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Willard and Dibs discuss their optimism for the 49ers season despite all the injury concerns during training camp.
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00:00Thank you, 925, for texting in.
00:02Says, hugely optimistic about this year.
00:05Seattle and the Rams got better, but we won 12 games with a less talented team.
00:11By the way, I think the Rams got better.
00:12I don't know that Seattle, did Seattle get better?
00:15Look, all of this is on paper, but I'd argue they did not.
00:19Had some departures from that defense that was so great,
00:23one of which is, who's my guy, Kobe, I'm blanking on his last name in Chicago.
00:28Kobe Bryant?
00:29Yeah, Kobe Bryant, I don't know why I would forget that last name,
00:32but yeah, Kobe Bryant, who is now out for the majority of the season with the Bears,
00:37but he's gone, Kenneth Walker is gone.
00:40I don't know who's running the ball for Seattle.
00:43I don't know that Seattle got better, but we'll see.
00:45It's just tough to tell at this point.
00:47I was looking earlier at the Jimmy Shapiro.
00:50He's one of these reps for an offshore book, and he put out, or they put out, rather,
00:55the win totals for just the games inside the NFC West.
01:00The Rams and the Seahawks are at four, so the over-unders, will they win four of the six
01:05divisional games?
01:06The Niners are at three and a half.
01:07So the odds makers are telling you that those top three are very tightly bunched,
01:12and it could come down to what it did last year, which is a Jake Tonjes play, a blown
01:18fourth down by the Rams with the Niners snuffed, and that's two of their 12 wins right there.
01:23That's a tough number, three and a half.
01:25I mean, it was grandy, I think, last week.
01:27You said you'd be happy with three and three, right?
01:31Yeah.
01:31You say that?
01:32But, and I get it, everybody just assumes that Arizona's going to go 0-6 in the division.
01:37I bet they won't.
01:39But everybody's just counting those as, like, two wins on the baseline, and then it's like,
01:43what can you do with those other four games?
01:45Can you split them?
01:49And, you know, but at three and a half, that's a tough number.
01:53It's a tall order.
01:54It is.
01:55No question.
01:55It's a tall order.
01:56Well, because you're not, like, you're not going to all go 5-1 against, you know, in the division.
02:01I don't even know if that's possible, right?
02:02I don't think it is.
02:03Right?
02:03I think it is.
02:04If Arizona went 0-6 and you all went 5-1, that's not enough wins and losses to go around.
02:09So, somebody's going to disappoint in that.
02:12I was looking at the schedule earlier, and I do think that maybe it's the second time you play the
02:17Seahawks.
02:18They're coming off a bye.
02:19There's a couple of spots in there that make this opener against the Rams so, so important.
02:25Like, if you can steal that one, well, yeah, now you have a good chance to go 4-2.
02:29I mean, all the division games are important.
02:31This one's got so many weird quirks to it, and we sit here on August 11th, super concerned about injury
02:39and whatnot.
02:40But, yeah, the Rams, I mean, maybe.
02:42How would it change your thought process just if I said Puka's not playing?
02:47How would that change the line, I wonder, in this football game?
02:51I think a point, I know that the quarterback is the one that really moves the line a lot.
02:55But, you know, Puka Nakua being potentially out, that would maybe move it from 3-1⁄2 to 2-1⁄2.
03:01I think that's where it sits right now, 3-1⁄2.
03:03So, it would be not a huge move, but it would certainly help.
03:07No doubt.
03:07That's a big deal.
03:08Like, he's the scariest dude on their offense, don't you think?
03:11Absolutely.
03:12I mean, other than that.
03:13The quarterbacks are a different deal.
03:16But, that's the scariest dude on their offense, Puka Nakua.
03:22Still a good football team without him.
03:25Same way I think the 49ers are still a good team without, you know, one of their receivers.
03:29Right.
03:30Not comparing any of their receivers to Puka Nakua.
03:32But, yeah, like, these teams are all, I don't know, we go, oh, how are they going to handle the
03:38Seahawks and the Rams?
03:39I do think that, you know, the Seahawks and the Rams need to handle the 49ers, too.
03:43All three of these teams, they're going to be a pill to play, just like they were last year.
03:51So, the Niners will be in these games, I believe, you know.
03:56I mean, they were last year with the exception of the NFC Divisional game.
04:00The NFC Divisional game.
04:01Which they weren't really in that game.
04:02That thing got away from them so fast, and it was just like whiz-bang, and it's over.
04:07But, I'm looking at the schedule, and Seattle, when Seattle comes here, they actually are off their bye.
04:13So, that becomes a little bit of a tougher spot for the 49ers, because, you know, Seattle will have that
04:18extra seven days of rest.
04:20That's why I think about this opener in Australia.
04:23Puka or no Puka.
04:25Kittle or no Kittle.
04:26It's a neutral game.
04:27And I'm also fascinated, and I'm glad that you said that earlier, because when Stoddy was saying that, Niners are
04:33going eight days early.
04:34Rams are going about 36 hours early.
04:37What's the better approach?
04:38Not that the game ultimately will decide what the better approach is, but it certainly is going to be a
04:43part of it.
04:44The lovely Christy was listening to the crossover.
04:46She said, jet lag is five days.
04:48And I was unaware that it was that defined.
04:51I don't know if it's the same for every human being.
04:54I can't feel like jet lag affects a six-year-old the same way it would affect a 60-year
04:58-old, but what the hell do I know?
05:00But she says jet lag is five days.
05:02But you want to know what my perception is?
05:05It doesn't, like, does it matter?
05:07Jet lag on the back end, does it matter when you got there?
05:11I would imagine if it's five days, it's five days.
05:16Everybody's coming home right after the game.
05:18Like, that would be the really funny one.
05:20The Rams are coming home right after the game.
05:22The Niners are waiting eight days.
05:23No, they're all going to go straight home after the football game.
05:28And I would imagine all of them will feel like crap when they get here.
05:31They'll have just played a football game and gained a day.
05:37They'll have just played on a Friday, and then they'll get home on Friday, and they'll, like, we already did
05:41Friday.
05:42Right.
05:42Like, no, no, no, it's Friday now.
05:44Let's do it again.
05:44Yeah, and they'll be super confused, and they'll go to bed.
05:47And by the time the practice week starts the next week on Wednesday, I would expect people in their 20s
05:52and 30s to be okay.
05:55Right.
05:55Well, by the time that your boy Scott Hanson, seven hours Sunday morning at 10, so maybe you would have,
06:02like, 36 hours of, like, oh, my God, where am I?
06:05Am I still down under?
06:07And by the time you fight through Friday and Saturday's a little bit off the schedule and then Sunday, it's
06:13like, yeah, we're doing week one.
06:14I got good news on Scott.
06:17He's coming on the show?
06:19Did you cajole him into doing another personal greeting for a family member?
06:24It's Uncle Scott from Sunday.
06:26He's just the best.
06:28He's the best.
06:29I have this quick aside, if I may.
06:32I have such a thing for people who just flippin' respond.
06:40That's it.
06:41And I have such an opposite thing for people who don't.
06:45Like, I would rather, for example, if I reach out to you and I'm like, hey, would you come on
06:53the show?
06:54And you don't want to come on the show.
06:56I would rather you respond with a middle finger emoji than not respond at all.
07:03I really would.
07:04Then I know where you stand.
07:06Then I know how you feel.
07:07It's Uncle Scott from Sundays.
07:10And then we can move on.
07:11We got a lot of touchdowns to watch together.
07:14Scott bats 1,000 plus.
07:16Really?
07:17He.
07:18OPS plus?
07:19One hundo.
07:20He will never not respond.
07:22And oh, by the way, above and beyond.
07:24And so I got to go through his, you know, I got to go through his people.
07:30But the process is underway.
07:32Let's just put it that way.
07:33I love it.
07:33And I mean, it's good that you got started early because we have.
07:37It's four weeks from this Sunday, I believe.
07:40We're in it all like the full red zone is going to be popping off.
07:44So that's exciting.
07:45And just interesting about the Niners.
07:47So if they leave Wednesday, September 2nd, which is eight days before the game.
07:52And the day before the summit.
07:55But go ahead.
07:56More on that in a second.
07:56I'm sure that they can catch it in the air because they will be in the air.
08:00They land on Friday.
08:02If they fly at 10 or 5 p.m., you land Friday morning at 6.
08:06So Thursday never happened.
08:08So you land on Friday and it's like, you know, you try to acclimate and Saturday and then Sunday and
08:12then you get into practice.
08:13And I do think that that it makes more sense to me that that is the buildup on the front
08:18end.
08:18But on the way home.
08:20So you leave on Friday.
08:21And like you said, you get back on Friday and now you're trying to put the pieces back together.
08:27But you've got nine days.
08:28Well, here's the way I look at it.
08:30And if anybody ever went to college or whatever, then you know what I'm about to say.
08:34Did you ever pull an all-nighter?
08:36Yeah.
08:36Many, many times.
08:38Did it hit you the next day?
08:39Not usually.
08:40When does it hit you?
08:41Day after.
08:42There you go.
08:42I think that is a very simplistic way of explaining what the Rams are trying to do.
08:48The Rams are like, let's just show up.
08:51And we'll be on adrenaline.
08:53And we'll be in Australia.
08:58And the Niners are going to be here.
09:00And we're going to start our season and just go play.
09:03And then it will hit us like a truck the following day.
09:08But whatever.
09:09We'll be on a plane back home.
09:12We'll rediscover the day that we lost in the air.
09:14And we'll go to bed.
09:16Stay in bed for two days if you want.
09:18I think that's the basic concept of what they're saying they're going to try to do.
09:23I don't know.
09:24It sounds nuts to me.
09:26They do have the benefit of an extra day because they play Monday night in week two at home.
09:32So they do.
09:33That's a little bit of a wrinkle.
09:35I don't know if 24 hours makes all the difference in how you want to approach it.
09:38It seems like they approach it this way with intentionality because they think that this is the best way to
09:43do it on the front end.
09:44You know, like you said, adrenaline, you won't get adjusted.
09:47We're going to land and we're going to go through a walkthrough and a couple of meals and boom, we're
09:51going to play football.
09:51And then the way home, you do have that extra day.
09:54So perhaps the calculation is like, okay, even if it takes us three or four days for you to, you
09:59know, get re-acclimated to California, we still have another four or five days until our game.
10:04It's going to be a big talking point.
10:06Yep.
10:06And it's super, I don't know.
10:08I find it interesting.
10:09Maybe that people think it's, it's boring, but I think that's super weird, quite frankly.
10:15I don't know, like even just for a long time now in my life, I, I think travel strategy is
10:24huge.
10:24You and I have talked about this big, big fans of the Saturday return from your vacation.
10:31Do not return when you've got to work the next day.
10:35Like that's huge.
10:37I think that's so good.
10:39Especially with kids.
10:40Yeah.
10:40You know, or whatever.
10:42But yes, but by the time you get home and you get everybody back and now you're doing laundry and
10:46you're shopping and then it's like, oh my God, I got to be at work in like nine hours.
10:50No good.
10:51No good.
10:52So a travel strategy is kind of something that I, I enjoy thinking about.
10:57And this one is really weird and kind of intensely different.
11:01Yeah.
11:02And especially when you're dealing with like this level of exertion and this level of pressure, like this is an
11:08NFL regular season game.
11:10You get 17 of them.
11:11So you can't just be, oh, well, we probably should have flown earlier.
11:15We were sluggish.
11:16My bad.
11:17No, it's one of 17.
11:18Like the stakes are higher than possible.
11:21And I think about my trip to New Zealand where, yeah, the first day I was a little groggy and
11:26we're doing what we were doing.
11:27And by day two, you're feeling better.
11:29And day three, you're feeling better.
11:30But I didn't have to go out there and chase Brock Purdy or block Miles Garrett.
11:35888-957-9570 is the number.
11:39Feeling optimistic, feeling pessimistic about the 49ers with where they sit right now.
11:44Now, this feels like a pessimistic day, mainly because Kyle Shanahan said this in front of a microphone about Nick
11:51Bosa.
11:52Just soreness, tendinitis.
11:53It's a pretty normal thing with ACLs.
11:56You know, just talking to our guys, they say it happens to about 90% of the guys we've had.
11:59So it's a normal thing.
12:00And so we've got to be smart here for, you know, week to week.
12:02But no concerns about them being any more than that.
12:05Is there anything funny going on here?
12:08I mean.
12:08Like a clown?
12:09No, not funny like a clown.
12:11But like, I don't know.
12:12I've heard the stuff out there where they're suggesting maybe this has got some hold-in features to it.
12:19Contractually related.
12:21For a second there, the 49ers were like, Nick Bosa just has a little bit of soreness.
12:26But we're not going to put a label on it.
12:28And then when he didn't come out for three, four, five straight days.
12:31And he's missing a joint practice.
12:33Now Kyle's able to put a label on it.
12:35And it's tendinitis.
12:36But, oh, by the way, almost everybody experiences this, so they say, with ACLs.
12:43So, I don't know.
12:45Why not say that right away then?
12:47If it's that much of a no big deal, why not say that right away when he first started missing
12:55practices a few days ago?
12:56Maybe because you're waiting to see if it lingers and becomes an actual thing.
12:59If you just miss one day, well, it's just one day.
13:02Maybe it's a vet day or it's early in camp.
13:04You don't really bat an eye.
13:06But if you start stacking missed days, then it becomes more of a talking point.
13:10And I guess it could be some sort of a contract thing.
13:14I'm just looking at his deal here.
13:16And, you know, a lot of his guaranteed money goes away at the end of this year.
13:19And so, I'm sure he'd love that fresh money that all these guys want to get.
13:24They have an out at the end of this year, but the dead cap is $50 million.
13:28So, I don't think that they're going to just cut ties.
13:31But if you're Nick Bosa, you probably want to get some of that fresh money, you know, pumped back into
13:36the deal.
13:38Shanahan was asked if there's any concern about McCaffrey, who's sitting out right now with a little tightness.
13:43No.
13:44My concern would be him.
13:45Toughen through tightness like a lot of people do.
13:47And then hurting something bad and pulling something, which then it could be a month.
13:51So, that would be our concern.
13:52So, once we hear him talking a certain way, Christian's a guy who needs to get prepared for week one.
13:56But also, we're pretty confident in what he's done before this.
13:59We're confident in what he's done in these two weeks.
14:00And we just want to make sure that we don't make it something to be concerned about.
14:03Okay.
14:03I have a little bit of a different take here.
14:06I've decided that I have concern with the word concern.
14:12This comes up every single time Kyle Shanahan speaks.
14:15And it's the way, and I get it.
14:17It's questionable.
14:19Questionable concern.
14:20Right.
14:20So, this is the way reporters try, and they're doing it right.
14:24They're trying to assess what's going on with a 49er injury.
14:29And they keep asking, is there concern?
14:33And then, if they can't get a straight answer there, they'll go, what's your level of concern?
14:39Questionable.
14:40And Kyle seems to always answer that he's not concerned.
14:45And maybe he's not lying.
14:48Because concern is an emotion.
14:51To the point Stein was making over the crossover.
14:54Like, why would I be concerned about it?
14:57It either is or it isn't.
14:59And if someone's out, we're going to have to find somebody else to be the next guy up.
15:04So, am I concerned?
15:05No.
15:05I'm not concerned.
15:06My point is, I think reporters and fans, we believe that that word is going to give us a clue
15:13into how hurt someone is.
15:16I don't know if that's the game that Kyle is playing.
15:18He never plays that game.
15:20He plays the game of, I show up to the facility and I look around and see who is able
15:25to play football for me.
15:27And if it's a Sunday and we have a game and stuff, then I'm going to go ahead and go
15:30forward with those 46 guys.
15:32And if you can't play, well, yeah, I feel for you as a human being.
15:35I'm your coach.
15:36I'm not completely ice cold.
15:38But I don't think that Kyle Shanahan especially, but any NFL coach, you have to approach it as a zero
15:44-sum game.
15:45Where you have a game and you have these 46 guys.
15:48How do I make these 46 guys go out there and be better than their 46 guys?
15:53And so, the whole idea of concern.
15:55Are you concerned about Nick Bosa being ready for the opener in Australia in 30 days?
16:01Well, I mean.
16:02No.
16:03No?
16:04Like.
16:04Should I be?
16:05Exactly.
16:06I mean, no, he shouldn't be.
16:08I mean, I don't know.
16:09Are you concerned about being 88 and maybe having to wear adult undergarments?
16:15Hmm.
16:17Um.
16:18And yes, I went there, Grandy.
16:20Questionable.
16:21Questionable concern.
16:22Exactly.
16:23Questionable.
16:23I mean, like, I don't want to do that.
16:26No, but you're not.
16:27Possibly.
16:28Like, you're not worried about that right now.
16:30Well, but everybody's mind.
16:31Okay, this is great that you bring this up.
16:33It's a little dramatic.
16:34I know.
16:35Grandy didn't love it, but he's leaving on Thursday, so I don't care.
16:37But nobody wants to be in their 80s or 90s and be in pain.
16:42Nobody wants that.
16:43The other side to it is what you could hear when you asked me that question is, oh, I made
16:47it to 88.
16:48Right.
16:50Right.
16:50We navigated the 50s and the 60s and the 70s and most of the 80s somehow.
16:55Exactly.
16:56So are you feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the age 88?
17:01It depends on, you know, how it goes from here to there.
17:04But I guess that's my greater point where, you know, are you concerned about Nick Bosa
17:08and George Kittle and Mike L. Williams and, you know, Mike Evans?
17:13Are you concerned about them?
17:15I'm not concerned about anything.
17:16Right.
17:17Like, it's football.
17:19There's going to be injuries.
17:20I'm not sure how worry or concern does anything for them.
17:25And I know that that's like we're getting a little bit caught in the weeds here.
17:29I know that's not what people mean.
17:31They're trying to assess the risk level that's going on, how serious something is.
17:37But I don't know that Kyle Shanahan is playing the same game as the media.
17:41He does not like these media sessions.
17:44He openly says that.
17:46Like, yeah, over the weekend, he did his first one in months.
17:50And he couldn't wait to keep digging in about how much he hates doing it.
17:56He doesn't like these things.
17:58And if you don't like them, I would imagine you probably aren't bringing your best authentic self to them.
18:05So I don't, I'm not saying he's a liar, but he's not going to give anything that he doesn't need
18:12to give.
18:12So are you concerned?
18:14No.
18:15No, I'm not concerned.
18:16Because if he is concerned, well, then immediately we all think Kyle Shanahan's concerned about Nick Bosa's tendinitis.
18:23Sound the alarm.
18:24If Kyle's concerned, then I'm definitely concerned.
18:27This is a great point.
18:28Like, and I love trying to do this with press conferences.
18:31When people don't like an answer, okay, imagine the opposite answer.
18:35What happens?
18:36Is there any concern with Christian McCaffrey's tightness?
18:39Well, yeah.
18:41Oh, for crying out loud.
18:43Right.
18:43The day's over.
18:44How could there not be concerned?
18:45Well, no, but that's it.
18:47That's a five alarm fire if he says that.
18:51So I don't, I'm trying to think right now if he has ever said yes to that question in his
18:57career.
18:58Has he ever stood at a podium and been like, yes.
19:02Yes.
19:02I am very concerned right now.
19:04Probably if it was like a real bad injury where it's pretty obvious.
19:08Like, you know, somebody hurts their knee and you're waiting for the MRI and stuff, but.
19:13You know, someone should ask him, were you concerned when your head hit the windshield and, you know what I
19:22mean?
19:22Possibly.
19:23Then he would probably say yes.
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