Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreigner and Hutch. I hate these teams, Jake. I hated watching both of these teams.
We'll get to it in, in. In a quick second, but, like, that's
[00:00:17] Speaker B: a brand for you.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: True, true. You know what? Honestly, of all of my general pessimism, I usually feel like Friday is like the best day because we've been watching another team all week and you're like, oh, this is kind of a cool.
That usually manifests into me picking against the Niners. I legitimately have no idea who I'm picking in this game right now. I have oscillated so many times. They call me Scott Osler. And it is. It. It is. This game has a chance to be brutal in the highest sense for a variety of reasons, which we'll get into. But I think everyone could. Could use some news that they could use.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: That's right, news that you can use.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Here's. Here is the lay of the land with the injury report for the 49ers. Mike Evans is questionable. He was apparently running on the side today. This was somewhat sort of all the plan. They. They.
I don't know what they're going to put in them and we'll get an injury that.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Since that they won't really.
I mean, come on.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Who's to say what it is?
[00:01:20] Speaker B: It's just there's so many different things that could happen to a ribbon.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Like it could break or it could.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Or what else.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: You could remove one, like Marilyn Manson did, according to legend. No, it's. We're not doing that. Keon White has a ham. Yeah, it's. It's a sneaky. I don't think that this got as much run as maybe it should have. Maybe because you and I haven't talked since Monday. But Keon White has been immense for this team. And it's not like a statistical output thing. It's just he's the one guy that they can truly count on snap after snap to provide, like, serious juice and serious function.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Although, if you subscribe to the Hutch Report, there is a statistical output, which is that he splits his time outside and inside. And as I've said many, many times so far this season, he is the kind of only person who can really get their stunts working right.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: He.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: He does it both ways. Like, him and OSA work together the most on their stunts, and usually it's him as the pick man, like driving through the face of a guard, right.
And they just don't work really well without him. Like, Grayson Halton is tried and it's not the Timing is not quite there.
OSA will do it as the pick man, and sometimes that works. He can do it better than most, but, like, they don't have a lot of people that can just, like, run through somebody's face with the requisite speed and aggression.
And that's kind of like one of the few ways they're effectively getting home. I think Raheem dialed up some really cool simulated pressures. Yeah, a couple I shouted out, but that's kind of the only way they can do it with Bosa gone. So if they don't have Keon White, that's a really big problem.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Again, I keep repeating this because at some point it will hit or some point, someone will correct me to the point where I stop saying it. But they have, through necessity, created the world's worst version of the Seahawks defensive line.
Just like all push and stunts and coordination and the power of friendship.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: But, no, I was like, that guy's a defensive tackle. And then he's, like, just playing as an edge rusher.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Sebastian Valdez, baby. Put him at five Tech. The dream is alive. The dream is alive with the San Francisco 49ers. They're doing a lot of fire blitzes, and they're playing guys who maybe would have been a 5Tech 20 years ago at 5Tech in 2026. So, you know, playing a bunch of
[00:03:43] Speaker B: offensive guards at defensive.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Pretty much. Pretty much. So Keon White, by the way, you know, if you did read the Hutch report this week, I know you wrote it, so I'd hope you'd read it. But who knows? The concept of White in being the dude to take on those double teams and let those stunts work again. Bears repeating, Michael.
Dear God, put on this planet to do one thing, take double teams so that dudes can be a free rusher.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Listen, I saw the clips of, you know, he's not coming back until next week. He legally can't.
But, man, did.
Man, that's gonna be fun. Yeah, I don't. He might. Like, he could suck, and it will be a massive upgrade just based on the size and the physicality he provides. He could do nothing else but stand there and just sort of be large. And that's going to be really helpful to him.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, otherwise you have full army fahoko out there, which, like, legitimately. Okay.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Like you're doing.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Everyone's doing their best with the situation at hand. Speaking of legal matters, by the way, should we just note that the Niner, right.
Very horny owner, was suspended for six games and fined half a million dollars by the NFL.
I found this out on ESPN.co.uk to where the headline was, leeds Rangers co owner suspended by NFL, which is a way better way to phrase it than Jed York will continue to do nothing in relation to the team.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It's funny, you know, it like is meaning kind of meaningless. Like he's obviously was not going to come at all. Well, I, Yeah, I set myself up for that one.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: So. Did he?
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Yes, he did. Yes, he did.
But it like some people are like, well, just so you know, it's right before the trade deadline. It's like, what does it have to do with anything?
[00:05:37] Speaker A: He didn't know Christian Kirk had been signed.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Well, to be fair, a lot of people didn't. Yeah.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Also has he been. I have laid eyes on him in a locker room. Otherwise he's squatting.
So I think that that is. I think that he is in fact on the team. He is taking up an IR spot.
Along these lines, I should also add that Dre Greenlaw has a quad injury that kept him out of all but one play in the second half of last year.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: That was kind of the thing that destroyed his limited time with the Broncos.
Like he picked up a quad injury.
It was funny because I believe Jennifer Lee Chan reported it did a pretty good job. That was like, oh no, his quads messed up. And all the Broncos people went, no, it's fine. And then he like never recovered. Yeah. Sort of all season long.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Because they sort of like forced, discernibly like forced him out there. He forced himself and was like never healthy. He's like, I'm just gonna do it.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Kinetic chain, baby. It's. It's not going to be the Achilles again. It's going to be something up the line. And it was,
[00:06:39] Speaker B: yeah, pretty important game for him to play.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: And that's the other thing too. Like it feels like a very important game for him to play. This might be his last game. If he was playing on a bad quad and he's doing Dre Greenlaw stuff like this is.
No one is under any misinterpretations. You know, no one had any other ideas than Drake Greenlaw was going to have to be load managed all year. Like, yeah, might need to load manage him for this game. And you might.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: This might just have to be like, you put Garrett Wallow in there.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see. And that will be more of a game time decision, I imagine. It does feel as if Evans is absolutely in white. I don't have a read on. And then Jaden Duggar has a shoulder thing that popped up.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Let's talk about Evans. You say he's absolutely in.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: I think that Kyle Shanahan would have a really, really hard time if Mike Evans wasn't there. And I get the sense that Kyle, perhaps not having learned his lesson from last year with Ricky Pearsall in week 18, has schemed up everything on the basis of we'll have Mike Evans for like 20 something plays.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: And that's what I'm looking at. I'm looking at like, you need Mike Evans purely to have pat certain, like, follow him around for a few plays.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: You take one of them away, get
[00:08:01] Speaker B: certain away, just make him the sacrificial X. Evans doesn't need to catch a ball in this game to have an impact.
But, like, just looking at the way how much man the Broncos play, it's insane.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: It's. I mean, it's. It's awesome. As a football purist where no one's running man anymore, but, like, right.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: For anyone who doesn't know, by the way, let me just please pull up the numbers here. They. They run cover zero, the seventh most, which is only like 5%, but that's still covered.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: There's no. That's no safeties over the middle.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Right? That's cover zero. A lot. They run a hell of a lot of COVID one. They. They ran a ton of COVID one last game.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: They did.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Hufanga spent the entire. The entire game baiting the hook again.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: He was. Or it was Brandon Jones or other safety they would switch off on, who would take the tight end. I wonder if it's just like,
[00:08:49] Speaker A: I like that matchup for the Niners.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: I do, too.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: I think.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: Too. I mean. And I think Hufanga's played well. Like, I was watching. I was like, he's doing a pretty good job.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: He's doing Hufanga things. This. Who Funga has a.
Yeah. Who. Funga has a very high pop factor. And so I think that there's. And this is an issue, I find, with safeties to where, like kind of like a guard, like the best safeties, not the elite of the elite, but like really good safeties.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Talking about Isaiah Thomas factor, you just
[00:09:16] Speaker A: don't think about them. They're just out there doing stuff, right. They're cleaning stuff up. You don't think about them either way. And then when you watch the tape, you're like, oh, this guy's really good.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: The Julie. Yeah. It's the Julian love factor. Like, Julian love. You know what I mean? 100% real quick just to finish the thought the loop. Like, they run the most two man in league and overall they run the fourth most man coverage. So, like, they're gonna have to have George Kittle. Yeah. And Christian McCaffrey guarded by one person quite a fair bit of the time.
And I actually think in zone, they pass stuff off well. But like, this. This means, like, safeties have to be really good. And there were a couple times, like, Stafford missed some stuff that was out there.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: He doesn't look right, but he does not look right as it is.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Decision making is not great.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: I think he's back on carbs. Just throwing that out there.
I know. I know a carb puffy face when I see one. I have a mirror and I think he's.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: They locked him in the. In the Airstream last year and he's like. He got out. I think.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: I think we go back into the Airstream. Matt, listen, as. As a equally aged man with a puffy face from carbs, I. I can relate. It's the only NFL body that I can relate to.
I do not have a rocket arm anymore. I used to that. My rotator cuff tore regardless.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, you know, is what happens when you're trying to up the mph.
Okay.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: What.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Why is it that they run so much, Man? The way that I discern it is that they are just stacking as many people in the box in like a classic way. Like, we are going five across the front and four across the back, and you all can figure out whatever it is you want to do with that.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: It's not like a. I think they love their corners.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: They should. They're great as they should.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Riley Moss gets penalized, I think, honestly, because he's white.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Those are milk checks for sure.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: For sure. Like, but he's doing. He's. He's a good corner.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: He's. He's a gambler, too. And I think that maybe if he was a little bit more comfortable in his own skin, he wouldn't gamble so much and be better, but.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Right. Ultimately, I think they like their corners. That's a big factor. It's interesting.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Can I quickly interject on Riley Moss?
So Riley Moss always wears long sleeves as to let people know that he's not the modern Jason Seahorn.
And he's got the visor. I mean, he is legitimately, like, you don't know what it's like. Everyone knows you're white, you're awesome. Like, no one's arguing, but, you know, there's. There's A cultural undertone of it. And it's going to be like 95 degrees on Sunday.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: It's. It's. Yeah, it's. My girlfriend just headed down to la. It's looking bad for the next two weeks. Looking real bad.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: We're getting that. We're getting that high heat dome, which I always appreciate in October because I like watching college football on my porch, but.
And I'm inside every other day and slowly withering away and dying regardless. I get Saturdays on the porch, college football, and I can stay out at night.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: I'm gonna bring this entire setup down two flights of stairs and just. We're gonna stream from the backyard.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Yeah. No, this is the future. This is our American economy.
So Riley Moss, will He need an IV at halftime because he's wearing long sleeves in 95 degree heat or his technology gotten so good there's no way
[00:12:32] Speaker B: he can do that in this game.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: I'm fascinated to see do we get sleeveless Riley Moss? Because that could either be like an unlock superpower or he now loses his Superman cape and no longer is that guy.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Also, I won.
Anyone who is.
Who's on that side of the field, just don't go to the game.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: I don't know what to tell you. You're just like, I enjoy. I enjoy a good heat. Like my wife, who is Scottish and says that the interior of her body is still cold from every day of her entire life up until she moved to California. Like, we vacation. We vacationed in Palm Springs in August and she was like, this is awesome. And I'm like, you're a lunatic.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: That's insane.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: I might send her to the game because she'll finally be. And she'll just be out there with. With some sun, SPF 200 and a book and just in. Just toast. Just get absolutely toasted.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And the Broncos will like, they. They do have to have the COVID thing. We actually talked about that, like both teams are required, is that.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: That's a legal requirement.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Now the league mandates like, you can have it, but both teams have to have it.
I would say still they're on the. This, the sun side of the field. And especially in the second half where I feel like the shade starts to creep over you. Gets usually get some like, weird shade. You did come because of the building. So like the Niners will get some shade and then I think the Broncos won't ever.
It's a non zero factor. It's a non zero factor.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: I. I don't disagree. Now having covered the Dolphins for a little bit, let me tell you. It's definitely a non zero factor.
I'm also pretty sure that the temp thing is now the Miami Dolphins cultural. I'm pretty sure it's their fault. I should note though that it's not as if the Denver Broncos don't understand like heat because everyone who knows California sun, like that stuff cuts in a little bit more. Try being a mile closer to it in the summer. Like yeah, that's some good.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: It's awesome. You get baked and then there's like a thunder. Thunderstorm at like 3pm every day for about 40 minutes.
You spend the afternoon in the pool and then you get out when it
[00:14:43] Speaker A: thunders as one does. Where the hell were we? So Mike Evans, sacrificial X. I think
[00:14:49] Speaker B: he, I think you need him for 20 snaps.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: You have to have them. There's no one else on this team and maybe this is a good segue here. There's nobody else on this team that can separate from man to man.
And here's what we're looking at. I put out a little thing to be clear.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Like guys can win in man to man. It's just like consistent man separators is a different subject.
Rely on yeah in like a third and four and man coverage to win because there's sometimes like guy like Debo won on a choice route a couple weeks ago.
Like there are times guys are going to be able to win. Yeah, but like who, who's actually out there for the 49ers this week? Like who? What is their receiving core?
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's get into it. So yesterday I put out two minute video Moose Pete on something in the middle of it. It was fantastic.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Oh yeah, my boy shouts.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Shouts to the big fella.
He is lining up as the flanker which is really wild because he does not have opposable thumbs.
Okay, so yesterday they cut Cadero Hodge because he has a knee injury. Knee injury.
They don't have room for him on ir. Right. So he wasn't practicing all week. Looked like they weren't going to be able to play him on Sunday. So they said, well what are we going to do? We need that spot on the roster, the 53.
We're going to cut you unceremoniously with an injury settlement. We'll bring you back whenever your knee is good.
Hang out over there for a while in the exact same way they did it with Malik Turner at the end of camp. So Brandon Cooks goes from practice squad to 53.
Malik Turner signs to the practice squad. Dante Pettis showed up. Dante Pettis immediately got injured, got a calf injury on Wednesday and is not in the running for doing anything because he's not running.
So as I, as. As I see it, Mike Evans is up, but not Mike Evans in full. Depending on the level of drugs, which they can do wonderful things these days. Jacob Cowing is up with that in terms of dehydration. Well, that's the other thing, too. I mean, going back to fans on that side of the stands, like, maybe take it easy before the game. Just. I know that that's asking, you know, a beaver not to build a dam, but, like, it's like built into the DNA of tailgating before the game and getting absolutely sloshed.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Go to town beer helmet. Fill one side with beer, the other side with water and just be. Just be pissing. I would go just be jbp.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Jbp. Just be pissing.
The last thing you need is to, like, have to pull out the Tom Herman hydration chart and be like, oh, this is not going well.
Because that's the other thing. You drink too much and you're dehydrated, and you don't realize you're dehydrated until it's way too late because you just feel good. Alcohol's fun. So back to wide receivers.
Evans is up, but not fully Evans. So might just be merely an inherent decoy. He's out there just to take one of those two corners away as to draw up something that can maybe scheme somebody open. So Evans up cowing up for punt returner. It's kind of locked in.
I don't particularly agree with it, but they don't have any other punt returner. So it's. It's cowing. Debo's up.
Debo. It's Debo and a bunch of question marks on this team right now. I would say that Cooks is up, seeing as they just put him on the 53 regard.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: I don't know what kind of routes he's running. It doesn't look like old Brandon.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: The fact that they saw enough to where they're like, oh, we'll just bump him up to the act.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: Seven wide receivers up, like they might.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Well, this is the thing. They carry five in a game. Malik Turner is going to be up for this game to play the Cadarrel Hodge role of gunner and jammer and special teams ace. And I kind of, you know, you and I are both.
The Turner hive is very much alive here. It never went away. It just, you know, lost a couple of members of The Colony.
I think he's actually a pretty good wide receiver from scrimmage. I like him more than Cadero Hodge from scrimmage as a wide receiver. Regardless, there's a name that I didn't mention there. If they have five,
[00:19:01] Speaker B: who is it?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Is Jordan Watkins going to be active for this game?
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Would be. You know, I didn't mention it, but like when he talked post game and he was sort of like, you know, I just went up to Kyle and I asked him like, what do I need to do to get on the field? And, and he told me, I was like, you didn't? Like, I would, I would bite your tongue a little bit. Like, just in terms of like what you're sharing about your conversations with head coach. And I get it because he's sort of excited.
It was just a little strange to be like, you caught the ball twice, didn't block very well. No, Kyle lied and said he did.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: I mean it's Kyle, it's like he can get away with that with a lot of folks. But when I was there and he said he did and I went, huh, very quietly to myself because, listen, I now have a vested interest in this. I've watched him back 10 times. Like, it's not that he didn't block. Well, he didn't block. He did not engage, save for a couple of times. And both of those times he got ragdolled. This is the, this is the same thing that was happening in the preseason. Listen, it's either Cooks or Watkins this week. Everyone can say, and Anthony has already said it, 100%. Watkins is going to be up after those catches last week. The catches were. Pardon?
[00:20:17] Speaker B: You want to prop it. Sorry, I'm interrupting your flow.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: No, it's okay. My flow deserves to be interrupted most of the time.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Jake Jacob cowing over one and a half catches.
I'm saying yes.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: It's a horrible thought.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Wow, this is grim times, my friend.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm thinking, I'm thinking Jacob cowing, who again is sort of playing just a clear out role, but like is kind of open in scrambles, but he
[00:20:45] Speaker A: doesn't have the physicality to separate when he's actually engaged. Like, man is not his ball game.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Yeah, right. But in terms of like an assignment getting missed or like a pick and him coming open and I'm just having to rotate wide receiver twice.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: That's a bad.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: It's a bad thought.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: It's going to be Cooks or Watkins and I'm fascinated to see what that decision is because to me it's like, I don't think either of those are very.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: I would rather have Watkins because he's at least fast and has been in the scheme.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: The other. The other aspect of this is, okay, how do they view Malik Turner? Because if Evans can only go a certain amount of reps. And I understand that X, Y, and Z or F are not tried and true concepts here for the 49ers, given their tight splits and how they stagger and stuff. But, like, is Turner then the backup X if Evans gets hit in the ribs on play one and can't play anymore because Watkins has been that. That. That has been his role since day one, which is okay. If Mike Evans goes down, you're the ax. Now. They had a couple other dudes on top of him, but, like, that's where he fit on the depth chart. And then everyone got injured, so now he's there. You got a lot of Z's, you got a lot of question marks. You have one X and maybe you add Watkins. Again, I don't think there's a good answer here. So I'm fascinated to see which one it is. But it would be.
It would be quite interesting to me if after the Jordan Watkins love fest in which he barely saw the field in the second half, after some tape was perused in the locker room, if ever, and then everyone's like, oh, you know, he could be great. It's like he didn't get touched twice. There are two. Two zone routes. It was a great ball from Purdy on the first one. The second one, he just kept running because the linebackers are terrible in coverage on that route. On those two.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah. I think they're going to have to rotate a hell out of CMC and Kalon Black. I think Kalon Black is going to get more rushing touches than CMC in this game.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Similar to the Rams game.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Where you just like say we need McCaffrey to just be in on third downs and win. When we play, man, otherwise, like Black, we're just gonna, like, run you and try and have their defense just out of sorts in some ways, like having your offense out there first. The 49ers would never pick that. But it's not a bad game to have the offense out there first and have like a long, horrible drive for the defense, even if you end up with like three points.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Establish a tone. Come out like the Sharks last night.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Have someone on the defense just get exhausted and need an iv.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: They do. I mean, the beauty of man to man is that you should have a massive advantage in the pass game with McCaffrey and Kittle.
The question. The question is how much can the Broncos mitigate that schematically? Because I don't think that they can do a personnel wise because they know it has to be coming. So now we're the NFL. The beauty of college football is its simplicity. It's like, I will press this button until you stop me pressing this button. In college, in the NFL, I mean, it is chess. It is. I know that you know that. You know that I know. And then if you do this, I'm going to do that, but, you know, I'll do that. So I'm going to do this.
And I just. I don't know what that looks like for Vance Joseph because there hasn't really been really been an applicable game so far this year or really in a couple of games last year to where you go, great pass catching back and great tight end, no receivers. Pretty unique circumstances.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: I mean, I mean, the Rams. Yeah, I mean, well, not no receivers. It was all Devonte and a lot of tight ends. And Kyron's a pretty good.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: And Kanata Mumfield, sir.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Right. I thought. I thought Joseph did a really good job adjusting the second half.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a great corner.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: Yeah, they, like, their run defense was a mess and they started stunning DJ Jones and stuff and it worked really well. And I really, like. I think they're really well coordinated on the back end a lot of the time.
And sometimes they'll do like split field where it's like zone on one side and pure man on the, like. They do a lot of good stuff and I think they communicate really well.
What's interesting is, like, the 49ers could really break one in this game because their linebackers, their entire. It's a little bit like the Texans where it's coached to swarm, swim, like, be aggressive, get downhill, like attack. And there's a lot of times where I see like Justin Sternod, like five yards behind the play because he's just crashing and there's a level of aggression and it's like if Hufonga or someone doesn't come up and clean it up, you get a chunk play like the Rams had in the first half where it was like 30 yards for Kyron and that's out there and that's going to happen. I think in this game, especially as guys get tired and make mistakes and things aren't as well coordinated, which I think the Rams. I mean, the. When they're not running man coverage they do a lot of like, I have seen a decent amount of like cover 6 and other stuff from them.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: Not. I don't think it nearly as much as the Niners do.
Yeah, it's. It's like, you know, it's about league average, but that's because they're running so much man. But it's like kind of like that's what they're deferring to when they're not running it.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Which makes sense that there's usually single high. There's a pretty good through line from man to man teams to cover six. Because some of the tenants of how you hand stuff off, if you hand stuff off, like some of those things go in there, it requires a lot of communication.
The single high, though, is interesting because as you said, that means the safety more or less is going to be on Kittle.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: And a linebacker dangerous to run single high against the Niners.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Very dangerous. And beyond that, I mean, how can Vance Joseph invert it to where maybe he can get a linebacker on Kittle, which might, you know, not a great idea as we saw in the Arizona game with that lucky route. But like.
Or, you know, the entirety of the second half.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: But you just. Yeah, it's weird. It's just they just wait until the second half to start even looking.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Well, it was because they had no wide receivers. They're going to have to start this game with the same thing.
But maybe is just a change up to where you'd expect whichever box safety they throw in there, if they have them to carry Kittle and then, you know, linebackers on McCaffrey because they're probably thinking Brock play action. Even though the Niners have run less play action than anyone in the NFL this year.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: I have a.
I have a stat for you about the Broncos offense.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Let's transfer over there because let me preface all this to say, I hate the Broncos offense.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: It looks really bad, Ike.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: So we believe in Luke Kikley school of film watching, which is you watch first halves, as many first halfs as you can get on the predication that first halves are what the team wants to do.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: And then like a little bit of like first drive second half to see, like, okay, what did they see? How did they adjust to something? Total Broncos superpower, theoretically, is that they adjust well in the second half.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: They don't. I don't.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: At least on defense. I don't know about on offense.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: No, they definitely. No, no, no. Vance Joseph's a very good coordinator. I don't want. I don't want to I think that they do a good job of recognizing what's hitting them and then fixing that while not making themselves weak in other places. It's a very, very good defense. We knew that coming into the year. We've seen that so far this year. I haven't seen as much from Allen. I'm worried that this might be a big game for him because he has a chance to be like a legitimate game breaker on the interior, which then creates a lot of problems for the Niners and Brock, but it hasn't happened yet. Their pass rush has not been as good as it was last year at the start, but they've been a little stouter in the run game regardless.
I hate watching the Denver offense and you texted me just before we came on where you're like, I don't think Davis Webb has a plan. And it's like, oh, you think, you think it is.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: It doesn't look like he's attacking anything specific. It looks like he's just calling plays in a vacuum.
Yes, sometimes it looks good.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Sometimes Bo Nix makes a play.
Most of the time Bo Nix makes one read, freaks out and then either does something real dumb or makes something out of nothing.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: He's not reading anything, not a thing. And, and he's really scattershot. Like especially coming out in the second half where I'm like, okay, there's like two crossers. Oh, there's a what? Like you're looking underneath and then he throws it to the wrong one and it's way off.
It's like you can't. But then, but then you put him in space and let him move. It's like they should, they should just be running a run and shoot offense where it should just be like good action every single time which ends up sort of happening like well and they weren't.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: And here's the thing with that boot action which was basically the only play that Knicks could be successful on last year. They didn't run it for the first two weeks. Yeah, they just didn't do it and they turned him into this drop back quarterback and it was like this is not working. And it's so interesting. They've sucked in the first half. They've sucked and they've won two games on just second half. And you can call that adjustments. Nothing's being adjusted. Bo Nix is just out there making stuff happen and it's worked which just a little bit.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: But you're right, like it is a lot of. Just like we're going to figure it out. We're not really going to figure it out. I need to give you the stat, which is.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: I would love it.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: So not a lot of teams do what the 49ers do, which is like run pure drop back under center.
Niners run it more than any other team in the league, like 20% of the time.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: It's just not that popular. It's like an old school way of operating. More. More and more teams are doing it.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: Can I, can I explain why?
[00:30:27] Speaker B: Yes, go for it.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Because defenses have now, as we've talked about ad nauseam. So I won't get into all the details, but all the chaos in the motion of defenses and the rule breaking of offensive lines, how do you beat that? Sean McVeigh showed everybody how you beat it. Jab runs, duo runs, up the middle, gap scheme runs, and then deep throws, which you have to stand and deliver.
Play action doesn't work anymore because the linebackers are blitzing anyway. I mean, it does, it does if you, if you're. But if you have a good, well coordinated defense, play action does not have the same thing. And in fact, you are. All these defenses were built to stop the play action boot game.
Like, so you have to go exactly the opposite way. And the Rams did that. And I would say the Bengals, as much as I don't think Zach Taylor's a, you know, excellent head coach. Like he does that with Joe Burrow and seven step true drop.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And that was not something he did. It was just pure shotgun for like all of his career. And they mixed it up.
The reason I mentioned this is 49ers lead the league, the Denver Broncos. And maybe this stat, you know, some stats are charted by other people, but like, they have never run a single snap this season from under center and thrown it unless it's play action. They haven't run a single drop back pass from under center.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it was 82 runs, something like that.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: It's like runs or play action.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: It was insane. And I go, oh, that stats incorrect.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: League average is like 4%. Which is to say, like, if you run it under center, like it gives you some different looks. Like the 49ers do it because defenses are accounting for things differently. Yeah. And like, again, it sort of like gives you the benefit of play action without having to do it all the time. Right. And the Broncos just haven't run it this season. And. But they are fourth in rpo, so it's an offense that's like, I don't, I just don't enjoy watching it.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: I also think that a Lot of that rpo. Yes, it is part of the scheme and all, but some of that RPO is just. We don't know what to do with whatever Bonix just did back there. Call it an rpo.
Like it's. Is it man? Is it done? Who knows? But it is.
It is ultimately, ultimately a quarterback that isn't reading the field in an offense that is built entirely upon reading the field.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: Now, I don't know the Broncos only missing player this week. Their injury report was just updated. Dondre Tillman, linebacker. He's their only absence anyway.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: That would be great if I knew who Dondre Tillman was. Yeah, sorry, I'm not that big of a ball knower.
Can you name first? Can you give me a moment and just look up what school Dante Tillman went to.
[00:33:16] Speaker B: Don Dre Tillman.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Apologies.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: School did he go to.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: So the Bo. Bo Nick.
Oh, wow.
Definitely not ball nowhere over here.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: The Niners.
That can't be right.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Anyway, he was a Niner at one point.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: I don't. No, no, no, no, no, no. Never. I misread that.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Good talk.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Good talk.
[00:33:38] Speaker A: You would think Sean Payton. Sean Payton's success is Drew Brees and Drew Brees not a big guy. We all know that. Not the biggest arm.
And there have been a lot of Brock Purdy, Drew Brees comparisons. But then you watch Brock Purdy run, you go, nope, that ain't it.
But Brock and Drew Brees both read the field in its totality to the point where, like, you can get to alerts, right? You can.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: You're.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: You're throwing with anticipation, you're throwing with understanding. You're making things happen. You're getting the ball out quick when the ball needs to get out quick. You're standing and delivering what it needs to stand and deliver. Bo Nix is as far away from Drew Brees as any quarterback I can think of right now. I mean, outside of just the abysmal he is, I don't even know what the equivalent is to a Bo Nicks right now. To where if the play isn't perfectly called and it isn't immediately there, it just won't work at all.
[00:34:39] Speaker B: Unless he's like Jackson Darton, literally a half dozen balls where it's just. He's throwing it to whoever's deep and there's a safety on there. Like he should have been picked off by Quinton Lake, who, by the way, I swear to God, I would. Would. I don't know how the voting works, but he'd get a defensive player that year. Vote from me, you would love to
[00:34:58] Speaker A: have him as a down ballot every.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Because he's doing the thing on every time. And that's how he almost picked off Knicks, where they ran play action and it was a flood concept and they're trying to push it. And Quinn Lake is like, I'm just gonna wait and maybe get an interception here. And he almost did, but he's been astounding.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: It's just.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Nick's is, like, hucking the ball up to whoever's deep, and he's not really looking on. Not. Let me be clear. He's not looking off safeties at all.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: No, no. He doesn't see him in the first place.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: He's just, like, running and throwing it as. I don't understand what the thought process is. But when he gets out in space, sometimes he makes stuff happen. Sometimes guys come free.
Also, their run game is the most plain exhausting. They're literally just, like, running like. Like, man runs a lot. There's like, no insert blocking. There's very little motion. It occasionally runs split zone, but, like, not in a clever way. It. It literally looks like in Madden when you're like, we're gonna go in single back and we're gonna run like, inside zone, or we're gonna run like duo.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Like, they run. They run power with mine hurts, which is right.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: And that's awesome. And they have a really good offensive line, but, like, they're just. They're not. There's no window dressing. There's no help. It's unfair to their offensive line to say, like, hey, just go win every single rep. And that's what it. It feels like. It's.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: It all. It all comes back to the main point that I think is going to be the through line of this season. It's about schemers, not motivators. It's about guys who can find new and interesting wrinkles to keep the other team off guard and on their back heels.
And I don't know how much of this is Peyton, I don't know how much of it is Webb, but that brain trust has nothing. And they have a great. They have a legitimately great offensive line. And when you're watching them, you're like, man, was this offensive line, like, super overrated? Are we in, like, Lions territory where everyone says, oh, what a great offensive line? And then it's like, no, they're good, but they're not, like, great.
Whereas the Niners might have just everyone, I guess they're okay, but then it turns out they're much better than that to the point where, like, Connor Colby would be, like, a very good guard for a lot of teams and is generally their weak link, given what Landon Dickerson looks like these days. So regardless, it is merely. They don't have anything new or interesting, and they're not even playing into the strengths of their quarterback right now. It took them two weeks to do it.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: The amount of times that they're just having, like, Jalen Waddle, like, not involved in the play, where you're like, this is your most dynamic receiver. And then they're like, all right, well, we're going to use him. Except we're going to use him on third and four, where, granted, good, good little, like, glance route against Trent McDuffie, but you're lining him up knowing it's going to be man against Trent McDuffie, which I don't care who you are. Why are you trying Trent McDuffie on third and four, one on one, when you have, like, every other rap, it's like, they don't because, like, the 49ers would do the thing where they're like, we're gonna go to Juwan Jennings. Like, we're gonna get the most advantageous matchup we can against.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: And even that was a 51 for. That was a 51, 49 ball every time they threw it. But they just trusted you one, right,
[00:38:08] Speaker B: who had great hands and could do that. And it was like, it was open for a quick second, but you watch it. And Bo Nix is, like, taking the most.
There's no drop at all. Like, it's astounding. There's no footwork. Like.
And there are criticisms of, like, Purdy did this. Like, there was that play that I broke down a little bit where it was. They released Debo through, and it was like, a corner route. A lot of teams are releasing guys through the A's and A and B gaps now, which is fun.
[00:38:31] Speaker A: You see. Who was it Ben Johnson who did double C? Double C gap. Yeah. Awesome. Like, there's basically Canadian football now. It's fantastic, right?
[00:38:37] Speaker B: There's a lot of cool stuff that they're doing because it sort of gets you a free release at full speed. And defenses are like, how do we account for this? Creates weird.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: By the way, this. This is what the juice dash motion is all about. In that, okay, it's for the run game, but in the past game, it also then creates confusion on, is this guy out or not? Right by the. And this is get it in now so that we don't have to bring it up. Later, like, tight end in the backfield is a cheat code against sitting duck linebackers. And the Broncos, they can fill like a some bitch, but they cannot cover in the past game. And you had.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: There's. They have some. They have some good reps. Let me finish. The one thought, like, on. On that one that Brock turned down. Brock has, like, a little bit of, like, Happy Feet there. Bo Nix was just like, not. There's no. There's no footwork at all in the drop back on that third and four that I'm talking about. It was just like he gets back, pats the ball a little bit, and then he's late. He's late to throw it. And I'm like, those are. Those are the reps that matters. Matter where. It's like, you need to have it on this key down. And he's throwing. He's throwing late to the read. And I don't understand how you can trust that. And you can't trust that offense.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: You can't. The game is way too fast for him. The game is to. The game is too evolved for Davis Webb right now, and he might get there. By all accounts, Davis Webb's a very smart guy, and who knows, but he looks like he's running the cow offense. Right?
[00:40:00] Speaker B: It looks like they expect their O line to just make the run game work and everything else predicated on, we have a sick O line, we're gonna win up front, and then everything else is just gonna, like, function. We're going to be able to run play action off of it. Defenses are going to start breaking down, but it's not working.
And, like, J.K. dobbins doesn't really have the juice that he used to have. No, it's not that he's been terrible because, like, there's not a lot to work with, but, like, they don't have another. They just don't have the juice there and they can't rely on it. It's like little three or four yard runs. Maybe that'll be a problem because, you know, the Rams had some pieces that were a little better.
[00:40:40] Speaker A: They'll probably be able to run the ball. Okay.
The other aspect of this is the Niners are doing a lot of, like, overload run blitzing to where they just sell out on one side and then basically force the running back to have to run into because, again, they don't have any actual push. So the only time anyone gets into the backfield is through free releases off of stunts and things like that. So what they're doing is they're stunting so that everybody comes in either in the same gap or in gaps next to each other. So now, hey, you have to turn right. We're guessing which way you're going to go. And now you have to go the other way. But because the Niners. This is like. This is good coaching. Because the Niners actually cannot get any release off of anybody on the offensive line. They're just sort of standing there.
And so it's like, you can hold me, or we can just run into this running back who is now running directly towards us because the play has gone bunk. If they. If Davis Webb was smart, he'd put in a counter run or 10.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: This is really, I think Valdez at like five tech. And for everything in between, because it was interesting. They really did put him at, like 5 and then 4i. And they would have, like, little nuances about where he was lining up. And maybe it's that he was in the wrong place.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Who's to say?
[00:41:57] Speaker B: Or whether it was intentional. Who knows?
[00:41:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:59] Speaker B: But, like, I actually think, like, the dynamic between, like.
Because the Rams are running a lot of, like, five man fronts against it, the dynamic between that extra edge, who would usually be Duggar, who is questionable.
[00:42:11] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: And that last guy who's playing anywhere from three to five, which they had Kobe Turner do it. And Kobe Turner did this really interesting thing on at least one rep where he's at three tech, and then slides like a full gap out as it snapped. And then it means, okay, you have to funnel inside. And Kobe Turner can jump inside if you go that way.
And then everything else can funnel. But it also was predicated on, like, the last guy on the end holding that end to let.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: What is that called? Is that like a shadow stunt? If something.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: I wish I knew. I wish that's a cool.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: Whatever.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: I'm sure it's just things we know. There's a lot of people that do. They always put them in their own terminology, as if everyone calls them the same thing.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Even though every defense is different. Right. Every. And it's really annoying, but they're like, oh, you don't know what this is called? This is the colloquial term for this thing that is called something different in every single language from everything.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: You don't know that he's. He's green dogging them.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: Like, it's okay.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: It's like I'm. Yeah, we're trying to figure it out, man. It's cool. I can't we just call something cool and then it is cool.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: It is cool.
Again, watching the Broncos offense is not cool. Usually I'm able to rip through tape, right? Just. Yeah, I got my, my clicker and usually I'm able to just have a lot like. It's fun. It's fun for me. It's enjoyable to watch football.
[00:43:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: What a gig.
I wanted to gouge my eyes out watching the Broncos offense.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Bad ball. It's really.
There's no like, identity behind it of like, okay, what are you. What are you trying to do? What are you trying to get to? What do you want? In like, in an ideal world, I think they would want the run game to, to set up everything else. Right. But it's like, that's not working. So then it's like, what is your.
What's your other type of juice? There is none.
[00:43:57] Speaker A: Put it on older bone or put it on. Put it on older Jackson dart to make something happen here.
There's. So which brings us all to effectively the final score of the game. Not that we'll give it, but this is where. Why I'm constantly oscillating because, like, I do not think that the.
Do I trust the Niners defense, which can't stop the run but has been pretty good on the back end?
Do I trust them, even with their injuries, to be better than the Broncos offense and personnel wise? No.
Tactically, yes. And I have no idea where the Venn diagram overlaps there. On the flip side, do I trust the 49ers offense, which has been excellent but is now depleted down to nothing, just, you know, bone on bone?
Do I trust them against a Denver defense which has not played as well as it could but is. And I'll just throw in here. Yeah. Moss had a rough game against the Rams because he's. They're swashbuckling back there, buddy. They were. They're giving those guys full responsibility to do whatever. And Moss is a gambler. And do I trust them against the, you know, the Broncos personnel? Like, I, I can't get away from. The Niners don't have anyone who they can reliably throw to against a man to man offense right now. And I include Mike Evans in his current. I hope to be wrong about that come Sunday because watching Mike Evans play football is truly a joy. But I don't know if that's Mike Evans. That might be Evan Mike out there and Debo not.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: You're not your best.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: No, it was. It was pretty weak and I knew it about halfway through. But we live with what you got to go for it.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: You got to go for it.
[00:45:39] Speaker A: We're going live. We'll do it live.
It is.
Yeah, it's.
I think that there are plenty of ways for both of these teams to win. I see way more ways. Shocker that these teams would lose this game and I just don't know who I can trust right now. I'm in a very vulnerable place, Jake, and I'm wondering where you stand.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: I don't know who to trust.
[00:46:02] Speaker A: I don't know who to trust.
[00:46:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I get that. I get that. Listen, is this you asking for my prediction, a final score?
[00:46:11] Speaker A: No, I'm asking you to kind of just talk me through play therapist. You know, the doctor is in.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. What I will say I just trust everything about how the Niners are coordinated more than the Broncos.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Even with Vance Joseph.
[00:46:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Plenty of props to Vance Joseph. I just. I don't know what the Broncos are trying to do on offense. Right.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Like, and I don't know what the Niners can do on offense outside of the most obvious thing which against a
[00:46:43] Speaker B: good Bonix is throwing an interception in this game. I mean, no, I think, like, I think he's going to get red and I think it's going to be Marquis Siegel, which you predicted a few weeks ago.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: One day. One day I'll hit.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: I think that. And I think the 49ers are going to throw a couple simulated pressures at him and say like a little bit it. We have weird personnel so we're going to do some. Some weird things. And not necessarily we're just going to throw. Throw Bonix different looks, especially early on, like we're going to try and stop the run. But like, really we're going to try and give him looks because he's not processing anything and he's staring stuff down.
So I imagine there's going to be a couple times like in Cover 8 where they're just going to let like Siegel or someone poach and they're going
[00:47:29] Speaker A: to be cover six. It has to be cover eight. You have to throw it on the weak side as to take away that read. I think they're going to do a lot of COVID eight in this game.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: I think they're going to say, hey, like, just make it look like you're sitting back, like you have nothing going on. By the way. Don't even have to sell it that hard because he's not looking you off, he's not looking at you. He's going to try and funnel one. Probably there will be a couple times where he's like, oh, Evan Ingram over the middle. Let me try and hit that one. Although he likes to go outside the numbers. There's. There's a weird. It's just a weird bad offense and I don't trust it. And I think the Niners will out scheme them on defense regardless of their personnel.
I think the Broncos run game could get going.
You know, I think it could get ugly, especially without Dre Greenlaw. I think there will be some. But that said, like, I don't think they have the juice to, like, really have a ton of explosive plays unless it's like a screen to like, RJ Harvey. And there's some missed blocks and other injuries I worry about as, like, a noted, not, like, optimist going into the season on Jaden Duggar. I think, like, if they don't have Jaden Duggar, that actually matters in this game to set the edge a couple times.
[00:48:38] Speaker A: I mean, I don't think they want to play Gifford from scrimmage. Who.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: Who would be Gifford or, like, Tatum Bethune?
[00:48:46] Speaker A: Oh, boy. What about just. What about just continuing to run the tight front that they had against Arizona?
[00:48:52] Speaker B: They could, but they also still would, like, bring Duggar down a lot of. I mean, again, I think, yeah, I think they'll mix up the fronts. I think they're gonna throw a lot at him, but I like that idea. And I think Valdez is gonna have a lot of snaps in this game. A lot of weird guys are going to play a lot.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: Brandon Cooks and Sebastian Valdez. It's week four.
It's week four. What is this?
[00:49:14] Speaker B: It's as bad as it is. I just.
I. I don't have, like, a gut score prediction. And I'm with you going into this. It's weird. Like, the Niners could absolutely lose this game. The Broncos do have some nice pieces on offense earnestly, but I just don't trust Bo Nix at all. The run game looks ugly, but, like, especially with heat and just a weird situation where they're injury riddled. I could absolutely see the Broncos beating them. But, like, yeah, my. My gut has to stick with the Niners. I just don't trust. What the dot with the Donkos. I almost said donkeys. The Donkos.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: Not your best.
[00:49:49] Speaker B: That's kind of how they feel when you watch their offense. The Badonka Donkos we got. Watching the Donkos on offense.
I'm going to pick the Niners. I'm going to pick the Niners, and I couldn't.
I don't know how you would Set an over under in this game. I do think this is where I was going. It could be very low scoring where everybody's just weird and sloppy or those mistakes lead to a bunch of like chunk plays.
But I also think like the red zone could be weird where offense is stuck in the red zone and I'm gonna say the niners win like 23:17.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm like, I'm in the 21 to 20 range and I'm just oscillating again between which team good about it. I don't. The total in this game is 47 and a half, which pretty low.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: Pretty low.
[00:50:38] Speaker A: NFL game where Brock Purdy is scoring touchdowns at will.
Yeah, I would almost play the under just on principle and that I trust.
I trust both defensive coordinators.
I trust one offensive coordinator. But again, the whole another aspect of going into like the drop back passing game thing is that the Niners knew that they had to fundamentally change how their pass game worked because they couldn't beat man to man and this play action was too long to develop and they didn't have any separation.
So what did they do? They went out and they got Mike Evans and Dejon stribling and they thought they had Ricky Pearsall. And you know, then. Then we get into the ancillary pieces and some of them are better than others. But when they had all that, they go, we can just be the Bengals passing offense.
We're just going to do that.
And now how are they going to do that? I don't know.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: I'm going to make a random prediction. I think we're going to get a Debo like fake.
How do I say this? It's going to be a touch pass, but it's going to. It's going to look one way and then they're going to have a touch pass to Debo.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Okay, Just. Just a touch that. Just how many yards.
[00:51:54] Speaker B: There's going to be some weird reverse with Debo. That's my prediction again.
[00:51:57] Speaker A: I repeat.
Never been happier for an official score to come in than when Debo got the orbit motion toss.
[00:52:03] Speaker B: That looked very close to.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: It was very close. And it was right in front of me too. And I'm like, that better have been backwards. I didn't have a good read on it. So I'm going to take Denver 21 to 20.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Okay.
Totally reasonable prediction.
[00:52:18] Speaker A: That was my initial gut feel.
I feel nothing.
He'll I'm like, I don't know how
[00:52:26] Speaker B: they're going to beat minimum stop there.
[00:52:27] Speaker A: I mean, just. Yeah, inherently I feel so many things, but mostly vitriolic. And I just, I'm having a really hard time seeing how the Niners have explosive runs against stack boxes. And again, maybe Kyle just schemes all this away and he's just on a heater. And fine, I picked the wrong team.
But I think that Denver will get enough chunk plays in this game to get some points on the board. If for nothing else, then in the second half, Bo Nicks just starts winging it. I would also imagine that Sean Payton, and again, we're just guessing Sean Payton has a. Maybe a bit more of a say in the offense this week, given that they basically look like an 8 Hackett operation.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: We never talked, we never talked about Mike McDonald off the record.
[00:53:26] Speaker A: Oh, well, we don't. We like, do we even have enough time to talk about Sean Payton's ego maniacal nature?
[00:53:33] Speaker B: But it's, it's McDonald knew what he's doing.
[00:53:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:39] Speaker B: Come on. And I, and I respect it.
[00:53:42] Speaker A: I.
[00:53:44] Speaker B: Can you imagine that call that he said? He apologized. He's like, hey Sean, I know, you
[00:53:48] Speaker A: know, I heard that out there.
[00:53:50] Speaker B: I literally called you a pussy.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: I mean legitimate. That's what he did. The problem is Sean Payton doesn't have that many friends in the game.
[00:54:00] Speaker B: Let's just say not a likable guy. He's a good head coach.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: And yeah, he, he is a very smart man.
And the first person to tell you that will be Sean Payton.
[00:54:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
A couple things we should know. Romello Height is back this week.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, unless he's out there Mega man clubbing dudes.
But I just don't know how he
[00:54:22] Speaker B: can be play like that's. I feel like kind of the role like.
Yeah, just put him in the Duggar role where it's a five man front and that's his job.
And a couple passing downs.
[00:54:34] Speaker A: How do you. Do you have any.
I'm struggling to remember which is par for the course these days. But do you have any recollection on how Height looked as a coverage linebacker at any point? Have we seen that yet?
[00:54:48] Speaker B: He's peeled a couple times.
[00:54:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:50] Speaker B: I mean he's been tested.
[00:54:51] Speaker A: Yeah. That's my recollection is that they want to do that, but it hasn't. I don't recall it being notable in practice either on if it was good or bad.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: Just don't do it enough to be able to tell.
[00:55:03] Speaker A: Well, always a good time to try something new. Week four of the NFL.
[00:55:08] Speaker B: One thing I want to know, how does the Brendel vs. DJ Jones matchup break down. He struggles with three, four noses, but DJ well off. Awesome isn't quite the power mountain that the other guys are a bit more of a penetrator, especially in the run game. I should note there was one stat when I laughed earlier for no reason whatsoever. It was that pff, which is not even. No pfft. Which was already a joke, whatever. But it's. It's a very funny stat. So I have to share. Highest pass block win rate this season. Jake Brundle at 97.8%.
Which it's unfair to tackles, right? Because like centers are almost always getting help. That said.
[00:55:48] Speaker A: Or providing help.
[00:55:50] Speaker B: Jake Brendel's playing his ass off.
[00:55:51] Speaker A: He is.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: There were. There were like one or two snaps where he got destroyed last week, but he's playing. He looks like legitimately like a Pro bowl center this year. I'm not doing a bit.
[00:56:03] Speaker A: No.
[00:56:03] Speaker B: Not making it up. He's been phenomenal.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: He has been phenomenal. I do not have a comprehensive understanding of how the other centers in the NFL are playing, but it's hard to imagine there's someone playing better than him. He's been great in the run game. He, the pass pro has been really, really good.
[00:56:16] Speaker B: The way they're passing stuff off, like, it's not like a light hand stuff that used to be a problem.
It's like very proactive. Like push him, make sure the other guy has him. Because that's what happens a lot on stunts. That's a problem is the other guy just doesn't know he's coming. Happens a lot with Colby.
Hey, man. And Colby's like, I'm just trying to survive. I got.
[00:56:38] Speaker A: This is all happening really fast right now. Please cut me some slack. Yeah, that's what it feels like for Bo Nix, who's in his, what, third season in the NFL.
It just feels like the game is way too fast. And I mean, Anthony's right here when we talk about the Niners offensive line. I don't know the genesis of this conversation, but like in the past game for sure. For sure.
[00:57:00] Speaker B: Inverse in the run game.
[00:57:02] Speaker A: But when you are.
I think that there's an argument that can be made just looking at you played Arizona and Miami. There's an argument that could be made that like, well, who of the Niners really been played yet? Because they also had the jet lagged Ram staring into the half distance. And that is fair. And I do think that in this
[00:57:21] Speaker B: game, because it's 98 degrees, I mean,
[00:57:23] Speaker A: I mean there's always circumstances and I don't want to say that those opinions aren't inherently valid, but there is context that's important. Arizona's defensive front is mean and quality. Miami threw a lot of stuff at the Niners. It doesn't mean that they were ever going to get home on it, but it was at least sleight of hand. They were doing some stuff. And say what you will about the Rams, and I've said pretty much everything I've needed to say about it to this point. Say what you will, but like, defensive line, they might not have been at their A game. That's still a pretty awesome defensive line that the Rams had in that game. Niners offensive line has been fantastic. Puny has been playing like the best Garden football. I feel very confident saying that right now.
[00:58:06] Speaker B: I would. I disagree a little bit.
[00:58:08] Speaker A: Oh, well, you do the trench grade, so I'll have to defer to your opinion on that. But I think Puni is leveled up as. As was expected.
[00:58:13] Speaker B: Maybe. I'm still.
For me to say that I def. I definitely don't think he's the best guard in football, but like, he allows too much vertical depth in his. In his sets. Like he, he always, usually survives. Yeah, but like, there's usually the pocket collapsing a little bit more than I would want.
[00:58:33] Speaker A: That's fair.
[00:58:34] Speaker B: And he's not the fleetest of foot in the run game.
[00:58:38] Speaker A: No, but he's a Mauler.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: He's.
[00:58:40] Speaker A: He's everything that the Green Bay. He's playing well.
[00:58:43] Speaker B: He's playing well. Yeah.
[00:58:44] Speaker A: And again, this is a. There's going to be a very interesting conversation, health permitting, at the end of the year, about what you do with Dominic Puni because they've never paid a guard. And he will have many, many suitors. Not that he's up in free agency, but just.
[00:58:59] Speaker B: I don't think they will pay him.
[00:59:01] Speaker A: I don't think they will either. But.
[00:59:03] Speaker B: But he's. He's not a free agent this year. It'd be next, right?
[00:59:06] Speaker A: No, no, but you're going in. This is like the extension year, right? You. You lock it in.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: What? Like he'd be like an rfa. So you're gonna have to pay him.
[00:59:15] Speaker A: It's not an issue of the actual number.
[00:59:17] Speaker B: Oh, no, no. It's the final years of his rookie deals next year. Okay.
[00:59:20] Speaker A: Yeah. So you want. You would extend him after his third year and then you get that cheap first year deal and you can spread out some money a little bit here and there, but basically it's just getting him Locked in so that he's not playing next year in a walk year, which then you end up in a
[00:59:34] Speaker B: tricky scenario and you can't and you don't have like the option of a tag because it's the whole O line thing. I, although I do remember them, I feel like they were discussing like a change to that to like accurately reflect O line positions, but.
[00:59:51] Speaker A: Well, Drew Dallman wouldn't have been very happy with that. Yeah, Tyler Linderbaum is very happy with the whole O line situation. Trey Smith will be too.
Okay, so I'm taking Broncos by one. I just don't think the past game gets going to where it needs to go.
I think that the Kittle McCaffrey option is fruitful, yards wise, but not successful in getting the ball all the way into the end zone.
And I'm not confident that the run game can get the kind of chunk plays to open up that defense.
And I have no reason to believe that the Denver Broncos can score points and yet they seem to every week. So that's where I'm at.
[01:00:33] Speaker B: That's fair.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: And you're taking, you're taking the Niners on the predication of two. Two coordinators is better than one taking
[01:00:39] Speaker B: the Niners by six.
I don't, I don't trust anything about the Broncos offense. I think Bonix is going to make some mistakes they can't recover from. I do think their run game will be more effective than it usually is.
[01:00:50] Speaker A: Okay, why do you say that?
[01:00:53] Speaker B: I just.
The Niners don't have the pieces and especially without Greenlaw if they don't have Green Law, even if they do agree.
[01:00:59] Speaker A: Oh, I'm sorry, you're saying the Denver run game.
[01:01:01] Speaker B: The Denver run.
[01:01:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, yeah, that goes with that. You need to analyze that.
[01:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah. I think the Niners might struggle to run the ball, but they also, I actually think they might have a couple nice runs outside if they're able to break down the edges well enough. But Denver also funnels and, and I think that's the problem is for most of the time, I think Denver is going to be able to shut them down. But the regression, I think Shanahan will find a couple ways to take advantage of that and lead to some chunk plays, even if the run game on the whole is pretty ineffective.
[01:01:29] Speaker A: So I think it's going to be a second half game.
[01:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And I just trust the 49ers offense. They've done it without any pieces and they still. McCaffrey, you should.
[01:01:40] Speaker A: I, I. There's no bad takes on this one. Except if someone's out here saying, bonex, good quarterback.
[01:01:49] Speaker B: He's.
[01:01:50] Speaker A: It's brutal.
[01:01:51] Speaker B: He's a mess. But he does some fun stuff where.
[01:01:56] Speaker A: Who are the five wide receivers for this game?
[01:01:58] Speaker B: For the Niners, who are the five wide receivers?
Mike Evans for 25 snaps.
Debo Samuel.
[01:02:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:07] Speaker B: Wide Valer.
[01:02:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: I almost called him Quandary Diggs.
[01:02:13] Speaker A: Wow, that would be something.
[01:02:14] Speaker B: I went Stefan Diggs and then I went Quandary Diggs, and then I went to Brandon Cooks.
[01:02:19] Speaker A: Wow, your mind works in fascinating.
[01:02:21] Speaker B: I have a beautiful mind, they say.
And then who are the other ones? Malik Turner. Turner will be out there. And Jacob Cowing.
[01:02:32] Speaker A: Can't wait for these inactives on Sunday. Might be the most interesting moment. Actually, that's not true. The game will be extremely interesting. Maybe not.
[01:02:38] Speaker B: They might have all six wide receivers up. I'm not sure they can afford to, but they might.
[01:02:44] Speaker A: Strange times, my friend.
[01:02:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know how that would
[01:02:46] Speaker A: work, but anything you want to plug,
[01:02:49] Speaker B: just go get your grades as usual.
There's going to be cool stuff. Like, as I'm waiting until we have a bigger sample size to really dig into it. Probably going to wait until about, like, halfway through the season to start, like, assessing how guys are doing, man, like, against gap scheme runs, how they're doing against zone. Like, what pairings are working. Best part of that is just me watching it and going, keon White's really good with OSA on stunts, but we're gonna try and get some. Some cool stuff. And we already have a lot of cool stuff. More cool stuff than last year. So that's it.
[01:03:24] Speaker A: Feel like we ran through most of the. The comments. Yeah, we ran through them all. So not all. We didn't run every single one of them up here, but we got the good stuff. You guys brought it. We were able to integrate it in the show. What a time to be alive. I'm gonna go watch WNBA basketball tonight. Was that the tank last night? WNBA tonight.
[01:03:43] Speaker B: Swear to God, if the Valkyries blow
[01:03:44] Speaker A: it, man, listen, joke job, phrasing.
Bye.
[01:03:51] Speaker B: See y.
