- 1 day ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right, it's a Victory Tuesday edition of Grandy's Grades here on 95.7 The Game,
00:04which is always fun.
00:06We begin as we always do with the quarterback position and hard for Brock Purdy to be much
00:11better than he was last night in Indy.
00:14He goes 25 for 34, 295, five touchdowns.
00:19The one interception came basically when the game was already over, but because of that
00:23one interception, guys, I can't give him an A-plus, but I give him the next best N-A.
00:27He was as close to perfect as you could possibly be.
00:30Yeah, Dibs and I have not gotten too much into the A-plus category, so I will also share
00:38that I will give him an A, but I want to make sure, for the record, that does not mean I'm
00:43downgrading him from an A-plus.
00:44I'm just giving him an A.
00:45I'm not bothered, by the way, when a quarterback turns it over once, sometimes even twice,
00:52depending on the turnover, Brock Purdy was absolutely sparkling in this game.
00:58The routes, the route tree was all over the place, spread the ball around, used his legs,
01:05bought time, was totally 100% in control of this football game.
01:11Came out onto the field already down by seven, no panic.
01:14A couple minutes later, boom, it's 7-7.
01:17A couple minutes later, it's 14-7, five touchdown passes.
01:20What else can you say?
01:21That's a clean A.
01:22I'm going to go A-minus because he got absolutely bailed out by Luke Farrell on the fumble.
01:29He coughed it up, and Farrell just happened to be running by, so I'm going to go ahead and
01:33collect that, and he did throw a pick, so not a clean, perfect game, so I'm going to have
01:38to just give him a slight downgrade and give him an A-minus.
01:41A-minus for five-touch.
01:43Stingy greater there, Dibs.
01:45Yes, man, getting hit by a humongous defensive lineman and dropping the ball is apparently
01:49the quarterback's fault, now.
01:50Hang on to the ball.
01:51I got it.
01:52While you're throwing it, hang on to the ball.
01:54Well, he got bailed out, so if it wasn't for Farrell, that would have been another turnover,
01:58and so that would have been costly.
02:00Okay.
02:00All right, maybe that will be factored into your skill positions group rankings, Dibs,
02:05which is what we do next.
02:06Wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends.
02:08Luke Farrell, who saved the day, a tight end.
02:11Jake Tonjes, also a tight end.
02:12He finishes with just one catch, but should have been two, and maybe he has potentially
02:17the two touchdown catches of the year for the Niners if that one did get called a touchdown
02:22yesterday, but George Kittle was awesome despite leaving the game with a mid-to-low ankle sprain,
02:28seven for 115 in a touchdown.
02:30Juwan Jennings has had an amazing second half of the season.
02:33That continued last night with a touchdown catch in 71 yards.
02:37It was maybe McCaffrey's best game on the ground as well.
02:41We're going to talk about the offensive line.
02:43That's a big part of it, but he also caught two touchdown passes.
02:45I can't really think of anything that this group did wrong.
02:49I gave skill positions an A+.
02:51Oh, A+, that's rock solid.
02:53You had a Kendrick Bourne drop in the second quarter, and then you had the one sail through
02:58his hands.
02:58I wouldn't really put that one on Bourne.
03:00That would have been a very tough catch, but that's about it for the quote-unquote mistakes,
03:05and you're right, McCaffrey was awesome, Kittle was explosive, and Sky Moore got to eat, various
03:11Robinsons made plays.
03:13I gave him a solid A.
03:15I went A-, and it was only because, like, no, they were fantastic.
03:19But it wasn't even just the Kendrick Bourne drop.
03:22It was what he said about it.
03:24I don't know if you guys caught this comment after the game.
03:27He goes, no, I caught that ball.
03:29But I just kind of started celebrating a little bit early, and so I tossed it away, and they
03:34called it incomplete.
03:35First of all, I didn't agree with him.
03:37I'm like, no, dude, the ball hit the ground, and it moved a little bit.
03:40You did not have control.
03:41But that answer, to me, knocks it down a peg, because he's like, well, don't do that.
03:47What do you mean you caught it, but you were celebrating, so you dropped the ball?
03:51That kind of an answer for me, even though it's playful and fun, I got to ding them somewhere.
03:57But, no, the group held onto the ball.
04:00They were effective.
04:01They were fantastic.
04:03So it's a very, very high grade.
04:04Would that have been his first catch of the game, or was it his second or third?
04:07That would have been his first.
04:08So he was probably celebrating hitting his bonus money.
04:11Exactly.
04:11Because one yard was the bonus money.
04:14And that's knockdown a grade worthy.
04:16If you're celebrating your financial bonus instead of trying to win the football game,
04:20I'm going to knock you down a peg.
04:22Up next is the offensive line.
04:24This is maybe the group that I've been most surprised by the last month of the season.
04:28And what they did to open up holes for Christian McCaffrey last night was awesome.
04:33And McCaffrey averaged 5.6 per carry as a team.
04:37The Niners averaged 4.7.
04:39And that includes three Mac Jones kneel downs.
04:41So the real number was higher than that.
04:44And Brock Purdy was kept upright for the most part.
04:47He was sacked just once, only hit that one time.
04:50A lot of that is Brock and his escapability.
04:53That's not all of the offensive line.
04:54There were not endless clean pockets.
04:57Pretty extended plays.
04:58And was great at that.
04:59But man, hard to find much to be upset about from the offensive line.
05:03Again, my biggest surprise of the last month has been that group.
05:06I gave them an A.
05:07Hard to find anything to be mad about.
05:09I don't know why you wouldn't.
05:10Yeah, they're not committing penalties.
05:13They're creating time.
05:14For as many times as Brock had to use his legs to create more time,
05:17there were more times where he sat back there and he could just be like,
05:21do I want to go here?
05:22Do I want to go here?
05:23He had all kinds of time.
05:24They were not just good in this game.
05:26They've been good for the better part of a month and a half.
05:29They have come together at exactly the right time.
05:32And it's why the 49ers are winning football games.
05:34So they're getting an A from me too.
05:36Yeah, they just gave up the two pressures and the one where Farrell kind of bailed them out.
05:40And other than that, they did something that they haven't done great a lot this year,
05:44and that's run the ball.
05:45They created a lot of runs.
05:47They got to the second level.
05:48McCaffrey was averaging almost six a carry, which is huge for this team.
05:53Playing complimentary football, you're going to need to be able to run it more effectively.
05:57A game an A-.
05:59Over to the defensive side of the football here on Granny's Grades.
06:02The front seven, that's the D-line and the linebackers.
06:05Of course, there was the D-winters pick six.
06:08That kind of was the exclamation point on this Niner win.
06:11They win by 21 points because of that one.
06:14And the front seven did a good job against the run as well.
06:17Jonathan Taylor, arguably the best running back this season across the NFL,
06:20only averaged 2.9 per carry.
06:23His longest carry was just seven yards as a team.
06:27The Colts have that same number, 2.9 per carry.
06:30And they put some pressure on Phillip Rivers.
06:32Now, once you get pressure on him, it's not that difficult to sack him.
06:35They sacked him twice.
06:37They hit him a couple more times.
06:38In addition to that, it wasn't the most amazing day.
06:41I also think the game plan was to stack the box and take away the run.
06:45So this was not a straight-up defensive attack against Jonathan Taylor.
06:49For that, it wasn't absolutely incredible to me, but it was by far better than bad.
06:54It was a B- for me from the front seven.
06:56Yeah, better than bad.
06:57I like that.
06:58You had one pass batted down by Kalia Davis.
07:01You had the two sacks.
07:02One of them, Collins, was a 15-yard loss, which helped you flip the field
07:06and, unfortunately, Brock threw a pick.
07:08But the game was already in hand anyway.
07:11Much better job of stopping the run.
07:13And even though you brought a bunch of blitzes, you brought linebackers,
07:17and you still are not able to really get to the quarterback.
07:20And Rivers was able to set up shop, especially in the first half.
07:24I didn't love the lack of pressure yet again.
07:27So I gave him a solid B.
07:29You guys are being kinder than I am on this one.
07:32I went C-plus.
07:33And here's why.
07:35One other thing to add to this conversation, the Colts were missing two offensive linemen
07:39and they immediately lost another one.
07:41That's three backup offensive linemen out of a group of five.
07:47And the 49ers still, with a statuesque quarterback of epic proportions,
07:53got a total of four quarterback hits and two sacks.
07:56If you can't rush that guy against that line, who can you rush?
08:01A lot of the points you guys made, well taken.
08:04That's why this is not a D or an F or even a C.
08:07It's a C-plus.
08:08But I was underwhelmed by that pass rush big time.
08:13I was underwhelmed by the secondary, and that's where we go next.
08:16You're talking about what Phillip Rivers did.
08:18I mean, he threw the ball at ease for particularly the first half of this football game.
08:2423 for 35, 277 and two touchdowns.
08:27The one interception late, but he was picking apart the Niner pass defense.
08:32We're talking leading up to this game on Monday and also last week leading into the weekend,
08:38about how the game plan would be stack the box and force Phillip Rivers to throw the ball downfield
08:44because who knows if he can do that.
08:46He did it pretty often.
08:47Their deep threat, Alec Pierce, scored two touchdowns, four catches for 86 yards.
08:51Josh Downs, kind of more the intermediate underneath guy, had five for 65.
08:55Not a ton from the others, but it was enough that makes you concerned about what this pass defense will do
09:02against the good quarterbacks and the good receivers.
09:05I'm concerned, personally.
09:07Secondary gets a D-minus for me.
09:08Interesting.
09:09I'm going to give him a C because I'm going to pull this apart a little bit.
09:12I thought Upton Stout was pretty good in this game.
09:15I also think that even though Phillip Rivers, we make fun, he's 44, he's old, he's immobile,
09:21he's also freaking brilliant.
09:24He's Phillip Rivers.
09:25He knows how to disguise things.
09:28He knows where to go with the ball.
09:30But this is going to be my lowest grade of anybody, any group, the entire, you know,
09:37everything that we're going to do here because, by the way,
09:39they also were the owners of the only two penalties on the 49ers.
09:44The Aminor Lenore with what was considered a personal foul and Daryl Luter had a pass interference.
09:50I didn't think either one of them needed to be called, but they were.
09:54And so they're going to have to wear that.
09:57And, yeah, receivers are just running open.
10:00And so all in all, not a great day for them.
10:03I give him a C.
10:04Yeah, too many explosives.
10:06And part of it's the pass rush, I know, because you're not putting a lot of heat on them.
10:09But there were times the Luter and P.I., I could see that being called.
10:13He kind of just got confused and bobbled into the receiver.
10:16And there was a play.
10:17Diomero Lenore turned the wrong way and gave up a big explosive down the sideline.
10:21So it's a group that has played better and can play better.
10:26And so I gave him a C-.
10:27All right, up next, it's the special teams unit.
10:30We begin with Eddie Pinheiro, the kicker who missed his first field goal as a niner.
10:35It was the 64-yarder that just hit off the crossbar and bounced back out.
10:40I don't blame him for that.
10:41The fact that he was that close, honestly, is a plus.
10:44In my mind, he made his other two kicks.
10:46The Niners didn't really get beat too bad in any kickoff return situations.
10:51And they forced a fumble on a kickoff return by the Colts, which immediately led to a touchdown
10:56and gave you the lead in the first quarter.
10:59So it was by far a whole lot more good than bad.
11:02And A for special teams.
11:03And it's amazing how much this unit has turned things around.
11:05Yeah, and even the missed Pinheiro field goal was set up by a Skymore 36-yard return,
11:10which was one of his best of the night.
11:12They had some touchbacks, but late in the game, they would rather just touch it back
11:16and let Indianapolis go up against the defense as opposed to give up an explosive.
11:21Moore had some good returns.
11:22Robinson for 31 had a couple as well.
11:25I gave him an A- for special teams.
11:27All right.
11:28Yes.
11:28Yes.
11:29All right.
11:29What would Big X the plug say about the special teams?
11:36Well, that wasn't the drop I thought we were going to put.
11:38No.
11:39A.
11:39A.
11:40That was an A.
11:41That was an A.
11:42Yeah, that's okay.
11:43It's okay.
11:44Communication.
11:45Well, Granny and I get a C-.
11:47Anyway, A.
11:49Special teams.
11:50That was, as I said earlier, that was the best missed kick I've ever seen.
11:55Pretty awesome.
11:55Eddie Pinheiro, the whole team is over there.
11:57Hey!
11:58They get an A because that was an absolute bomb of a 64-yarder that unfortunately went 63
12:06and three-quarters yards.
12:08But anyway, Pinheiro outside of that, still perfect.
12:12The turnover.
12:12For Sky Moore continues to grab at least a few extra yards here and there on just about
12:18every return.
12:20Their coverage has also been great.
12:22And Thomas Morstead became a story because he's just standing over there.
12:26He's like, he's become the team's travel secretary and everyone thinks it's funny.
12:31So that's a A.
12:32Yeah.
12:33A.
12:33For me.
12:34They also don't commit penalties on special teams.
12:36Exactly.
12:36And the Colts had a huge return.
12:38They got across the 50 and, nope, we had to bring it back with a hold.
12:41So that needs to be pointed out as well.
12:42Yeah.
12:43Sorry about that, Willard.
12:43Clearly when you guys introduced us to the show, it was the day that I was not here.
12:48Yeah.
12:48You were on.
12:48That was a Lucas.
12:49Yeah.
12:49My bad.
12:50Yeah.
12:51Hey.
12:51I know it now.
12:53And last but not least, it is coaching.
12:55You guys talked about this earlier in the show.
12:58I thought Shanahan had an awesome day in terms of play calling and all the third down conversions.
13:04A lot of that is credit to Purdy and Juwan and the pass catchers, but it's also Kyle Shanahan
13:08calling up the right plays in the right moments.
13:11And like Brent Jones told you guys last hour, he's having an awesome season from a play calling
13:15perspective and, you know, specifically the last month or so of the year.
13:20I was confused by his challenge decision and no decision in this game.
13:24The challenge that he decided to do, there was no chance that was getting overturned.
13:30And I thought he should have challenged the Tonjes touchdown, no touchdown in the second
13:34half.
13:35Didn't ultimately hurt the Niners because they later scored on McCaffrey's second touchdown
13:39of the game.
13:40I also think the clock management at the end of the first half could have been a little
13:44cleaner.
13:44They had more timeouts they did not use.
13:46And as a result, it forced a 64-yard field goal, where if it's a 63-yard field goal,
13:51you might make it.
13:52So definitely a whole lot more good than bad.
13:55But a couple of things I was confused by, an A-minus coaching was still very good.
13:59Yeah, I'm going to go B-plus.
14:00And for a lot of the same reasons, I thought that was a very good advertisement for Kyle
14:04Shanahan and his play calling and their readiness.
14:08And on Robert Sala's side, he's going against the Hall of Fame quarterback.
14:12So it's difficult to sort of put his defense in the right position.
14:17But you notice how much better it was in the second half than the first.
14:20That always says good coaching.
14:21For me, though, I only knock it down from an A because Kyle Shanahan has now, he's starting
14:27to get the reputation.
14:29I don't love his red hanky decisions.
14:33They're just not great.
14:35When he threw the red hanky, I knew damn well that thing was not going to be overturned.
14:39We can go all the way back to Philadelphia two years ago in the playoffs when he didn't
14:44throw the red hanky.
14:45He didn't throw the red hanky on Jake Tonjes.
14:47No big deal, but probably coulda-shoulda.
14:50I just think he's a little too indecisive and not great with red hanky decisions.
14:56So that's why I knocked him down to a B-plus.
14:58Yeah, I'm at the same level.
14:59And for the same reasons you guys are laying out, the challenge was silly.
15:03The non-challenge at that spot, go ahead and challenge it.
15:06You're not going to need the timeouts.
15:07Give Tonjes the TD while you're at it, because it turns out I think he did catch it.
15:12I don't know if it would have been overturned.
15:14That was a tough one, but I would have liked to see him try.
15:17And I'm with Grandy on the end-of-half clock management.
15:20He wound up having two timeouts to take with him, and he could have, I think, massaged that
15:25a little bit more and a little bit earlier.
15:28That way you would have had more time.
15:29I gave him a B-plus.
15:31That's Grandy's grades.
15:32A lot of good grades, particularly on the offensive side of the football last night.
15:36Grandy's grades.
15:36Thanks, Lucas.
15:37Lucas liked it.
15:39We'll do that again next Tuesday.
15:40We'll be here Monday and Tuesday.
15:42Yep, we will be.
15:43Niners are playing.
15:45We're going to be here.
15:46Yep.
Be the first to comment