No Bosa, Big Problem? | 49ers - Cardinals Preview

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:07] Speaker B: Great David Byrne once said, same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. I got into the CRV after Wednesday's practice and tried to entertainingly, though perhaps failingly, explain that the Niners had too many injured players and that there were not enough spots that you could use to return someone from the IR for all of the players that they would theoretically want to return. Add another one to the theoretical to return list in Nick Bosa. [00:00:37] Speaker A: This is going to be like, where Purdy and like, Josh Johnson, like, destroyed. They both got injured in that game against the Eagles and playoffs. And the NFL had to change the rule to add the emergency third quarterback. They're gonna. I. I bet you that they expand the number of injured return spots till like 10 next year. [00:00:58] Speaker B: Well, it was, it was funny in trying to get kind of to the bottom of it because I was texting you about it. I'm in the NFL rule book about it. It's a little. It's a. It's not very well explained. And so the person who brought it up in the press conference was Matt Mayoko. Matt Mayoko sitting, you know, on the other side. I go and talk to Matt about it. I'm like, hey, Matt, I just want to make sure I have all this right. It seems like you've maybe done a little bit of legwork. And we were both, like, somewhat equally confused, but on the same page about it. But Matt brought up, and I thought it was appropriate. There was once a time that injured reserve designated to return didn't exist and it wasn't that long ago. And obviously that would not be a good thing for the 49ers, but how screwed would they be? They'd be carrying, like 40 dudes right now if they didn't have injured. [00:01:43] Speaker A: I don't know how they would actually get through the season. They wouldn't. Someone made. I'll start with the almost optimistic point of that the calf injury will almost save Bosa from himself. Interesting in the way that, like, clearly he's like, not 100%. Like, there's a whole kinetic chain thing going on. [00:02:02] Speaker B: Can I show you what I think this is? I literally was looking up the size of his legs. Yeah, there you go. This is not some sort of optical illusion. This is nothing. Nick Bose's legs, George Kittle once said, are as big as George Kittle's torso. His left leg is clearly as large as someone's torso that boy can lift. And the right leg, the twice surgically repaired ACL right leg, that looks more like mine, which is Very toned and detailed. [00:02:34] Speaker A: But I saw a photo earlier this season and it's like. [00:02:38] Speaker B: It's jarring. It's jarring. [00:02:41] Speaker A: So the tight side is. I guess he could just rehab and lift and not take snaps. [00:02:52] Speaker B: Well, he wasn't going to put him [00:02:53] Speaker A: on IR because they can't. [00:02:55] Speaker B: They can't. Well, it's not. It's. It's not a long. They have so many guys that they could put on ir, but they don't have enough spots to return everybody. So now they have to basically just play an arbitrage game of, like, who will be back soonest. What's coming back first, Nick Bose's calf injury, which, by the way, Christian Kirk's calf injury. Just forever. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Is he coming back? [00:03:19] Speaker B: Legitimate questions are being asked. And then. And then. But like. Or a high ankle sprain. Do you want to bring back a rookie in. In Thompson? Do you even want to bring him back in there? Because he was kind of the entire time. There's a lot going on. [00:03:35] Speaker A: So let's just be clear about the situation at defensive line. Right? I think it's. I think you can be like, we can, like, laugh at all the injuries because it's absurd and the situation's hilarious. [00:03:46] Speaker B: We're having. We're having a conversation about they've run out of spots to return players from IR. It is September 25. It is not even week. They have played two games and they have run out of spots. That is. It is hilarious. Like, there's no. There's no. I know everyone's in their feelings about it and this and that. Yes. Let's take one step back and be like, this is objectively hilarious that this team is so leaning into the. [00:04:14] Speaker A: It's insane. It's insane. I'm going to rattle off the injury situation and then I'm going to tell you what the. [00:04:21] Speaker B: About an hour. [00:04:23] Speaker A: I'm going to tell you what the actual answer is. [00:04:26] Speaker B: Okay. [00:04:27] Speaker A: Which is going to be very funny. It's a little obvious, but it's funny. So defensive end, you've. Keon White, Khalid Kareem Ogbo Akaronkwo, and probably not Romello Height, because Romello Hyde is a broken hand. Maybe he'll play. [00:04:41] Speaker B: He's in a sling. He's in a sling. His hand is, like, really heavily bandaged. When Juice broke his finger, he. [00:04:47] Speaker A: To be fair, you're supposed to wear a sling when you break your hand, but it looks embarrassing, so no one does it. I did it one day at school after I broke. I like, broke my Thumb. And they're like, you have to keep it in a sling. I was like this. I look like an enormous pussy. I can't. I can't do this again. People like, did you break your elbow? I'm like, all right, things coming up. [00:05:03] Speaker B: I mean, there are some. I've gotten a smidge of a rapport with Romello and it was a non verbal conversation. You know, you especially have those at home where I just looked at his hand and I went. And he went. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:18] Speaker B: So that's great for our audio only listeners. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think they can figure it out. So it's like Keon White, Khalid Kareem Ogbo Akaranquo. No. Nick Bosa. Probably not. Romello height. And then on the practice squad, it's like, whoever. Anthony Vincent, right? [00:05:35] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:05:36] Speaker A: On the team. [00:05:36] Speaker B: Anthony. [00:05:37] Speaker A: I don't think that's right. [00:05:38] Speaker B: Former Duke. [00:05:39] Speaker A: That's right. [00:05:40] Speaker B: No, I don't think he's still on the practice squad. [00:05:42] Speaker A: I don't think he's on the practice squad. I think that's an accurate. Lami Fahoko, who's like more of a interior player. [00:05:50] Speaker B: Hold on, I'm gonna. I'm gonna double check this. The fact that the practice squad is so nebulous that we have to double [00:05:55] Speaker A: check it, pretty important. [00:05:57] Speaker B: It's vitally important given the current state of this operation. [00:06:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Looking at. Looking at the practice squ. There's. Yeah. Vincent Anthony Jr. Is on there. [00:06:06] Speaker B: He's from Duke, right? [00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Valami Fahoko, Kevin Givens, McKinley Jackson again, and Sebastian Valdez. Vincent Anthony is like kind of the only edge rusher, I guess, but he kind of. [00:06:21] Speaker B: Floyd is on a plane right now. [00:06:23] Speaker A: They're desperately trying to get him and he's like, I don't know, man. [00:06:26] Speaker B: I don't want to do this anymore. By the way, this might bring what we have suggested. This might roll back the clock 20 years to where Sebastian Valdez now becomes the pass rusher in strong side. Defensive end. He was always meant to be. [00:06:39] Speaker A: And we'll get. Defensive tackle is also bad. It's Osa and Halton. Yeah. You lost C.J. west, who had a chipped bone in his knee. We didn't even talk about that. Not great. Not great. And Kyle was like, yeah, I don't know how long the injury happened because he played at the end of that game, like in that game, into garbage time. No, it was up and down and a lot of down. [00:07:07] Speaker B: He just said it was really bothering him after the game, which probably. [00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it sounded like he chipped it in training camp and they're like, get out there, big boy. [00:07:17] Speaker B: Well, because they needed to get some good reps and they thought, you know, fourth quarter was like end of preseason game. Like, hey, maybe you can get your confidence up here. [00:07:25] Speaker A: So it's OSA Halton and Naquan Jones with James Thompson. Like that's a no, right? [00:07:29] Speaker B: Like, no, James Thompson can't play. He's in a boot. [00:07:31] Speaker A: Right, Right. So that's not great. And then so you're gonna have to bump somebody off the practice squad. You only get two practice squad bumps. [00:07:39] Speaker B: Well, until they do some of the IR procedural stuff and just say, nick Martin, you're never playing this year with that light hamstring. [00:07:46] Speaker A: Well, that doesn't matter because he's already on ir. That doesn't actually matter. [00:07:49] Speaker B: But I'm saying if you're contextualizing it under, we only have eight spots that we could possibly return someone. We. One of the reasons they don't want to put guys on IR is because you don't actually have to designate them to return. You can just take any, but any of the eight and you get eight spots to do that with. So their issue is, okay, we want to make sure that if we put them on IR we can bring this guy back or do we just keep him on the roster so that then we never have to deal with that issue. There's so many that they're going to have to take guys who are currently on the IR and basically put them on season long ir, which is not a real distinct thing, just mentally just to make their life somewhat easier to have rock spots. [00:08:27] Speaker A: You look at the list, C.J. west, Nate Hobbs, Stribling, Okuanu and Kirk right there alone. That's five guys that like they're bringing back or will intend to bring back. Maybe not. [00:08:38] Speaker B: Can you run through that one more time? [00:08:40] Speaker A: Yeah. C.J. west, Nate Hobbs, Sam Okawanu, Dijon Stribling, Christian Kirk. I don't even know if Okawanu is coming back. [00:08:46] Speaker B: That's like if he both him and Stribling it, that is, they're gonna. But they have to keep us. They have to keep a spot or two open mentally. But they could get to October and be like, no, we're shutting them down for the full year. Not that they don't want to bring them back, but just because it might be tight and they might then use them conceptually as, oh, we'll return them for the playoffs. Right, like because you get two extra spots in the playoffs. It's week three. You shouldn't have to be thinking, oh, we can do that as the playoffs return real fast here. Sorry. Yeah, real fast. K Hamilton 35. We already designated Austin Pleasants to return as they did with. With Hobbs. [00:09:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:27] Speaker B: Hobbs is the other one. [00:09:28] Speaker A: I think so I want to, I want to check on that because I'm pretty sure in advance. Yeah, they've been. [00:09:34] Speaker B: Kirk, Kirk. Kirk's the other one. [00:09:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Designated for return. Christian Kirk and Austin Pleasance. I'm looking at the actual thing. Christian, Austin Pleasants are both designated. [00:09:43] Speaker B: So to my understanding that does not actually mean that they have to return. That is merely a distinction that you have to do because then there was Nick Sakelja and Brett Toth who were not designated to return and were put on season long ir. [00:09:56] Speaker A: You get two guys on cut down day where you get to manipulate the numbers. They don't. Yeah, I think they could come back, [00:10:01] Speaker B: but it doesn't mean they have to. So you don't. You're playing with the full eight. That said, I think Kirk, who knows. And then with Pleasants, you don't have a fourth tackle unless you want to play Enrique Cruz. [00:10:14] Speaker A: This is all to say the answer for this week at least and probably until Mikel Williams comes back. I swear to God. I think it's just Jaden Duggar, defensive end. Like I actually think that's the answer. I think you just go two defensive tackles and one edge. Not, not every snap. But like I think he's going to have to be in the D line rotation because I don't know what, I don't know what the answer is. [00:10:41] Speaker B: You're. You're not wrong. But it doesn't feel good. [00:10:45] Speaker A: I think that, I think that has to be it. I mean granted he's sort of playing that anyway, right? He's sort of like the only time he was in last week was on like goal line or like five man fronts and he was the other edge. Now if he's. [00:10:59] Speaker B: Now you have to line him up on somebody. [00:11:01] Speaker A: It's. It's different. It's different when it's a four man front and he's not like a, A flimsy, flimsical, whimsical. [00:11:08] Speaker B: I like a flimsical, whimsical. [00:11:10] Speaker A: It's not good. I will say also, Ogbo cannot hold up against the run even a little bit. He looks small as hell out there. Just grading it out. Go get your grades. It's funny. Ogbo can rush the passer a little [00:11:24] Speaker B: bit more than A little bit. He's a good gaps. He's a very good gap splitter, but teams have keyed in on that, to be fair. [00:11:32] Speaker A: He's got some burst. He's got. And Khalid Kareem is the exact inverse where he's just a big body to put on the edge. Right. So he's a good run defender. [00:11:39] Speaker B: So my prediction, they got enough five techniques to last. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Dion White will play every snap. Don't forget, he's got screws in both feet. Was shot in the off season in the foot. [00:11:51] Speaker B: Was it dub baby or little baby? [00:11:54] Speaker A: It was little. Little baby. [00:11:55] Speaker B: Little baby. [00:11:56] Speaker A: I don't think it was a little baby exactly, but I think it was someone with little baby. What a stupid time to be alive in general. And also specifically to this and this team. Absolutely idiotic. Every. I mean, the idea that we're trying to, like, go into this game with nuance and, like, we're gonna watch the Cardinals tape and see, like, schematically what they're gonna break down, and then it's like, oh, Nick Bosa, like, doesn't have a calf remaining and get. Get ready to learn Valami Fahoko Jr. Like, it's all very stupid in a weird way. [00:12:31] Speaker B: They have somehow recreated the worst possible version of the Seattle Seahawks defensive line. All DNS. All bull rush. Oops. All Bull rush is. I don't. I don't know if I want to take what I have, which is a folder in a shared icloud that we have of Duggar film. And there are four clips that I could. I don't know. Let's see if. Ulm, let's just do this on the fly because I'm a crazy person. Let's see if. [00:13:00] Speaker A: Oh, you're going back to Jaden Duggar College tape. That's pretty bleak. [00:13:05] Speaker B: It's not great. So let's see if we can do this. This is him as a D end being eaten. This is what? Oh, no. Okay. He's the real skinny one. [00:13:19] Speaker A: You're gonna have to do better for folks who are. Who are watching. Which one is he? He is. [00:13:24] Speaker B: He's the left side of the defensive line, and that's not good. [00:13:29] Speaker A: Now I will say he looks a [00:13:31] Speaker B: lot skinnier there than he is currently. [00:13:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:34] Speaker B: Okay. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Say he's still pretty skinny. [00:13:36] Speaker B: Okay, here we go. Here's some more Duggar at ull. This is him again, just being absolutely bull rushed. Anyone who can name the college they're playing shouts. [00:13:48] Speaker A: Is that. It's not James Madison, is it? [00:13:50] Speaker B: No, it isn't. It's Texas State. [00:13:54] Speaker A: Yeah. I should have known from the logo in midfield. [00:13:56] Speaker B: The giant bobcat. Yeah. Again, just Eaton. These are not incredible ones. I do think there's a nice one in here. We can get into some real fun stuff. Here's a nice swipe. According to my notes. [00:14:10] Speaker A: According to our old. [00:14:12] Speaker B: Okay. [00:14:13] Speaker A: And he's again left. [00:14:14] Speaker B: He is currently behind. [00:14:17] Speaker A: He's outside the pole. The post. [00:14:19] Speaker B: He's at the pole. Here we go. He's a nice little swipe. This is his move. That's the one move he's got. He can give you that little. That little ghost swipe coming at you right into the guard. [00:14:29] Speaker A: The real question is, like, kind of setting the actual edge. And I think he's done a decent job of being bendy and like, you know, getting around contact and dipping. [00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:43] Speaker A: Run game. [00:14:43] Speaker B: He's looked fine in the extremely specific situational role that he has been asked [00:14:49] Speaker A: to play, but I think he has to. I think they have to ask him to do that. I like, they just, like, they don't have a lot of options. Right. And so, like, Vincent Anthony Jr. Probably gets a bump. You probably get, you know, either Givens or. Or Sebastian Valdez up from the practice squad as your two bumps. [00:15:13] Speaker B: Vincent. Vincent Anthony had a pretty good shrine game, if I'm recalling. I seem to large. [00:15:17] Speaker A: He's large. [00:15:18] Speaker B: Six foot six, 260 pounds. Again, if you want a five technique. Chris Karek's got a read on it, baby. [00:15:25] Speaker A: This is where Chris Karek needs to earn his money of like, hey, you've got nothing to work with. Do something. [00:15:32] Speaker B: This is a big Raheem game. And that was going to be the case regardless because. [00:15:38] Speaker A: And the bright side, Arizona's run game is incredibly inefficient right now. Like, they. Now, if you let Jordan Love get to the edge, it's a real. It's a real problem. But like, they have. Their offensive line is. It's sometimes like you can buy in on it. Sometimes it looks really iffy. It's very up and down. It's not, certainly not an elite group. [00:16:03] Speaker B: Like, the left side is better. Paris Johnson still has some real woeful snaps, but he's a. He's a solid left where you're like, [00:16:12] Speaker A: I'm completely out on him. And then other snaps where you're like, oh, he's a really good player. And it's right. Not. There's just not the consistency. [00:16:18] Speaker B: And then like, they're. [00:16:19] Speaker A: They're not running the ball regularly effectively between the tackles. And it really takes, like, Jordan love, like, with a cutback lane or bouncing it outside, getting to the edge. [00:16:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:16:29] Speaker A: Which again, you need explosives. But, like, it's a lot of that. It's a lot of, like, Algier running for two yards. It's just. [00:16:36] Speaker B: Well, to be fair, Algiers game is not about efficiency. It's about progress and success and building your calamari Damachee ball. [00:16:45] Speaker A: And I respect that. We both respect Tyler Algier. We're fans. And it's tough because they played Seattle. Right. And everything against Seattle doesn't count. [00:16:54] Speaker B: It's like the equivalent of a Dolphins game, but in reverse. [00:16:57] Speaker A: But I saw the same issues against the Chargers. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Too true. [00:17:03] Speaker A: In the past game. It's funny, there's still a lot of, like, almost a cliff deep developing stuff. [00:17:09] Speaker B: There's. [00:17:10] Speaker A: There. It's. It's not all that, but there's a lot of it where you're like. It's a lot of, like, deeper developing stuff that I don't love for them. And then it's some stuff where you're like, they're bunching people up and then they're having two routes that are putting a defender in conflict and you're like, oh, that's really good. And I also think Jacoby Brissette's getting rid of the ball real quick and doing a pretty good job. [00:17:31] Speaker B: Well. And when they do those concepts, I mean, Brissette can read the field. He hasn't really had time to read the field even against a really bad Chargers pass rush. He's just not out there to stand and deliver in the way that you would maybe expect kind of a bigger quarterback to do. When they're doing the first read, it's McBride or Kendrick Bourne has been their first read on a lot. [00:17:57] Speaker A: So you're at a lot of advantageous matchups and it's just not covered. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot of the time it's. He is the guy that. Matt LaFleur. Matt. Mike. [00:18:09] Speaker A: Matt. Matt LaFleur is the Pack LaForce Cardinals. [00:18:13] Speaker B: Again, we say that as if that could still be the case by the time you watch this video. But, yes, Michael Flor is the Cardinals coach. That will be the case on Sunday. Like, Michael Wilson has, like, no targets. He's like, it's seven. How many catches? Like, two. Like, it's. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Because I wonder if that's just like, he's actually. I mean, Marv is kind of the number one, but they're like, co. Number. It's like, I wonder if that's just him getting attention and so What. [00:18:41] Speaker B: When you're talking about. So they're in a lot of 11 personnel. It's really more like 10, because they just line up McBride as an actual receiver a lot. [00:18:52] Speaker A: I mean, the game plan is to get McBride the ball and then, like, hope Jordan Love bounces it. [00:18:56] Speaker B: By the way, good game plan. Like, McBride would do the same thing. And we'll get into maybe how you handle that, which maybe that's an oxymoronic concept. But, like, so they'll do a lot of the bunch stuff where they'll go three on one side and they'll go ISO typically boundary side with Wilson as the boundary guy because they feel like he can win one on one. And they're in both him and Marv on the line. So Marv is being used as a sacrificial X for the bunch side with Bourne usually at kind of the base of a triangle. So McBride running that little short drag route and then Bourne kind of usually doing in, quick out and again with the conflict defender on that side. This is where cover six comes into big play. And, like, good linebacker coverage is going to be a big thing, like, because you can kind of shut that down. And they don't have. They don't have a. They're not in, like, the clink. Clay Kubiak, Clint Kubiak realm of. They're manipulating those things to manipulate rules yet. But then, yeah, you have Wilson on one side and like, Brissette's never getting to the right side of the field or to the boundary side of the field. He's not reading it long enough because either Bourne or McBride is open and he's like, I'm getting this the hell up out of here because my offensive line sucks at passport. Yeah. [00:20:10] Speaker A: It's not outrageously complex. They're also like, I kind of get it because it's like a new coaching staff and, like, you want to keep things a little simple, but they're not doing all that much with motions. Like, it's. It's pretty limited in that regard. It's like, there are ways they can get you, but it's not like, aside from McBride, you're kind of only worried about Jordan or, I mean, Julie. Jeremiah. Julian Love. There's too many J loves in the NFL. Jeremiah Love. You're just worried about him. Bouncing it, I think, is like, the main concern. And I will say, like, he still looks pretty good as a receiver. There's ways they. I don't think they've done that incredibly well so far. [00:20:52] Speaker B: They've Texas routed them A couple times though. But no like, no like hook out of the backfield dump offs. They'll bump them a little bit and then bring them back. [00:21:00] Speaker A: This feel like a dime game to you? I think it's going to depend on like whether they can actually again, I've said it's an inefficient run game, but the 49ers are like added D lineman. So just. [00:21:12] Speaker B: They couldn't stop the run when they had the D lineman. So maybe you just concede the run. That seems like a really bad way to win a game because like, I [00:21:19] Speaker A: mean it's, it's the old Tampa two way of winning a game of like you can matriculate the ball down the field, but if we don't give up explosives and just hold you in the red zone, that can work. [00:21:30] Speaker B: The problem is this is the Cardinals have not shown to be a team that can hit you with the explosives. So ironically, in a way what you want to do is you want to take away all the jabs because they'll jab you with McBride and born on little hook routes and love and Algier. I mean the ultimate jab, just a little 2 inch power punch. They'll jab you all day long. And so now if you're in Dime, which I would say is probably your best personnel grouping just based on talent, maybe you have to go nickel, but instead Stout has to play huge. Like I don't really know. You go one fewer safety. [00:22:05] Speaker A: Mainly ask because I think I'm wondering the best match matchup from the 49ers perspective is probably like demo. [00:22:11] Speaker B: Demo on McBride is the most logical. Mixing it up. Demo McBride. You can put stout on McBride every now and again just to be a little bit of a change up. [00:22:20] Speaker A: I wouldn't make that jair on him at times. You don't want him like carrying that vertically. [00:22:26] Speaker B: Siegel. Siegel could probably carry him. [00:22:29] Speaker A: And I do wonder how they handle that if they do run like some cover eight and have seagull poachers. Because there are times where McBride, he runs that like it's, it's sort of like a seam. There's not really a route. [00:22:42] Speaker B: It's sort of like it's like a loose. [00:22:46] Speaker A: It's. It's just like sort of like a bending, like deep, not a crosser, but it's basically like a skinny post that's sort of a flaccid post and it sort of just bends into the space but like, you know, and it can look open. But if there's that poach Defender for Siegel. Like, I think, I think that could be an answer too because. And by the way, I wrote about this this week because I was talking about protections and all this and cover eight came up, blah, blah, blah. It's the same thing as is cover six. [00:23:19] Speaker B: Basically. [00:23:19] Speaker A: It's just like where you organize like the half field safety in relation to the nickel. [00:23:25] Speaker B: Anyway, quarters, quarters, quarters, quarters. And it's half quarter, quarters. So that's, it's just, it's just weak side cover 6 and to the point where a lot. Just categorize it all as cover 6 because why be distinct? [00:23:40] Speaker A: As I talk about that, I feel like that's a good time to talk about the Cardinals defense because they do a lot of that with Buddha Baker who's just like kind of roaming and they're like Buddha, you just rover coach. I feel like he doesn't have an assignment on most plays. I think he, I think they're just like, okay, you're just sort of your zone, but you're sort of like going off of what you see. A lot of the times it just looks like he, like he recognizes something early. Yeah, I, I think it's interesting. Nick Rallis, I think is still the D.C. yes. And again, he sort of ran a different chaos defense. Not at all like what the Vikings run where it's just a lot of blitz, but sort of like disguises of like. I don't know if we're good at this, but we're going to run a lot of different things last year. But they also had better pieces in the secondary who they lost. They lost Jalen Thompson, who is a big part of that, and then played [00:24:35] Speaker B: a lot of three safeties with Thompson last year. [00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah, and I believe I'm forgetting, is it Garrett Williams is hurt. Their usual nickel. I want to say he's hurt as well, though. [00:24:45] Speaker B: He might be back for this game. That, that is to be determined. I do think they're down Melton, who I wasn't sure lost, and Will Johnson, who, yeah, never, it never really clicked. He's. He's a field side corner that can [00:25:00] Speaker A: carry, but had a miscommunication on that huge hitter that JSN got that 84 yard touchdown. I, my, my instinct was to blame Johnson, even though he might not have been in the wrong. Buddha just might have gotten too eager and tried to pounce. And JSN also gave him the slickest head fake of all time. [00:25:20] Speaker B: Oh my goodness, he's good. It's, it's a lot more like a Brandon Staley Saints defense, where you have the mint tight front and then just a lot of your guessing behind, which of course, you know that is the hallmark of a chaos defense is quarterback is guessing who's coming, who's going. You're doing hot drops, you're doing a lot of really cool stuff. The Seahawks are even like simple compared to certainly the Vikings. The Saints are. They have the same front. They like to redefine defense with bringing guys from the secondary in and maybe doing inverted cover 2 stuff. This is a little more straightforward. It does leave a lot of islands for their corners, as you noted when that JSM play and all it took was one unbelievably nasty head fake and it was to the house. Ironically, though, with so many guys kind of roaming in the box, they're not particularly good at stopping the run. And if they don't have Roy Lopez in this game, one of our favorite players and just perpetually playing on one knee like, I don't know. [00:26:27] Speaker A: Also, just to go back to this, I think Nevin's right. I think, I think that. I think Kirk and Pleasants do count against the dt. [00:26:34] Speaker B: Okay, I. We're going to take Nevin's word for it. I cannot get that. I've been checking. I cannot get it confirmed. It sounds, it sounds right. And I don't think that it would actually come into an issue of conflict here. Pardon the terminology. Like, I do think they want both [00:26:52] Speaker A: Kirk and Pleasants to come back to like do it that way. Anyway. [00:26:58] Speaker B: I couldn't find it. I couldn't find that like expressly written thing of like they. [00:27:03] Speaker A: I know. Well, I'd have to review the cba. It's. It's been a confusing point that we should know anyway. [00:27:09] Speaker B: No one else is talking about this and nobody certainly is talking about it with certainty. [00:27:13] Speaker A: Is Roy Lopez in question? [00:27:15] Speaker B: He is. [00:27:17] Speaker A: No need to see or let's just be clear. I've. This is what I said to you before we started. They are playing meat wad football and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. They, the Cardinals are just like, we're going to stack up with big boys. Like, by the way, even if you don't know who these players are, listen to their names. They tell you what style of player they are. So we know Walter Nolan because we broke them down for the draft. There's Roy Lopez, Dante Stills, two other guys behind them, L.J. collier and Andrew Billings. Those are some big boys. Yeah, those are some. Those are some big boys. And then there's Darius Robinson, who's sort of like a different. Not really in that mold. [00:27:57] Speaker B: Got a lot bigger though, like Darius Robinson, but he's not strong side now. He's like a big three tech. [00:28:03] Speaker A: Yeah, but he's. He's not in the beef Borg and yon mold. No, we're usually talking about. [00:28:08] Speaker B: He's not. Not a fatty cut. [00:28:10] Speaker A: So up front, like, there's. It's really hard to run at them. They're really just eating up space at them. Roy Lopez is like pretty goddamn good. [00:28:21] Speaker B: Yeah, he's. He's like second tier run stopper in the NFL behind like Tart. [00:28:26] Speaker A: And they let like Walter Nolan. They're like, you just keep. You just do your thing like, because we got the beef to like, you can sort of play like Chris Kasur football. [00:28:34] Speaker B: He's. He is a great gap splitter. He's kind of. I don't in just watching. It's two weeks and obviously the end of last year was really, really impressive. First off, he looks heavier and second, like, that boy can't stop the run. That's who you're running at, by the way. Run at Nolan, you might get blown up once or twice, but I think you're going to get some chunk plays on that side. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. And then, you know, on the edge, like, Baron Browning is a really good player. Like, he's like a mate, makes a lot of plays. Even Collins is there too. [00:29:05] Speaker B: Fine. [00:29:06] Speaker A: But it's like Baron Browning and Josh Sweat on the edge, it's like, God damn. Like, that's, that's. [00:29:11] Speaker B: And they're standing up, baby. [00:29:12] Speaker A: That is tough to run against. All of that's really tough to run against. And then Mack Wilson, who give Dieter his flowers, his big Mac Wilson guy. [00:29:20] Speaker B: Big Mac Wilson looks a lot better. [00:29:22] Speaker A: I still think coverage is not. [00:29:25] Speaker B: Yeah, he's. He's a little bit stiff, but boy, does he hit. [00:29:27] Speaker A: But in terms of guys who just like bring the thump and like trigger to the ball with reckless abandon and hit their gap and just will like destroy you if left unblock. He's tremendous at that. [00:29:39] Speaker B: So he's gonna be such a sick. I was hoping at some point, like, instead of going and getting Greenlawn, just put Mac Wilson as your weak side. Because, like, that's the same kind of like impact thing and a lot of the same questions in terms of coverage, like, you don't want them split out again. [00:30:00] Speaker A: You know what I think calls for? [00:30:03] Speaker B: What's it called for? [00:30:03] Speaker A: I think it calls for some pin pull with Kayla Black. [00:30:06] Speaker B: Not kidding, not kidding. I Talked about this with Larry last night. Calls for pinpole. It calls for gap stuff. It calls for getting wide. [00:30:13] Speaker A: You need to get. If you beat that, if it's sweat or browning or whoever, if you seal them off, like, you can do some damage to them on the outside, but they make it really tough to do that. [00:30:27] Speaker B: You kind of need to inverse what you've been doing and sort of your ethos of this year, which is we're going to do a bunch of gap stuff in the backfield and a bunch of zone stuff up front. You need to be doing the gap stuff up front and sort of the zone stuff, like straight lead block with juice. None of this dash crap unless you need the motion out of it. But, like, not in terms of trying to create new, you know, new gaps or create conflict there. Get juice outside. Get him outside the tackles. Get him as a lead blocker. I need Kittle in the backfield in this game as well. You match them with just straight zone concepts on the back end off of, like, zone runs, sort of, you know, the press and push and then gap stuff, pin and pull on the tackles. I need to see McGlinchey, who I don't think has had. He's been fine and probably above average, but it has not been. Sorry, not McGlinchey. McKivitz. Also, McGlinchey has not had that great of year, but I need to see McKivitz, who hasn't looked as good as he looked at the end of last year and so far through two games. I need to see him moving a little bit. [00:31:28] Speaker A: He looks like he's been voting it in so far. [00:31:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I need to see. [00:31:31] Speaker A: But he's not been very. [00:31:32] Speaker B: I wonder if he's carrying something. I'll ask him, but it's. [00:31:37] Speaker A: He does look like he's not. He's never been, like, a fluid guy, but he's not really hinging at the hips very well. Like, there's a lot of, like, you know, someone rushes to the outside. He's sort of leaning, but, like, not bending his waist. He's not. [00:31:49] Speaker B: Like, I need to see. He's got some good foot speed on him. Not great. Not like Trent or anything, but, like, I need to see him pinning and pulling, too. And I don't think Arizona would know what to do with that because there's just not a lot of evidence with it. It does feel like a week where Kyle is going to have to come up with something that we really haven't seen before. I do just a match. [00:32:07] Speaker A: I do like the idea of Connor Colby in space because up front like one on one, like he's not been a great run blocker but out in space he can move. He can move. I and I'm not, I'm not buying all the Connor Colby stock but because especially it was the Dolphins. But he did some really good stuff in the past game last week for sure. And I am encouraged by what I [00:32:32] Speaker B: mean he did some really nice stuff in the run game against the Rams. I mean he'll give you one or the other. No, like I, I know you graded it out. [00:32:39] Speaker A: Some did. Yeah. No, not to say yeah, he did some good stuff. But there were also, we were sure play specifically for a lot of run stops single handedly. But it's also Kobe Turner who's really good. [00:32:51] Speaker B: So yes again this is, this has week. Was it week six again last week? Are they playing? Okay, so they played the Falcons in week seven. I just, I usually have the magnet schedule on my desk as to cross reference it because it's just the easiest and it's bigger piece of paper. Right. And so I have sort of. I don't have a photographic memory. I'm not Steve Young, by the way. Just real quick aside, I read Steve Young's like biography and the whole thing is like oh man, how lucky am I? And it's like dude, you're. You have a photographic memory and can run like the wind. Like he's like, oh, I don't know how I got through law school in a year and a half during the off season. It's like maybe because you have a photographic memory, Steve, maybe everything is tied to the photographic memory that you have. So I don't have a photographic memory but I looked obviously at the 25 schedule enough to where I kind of have it ingrained somewhere in this nebula. It's like the eight bit nes. And so just seeing the Falcons in week seven as opposed to week six is just jarring. But this does feel a little bit like Falcons Monday night Football, Sunday night Football. Because this year it's Monday. Now damn it, whatever. This year it feels like they're going to need to bust out. When they busted out dash motion against the Falcons last year, this game feels like that. Not because Arizona is some big shakes in the same way Arizona or in the same way that the Falcons weren't some big shakes, but just because we're down, we are going up against somebody who knows what we're about. Right. Like Rollis knows the 49ers defense, certainly whichever LaFleur is in charge of the team knows the 49ers and how they want to operate. Like they're going to have a good game plan even if they don't have maybe necessarily the talent. They're going to be coming out with some stuff. They're going to be able to attack. So what is it that Kyle can do that is new? Maybe not avant garde, maybe not pushing boundaries, maybe it's a one week thing, but what is it that he can do to break tendency? [00:34:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's a good answer. I think it's not breaking tendency at all, but I think it's going to be another play action game again with like that sort of front and like buying space over the middle because the, the Cardinals coordination on the coverage on the back end is not impressive. Yeah, there's a lot open and I think there's going to be a lot of. I know I predicted a Debo game last week, but this also makes out for a Debo game. Not like it makes out to be [00:35:13] Speaker B: a Debo game, but also like if you're the Cardinals, don't you just say, okay, we're going to press Debo man to man because Mike Evans has a H injury. [00:35:21] Speaker A: Whether he plays or not personnel to pull that off. [00:35:24] Speaker B: Certain point you just got to do it right. I know it's not legarious. [00:35:27] Speaker A: I mean Trent McDuffie, but like I listen, like, I think like Debo's bad man to man. But like that was. That's also against like good corners. Like they don't have. Like you kind of need a good corner to play, to play press. Or you can just do the thing where you hold and dare the ref to call. Holding. That's the only alternative. [00:35:47] Speaker B: They have Denzel Burke. Denzel Burke's a hell of a player. Was a. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Hell no, he's not. I disagree. [00:35:54] Speaker B: I liked Denzel Burke. [00:35:57] Speaker A: I. I did not. I'm an Ohio State guy and I did not like Denzel Burke. [00:36:01] Speaker B: I just don't know why you're. Why you're just disgracing the good name of Starling Thomas. V. Who? [00:36:09] Speaker A: Kaylin King, who I was mistaking for the punter. [00:36:14] Speaker B: Kai Trey Clark. Sorry, it's lowercase. Screwed me up there. [00:36:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:20] Speaker B: Ktrell Clark out of Louisville. [00:36:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I just. I think there's going to be a lot open. I think the 49ers are going to have probably some trouble. Listen, we've talked about this. It's a weird matchup, right? Because the 49ers don't have a defensive line, that's a problem. [00:36:37] Speaker B: They don't like a team. A team that at the beginning of the week were like, they don't have enough defensive tackles. And now we're like, oh, good thing. They have all these defensive tackles. [00:36:47] Speaker A: So that's an issue. [00:36:47] Speaker B: McKinley, Jackson, you're the most important man at work this week. [00:36:51] Speaker A: It does feel like a game where it's going to be close and the Cardinals are going to lead because, like, they're going to miss like four tackles in a row on Jeremiah Love. That feels like, like where McBride and love are just going to be breaking tackles. They're going to, like, struggle against Algier. They're going to have like another injury. It feels like it's going to feel bad for most of the game and then the Cardinals not actually being great for the Cardinals to win. I think Brock's got a throw pick in a real. At a really bad time. One, maybe two. [00:37:22] Speaker B: I think it's. I think Brock has to have like a legitimately, like, game. Doesn't mean that statistically it's gonna look terrible, but just certainly more turnovers than touchdowns. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there's a route where this is a feel good game and they just like, you know, they're able to just destroy that secondary. The Cardinals, like, try to run the ball and still can't. And then the 49ers look really good in coverage because, you know, they have a great game plan for McBride and there's like no real alternative. And they keep trying to check it down to Kendrick Bourne and he doesn't have the revenge game he might, though. [00:37:59] Speaker B: It's unbelievable how often he's the first read and that's. [00:38:03] Speaker A: He looks good. He looks good right now. [00:38:05] Speaker B: He looks, he looks like Kendrick Bourne. [00:38:06] Speaker A: But remember when they inserted him. [00:38:09] Speaker B: Do I ever. They insert him a couple times against. Against Devin Witherspoon, who, like, in theory, like you, you know, hey, it's Devin Witherspoon. No, no, it's not. [00:38:18] Speaker A: How are you not going to do that with Michael Wilson? [00:38:20] Speaker B: Like, because Michael Wilson has to be [00:38:22] Speaker A: solo all the way over there and I understand. But you, like, if you're gonna do it, you can't. It's malpractice to do that with Kendrick Bourne. [00:38:30] Speaker B: Yeah, Kendrick Bourne, who. Who spoke to me at length for 10 minutes in the locker room about how he's a terrible blocker and he's trying real hard, but it's. I don't think I'm ever going to be good at it. He's like, Literally been in the league for eight years. [00:38:44] Speaker A: Early on in the game against Seattle, there's this incredible snap where they're like, we're going to use Kendrick Bourne as Puka Nuku on Devin Witherspoon. [00:38:52] Speaker B: See gap insert. Like vital C gap. Insert on inside zone. [00:38:56] Speaker A: I thought it was the A gap. It looked. It looked like the A or the. I thought it was on the inside. [00:39:03] Speaker B: You give me a moment and I will find it. [00:39:06] Speaker A: But either way, he's one on one with Devin Witherspoon. And what he does instead, he doesn't even get his eyes around whoever he's supposed to block. He just runs into the ass. It was of, I think, the guard or the center. And then Devin Witherspoon is a free lane to make the tackle. [00:39:20] Speaker B: I mean, we're. We're doing some. We're really pushing the boundaries. And there's some Duggar tape. Here we go. C. C gap. Insert. Here comes Bourne coming across in motion. Oh, it was B gap. Either way, it didn't go great. [00:39:35] Speaker A: Not great. Here we go. [00:39:37] Speaker B: One more time. That's. This is. This is what you want. [00:39:41] Speaker A: Where's he going? [00:39:42] Speaker B: Where? Right there. You might be wondering how I got in this position. Jeremiah loves. God damn, man. By the way, Riley Mills looked awesome in that game. Talk about Marv for a quick second. [00:40:00] Speaker A: Yeah, [00:40:02] Speaker B: there's. There's conversations. I spent all day, all morning, yesterday talking to Ethan Strauss and a couple other people about Justin Herbert. So we're deep in the narrative cycle of. [00:40:13] Speaker A: Right. [00:40:14] Speaker B: The NFL and people who don't watch the games, having opinions. And even I got into it when some, you know, d. Apparently I need to censor the dip part. Some dips out here saying, like, why don't the Niners go get Marvin Harrison? And it's like, maybe because he's the antithesis of a Kyle Shanahan receiver as he's playing right now. And you watch these tapes over the last two games, and let's just use the last two games. Apathetic is really the only word that comes to mind. Like, he's quit without ever really starting. He didn't even qualify pulling the next gen stats. He doesn't even qualify because he only has four targets. Because he quits on routes where it [00:40:55] Speaker A: looks like fluid and good and then. But then most of the time you're like, I don't even feel like he's, like, thinking about getting the ball. He's just like, jog. He's just running. Yeah. Just looping around. [00:41:09] Speaker B: And there's. And there's some too, where, you know, ironically, because to be fair, you don't fully expect it floating. [00:41:15] Speaker A: He's just kind of buddy. [00:41:16] Speaker B: Is he? So let me, let me show you this clip because again, we're just, we're just going to go hardcore into not getting monetized. Larry screwed me last night. He had to show the Terrell Owens on the star thing. Oh, thanks, Larry. Love not making money. [00:41:31] Speaker A: I was all over it. Don't worry. [00:41:33] Speaker B: It's brutal. Just absolutely brutal. Okay, so here we go. Let's. Let's add this to the stage. Okay, so this is Harrison, you can see, is stacked on the line, left side. Here comes Kendrick. Bourne did not set his feet. [00:41:46] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:41:47] Speaker B: Okay, here's the deal. The play is still happening here. This is his scramble drill. That's a target. The ball came to him. I mean, just the ball isn't going to come my way. And his tape is littered with stuff like this. [00:41:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I remember this. [00:42:02] Speaker B: Okay, let me just stand here. Great scramble drill. Meanwhile, you think about running towards the [00:42:07] Speaker A: corner, running towards the sideline and towards the corner, dude. So he's like, please cover me. I don't want the ball, dude. [00:42:13] Speaker B: And it's like, you think you're going to get another. I mean, he'll get another job on Pedigree, but, like, you think that you're going to get the ball in this offense, that you're going to be a first or second reading this offense with effort like that. You think that some other team is going to see the tape and be like, we can fix them. Like, he's never going to get another contract, like a big contract after this. [00:42:29] Speaker A: You also, like, don't get explicit. Like, people, maybe I missed it, maybe it's out there. But, like, I don't really see anyone like on the team explicitly really going out of their way to defend him. Be like, no, you actually have it wrong. Like, like, I watched the floor answer. And he's like, I think he's got a unique long running style. So, you know, it's good try. That's. That's how it looks. [00:42:53] Speaker B: It's a good try, though. [00:42:55] Speaker A: It's a good effort, right? Yeah, but it's not like, actually Marvin puts in great effort, right? Because, because Kyle Shanahan, if he had a player where people are like, criticizing him, like, you're kind of going to get the answer right. Like, especially as it pertains to wide receiver effort. And that's not an answer of like, actually, you're completely misunderstanding him as a Player. He's floating out there. [00:43:20] Speaker B: He's floating. And it's, it's that. That was the most extreme example because the target came to him. It wasn't even counted as a target. It's a throwaway, but, like, clearly it's a scramble drill. And Brissette's eyes are clearly on him being like, can I throw him this ball? And his decision was, I'm going to throw it out of bounds. Because he didn't, he didn't get himself open on a scramble drill because he gave up halfway through. [00:43:43] Speaker A: He's in rookie year. Brandon Iuk, Sacrificial X Z. I don't know what he's playing. This. [00:43:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:52] Speaker A: But like, he's just not even a. [00:43:54] Speaker B: The grand irony of all of that is that Brissette is a guy that if you give him protection, will scan the field. Right. [00:44:00] Speaker A: So, like, I liked what I've seen from him. Like, he's got a ball out. Like. Yeah. I mean, he's dying. [00:44:08] Speaker B: He's dying out there, but it is this. So then this brings us to Jordan Watkins. I think he plays. I'm rooting for him. [00:44:19] Speaker A: So what happened last night with Larry? Because I. [00:44:24] Speaker B: Very difficult to contextualize. [00:44:26] Speaker A: I've. I've heard I. That Larry went off about Jordan Watkins. And I'm just curious what the. What any of the context. [00:44:39] Speaker B: Larry, I suggested, as I have suggested many times before, that it's probably not ideal that the 49ers are down. How many receivers might or might not have Mike Evans and Jordan Watkins is not being discussed by anybody within the 49ers, on or off the record, as certain to play on Sunday. [00:45:06] Speaker A: The fact that Brandon Cooks, who I watched one video posted of him running her out, didn't look great. It took about seven steps to decelerate. [00:45:16] Speaker B: It was. It was really quite unbelievable. By the way, the same things with. With Marv on tape where you're like, wow, that took seven step. These are some squeaky breaks. [00:45:25] Speaker A: It's. Listen, that's not the only way to evaluate receivers, but sometimes you can literally go, how many steps did it take them to put on the brakes? Yeah, and. [00:45:33] Speaker B: Well, that was like our main. That was our main scouting point this year, doing wide receivers. Like, how. What is their D cell? Because that's the difference. It's quickness and D cell. That's. That's all I'm looking for. Like, you know who's great at that? Olave. You know why? Olave is really good. Those are two things he can do. Any sick hands And a cool new helmet. [00:45:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm, I know I would have. It's. It's tough because I actually, I love Alave. I think he's been incredibly underrated and just worried about him. [00:45:57] Speaker B: Help, he says the Guardian cat. I mean, he's, he's out there looking like, you know, the Jets. [00:46:01] Speaker A: Meanwhile, I don't know if the Guardian caps actually work. We had. You should look, there's a story. Okay, well, we won't, we won't look into the Guardian caps. And it's like they may or may not actually make any difference at all. [00:46:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I've always, Again, my, my stance is very clear. Hard plastic is the enemy. I want to make football safer, throw it back to Red Grange. Everybody's out there in leather or. [00:46:25] Speaker A: But the NFL is claiming like they at most improve it like 9%. And it's like, okay, one, it's not clear. They actually do. There's some conflicting studies and data out there. And 2, 9% is like, maybe not enough to actually affect any long term brain health anyway. Maybe it's. [00:46:41] Speaker B: Maybe it legitimately just be a placebo effect to where he feels better about it. More power. [00:46:47] Speaker A: And that's, that's real. It's. [00:46:50] Speaker B: So our head injuries, by the way. [00:46:51] Speaker A: But like, right, right, right. [00:46:53] Speaker B: Olave aside, what was the initial point [00:46:56] Speaker A: question is like Watkins, the fact that like Shanahan's like, yeah, Brandon Cooks might play, he probably shouldn't, but he's like, yeah, we're really thinking about it. There's no world in which you can be like that. But they think anything of, of Jordan Watkins like you like, which again, so many opportunities to go out of their way. To not even go out of their way. Sorry. To not go out of their way to just say anything positive. And they don't. [00:47:21] Speaker B: Correct. Because they don't have anything positive to say. They were going off on him in training camp and I'm watching every day. [00:47:29] Speaker A: You can't trust him to catch a single ball in traffic. [00:47:32] Speaker B: Correct. And perhaps if Evans doesn't play now, he's the sacrificial ax for the rest of the sacrificing for an offense that might not be able to separate alternatively. But like, geez Louise, like, again, this, this comes back to. A lot of people keep rolling their eyes at this like, oh, an NFL team would never do that. They kept him around for one because they looked at the wide receiver depth and they looked at the defensive tackle depth and they looked at the cornerback depth and they said, okay, if we can Only choose one of these guys. Let's keep the receiver because our receivers are old and not trustworthy at the bottom end. Okay, fair enough. [00:48:10] Speaker A: Maybe he'll work his tail off in practice and he'll improve. We've seen flashes. [00:48:13] Speaker B: We're going to give him another shot. We're going to give him another shot because this is what it really comes down to. We also drafted him in the fourth round and we don't want to give up on him too early because, oh, heaven forbid somebody else gets them. And it works, though there's not a lot of evidence of that happening elsewhere. Like, who are these receivers that go somewhere else and somehow look better than they looked for the 49ers legitimately, all years. Legitimately all years. Like, sure, hell won Dante Pettis. So there's that. It was a pride thing. But when you have unsolicited reach outs for comments made on the channel about his lack of blocking and things like that in the Tennessee preseason game, and unsolicited reach outs come to your boy being like, it's not bad. It's. He's not taking it. People are pissed. I don't know what to tell you. Like, they don't like him very much. They like him enough, but they don't like him very much. And this week they might have to trust him or not, but they might have to trust him. And that is a very dangerous proposition which kind of throws the game. [00:49:18] Speaker A: They're going to lean Cowing, who at least was fast. I watched one, one route he ran that looked good. That's all I can say. [00:49:26] Speaker B: At least cowing has a job. At least Kadero Hodge has a job. [00:49:30] Speaker A: Like, yeah, I think they, they like Daryl Hodge, like, does all the dirty work. They're like, we're just going to give the ball to Kadero Hodge. [00:49:38] Speaker B: Correct. Which again, when Kyle broke it down on Wednesday, he broke it down as if there's really only three receiver positions to play with because two receiver spots have to be special teams. And by the way, should also be noted, they gave Watkins countless special teams possibilities. [00:49:52] Speaker A: Opportunities said about Malik Turner not getting a call. Frankly, I don't know what he did. I'm upset he might. [00:49:58] Speaker B: I mean, he was. He's working on the side towards the end of camp and might have had an injury or something. I don't know. [00:50:03] Speaker A: I don't know about it. [00:50:05] Speaker B: Yeah, listen, Hodges played very well in the same spot. [00:50:08] Speaker A: I agree. He deserved a spot. [00:50:10] Speaker B: They are. They are, but one in the same. But regardless, like, they wanted Watkins to be the punt returner. Right. Because cowing was constantly in and out, and they didn't have a punt returner. So they're like, watkins do this terrible. Like, objectively bad at it. We saw it in the preseason. We certainly saw it in practice. Okay. Watkins, like, the only receiver who's there every day in camp, drops on drops on drops. There'd be some nice stuff. Not saying, you know, he doesn't know how to play receiver, but there was way more bad stuff and there were way more, like, to the point where folks in the media standing on the sidelines are kind of like, oh, come on, man. Like, you got it. I'm rooting for you. [00:50:47] Speaker A: Didn't. Like, I felt like a lot of the balls he was getting, he was just uncovered in zone, which is okay. [00:50:54] Speaker B: In the fourth quarter of preseason games. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Right. But it's like, I didn't see him beating people one on one, and I certainly didn't see him catching anything in traffic. [00:51:04] Speaker B: No. And so Larry's bit yesterday was. Well, he's fast, and it's like. Yes, but he's not. Because he's not quick. And how many routes are you running that require you to go 40 yards down the field? Because he is a late accelerator. [00:51:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:51:18] Speaker B: He's a long strider. [00:51:20] Speaker A: I forget who it was. I'm butchering it. But he was like. He's like. He's like. I actually don't think Xavier Worthy's fast. Like, I keep hearing. And it's kind of true. [00:51:29] Speaker B: Because it's kind of true. [00:51:30] Speaker A: Straight line. He's fast. But, like, all the lateral stuff, it's why, like, Bichon Robinson's the fastest player on the planet. Because every single. [00:51:37] Speaker B: He's quick. [00:51:38] Speaker A: Yes. [00:51:38] Speaker B: And he's decisive, and he's fluid, and he has all these things. And Jordan Watkins. And again, I want to be very clear, this is probably his last chance. So I'm rooting real hard for him. We're not rooters. But I'm rooting real hard for him because, like, I don't want to see. That would suck if you get one shot and you can't make the most of it. But, like, he has built the contraption. [00:52:00] Speaker A: Listening to Eminem before this game. [00:52:03] Speaker B: Lose yourself in the music. The moment you want it, you never, ever let it go. Like, he needs. He needs this. He needs this, and the Niners need him, and it'd be great. And then Larry's. I don't know. The logical fallacies. [00:52:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:16] Speaker B: What? Completely. [00:52:17] Speaker A: I was just. [00:52:18] Speaker B: But it was really fun to just get out the poker. [00:52:21] Speaker A: I mean, I just can't fathom defense. Like, there's no evidence to defend him at this point. Like it's, it's like. [00:52:27] Speaker B: And there's countless. Let me put it to you this way. I asked Leonard Hankerson straight up about him and he stopped himself because he was on the record. But you asked him about Will Pauling and he wouldn't shut the hell up in a positive way. You asked him about cowing and he wouldn't shut the hell up in a positive way to the point where I'm like, really? Him? But okay, fair enough. You talk about strip and strip. He pulled back a little bit because he. I think they were afraid of letting everybody know how much they love Strib and also didn't want him to get a big head. As if that would ever happen to strip. Who's like the most grounded kid. [00:53:01] Speaker A: And maybe that with Watkins, you could infer that, like, they were thinking about cutting him and like, you know, don't want him. [00:53:05] Speaker B: It's not an inference. I'm telling you flat out. This is a report, put report, Kurtenbach, whatever they. He was on the chop block for the final two weeks and he knew going in to the final week of practices, he knew going into that LA joint, he knew that he was on the chop block. It was expressly stated, like, you need to play better if you want to make this team. And then he didn't play better. Yeah, he still made the team because a lot of things happened and ultimately pride, I think, got in the way of the front office not wanting to. [00:53:37] Speaker A: This is all to say it's. If they don't have Mike Evans, the path for the Cardinals, I mean, how many points do you think like, Evans is worth to the Niners and Bosa? Because I'm like, Bosa is worth like three points. I was going to say three points. [00:53:52] Speaker B: I think it's a collective four for them. [00:53:54] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I. I think that's exactly right. I would say Evans is worth it. Might even be five, but that's a little generous. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's four is right. [00:54:04] Speaker A: I think Bose is worth three. Evans is worth at least a point against the Cardinals. Against a better team, he's probably worth two. [00:54:12] Speaker B: I mean, this line opened at eleven and a half. It ran down to eight and a half. Yeah, it hasn't moved. It hasn't moved today, at least. It's hard. [00:54:21] Speaker A: It's hard to like as much as the Cardinals have done some good things. It's hard to be extremely optimistic you [00:54:27] Speaker B: can't be optimistic, but you can see the possibilities in, I mean, yeah, I, [00:54:32] Speaker A: I, I mean, that's a good line. If you're like, for the Cardinals, like, yeah. Them losing by a touchdown feels very, very much in play. The Niners again, could still throttle them. The whole Evans of it all, I think makes a monumental difference because if Evans is out there, I, I don't [00:54:49] Speaker B: think this, there's nothing they can really do about that. [00:54:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I can bracket them [00:54:54] Speaker B: and then Kittle and Debo and McCaffrey just go off. How did the Niners run the ball? Because, like, going back to another foundational thing and sometimes it is really simple. The Niners biggest issues now, there's many more that have compounded, but my biggest questions coming into the season, coming into training camp was can they run the ball effectively and can they stop the run? We have a pretty clear answer so far on number two, so we'll just leave that as is. The run game has looked great for a couple series, but otherwise, and Miami completely sold out against it a lot of the time. [00:55:31] Speaker A: Yeah, like, I also think Arizona is going to do the same thing with a very similar front. [00:55:35] Speaker B: Okay, so talk to me about how they, how they can run the ball. [00:55:38] Speaker A: I think we already saw, I think, I think, like, pin pull is an option. You're not going to run that every time. I think they're going to stick to some of their core concepts because, like, they want that tendency. I think you sometimes run the ball knowing this might get two yards. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Like we're setting this up. [00:55:52] Speaker A: You're going to sacrifice this because you want them to bite on it. Yeah. And I think, you know, it's, it's going to be the same. It's going to be, it's a little bit similar in a lot of ways of like, you're going to attack them through the air with like, boot action. And the run game a little bit, is a sacrificial lamb in this game until you bounce it outside a couple times by going off tendency. I just think there's like, I don't think, you know, like, running duo against them is gonna work. No, I, I, you know, I mean, the, the argument is that, like, could, it could, it could if you like, isolate Mack Wilson and then there's like, you have to ask a safety to fill there. There's an argument that it could work that way, but I also think, like, the Cardinals have guys up front that can 2 Gap and just eat up space and, and sort of prevent that double Team from climbing. [00:56:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And, like, it's also hard to run play action off duo. [00:56:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think play action is going to be big in this game. Again, I don't think it matters that they showed a lot of that last game. I think you have to go against what will defeat the opponent, and I think it's. It's going to be a little bit similar. [00:56:57] Speaker B: Do you think Raheem just straight up copies the Seattle game plan with lesser players and says, we're just going to do that? [00:57:06] Speaker A: You can. I think Seattle's very prescriptive in the rules and has such outrageous personnel up front that there's no way to really replicate that. [00:57:17] Speaker B: Unbelievable. [00:57:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And Byron Murphy is just. Does that drop knee technique, the corkscrew thing where you're like, so good. How does this. How is this safe mechanically for his knees? I don't know. Probably is, but it's insane. The Niners just don't have the dudes [00:57:35] Speaker B: to do that, to say the least. [00:57:37] Speaker A: I think. Again, who's my beautiful boy that I was talking about that was on, like, the Panthers? Just the defensive tackle who I just only held up. He only two gapped. [00:57:48] Speaker B: This is on the Panthers last year, [00:57:50] Speaker A: probably last year, two years before. Oh, it's gonna kill me. They need a guy that can just eat up space and they never get one. And again, part of that's their scheme. [00:58:03] Speaker B: But, like, are we talking about Brown? [00:58:06] Speaker A: No, no, it'll. It'll come back. [00:58:08] Speaker B: Derek Brown. Asha Robinson. [00:58:10] Speaker A: No. [00:58:10] Speaker B: Shy Tuttle. [00:58:11] Speaker A: Nope. Nope. [00:58:14] Speaker B: Those are the defensive tackles in 24. [00:58:17] Speaker A: Nope. [00:58:18] Speaker B: Okay, let's. Let's just check last year, you know, we're already on it. Hold on, hold on, hold on. [00:58:24] Speaker A: This is gonna drive me insane. This is terrible. Can you give me. [00:58:28] Speaker B: Is it just Meatball? [00:58:30] Speaker A: Yeah, but, like, this was a guy. [00:58:31] Speaker B: I was Bobby Brown. [00:58:34] Speaker A: No, no. [00:58:35] Speaker B: Tearshawn Wharton. [00:58:36] Speaker A: No. Maybe it wasn't the Panthers. Maybe I'm wrong about that. You vamp and I will figure out who it is, because I can't talk until I figure out who this man. [00:58:46] Speaker B: I mean, I. I'm very curious with how Raheem does the blitz. So when you look at Brissette, [00:58:56] Speaker A: he [00:58:56] Speaker B: has 15 drop backs against the blitz. He's completed 43% of his passes against the blitz this year. Again, Seattle, total outliers. Whenever the Chargers got pressure on them, though, it was like a real issue. And their offensive line is. Is super susceptible at every spot. I mean, even Johnson, who's their best offensive lineman, can be gotten and is. Has been gotten Quite often when you don't blitz him or you don't get pressure on Brissette, he'll complete 70, 80% of his passes and he'll do it deeper down the field than you'd expect. Now, there is some issues with separation and the concepts being a little bit muddied at this point early in the year for the Cardinals. I would expect that to continue to a certain degree in this game as well because again, you have Marvin Harrison half assing it out there, right? Which kind of creates an issue when not everyone's running hard in that. But like, so you do have two sacks. You do have two just coverage sacks without blitzes. But like, I think that Raheem has to dial it up, dial it up frequent dial it up often and has to like live with the consequences of not having be not being able to get home even if you dialed it up. But like it the Duggar thing is spot on. I think they're going to be in a five man the whole GD time. I think they're going to be in a lot of single high. They've alternated between single high and too high basically by game because they were in single high almost exclusively against Miami and then they were almost in too high almost exclusively against the Rams. This, this is a game where I think you have to try to stop the run first, even though the run hasn't been great, and then dare Bersett to beat you by standing in pocket and delivering with deep shots down the field. But again, I we're coming to the point where even if he gets you five and six guys rushing on every play, like how often can Upton Stout be your best pass rusher? Like, can we see some. Here's the other thing. Like, Fred has been mugging like a madman. Like, I think you're going to need to see a Green Law blitz. I think you're going to need to see a lot more Fred blitzing. The issue then you get into the Fred blitzing is does that leave McBride open on a drag route over the middle, which is their go to Like, I don't know. I don't know. I think that there are ways that the Niners not just get beat offensively, but kind of look gashed offensively because you can dial it up and it can all look great, but that's just the way to make it competent if you dial it up and there they got answers for all of it, which is possible, perhaps not likely. That's 2833 points on the board. And now Brock with whatever they got going on there at the, at the wide receiver position. Now he's in a shootout with the Cardinals at home. And there's a little bit of a letdown look ahead here too, because you get the Broncos next week. You had to artificially inflate for the Dolphins game. Just having watched the tape, I'm very curious to see how they come out because this is the kind of game where you like 100% need to hit them hard and hit them early and get a 10 point lead early so that you can. [01:01:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:01:56] Speaker B: Coast. [01:01:56] Speaker A: Because everything could be ugly. I think it could be ugly. By the way, this was, this was our only super chat. Refused to give. There's no reason they should give up on the season. I mean they accomplished plenty last year with a threadbare lineup. But again, this was the thing of like why we became increasingly pessimistic. It's funny that like, you know, for the most part it's like guys who are young, like getting hurt like Boses coming off an acl. So it's different. But like they, the guys that they're betting on to like help some of their problems getting hurt. Yeah, yeah, I, I Do you want to make a score prediction here? [01:02:33] Speaker B: You know, part of me, I, it's very difficult because part of me is like, oh, this could be so ugly and neither team can offensively function that like I kind of want to play the under and under 44 and a half, which is not a lot of points for an NFL game with Brock Purdy at a quarterback position. But man, let's go. Niners 27, Cardinals 23. I think the Cardinals cover. [01:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I had it at Niners 2717 last night, but I, I think it's going to be closer than that. I'll say 2720. [01:03:14] Speaker B: Okay. I do think they win. I think it in a weird way we spent now an hour prescribing all the possibilities. Sometime quarterback be better than other quarterback. And like I know that's how the NFL wants everyone to view these games. Like it does kind of feel like that might just be the differentiation. Like Brock Purdy is a much better quarterback than Jacoby Brissette, who in and of himself is a good quarterback. So I, I don't know. I, I disagree with cow Cheeto here. Like the, the concept that they should steamroll him on offense. I don't just don't think lines up. It doesn't line up with what I see on tape. And I just think that there's too. [01:03:53] Speaker A: Well the Niners should steamroll on offense and survive on defense. [01:03:56] Speaker B: I don't. I mean, survive on defense. Sure. I'll give you survive on defense. I. I'm not sure that they're going to steamroll them on offense. I think that Arizona has some warts, to be sure. But I'm not. I. Again, I think, I think that there are interesting answers. I think they're well. I think they're well coached. I think that matters. I really, I really like. I legit. [01:04:19] Speaker A: It does. I just also think there's going to be a ton open for the 49er in the past game. [01:04:24] Speaker B: I mean the, the other aspect of it is like, okay, it's going to be a ton open to whom? Like, who is open? Like how that's part of it. Like, is Debo going to be open all the time? Like, are they going to be in a lot of zone? Like, I don't know. [01:04:38] Speaker A: Like, it does feel like you kind of need. Kind of need a big kiddo game. [01:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Again, like, we're in dangerous. We're in dangerous place. [01:04:49] Speaker A: Right. [01:04:50] Speaker B: This team was made a load bearing wall out of Nick Bosa in the pass rush and now George Kittle in the past game. I mean, outside of Evans, of course. And then you want to run the ball. But that is something that you have to really earn against this defense. Seattle earned it, but you got to really earn. Yeah, and they earned it because JSN burned him so much that they had to start bringing that other safety over the top. And now suddenly look at this. Everything is wide open on the edge. So. And Price is like really good. And Wilson's not half bad either. Yeah, obviously McCaffrey and Caleb Black are pretty good. [01:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Substation power is real. [01:05:27] Speaker B: I think so, man. Covering the NBA for as long as I have, let me tell you. I mean, Klay Thompson and Boogie Boogie Cousins, like, great cautionary tales of this. And we've talked about this before, like Alvin Kamara finding out that his legs weighed differently and then once that happened, he went and had like kind of a resurgent year. The biomechanics of all this is like really important. And I won't pretend for a second to know any of the ins and outs of it, but the atrophy that comes from not being able to functionally use your leg in the same way you use the other one is a significant issue, which is why you're going to be. You should be concerned about KD for like another calendar year at the minimum. It's why Nick Bosa coming back and you know, it was. First it was the tendonitis and the meniscus and all that or it doesn't even matter. Tendinitis. And then now here it is with the calf injury. Like Klay Thompson tears his. Well, he tore his ACL. Game 6, 2019 NBA Finals. Then he tears his Achilles in the other leg. Same thing. Kobe Bryant, you know, one injury, here comes the other one. It's, it's a, you know, athletes need balance. The best athletes have the best balance. And it's not to say that this was inevitable and it could have been a hell of a lot worse, but geez Louise, like when you are making load bearing walls out of dudes coming off of massive surgeries, even if an ACL surgery is considered massive, a lot [01:06:51] Speaker A: resting on Mikel's shoulder, shoulders. And it's just like that's not the way you want to bring him back. Also, again, I, I think you're higher on their defense than I am. They're the best. I think they're the best run defense at this stage that the 49ers will face, at least for interior runs. They're. I mean the Rams are definitely a better defense, just maybe not game one coming off of a flight. I think the 49ers are going to have a lot to attack in that secondary. I understand they're well coached. They don't have the dudes. I, I kind of think Kyle Shanahan's going to scheme it up no matter what and, and I think it's going to be there in the past game. I do. I'm not certain about the run game, but I, I also am not so certain that matters for putting points on the board. [01:07:41] Speaker B: I mean, also, they do not. Arizona does not run the most zone in the league. They run more cover one man than anything. Like they run a lot of single high, but they run cover one. There's a difference. Now of course, everyone's charting is different, but like chart. [01:07:57] Speaker A: Yeah, chartings. [01:07:58] Speaker B: The charting. The charting that I have which I've cross referenced in a couple different spots. It. They are. I mean I can just give it to you by down they play single high, cover one or cover three on first. Down they run cover three match and cover four on second and then they run cover one man free on third. [01:08:15] Speaker A: But they all, they also mix it up quite a bit. But it. [01:08:19] Speaker B: They run man behind behind blitzes, which isn't the norm anymore. It used to be standard operating practice and now there's, you know, Brian Flores runs nothing but zone behind in Cover zero. So, like, nothing is real, but they. They do run a lot of, man, which, you know, there's an argument there towards. Okay, hey, man, like, do they have the corners to hold or do they make some adjustments? We're also in the early part of the season where there's a lot of surprises that can come. So I'm fascinated to see both teams are going to have to throw some stuff they haven't shown before. [01:08:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I think logically the 49ers should win this game without Bosa, but I don't. I think this could be a pretty tight butthole game. I think it's going to be stressful and meaty up front, and there's going to have some. They're going to have some missed tackles against McBride in love and Algiers going to wear on them a little bit. The Cardinals front is going to be tough on them, but I also think there's going to be some real opportunities to have some explosive plays, both in the run game and the pass game. It's just like, does it take them a while to get in the rhythm? Do they have a weird three and out to start the game? And then Arizona really slows it down to their pace and dinks and dunks their way down the field. I don't know. It could go a lot of different ways because Arizona is a weird team who actually, in like a year or two could be really sick. Like, I. I kind of like a little bit of what they're building. I don't know if they fully know all of what they're building yet. [01:09:50] Speaker B: Figuring out on the fly. [01:09:51] Speaker A: Yeah, but, like, they've got some pieces. [01:09:54] Speaker B: I mean, it is kind of back to a Bob's. This might be a Bob Salah defense, which I'm hoping is not the case. I hope Raheem's like, you know what? We. We're down, that means we're going to get weirder. And I think that would be a really positive thing. I think the matchup to watch in this game, I think there's going to be a lot of Michael Wilson versus both Jack Jones and d' Amador Lenore. And I think if those corners give enough of a fight there and don't allow Michael Wilson to go for, like, 80 yards, the Niners win the game. If Michael Wilson has himself a day, I think the Niners are in for a long one and could very well lose. I like the Cardinals in the points. I like the Niners to win, but I like the points. [01:10:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm with you. [01:10:36] Speaker B: Anything else to share, Jake, before we head on out. [01:10:39] Speaker A: No. I still cannot figure out who that defensive tackle is that I love, and it's going to haunt me forever. [01:10:43] Speaker B: Make sure you just put it in a post on the. On the site. [01:10:48] Speaker A: The defensive tackle I love, who I can't remember. [01:10:51] Speaker B: You should put them on Craigslist. Missed connections. [01:10:53] Speaker A: I talked about him so much. Talked about him so much. He was a big, beautiful boy. The point is, they need someone like that. Anyway, I think we're good. Okay. [01:11:00] Speaker B: Bye. [01:11:01] Speaker A: See you.