00:00But the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks meet with an opportunity
00:03to be the number one seed in the NFC on the line.
00:06So I ask you this question, Joe.
00:09Who does this game mean more for in terms of you believing in their chances
00:16to go to the Super Bowl this year?
00:20Seattle.
00:21Easy.
00:22Easy.
00:22It's Seattle.
00:24It's no doubt about it.
00:27It's Sam Darnold.
00:28It comes down to Sam Darnold.
00:30You could say what you want.
00:31And Sam Darnold got the win a couple of weeks ago against the L.A. Rams
00:35in dynamic fashion, made amends for the inconsistency and the turnovers early in that game
00:42and had the fourth quarter drive, had the overtime drive to put them in a position
00:46to win that game.
00:47But you take the good, the bad, and the ugly with Sam Darnold.
00:50And the ugly is last year with two games on the line to put the Minnesota Vikings
00:55in a position to potentially be the number one seed.
00:59They lost the last regular season game to Detroit, and he played pitiful, and he followed
01:04that up on a neutral field and got abused by the L.A. Rams, which is why he's with the
01:09Seattle Seahawks.
01:10And I understand that he has over-exceeded expectations, and he's erased maybe any doubts
01:16that he can be a pure starter in this league.
01:19But, but, we're talking about the number one seed and putting them on the same level as Super Bowl
01:25winning quarterbacks to potentially take his team to the promised land.
01:30And if we're talking about teams that haven't done it, like Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions
01:36and some of the others, Sam Darnold is right in that mix.
01:39In a row game, divisional opponent, with all the chips in the middle of the table,
01:44he's got the defense to carry him.
01:46Can he live up to the hype?
01:49I'm not so sure.
01:50I think that, see, I think it's a really interesting one.
01:54Because.
01:55Why?
01:56So, in terms of who it means more for, right?
01:59In terms of if you lose this game, do I still think you can represent the NFC?
02:02I know, right.
02:03You're talking about the home field for Sam Fran, right?
02:05Well, it's not just that, but that's a part of it.
02:09It's, it's a number of factors.
02:11What I would, the case that Seattle can survive is with a loss, no matter what, they're the
02:17five seed.
02:18And that means they're going to go to the South and look, they're capable of, at that
02:23point, they're going to be capable of losing to, whether it's Tampa Bay or Carolina, it
02:26happens.
02:27But they're going to be legitimately, the biggest round one favorite of any team is going
02:33to be road Seattle, if that's where they are.
02:37If San Francisco loses, you look at it a little bit, and you think about, man, how did they
02:43turn this whole thing around at six and four?
02:46Oh, Arizona, Carolina, Cleveland, Tennessee, Phillip Rivers and the Colts.
02:54That Bears win, yes, it was awesome.
02:58You score 42 points.
02:59It was an incredibly fun football game.
03:01When is the last time we felt amazing about the Niners defense?
03:05Week one against Seattle?
03:07Yeah.
03:07Now, again, it's nobody's fault.
03:10They lost.
03:11It was a defense that was built around two megastars in Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, and
03:17they both were injured seemingly back to back, right?
03:20Now, there's, by the way, we talk about just kind of the value of the one seed, Joe, and
03:26things of that nature.
03:27There's some idea that Fred Warner could come back if the postseason run is deep enough.
03:33Is he going to be 100%?
03:35I don't know, but I think the way, my thing, Joe, is if San Francisco ends up the sixth seed,
03:41which is if they lose, that's what they're going to be favored to be.
03:43They're either going to be going to Chicago or Philadelphia.
03:47They're going to be an underdog in that football game.
03:48And even if they get that win, by the next round, they'll be on the road again.
03:56And you're now asking this team to go on a type of run that it's a little difficult to
04:02imagine in my eyes, especially, and it's true for Seattle, but it's true for San Fran.
04:08The thing if you lose this game is it does say a lot about you.
04:13A loss here says, yeah, you're probably not built for that run.
04:17I think that that's fair to say.
04:19It's fair to say, but I'll pose it a different way.
04:22If there is going to be a team potentially to go on the road, right, are you having more confidence
04:29in Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Kittle, Juwan Jennings, Pearsall, and that offense, right?
04:36Or Sam Darnold in a tough road environment?
04:40I'm just suggesting, I'm just throwing it out there.
04:43Yeah.
04:44You know, we sat up on this desk and we talked about Sam Darnold and we talked about the
04:50ghosts and we talked about the past, you know, weaknesses and him not stepping up and they're
04:56still there.
04:58They're still there.
04:59It's not like he hasn't, he's played turnover free in these games.
05:03Go to the Rams loss, right?
05:06Rams win.
05:07But that's my point.
05:08Yeah, yeah.
05:09They're still there.
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