- 3 minutes ago
Greg Cosell of NFL Films joins Willard and Dibs to react to the 49ers' Week 2 win over the Dolphins, Brock Purdy's performance through two weeks of the 2026 NFL season, to preview the Week 3 matchup with the Cardinals, and more.
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00:00This one is a little bit more anticipated than the norm.
00:03Each and every successive one seems to get more anticipated and more hyped
00:08because this man, he brings the heat now.
00:10He sure does.
00:11And it's every Wednesday right here on Willard & Tibbs 95.7 The Game
00:14joining us on the River Islands Guest Line and on YouTube
00:17for those who want to see a handsome man.
00:20NFL Films, it's Greg Cosell.
00:23Hello, Greg. How are we doing today?
00:25You know, I'm trying to figure out what the hell's wrong with Purdy.
00:28He missed two throws. What do you think? What's the matter with it?
00:31One was a drop, for sure.
00:32One was a drop, and the other one, apparently, he wanted to complete it to green grass.
00:37You know me, Cosell. I've been saying it for years. Overrated.
00:46You know, I was kind of on a rant this summer just with the people I work with.
00:52So obviously, I wasn't talking to you guys this summer.
00:54But I've been kind of on a rant about quarterback play that I'm so tired of hearing guys have great
01:00tools
01:00because they throw it hard and they can run around.
01:04And, you know, obviously, I speak to coaches,
01:07and that would be so far down the list of what coaches look at
01:11when they think about quality quarterback play at the NFL level.
01:15You know, and a lot of, quote-unquote, media people, draft gurus.
01:20And, again, I'm not saying I'm not one of those guys. I guess I am to some extent.
01:24I mean, all I do is sit in my office every day and watch tape.
01:27But, you know, that's not quarterback play in the NFL.
01:31Quarterback play, if you reduce it to its simplest level,
01:34and then we can talk more about it because Brock Purdy epitomizes this,
01:37it's throwing the ball to the right receiver at the right time with the right kind of throw.
01:42That's what quarterback play ultimately is.
01:44The ability to throw it really hard or really far or just to randomly run around
01:50and, you know, is not what quarterback play is.
01:54You know, I've been fortunate in all my years.
01:56I've been to a lot of training camps.
01:58I've never seen an offensive staff roll the ball out and say,
02:02let's run around and make plays today.
02:04You know, that's not the way the position is coached.
02:06That's not the way the position is expected to be played.
02:09Now, obviously, are there times where the defense wins
02:12and you need to do something that's outside the structure of the play?
02:16Which, by the way, Purdy can do that and may have made his best throw of the season
02:20to Mike Evans when he had to do that, when he pump faked
02:23and then threw that ball to Evans when I saw it from the end zone.
02:26There was about, you know, an eighth of an inch room there to put that ball,
02:31and he put it right there.
02:32But when you watch Purdy play, you just watch a guy, and again,
02:36this is a big debate that people are having about, you know,
02:39what is the quarterback position about and what defines it.
02:43But there's not one coach who will tell you that at some point
02:48in the National Football League, you have to have the ability to drop back,
02:53whether it's in play action or straight drop back,
02:55and execute a pass game with timing, rhythm, and structure.
03:00And Brock Purdy can do that.
03:02And he repeats his mechanics unless the defense dictates otherwise,
03:07which does happen at times, obviously.
03:09But I used to hear Tom Brady talk about repeatable mechanics.
03:14You know, that's why he would go visit out in your area, Tom Martinez,
03:17his coach, every single offseason.
03:20You know, Purdy plays the position, and I don't want to say the right way
03:24because that's going to generate this whole debate about, you know,
03:27guys that move around, but he plays the position with technique and details
03:33and nuance and the discipline that is required to play the position
03:37at a high level in the National Football League.
03:40Greg, I do feel like we can finally start to put our machetes down.
03:45We have done the long journey, and the world thinks finally that Brock Purdy is good.
03:49You know what I'm interested to hear from you, though,
03:51is how has it looked different and evolved through his first five years?
03:57Do you see him as a much more refined player now than he used to be?
04:02Well, you know, it's funny you ask me that because I remember when he came in
04:07in his first game, whatever week that was, it was against the Miami Dolphins,
04:11as I'm sure you guys recall.
04:13And right from that game, I saw him with the innate ability to just see the field the right way.
04:20And that's something that's not talked about a lot.
04:23There's a lot of quarterbacks.
04:24You know, I watch quarterbacks.
04:26I evaluate college quarterbacks, obviously.
04:28And many of them I evaluate like I've already done 12 or 13 of them
04:32that are likely to be in next year's draft, maybe.
04:35And then I'll watch them again after their season this year.
04:38Now, maybe all 12 or 13 won't be.
04:40But one of the things that you look for, and when I'm at the Combine
04:45and I talk to offensive coaches and quarterback coaches,
04:48there's two things they talk about more than anything.
04:51Can they see the field the right way in the time required?
04:55And by the way, the time required is milliseconds, guys.
04:58It's not like three beats or four beats.
05:00It's milliseconds.
05:01And can you throw the ball with precision ball location?
05:06You know, that's the term I use as opposed to accuracy
05:08because you have to put the ball in the exact spot it needs to be, you know,
05:13not just say, hey, I'm throwing it to you.
05:15Well, where do you?
05:16It has to be in a certain spot.
05:18In fact, Bill Walsh used to deal with that all the time.
05:22He'd stop practice if the ball wasn't placed in the exact right spot.
05:25And Brock Purdy can do that.
05:27And he did that from his first moment playing against the Miami Dolphins,
05:31and it blew me away because I remember doing a piece for my matchup show on Brock Purdy
05:36in that game because it was so remarkable that he came in as the last pick in a draft
05:42that had a very up-and-down college career.
05:44There's a couple of things he's shown in the NFL, guys,
05:47that were hard to know that he had those traits because the college game doesn't demand that.
05:52You know, he has the ability to recognize and react to late coverage rotation,
05:57which has now become a major part of the NFL game where teams change the look pre-snap to post
06:03-snap,
06:04and he just has this instinctive, innate DNA feel to recognize that immediately.
06:10And that's something I don't believe you can teach.
06:12And it's also, Greg, I think the syncopation he has with his weapons,
06:16and I'm thinking about the big play to George Kittle when he breaks off his route
06:20and he cuts it down the seam, and it seemed like Brock saw the coverage that was shaded to the
06:24outside.
06:25Kittle saw the same thing, so he cut his route down the middle where no one was.
06:30Brock innately knew he was going to be there and delivered the ball on time.
06:34You know, it's funny you say that, and I'm just going to ask this
06:36because, you know, those are things I don't know for sure when I watch tape.
06:39Was it stated that he broke off his route?
06:41Is that officially what happened?
06:43I was looking at the All-22 today on Kurt Warner's YouTube show,
06:47and he seemed to indicate that he thought the play was designed to go to the outside
06:51and then up the seam, but the defender was shading to the boundary side.
06:55The only reason I mention that is they've had a concept through the years,
06:59and Kittle's caught touchdowns on it.
07:01Even the Packers have done it because a floor came from this system
07:06where they'd run that same route and the receiver does go straight, you know,
07:12and goes vertical.
07:13Seattle scored a touchdown last year on it,
07:15and obviously it was Clint Kubiak where it was to A.J. Bonner.
07:19So I've seen that play go vertical.
07:21So when I saw it, I didn't know that whether he broke it off
07:25or they were just working off a staple concept, you know,
07:29countering a staple concept.
07:31But, again, I'm just sitting in my office watching.
07:33So, you know, Kurt could be right.
07:35I could be right.
07:35I don't know the answer to that.
07:37But it almost looked like to me, and like I said, I could be wrong,
07:43it looked to me like that was designed to be a counter,
07:47the way Kittle bent back inside.
07:49But I could be wrong.
07:50But it was still a great throw regardless.
07:53Greg, while we're on Kittle,
07:54obviously his snaps are a little bit lessened right now.
07:58But the output looks good.
08:00Do you see him right now looking as his normal self?
08:05Yeah, I mean, again, you don't know for sure,
08:08but he's playing like his normal self.
08:10It just, you know, it doesn't, like when he caught the ball
08:13and had some run after a catch, I didn't feel like, man, he looked slow.
08:16I mean, it looked okay to me.
08:18You know, little changes are hard to know.
08:21So I can't sit here and say maybe he would say, hey, I'm not 100% yet.
08:26You know, I don't know the answer to that.
08:27But it didn't, let's put it this way,
08:29it didn't look appreciably different than I remember him at all.
08:32When you look at the tape and you realize through two games,
08:35no sacks for Brock Purdy, it's testimony to the offensive line.
08:38But isn't it also to Brock's ability to see the pressure
08:42and deliver the ball early?
08:44Well, yes, without question.
08:46You know, keep in mind, too, that 11 of his 25 dropbacks
08:49have come under center.
08:50He was 7 for 8 for 114 yards and a touchdown.
08:54He scrambled three times for 30 yards.
08:55The most important stat being that six of those seven completions
08:58resulted in first downs.
09:0016 of his 20 completions resulted in first downs.
09:03That's a remarkable stat, gentlemen.
09:07So, you know, quarterback, and I've always been a believer of this,
09:11and it made me even feel that, because I've been watching tape for a long time,
09:14as you guys know, and when I hear someone like Tom Brady say it,
09:18I would say that 90, more than 90% of the time,
09:22quarterback sacks are a quarterback stat, not an O-line stat.
09:26And, you know, the quarterbacks that know how to play within structure,
09:30within rhythm, within timing, and deliver the football,
09:33or get out when they absolutely need to,
09:35which there were a couple of times he absolutely had to get out,
09:38and it's nice to have that ability.
09:41But, you know, he just understands where to throw the ball
09:45based on what he's seeing.
09:47You know, there's always this talk about pure progression,
09:49meaning it's a kind of pass concept where you basically go from one to two to three,
09:55and the initial way it was taught back when defenses were more static was that,
10:01oh, the defense wasn't that big a deal because you would, in a sense,
10:04throw it to who's open.
10:05If one was open, you'd throw it.
10:07If two was open, if one wasn't, you'd go to two.
10:09But now it's about sequencing more than – it's still pure progression in the sense
10:16that you have, you know, a one or two or three,
10:19but the way the defense is playing can change your sequence even, you know,
10:26before you drop back because you have to know who can impact a throw.
10:31You know, you may have a primary,
10:33but if there's somebody who's right there to impact that throw,
10:36you don't want to waste a millisecond staring at that,
10:39knowing that you can't make that throw.
10:41Greg Cosell –
10:42I think Purdy has a great feel for that.
10:44NFL Films with us here on Withered and Dibs 95 shot in the game.
10:48Greg, the one concern – I mean, if you've watched the 49er games,
10:53you come away as a Niner fan pretty relaxed with how everything looks,
10:57but the other teams have had some success running the ball in between the tackles,
11:03and the Niners have had a ton of injuries there already.
11:06C.J. West gets added to the list today and needs –
11:09What's his injury?
11:10He's got, like, a kneecap, a chip in his kneecap and needs surgery.
11:15Kyle said not season-ending, but didn't give much of a timetable.
11:20So they've already brought some new people in.
11:22Here comes Algier and Jeremiah Love.
11:25Like, what do you see right now in terms of production
11:28from the interior defensive line?
11:31I mean, I don't think it's been poor.
11:34You know, the question is, you know, are they going to bring –
11:38who have they brought in, do you know?
11:41Naquan Jones was brought in.
11:43Naquan Jones is, yeah, the name they brought in.
11:44Yeah, he's a run defender.
11:45That's why they brought him in, because he's a run defender.
11:47He's not a pass rusher.
11:49But they have interior players that can rush the quarterback in Odigizu and Halton.
11:54James Thompson will get more snaps now, I think.
11:56Well, he's hurt, too.
11:57Yeah, he's got a high ankle.
11:59Yeah.
12:00Yeah, so he's going to be out.
12:01So, yeah, it's a shame, because he's actually looked good through the preseason
12:04and through the snaps he played through the first two games.
12:07So I guess he's out.
12:09So I guess a guy like Naquan Jones is going to come in and play, you know,
12:13because they need bodies, unless they're going to bring someone else in as well.
12:18But, you know, they're going to have to rely – you know, it's funny.
12:20Sometimes you've got to rely on – you've got to dance with a girl who brought you,
12:24as they say, and they're going to have to rely – Odigizu is going to have to play the run.
12:28Halton is going to have to play the run.
12:29You know, Naquan Jones will get snaps.
12:33You know, they're just going to have to do that.
12:34I don't know if they have anybody else or if there's going to be someone else
12:37between now and the next game.
12:40But, you know, it's a concern.
12:43No question it's a concern.
12:44You know, and we'll see how it plays out.
12:46But they have no choice.
12:47Do you have any intel on Sebastian Valdez, who's been a practice squad guy?
12:51He was undrafted out of Washington, and he's just been kind of there,
12:55but now he might be needed.
12:56I wasn't sure if you were familiar with any of his work.
12:59Yeah, I'm not really familiar with him, you know,
13:02other than seeing some snaps in the preseason.
13:06But so is he now brought up from the practice squad?
13:09Not officially.
13:10Yeah, the roster moves haven't been made.
13:12But, you know, we're all trying to play guess the big guy
13:14and who they're going to bring in to try to literally plug those holes.
13:19Whatever happened to Kevin Givens and McKinley Jackson?
13:23Givens is still on the practice squad, and so is McKinley Jackson.
13:26So I guess they also would be candidates to come on?
13:29Jackson is a run defender.
13:31McKinley Jackson, as I recall, because I think I did him for –
13:33he's the Texas A&M kid, if I recall,
13:36because I think – I remember doing him coming out of college.
13:39He's a run defender, so it's very possible they could bring him up
13:42because I think that, you know, they're going to need run defenders
13:46because obviously Halton and Odigizua are probably pass rushers first and foremost.
13:52So you're dealing with a guy that – I'm trying to remember.
13:55You know, I don't have my notes on him in front of me.
13:56Yeah, 6'1", and a quarter, 330.
13:58So he's a rather large guy.
14:02Yeah, I mean, 330 is probably a weight that none of us want to get to,
14:07the three of us anyway, but, you know, I remember that he was a guy who played low.
14:13He was pretty strong.
14:15You know, he was a run defender.
14:17So maybe he's a guy they'll bring up because that's what they ultimately need.
14:20They need a run defender.
14:22Greg Kosar.
14:22He's got a lot of mass, as I recall.
14:23One of those guys that has a lot of mass.
14:26Greg, we definitely want to look ahead to what's going on this weekend
14:30and start with this.
14:32To me, this is head-scratching.
14:34I don't know what's going on, and I've been waiting all day.
14:37To hear what you say about it.
14:38What do you see with Marvin Harrison?
14:41The production is bad, and now the implication is that in some of his routes,
14:47he looks like he's dogging it.
14:49What do you see?
14:50Yeah, I mean, look, I don't know what's in Marvin Harrison's head.
14:54I would say there's two words that, one's a phrase and one's a word
14:58that come to mind when I watch him.
15:00I would say there's a lack of urgency.
15:03That's a phrase, and I would say he's uninspired, and that's a word.
15:07You know, I can't sit here and say, you know, that's all I can say.
15:11You know, I don't know what's in his head.
15:14Either one of those is unacceptable.
15:17So, you know, it's funny.
15:19When he was in college, okay, and look, I loved him coming out of college,
15:23and I wasn't the only one, so I'm not going to sit here and do revisionist history.
15:26I loved him coming out of college.
15:28There were people who thought, I never think like this until a guy plays in the league,
15:32just like I don't think that way about Jeremiah Smith or Kent Coleman,
15:35even though I think they're phenomenal prospects.
15:37But there were people at that time who thought that Marvin Harrison was the best receiver,
15:42not only in college, but if he was in the NFL, he would have been the best receiver.
15:45You know, so, I mean, I can't tell you what's in his head.
15:50I can only tell you that on tape, like I said, there's a lack of urgency,
15:53and he looks very uninspired.
15:55And, you know, no matter what you're feeling about your situation, it's on tape.
16:03Now it's on tape.
16:04Now if you're another team, even if you had him graded super highly,
16:08you're starting to question, well, do we want him?
16:12If they're looking to trade him, you're thinking, do we want him?
16:15You know, is this guy going to come in and not really, you know,
16:18is he going to play like that?
16:19Because ultimately, as you guys know, in all professional sports,
16:24whether it's football, football maybe as much as any other,
16:27because there's not 150 games, you know, the tape is your life.
16:31It's what you put on tape.
16:33That's what it is.
16:35So his tape is not very flattering right now.
16:38And his rookie tape, he had 885 yards, eight touchdowns.
16:42He didn't have the drop season, I recall, that rookie year from my fantasy team.
16:46Which he did not have in college, by the way.
16:49Right.
16:50And so it's just a little shocking.
16:52Mark and I were talking about this yesterday.
16:53One guy who is inspired and he shows up is Trey McBride.
16:58Defensively, what can a team possibly do?
17:01What do you see on tape that he does so well other than everything?
17:05Well, I really love Trey McBride and I loved him coming out
17:09and thought he was better than what he was drafted.
17:12They've got two receivers who play with a ton of energy, a ton of swagger,
17:17and that's McBride and Wilson.
17:19And Wilson, I believe, he's a Stanford kid, right?
17:21I think he's from Stanford.
17:23Yes.
17:24And I really liked him coming out.
17:27His physicality, his toughness, his competitiveness, he moves a little better than you think.
17:32McBride, he's a tight end.
17:34You can line him up anywhere.
17:35So it's not like you can zero in and say he's going to be here.
17:39So, you know, we'll see how Raheem Morris wants to play him,
17:43but he's clearly Jacoby Brissett's number one guy, and Wilson is a close second.
17:49We'll see if they can get, and again, now that the Niners, you know,
17:53potentially with issues inside, we'll see if they can get Jeremiah Love going,
17:57because, you know, through two games, they really haven't been able to do that.
18:00Now, what's really funny, not funny, but I thought week one,
18:04I thought Jacoby Brissett played as well as I can recall seeing him,
18:08which was certainly not the case last week.
18:11But I guess that's one reason he's Jacoby Brissett
18:13and why he's been sort of a journeyman starter for, you know, a lot of years.
18:18But two weeks ago in week one, he played at a really high level.
18:22And the Seattle defense might have had something to do with that, obviously,
18:25that he was going against them.
18:26Chris Moletto, they're pretty good.
18:26Yeah, they're okay, I hear.
18:28But they also have a new regime.
18:30Greg, and obviously it's a familiar last name to NFL fans now that LeFleur is there.
18:36Kyle Shanahan has talked a lot about it this week.
18:38There's a lot of respect there.
18:39What do you see as different in these first two games with the new regime?
18:45Well, you know, last week they were bad.
18:50I mean, it's just there's no getting around it.
18:52After the first week, I thought, oh, this is really interesting
18:55because Brissett, the first week, almost played like a Kyle Shanahan quarterback.
19:00His sense of timing and rhythm the first week of the season was really, really high level.
19:06And I came away watching that thinking, oh, okay, you know, they're working with him.
19:10It's still a floor, you know, because he comes from that whole school that, you know,
19:15you guys know, and I'm sure fans listening know, so we don't need to walk through all of that.
19:19But, you know, he comes from that school and Brissett looked like that week one.
19:24Obviously, it didn't look like that week two.
19:27So and these kinds of things, guys, as you know, are works in progress.
19:31The only problem is there's only 17 games.
19:33So, you know, fans don't want to hear.
19:36And obviously, people listening are probably not fans of the Cardinals.
19:38But fans of any team don't want to hear that something, it's a work in progress.
19:42But that's just human nature.
19:43When you're learning something brand new, working with different people, it takes time.
19:48And sometimes it's going to look right and sometimes it's not.
19:51And by the way, sometimes if you have more of a complete team,
19:54the other parts of your team can compensate for it and you can still win football games.
19:59You know, if you don't have a complete team and the Cards are not necessarily a complete team
20:04because their defense is not necessarily great by any means, you know, sometimes you can't compensate for it.
20:09So, you know, it all depends.
20:11And then everybody just points to the quarterback.
20:13You know how it goes.
20:14Yeah, and they've got Buda Baker over there defensively who continues to flash off the tape.
20:19Who else defensively is somebody that Niner fans should keep an eye on?
20:24Mack Wilson, the linebacker, is a really, really good football player.
20:28Really good player.
20:29Has been for a couple of years.
20:30They've been bad, so nobody knows about them.
20:32But, you know, they've kept the same defensive coordinator, by the way,
20:35that they had under Jonathan Gannon and Nick Ross, who's good.
20:38Schematically good.
20:39But at some point you need players.
20:41You know, I think, you know, Josh Swett had 12 sacks last year.
20:45He's getting up there in years.
20:46They have a major rotation with their D-line.
20:49They play a ton of people.
20:52On the edge, they play four or five guys.
20:54The player I'm looking to see really develop because his college tape was great
20:59and his rookie season a year ago was ended with too many injuries is Walter Nolan,
21:05who in college had just dominating snaps in the SEC at Ole Miss.
21:10And they're counting on him to be a big-time player.
21:13The problem is they're not particularly good at the corner position.
21:16So, you know, that's a tough deal.
21:18And, you know, they're playing with some guys that, you know, they're nice,
21:23but they're probably guys you'd want to replace if you really could.
21:28Like Jack Gibbons is playing linebacker next to Mack Wilson.
21:31He's literally playing every snap.
21:32He's been with three or four teams.
21:34You know, he's a super smart guy.
21:37In fact, I remember when he was in Tennessee, Mike Draper called him Doc
21:40because he was so smart.
21:42But, you know, he's probably not a guy you want starting.
21:45But he is.
21:45And he plays literally every snap.
21:47All right, Greg, time for the final question.
21:50And we get requests all the time with regard to getting to know Greg Cosell better.
21:56So if you could see any musical artist in the world this weekend, who would you go see?
22:02Oh, I thought maybe you were going to say like of all time because that I could answer in a
22:06heartbeat.
22:06No, no, no.
22:07I want active roster.
22:09Oh, see, I'm stuck, guys, in the 70s and the 80s with music.
22:13So that's a really hard question for me.
22:16We asked the tough questions.
22:17I know some of those bands are still performing.
22:18I had you pegged as a Swifty myself.
22:20Taylor Swift was the answer I thought you'd give.
22:23No, my family is big time.
22:25They've seen her a number of times.
22:26I've missed those concerts.
22:28God, bands still performing?
22:32Well, I saw Chicago last summer, I think it was.
22:37Love Chicago.
22:38Love the Doobie Brothers.
22:39They're still performing.
22:41So those would be two bands.
22:43But my all-time favorite band that I did see in the 70s at the height of their powers was
22:47Led Zeppelin.
22:49I bet you had flowing hair.
22:52I did not.
22:53But the guy next to me, it was classic.
22:55The guy next to me did some drugs and literally zoned out the entire concert, missed the entire concert because
23:03of whatever he took beforehand.
23:05And I'm sure he told all his friends it was a great show, but he had no idea.
23:09Safe to say the two of you that night were Doobie Brothers.
23:13I didn't do that stuff, guys.
23:16That's very good.
23:17Thank you very much.
23:19All right.
23:19Greg, wonderful.
23:21We'll talk to you again next Wednesday.
23:23Who knows what we'll ask then?
23:25Yeah, well, I'm glad we got a chance to talk about Purdy because, to me, he plays it, you know,
23:30at a really high level.
23:32Yeah, indeed he does.
23:33There's nothing better than what we saw last week.
23:35Greg, thanks.
23:36We'll talk to you soon.
23:37All right, guys, appreciate it.
23:39Okay, Greg Cosell.