00:00All right, continuing here on Willard and Dibs, 95-7 the game.
00:03The NFL season is open.
00:05The 49ers and Rams season has not quite gotten started, but it is about to, so let's do it.
00:11And one of the ways to celebrate that and to bring back on the River Islands guest line one of
00:15our absolute favorites.
00:17We got to do this every week for so long.
00:20Ladies and gentlemen, it's Peter King returning to 95-7 the game.
00:24How are you, Peter?
00:26I'm doing great, guys.
00:28Hey, I appreciate you having me on, and, yeah, we had some fun together back in the day.
00:32Oh, and we can have some more.
00:34I mean, we miss you, Peter.
00:35I mean, I'm going to speak for my partner and say we miss the weekly visits.
00:41Yeah, that was good.
00:43You know, it's interesting.
00:46I guess I'd call myself semi-retired because I just finished writing a book, and I find myself now,
00:54I watched the games with just as much interest as I had when I worked,
00:59only now I don't have to stay up until 4 o'clock in the morning to write about them,
01:04which is, believe me, it's a welcome change for me, so it's all good.
01:09I would imagine that that's kind of something that maybe, Peter, you didn't know necessarily if you were going to
01:16find.
01:17Like, it was work for all of these years.
01:18Did you sort of find that maybe you do, just as a person, enjoy this, maybe more than you thought?
01:26Well, I really, truly enjoy just watching games as a person who loves the sport
01:35and not necessarily rooting for a team.
01:39Now, I will say this.
01:40I root for some people who I met in the game over the years.
01:44I root for Andy Reid.
01:46Some, I root for, I root for, I kind of root for Kyle Shanahan.
01:52I kind of root for Brock Purdy.
01:54I mean, I root for people who I like.
01:58I root for Fred Warner.
02:00Peter King with us here on Willard and Dibs 95.7 The Game.
02:03You listed Kyle Shanahan as a name that you root for.
02:08I'd love to hear you expand on what kind of a year you think this is for him.
02:13It's year 10, and everybody knows the deal, right?
02:16He's one of the best coaches, but he's not gotten over the top.
02:20How do you kind of view the situation he finds himself in right now?
02:26Well, I think anybody would look at this logically and say,
02:30and I don't know what the odds say about it,
02:37but to me right now, 49ers enter the year.
02:40It looks to me, just on paper anyway, is the third best team in the division.
02:46That doesn't mean they either can't or won't win the division,
02:51but I do think that, you know, obviously the Seahawks, I guess we'll see about Sam Darnold now
02:58and how long he'll be out, but, you know, the Rams look like, on paper anyway,
03:04they're the best team in football, and the, you know, obviously the Seahawks are still really,
03:10really good, so we'll see what happens, but I do think that there's a lot of questions
03:17about this 49ers team, and there's a lot of questions about, you know,
03:23the health going into the year, how many games he, how many games of George Kittle football
03:29are you going to get out of George Kittle, you know, and so, and he is such a vital part
03:35of this, of this offense, so I think, but every team has questions at this time of year.
03:43I just kind of look at them and say, I think they've got a lot of potential.
03:48I think they're a playoff team, but again, you know, just like last year,
03:54it is such a difficult task if you're a playoff team, and then you're going to be
04:00a road playoff team, you know, it's hard to, you know, last year when, I mean,
04:07I think they got a tremendously bad break from the NFL when, you know, they play,
04:15I think the last game on wild card weekend, or was it the last game?
04:20I think it was the last game on wild card weekend, and then they have a short,
04:23short week game in Seattle, you know, the next weekend.
04:28They just, you know, in order to maximize your chances in the playoffs,
04:35you've got to do everything you can to, you know, to be playing home games in January,
04:40so I think that's one of the reasons, and I mean, I'm not telling anybody things
04:45they don't know, but that's one of the reasons why this game tonight, I think,
04:49is so important to the 49ers, but obviously it's important to the Rams too.
04:55And you mentioned the Rams, and they are a prohibitive favorite going into the year,
04:59and we've seen so many of these favorites not go out there and get the job done.
05:03What is it about football that makes being an odds-on favorite or a big-time
05:08prohibitive favorite makes it so much tougher maybe than just an underdog team?
05:14I think it has to do with the fact that, you know, teams always look significantly different
05:24on December 10th than they looked on September 10th.
05:29And it would be one thing to say, well, you know, if these teams stay healthy,
05:37then we can predict pretty logically exactly what's going to happen to them.
05:44The problem is teams don't stay healthy.
05:48How long did it take one of the best quarterbacks in football to be lost to the Super Bowl champions?
05:55Now, again, we don't know how long that's going to be, but I think it was the fifth play of
06:00the game.
06:01So, I mean, you just can't count on full health.
06:07You know, I remember when I, a long time ago, 40 years ago actually,
06:12when I covered the New York Giants as a beat guy,
06:15I remember the Giants had a tremendous run of good health,
06:21both with Phil Simms as quarterback, the offensive line started every game intact for two years.
06:29That's just, that's so rare in football.
06:32That kind of stuff contributes to a team going farther than you thought they might go.
06:38And so, to me, I look at, that's how I kind of look at it.
06:42When a heavy favorite doesn't do well,
06:47usually it's different from just performance reasons.
06:50I usually look at it and say, okay, how many of their key guys got hurt?
06:56Peter King with us here on Weatherton Dibs 95.7 The Game.
06:59Peter, you were mentioning some of the questions around the Niners.
07:02Let's talk about the age on the offense.
07:05There's Kittle, there's Trent Williams, there's Christian McCaffrey, now Mike Evans.
07:08There's a lot of talk here about the window.
07:10Do you see the window as closing or do you see a 26-year-old quarterback who we know you
07:17really like
07:18and you see this as a window that maybe goes much longer than that?
07:24Any time that you have an above average to very good quarterback
07:33and any time you have a coach who can figure stuff out
07:41and, you know, I consider, you know, there's a coach and a quarterback
07:46who are both top 10 in the NFL
07:49and there's no reason to think that Kyle Shanahan's going anywhere.
07:54Obviously, there's no reason to think that Brock Purdy's going anywhere.
07:58So, yes, are they going to have to find a left tackle?
08:01Absolutely, yes.
08:03Are they going to have to find, you know, a new tight end soon?
08:08Maybe not this year or next year, but soon?
08:10Yes.
08:11I mean, tight ends don't often last longer than 10 or 11 years in the NFL.
08:18Same thing with Christian McCaffrey.
08:20But, you know, look, the McCaffrey story is slightly different because, I mean,
08:26I look at Derrick Henry right now and you tell me,
08:30how is it a guy like him can be a top three running back in football,
08:35whatever he is, 32 right now, 31 or 32.
08:40So, I mean, the way McCaffrey takes care of himself, who knows?
08:44But I just think as long as you have the coach and the quarterback,
08:49those are the two guys who are absolutely unequivocally most important to a team's success
08:58beyond anybody else, anybody else in that building.
09:02You're going to have a chance every year you play.
09:05You just, you know, John Lynch has got to have some good drafts.
09:09They've got to have some good free agent pickups.
09:11So, that's kind of how I look at them.
09:14How much does Mike Evans give them that sort of lift this year to where, you know,
09:18he's somebody with the gravitas and the Hall of Fame resume,
09:21somebody who can maybe get them to that next level?
09:24I really, I mean, I really hope for their sake that Mike Evans can give them 12 or 13 good,
09:33healthy impact games because I just think he's one of the great players I ever covered.
09:39He was always there.
09:42He never bitched and moaned ever.
09:44He wasn't a nut about his stats.
09:47He wasn't in any way diva-esque ever.
09:53And I just think he has a chance to be a huge factor on this team.
09:59And I hope that, as I say, I hope he can stay healthy.
10:02He's the perfect quarterback or perfect receiver for a quarterback because I guarantee you,
10:09however long he lasts,
10:11you're going to sidle up to Brock Purdy at some point and say,
10:16what was Mike Evans like on the practice field?
10:19What was Mike Evans like in the huddle?
10:22And, you know, he's no T.O.
10:25You know, he's no give me the ball.
10:28He's no, he's going to be one of the guys who understands the ebbs and flows of a game
10:34and ebbs and flows of a season.
10:36So I think he has the potential to be a gigantic help for this team.
10:43Peter King, what a treat to have you.
10:45Here we go with the season.
10:47What a treat to have you.
10:48Thank you so much.
10:50I appreciate it, guys.
10:51Have a great game.
10:52Have a great week.
10:52Have a great year.
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