- 7 weeks ago
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00:00We're asking a question, and I'm freely admitting that it's not even really that much of a genuine question
00:05because I think it's based on a faulty premise.
00:09Do the 49ers pass the eye test?
00:12Well, I don't think that this is the 49ers.
00:17Then again, I could answer it a different way and also say,
00:22what part of winning games when you're not at your best and you're losing with three minutes to go,
00:30division battles, one of them on the road, what part of that is not a compliment?
00:37What part of that is not part of the eye test?
00:40I know what you think you're saying.
00:42I know you want dominance.
00:44I know you want Steve Young and Joe Montana to Jerry Rice and 55 to 10,
00:48and we're just squatting on people, and that's what a Super Bowl champion looks like.
00:54That's not possible right now.
00:56I don't think that that is even the 49ers.
00:58Maybe it will be, but even if it is, it's certainly not possible right now.
01:04So what part of we are completely ravaged by injury,
01:11ravaged by some things that are circumstance, both within games and not.
01:16You got a kicker out here, bonking things off of bars, kicks getting blocked.
01:24You're on the road for the first two weeks.
01:27You have a backup quarterback.
01:29Your star tight end goes out.
01:32You're meeting your receivers pregame every day.
01:35What part of then succeeding under those circumstances is not some sort of a passing of an eye test?
01:43Like, to me, that's amazing.
01:44It depends on how you look at things, and the way you're laying that out reminds me of having a round of golf,
01:51and I'm a 15 handicap, which means I probably am going to shoot 90 if I have an ordinary day at the office.
01:57And there are some days where you start out with three straight pars or maybe two pars and a bogey,
02:03and on one of those holes you make a 45-foot putt.
02:06Another one where you hit a bad shot and it hits the rake next to the bunker and kicks eight feet from the pin.
02:13It's like, oh boy, that really went my way.
02:16And I'm not that good of a golfer to where I'm going to start out with three pars a lot of the time,
02:21but when you start out with three pars, you take it.
02:24And I'm looking to mark it there, the first game and the third game,
02:27because New Orleans, I do think that you were in control of that game for the most part.
02:32But go back to week one against Seattle, and Sam Darnold has a minute 34,
02:37and he leads you all the way down to the eight-yard line.
02:41Second and four from the eight.
02:42They need a touchdown.
02:43And, oh boy, Jackson Smith and Jigba beat Bernardo Green for 41.
02:50Huff goes offside.
02:51They're down to the nine, and you're thinking, oh God, they're going to find a way to lose it.
02:55And then Nick Bosa comes in, force a fumble, recover a fumble, shrug it out, you win.
03:02So that was a moment where you needed to make a play, and you made a play.
03:07And before that, there was the Tonjes catch, of course, which gave you the lead.
03:10And then against Arizona, similarly, third down, you need somebody to get a stop,
03:16and they decide to pass it, and Upton Stout gets his arm in there, and it stays in there,
03:21and he pries that thing out.
03:23You get the ball back, you get a field goal, you win.
03:25So is it luck?
03:27I don't believe so.
03:29What it was, to me, was a game in the balance, and your defense, which is the better of the units,
03:35they came through big time.
03:37Nick Bosa, in the deep red zone, inside the 10, you had to have a play.
03:43They made a play.
03:44And Upton Stout, they cannot get a first down there.
03:47If they do, they're going to kneel you out, and you lose, and they made a play.
03:50So could they be one and two?
03:52Absolutely.
03:53If Nick Bosa doesn't make that play, and they score, and you lose, it's plausible.
03:59It's more than plausible.
04:00Of course.
04:01And if, you know, Zay Jones holds onto that ball, and then they kneel it out, and you're
04:06one and two, yeah, you could be one and two, but you're not.
04:09And for me, it doesn't mean that you are not 3-0 worthy.
04:13You're 3-0 worthy because when you had to make a play, you made plays.
04:17See, that's how I would answer when someone, because you'll hear this a lot right now,
04:21this is fool's gold, or this is not real, this is a fake 3-0.
04:29And my answer to that would be, I get where you're coming from, but factually, no, it's
04:34not.
04:35It's not fake.
04:37In fact, it's the only thing that right now is real.
04:41Our projections for January are fake.
04:44That's what's fake.
04:45How the hell do you know that Jalen Hurts, Jared Goff, and Jordan Love won't all be hurt
04:50in January?
04:50You don't know that.
04:53Matt Stafford's back might fall apart.
04:55Jimmy G might be the quarterback of the Rams by next Thursday, in fact.
05:01That is all possible.
05:03And by the way, Mack Jones could be the quarterback, or Adrian Martinez, or whatever.
05:09I have no idea.
05:10Those are the things that are projections and not reality.
05:14What's reality is 3-0.
05:16That's reality.
05:17And you can say that it's a house of cards.
05:20I would argue back and go, again, I get where you're coming from.
05:25What you're basically saying is it's not sustainable like this.
05:28And I'll go, I agree with you, but they don't have to sustain it like this.
05:33In theory, in theory, I think it's doubtful that they're going to have to play the whole
05:38year without Brock Purdy and George Kittle and Jawan Jennings and Brandon Ayuk and Demarcus
05:43Robinson and Nick Bosa.
05:45Yes, Nick Bosa.
05:47That's the one we know.
05:48But outside of that, the idea that this won't sustain?
05:52Cool.
05:52Well, you win the argument.
05:53They don't have to sustain this.
05:55The only thing that's real right now is 3-0.
06:00It's actually the only thing that's real.
06:03And I hear a lot of people say that's actually, it's fake.
06:06It's built on fluffiness.
06:09And it's like, it doesn't matter.
06:10It doesn't matter.
06:11It's not college football.
06:13Your style and strength of schedule do not matter.
06:17And I always say that you are what your record says you are.
06:20And right now, you're 3-0.
06:22And if you want to look at the eye test, have you been 3-0 dominant of your opponents?
06:27No, but it doesn't matter.
06:29And you can go out to Jacksonville, and you can play your best game of the year, and you
06:33could still lose to Jacksonville.
06:35Or you can play another kind of offensively lopsided game and not do what you need to do
06:42and not be very good in the red zone, which you haven't been, and not being able to run
06:46the ball, which you haven't been able to do.
06:48And you could beat Jacksonville 18-17 on six Eddie Pinero field goals, and you could be
06:544-0.
06:55And we can come back on Monday, and we could talk about how, oh boy, this team is yet
06:59to really, you know, dominate.
07:01And Grandy's grades can be Bs, Cs, and Ds, but you're 4-0.
07:05So it doesn't really matter, in the NFL especially.
07:08You are in the NFL what your record says you are.
07:11Kansas City last year won 11 games that were one-score.
07:16And two years before that, Minnesota won 11 one-score games.
07:20So you can win these one-score games and wind up as the one-seed.
07:25And if they're the one-seed, I was thinking about this earlier, if the Niners find a way
07:29to, you know, haphazard, you're not that good, all right, 14-3, whatever, you're the one-seed.
07:35So you get a bye, and then you'll play the worst of the other teams.
07:40Whatever's remaining.
07:41You'll be favored.
07:42And then in the next round, when you have to play in the, I guess that'd be the conference
07:47championship game, you might be underdog, but it would be at home.
07:51Everything will be.
07:52So will the Super Bowl, by the way.
07:53Exactly.
07:54If the Niners get the one-seed, you can go ahead and drop, shop, and set it up right there.
07:59Open up shop.
07:59Yeah, you don't need a suitcase.
08:01You're here for the rest of the year.
08:02And so, I guess my point is that it doesn't automatically mean that you'll be the best
08:06team, you know, cooking with gas going into it, but you will be home, and you will have
08:11a huge advantage, even though you might be doing it with smoke and mirrors.
08:15And I would not project that they are going to be the one-seed.
08:18But again, it doesn't matter, because in fact, like, I think we're having a, we're having
08:24an evolved conversation that's similar to the one you and I had about Mac Jones leading
08:30up to New Orleans.
08:31And you and I saw it very, very differently.
08:34And to remind people kind of where that conversation came from, because I found it to be an interesting
08:39one.
08:40You believed in Mac Jones, right?
08:44Yep.
08:44You're like, I expect him to win this weekend.
08:47And my response to that was like, I can't tell you you're wrong, but I just don't have
08:53any idea why I would know what to expect.
08:55All I know is that when I've watched him play quarterback before, it wasn't very good.
09:03It wasn't awful, but it wasn't very good.
09:06How does it look with this group?
09:07I don't know.
09:09People will go, oh, but it's with Shanahan.
09:10And I'm like, right.
09:12And there's no Kittle.
09:13And there's no receivers.
09:16And so I just, and you're on the road.
09:17And what I'm told is a difficult place to play.
09:20So I'm not going to sit here and tell you he's going to be awful.
09:23I just don't know how I can say he's going to be good.
09:26So now let's do the Niners.
09:28It's the same thing.
09:30What we're basically talking about collectively here is, do you believe in the Niners?
09:34And my answer was, I don't know how the hell you can even answer that.
09:37These aren't the Niners.
09:39They're this week's Niners.
09:41Right.
09:41They're last week's Niners.
09:43I don't expect them to be their Niners all year long.
09:46And even those Niners, all that they were missing, those Niners had Nick Bosa.
09:50And the next Niners won't have Nick Bosa.
09:53So I know it's cliche and maybe annoying a little bit, but when coaches say it's a week-to-week league, my God, it is.
10:01So what do I expect from the Niners?
10:03I have a healthy, better-than-50-50 expectation that they'll beat the Jags.
10:10That's as far as I can go.
10:12That's right.
10:12I don't even know who the quarterback is this weekend.
10:15They were both limited today in practice.
10:16And to your point, like, these are the Niners.
10:19Whatever they have for week four, this is the Niners.
10:22And so we can think about the Niners.
10:25And we can think about Nick Bosa.
10:27Well, he won't play.
10:28Brandon Ayuk.
10:29Well, he hasn't played.
10:30Demarcus Robinson.
10:31He hasn't played.
10:32George Kittle.
10:33He's going to be out for probably two more games, if not longer.
10:38Jawan Jennings.
10:38He might not play.
10:40We can go all the way through all the names and all the people.
10:42But at the end of it, these are the Niners.
10:45If it is Mikel Williams and Jeter Gross Matos in Niner uniforms, well, that's the Niners.
10:51And if it's McCaffrey and it's Garendo and Robinson, whoever else, that's the Niners.
10:57And so ultimately, in football especially, whoever you have available for that day, that's who you have.
11:04And so these Niners also have Shanahan and Robert Sala.
11:09And I'm hoping that they aren't going to be on the injury report because they are.
11:14McVay is.
11:15Is he?
11:15Yeah.
11:16Because he got.
11:16Yeah, he ripped up his leg.
11:18Yeah.
11:18It's a shame.
11:19Still going to coach it out next Thursday.
11:20Of course he is.
11:21And was it Brian Dable who also got run over?
11:24Some other coach got absolutely run over.
11:27Oh, no.
11:27It was Washington.
11:29Oh, thank you, Dan Quinn.
11:31Quinn was bleeding from the nose right away.
11:34Yeah.
11:35That was terrible.
11:36Yeah, he got crushed.
11:37Yeah, he did.
11:38And so, you know, ultimately, the Niners are whoever they can put out there on Sunday.
11:44And if it's good enough, then you'll beat Jacksonville.
11:46And if it's not, you'll try again on Thursday.
11:49Like, check this out.
11:49Listen to this.
11:50I thought this was interesting.
11:51Manti Teo.
11:52You remember Manti Teo now, right?
11:53Oh, yeah.
11:54He's had an interesting life.
11:56But anyway.
11:56Former boyfriend of Lene Kukua.
12:00Yes.
12:01Also known as Air.
12:03Whatever.
12:03I pulled the name.
12:04I'm proud of it.
12:05Really good job.
12:06Really good job.
12:07Almost frightening, to be honest with you.
12:09Totally.
12:09Why do you know that?
12:10I don't remember.
12:11Like, we can't remember Dan Quinn's name.
12:13But you're like, Lene Kukua.
12:14I can't remember which BART station I parked at today.
12:17By the way, Lene Kukua, is she the inspiration for what you say when you lock a pick in?
12:23Kukua.
12:23Kukua.
12:24Kukua.
12:25Anyway.
12:26Kukua.
12:27Kukua.
12:28Too much.
12:31Yep.
12:31Too soon.
12:32Anyway, Manti Teo was on Good Morning Football on the NFL Network.
12:37And listen to what he said about the Niners.
12:39This is interesting.
12:40Do you think we kind of pass over them because we're used to them being good for so long?
12:44Do we know that for the past 15 years, 12 of those years, the NFC West was represented in the NFC Championship out of seven of those 15 years they've been in the Super Bowl.
12:54So could it be that we're so used to these teams out of this one division being so good for so long?
12:59I also think that talking about the LOB, talking about the defenses and the offenses, all those highlight plays from the 49ers, could it be that they're not as fancy now?
13:08And because they're not as fancy and vocal, people don't really talk about them.
13:11I think when you look at this division, it's a division that's going to continue to be playing in the Januaries.
13:16They're going to be playing late into the playoffs.
13:19I just think that from a media standpoint, we see shinier objects right now.
13:24We don't really look at the record.
13:26We see things and topics to talk about.
13:27So I think it's multifaceted where they've been good for so long.
13:31And I think there's just shinier objects elsewhere.
13:34You nailed it, Manti.
13:35A lot of us, we prognosticate football based on the past.
13:42It's why I would argue a lot of you think the Chiefs are going somewhere this year.
13:46They might.
13:47They may become better.
13:48I've watched all three games.
13:50Yes, their two losses are two quality opponents, both 3-0.
13:54I'll acknowledge that.
13:56Their win was against 0-3, an absolutely awful team that they had a hard time shaking.
14:01Whatever.
14:02They're fine.
14:03I'm not saying that they're suddenly a doormat, but I look at their first place schedule,
14:09and I look at their roster, and I look at the way they're playing,
14:12and I think to myself, that's not going to be good enough.
14:15They could change.
14:16I'm allowed to be wrong.
14:18But if you right now think the Chiefs are going somewhere this year, it's just because of habit.
14:24It's my take.
14:25It's because of habit.
14:26Well, habits and names, too.
14:28Right?
14:28Absolutely.
14:29Like Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
14:31It's why Florida and Notre Dame and Oklahoma and Alabama and Georgia are always ranked in the top 15 at the start of every college football year.
14:39People just look at it, and they're like, yeah.
14:41You don't even know who their players are.
14:44You have no clue what the hell that group's going to do.
14:48But tradition tells you they're up there.
14:50So you go with it.
14:51I think it's the same thing with the Chiefs.
14:53And to Manti's point, we kind of do it with the Niners.
14:57We're downgrading this group because they don't look as fun and as dominant in this moment as they have been in recent years.
15:06But ultimately, like Herm Edwards would say, you play to win the game.
15:11And if the 49ers are playing to win, they're not playing for fancy eye-popping stats.
15:16It would be great if they could.
15:18But right now, with what they have, they're managing it, and they can't really run the ball.
15:23They've had a backup quarterback in two games, and now you don't have your edge rusher.
15:26So you look at Jacksonville, and you figure out, all right, either quarterback who's going to play probably won't be at 100%.
15:33Jawan, we don't know.
15:35We won't have Kittle.
15:36So how do you go about scheming it up and playing to just win the game?
15:41You're not going to win this game 48-7, I would predict.
15:46You're allowed to.
15:47Yep.
15:47You also could lose 48-7.
15:49You're allowed to.
15:50But if you're Shanahan and Sala, you're trying to figure out how to win, like, 20-19.
15:56You're just trying to figure out how to win.
15:57Exactly.
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