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00:00I think this injury, it sits up there for me with the Buster Poseys.
00:09I mean, Jerry Rice tore the ACL.
00:14I'm trying to think of others.
00:15I mean, obviously, I think in two different ways,
00:20watching Steph Curry head off of the floor.
00:24Last year, you never knew.
00:25You didn't know that he wasn't going to come back.
00:27But when he suffered the break, and then, you know,
00:33I mean, the Kevin Durant's and Klay Thompson's in the NBA Finals a handful of years ago.
00:39Like, I'm trying to think of other injuries that are that level of gut punch.
00:46I don't think the season is over.
00:48I don't think that.
00:50I do think the season has changed.
00:52At least temporarily, it has changed.
00:55Doesn't mean they can't have a successful season.
00:58Doesn't mean they can't make the playoffs.
01:00Doesn't mean that the trade deadline is off the table.
01:03But for me, I never really love using the word expectations at a high level in the first place.
01:10But I'll use a different word.
01:12My outlook.
01:14The outlook is just, it's different.
01:16There's a little bit more curiosity now as opposed to intensity in terms of, like, okay, what can you actually do?
01:26What can you actually do without the heartbeat of your defense?
01:30And quite frankly, when you look at the whole group now, they're so young.
01:35They're so, yeah, they're babies.
01:36Oh, super young, yeah.
01:38You've got Bryce Huff, and that's about the end of the list of people who are, like, real veterans.
01:43The Amino Lenore is in year four or five, and he's a veteran, especially relative to football.
01:49But he's not, I mean, that deep experience.
01:52Like Fred Warner, he is going to be, I think, a Hall of Famer.
01:56He's going to be a gold jacket guy.
01:58And Nick Bosa was on that track.
02:00I don't know if he ever will get there now based on his injury and another ACL tear.
02:04But I think it's right the way you describe it, and when you use the word heartbeat, I didn't watch the game and think anything too differently.
02:14I was obviously very sad and very gutted for Fred.
02:17And you could see it that the 49ers were kind of a little bit in a funk.
02:21How could you not be?
02:22And you had players even talk about how they had to look away.
02:26They couldn't even, like, continue on in a regular fashion because it was so gruesome, the injury itself,
02:31let alone to the person that it happened to.
02:34And you're right when you use the word heartbeat because he's the heartbeat not only of the defense but of the team as well.
02:41Nick Bosa might be a more important defensive player.
02:45It's debatable, but he's not the heartbeat.
02:48Nick is, you know, I'm just going to sack the quarterback and shrug.
02:52And Fred Warner is the guy who's calling the plays and, you know, telling everyone where to be.
02:56And he's out there with the green dot, and he is the heartbeat.
02:59And so that part of it is more devastating going forward.
03:03But in the moment, I still thought, all right, go out there and play well and win the game.
03:08And he gets hurt, and they immediately force Tampa into a punt.
03:12So the defense was, they obviously were a little bit more compromised, but it's not like they suddenly can't function.
03:20In the moment, I don't, I don't.
03:24In the moment, I was, I thought that was bad.
03:27He's gone for the year, you can tell.
03:29And I can always tell when the other team is immediately waving to the trainer to come out, hurry, hurry, hurry.
03:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:36When you see that, you know that it's bad.
03:38And I thought it might have been a knee, and then you see the replay, and it's like, oh, no, that's a lower leg.
03:43That's an ankle.
03:44And so you realize, okay, Fred's gone, and he's gone for probably the game a month.
03:50Okay, it's going to be the season, but it's football.
03:53And for me, even if it's Fred Warner, you still look at the situation, and you figure, all right, next man up is a cliche.
04:01You're not ever going to replace Fred Warner with anybody.
04:05But you realize that you still have to go out there and play 11 on 11.
04:10And the sad thing about that play is that play was 10 on 11.
04:14And I don't think we've mentioned that yet.
04:16No, we have not.
04:16Yeah, go ahead and tell everybody what you're talking about.
04:18Well, when Fred Warner got hurt, they were playing 10 versus 11.
04:22And so Fred Warner runs up to make a play where normally Mikel Williams would have been playing right defensive end.
04:30And so Fred gets into a spot where Tristan Wirfs is able to come off, and no one's in front of him.
04:37So he had a free release, and so now Fred has to take on Wirfs, and then a couple of Fred's teammates roll into Fred.
04:44I'm not blaming this on Shanahan or Salah or certainly Mikel Williams.
04:49It just turns out to be a real curious kind of footnote to the tragic injury that you went 10 on 11 on that play.
04:57Yeah, and it probably would not have worked out that way because the calculus would have been all changed.
05:02Right.
05:02The dynamics all change.
05:04He would not have been up there at the point.
05:05You know, you would have had another huge body in front of him, and he would have been in a different spot.
05:10I was just looking at the current 49ers too deep.
05:13I know that this will adjust.
05:15They will have other people who kind of come up, and there probably will be acquisitions of some sort just to, you know, fill up roster spots.
05:23But the current listed starting defense has one player over the age of 27.
05:32Huh.
05:33And that's Bryce Huff?
05:34No.
05:35Bryce Huff is 27.
05:36Oh, wow.
05:37Yeah.
05:38Luke Gifford.
05:40Luke Gifford.
05:41Who's not going to be in the starting lineup for long, my prediction.
05:46But Luke Gifford is 30.
05:47Other than that, everybody on that defense, as far as a starting unit, is 27 and younger.
05:57And let me count up the rookies.
06:00Let's see.
06:00One, two, three.
06:06Okay.
06:07Yeah.
06:07Three starters are rookies.
06:10Alfred Collins and C.J. West are also rookies and in the rotation.
06:16And then you've got another handful from Renardo Green, et cetera, et cetera, who are second-year players.
06:25Yeah.
06:25Your elder statesmen are people like Jordan Elliott and Kalia Davis.
06:28Yeah.
06:29Yeah.
06:29I mean, that's just, it's, I'm sorry.
06:31Like, that's not a group that, I mean, when you say they can function, sure.
06:36Yeah.
06:36They can function.
06:38They're not going to play great.
06:39They're not going to be consistent.
06:41And I also look, you know, we go back to what we were thinking about at the beginning of the year with regard to who are the quarterbacks they play.
06:48And so maybe this is one thing that is, I guess, a little bit of the feather in their cap, if you will, which is to say that, you know, like, Baker Mayfield's an experienced quarterback.
07:00He picks a situation like this apart.
07:03Will the other quarterbacks on the list, will they do the same?
07:07You have Stafford in four weeks, but next week, you've got a second-year player in Michael Penix.
07:13The week after that, you go to Houston.
07:16Stroud's got a various amount of experience.
07:19He's got a terrible offensive line.
07:21That'll be an interesting matchup.
07:22Their offensive line against the Niner defensive line.
07:24And I think everybody may just look at each other and figure out who's going to screw up worse.
07:28The Giants have a rookie.
07:29He'll be in his fourth or fifth start.
07:31Then there's Stafford.
07:33Then there's maybe Kyler Murray if he's healthy.
07:35Carolina with Bryce Young, who knows who the hell Cleveland's going to put out there, but very likely a rookie.
07:40Tennessee, a rookie.
07:42Then you've got the whole Daniel Jones thing before you get Caleb Williams.
07:45And then Sam Donald to finish.
07:47So, I don't know if you want to look at that as some sort of a positive.
07:50Like, that is a piece of this puzzle.
07:52The schedule that we've talked so much about is still the schedule.
07:56And so, maybe you don't need to be at your best in order to win some games and enough games to work your way into the playoffs.
08:02I'll buy all that.
08:03What will you do when you get there?
08:05Not optimistic, which is why I wouldn't buy big.
08:09I would not buy at the top floor of the department store this trade deadline, knowing what we know about what the Niners have as far as a roster.
08:19But if you get into the dance, then if you have bought big on the top floor, maybe that one player can help you be good enough to win some of these games.
08:28And ultimately, it comes down to complimentary football.
08:31And you've got a defensive coordinator who is really, really good at what he does.
08:36And so, now you've got a young group, and you don't have Warner, and you don't have Bosa.
08:40So, all right, Robert Sala, go out there and get these guys to be better.
08:44And I think he's done that in many, many ways.
08:47Like, Mikel Williams has looked really good so far as a rookie playing in his spot.
08:52And C.J. West has flashed.
08:53And Jordan Elliott has made big plays.
08:55And you have a couple of veterans around him.
08:57If you add another piece, and maybe you'll go out there and find a linebacker, not at the top of the market,
09:03but somebody who can come in and be a solid guy in your scheme, I do think that the Robert Sala factor should not be underplayed.
09:11A guy who's a very good coordinator and somebody who is, you know, major defense already better than it probably looked on paper.
09:19Yeah, no, I, like, I see all that.
09:21But I just, again, there's a breaking point in terms of what we can ask of people.
09:26You know, the whole, like, okay, Rob, go make them better.
09:30I, I, I, I mean, like.
09:34Go make them better.
09:35I mean, boy, Shanahan's done that with the offense.
09:37Sure.
09:38No Kittle, no Iuke.
09:40You ran down the long list of guys that he hasn't had.
09:43Right.
09:44And the offense has been pretty good.
09:45Mack Jones is over 300 yards back-to-back games.
09:47What does that mean?
09:49The quarterback's over 300 yards.
09:50That doesn't, like, that doesn't equate to points.
09:53That doesn't equate to wins.
09:55He had a ton of yards yesterday.
09:57Well, he's 3-1, so that does equate to wins.
10:00Well, but they're not winning games because the offense has, like, overwhelmed the opposition.
10:05When you win 16-15, that's not what happened out there.
10:08That's my point, though, about complimentary football.
10:11Like, you can.
10:12That's really, there's a breaking point.
10:14I don't think we're there yet.
10:15I don't think we're at the breaking point.
10:16How many guys do we got to lose before you're at the breaking point?
10:19Probably maybe five or six more.
10:22Really?
10:23What are we talking about here?
10:24Like, you're talking about an offense who's getting a pro bowler back.
10:28The best players are all out.
10:29You're getting your pro bowl tight end back either this week or next week.
10:33Okay.
10:33That would be, if he's out more than two more weeks, then we've been misled as to the severity
10:39of the injury.
10:40You're probably going to get your $53 million quarterback back this week or next week at
10:46the latest.
10:46That's funny.
10:47I've been told for three weeks that that's not going to help the offense because...
10:51Have I told you that?
10:52This is me telling you what I think.
10:54Okay.
10:54And what I think is, as your defense goes down based on lost people, your offense goes
11:00up based on found people.
11:02And it's complimentary football.
11:04So, if your offense can be better, and for me, the bigger problem with your offense is
11:09your offensive line.
11:10Yes.
11:10Your offensive line has struggled.
11:12So, how are you fixing that?
11:13Well, hopefully, you get somebody to get to Dominic Poonie and try to get him to restore
11:19his confidence.
11:20And then you're able to, I don't know, run the football.
11:24Your center's having a hard time in the middle.
11:26Your left guard is a rookie.
11:28And you hope that he gets better just through additional reps.
11:31But, I don't know.
11:32Shanahan, you're a genius.
11:35Like, scheme it up.
11:37That's the stuff that I just...
11:39Yesterday, honestly, the offense had very little trouble moving the ball.
11:44They had many big plays in the passing game.
11:46And they ran the ball enough to keep the team honest.
11:52And you probably didn't even commit to the run enough.
11:55But, for me, the offense, their ability to move the ball and have explosive plays, that
12:00was not the problem yesterday.
12:01I agree with that.
12:02Like, again, I'm not sitting here telling you it's over.
12:05I'm not sitting here telling you they shouldn't keep trying.
12:07I am sitting here telling you that this has changed my outlook on 49er football for right
12:12now.
12:13I don't know how it couldn't.
12:15I don't know how it couldn't.
12:16And, sure, you can get, you know, you can get George Kittle back.
12:23And that's great.
12:24Obviously, that will help.
12:26I think if that leads to a run game, yes, that will help.
12:29If you get Brock Purdy, especially his mobility back, yes, that will help.
12:34If you start getting Ricky Pearsall back, yes, that will help.
12:37But all of these players, they all need a ramp up.
12:40We all have no idea how they're going to look right away.
12:43We also have no idea that they're going to get it right as far as when they're bringing
12:48them back.
12:48And even if you do all of those things, I'm a big believer, and I know you are too, that
12:55like you can have all your fanciness all you want.
12:57But if your trench play is poor, you lose most football games.
13:03And I don't know what it is exactly that the 49ers are offering right now in their trenches.
13:09I just don't.
13:10It doesn't mean that they're not allowed to be good.
13:13Maybe they'll become good.
13:14Maybe there'll be some amazing, miraculous acquisition.
13:17But if you're going to give me mid on offensive line play, and you're going to give me no pass
13:23rush, I believe, with all pessimism aside, that this is going to catch up to them.
13:30It's going to catch up to them.
13:31You can't function this way.
13:33And you can't lose this many star players and not have it have an effect.
13:38You're listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM, and HD1 San Francisco, and Odyssey Sports Station.
13:44And the home of Golden State Warriors and Valkyries, always live on the free Odyssey app, coming
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13:50I think that it's a number of different things.
13:53And the more you look at the defense, without Bosa and Fred Warner, yeah, they're compromised.
13:58And so now you're going to have to rely on other people, other players, other systems,
14:03other schemes.
14:03And yesterday you saw Robert Sala try to blitz a little bit more, and they got burned a
14:08couple of times, and it was blown coverages.
14:11It wasn't that the blitz didn't get home.
14:12Upton Stout actually was about a step away from getting home, and Baker Mayfield made a
14:17big-time throw, and you got beat on the back end because it was a blown coverage.
14:21So I look at this in totality of everything.
14:26The offense has to be able to possess it and give the defense more of a chance, now more than
14:31ever.
14:31Yesterday was one of the rare times where you won the time of possession battle and you
14:35lost the game.
14:36That doesn't happen very often in the Shanahan era, and I think that's the first time this
14:40year that that's happened, where you won time of possession, but you lost the football
14:45game.
14:45So that, to me, becomes more important, where the Shanahan offensive, keep it and run it,
14:52and you go out there and score.
14:53And that's why I look at that first drive in the third quarter yesterday, where you come
14:57out after halftime, you're down 20-16, but you get the ball.
15:00And they go from their own 24, they go down the field, boom, boom, boom, slowly but surely,
15:06and then you get to that spot where, first and 10 of the 15, Juwan Jennings, reckless
15:11offensive P.I., and it wasn't even close.
15:15Like, the ball wasn't even thrown, and he sees a guy and he just cracks back on him, and now
15:20it's first and 20.
15:21So your chance to maybe cash in for a touchdown, it goes by the wayside.
15:26And then the other one, you've got fourth and one, and you're going to go for it, and
15:29Dominic Poonie false starts, and so now it's fourth and six, and you don't pick it up.
15:34So I do think that a couple of the little plays, if you would have buttoned them up yesterday,
15:39you still could have won that game, even though you lost Fred Warner and you had a hard time
15:44protecting your quarterback.
15:45So here's Kyle Shanahan on the Fred Warner situation and what Fred actually said when
15:50he addressed the team after the game.
15:52I've seen guys do it before.
15:54It's not something you ever ask a guy to do or anything like that.
15:57You never know where guys are with injuries and stuff.
15:59Sometimes they can't even function at that point, depending on when it happened in the
16:02game.
16:03But it was cool to have Fred come out and do that, ask to do it, and he was in a good
16:09place.
16:10I mean, guys are hurting for him, big time.
16:12Not only is it impressive of a football player I've ever been around, but it's impressive
16:15of a human as I've ever been around, and the foundation and base he has just as a man
16:19and how he lives his life.
16:21I mean, you guys read his quotes and stuff and how he's looking at this, and that's as
16:25real as can be when you hear how he speaks, and that's why we know he'll come back next
16:28year stronger than ever.
16:29Okay, so I mean, look, that's who they're dealing with, and that's why, and I think this
16:33is right before you got here off of the flat tire, but someone texted us in or said
16:40on the YouTube chat, come on, man, it's one guy.
16:43It's one guy.
16:44You've got to be able to replace one guy.
16:45I see Fred Warner as more than one guy.
16:47I just do.
16:48I see him as actually probably three players.
16:51Fred Warner is a phenomenal linebacker.
16:54And then number two, he is the quarterback of the defense, sort of adjusting everybody
17:00on the fly.
17:02And then three, he is their locker room leader.
17:05Um, there's no question about it, at least on defense, but I think on both sides of the
17:10ball, he is somewhat of a team spokesman.
17:13And so that's why this absolutely changes the way that I will look at the season and the
17:21way, at least in the near term, I receive 49er football.
17:25That's kind of my, my, my thought Sunday night, don't get me wrong.
17:30I'm still a fan.
17:31We'll make food.
17:31We'll yell.
17:32We'll scream.
17:33We'll get into this, but I'm also bringing a new level of curiosity to the football game
17:39on Sunday night with the Atlanta Falcons.
17:41I would like to know you talk about how they can still function.
17:44I I'd like to see it.
17:46I'd love to see what, what is their functionality on defense?
17:51No acquisitions yet.
17:52What's your functionality on defense without Fred Warner and Nick Bosa curious.
17:58Yeah.
17:59I'm also very curious as well.
18:02And I look at a young defense with still some really good players.
18:06And I look at a coordinator who is a veteran and a guy who I'm sure has already gone to
18:12work and figured out not only who's going to be the green dot guy at linebacker, but
18:16how do we go about replacing what Fred Warner does?
18:19Now there's no replacing Fred Warner, but somebody is going to have to play linebacker.
18:23Does this mean now that you go to more three linebacker base defense?
18:27Do you go to more nickel?
18:29Do you play more big nickel with Jair Brown in there?
18:32How do you go about, you know, approaching your defense when you don't have Fred Warner?
18:37Like, how do you try to replicate what he does?
18:40Maybe you put D Winter over in the Fred Warner spot and let him run a little bit more wild
18:45as the middle linebacker.
18:47And you put someone else in for D Winters.
18:50You're going to have to figure out something, some way to do it because you've got 11 more
18:54games without Fred.
18:56Somebody did call us earlier and ask about sort of like the play calling on defense and
19:00what happens now with Fred Warner not there.
19:03Kyle did discuss it a little bit and named Diamandor Lenore in terms of a leadership role.
19:08Here's what he said.
19:09When it comes to that stuff, I mean, a Mike linebacker directs the traffic just like a
19:12center or quarterback does on offense.
19:14So that's more position-based.
19:15You don't have the corners making the calls and everything for your front and strengths
19:19and where the pressures come from.
19:21But, I mean, I like Demo talking that way.
19:23I mean, guys who have been here and guys who have played at a higher level, yeah, we need
19:27them playing their best at all times, especially in a situation like this.
19:31But it also means that it doesn't mean that guys just start making stuff up and doing
19:35stuff that they don't have to do.
19:36So, but there is, you know, Demo's been one of our better players here over the last
19:39few years.
19:40And I love that he's basically, in my opinion, saying he needs to play that way every week
19:45now going forward more than ever.
19:47Okay.
19:47So, Demo wants a leadership role, but you also hear Kyle say there, look, as far as who's
19:53calling the plays, that's the Mike linebacker.
19:55That's going to be Dee Winters.
19:57That's who that's going to be.
19:58Right.
19:59And that's going to be the way that goes.
20:00Because if you're Demo Lenore and you're 20 yards away from the line of scrimmage, you
20:04can't just sit there and call out, you know, protections and call out all the different
20:09shifts and all the other things that the defense needs to be aware of.
20:12So, yeah, it has to be the middle linebacker.
20:15But I love that Demo Lenore is stepping up in that leadership role because, as you mentioned
20:18before, it's a very young defense now suddenly without Fred and without Nick Bosa.
20:23And you don't really have a true OG over on that side of the ball.
20:27And somebody's got to step forward.
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