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Feb. 3, 2006 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:41
February 3, 2006, Friday, Hour #3
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And we are back.
We got broadcast excellence heading on down the tracks here, folks.
The Super Bowl Sunday.
It's Friday on the Rush Limbaugh program, and we keep moving.
Live from the Southern Command in Sunny, South Florida.
It's open line Friday.
And we will get back to your telephone calls in mere moments.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen.
First, uh, it's always I always look forward to this uh for a long time before it happens.
It's the Friday before the Super Bowl.
We want to welcome to the program Ken Hutcherson, uh, the Hutch, who was uh the pastor of the Antioch Church out in uh what is that you call it the Antioch Church if I got that right?
No, you you know, it's Antioch Bible Church.
Antioch Bible Church.
Sorry, I knew it was and and uh uh former player in the NFL, uh Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks, and you did play for the Seahawks, correct?
I did, my man.
All right.
So I gotta tell you, uh, Hutch, I'm worried about your boys.
I've been studying up on your boys.
I I say Joey Parter, Joey Porter mouthing off, which I enjoy, but I see your guy Walter Jones that's gonna be uh blocking him.
Walter Jones has given up an average of two and a half sacks a season the last two years.
That's nothing.
That's all right.
We'll take care of Porter, though.
I'm saying hesitant about calling in.
You want what's that?
I said I want you to know I was a little hesitant about calling in.
Why?
I've been listening at the news, and if they're correct, I heard you don't like black quarterbacks.
Uh, don't look.
Hutch!
Get it?
laughter You know, you're calling me out now.
Hey, I I heard I think what we're gonna have to do after listening at that interview, I think we've had to get affirmative action to protect black quarterback.
Well, it sure sounds like they're calling for it on ESPN.
Good grace.
Hey, I didn't know how popular you were until a few minutes ago.
Uh how's that?
Dr. James Dawson called me.
Yeah.
He said that uh I heard you're gonna be on Rush.
I said, Yeah.
He said, You let him know I've been on vacation for six weeks.
I listened to him every day.
He loves you and said, keep up the great work, and he wants you to know how proud he is of you.
Well, that's very kind of you to pass that on.
I I I appreciate that.
We all respect Dr. Dobson here.
He's uh he does more than the Lord's work.
Amen on that one.
So you want to get into some football?
Yep.
Uh I'm not worried about it.
I want to get used to I'm I'm I'm I'm serious now because I know the C the C and you do, you call them the Seabirds.
I didn't know.
I know I call them the birds, baby.
And they're gonna be flying so high, not even a number seven steel shots gonna bring them down.
Not even a number seven decision.
All right, now now tell me don't give me this fan B. S. I want to avoid the fan BS we.
Okay, you want to go serious then with the bigger.
I want to go serious because we've always gone serious in the past.
This is the first time your team's in it and my team's in it since we were doing this.
It's only impossible, man, for uh for those guys to beat our team.
They can't handle the killer B defense.
That defense is awful.
Well, but you know, we're pretty well balanced.
I mean, very well balanced.
Both our teams scored to win the championship, they scored 34 points on offense.
Yeah, but are you troubled a little bit?
No, wait a second.
Are you troubled a little bit uh about any aspect of your team?
Do you have any doubts going into this game?
I have one doubt.
That is the first two series.
If we do not establish the pass, bro, and get those cornerbacks of the uh Pittsburgh Stillers to respect the pass, our run game's gonna die.
All right, well, here's how I see that.
Okay.
You guys you guys got a home grin patented West Coast offense.
That's right.
You got a quarterback, therefore, it's gonna be dropping back three steps or five steps.
Yeah.
You got a rhythm offense.
The Steelers are gonna have to find a way to make him uncomfortable and and upset that rhythm.
Only we can do that though, Rush, is they gotta they got a stunt.
And you got on that left side, man, you got Jones and you got Hutchison.
And if his name was Hutcherson, he'd be twice as good as he is, but Hutchison is good enough.
Well, I don't know.
Hutchison may be able to handle Porter, but then you've got to deal with Palomalu.
Yeah, but that you know, you get you gotta watch out for those guys, man.
We also got good pickup blocks with Matt.
Mac Strong's gonna be good to help pick up that stunt.
And we are ready, man.
We got the best offensive line in the NFL.
Yeah, I know.
Uh it's it's the reputation precedes him, And I'm I'm I'm impressed, especially with the left side.
I mean, man, it's gonna be hard, but we got established on that first two.
And we can deal with all those guys, you know.
And your offense is gonna have trouble because of our Samoan brother, Tatu.
I mean, we got a rookie going to the Pro Bowl.
You got any?
Uh yeah, we got four guys going.
Any rookies?
Uh no, I think we got we got we got one two starters and two alternates going.
That's what I'm talking about.
Don't sidetrack.
Don't don't sidetrack me with this Pro Bowl stuff.
The Pro Bowl isn't is it's keep it straight then.
So it's gonna be the Hawks.
The first two series.
Remember I told you even when the Pittsburgh Steelers was playing Denver.
I told you, the one who controls the first two series because everything has been so close this year, and the omni dogs has really done a great job through the whole playoff.
Well, uh the game you want to move to the Steelers side of the ball.
Go ahead.
You want to move the is that what you said?
Yeah, I said that we're gonna be able to do that.
I just had I just had a tech I just had a technical glitch in here, and I'm having trouble understanding you on the phone today.
It's not it's not you, it's my hearing today.
It's it's all whacked out.
Oh, it's it's it's it's not your phone line.
Is this better?
Uh a little bit.
What were you not speaking into the microphone of the phone?
Yeah, I was saying I was I want to get closer so you can hear me good.
There it's much better.
Thank you.
I was all set blaming myself, and it was you messing with me.
That's why we're such good friends.
I know how to mess with you.
All right.
Now, I'm looking, I'm I'm looking on the Steelers' offensive side of the ball first here, because that's that's where the Steelers have have behaved unlike the Steelers in these playoff games.
They've been throwing the ball first, they've been running it in the second half to chew up the clock.
Yep.
And I found an incredible statistic.
I've had two incredible statistics.
When I looked at these games.
Go ahead.
The Steelers uh in every second and long, meaning second and seven or more, Rothless Burger during these three games, average completion's been 16 yards.
And that means they have been unstoppable on second and long.
And and if if if that changes, then I know we're got trouble.
Uh yeah, but the thing they gotta do, Rush, is they gotta get better yardage on the first down.
If they don't get better yards on the first down, the killer beat defense for the Birds, you're not gonna get those uh second and long plays.
Well, that's what Indianapolis said, and that's what Denver said.
But when you're Cincinnati said, we're not gonna be able to do that.
Nobody thought Rothless Burger could do this.
That's that's the point.
Here's here's something else.
They're throwing the ball, Hutch.
Here's another thing.
Yeah when it's when it's third and six, third and five, the Steelers, and and this is this is uh uh is except when they're killing the clock, when they're trying to advance the ball, third and five, third and six, they have not run the ball these last three games in a third and five or third and six.
They are always throwing it.
Now, this tells me if I can figure this out, your so-called killer B defense can figure this out.
Absolutely.
So I'm looking for I'm looking for a whole different changeup uh for uh in the in the uh in the Steelers' offensive.
Oh, if they do, they're gonna lose.
If they do that's what happened to Indianapolis every year, Rush, and you know that.
They do not do what get them there.
If they would just stick with what they're good at, they will be playing today in the Super Bowl instead of the uh wait a minute, then the Steelers are gonna win because if they just stick with what they've been doing to get there, then they're gonna get there.
Nope.
And they're gonna succeed.
They gotta deal with Dyson, they gotta deal with True Font, but my corners is gonna have a great game, and they are not gonna beat the killer defense.
Those are bees, baby.
Those are killer bees.
You know, this is tough.
You're just talking to me as a fan.
I think you have abandoned objective football analysis.
Oh, see, there you go again.
I told you over and over and over again that the only time you think like a liberal is when it comes to football.
You forget the facts.
Hutch, I want you to we got three sound bites.
Okay.
All right.
We're gonna go back.
This is uh this is January 9th of 2004.
You know, it's uh a lot of things about knowing how to win.
And you know how to how many teams will learn how to win.
We had 12 that started off the playoffs.
But it's only gonna be one that's gonna be left here when we get down to the end of the season in the Super Bowl playoffs.
So I'm gonna go with the Colts.
The uh final score of the Super Bowl, New England 32, Carolina 29, the Colts weren't there.
Here's the next sound bite.
You got the Colts, I got the Patriots.
Right.
All right.
We'll talk on Sunday night via email.
Yeah, right, brother, and I'll wipe your tears for you.
Final score, Pat's 20, Colts 3.
Here's February 4th, 2005.
I got an email from the Hutch last night, and the Hutch is picking the Eagles.
And the Hutch hasn't normally talked about this whole postseason.
So I feel pretty safe in the pick.
Final score, Pat's 24, Eagles 21.
I'd expect a little bit more humility from you, my man.
I told you why I did that.
Now you keep forgetting.
I told you my job after that New England Patriots was never to make you look bad again.
My job is to get you on Monday night football.
Now, didn't I tell you that?
All right, if I can make you, if I can make you right, ESTN owes you a big apology, and you and if they really want Monday night to get up, they better put you on this on the on the on the scorecard.
It'll never happen.
They'll never apologize.
And I I I don't want to go on Monday Night Football.
Sunday night football will be the place to be now on NBC.
Hutch, hang on.
Huh?
Well, I think we ought to push you to be on there because that's what football's going to take on a whole different light, baby, when you're bone there.
And you remember my statement is this.
When a team learns how to win, a lot of teams know how to win, but if the team that has learned how not to lose, it's the one that wins the Super Bowl.
Remember me telling you that?
I do.
I I have heard all these things as you have blown your predictions.
Yeah, but this is the difference right now.
The difference between learning how to win is the players.
The when you learn how not to lose, that's the coach.
And I believe Holmgren is going to kill what is it, Bill Coward?
Is that his name?
See, you are really going out on a limb here.
Hey, I tell you what.
Do you believe your still is going to win?
Do I think the Steelers are going to win?
Yeah.
No, I'm trying to be honest with you, but I'm trying to do a straight-up analysis of this, taking advantage of your knowledge as a player of the game, and you're giving me all this killer B garbage.
Hey.
And you're giving me all this super fan stuff.
I'm not, I don't really know.
I think you said it right at the very beginning.
They're pretty evenly matched.
Absolutely.
And the difference is going to be the coaching.
Both of these coaches are pretty good.
This is the third Super Bowl for Holgram.
This is only the second for Coward.
Right.
Now, he lost his.
Homegren is one for one.
Right.
And what happened with Ben Rosenberger, or I call it, you know, Ben Rotten.
You don't want to talk about how he is.
But you know, the first playoff game, he choked last year.
Now he's got his own.
Now look at what you're doing.
I got to bring you back and save you.
The fact that Holmgren's one and one in his Super Bowls and Cower is 0-1 doesn't mean diddly squat on Sunday.
Just like the fact the Steelers were seven and five back in November doesn't mean diddly squat when they finish with three straight wins as a number six seed.
And it doesn't matter what your stats are saying, which you're trying to throw at me either, because it's going to boil down to who's going to outcoach who, because both teams is very evenly, or even all the way down to the kickers, right?
Well, it doesn't make any sense to talk about the game because none of us know what's going to happen until it's over.
But we're still good.
We're okay, but then well, I'm we're still going to talk about it because I like talking about it.
Absolutely.
But it's so good to look at a team, two teams that is so close together.
It's got to ball down to the coaching.
All right.
Hold that thought.
We'll take a brief time out.
We'll be back and uh it continues.
So whittled whittled the Hutch down here.
Uh it was going to be a blowout in the first ten minutes of the call.
Now the teams are so evenly matched, it's going to come down to Mike Holmgren is going to win the game.
Uh, and Bill Cower is going to lose it.
We're making progress here, folks.
Back in just a second.
Stay with us.
And we're back, and we're talking to Ken Hutcherson, the Hutch of the Antioch Bible Church in Seattle.
When's the last time you did uh Chapel for the Seabirds?
Uh I didn't do one this year.
I usually do one every year.
Last year was the last time I did one.
All right.
I want to I want to tell you here here's here's uh here's as a fan of the Steelers, these are the things that bother.
First place, I'm getting sick and tired of everybody describing every West Coast team like the Seahawks and the 49ers as a finesse team.
There's no such thing.
It's smash mouth football on both sides of the game.
You better know how to knock somebody out if you're gonna play pro football, bro.
I know.
There's this it's it's it is it's it's it's this finesse team stuff is media BS.
Willie Parker.
Uh I I'm a little a little worried about Willie Parker.
The last uh last last four or five games, it's taken, you know, the guy's tripping over the yard lines.
Yeah.
He doesn't even have to get hit to go down.
He was uh uh the commentators didn't talk about this in the Denver game.
I could see Cower yelling at him after one of these uh it went down, I think, just to avoid being hit and uh and he's running off sideline.
Cowers said, just keep running.
Yep.
Just there's Willie's different from the first part of the season if he can and and and they're they keep trying to spring him outside with his speed.
The place to do that is inside, I think, maybe with a screen pass.
But the Steelers have been lucky in the playoffs, too, and that concerns me.
Carson Palmer going down.
If that hadn't happened, who knows what would have happened in that game.
Well, you know your boy got hurt in practice too.
Palamola.
Well, yeah, but but they did an MRI and they don't have any damage in there, so that's good.
Uh and it this could be gamesmanship too.
I mean, the league has these rules, you're not supposed to monkey around with injuries, but I'll believe that he's not playing a hundred percent when I see it.
Um but on the other side of the ball, I think Cowers got better players than he had back in '95.
He's certainly got a better quarterback in Rothlassburger than he had in O'Donnell.
Yeah.
Uh you got this, you've got you tell me, how much does it really matter emotionally for Jerome Bettis and all this hype going home and what matter?
How does the Steelers?
Oh man, I mean, going home is uh that's a high hat point of playing.
But most of the guys, you can get so uh caught up in being home, you can also be distracted, Rush.
And a lot of guys don't play good going back home because they get a lot of distraction.
So I don't think that's gonna be an advantage to them.
All right.
But you you know, we got we got we got uh our coach.
That's one thing.
We got Matt Hasser back who's playing better than he's ever played before.
Ever.
Do you think he's an elite quarterback now?
Uh you know, I think that he's got him to the Super Bowl.
That's good enough for me.
And you got you got uh Sean Alexander.
And and politically speaking, it's it's about time for those guys to go ahead and win this, because Matt Halfseback, of course, has lost his hair, and he's got a sister-in-law that's on the view.
God has punished him enough.
Yeah.
Well, that's that's until I started researching your boys.
That's that's mostly what I knew.
Matt Hasselback as the brother-in-law of Tim, whose wife is Elizabeth, who is on the view, and boy, she's she probably working harder to maintain her position on that show than anybody in the NFL is.
I mean, she's telling me about that, man.
And then he wins.
You know, you I hadn't heard you say anything about my man Sean.
You know, he's the best of the best this year in the league.
Yeah, I'm running behind the best line in the league.
You you guys got a little problems there.
No, uh that's what I've been trying to tell you.
I don't think this is slam duncan.
I'm not flexing my muscles over this.
And I I I think it's gonna be tremendous game, and I think I think uh Sean Alexander, I'm not I'm none of these people are mincemeat to me.
No, you you know how I'm not sure because they're in the NFC that they've played they've played as tough a competition as the Steelers have in the AFC.
Well, everyone knows, Rush, and that knows football that the NFC is not as tough as the AFC.
And if it was just a win-loss record, that would be some guy that'd be uh AFC teams playing each other in the Super Bowl.
Exactly.
So I'm I maybe the Seahawks have all these great stats and they've got this.
I mean, let's face it, your defense, you get you guys play a four-three, right?
We play four or three, and you play a four-three and have a lot of problems with the three-four, which you guys play.
I know, but but I want to stick with the four-three.
Uh, the Steelers, the Steelers are what I was telling you, and what I'm looking for.
Steelers on third and five, third and six have never run the ball these last three games.
They throw it.
I'll bet you they do some draw plays because your guys are filling gaps.
Yeah, but we Yeah, go ahead.
No, and and I think they're set up for for draw.
I think it's gonna be exciting because I think the coaches are gonna be scheming because all both well, you've played two games, we've played three.
Our three games have been identical.
I mean, you watch any of those three games and you get an idea of what we've been doing, running uh second, passing first.
Uh, and and there's gonna have to be some adjustments made on the Steelers.
Um I don't I I think it'll be a mistake if they do.
You remember you remember the old Oakland Raiders rush?
Yeah, yeah.
When they used to come out and they always say, Okay, student body left and right, and we're gonna run it till you stop us.
And man, I mean, I we have we have gone in the in in the uh player room and gone back to training camp, and the first thing we do after playing Oakland was get in the whirlpool because those guys would kill you and they wouldn't stop what they was doing until you stop them.
And if Pittsburgh goes in the game not doing what has got him there, it won't be close.
They better stick to what they're doing because they the teams are so close, Rush.
You know, points are like all right, hold a thought.
I got I gotta I gotta take a break.
Don't lose that train of thought.
Because I've got as a player, I've got a question for you about that.
We'll be back in just a second as we continue to talk with the Hutch.
And we're back and we're talking Super Bowl Sunday, the Steelers and the Seahawks uh with Ken Hutchison, a former Seahawks player, now uh uh man of the cloth of the Antioch Bible Church in uh Seattle.
Uh also uh you played with two tall Jones, I'm right about that.
You're in the absolute.
We was rookies together.
We played in the senior bowl together, we played in the uh high school all-star game together, and then we got drafted by Dallas together.
Yeah.
And then you uh you uh played you you put in a couple of years with Tommy Prothrow at the Oh man.
Now one day we're gonna have to spend just one session talking about what it was like to play under that man.
George Toma, George Toma, back when the when Arrowhead Stadium had this artificial turf.
Uh Prothrow was uh was a chain smoker and he'd just throw his cigarette butts on the turf and that stuff would burn.
Yeah, and he would light one cigarette with the other one.
Yeah, just kept during during the game.
Yeah, this is before political correctness took over the NFL.
Yeah.
All right, you let's talk about the concept.
The Steelers have gotten there.
Yeah.
In these last three playoff games, and actually a couple of regular season games before that, by doing the exact opposite of what they've been known.
They they've been known for the team that you just described, the Raiders as being.
Just keep pounding the the run at you and until you s even if they don't succeed throughout the first quarter, they're gonna keep doing it till they wear you down until they demoralize you and can't stop it.
They've thrown that out.
They're opening up with the pass.
Now by the time the game's over, the balance is 50-50, pretty close.
They're running it and throwing it.
But that's because they're running it mostly in the second half.
What happens?
The Seahawks are gaming for this.
If if if uh uh you're you you've got you've got obviously what they've been doing, they've been running the ball sometimes on first down with Parker and getting a yard, getting two, setting up second long, and and getting the first down with with second and seven, six sixteen yard average completion.
What if the Seahawks shut that down?
They are if the if the Seahawks shut that down because the big every coach rush on offense, especially the offensive coordinator, tells the offense, look, we gotta pick up five to six yards, six is better, seven is is great, because we it then second down could be what they call a waist down.
If you get a lot of yards, but if you don't get a good yardage on the first down, it really puts the offense in a bind.
And that's why you can say they've been so lucky.
But they well, they haven't been getting a lot of yards on first down.
No, no, the luck, no, no, no.
I don't think that's the luck.
I think the luck is Carson Palmer going there.
I think the luck is that Champ Bailey uh almost interception that pops up in the air instead of him catching it.
If if if Denver scores first in that game, who knows?
Yeah.
Uh and then the luck, you know, Rothisberger's tackle on the uh on Nick Harper in the Indianapolis game after the fumble.
Yeah.
I mean, but but you can also say that luck equals destiny.
That was that was good play, too.
Yeah, that's not all luck.
That was hustle.
Well, true, but I mean it it was given the the ebb and flow of that last five minutes of that game with that stupid reversal on the interception that they said wasn't that was.
Uh but there's there's just been you know a lot a lot of uh things the ball has bounced the Steelers' way a lot of times in the last three games.
But I I have to tell you, they have stunned me as a fan the way they have been winning and the way they have been playing, they have surprised the heck out of me.
And I as a fan, I go into these games like I go into a political election scared my guy's gonna lose.
Absolutely.
But but the reason But I don't hear that out of you.
I hear I'm not gonna do that.
You think your guys are gonna mop the floor.
No, but what I'm saying is this, Rush.
Every game that Pittsburgh went in basically the last five games, it's been like behind, and everyone's looking at them like they're not gonna win.
So they had nothing to lose.
Our guys have been playing all year with no respect.
Now we're coming in.
Pittsburgh got some respect.
A lot of people think that they're gonna beat the Hawks, and now the Hawks is in a position that they don't have nothing to lose.
And a team that knows that we're just gonna go out with nothing to lose.
It's hard to beat.
You think the Seahawks are the team with nothing to lose here.
Absolutely.
Not too much.
I don't think see, I just I don't think either team goes in there with a this is the Super Bowl.
Nobody wants to be the the unremembered loser in the Super Bowl.
They they've there's there's both teams are gonna go in here with everything on the line.
Yeah, but that's that's not what you hear.
Most of the commentators are picking who?
Seahawks Pittsburgh.
I know, but screw them.
That's the that's that's another thing that worries me.
The conventional wisdom was the Steelers and these clowns are wrong from McNabb to whatever else they're talking about.
And these teams like you say, Rush, I believe that the Hawks are gonna come in a lot looser.
I think that you do have something to worry about with Ben, uh, because he you know, he gets up tight, he doesn't play well.
And that's a lot of pressure being put on him right now.
Well, Hasselback and and Sean and and you got uh Walter Jones and Steve Hutchison, you got uh Dyson, you got True Font, you got Tatu Pooh.
All these guys are coming in, man, and they are going to be loose because most folks think they're gonna lose, so the pressure isn't on them.
And I think you're gonna have to watch out for that.
I don't I frankly don't think a whole lot of people look at the Seahawks that way.
They may look at them and say they're from the upper left hand corner of the country.
We don't know who these guys are individually, but they don't look at the team as uh as as uh undeserving of being there.
I think you're gonna be surprised by Rothless Burger.
Well, I think it's I I th I think this guy owns this team.
I think this guy's running this team.
I think this guy's confidence is flowing uh more so than anybody has a right to expect for a second year guy.
And I think you're gonna be stunned at the control he exhibits in this game.
I don't think he's gonna I don't he's not gonna panic, he's not gonna choke or anything like it.
Yeah, I hope he t has a great game, Rush, because then you have no excuse when they lose.
Well we'll always come up with one.
All right, so is it gonna be a high scoring game or low scoring game if they're so evenly matched?
What do you think the final score is gonna be?
I think it's gonna be somewhere around 24 21, somewhere around there.
Twenty-four-twenty-one.
Yeah.
And we're gonna have a dull second half.
Is this all gonna happen in the first half?
No, no, no, no, no.
I I think they're gonna feel themselves out quite a bit the first quar uh the first quarter.
But the first two series is gonna be a good one.
I'd like to say that in a lingerie bowl.
I tell you what, do you think that Still is gonna win?
You want to put your money where your mouth is?
Uh well, you don't pay your debts anyway.
I don't know why I'm saying this.
What do you mean I don't pay my oh because you haven't got you have I have bought your dinner yet?
You ain't got my steak dinner yet, so why am I even talking about that?
All right.
Uh we I can handle that in in the inside of next week.
I I tell you what, uh I lay it this you know this way.
If I if I lose and see and see how lose, you don't get very much.
At the best, you're gonna get a brother who's gonna come down and uh be a waiter on your plane and serve you adult beverages with your guests.
I mean, that's about the best thing you're gonna get from me.
But uh if you lose, uh you're talking to a black man, so we're gonna do some negotiations right here.
Now if you lose, uh you're gonna have to come out here and help me with my adoption and uh with my marriage fight.
Your adoption and marriage fight.
Yeah.
Are you fighting in your marriage?
No, no, no, no, no.
I got a great marriage.
Just think about same-sex marriage.
Think oh, same sex mar Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that fight.
Yeah, that's right.
So if you lose, you gotta help me in those two things.
Well, I okay.
I mean, I do that every day anyway.
All right, my brother.
So you neither one of them have a lot to lose.
Uh so but but Hutch.
Yeah.
I mean, I don't care what the circumstances, if you're ever on my airplane, you're not on it as a waiter.
Right.
Well, see, I'm glad you said that because you know, a lot of people and they they're they're worried about the limb bar, man, but they they don't know you like I know you.
And uh but I'm gonna give you this little secret.
I heard you talking the first part of the show.
Yeah, if it balled down between Brett Farr and my boy at Philadelphia, yeah.
I'm going with Brett, because it isn't about black and white, it's about green.
Money.
Money.
Yep.
What since you bring this up.
Yeah.
Did you did you see McNabb's interview on uh did it did it strike you that he's coming off now as a victim?
Oh, whoa is me, everybody is complaining about me and this or what how did you read that?
Well, I think that there's uh something that's going through his mind that he he's searching for answers himself, Rush.
Only time someone will come up with a victim mentality is because you're trying to find answers and find out what's gonna work.
And I cannot even believe about this black on black crime stuff.
That is ridiculous.
Terry Owens didn't even bring the subject up.
Another black man did, Michael Irvin.
Right.
So uh I I I just think that they're way off.
And I like I say again, maybe you and I ought to start a movement where we can come up with the uh uh affirmative action in NFL for quarterbacks, black quarterbacks who need help.
And if I was a black quarterback in the NFL, I'd be so angry right now that I would tell him to get off my case and leave me alone.
I'm a man and I'm a football player.
Leave it at that.
Well, I'll tell you what, we'll we'll take up that cause as soon as you get me on uh Sunday night football.
All right, brother, sounds good.
All right.
Now uh you want to play this straight up, you want to go points.
It's Pittsburgh giving four.
Straight up.
No, no, no.
Let's go.
You and I are going straight up.
Okay, straight up.
Yep.
All right.
Your boys against my boys.
You say 24-20.
I'm not gonna hold you to the score.
We'll just I just think it's gonna be close and not that high.
I I I unless I I gotta throw this in.
Unless Pittsburgh or Seattle scores on the first drive, and in the second drive, it's gonna be a blowout.
Either one of the teams that does that is gonna be a blowout.
Right.
And I think if there's a that is more likely to happen with Pittsburgh stuff.
I don't know, but that's been the pattern.
That's that's gonna be well, you know, you keep you keep bringing up this killer bees, and I've been trying to be polite.
Your defense is so unique and so novel, you gotta steal the name of that great Miami Dolphins defense.
Hutch.
Hey, did I say that I've never stole in my life?
I just do it with Clad.
All right.
I don't think it's gonna be a low-scoring game.
I I I think it's I I think it's it it it's not gonna be close, be a lot of points scored, and I I uh I I don't think it's gonna be one of these 24-21 nail buttons.
It'd be good if it is, but but I I have a different feeling about the game.
Have you looked have you looked at the the points allowed by each team over the whole season?
They're so close, Rush.
Uh Seattle allowed two and seventy-one points, and Pittsburgh 258.
They have 13 points difference.
I know.
Well, look at the points scored by both teams in the playoffs.
It's almost like thir it's like 34.
It's almost identical.
Yeah, but now we got both defenses held the other team.
Uh Pittsburgh held Denver to uh 17 points, and Seattle held Carolina to 14 points.
Now we got two good offense and two defenses on the field.
That's equal.
But Hatch, okay, now you keep you keep lighting the fire here.
Go ahead.
You can tell me what you did to Carolina, but you're talking about a beat-up team that had a fourth running back in there and a quarterback that was run ragged.
You had a you had a malcontent wide receiver on the team on the on the on the Steve Smith who was disrupting team unity over there on the sideline because he selfishly wasn't getting the ball.
I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't take too much uh uh confidence coming out of Carolina game.
That game was that game was over in the first quarter.
And so was the Denver game.
No.
No.
It was over the first two drives.
No, it wasn't.
It got it the the the Broncos were in that game in the third quarter, and the Steelers they the Steelers lost some momentum in the third quarter, and and if it wasn't the defense and Plumber throwing some interest.
Plumber's four turnovers uh two of them happened in the second half.
It was over.
I mean, when I got I was getting on a plane going down to do the service for Dave Brown, my close friend, you know, he passed away.
Yeah.
And I was watching that, and I go, when I saw the first two series, I don't have to watch it anymore.
That game's over.
Pittsburgh's gonna win.
I told you that before the game, too.
Strange.
I don't remember this.
Remember, I told you, if they take the first two and drive down that the that they're gonna win, Denver's not gonna be able to catch up.
And that's exactly what they did.
Yeah.
Well, that is I know.
It's but but I in fact I'll I'll tell you I was I was in the booth and uh I had a little friendly like ten dollar wager with a Broncos fan in there, and after those two scores, he gave me the ten bucks trying to jinx the bet.
Uh and I said, I'm not taking this till the T till the game's over.
No, you take it, and he stuffed it in my pocket.
And I uh there's a time I tried to give it back to him in the third quarter, is all I know.
Anyway, Hutch, I appreciate your time, my man.
It's always a uh uh a pleasure to talk to you.
Love you, Russ.
Okay, have a great weekend, and uh we'll talk uh next week sometime and settle this all up.
Be back after this, my friend, stay with us.
And we are back.
Uh some people have been waiting a while here to get their thoughts in on the Super Bowl.
So here's John in Seattle.
Nice that you waited, sir.
I appreciate your patience.
Mega Diddles, Russ.
Thank you.
From Seattle.
And uh I wanted to make a case against your uh point that Seattle has not played uh real teams.
And uh, of course, I think the NFC have more real teams than you think.
And uh excuse me, I'm a little nervous.
That's what I understand.
I've been there.
Okay.
Well, anyway, uh, you know, I won't get much into the Panthers.
Uh I understand there was a frustrated Smith, but he was not just frustrated because he couldn't get the ball.
He was frustrated because that quarterback was being shut down by the Seahawk defense.
Uh I want to make the point too that uh you mentioned that the Colts uh the Steelers played the Colts and beat the Colts.
And you reiterated that point.
Yeah, uh I know, and but it was a garbage game.
It was it was a garbage game when the Seattle played the Colts.
The Colts had gone 13-0.
They they'd lost to the Chargers, so the the big push to go 16-0 was over, and they didn't play starters the whole game.
They didn't uh the their momentum had been lost.
Uh I saw the Colts in that game.
The Colts really were never the same.
Uh after after after they lost to the Chargers, they were not the same team that they were uh in those thirteen previous games.
Look, my only point about this is is that I I never said they don't play real teams.
Every team in the NFL is a real team.
It's just that the uh level of competition uh in the NFC this year did not match the AFC.
And and so Seattle's got these records and they've got these statistics and so forth, but most of their games against NFC teams.
And so I'm just I'm I'm discounting the statistical edge a little bit uh uh because of that.
Uh you know, I the Cowboys played the Seahawks the toughest.
Uh they lost, it was 13 to 10, but the Cowboys, that'll be a game tape the Steelers uh will be will be studying.
That's an NFC team uh that they play, but that was the they've had some trouble with the Rams too, and the Rams are not no big deal, and the Cowboys weren't no weren't any big deal this year, and those are their those are their their two toughest games.
Uh so that's why I say the AFC presents them a different challenge and a different uh different picture.
Here's uh Gary in Painesville, Ohio.
You're next, sir, on open line Friday.
Hi.
Yeah, Rush, I've been listening to you since uh the mouse in the garbage can.
And you've been a big big inspiration to me over the years.
My wife and I are are uh big Browns fans.
She's probably a bigger fan than I am.
She made me go to the New Year's Day game in Cleveland, Ohio.
Made you go.
Made you Yeah, we're season ticket holders.
Yeah.
And this as you know, the the Steelers are our most hated rivals here.
Yeah.
But there seems to be a lot of grudging respect for them right about now, and it seems like everybody I talk to is sort of pulling for 'em.
Having said that, with uh the luck we have here in Cleveland, we probably hex them and they'll probably lose.
Well, uh, I think I think part of the Cleveland uh fandom for the Steelers is actually though owing to Rothlisberger being from Findlay, Ohio, which is Brown's country.
Uh that's certainly part of it.
I think there's conference loyalty to AFC teams and uh and this sort of thing.
But see, it's it's this kind of karma people get into it.
I think it indicates that this is uh it's a tough game to really pick because uh the the the two teams on paper do seem so closely matched that people look for these intangibles uh in uh in predicting the outcome.
It I I hope it's a great game.
I uh uh I th I think a lot of people around the league.
Seahawks, Steelers.
Well and and this has the potential to be one of the best Super Bowl games in uh in a in a while.
Uh if it's not the blowout that I'm I don't say blowout, but I I don't um when I say close, I I'm when I say I'm not expecting close game.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a two touchdown margin rather than a field goal.
A quick timeout.
We'll be back in just a moment.
Don't vanish.
Okay, folks, that's it for us today.
And I want to thank all of you in this audience for indulging me in the last hour and my uh my passionate desire to discuss the Super Bowl uh with the Hutch.
I know it upsets some of you that you can get you think you can get this anywhere else, but regardless uh what you think, you can't.
Uh whatever happens here, you won't find it anywhere else.
We'll be back on Monday and and won't spend a whole lot of time talking about the game because uh we'll we'll move on, but we will be here Monday and Tuesday next week.
I'll look forward to seeing you then.
Not going to the Super Bowl, going to Houston tomorrow for a golf lesson, but not going, be watching it right here at home.
See you Monday.
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