The Ian Furness Show

Jalen Ramsey is running his mouth about the Hawks, essentially claiming the Seahawks are "hiding" DK Metcalf (although he claims that's not exactly what he said). Hey Jalen, if you want to match up against Metcalf, talk to your defensive coordinator. You may want the matchup so you can try to fed your ego, but the Hawks are going to do what's best to win the game. Will Jared Goff take the field against Seattle on Saturday? We check in with Eric Williams, covering the Rams for SI, for injury updates and more. Fall high school sports could start up in February, and the WIAA has partnered with a company that provides masks specifically for athletes. It could help provide a sense of normalcy for high school athletes across Washington, and that's Something Good.

With everything moved up a day this week, Pete Carroll held his end-of-the-week press conference today, with updates on injuries, and more. At the end, Carroll briefly touched on watching the events of yesterday, and Ian takes a few minutes to comment on it himself. We are a sports show of course, so we move quickly on to this weekend's slate of NFL games with our Super Wild Card Preview, talking with reporters covering each team that'll take the field on Saturday or Sunday, asking each of them what has to happen for their team to win. Texts react to the show at 49451. Softy and Ian spend a few minutes on DK and Russ, and what will happen on Saturday.

We ask representatives of every team playing this weekend (excluding the Seahawks and Rams) what their team has to do in order to win: featuring Derek Schultz covering the Colts, Jeremy White on the Bills, Steve Carney on the Bucs, Scott Abraham in Washington, Baltimore's Jeff Zrebiec, David Boclair for the Titans, John Mullen in Chicago, Fletcher Mackel covering the Saints, Jon Doss for the Browns, and Pittsburgh's Alby Oxenreiter

Team USA beats Canada to become World Junior champions, and it seemed to actually capture the attention of lots of sports fans. It's not that this is unprecedented, so why did so many suddenly pay attention to a junior hockey tournament? It's because we're starved for sports. At a time when so many major events are dominating our lives, we need sports as an escape, and because of some of those events, some sports have been taken away, or at least changed. With NHL hockey so close in Seattle, let's hope the enthusiasm for this tournament continues. It seems almost certain that we'll see the tournament here in coming years. The Seahawks take on the Rams for a third time this season, and this time it's do or die. Hugh Millen joins us for Hardcore Football with an in-depth preview of the playoff game.

Why is it so challenging to play the same football team multiple times? We ask a man who would know, longtime coach Mike Holmgren, who also provides insight into playing with a broken thumb as Goff may end up doing, and what does Russ need to do to get back on track? It looks like the rate for a new basketball team is $2.5 billion, which is an absurd amount of money. For this to happen, we're going to need someone so rich that they can handle not being able to make their money back for a very long time, which pretty much means we're going to need Jeff Bezos. Maybe this is just the start of negotiations, and a potential ownership group will manage to get a better price. Either way, it seems like it's more of a matter of if, not when we get an NBA team. What really happened with Earl Thomas? The Athletic had an excellent article looking at what went wrong with the former Seahawks safety. Ultimately, it comes down to Earl being Earl. Are Greek Row parties different at different schools? Softy and Ian debate the important issues.

Mike Holmgren joins Ian every Wednesday at 2pm to talk about all things Seahawks and NFL. His weekly appearance is brought to you by Windermere Real Estate, Toyota of Kirkland, Team Bruce with Guild Mortgage, Car Toys, Stihl, and Redbox.

Hugh Millen joins Ian every Monday at 1:20pm to give a hardcore look at the previous day's Seahawks game. What was the turning point? How did it happen? Hugh breaks it down, hardcore style! Hugh comes to you courtesy of J&M Remodel; earn more at jandmremodel.com.

With the playoff game being on Saturday, everything gets pushed up a day, which means Pete Carroll's usual Wednesday press conference is happening today. As usual, we get updates on the status of injured players, and unsurprisingly, his outlook is positive. Nearly 1.8 million people in the Seattle area watched last week's Hawks game, which shows that despite everything, people are still watching their team. The vast majority of fans will watch the game on TV this weekend, just as they would have if Lumen Field was packed with tens-of-thousands of fans. Still, it's weird thinking that the area around the stadiums will be empty on Saturday afternoon. Does the vibe feel different this year? It just feels like the energy is missing. Ohio State may have a problem with COVID, and there has been talk of moving the game back. The back-and-forth between the two teams has been fantastic. A shout-out to Steve Gleason who was diagnosed with ALS ten years ago, and has done a ton to bring awareness to the disease. It's our Something Good.

Last hour, we heard from the Seahawks head coach. In case you didn't hear that part of the show, or you need help reading between the lines, we're here to help. Pro Football Focus only had one Seahawk on its first and second All Pro teams, Bobby Wagner. Steve Palazzolo joins us to answer for the lack of representation while also taking a look at the two completely different halves of the season for Russell Wilson. Texts react to the show at 49451. Kevin brings Softy in with a new Star Wars theme, and discussion of NBA expansion heats up again.