- 14 minutes ago
Greg Cosell of NFL Films joins Willard and Dibs to break down the 49ers' Week 3 win over the Cardinals, the team's 3-0 start, the impact of a potential Mike Evans absence, Brock Purdy's play, and more.
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00:00I don't know if he knows that like what you just described as Greg Cosell NFL Films as he always
00:05does at 315 on Wednesdays he joins us on the River Islands guest line you kind of view this
00:11as halftime of the week here on 95.7 the game yeah we'll do a little bit of look back
00:16at Arizona
00:17right we so and we close the book on on what happened that's right and we start to open the
00:21book on what's coming do you know that uh Cosell we should nickname you halftime
00:29uh well as long as you don't nickname me hump day okay we'll take that into consideration
00:34no doubt I think that's a fair request Greg I really do all right okay um hey Greg I think
00:44what's on your mind today guys what's on your mind I think the Niners are 3-0 are they not
00:48they're 3-0 but you know how it goes when a team starts winning the expectations go even higher
00:54higher for kind of how they look so um what's your view on the defense uh especially up front
01:02you know giving up 30 points Nick Bosa not being there like how different did the group look to you
01:09well I mean there's no way that a coach goes into a game saying let's give up 30 but I
01:15think they
01:15that Raheem Morris chose to play a certain way uh in this game and theoretically and and practically
01:22to some extent it worked um what they essentially did because they didn't have Bosa they didn't have
01:28they're missing players on the defensive front listen in this game nine players got at least 13 snaps
01:33uh on the defensive line Odigizua had the most um they actually did a pretty good job rushing the
01:41quarterback I mean their their main pass rush group was um Kareem and Okawanko on the outside
01:48and White and Odigizua inside although they kind of used White he's sort of the wild card movable
01:54chess piece in the concept of their defense but think of it this way obviously the cards ran way
02:00too many plays there's no way you want an offense to run 81 plays but Brissette did not have a
02:06pass
02:06completion of more than 19 yards in this game so they played almost all zone coverage very little man
02:13they didn't press and they did not give up any explosives and when you talk to defensive coaches
02:20that is often the number one thing that they do not want to do they talk about three things third
02:25down red zone and don't give up explosives and they did not give up explosives so obviously as I said
02:32there's no way you're happy with an offense running 81 plays against you but Brissette had 38 completions
02:39for only 280 yards I mean they really did not have big plays in the game at all um and
02:46when your
02:47offense is good obviously the flip side of that is your offense has to score and their offense scored
02:53because they went ahead 14 nothing and that changes the whole feel of the game when you look at the
02:58fronts that they are employing not only this week but throughout the course of the weeks and also how
03:03are they using Fred Warner I saw 17 total tackles in the game what are you seeing from the front
03:09from
03:09Raheem Morris but also in how Fred Warner is being used that's just another day at the office for
03:15Mr. Warner I mean he's the best in the business um you know they put him on the ball on
03:21occasion on
03:21in third down situations and in must pass situations um sometimes he'll blitz as I said they didn't have a
03:28high blitz percentage but sometimes he'll rush as part of a five-man pressure and oftentimes when he does
03:34that it's part of a stunt concept where he's either the looper or the picker um but for the most
03:40part
03:40when they play their four-man front you know what what they do is he's a stacked player um and
03:46you
03:46know he's obviously the to me he's the best linebacker in the game there's nothing wrong with Fred Warner
03:51he's playing great football um you know Greenlaw I guess I don't know whether he was uh fighting an
03:57injury but but Wallow played about 20 snaps in this game in place of Greenlaw and I gotta tell you
04:04I'm
04:04really impressed with uh with Duggar quite uh quite a bit um you know he's he's um he's really playing
04:12well I mean um he's the third linebacker they line him up on the ball quite a bit so it's
04:18basically a
04:19five-man front even though they're not truly a 5-2 defense or 3-4 as people like to say
04:24but they they line him on the ball quite a bit and um I think he's I think he's a
04:31really good player
04:32and I think he's going to be a very good player as he plays even more uh Greg would love
04:37to talk
04:37some Mike Evans with you you you've been I think for you know all year since they acquired him uh
04:43pointing
04:44out that that the 49ers have not had this true boundary x in in a while and and it's been
04:50so good
04:51but now in this game we got to see a little bit of time without him and we don't know
04:55if he's going
04:56to play this week so how would you describe how the offense looked and what they need to do if
05:02he's not
05:03there yeah I mean obviously when you have Mike Evans it changes things look it just makes it easier
05:10for a quarterback when you have that boundary x receiver or that outside receiver it doesn't
05:15always have to be boundary x I mean his his uh 23 yard touchdown um was not he was not
05:22the boundary
05:22x receiver he was actually twins two receiver to that side and he was outside the numbers and what
05:28we call a plus split but because of the nature of the formation he was matched man to man on
05:34the
05:34corner Burke and you're just so much more comfortable as a quarterback guys when you know you've got that
05:39guy that can win one-on-one now that doesn't mean you always throw him the ball one-on-one
05:44because
05:44obviously there are play calls and play designs but when you're a quarterback I would imagine
05:49obviously I'm not dropping back in an NFL game but I'm sure that when you're a quarterback and you
05:53feel comfortable with that receiver that can win one-on-one on the outside and you're confident
05:59in throwing him the ball it changes your the entire offense um and that was a great example the touchdown
06:05obviously um you know I don't know whether you want to call it sluggo or a stutter go but um
06:10you
06:11know he got on top of Burke and Purdy obviously dropped it right in the bucket but you know that
06:15that just changes everything now that doesn't mean you can't run a pass game look they haven't had that
06:22guy for previous in previous years and their pass game still been very good but it just changes
06:27everything about the way you can put together an offense a game plan a pass game and how the quarterback
06:33feels what about the first Kittle touchdown where you know George and Brock seemed to be on the first
06:39page or the same page rather where it got to be a six-point game and it was you know
06:44kind of going
06:44back and forth what did you see from the first Kittle touchdown that was the 10-yarder correct yep
06:50yeah now that came out of 22 personnel two backs two tight ends so the cards stayed in their base
06:595-2 front and they played what we call a quarters umbrella in coverage meaning four across so what
07:06happened was and this is where Kyle's so good is McCaffrey he was an eye back but he motioned into
07:12the boundary which expanded the coverage to that side of the field so now Kittle was on the other side
07:18so he ran his slant route from the opposite side and he ended up running it versus an on the
07:24ball
07:24linebacker in Browning and you'll take that matchup all day long so the expansion of his coverage with
07:31the McCaffrey motion even though it was to the other side of the field really set up the matchup
07:36that they wanted which was Kittle running against Browning and in some ways it became pitch and catch
07:42it was really beautiful design Greg Cosell NFL films with us every Wednesday right here on
07:47Withered and Dibs 95.7 the game Greg earlier this week Kyle Shanahan was asked if there's any
07:53quarterback in the league right now playing better than Brock Purdy and his answer essentially was I
07:58don't see all of the other games but I know someone who does do you think that anybody out there
08:04right
08:05now is playing better than Brock you know those are always hard questions here's how I'm going to
08:11answer that okay I think Brock I think there's two quarterbacks in this league who are just unbelievable
08:17when it comes to this post snap operation in other words once the ball snapped what they see how they
08:24react to coverage rotation and coverage movement and I think the two absolute best quarterbacks in
08:30the league at that right now are Brock Purdy and Joe Burrow and and so Purdy is playing at a
08:35really high
08:36level because the game is evolving from a defensive standpoint to where more and more defenses change the
08:44look pre-snap to post-snap and quarterbacks have to be able to react to that in a matter of
08:50milliseconds you don't have time to think it through you've just got to see it and Purdy and Burrow to
08:56me are the absolute two best at that and that is a trait that's one reason why he was probably
09:03drafted
09:03late you know as the last pick in the draft because that's not a trait that's necessary in college
09:08football so you didn't see that he had that trait when he was coming out of Iowa State so instead
09:14you
09:14saw a guy that's a little shorter than you're like doesn't have a big arm athletic but not really
09:19explosive you know so you saw him as a guy that hey he looks like a pretty good backup but
09:24you didn't
09:25see this particular trait that is so so essential to playing quarterback in the NFL so how do we as
09:32evaluators and I'm kind of looking at you but more so looking like the the GMs like do we need
09:38to move
09:38away from the combine model because when you look at Brock Purdy you mentioned all the measurables
09:44he doesn't pop in any of them yet he's one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the league
09:49we need to move away guys from the idea that a guy that throws it hard and runs around has
09:54great tools
09:56because if you talk to any offensive coordinators or offensive coaches that would not those two things
10:02would not be anywhere near the top of their list in the evaluation of quarterbacks and what makes a
10:07higher level NFL quarterback and we get a little too caught up in he has great tools because he can
10:13throw it hard he can run around you know what this makes me think of Greg uh Mark Slareth was
10:18on with
10:18this yesterday and I thought he made an interesting comment he was talking at the time about Caleb
10:23Williams but it applies to Bo Nix as well where he goes you know what they're they're good young
10:29quarterbacks um off script but they're actually not good yet like they they're they're right they're
10:35interesting but they're not good yet so a would you agree with that and then how would you apply it
10:41to Bo Nix I would say that you know their works in progress you know um obviously you hope to
10:49get
10:49there with with those kinds of quarterbacks um you know rarely let me explain it this way rarely when I
10:56watch tape keep in mind here's a statistic or here's a trait in quarterbacks that there's no
11:02statistic for which I see when I watch tape there's no statistic for balls that should be thrown that
11:08aren't thrown okay there's no metric for that that rarely ever happens with Brock Purdy rarely it happens
11:16a lot with the quarterbacks you mentioned now a Caleb Williams can then make three spectacular plays
11:21that maybe Brock Purdy can't make but there's 10 other plays that you watch the tape and you say
11:29because I I know the route concepts I've been doing this a long time so I see the route concepts
11:34and I
11:34think to myself and I'm not trying to uh single out Caleb Williams it's true with many quarterbacks
11:39and say that ball's got to be thrown you know why isn't he throwing that and I don't know the
11:44answer
11:44because I'm not in the quarterback's head you rarely ever say that with a Brock Purdy or a Joe Burrow
11:50the balls that should be thrown based on the structure of the pass game and the route design
11:55and the play call those balls get thrown and and I think part of that is understanding what you need
12:03to look at when you drop back you know you don't need to understand everything about the defense
12:09you just need to understand there in every play call there's a primary read so you need to understand
12:15who impacts that throw that's what you need to know seven guys don't impact the throw maybe two
12:22guys do three at most at very most so you know I think Purdy just has an unbelievable innate feel
12:30for understanding that I thought a great example of that was the 26 yard skinny post to Watkins uh this
12:37past week on um on third down just a great example of just understanding what he needs to know as
12:44he's
12:44dropping back and when I say what he needs to know as I said that happens in a millisecond so
12:49we look
12:49at you know the Denver Broncos and you and Mark were mentioning Bo Nix and I'm really flummoxed by
12:55what this Denver Bronco team is because they haven't had a lot of offensive plays and it looks like they've
13:00been really struggling early in games and getting better in the second half yeah when you look at
13:04Denver on tape Greg what do you see well flummoxed is not a word I hear very often you know
13:11that's good
13:11use of the word flummox I'm baffled I'm bamboozled yeah yeah you know it's an offense and and because
13:21I'm not there and I don't know how they're game planning but it's an offense when I watch it it
13:25just and this is something you do notice on film and it's not a specific thing about you know a
13:30play
13:30call or anything like that but it's just a feel when you're watching tape they're just right now does
13:35not seem to be any rhythm to their pass game you know it just there's no sense of oh Nix
13:41is going
13:41to drop back he's going to hit his back foot he's going to deliver the football boom it's a seven
13:45yard
13:45gain boom next play is going to drop back he's going to hit his back foot it's a nine yard
13:49gain you know
13:49there's no sense of rhythm to their pass game right now I mean even this past week they won and
13:55obviously hey there's only 17 of them so you get a W you take it but you know those plays
14:00at the end
14:01were bust by the Rams defense that wasn't as if they were beautiful plays that you went wow
14:06that's just really pretty but they've really been struggling for their pass game to have any sense
14:11of a sort of timing and rhythm to it Greg of course both parties that I'm about to mention get
14:17some
14:18credit for this but I wonder where you would put the majority of the credit for the fact that the
14:2449ers have not suffered a sack uh in in three football games what's the main reason that that number
14:31is zero well I'm sure Mr. Stink Schlereth would disagree but I've always felt that quarterbacks
14:40lead more to sacks than offensive linemen now again I can't put a percentage on that that's hard to know
14:46but I think quarterbacks that play with a really precise sense of timing and rhythm as Mr. Purdy does
14:52I think they minimize sacks now is there going to be a jailbreak every once in a while you know
14:59is an
14:59offensive lineman going to miss his block so badly that you know there's nothing the quarterback can
15:04do that that's going to happen somewhere along the line but I've always believed and you know I
15:10listened to Tom Brady who obviously knows a little more about playing quarterback than I do and he
15:14always talks about quarterback sacks being a quarterback stat and I tend based on my years of
15:20watching tape to believe that uh much more so so I'm not going to say the offensive line's not playing
15:25well that that would be naive and stupid but you know I think that Purdy's sense of timing combined
15:31with the the nature of the pass game and the structure of it just really allows you know the
15:37the ball to come out when it's supposed to come out and Purdy does have he's not an explosive athlete
15:44but he also has a little more mobility I'm sure than people think he does yeah that's for sure and
15:48I
15:48mean we saw that in his touchdown run that got called back because of the George Kittle hold I wonder
15:53Greg what you see on tape with the Broncos rush offense because Mark and I have talked about the
15:59Niners at times being a little soft against the run how does that matchup look for the Niners going
16:05into Sunday uh you know the Broncos have not run the ball with any real consistency and I think
16:12that's something they need to I think pretty much every team needs to do that um they they've not really
16:17been able to do that well um so you know I'm sure that's something that they're focused on because
16:22that's got to happen you know look Bo Nix hey they may have been to the Super Bowl last year
16:28if Bo
16:28Nix didn't get hurt but the reality is Bo Nix last year had the most drop backs of any quarterback
16:33in
16:34the league I'd be surprised if you if you got Sean Payton with truth serum if that's the way he
16:39really
16:39wants to play to have the quarterback have to drop back that many times you know because don't forget
16:45it's not just the quarterback it also puts a burden on your own line because pass protection tends to be
16:49more reactive than proactive run game is more proactive than reactive um so um you know they're
16:56they've not run the ball well enough for it to be really sustaining in any way uh while we're on
17:02the
17:02run game and we're talking with Greg Cosell NFL Films as we do every single Wednesday we made a lot
17:06last year of the 49ers collectively for the season averaging 3.8 yards per carry lowest in the Kyle
17:13Shanahan era this year that number so far is up at 5.1 what's been the biggest difference
17:21I mean I would say that blocking up front I mean look in this past game they started to crank
17:25up
17:26the run game on their first fourth quarter possession they had multiple run game concepts
17:30McCaffrey ran for 10 yards and nine yards then Black ran for nine yards then they had Samuel run
17:35for 11 yards off the jet orbit motion to the swing screen it was called a run but to me
17:40it was a pass
17:41but you know so we'll call it a run because that's what they called it but I think that you
17:45know they've
17:45been to me McCaffrey this year on a good majority of his runs is getting through the first level
17:53without three guys getting hands on him and and because he's such a powerful physical presence as
17:59a runner if he can do that he's going to gain five six yards and maybe more now I'm not
18:05I don't know
18:06if he still has the vertical juice I'm not going to sit here we don't know the answer to that
18:09I don't
18:10know if he's going to have 50 yard touchdown runs but in that in in the sort of 10 yard
18:14area I think
18:15McCaffrey looks fine and I think that he's getting to the second level now this year much more so than
18:21he did a year ago certainly looked good in many spots in that game the other day and I'm just
18:26wondering about what you see from Debo Samuel not only on the hook and lateral and that play had to
18:32be one that you watched eight or nine times just pure perfection in the timing you know it's funny
18:37you say that because plays like that I don't watch over and over because they're really cool plays
18:42not great but you know it's not like it's not like you're going to see that play you know every
18:46single
18:46week um it's just a really cool play but that's not a play I study in detail to be honest
18:51with you
18:51I get it but if you and I know you do this but you look at the detail of Luke
18:55Farrell getting out
18:56there and not blocking right away showing the patience Greg and you know this as a patient man
19:01yourself the timing of the play that had to make you smile a little bit oh of course well first
19:07of
19:08all every play has a detail so there's always details to every single play but I mean in terms
19:13of like breaking that play down that's not something I'll do in the same detail that I would look at
19:19let's say the Watkins 26 yard play you know a play like that which I love breaking down those kinds
19:24of
19:24plays or a really good run you know and the run game has so much detail to it I thought
19:30that was
19:31an assumption that my partner just made are you actually a patient man Greg yes I am you are it's
19:38obvious you have any evidence yeah evidence of patience yeah how does one have evidence of patience
19:47maybe you'd have a story or something about I don't know like a car that just stopped in the
19:54middle of the street and you were right behind it and you didn't honk your horn or or flip a
19:58bird
19:59or anything like that you just patiently well you just waited it's funny yeah when I drive I'm not
20:04the least bit bothered by I'm aware of everybody on the road obviously you have to be but I'm not
20:10the
20:10least bit bothered by anything that happens it's just like it just kind of rolls over me and I just
20:15you know keep moving along maybe it was me uh tabbing you as a guns and roses fan of the
20:20song
20:20patience which is why I thought that maybe you would be a patient and I am a big guns and
20:25roses
20:25fan I love guns and roses of course um okay back to football uh Greg Cosell NFL Films why can't
20:32Denver
20:33stop the run so far this year what's up with their defense they were so they were very good last
20:38year
20:38what do you see that's going on with that yeah yeah I mean they their defense is still very good
20:43with
20:43players and Vance Joseph still very very good as far as what he can do and obviously they've led the
20:48league in sacks in each of the last two years so it's not a defense that you just say gee
20:52they're
20:52they're not playing great right now so that's you know we're going to score a lot on them they've got
20:57good players to me I would say that the the biggest weakness I see in their defense putting it's only
21:04been three games so I'm not going to sit here and say they can't stop the run but I think
21:08to me the
21:08biggest defense the biggest weakness in their defense and I know Kyle Shanahan will attempt to
21:14exploit it so look for this in the game because I think they're two linebackers Singleton and
21:18Stranod are not very good in pass coverage um and Singleton's a really good run defender he's you know
21:24he's he's kind of energetic he's he's just one of those guys that that brings a swagger to your
21:30defense Stranod's actually a big good athlete but I don't think either one is very good in pass
21:36coverage and I think you're definitely going to see uh Kyle go after them with with concepts for sure
21:42Greg just one more for me uh before we uh let you go I'm in one of these survivor pools
21:48where
21:48you got to pick a winner every single week so who should I take Greg
21:54I got I don't have the schedule right in front of me I mean I can do what are the
21:58options okay how
21:59about uh how about Baltimore hosting Tennessee um how about Seattle hosting the Chargers how about
22:06Minnesota hosting Miami um well it's funny you say this because yeah because my younger daughter's
22:11boyfriend is in one of the same kind of leagues yeah and I guess week one when when Arizona won
22:16he picked the I forget who they beat week one everybody thought the Chargers yeah and everybody
22:21just assumed that was going to be a blowout for the Chargers so of course he picked the um you
22:27know he
22:27picked that game so I'm really not the best person to ask these questions to I'm really bad you know
22:34so uh I don't have a great answer for that all right I mean yeah Cosell says Baltimore I don't
22:39know he steered his own family I don't even think in those I don't even think in those terms
22:44um all right yeah Baltimore thanks Greg there it is okay great great great stuff and Baltimore
22:49plays Tennessee right yes but they're also they were in Brazil two days ago just you know throw that
22:54in there so if they lose you're gonna blame it on Rio yeah that's a five that's so good
23:02okay walk it off Greg that's that's the end of the conversation right there that was the way
23:06to do it is that a mic drop or what it sure was thank you sir we'll talk to you
23:12next week
23:13all right guys appreciate it thanks okay there it goes Greg
23:16you