- 5 days ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Sometimes we get to this moment on Wednesdays,
00:02and I just want to sit and soak it in for a minute.
00:04Yeah?
00:05It's kind of our favorite moment of the week.
00:09For a number of reasons.
00:10Yeah, and Greg Cosell, who NFL Films,
00:13joins us on the River Islands guest line,
00:15also on our YouTube feed right now.
00:17I don't know if we've told him this before.
00:19Greg, do you realize that you sort of represent halftime for us?
00:24In other words, like, our week has arrived at Wednesday,
00:27and we love to use this conversation to kind of put a bow
00:32on whatever happened last week,
00:34and then we'd launch ourselves into whatever we're going to do this week.
00:37So you're a big deal, Greg.
00:41Well, that's nice to hear.
00:43I'm just, you know, I sit in my office all day, I watch tape,
00:46and then on Wednesdays I got a chance to talk to you guys.
00:49Now, for me, it's, you know, a little later in the day,
00:52so for me it's 6.15.
00:54So believe it or not, after I talk to you guys,
00:56I probably won't be here for that much longer, but it's okay.
01:00I like talking to you guys.
01:01Yes, Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Michael Jackson, up with people.
01:06You're talking about the halftime shows?
01:07Whatever your favorite halftime show is, you're it for us.
01:11Well, I'm glad you didn't mention, like, Lady Gaga or Madonna
01:15or any of those.
01:16You know, it's probably a good thing.
01:17Yeah, you tend to skew a little bit harder.
01:20Nothing against them, but I've been in the stadium for all of them, so, you know.
01:22Yeah, we left out Coldplay, Greg.
01:24Greg, thank you.
01:25Yeah.
01:26Of course, I remember in Miami, it was, I think, 2006 maybe.
01:30That was Prince, and it was pouring.
01:32Yep.
01:32It was absolutely pouring.
01:35Yeah, and he was out there with an electric guitar in the driving range.
01:39And then, of course, were you guys at the one in New Orleans with the Niners-Ravens?
01:44Of course, with Beyonce and the power outage.
01:46I was not there, but, yes, I remember.
01:48Yeah.
01:48Yeah, of course.
01:50Wait, wait, wait, no.
01:51Wasn't that the, was that the, that was the power outage for sure, but was that Timberlake
01:57and Janet Jackson?
01:58No.
01:58I was at Timberlake and Janet Jackson.
02:00That was in Houston.
02:02Oh.
02:02That was the, that was the Carolina and New England.
02:04That was in Houston.
02:05Right.
02:06Carolina and New England in that game, and it was super weird because I was in the upper
02:10deck, and I was the last one to know what had taken place because.
02:14Same with me.
02:15Yeah.
02:15I had no idea what happened.
02:17Yeah.
02:18I go home, and everyone's like, did you see what happened at the halftime show?
02:21I'm like, no.
02:22Justin Timberlake performed.
02:23What's the big deal?
02:23I had no idea.
02:24Yeah.
02:24Yeah.
02:25And I thought that the refs during halftime missed an easy illegal use of the hands call
02:29there, Greg.
02:30I cried out loud.
02:31Oh, you were just waiting all day for that, you know?
02:34It's what we do, man.
02:35Yeah, you were waiting all day for that one.
02:37Yeah.
02:37All right.
02:38We've been waiting all day to talk football with you, Greg.
02:40All right.
02:40It's time to talk Niners football.
02:41It sure is.
02:42It sure is.
02:43I guess it's a similar question that we asked you last week.
02:47We need to ask it again.
02:49Why is the famed Kyle Shanahan, Christian McCaffrey-led run game not producing more so far?
02:59Yeah, I think most of it has to do with the O-line.
03:01In this particular game, I thought that the two guards did not play particularly well.
03:08I thought they really couldn't move the line of scrimmage.
03:11You know where it really, really shows up, which is very odd given what they've done in
03:15the past, is it really has shown up in the red zone.
03:19Because, you know, McCaffrey, what, two years ago when he had the great year, guys, it seemed
03:24you got in the red zone, it was automatic.
03:26It was a touchdown.
03:27You're going to give it to McCaffrey, certainly in the low red zone from the 10 yards in.
03:31But McCaffrey, through three games this year, has 13 rushes in the red zone.
03:36You know how many yards he's gained on those 13 rushes?
03:39He's gained seven yards on 13 rushes in the red zone.
03:43So I don't think this is a McCaffrey issue.
03:46I just think that it's so bottled up, there's no space whatsoever.
03:50It's interesting that you point that out in the rush game, because I'm looking at my notes
03:55in the pass game, and he's got four catches in the red zone, and he's got 24 yards and
04:01a touchdown.
04:02Is it just as simple as McCaffrey right now being more effective as a pass catcher than
04:07he is as a runner?
04:09Well, that's only true because they're not running the ball well.
04:12I mean, they're going to keep trying to run the ball, because that's foundational to what
04:16they do.
04:16You know, here's the interesting thing to me.
04:19What's always been a myth, by the way, and people talk about it as if it's a fact, but
04:24it's a myth, is you don't need to run the ball effectively to have a play-action pass game.
04:29And in the two games that Mac Jones has started, they've actually been more of a conventional
04:35play-action passing team.
04:37And by conventional, I mean with the quarterback under center.
04:40In his two starts, Jones is 13 for 116 yards in the conventional play-action where he's
04:48under center.
04:48Now, they're not getting big plays.
04:50That's the other issue.
04:52They're not really getting big plays in the passing game the way we expect under Purdy,
04:57because Purdy, every year, and he hasn't played a lot of years, but every year, he's among
05:02the league leaders in yards per attempt.
05:04Not because he just chucks it 40 yards down the field, but just the way the pass game works
05:08with Purdy, that he hits guys and they run after catch.
05:11But they've not really had explosive plays in the pass game.
05:15Greg, let's keep our focus right here on McCaffrey, because there's a little bit of a conversation
05:21going on in the Bay Area with regard to what version of himself does he look like, especially
05:27when compared to when he was last at his healthiest in 2023.
05:32When you're watching him on film, do you see kind of the same old McCaffrey in terms of
05:38how he's hitting the hole and what choices he's making when he does get there?
05:43Well, the choices he's making are always hard to know, because in this particular offense,
05:50backs are actually coached, certainly for their initial path, for their first two, three
05:55steps.
05:56So I don't know exactly how he's being coached in every run game scheme that they have.
06:01So that's a hard thing to know.
06:03You can't just, let's say, watch a game on TV and think, oh, it looks like there's a hole
06:07there.
06:07He missed it.
06:08You really have no idea if you're watching the game on TV, if that's true or not.
06:12And I'm uncertain even watching the tape.
06:14I don't think there's anything meaningfully different about McCaffrey.
06:19I mean, that's always hard to know.
06:21I mean, the good runs he's had, look, you know, he has had some 10, 11, 12-yard runs.
06:27He looks the same to me.
06:30You know, to me, there's just not a lot of space.
06:33You know, it's funny.
06:34I get the same conversations now about Saquon Barkley.
06:37And he's averaging 3.3 yards per rush.
06:41And McCaffrey's averaging, I think, 3.4, 3.5.
06:45And, you know, there's nothing wrong with Saquon Barkley.
06:48It's always, everybody wants to point to the back.
06:50And I don't think that's really the case here.
06:53And if you look at McCaffrey in the pass game, and I'm thinking about the big play that set up the game-winning field goal, that 20-yard screen pass, what did you see not only from McCaffrey, but the blockers on that play?
07:04Did he look fine to you?
07:05He looked fine to me.
07:06Yeah, it sure looked good.
07:08He almost broke it for a touchdown.
07:10Exactly.
07:10So, I mean, when you see that and the play design and the blocking, what really stood out for you on that play, which ultimately set up the game-winner?
07:18Let me ask you this.
07:19I'm sure when they lose, a lot of fans call and say it's bad play calling, right?
07:23Do you get that a lot?
07:24Always.
07:25Of course.
07:26Of course.
07:26Did anybody call and say that that play was a really good play call?
07:29I bet you didn't get that call, did you?
07:31Not yet.
07:31Not yet.
07:32No, no.
07:33You probably won't.
07:34You probably won't.
07:35You're tapping into a human sort of an element here, Greg.
07:39Right, right.
07:40Yeah, you probably won't.
07:41Because for the most part, fans have no idea about play calling because you'd have to be sitting in the meetings all week long
07:47to know anything about play calling.
07:49But, yeah, it's funny.
07:50The first thing I thought of, not just relating to the Niners, but I knew I'd be talking to you guys,
07:55when I saw the play live on TV on Sunday, the McCaffrey screen, I thought to myself,
08:00gee, I wonder if they're going to get calls about that.
08:02That was a really good play call in that situation.
08:04And I said to myself, nah, I bet that's not going to happen.
08:07I will say this.
08:08I will say this, Greg, by the nature of the 3-0 record and all the injuries on offense,
08:14Kosh Shanahan is getting some compliments here in the Bay, even from radio listeners.
08:19You wouldn't believe it.
08:20Wow.
08:21Really?
08:22Yep.
08:22Because I know that he hasn't done well, you know, through his tenure with the Niners.
08:26No.
08:26So it's good that he's getting, you know, a compliment here and there.
08:30He's a habitual underachiever who chokes in the big moments, Greg.
08:35Well, of course.
08:36I mean, we know that for sure.
08:38I mean, that's just a given.
08:39That's written on stone.
08:41Yeah, yet you look at even some of the plays throughout the course of the game, Greg,
08:44and I'm thinking about that fourth and two when they found Pearsall for 34 that set up the only touchdown they would get.
08:51But talk to me about that play, not only the play design, but just how they were able to get Pearsall one-on-one
08:57and then the throw that Mac Jones made.
08:59Yeah, there was no genius to that play call.
09:02I mean, they lined up Pearsall in a plus split to the wide side of the field,
09:09and Clark almost didn't seem ready to the corner,
09:12but the point is Pearsall got on top of him right away and made a great catch on a pass
09:18that was just ever so slightly underthrown.
09:21So there was no magic to that play call or to the dynamics of the play.
09:27They threw a fade route to Pearsall.
09:29It's a gutsy throw.
09:31That's the thing.
09:32I mean, you know, to throw a fade on fourth and two, that's a gutsy throw.
09:37So, you know, you've got to feel pretty good about that when you turn that loose.
09:40But there was no, you know, it wasn't as if it was a really cool concept, you know, three-man route concept, cool stuff.
09:47You know, he just threw a fade ball to Pearsall.
09:50And, you know, I do remember that last year you guys asked me about Pearsall literally on a weekly basis,
09:56and I told you I really liked him as a receiver.
09:59And, you know, he's clearly coming on.
10:02He's doing what I thought he could do in this league.
10:04No doubt.
10:04He looks absolutely fantastic, and everybody's noticing it now.
10:09I mean, I would love to hear maybe an even more sort of an expansion on that conversation, though,
10:16based on what we have seen in these three games with this offense, with two different quarterbacks.
10:22Like, what are you seeing right now from Pearsall that feels kind of sustainable?
10:26Well, what I think Pearsall has is I think he has really good short area quickness and burst to separate at the top of his route stem.
10:36Because if you notice, he catches a lot of balls where it looks like the defender is really close.
10:41But in the NFL, if you just create a yard of separation, you're open in the NFL.
10:47And he's able to do that.
10:49He just is able to burst out of his break at the top of his route stem and creates just enough separation
10:56that if the ball is properly placed, he catches the ball.
11:01And I would expect him to continue to get better and better.
11:03It wouldn't surprise me if, depending on the route concept and the throw,
11:09if you start to see even a little more run after catch.
11:11I mean, think about it was last year, I think.
11:14Was it against Tampa where he caught maybe a 45, 46-yard touchdown, if memory serves me correctly?
11:18Where there was run after catch?
11:20Yeah, that sounds right.
11:21I think it was Tampa.
11:22I know it was last year.
11:23But, I mean, I think you might see more of that as he continues to progress.
11:27Don't forget, he's, what is he, in his second year?
11:29Yep.
11:30And his, you know, and obviously, you know, had the tragedy.
11:33And so, you know, he's just, to me, developing as a player.
11:37We saw Marvin Harrison Jr. with a little yards after drop on a big play that could have, I think,
11:44changed the course of the game.
11:45What happened to the Niners coverage-wise on that big play where Marvin Harrison was wide open
11:50and couldn't catch the football?
11:53Yeah, well, they came back to the exact same play later in the game, by the way.
11:56And he caught a 32-yarder, as you might recall, that play.
12:00It was the exact same, basically the exact same play call.
12:04What it was, just so you know, is they ran a double post deep crosser combination.
12:10That was on both of those.
12:13Actually, the second one is a single post.
12:16But the bad drop came on what we call a double post, two post routes opposite Harrison.
12:21And he ran the deep crosser.
12:22And they were playing cover four.
12:25And there's a void in the coverage there.
12:29It depends, you know, how you choose to play the coverage.
12:32But what happened was is Green and the corner Pinnock, they reacted to the two post routes
12:38because they had to react to the two post routes in cover four.
12:42So you're really asking your underneath coverage to get involved in that.
12:47Or you're going to ask your other safety to the side that Harrison started from to match him
12:54and run with him.
12:55They may not play it that way.
12:56If they don't play it that way, then he's in a void.
13:00If you do play it that way, and I don't know the answer to that because different teams play it differently
13:04than that other safety who would have been Segal, then he would have to match him.
13:12But I don't know that.
13:13But the point is, he's in a void in the coverage.
13:15That's a stress point in the coverage.
13:17Every zone coverage has stress points, guys.
13:20So sometimes when you see a big play like that, it always looks like, oh, my God, they screwed it up royally.
13:26But every zone has stress points, and coordinators know that, defensive coordinators know that.
13:34They try to prevent the stress points from being a problem.
13:37But sometimes you get the right play call, and it just defeats the zone coverage.
13:42Greg Cosell, NFL Films, with us as he is every week.
13:45I'd love to dive even deeper into this 49ers secondary, Greg, because not just plays like that.
13:52You know, there have been receiver drops by the Saints, by Cooper Cup with the Seahawks as well.
13:58I'm also noticing, and this is just a stat, but the Niners don't have an interception yet this year.
14:03If I just ask you on tape, how does the secondary look?
14:07How would you answer that?
14:09Well, I think it's a work in progress because you have different people playing different positions.
14:14You're playing someone you brought in in Pinnock as a free agent.
14:18You're starting a rookie in Segal.
14:20Okay, Green is playing for the first time.
14:22He always plays on one side, and Lenore plays on the other.
14:26Lenore is playing on the outside full-time for the first time, really, in his career.
14:31He's played on the outside before, but this is full-time.
14:34So I would view it as a work in progress.
14:36The interceptions, interceptions are not necessarily a reflection of whether you're playing well or poorly.
14:41So I wouldn't look at that as a meaningful number right now after three games.
14:45But I think it's going to be a little bit of a work in progress.
14:49You have to work together on the back end, particularly when you play zone.
14:52You have to understand how to sort of match, carry, deliver.
14:56That's a term that's used by coaches in zone coverage a lot, where you match routes, you carry them to a certain point, then you deliver them to someone else.
15:04So all those things have to be sort of worked out as you play more and more and see different route concepts.
15:10So I would view the secondary as a little bit of a work in progress.
15:14And they might have a tough task coming up against Jacksonville, where Brian Thomas Jr. is.
15:20He's a good receiver, I think, but he's only got seven catches.
15:24What have you made of Jacksonville this year with 11 different players getting a target last week against Houston?
15:30Yeah, I would look at their offense much more as, you know, as Lawrence.
15:36Lawrence, and I think Liam Cohen is finding out what Lawrence is and what Lawrence isn't.
15:42You know, they work a lot to the two-man boundary side with routes, two-man routes to the boundary.
15:48Lawrence is not necessarily a great progression reader, so you've got to work to what he is.
15:53And, you know, Thomas has a ton of talent.
15:57Look, you saw that late in the game this week when the Texans win zero and he hit them on the slant.
16:04I mean, there's nothing wrong with Thomas.
16:06He's had some uncharacteristic drops, and I think that's what people focus on because he had one, might have been week one or week two, I forget.
16:13Then he had one this week as well.
16:15So he's had clearly some uncharacteristic drops, but you can't go into a game thinking that he's not a big-time player
16:22because he's big and he can run, and he can get over the top of you.
16:26But, you know, Lawrence, you want to be able to rush, get bodies around Lawrence.
16:30He's always struggled with bodies around him because he's a strider as a thrower, and he needs space.
16:36And so if you get bodies around him, he tends to rush his delivery, and that leads to inconsistent issues with ball location.
16:44So you really want to get people around him.
16:46Certainly, obviously, in must-pass situations, it's always different if it's first down when you're not necessarily playing pass.
16:53Greg, we might have buried the lead, too, but it's relevant to what the Niners are going to do next.
16:58Like, Nick Bosa's gone.
16:59So for three quarters, what did you see the Niners' pass rush do, and kind of how effective was it?
17:07What can they do going forward now without him?
17:09Well, it really wasn't bad, to be honest with you, but they did a couple of things.
17:15But for the most part, when they stayed with their four down, they stayed with what they were doing with Bosa,
17:21which means that they had Williams inside.
17:24He moved inside along with Gross Matos, and they just had Sam O be the guy who replaced Bosa.
17:32But they also did a couple of other things where they lined up – Huff is kind of a stand-up joker.
17:39They put Williams as a zero technique.
17:42They started to move people around to try to get different and multiple front looks.
17:47They even had a snap of three-two-six dime where they had three down linemen with Warner and Winters on the field
17:55because they don't want to take Winters off the field.
17:58So, you know, they can – I think you'll see Salah do different things that just try to show different looks
18:07and create better pass rush opportunities.
18:09But I think when they line up in a must-pass situation where they're down four,
18:13I think it'll just be Sam O replacing Bosa, and they'll stay with, you know,
18:18the general concept of rushing the quarterback.
18:21And when you look at the Jacksonville rush game and Basial Tootin has been really impressive
18:26and Etienne's been able to get some yards, how do you think the Jacksonville rush game
18:30will match up against a Bosa-less Niner front?
18:34Well, the Niners have actually not played the run poorly this year.
18:37They've played it much better than they did a year ago.
18:40I mean, they're giving up – and they've played, you know, close games for the most part.
18:45So, you know, they're only giving up 140 yards rushing per game,
18:48which is not a big number by any means.
18:50And I would say that the run game for Jacksonville, sure, you've got to defend it.
18:56But, you know, last week against a good Texans defense, they didn't rush for a lot of yards.
19:00It's not a dynamic run game, although obviously Etienne can break a long run because he's fast,
19:06and so is Tootin.
19:07So, obviously, that's a potential concern.
19:10But their run game hasn't necessarily been consistent.
19:13It's not the kind of run game where you think, wow, that's the foundation,
19:16and if we don't stop the run, man, we can't win this game.
19:19They're not that kind of run game.
19:21What is the foundation for Jacksonville?
19:23That's a great question.
19:26I'm not – you know, don't forget they've got a new coach.
19:28They've got Liam Cullen.
19:29So, you're seeing a lot of principles of – you know, he came from the Rams initially,
19:35and you know what the Rams offense looks like.
19:38So, what you're seeing a lot of is you're seeing reduced splits.
19:42You're seeing pre-snap movement.
19:44You're seeing play action.
19:45You're seeing the things you're used to seeing with the Rams.
19:47Lawrence has been really bad on play action, really bad.
19:52So, they're working through all this.
19:54It's three games.
19:55But, you know, you're going to get a ton of pre-snap movement.
19:58In three games, they've had pre-snap movement, meaning shifts or motions,
20:02on 75% of their offensive snaps.
20:05So, you know, you've got to decide how you want to play that.
20:08You know, do you want to adjust to movement?
20:09Do you want to stay static?
20:11You've got to – Robert Sala's got to decide,
20:13and he's got a lot of experience, you know, playing pre-snap movement,
20:17how he wants to play it.
20:18So, but their offense right now is clearly kind of an up-and-down,
20:23inconsistent work in progress, and Lawrence has been very inconsistent.
20:27Greg, great stuff, and there's a lot of football coming up here in this town
20:30over the next, you know, week and a half or so.
20:33Like, when we talk to you next week, it's going to be on the night –
20:35They play Thursday night the next week, right?
20:37The night before Rams-Niners.
20:39I can't wait for that conversation.
20:41Rams-Niners.
20:42Wow, that should – well, you know, the bottom line is there's 17 games
20:45that teams play, right?
20:4617?
20:47Yeah, that's what I'm told.
20:48We've played three, right?
20:50That's right.
20:51I believe the record's 3-0 as we speak right now.
20:54Also fact.
20:55Sounds pretty good.
20:56So, I mean, you know, when you get all these injuries, I mean,
21:00you're playing your backup quarterback, you know, the goal is to win the games.
21:04You know, coaches will never tell you – even if you win 40-10,
21:08do you know any coaches that will tell you they played a perfect game?
21:11No.
21:11Coaches don't talk like that.
21:13So, the point is to win the games, however you can win them,
21:16and then you keep coaching and you keep hoping you get better.
21:19We are told on this show that you play to win the game, Greg.
21:24I believe that's true.
21:25You play to win the game.
21:27Oh, so good.
21:28Yeah.
21:29Greg, thank you.
21:30Great as always.
21:32Appreciate it, guys.
21:33Thanks so much.
21:34Love being with you.
21:35Bye.
Recommended
22:18
|
Up next
22:14
17:47
15:28
21:56
22:56
17:22
23:30
14:29
13:31
8:41
22:13
11:06
25:37
14:13
16:46
13:21
23:01
27:59
17:38
7:04
21:01
22:26
Be the first to comment