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00:00straight to the river islands guest line because sometimes a guest comes on to provide specific
00:07information sometimes we're excited about a guest uh because of the timing of all of it and then
00:13sometimes it's just a flat-out honor sometimes just a flat-out honor and and and that's what
00:19this is again river islands guest line the great al michaels thursday night football on the call
00:25tomorrow rams and 49ers and he joins us here on willard and dibs 95 7 the game al thanks for
00:31doing it how are you i'm great i'm uh looking forward to the fact that jerry rice and john
00:37taylor will unretire and start for the 49ers tomorrow night so it should be pretty exciting
00:43yeah have you learned the names seriously like who's playing tomorrow al well i guess you've got
00:50the the marcus robinson you've got marquez valdez scanley you got kendrick bourne you got sky
00:56moore uh maybe steve young comes over from palo alto even though i i think mac jones will be able to
01:03handle himself pretty well tomorrow he's 2-0 and he's looking good and um you know it it figures to
01:09be um i don't want to say a route but obviously the the rams were in very good shape physically
01:16uh they played extremely well 49ers a completely different story i mean it's it's like it must
01:23seem like groundhog day or somebody kicked the dog or something uh with the 49ers because here we go
01:29again you know you would think that the law of averages would come into play after what happened
01:33last year the law of averages say well you know we're gonna have a better year in terms of uh not
01:38having that many injuries but but here we are again of course the baltimore ravens are saying
01:41uh we could give a damn i mean tough tough luck for you guys because we've got the same problem
01:45with us have you seen this or can you remember another time or franchise where a squad has been
01:51this snake bit by the injury bug well it's i'm sure it's happened because it's more recent so that's why
01:58it seems like it's never happened before but i you know in terms of losing key guys over a two-year
02:05period yeah it's hard to uh to think about something of this of this nature i mean last year obviously the
02:11team got done in six and eleven because of all of the injuries but here we go again but the team
02:16right now they're three and one you're going to start to get some of these guys back uh for sure
02:20clearly you know in 10 days you know maybe brock is back uh kittle should be back sooner than later
02:26uh pierce all and jennings maybe are just out for this game only so you know things are going to get
02:32better you hope and um we'll see if they can hold it for tomorrow night you know uh the fans hope so
02:38and al it's one of the things i wanted to ask you about is this 49er fan base because as you well
02:44know tomorrow night they're going to make up more than half the building even though their favorite
02:48players may not be playing i wonder if you can sort of take us through what you've seen through the
02:54years in terms of the evolution of this fan base and sort of the way they travel and and seem to just
03:02have such a presence in every building no matter where they are in the country yeah they're like
03:07green bay and pittsburgh in a way and and kansas city of course travels very well but the 49ers have
03:13gotten almost to that point i'll tell you what's interesting to me is you know since i've lived in
03:18la for a ton of years and before that i lived in the bay area and menlo park so i know both areas
03:24extremely well i think what happened was when la lost both of its teams the raiders and the rams in
03:3194 and it was two decades before they got the rams back and the chargers came back um i think what
03:39happened you had this whole generation that skipped the nfl in town so they decided okay we got to root
03:45for somebody some of them became packer fans pittsburgh fans but i think because of geography some of them
03:51just naturally became 49er fans or maybe they became raider fans but the raiders you know uh came
03:58and they left and they went obviously went to las vegas so i think what you have is a whole uh i'm
04:04talking about now rams fans who you know would have been rams fans but skipped the generation so in
04:09other words you have the 49ers fans who travel from the bay area or wherever coming down and then
04:14they're supplemented by what would have been rams fans and had that team remained here all of these years
04:21so it's kind of a crazy thing and you know the pa announcer here likes to scream our house uh whose
04:26house our house it's it's really not their house in fact when the raiders came in we did a thursday
04:32night game a couple of years ago and the guy is you know screaming his guts uh whose house and i'm
04:36going whose house it's the raiders house the rams are just renting it that's incredible and uh matt
04:41stafford actually his wife had a famous quote about how he had to go to a silent count at home
04:46when the niners came to town and it was it was crazy al you just saw seattle and arizona play a
04:52great one on thursday night and now you're going to see the rams and the 49ers again what do you
04:57think of the division top to bottom and is it the best in football i think it is right now and i think
05:03that you know the uh the rams are i mean the rams could obviously uh be undefeated you know squandered
05:09a 19 point lead the block kick and all of that in philadelphia they had game they had that game one
05:13and lost it uh seattle looks really good to me i mean sam donald is going to make a big difference
05:18up there uh the 49ers are clearly you know a talented team but you just got to get the right
05:25people on the field and the cardinals are good the cardinals are certainly better so i think as of the
05:30moment this would be the toughest division but uh i think you know the rams are probably a little bit
05:36better than anybody else right now in terms of of their personnel their defense is so good we were
05:41talking to you know kyle shanahan on our zoom call earlier today and it's what the rams front
05:47four has become is is what the 49ers front four was like five or six years ago with both up front
05:54and the 49ers you know uh with john lynch drafted their their priority was to you know get those
06:00front four guys so you could you could rush four you wouldn't have to blitz that often you know
06:05cover on the secondary and you know it worked out great for the for san francisco obviously they went
06:10to two super bowls and the rams you know they lose aaron donald so you figure oh but then they
06:15go out and they draft a couple of guys back to back who wind up one and two as defensive rookies
06:20of the year they got byron young they got colby turner uh they're good i mean they're really good
06:26especially on the on the other side of the ball al michaels of course as if i need to say that is
06:31with us here on willard and dibs 95 7 the game al you're so tapped into everything going on i i i know
06:36you're aware of of the lightning rod for whatever reason that brock purdy is meantime um mac jones
06:44uh he's got an opportunity at least as tough as it is to go three and oh tomorrow brock is the guy
06:51the niners made that very very clear but how will you sort of handle the discussion around the 49er
06:57quarterback position based on what happens tomorrow night well i i think brock is the guy there's no
07:03question about that i think mac jones understands when he came to san francisco that he was going
07:08to back uh purdy up and i think he's he's comfortable in that role sure everybody would
07:13like to start but i don't see um you know it's kind of funny unless somebody is like what they
07:19call or refer to as a lead whatever that means uh then all of a sudden he's a bum uh not at all i
07:25think you know brock purdy is a pretty darn good quarterback and i'll tell you something very
07:30funny last week we had sam donald uh you know in that game with seattle at arizona and we're
07:36talking to sam and i said to him who would you say are the most influential people uh coaches or
07:42others uh in in your career the first guy he mentioned you know you're thinking he's going
07:48to mention some you know 60 year old coach or maybe a high school or whatever whatever it was
07:53going to be the first guy he mentioned brock purdy we said what he said i learned from brock purdy
07:59how you prepare so the one year that sam spent as the understudy to purdy in san francisco
08:05he credits purdy with making him so much better and of course you know sam's on that trajectory
08:11right now like uh very much like a baker mayfield maybe like a daniel jones where you know it takes
08:16a while to get to where you want to go but he he gave so much of the credit to brock purdy which i
08:21found to be fascinating and mac jones is trying to emulate that and be on that same trajectory and
08:26last year al only 14 quarterbacks started every game for their team so how big of a move was it
08:31for shanahan and lynch to go out and tap mac jones knowing that they're going to need to back up for
08:36at least some games oh for sure no and you know the funny thing is maybe they could have gotten
08:42somebody else with a little bit more money but i think they were a little strapped in terms of what
08:46they could afford in terms of uh the salary cap but we when we were talking to mac earlier today
08:52uh he gave a lot of credit to to what kyle has uh made him become at this particular point he thinks
08:58he has a he says it's the best fit that i've ever had with a coach so you know and he had doug peterson
09:06uh i guess when he first went to jackson obviously he had belichick and a lot of other coaches along
09:12the way but he just feels that this is a really good fit and i'm sure when you know kyle was out there
09:17looking for a backup quarterback he saw the same thing uh al it's so interesting content in america
09:23now we know the nfl is king you've done monday night you've done sunday night now here you are
09:28on thursday night how soon till we can just do this every night of the week well i you know what i've
09:34actually done a game every night of the week so um we did a christmas game oh yeah oh no i've i've
09:40hit all seven and and i i got i got a tuesday game and believe it or not about uh i think 12 or 13
09:46years ago on sunday night we had minnesota at philadelphia and a gigantic snowstorm came into
09:53philadelphia so uh at four o'clock in the afternoon it was clear skies but by five they already they
09:59had already canceled the game knowing that a big nor'easter what they call the nor'easter is going
10:03to come in and sure enough it didn't so uh i 48 hours later i came on the air and i said welcome to
10:09tuesday night football so uh i've covered i've covered all the bases guys so what happens first al a team
10:16is based in europe or we stretch this thing out to a wednesday tuesday and you know friday night
10:22football oh they'll they'll play at three o'clock in the morning if you know there's a slot open
10:27trust me i mean guys you look at sundays these days you've got four windows right europe and then
10:35the early within the one o'clock before 15 and then the um eight o'clock on the eight o'clock eastern
10:41uh on sunday night football so you you you know it's like you you're good to go about 13 hours
10:49a day on a on a sunday these days it's crazy how do you handle it people love it they love it yep
10:55how do you handle your sunday al are you a red zone guy or do you just pick a game and watch that
11:00well i'll try to watch it's it's it's very beneficial to me if one team i have on thursday night is playing
11:07early and the other is late so that works out great i'm able to watch both but last week so i
11:12locked into the 49ers the week before and uh and then watch the rams philadelphia game as well
11:18so last week i mainly concentrated on the uh the 49ers because i live in la so i'm really you know
11:24well versed on on the rams and you know obviously i went back and spot checked the rams tape and all
11:29of that and that's pretty much um how i prepare for these games and um you know it's uh it's fun it's
11:35fun for me and then sundays are great and you know all of a sudden i'm like you know i'm i'm a
11:39little like whacked out by 4 30 in the afternoon but you know jump into the pool take a quick swim and
11:45go to bed sounds like a good day to me yeah yeah guys before i forget i gotta i was thinking of
11:52something the other night i gotta bring up so we all know dwayne kuyper right yes yeah of course
11:56course of course who do you think called dwayne kuyper's only home run well i'm gonna take a
12:03guess guess not kirk hurt street uh was it was it you kirk was two years old so much my first year
12:12on monday night baseball i'm doing the backup game the b game we go to cleveland there must have been
12:17like 3 800 people maybe in the stands guys i called it and you know he hit it off of he hit it off of a
12:25guy who wound up winning a cy young award three years later take a guess a guy who won the cy young
12:33award because he was 25 and 7 that year with the baltimore orioles even though he had come up with
12:40the white socks when he gave up the home run to kuyper i'm talking about steve stone okay wow
12:46there's your there's your trivia for the day guys and meanwhile steve stone has now done the
12:50either the white socks or the cubs he's with the white socks now on radio for like 40 years he's
12:55he's had kuyper's broadcasting career and and that thing cleared the fence by at least a foot right
13:00out oh it was like two feet nine inches right right down the right field line and both have been uh
13:09ford c frick award hall of fame nominees including dwayne kuyper this year so wow full circle moment
13:15you broadcasting two future great broadcasters and deservedly with those guys they're terrific
13:21no doubt no doubt al michaels with us here on withered and dibs al circling back to you saying
13:26that you were locked in on the niners last week i'm going to sound like a fan here did you write on
13:31your notes they do nothing well because i i mean that game last week it felt like they were struggling
13:38in every single aspect yeah yeah well obviously you turn the ball over that much and you're normally
13:45not going to win the game and in tough time running it uh that's going to be interesting
13:50tomorrow night too to see if they can run the ball at all i don't know you know it's going to be rough
13:54because of their offensive line you got a left guard you know rookie uh colby i guess he's playing
13:59pretty well but you still have a rookie there uh you know you got obviously he's next to trent
14:04williams that helps pooney's what in the second year so and that um i mean that defense that front of
14:10the rams is terrific so i think it's going to be to behoove uh jones obviously to get the ball
14:17out quickly you know maybe and you know mcafree's got to be i guess mcafree's got to be your top
14:22receiver tomorrow night i mean uh but who knows maybe one of these other guys uh comes to the
14:26floor i mean demarcus robinson uh he's in his tenth year but uh you know hey the rams let him go so
14:32maybe he wants to come back and prove a little something to them who knows if five of the niners
14:36offensive starters from week one will not be in the game so yeah it's a little bit patchwork hey
14:41al can you give our fans a little primer on the rams and their offense we all know puka naku is going
14:47crazy but what else have the rams done well well they run the ball extremely well because kyron
14:52williams uh handles about two-thirds of the rushes blake quorum they've got him he seems to be coming
14:59into his own you picked up davante adams who's your clearly your number two receiver right now
15:05and meanwhile i can't say enough about puka nakua i mean this guy is unbelievable and he has what 42
15:12catches this season but i love watching him play because he he has he what he plays with such joy
15:19i mean he's tough uh he is i mean he's a hard-nosed football player you know when they drafted a guy
15:26named puka i think you know you drafted like a 5 8 148 pound scat back or something no he's a big stud
15:33and and he is like he he's uh he is one of my favorite players for no other reason than
15:40like me he's never had a single vegetable in his life and andrew whitworth uh who we know for this
15:48on on prime andrew put together a dinner with me and andrew and puka during the off season and boy
15:55i tell you what we ate half the stockyard that night it was phenomenal i did not know now we knew
16:00that about you because it came up a lot last year i did not know that about puka and did the two of
16:05you like do you have similar reasons why like why why no vegetables al we hate them how do you know
16:13that well i guess just my look they they don't pass the eye test okay to begin with right and if
16:21they're cooked they certainly don't pass the smell test so i just you know they don't they don't look
16:26very good and uh you know once in a while like a piece of lettuce will sneak into my into my mouth
16:31but it's got to come out because i can i can you know i can i can tell what it is and it's it probably
16:37has more to do with the texture than anything else but here i am and here puka is you know
16:41rewriting the record book and uh baby it's a it's a meat or bust i i i love it i i think people uh would
16:48love to see some positive examples out there of not eating vegetables so that they can try it too
16:54it's interesting though about puka you know because coming out of college he didn't pass the
16:59eye test either so i would think right right i would think that he would want to you know give
17:04it a shot try something that might surprise you no no no he's look he got to where he is doing what
17:10he's doing so he's got to keep this up so the average al michaels meal is just meat meat and more
17:15meat you throw in some starch or some some pasta yeah we can so i can throw it i can throw in some
17:21mashed potatoes or a baked potato that doesn't count as a vegetable and um you know start out
17:25with maybe a little sushi as an appetizer or a shrimp cocktail you know i i do eat fish chicken and all
17:31of that so it's not as if it's just meat meat meat but you know once in a while you know a good piece
17:37of halibut is fantastic and uh i love pasta as well so it's not as if uh it's just meat meat meat but boy
17:44oh boy you know five nights a week it is a big steak perfect perfect before you go i'm sure you get
17:50asked this constantly but i'd love to how much longer you want to do this you know i feel really
17:55good uh i enjoy what i'm doing this is my 40th year of doing the nfl in prime time between monday
18:02and sunday and now thursday i still get excited you know i go into the stadium i like to i like to watch
18:07it fill up i just like uh it's adrenalizing to me and i love you know the strategy of the game
18:13i love um you know i love the craft that that i've been lucky enough to be a part of for a long
18:19period of time so and live television just makes you feel as if you know hey man i'm you know i'm
18:25i'm i'm there i'm present i'm in the moment got a lot of things going on around me the brain is
18:30working you know full speed i love that i love the feeling i still do and as long as i feel that way
18:34and as long as i have the passion to do this i'll continue miracle on ice dwayne kuyper only home run
18:40loma prieta world series earthquake game which is coming up on 36 years ago al
18:45sure is october 17th oh man unbelievable and the mac jones shocker get ready for that tomorrow
18:52that's right who knows yeah who knows do you believe in mackicles maybe is the call
18:58it's a freebie for you what what a ton of fun thanks so much take care guys good to be with you
19:06all right you too al michaels goosebumps
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