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Mark Schlereth joins Willard and Dibs to react to the 49ers' 3-0 start, Brock Purdy's play, to preview 49ers vs. Broncos in Week 4, and more.
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00:00Now, back to Willard and Dibs.
00:03What do you think is going to happen in this game, Sting?
00:06That's a great, that's a great, I think it's going to be a really tight game.
00:09On 95.7, the game.
00:11Before you even played it, the most recent text on our board, 415,
00:15thank you for being a tapped-in, dialed-in listener.
00:19He just wrote, that's a great, that's a great, dot, dot, dot.
00:24He knows what time it is.
00:25Exactly.
00:26It's Mark Slareth time.
00:27And so let's go out to the River Islands guest line.
00:31We are joined by Mark Slareth, our guy Stink.
00:33This NFL insider call is presented by Nationwide.
00:36For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side.
00:41Good afternoon, Stink.
00:41How you doing?
00:43Man, I'm doing great.
00:44How are you guys doing today?
00:45We're fantastic.
00:46We're just kicking around the thought of the Niners have had, you know,
00:50there's that injury thing sitting there again, but such a good start.
00:54The offense is performing at such a high level.
00:56How has your perception of the team changed from before the year started to now?
01:03How would you answer that?
01:05I would answer that by saying this is exactly what I expected them to be great.
01:10If they're healthy, they're going to be great.
01:13I mean, you know, I know there's a lot of talk whenever they're not healthy
01:18and there is talk about Kyle Shanahan, is he or isn't he?
01:22Dude, for my money, he's one of, if not the best play caller, play sequencer in the National Football League.
01:29And then I have said this for years, guys.
01:31I'm sure I've said it on here, but I've talked about it on the Stink and Truth podcast.
01:36Brock Purdy, for me, for the last couple of years, has been a top five quarterback.
01:41And he may be the best processor in, or one of the top three or four processors in all of
01:48football
01:48when it comes to reading what's supposed to be going on, you know,
01:51understanding what your movement key is on the defense,
01:54understanding who you're trying to put into conflict, and then playing a game of keep away.
01:58You know, like, we all make quarterbacking out to be, ooh, it's so hard, and only the, you know,
02:04oh, these guys are brilliant.
02:06You know, you're basically putting somebody on the defensive side of the ball in conflict,
02:11and you're saying, hey, man, if that guy plays deep, throw it underneath.
02:14If that guy plays underneath, throw it deep.
02:17I'm putting somebody in conflict, and I am playing off of those guys.
02:21And Brock Purdy's ability to see it, to understand it,
02:24if he doesn't like it, to get to another thing instantly is as good as there is.
02:29I think the two best processors I watch on film on a consistent basis have been Joe Burrow
02:35and then Brock Purdy.
02:36I think those guys are the two fastest just right now know where to go with it.
02:42And so it doesn't matter if you don't have the greatest physical skill set
02:46or the greatest arm talent or whatever.
02:49That dude can flat play, and he's showing that every week.
02:52And we talked about being in the zone, and you've been on Super Bowl championship teams.
02:57Mark Rippon in Washington, he had a great year, and of course the Denver years as well.
03:01What's it like being a part of an offense where the quarterback is just seeing it
03:05at such a level that he's got the confidence to make all the tough throws?
03:10Yeah, anytime you walk into the huddle, regardless of the situation,
03:13you know you have a chance to be really good, right?
03:16You know you have a chance to put a drive together and score,
03:19and it motivates everybody.
03:20Then you get guys like George Kittle in there just absolutely destroying people
03:25in the run game, guys that are sold out to that aspect of the game,
03:30guys that are unselfish.
03:33And, you know, when you watch 49er football,
03:35that's really what it becomes on the offensive side of the ball.
03:37You know, we like to put the highlights on, the big catches and all that stuff,
03:42but when you really dig into the nitty-gritty and the dirty stuff,
03:45that's what they do so exceptionally well.
03:47And then from a schematic standpoint, some of the schemes they put together,
03:52some of the way they create angles, some of the ways they use motion
03:55and they snap count you, they're always putting guys in great positions
04:00to have leverage at the point of attack.
04:03And I think Kyle does a tremendous job with that.
04:06I mean, I saw some of the, you know, in game one against Australia,
04:10some of the kind of half-orbit sweeps from Juice where he's almost cutting back,
04:14you know, behind the line of scrimmage or right underneath the quarterback in gun
04:20and then going and kicking out somebody and doing all these different things
04:25where it's almost one of those things I would look at and go,
04:27how is that not illegal motion, that's close, whatever.
04:31But then I put on film and I see three or four other teams using it now after week three.
04:37You know, I see, like, and you're going, oh, okay, I see, you know, hey, man,
04:41that's great, like, from a schematic standpoint,
04:43because that was the first time I've ever seen a couple of those motions
04:47that we saw against the Rams, and now I see half a dozen teams using them.
04:52And so, again, innovative, schematically, just being one step ahead of everybody else,
04:58that is Kyle Shanahan, that's that offense.
05:01Okay, let's talk further about that,
05:02especially since you've been part of a Shanahan tree offense.
05:08This is getting a lot of play here this week, Mark.
05:11After the game, Kyle was asked if he's ever had this much trust
05:15in one of his quarterbacks before.
05:17This is what he said.
05:19Have you ever had, like, this level of, I guess, confidence, comfort as a play caller
05:23in a quarterback as right now you do with Brock?
05:26Ah, yes.
05:27I had that with Matt in 16, had it in Schaub back, way back in the day,
05:32and I've had it with Brock, I think, four years in a row now.
05:35Okay, so he mentions Matt Ryan MVP year.
05:38He goes back to Matt Schaub with the Texans,
05:40and then he's careful to say, not only do I have it with Brock,
05:44I've had it for four years now.
05:46He does not mention anyone else, no Jimmy Garoppolo.
05:49Like, when you look at this offense, I would love your read on that.
05:53Like, what do you see Kyle doing that is maybe expansive in his repertoire
05:59that he hasn't done with all of his offenses?
06:03Yeah, I think the biggest thing when you're talking about Brock, again,
06:07is your ability to process information.
06:10Your ability to put anything in there and know that Brock is going to get you,
06:15you know, going to get through a progression
06:18and going to put the ball where it needs to go.
06:21He's not worried about, you know, hey, man, I'm calling this play.
06:25Hey, don't forget about this reminder.
06:27And if you get this particular coverage, make sure you get to the backside.
06:31And, you know, it's like I have total faith as soon as I call the play
06:36that Brock knows exactly where everybody is
06:39and exactly what we're looking to accomplish
06:42and exactly where his outlets are.
06:45And so you can call anything without hesitation
06:49and without worrying about, boy, if he gets fooled here
06:52or if this happens, you know, then we're in trouble.
06:55So to have that level of belief and understanding
06:59and knowing that there's nothing I can't call on this play sheet
07:03that he can't execute and that he won't get through quickly,
07:07like, that stuff for a coach is amazing
07:09because, you know, you talk to coaches
07:11or I talk to coaches every week
07:13and there are certain plays on the playlist
07:16that they're like, oh, no, we got to scrap pile this
07:18and we got to take this out.
07:20And we, you know, depending on who our quarterback is this week
07:22and this, that and the other.
07:23And it's a progress, you know, or progression.
07:26And we're trying to get to here with a quarterback like that
07:29or like Shaw back in the day
07:30or, you know, Matt Ryan in 16 when he was the MVP,
07:35you just have that total and complete faith
07:37that I can call anything at any time in any area of the field
07:41with utter confidence that my guy's going to be able to execute it.
07:44How much of that also is the comfort that McCaffrey and Debo
07:48and George Kittle have having played now with Brock Purdy
07:50for a number of years and put Mike Evans aside
07:53because he's just a football freak and a Hall of Famer.
07:55But does that comfortability with your weapons
07:58also lead to maybe more comfort for Kyle?
08:02Yeah, well, I think there's, yeah, anytime you have health
08:04and that's been a big issue with the 49ers.
08:07I think, you know, I don't even know
08:09who was the coach of the year last year.
08:11You know, whoever it was, it doesn't matter to me.
08:15You look at what Kyle Shanahan did
08:17and the San Francisco 49ers did last year
08:19with the injuries they have to win 12 games
08:22and to have your backup quarterback playing a bunch of games
08:26and, you know, it's a revolving department store door
08:30at the wide receiver position and Kittle being hurt.
08:33Like, it's flat out amazing to be able to do that.
08:37Like, most of the time you look at, like, look at the Green Bay Packers.
08:41You miss a couple of players and they're absolute garbage.
08:45You know, I mean, you miss a couple of players
08:48and a couple of offensive linemen and you miss your running back
08:51and you miss one defensive player and you guys can't,
08:54you guys aren't worth a squirt of urine.
08:55I mean, you're not.
08:58And you look at what happened in San Francisco last year, man.
09:01There were, at the end of the year, there were dudes playing
09:04that I had never heard of, a bunch of them, on both sides of the ball.
09:07And so it's amazing what they've done
09:10considering the injuries that they have had.
09:13Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company.
09:16They're one of America's largest financial services companies, too.
09:21Nationwide is on your side.
09:23And we're talking with Stink, Mark Slareth, right here on Willard & Dibbs 95.7, the game.
09:28For those watching on YouTube, they can see that big Broncos helmet
09:31right over your right shoulder there, Stink.
09:33So we certainly want to ask a little bit about this week's opponent.
09:37But can I start by asking about Sunday night football?
09:40That was a wild back-and-forth situation with the Broncos and the Rams.
09:44What is your take on that game and those two teams right now?
09:49Yeah, you know, I mean, obviously,
09:51I still think the Rams are a really talented football team,
09:54a really good football team.
09:57And I kind of almost liken them to what happened with the Broncos last year.
10:01Won a couple, or lost a couple of games early.
10:03They started the season at 1-2.
10:05They lost a game to Indianapolis on a leverage call.
10:09Just an absolute garbage call.
10:10It was a 60-yard field goal.
10:12And they called leverage on, you know, the field goal block team,
10:16which was just a horrendous call.
10:19And then they got another opportunity to kick it again at 55 and made it.
10:23And, I mean, it was a horrible call.
10:24But they started 1-2 and ended 14-3.
10:27And in the AFC Championship game before they lost their quarterback, you know,
10:30and lost that game to New England.
10:33So the Rams, even though they're 1-2 right now,
10:36the Rams still have an incredibly talented team.
10:38And they're going to win a lot of games.
10:40So they're still really good.
10:42The Broncos are interesting because they've got a really decent,
10:45like a really, really good roster.
10:47And they've got a young quarterback who really plays better in critical moments
10:53and plays better almost designed off schedule than he does on schedule.
10:59You look at the Broncos, and they've been trying to figure out for three years,
11:02how are we going to start faster?
11:03They're just not very good off of scripted stuff.
11:07It's almost like, okay, now we're down by 16.
11:10Now we're down by 10.
11:12Now it's, you know, now we're going to go hurry up or no huddle offense.
11:16And we're going to take our playbook,
11:18and we're going to pare it down to these five things that we do well.
11:21And we're going to let our quarterback just scramble around and make some plays.
11:25And Bo Nix is absolutely deadly in those situations.
11:30But from the pocket operating on schedule or in structure,
11:35he's not as good in structure.
11:37And that's a lot of young quarterbacks, right?
11:39You're better when things break down because you're almost playing a little schoolyard.
11:43And when it comes to schoolyard football, that guy is tremendous.
11:47But in structure, on time and on target,
11:50he just hasn't been as good in those situations.
11:54So I guess the key is to let the Broncos have the lead
11:58and don't have them down by 15 or 16 because that's when they play their best.
12:03Yeah, and that kind of makes sense based on what we've seen.
12:06And I wonder, Stink, about the Denver defense
12:08because they came into the year before it all started
12:11as one of the top three or four, maybe five defenses.
12:14They have not held up against the run.
12:16What's been the problem with the Denver D?
12:19Yeah, I mean, they lost a couple of guys.
12:21They have had some issues with gap assignment and tackling early in the season.
12:27And that's been an issue.
12:29But I tell you, they made some phenomenal plays down the stretch,
12:34really shutting down the Rams late in that game in the second half.
12:39They gave up one touchdown on a broken or just a guy that was gambling on a potential pick.
12:48And that went deep for a lot of yards after the Hufungi interception return for a touchdown.
12:53But they haven't.
12:56Here's the thing.
12:56They're super talented.
12:58I think linebacking, the middle linebacking core,
13:00is a little bit of a question mark with the Broncos.
13:03You make a lot of tackles.
13:05But when you make them for a six-yard gain, you know, you're like, man, he had 12 tackles in
13:10the game.
13:10Yeah, but the running back went for 142 yards.
13:13You know, like, yeah, you know, when you're jumping on people's backs as they're running by you,
13:19that's never a great thing.
13:20So I think that's been kind of a little bit of a weakness.
13:23But Vance Joseph is incredible as a coordinator.
13:26He's great at dialing up blitzes and pressures and playing coverage behind those things.
13:32And you saw that with Hufungi in the game, making that pick six off a zero blitz coverage
13:38where, you know, Stafford knew he had to get the ball out of his hand.
13:41And Hufungi left the guy he was lined up, head up over, which, you know,
13:45I think Matthew Stafford probably read that, hey, this is man-to-man.
13:49But he had the outbreaker.
13:50So Hufungi jumped off of that and jumped onto the outbreaker and took it for six,
13:55where Matthew Stafford thought, hey, that guy on the outbreaker is covered by the safety
13:59that's 12 yards deep.
14:00And, you know, they switched that up from a coverage standpoint, which created that pick six.
14:06So kudos to the Broncos and, you know, Vance Joseph just dialing that up
14:10and having that fool the quarterback.
14:13But, yeah, they've had some struggles defending the run,
14:15and they've had some tackling issues and, like I said, some gap assignment issues as well.
14:20Sink, there's a certain matter I want to talk to you about,
14:23and it's largely because of your history.
14:25Can you remind our listeners, how many surgeries have you had?
14:3020, while I was playing 29, I've had a few since then.
14:33Okay.
14:34Yeah, but 29 is a player.
14:36Do you have, like, one of those cards where you get a stamp and, like,
14:39the 10th surgery is free?
14:41Yeah, you know, I should.
14:42I mean, I put a couple kids through college during those years from my doctor.
14:49So, you know, they owe me a debt of gratitude without question, and they've done that.
14:54They've been very good to me over the years.
14:56Wow, it's unbelievable.
14:56But because of that history, I want to ask you about Nick Bosa.
15:00He's supposed to be back, but there is a very, I think, fair question about what we're supposed to expect
15:07from a guy who keeps having continued surgeries, and these are the big ones, right?
15:13Like, this is three ACLs now in his career.
15:16He's only 28 years old.
15:17But what is your perspective on what starts happening to the body
15:22when you keep having to go through those rehabs?
15:26Yeah, well, I think the issue that you get into is you rehab, and you do all the things,
15:34and you do them all right, and you gain your strength and everything,
15:36but your body just happens to be the greatest compensation machine ever created.
15:41And so when you have, you know, a joint that doesn't quite have the same mobility,
15:46doesn't have the same flexibility, doesn't have the same whatever,
15:50the rest of your body compensates.
15:52So you put more pressure on the opposing joint.
15:56You know, if it's your left knee, you'll put more pressure on your right knee,
15:59on your right hip, on your right ankle.
16:02And you don't do it consciously.
16:04You do it subconsciously.
16:05Your body is just protecting itself.
16:07And ultimately, that's what leads to other injuries,
16:11is your body's, you know, just natural kind of instinct to protect itself.
16:16And so it's really hard once you start having injuries
16:20to get over the top or over the hump of those injuries.
16:24Because like I said, your body is always trying to protect itself.
16:28And I think it just puts other joints into a little bit of a, you know,
16:34into a little bit of a position where they're trying to protect, you know,
16:40the joint that's been injured.
16:41And so that was my experience anyhow.
16:44You know, once I started, once I had the ACL on my left knee,
16:48then I started tearing cartilage and things in my right knee.
16:51And then, you know, and so you just start having all these just issues.
16:55And I was fortunate in that I lost my athletic ability early in my career.
17:01And so I didn't rely on athletic ability anymore.
17:04I just relied on brute strength and my ability to kind of understand
17:08I can't get beat here.
17:09I know where my help is.
17:11You know, I just had a, I just became a smarter football player as I aged
17:15and as I lost athletic ability.
17:17But I played a position where I wasn't dependent on my athletic ability.
17:21I was dependent on my knowledge of the game and, you know,
17:25and some of that brute force.
17:26So it was different for me than it is for a guy that's trying to turn a corner
17:30and rush the passer.
17:31Like, I was fortunate I played a position where I didn't have to have,
17:36I didn't have to have supreme athleticism to be really good.
17:39Mark, something we were talking about, Mark Willard and I,
17:42on whether or not there are more injuries now,
17:45or just do we seem like there's more because of social media and whatnot?
17:49You being a former football player from a couple of decades ago,
17:52are more players injured now, or are we just more aware of it?
17:57No, I think there's a lot more injuries now.
18:00And I don't know, I don't have the, I don't have the research to back it up,
18:04but I was actually having dinner with Mike Shanahan a few months ago,
18:07and we were, we were actually having this conversation.
18:11And he was talking about our back-to-back Super Bowl years
18:14and how I think in our back-to-back Super Bowl years,
18:17we lost three guys or something like that to injury over the course of the season.
18:23Like we, we stayed healthy.
18:25And a lot of it is just the way I think we train now.
18:29We don't, we don't train like football players.
18:32You know, there's so many restrictions on how much time you can spend in the facility,
18:36how much time you can spend actually working on football stuff.
18:40You know, hey, we can't go out in the field and we can't push on one another
18:43and we can't, you know, have one-on-ones and we can't do any of this stuff.
18:46And so you train, you know, you train like a track star and then you go out and you put
18:51pads on
18:52and your body's not ready for that.
18:54And there's a different kinesthetic awareness.
18:57There's different, you know, skills you develop when you're actually playing football.
19:03And now all off season, we don't do any of that stuff.
19:06And we don't do any of that stuff in training camp.
19:08We're so in our fears of being hurt that I just don't think we develop as football players.
19:14And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, now let's go hellbent for election
19:17after we sat out the entire preseason and think that your body is going to be calloused
19:22and ready to do that.
19:23And it's just not.
19:25Sink, you're a believer in the 49ers.
19:27You just said what you said about the Rams.
19:29I'm going to assume you also think the Seahawks are a piece of this puzzle.
19:33Who else in the NFC right now looks solid to you?
19:38Yeah, I mean, those three teams are all great, as you mentioned.
19:42I think that as I kind of bounce around, I think the NFC East is interesting to me.
19:50I still think the Cowboys win that division, but I was not a believer in the Philadelphia Eagles
19:55going forward.
19:56I think the Giants are a big physical football team.
20:00They've got a chance to be pretty good.
20:04It's really interesting.
20:05I think Chicago is really interesting to me.
20:11And last night was one of these things.
20:13I bounce around the country and piss off fan bases right and left.
20:20I called a game in Cleveland for Cleveland versus Carolina, and I had both fan bases.
20:27This is the best broadcasting job I've ever done because I've got both fan bases livid with me.
20:34They are like, you die.
20:35I hope you die.
20:36You know, I mean, they're just angry with me.
20:38And I'm like, I've never had both fan bases say I was completely biased toward the other team.
20:43So I was like, man, I should get an Emmy for that broadcast alone.
20:47But it was neat to see in Chicago a quarterback that played in structure and on time.
20:55It's amazing what it looks like, right, compared to Caleb, who is never on time, never in structure.
21:01Now, he may be the most dynamic player in football when it comes to off schedule stuff, but in structure
21:08and on time, he's awful.
21:10And, you know, I had said this before the season started.
21:13I was like, he's not even any good yet.
21:15He's the most dynamic player, one of the most dynamic players I've ever watched, but he's not even good yet.
21:20And to watch Case Keenum operate that offense, I was like, wow, now that's what it's supposed to look like.
21:25But they're interesting to me.
21:28Detroit, if they could ever get healthy on the defensive side, would still be a very formidable team.
21:34Green Bay looks lost.
21:36Minnesota, I think, is a paper tiger.
21:39It'll be interesting to see how they operate.
21:41But, yeah, I still think the three best teams in the NFC are all in your division, which is crazy.
21:46Yep, yep.
21:46I think that's the popular thought right now.
21:49Hey, man, we love our visits with you.
21:51We'll do it again next week.
21:53Sounds good, guys.
21:54Be well.
21:54Take care.
21:55Okay, you too.
21:56That is Mark Schlereth with us here on Weatherton Dibs.
21:58This NFL Insider Call is presented by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.
22:05Nationwide is on your side.