks played the Rams,
00:33Sam Darnold threw a couple of interceptions.
00:36I think the time before that, he threw four interceptions,
00:39and they barely lost that football game.
00:42So I feel like if the Seahawks can take care of the football,
00:46not give the Rams any short field,
00:48and if they're able to run the football
00:49and kind of control the tempo of the ballgame,
00:52keep that high-powered Rams offense on the field,
00:54they have a great chance to win this football game.
00:57If not, the Rams are a really tough team to defend
01:00because they attack the whole football field.
01:03They attack it with their running game.
01:05They attack it with those two outside receivers,
01:07Nikoya and also Devontae Adams.
01:11And then they also have really good tight ends.
01:14They have three tight ends they play a lot with,
01:16and they attack the middle of the field as well.
01:18So they're a hard team to figure out.
01:20So if you have the football and you're keeping it away from them
01:23and you're creating turnovers,
01:26you've got a chance to win this football game.
01:29Have you been shocked with the journey of Sam Darnold?
01:34I mean, Warren, they threw him out of New York.
01:38They thought he was a bust.
01:40Then he goes down to Carolina.
01:42David Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers,
01:44didn't know what to do with him.
01:46You heard Kyle Shanahan say,
01:47hey, this guy can play.
01:49Then he goes to Minnesota and he wins 14 games there.
01:53Then he wins another 14 games in Seattle.
01:56Warren, if he wins this game on Sunday,
01:58this will be the 30th ball game this guy has won
02:02in the last two years.
02:04He's thrown for over 8,200 yards and 60 touchdowns.
02:08What's been the change or the renaissance
02:10with Sam Darnold in Seattle
02:12and maybe over the last two years?
02:14What do you think's been the difference?
02:16Well, I think first of all,
02:18he came out of school early.
02:19A lot of people said he probably shouldn't have come out early.
02:21I think Pete Carroll made a point about that,
02:25that he didn't think he was probably ready.
02:27He was 20 years old.
02:28He goes to New York.
02:29He doesn't have a great infrastructure there.
02:31It's kind of a dysfunctional organization.
02:34You can see what's happened since he's been there.
02:35They haven't done very much since he's been there
02:37with the quarterback position.
02:39So he just wasn't ready for that environment yet.
02:42And that kind of destroys your confidence.
02:45That doesn't mean he still doesn't have the same abilities.
02:48And now it's just a matter of finding the right fit for him.
02:50And he's found the right fit.
02:51He found a good fit in Minnesota,
02:53but that was his first experience being a starter in the playoffs.
02:57This is his second experience and he's handling it a lot better.
03:01This is a very talented guy, Dan, and he's only 28 years old.
03:05That's what people don't understand.
03:06He's just now going into his prime as a quarterback.
03:09So he went through all the growing pains
03:12that a lot of young quarterbacks go through
03:13and not being around a lot of talent.
03:16Now he's in an organization that's stable.
03:18He has defense.
03:19They got a good running game around him.
03:21So he's got the pieces.
03:23Now he can just go out and perform and that's what he's doing.
03:25How about this story?
03:27Today is Sean McVay's 40th birthday today.
03:31He's 40 years old.
03:32He's going for his 11th win as a head football coach.
03:37I mean, I saw Phillip Rivers playing during the season
03:40and he's 44 years old.
03:41And here's a guy that just turned 40 today.
03:44What a coaching job.
03:45What separates him, you think, from the other coaches?
03:48And again, are you surprised how young he is
03:50and how successful he's been as a coach?
03:52Because a lot of young coaches come into the league, Warren.
03:56Guys don't have that kind of success.
03:57What do you think has been the benchmark for Sean McVay?
04:02Well, I think his background has a lot to do with the people that he worked for.
04:06He just learned a lot from it.
04:07He soaked all that knowledge in
04:09and then created what he wanted to do once he got his opportunity.
04:13And if you look at Mike McDonald, the Seahawks head coach,
04:17he's not much older than that, if about the same age.
04:20I think he was 30, 37, 38 years old when he got that job.
04:24So a lot of really good young coaches in this league right now
04:28and a lot of good young minds as far as the offensive side of the ball.
04:34Mike McDonald's more of a defensive specialist.
04:36And you're going to start seeing a lot more of that in the NFL,
04:39going with the younger coaches, the guys that have the younger ideas,
04:44the guys that relate more to their players.
04:46Because this is a different age of player that we're dealing with now
04:49compared to maybe 15, 20 years ago.
04:52So you've got to really be up on everything that they're doing now
04:56with social media and how everything is focused on them
04:59and trying to relate to all of that.
05:03So the younger coaches seem to have a better understanding
05:05of these younger players and they seem to get more out of them.
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