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00:00I was thinking about this during the break after the conversation we were just having about Kyle Shanahan, loosely Brock Purdy in there as well.
00:08I think Kyle Shanahan has shown this year why I think he's the best coach in the game.
00:13And for me, our conversations go here often, I believe.
00:18You already know, if I ask you, am I a process guy or a results guy, you know the answer to this.
00:24Yeah, you process.
00:25Which is why the resume thing doesn't resonate for me as numero uno.
00:33Obviously, it matters.
00:34I hope nobody out here is like, yeah, I don't even care if you ever win a ring.
00:37Like, that's the thing.
00:38And he's going to have to do that at some point.
00:41But when I look at those names we're talking about, for my taste, again, particularly if you're talking about Philly, last week, Sirianni Hurts, whatever.
00:51You're falling into the trap of making it too much of just about the result, especially of one particular year, as opposed to the process.
01:05Kyle Shanahan's process, I find, to be very, very good.
01:10And I heard Richard Sherman say something this week that I also thought was great.
01:15Brock Purdy.
01:16He was talking about Brock Purdy and the end of games.
01:19And he goes, you know, when Brock Purdy goes to the playoffs, there's basically two things that happen.
01:28You give him the ball there at the end, and he either wins the game or leaves with the lead.
01:36That's it.
01:37That's it.
01:38Leaves with the lead, meaning he scores or they punt, they have the lead and they give it up.
01:42The Chiefs won in overtime.
01:44He left the field with the lead, and then he lost in overtime.
01:48And then the only other playoff loss he had, he lasted one drive and wasn't even playing in the fourth quarter.
01:53Other than that, it just wins.
01:56It just wins 24-7 at halftime.
01:58You just win.
01:59Rain down against Green Bay.
02:01Just win.
02:01Trailed against Philly and came back and won.
02:03Trailed against Philly.
02:0440-mile-an-hour wins.
02:05Win.
02:06It was 25.
02:07It wasn't 40.
02:0935.
02:10No.
02:10As we get further away from the game, it was 70-8-mile-an-hour wins.
02:15You could just say it was windy.
02:17He played great.
02:17You don't need to lionize the performance by exaggerating the wind.
02:22I am telling you what the forecast was going in, and what they said was 30-40-mile-an-hour gusts.
02:29I'm telling you what the actual reports were, and the flags were fluttering a bit.
02:33I wouldn't say that it was a torrent.
02:36And in the fourth quarter, they had the wind.
02:38So that was Shanahan's genius.
02:39That's true.
02:40That is accurate.
02:42And Jawan Jennings threw as many touchdown passes as he did.
02:45That's also true.
02:47It's also true.
02:48Yeah.
02:48Anyway, but no.
02:49Again, his observation, and I think it's an interesting one.
02:53This guy's played seven playoff games.
02:55One of his losses, he left about five minutes into the game.
02:59The other playoff loss was an overtime against an all-time great, and he left with the lead.
03:04The other five are all wins.
03:05And in many of them, he trailed at certain points of the second half.
03:10So, you know, like when you enter in injury and age and all for the parties involved, I mean, I'd love to hear from some people.
03:22Well, Josh Allen and Sean McDermott is a fair answer.
03:25I just think the gap between McDermott and Shanahan is large.
03:28Yeah, I don't think it's that large.
03:30I do.
03:30But I mean...
03:30You know, I think that, again, if you want to talk about the entire construct of a team, what the Niners have done roster-wise, coaching staff-wise, is superior to what Buffalo's done.
03:41Buffalo's team, in general, has not been as talented as the Niners, and we could go position by position on all the rest of it.
03:48I don't know how many Hall of Famers Buffalo has on their team.
03:51They certainly have.
03:52They have a huge talent edge at the most important position on the field.
03:55Right, but do they have another Hall of Famer on their team?
03:58The Niners have four, if not five, likely guys going to the Hall of Fame.
04:01I don't know.
04:02I mean, sometimes you almost answer that.
04:04It's a little bit like the Warriors.
04:05It's like, if you already know that they're going to the Hall of Fame, I could also call them old.
04:09It doesn't matter if you're old, if you're still at that Hall of Fame level.
04:12Trent Williams is 37, and he still is one of the five best left tackles in football.
04:17I mean, you said the other day that he's on one leg right now.
04:20And he was awesome on one leg against Philadelphia.
04:22Yeah, I mean, that's...
04:23Sure.
04:23I'm not an expert on the future awards of the linemen for Buffalo.
04:32But, yeah, I don't think they've done a great job of surrounding Josh Allen.
04:36I don't.
04:37Agreed.
04:37I mean, James Cook is a great running back, and they're wide receivers.
04:41A couple of them got hurt ACLs over the weekend, and now you go in with Khalil Shakir and a bunch of question marks.
04:47They have one of the best left tackles in the game, too, in Deion Dawkins.
04:50Yeah, they've got two good tight ends, and quite frankly, if we're going to rip their receiving core somewhere along the road,
04:57the coach and front office have to be accountable for that the same way Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch are when they make a miss.
05:04Keon Coleman was an early second-round draft pick when they knew they needed a receiver, and he's a mess.
05:11Right.
05:12He's a complete mess, and they were the ones who traded for Stephon Diggs, who is, checks notes, a mess.
05:18Right.
05:18He's a very good player.
05:20He might be in jail in a couple months, but he...
05:23Now, is that a Sean McDermott production?
05:25I don't know.
05:26He's obviously, like, he's got a voice in the room.
05:30Does he not?
05:31Depends on the organization.
05:32I don't know Buffalo well enough to know how it works.
05:34I know here, they hired Shanahan, who hired John Lynch.
05:38And so, when Shanahan's like, that's my guy, that automatically made it so they were going to work together.
05:43And Shanahan probably has the last say on offensive players.
05:46There's no question he does.
05:48I don't know the Buffalo coaching staff inside and out, but I know this staff has a defensive coordinator, former head coach,
05:55defensive assistant, former head coach, offensive coordinator, about to get a job somewhere else as an offensive coordinator.
06:01This is a super talented coaching staff.
06:03But that's also chicken and the egg.
06:05Why is Robert Sala a former head coach?
06:07I could argue because he's coaching a lot.
06:09Because he was here.
06:10He was coaching alongside Kyle Shanahan and D'Amico Ryans.
06:14And why, the other thing is, why do these guys with great resumes, why do they all come here after their head coaches?
06:22Because it's a great organization, and Kyle Shanahan's a great guy to coach with.
06:26It's a rehab facility.
06:27Right.
06:28It is.
06:29If you're a quarterback, Sam Darnold, Mac Jones, if you're a coach who just lost his head coaching gig, the Niners are a rehab facility.
06:38They will rehab your career.
06:40And sometimes they'll do it in nine months, Robert.
06:43Well, they do it with quarterbacks, too.
06:44No question.
06:45Sam Darnold and now Mac Jones.
06:47Yeah, I just said that.
06:48Yeah, I thought you were just talking about the coaches, because they rehab the coaches, and then even, I mean, Steve Wilkes, he got another job, and he'll get another job next year, because that's what he does.
06:57Every year he gets a new job.
06:58But, yeah, quarterbacks and coaches and even players sometimes, yes.
07:02But you go to Buffalo, and they don't have nearly the same amount of talent on their team, and maybe it's a GM problem, and you want to talk about injuries.
07:09I just glanced at their injury report for the game tomorrow, and they've got 15 guys on the injured list.
07:14Yeah, their defense has gone through a lot.
07:17There's no question.
07:17And the title you're referring to, Dalton Kincaid, he looks like he's going to be out again.
07:20Yeah.
07:21And Knox.
07:21A couple of receivers.
07:22Knox is good, too, though.
07:23Yeah.
07:24Yeah.
07:24But it just, it's also situational, and I look at, you know, Buffalo and Sean McDermott, if they lose, will he survive?
07:32Because it has been nine years.
07:33Probably.
07:34You would think.
07:35I would think.
07:36I mean, John Harbaugh lost his gig.
07:37Mike Tomlin, after 19 years, lost his gig.
07:39The other thing to say about the McDermott situation that is not applicable to Kyle Shanahan is Sean McDermott has largely,
07:47during those nine years that you're talking about when he keeps going to the playoffs,
07:50they've been in the worst division in football.
07:52They're like, those are the three teams, are not always but often a total hot mess, and that's about to change.
07:59And so McDermott, I think the new pressure there is the Patriots are here.
08:03The Patriots are here.
08:04They've got a wonderful young quarterback and a good coach, and now you have an annual battle to see if you can just go to the playoffs every year.
08:13And this year they did not.
08:14They're a wild card team.
08:15Yep.
08:15And now they've got to do it on the road because they couldn't beat the Patriots.
08:17Kyle Shanahan's had to deal with McVay the whole time, varying levels of Seahawks success, but plenty of it during his time.
08:26In Arizona.
08:26The Cardinals are the Cardinals, right?
08:27Every division usually has got somebody who stinks.
08:30But no doubt, Kyle's had a harder division to deal with than McDermott.
08:35Matt in Los Altos here on Willard and Dibs.
08:37Hey, Matt, what's up?
08:39Hey, guys.
08:40How you doing?
08:41We're good.
08:41Good.
08:42Great conversation.
08:46I was just thinking about it as I was driving along how something that needs to be brought into this is the defensive coordinator.
08:55Because when I think about Andy Reid, like he's a great offensive mind, but he's had Steve Spagnuolo all these years.
09:02And to have that consistency on the defensive side of the ball, I think is huge.
09:06I mean, look what Kyle's had on the defensive side of the ball.
09:09So I think that that's something I just want to see what you guys thought about that.
09:13Well, thanks, Matt.
09:15I bet you'll agree with me on this, Dibs.
09:17I mean, everything is always complimentary.
09:19And everything is always chicken and the egg.
09:21You know what I mean?
09:22But the cool thing about Kyle is, and I think this is another to a degree feather in his cap,
09:28I don't think just anybody can be his defensive coordinator.
09:31Kyle, like, if you want to go over the last three years and say,
09:35what's the worst decision that Kyle Shanahan made?
09:39Most people will be like, you didn't know the overtime rule.
09:42That's right.
09:43And I'll, boy, I'd love to do a documentary on that someday and find out what he actually knew,
09:48what he actually told the team, what he was actually thinking.
09:51For some reason, we've never really gotten to the bottom of that.
09:54But to me.
09:55I think what I've heard is that he thought the defense was tired.
09:59So forget the overtime rules.
10:01Your D was tired, so you wanted to give him a break.
10:03Right.
10:03Which I think is, it's a viable reason to take the ball.
10:06Yeah.
10:07And, you know, okay.
10:08He thought his team would go down and get a touchdown.
10:10And they damn near did.
10:11But they ended up with a field goal.
10:13And okay.
10:14But anyway, I think right alongside that is the elevation of Nick Sorensen.
10:19That, like, and quite frankly, the Steve Wilkes thing,
10:22I think Steve's a good coach, but it was a bad fit.
10:24He's kind of the Jonathan Kaminga of the 49ers organization.
10:28A couple of years ago, I guess.
10:30I think it's a little unfair when you look at the year.
10:32And maybe it wasn't a great fit, but they were third in defense.
10:36I'm talking about what they thought.
10:37Right.
10:37It's not like, I mean, all I know is you had certain players chirping.
10:43You had Kyle selling them out at a press conference.
10:47And you had him dismissed the second season was over.
10:52After finishing third in points allowed in the league.
10:55That tells you a lot about the fit.
10:57But the defense was awesome.
10:59The next year, they were 29th in points allowed.
11:02Yeah.
11:02They went to the Super Bowl.
11:03Like, they were right.
11:04So, again, Steve Wilkes is a really good coach.
11:07For whatever reason, they thought he was a bad fit.
11:11And then they replaced him inadequately with Nick Sorensen.
11:15But when Kyle is paired with someone who is really good, and then obviously they've got the players to back it up, whether it's Robert Sala, D'Amico Ryans, you're looking at something that's really, really successful.
11:29And I wonder if Gus Bradley will be next up if Robert Sala gets a job this offseason.
11:34That's the leader in the clubhouse, I would think.
11:37And I'd be pretty optimistic on that.
11:39Gus Bradley's a pretty good coach.
11:41Maybe Sala takes him with him.
11:42Maybe.
11:43Depending on where he lands and what's already there and what scheme they run and the rest of it.
11:48D'Amico's year, 2022, they were number one in points allowed.
11:52And then D'Amico got a head coaching job.
11:54Then you get Steve Wilkes.
11:55You were third.
11:56He's gone.
11:57Sorensen, 29th.
11:58He's gone.
11:59Sala this year.
12:00They were 13th in points allowed.
12:01And you look at that and you go, eh.
12:03But then you realize who they were without.
12:05And you go, damn.
12:05Damn.
12:06That's a good year.
12:06Yep.
12:07Yep.
12:07I'm considering a bunch of youngsters and then the law firm of Kendrickson Wallow popping in and, you know, guys in and out all year.
12:14I'd also like to point out that, for example, let's see, four, so almost a quarter of your season.
12:20One goes against the two other best records in the NFC, in Seattle and the Rams.
12:27And, oh, by the way, I'm just looking at points scored this year in the NFC.
12:30The Rams were number one and the Seahawks were number two.
12:36There you go.
12:37So the top two scoring teams in the entire NFC are a quarter of your season.
12:43And you're the defensive coordinator.
12:45And a lot of those games, I know week one, you had them both.
12:48Week four or five, whenever they played the Rams, you still had Fred.
12:53But you're doing a lot of playing against them without your two foundational players.
12:57And those are the metrics that you came up with.
12:59He's done a phenomenal job.
13:00Yep.
13:00Yep.
13:00You also faced offenses 27, 28, 30, and 31.
13:05No doubt.
13:05So that was for your games as well.
13:07And that's a fair retort.
13:09And so you mix that all into the blender.
13:12Yep.
13:12And you come up with what?
13:13Like, I think he's done an unbelievable job this year.
13:17Yes.
13:17And you come up with what the reality is against those teams.
13:20Like, the opener against Seattle, you played well enough to hold them to 13.
13:25Yeah, they might have left a little bit out there.
13:27But you held them to 13.
13:28You held them to 13 again.
13:30And that was two different defenses.
13:32You held them to 13 with your guys.
13:34Yep.
13:34And then you didn't have your guys, your number one pick, Bosa and Warner.
13:38And you held them to 13 again.
13:40I just think that both of these guys, you know, Shanahan and Salah, not only have they
13:44done a great job this year, I think that they've shown kind of year in and year out with the
13:4849ers that their process is really good.
13:52Nobody's perfect.
13:53It's not all the good play calls and all of that.
13:55Not everything works.
13:56Sometimes you go for it on fourth down with a dumb play call.
13:58I get all that.
14:00They did that last time they played Seattle.
14:02I can have frustrations with the coaches coming out of any particular game.
14:07But I think overall, you look at these two guys and I think their process is wonderful.
14:13I think their reputation is wonderful.
14:16I think players want to play for these guys.
14:18I think they feel like it's a special place.
14:20And maybe that, and this is where Grandy and Lucas get really mad.
14:24They did not like the show that we did last week about how excited we are that the Niners
14:29were even in the playoffs.
14:30And Grandy brought it up again today.
14:33And so it's a big scab there.
14:34I'm going to pick at it a little bit.
14:37It's not, hey, let's all have cheese and crackers.
14:41It's amazing that we're here.
14:43But one of the things I love about this arrival, however they play tomorrow, this arrival, I
14:53believe, has allowed both of these coaches to get the full-blown appreciation from their
15:01fan base that they deserve.
15:03And so if you and I had the conversation we're having right now, if we did this six months
15:08ago, we're getting pelted with tomatoes on the way to the car, probably Shanahan's the
15:14best coach in the game.
15:15Shut up with all the people who've won a ring and that choking dog hasn't.
15:20But you can have it today.
15:22We don't sound stupid today.
15:23Some of you think we do, but that's just sports radio.
15:25Less Homer-ish when you look at the context of what's happened.
15:29Because the context is you lost a lot of guys, not only guys, but stars.
15:33And yet you navigated it.
15:35You won the games you were supposed to.
15:36You stole a couple that look better now, LA and Seattle.
15:40No doubt.
15:40No doubt.
15:41And then, and then you went to the hated Philadelphia.
15:45It's a big game.
15:46And you beat the Eagles.
15:47It's a big game.
15:48If you go to Philly and you lose, injuries, schminjeries, whatever, win a game, Shanahan.
15:53That's the one you got to have.
15:54Philly was weak because Philly would go to Seattle and they would get rolled, no doubt.
15:58But they went there and they won the thing.
16:00Yep.
16:01And so now eight teams are left and your boy's one of them.
16:04Narrative changer.
16:05Yeah, for sure.
16:06Narrative changer.
16:06It's kind of a hater killer.
16:08And if you want to come out and like the fire Shanahan crew.
16:11That's what I love.
16:12I love that you just said that.
16:15That's my favorite.
16:16The hater killer.
16:16It's my favorite place to be.
16:18I love living in a space.
16:21I want my house to be this way.
16:23My place of work.
16:24My city.
16:25Wherever we are.
16:26All of the haters.
16:29All of the haters.
16:29Yep.
16:31Quiet.
16:33It's what you are.
16:34You're a hater.
16:35That's it.
16:36It does not mean I'm not taking anyone's ability to rip that play call and this decision and that interception.
16:45Mark, you out here sounding like a hater.
16:46Actually, not really.
16:48You know?
16:50That's what I...
16:50Like, there's so many freaking things and people in this world to criticize.
16:56Can we prop up the good ones?
17:00Just a little bit.
17:01Can we prop up the good ones?
17:02This Kyle Shanahan, I just want to let y'all know, he's been here the whole time.
17:12He's been here the whole time.
17:14But it's not until you prove it that the haters get silenced.
17:18And he's proven it at times.
17:20But I think that this season is a unique case of, okay, schedule Sam.
17:25We're going to schedule Sam it up.
17:26And I did it.
17:27Their opponents coming into the year, last year's record, had a winning percentage of 4-10.
17:31Again, the schedule's easy.
17:33Oh, you go through and, oh my God, Indy's amazing.
17:35You caught them when they were down.
17:37Carolina, they're actually good.
17:39Chicago, are you kidding me?
17:40So schedule Sam had to step back because the Rams were amazing.
17:44Seattle was better than he thought.
17:46Chicago was really good.
17:48So your schedule turned out to be almost a 500 schedule of teams that you would face.
17:52Yeah.
17:53So that was one thing.
17:54And then injuries, oh, I mean, you can't lose Nick and Fred.
17:58And you're, yeah, I mean, season's over.
18:00You lost Brock?
18:01I mean, season's over.
18:02George.
18:02You go 12-5 and you lose George at the end and all the adversity.
18:06And yet you continue to just green check, green check, green check.
18:09And then you beat Philly.
18:10So even if you're a Shanna hater, they're 13-5 with a beleaguered roster and a real puncher's
18:16chance tomorrow.
18:17Tough to hate.
18:18I'm cruising around earlier today.
18:20I was driving around running some errands and an old timer calls Stiney and Goo.
18:25And he introduced himself as such.
18:27So I'm not, like, taking a shot.
18:28I think he was 71 years old.
18:30And he goes, I just want to let you guys know, like, I just, through the years, I do not like
18:38Kyle Shanahan.
18:38I've had so many problems with Kyle Shanahan.
18:42And then he goes, but now I like him.
18:46That's great.
18:47He'd been here all along.
18:50As imperfect as he is, because he's a human being.
18:53But he's been here the whole time.
18:57I just, man.
18:58Coaches do get better, though.
19:00Of course.
19:00As do organizations.
19:03Y'all remember what they were when he arrived.
19:05Right.
19:05Dumpster fire.
19:06And, I mean, you could say that he's getting better at drafting.
19:09I could pull out my father-in-law's yellow legal pad list of first three-round picks,
19:14hits and misses, and the rest of it.
19:15I won't, because I do think he's gotten better at drafting.
19:19And this year, in particular, he brought Robert Sala back.
19:23And I know he said, go ahead, Bob.
19:25Why don't you tell me?
19:26Do your thing.
19:26Tell me who you want.
19:27And he went, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
19:29And so far, the jury's not out or in, but there's some really good-looking guys in that.
19:33There's no doubt.
19:34There's been some hits.
19:35And I also think whenever you look at a team and drafting, this is just the nature of fans.
19:40You either look at all the misses or you look at all the hits.
19:43I mean, sure, the Niners have had all kinds of bad draft picks.
19:47Yet, on the other hand, people will go, but they got all those future Hall of Famers on the team,
19:52many of whom they drafted.
19:54Like, Warner, Bosa, Kittle.
19:55If we're going to do all this, like, you've got to get credit for that, don't you, Purdy, in the seventh round?
20:00Are you kidding me?
20:01And you get credit for going out and getting McCaffrey for a second, third, fourth, and fifth.
20:05And for getting Trent Williams off the couch.
20:08Like, for me, you get as much credit for that as you do drafting.
20:10As you should.
20:11Christian in the hate on Wither and Dibs.
20:13Hey, Christian, thanks for calling.
20:16Yo, yo, Willie, Danny, what up?
20:18What is up?
20:18What's going on, guys?
20:22Yeah, I wanted to touch on the run game, but something I wanted to bring up.
20:28Sometimes I catch a guy's show through the Odyssey app,
20:31and last night I was listening to your show from Wednesday,
20:36and I believe you posed a question about fans who were too young to truly witness the last Niner Super Bowl.
20:43Yep, yep, yep.
20:44You remember that?
20:45Yeah, you remember that?
20:46Sure do, yeah.
20:47I was born in 95, so I'm 30 years old.
20:53But uniquely to me, I think as opposed to probably a lot of people that listen,
20:56I grew up in Stockton, so my favorite basketball team by default was the Sacramento Kings, unfortunately.
21:03And my baseball team was the Oakland A's.
21:07So I've never witnessed a championship in my 30 years of being a pretty committed sports fan.
21:12And I remember some of my earliest memories were the training camp that the Niners used to run at the University of the Pacific in the late 90s.
21:22And just a lot of family memories are surrounded by the Niners.
21:26So I'm going to drive down to Stockton this weekend, and I'll be watching with them.
21:30And it kind of got me thinking, like, I mean, if they got it done this year with this team, you know,
21:35after all the heartbreaks, Sharks in 2016, Niners 2012, 2020, 2023, or sorry, 2020, 2023.
21:42I mean, if they get it done with this team, I'm crying tears of tequila for the rest of 2026.
21:48I don't care what anyone says.
21:50You should.
21:51Kristen, you should.
21:52That's exactly the correct way to react when you get your long – Kristen, thank you so much.
21:57Tequila tears.
21:58Your long-awaited first I'm an adult championship, you know?
22:05Like, I mean, I don't know how you felt about the Niners in the 80s.
22:10Like, I loved it all, but I was still relatively young.
22:14So you don't have the war scars that make you want to cry when those things happen.
22:19But the Warriors and Giants, it was just wait, wait, wait, disaster, disaster, disaster.
22:24So, yeah, 2010 Giants, alligator tears.
22:28Yeah, no doubt.
22:29Just, like, ugly tears is what they are.
22:31Just blubbering and wailing.
22:33I was 12 – no, 13 when the Niners won it, so I hadn't been yet a long-suffering fan.
22:40But your understanding of the Niners was they stunk.
22:44It was Steve DeBerg and O.J. Simpson.
22:47Yeah.
22:47And I remember when they got O.J., it was like, yeah, we got O.J.
22:50And it's like, oh, he's broken.
22:52He was old.
22:52He was old and he was broken and they stunk.
22:54And then 82 happened.
22:56It was like, oh, my God.
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