- 20 hours ago
Greg Cosell of NFL Films joins Willard and Dibs to recap the 49ers' win over the Broncos to improve to 4-0 and to preview a huge Week 5 showdown between the 49ers and the Seahawks.
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00:00It's the moment we wait for.
00:02Exactly.
00:02It's halftime.
00:03Don't make me go Whitney Houston one moment in time.
00:06I will, but it'll be wildly off-key.
00:09Whitney Houston has been playing a large role on this show this week.
00:12It has, but this is the moment.
00:14This is the moment.
00:17Although the head coach of the Valkyries, Natalie Nikase,
00:19may have something to say about that,
00:23but even though she can break it down,
00:25I don't know if she can break it down like our next guest
00:27on the River Islands guest line.
00:28And it is none other than the great, from NFL Films, Greg Cosell.
00:34Greg, it won't surprise you.
00:36We're always excited to talk to you.
00:38We're extra excited to talk to you today.
00:42Whitney Houston, huh?
00:43Wow.
00:43Whitney Houston.
00:44Yeah, so the, we know you're-
00:46Dan, did you want to dance with somebody or what?
00:48I kind of do, but, you know, I'm going to go ahead and hold that off.
00:52That's a damn four.
00:53I didn't know that you actually went outside of your head-banging classic rock.
00:58I didn't know you had that kind of crossover appeal.
01:01Well, you know, I'm a music guy in all different kinds.
01:05Some more than others, obviously, but I'm familiar with most.
01:09Although, I will admit that probably for the most part,
01:13after the 80s, I kind of lost a little bit of interest.
01:16Fair enough.
01:17I will admit that.
01:18Just know that-
01:19I will admit that.
01:19Know that whether you're on with us or not, we will always love you.
01:24Greg Cosell, NFL.
01:26Hey, guys, just remember, you know, it's a long way to the top
01:29when you want to rock and roll, you know?
01:30Look at this.
01:31Acy-dacy.
01:32You want to do this for the next half hour or like-
01:37No, no, no, we can talk some football.
01:38So, okay.
01:39I guess the Niners have a-
01:40There's a big game this week, I hear.
01:42Apparently, apparently.
01:43Before we get to that one, we do want to flush the last one, though,
01:47and get your thought on what kind of turned into a rock fight there
01:52in the first half between the Broncos and the 49ers.
01:56Kyle Shanahan sounded like that didn't surprise him.
01:59Maybe it didn't surprise you either.
02:00What did you think of the 49er offense in the first half
02:04as it kind of struggled to get going?
02:06Well, two things.
02:07Number one, it's a really good defense.
02:09And number two, I always have felt that Kyle Shanahan
02:13was kind of a four-quarter coach.
02:15In other words, I mean, every once in a while,
02:17he'll throw out a play like he did with the play,
02:21I guess it was a week ago, you know, the-
02:23The hook and wally.
02:24The 80-yard touchdown.
02:25Yeah.
02:25But for the most part, my sense of Kyle is that he coaches a game
02:31to sort of research and investigate a defense
02:35when he understands exactly what they're doing on that given day
02:38because that might be just a little bit different
02:41than all the work you do during the week
02:43because obviously someone like Vance Joseph
02:45has been doing this a long time and was very smart,
02:48so he's not just going to do the exact same thing that he always does.
02:52And more often than not, guys, those tweaks are minor, you know,
02:56but they're important.
02:57And I think that Kyle thinks in terms of the whole game,
03:00not in terms of let's just hit a big play or two and then move on.
03:04So I was not surprised at all because that's a very, very good defense.
03:10So, you know, that to me was a dogfight,
03:12and that's the way I thought it would be.
03:14And when you look at the dogfight early especially,
03:17we talked to Mark Schlereth earlier in the week,
03:19and he said that there were three or four or maybe more plays
03:22on the All-22 where Bo Nix had a play that he could make
03:25but opted for something else.
03:27Did you see that, Greg?
03:29Absolutely.
03:30Yes.
03:31Yeah, that offense hasn't been as sharp this year.
03:35And here I'll tell you exactly what I typed in my notes
03:38because I take really detailed notes when I watch all these games.
03:42I mean, every week I have probably 35 to 40 pages of typewritten notes
03:45with all the games I watch.
03:47So here's exactly what I said.
03:49Nix missed some throws through the first couple of possessions.
03:51He had Ingram on the intermediate and didn't turn it loose.
03:54He had Brian open on dagger concept from a clean pocket
03:57and threw a check down that was incomplete.
03:59Was Nix not seeing it clearly with a question mark?
04:02So, you know, that's exactly what I saw.
04:06Stink's right.
04:08Greg Cosell, NFL Films, with us as we're breaking down Niners-Broncos
04:12but Seahawks in just a moment.
04:15So, Greg, the same question that I asked Stink after he said that is,
04:20okay, if Nix missed some throws, does that mean there were some concerns
04:25on the 49er defensive side that they got away with?
04:30Well, there's always throws in every game.
04:32I mean, you're not taking away every single throw.
04:36I mean, you know, Sean Payton, obviously, is a smart guy.
04:40And even though he may not be the play caller,
04:43he's obviously very much involved during the week of game planning.
04:46So you're not shutting down an offense on every single play.
04:50I think that's unrealistic.
04:52So, you know, and obviously you're not going into a game saying the quarterback's
04:56not going to throw it.
04:57But you know what?
04:58He didn't throw it.
04:59But you can't shut down everything.
05:01You know, that's a really, really hard thing to do in the NFL.
05:04I don't view that as, boy, the Niners' defense was bad by any means
05:08just because there were a couple of throws that Nix didn't make.
05:11Right.
05:11And I wonder about the credit to Raheem Morris, who is, in my eye, Greg,
05:15like mixing up the fronts where he shows six and he brings four,
05:19he shows four and he brings six.
05:20What are you seeing from Raheem?
05:22Well, I'll tell you the other thing.
05:23You know, it's funny you mentioned about the Niner defense.
05:26I would argue that they played great, guys, and I'll tell you why.
05:29Because this team, the Broncos, has had major issues with blitz this year,
05:34you know, through the first three games.
05:36And it was very evident right from the start that Raheem was attacking
05:40with pressure.
05:41And let me give you Nix's numbers versus five or more rushers through the
05:47first four games, which, of course, includes the 49ers game.
05:51Nix versus five- and six-man pressures through the first four games.
05:56He's 16 for 46, 34.8%.
06:00So they knew through the first three games that he was struggling.
06:04And, again, it's not just him.
06:05It's the whole offense.
06:07But that's why you saw Raheem Morris be very aggressive with pressure schemes.
06:11And, obviously, it was effective.
06:13Do you have similar numbers with regard to how Brock Purdy is handling that?
06:18And in general, Greg, on a day where his numbers maybe weren't as good
06:23as the gaudy ones he had been putting up,
06:25how would you grade his performance?
06:29Really solid.
06:30I mean, you see, the thing about Purdy is, you know,
06:33obviously when he's 20 for 22 one week, you know,
06:35that's easy to look at Purdy and go, wow.
06:37But, you know, he's just a super solid, consistent player.
06:41And if you talk about, like, blitz numbers with Purdy through the first four
06:44weeks, I mean, Purdy is very solid versus blitz.
06:48I mean, Purdy is up 24 for 33, 73 percent, seven touchdowns, zero picks.
06:55So that's pretty good, don't you think?
06:57It's pretty good.
06:58I'll take it.
06:59Yeah, it sounds pretty good.
07:00Before we get more.
07:01Yeah, so my point about Purdy, and it's funny, I just did a presentation to a group.
07:06Um, uh, I don't know if you guys have heard of the 33rd team.
07:11Are you familiar with that at all?
07:12No.
07:12Um, okay.
07:13It's Mike Tannenbaum, who I'm sure you've heard of.
07:15Sure.
07:16It's, it's, it's, it's, he's, he's put together a group for the last number of years.
07:19And, uh, we do a call, uh, you know, every couple of weeks.
07:24And I made a presentation today, actually on Brock Purdy.
07:27And, um, cause they asked me to do it and I was really excited to do it because I love
07:31talking quarterbacks.
07:32I mean, I studied them in detail, not just Brock Purdy, as you guys know, but the thing
07:37about Purdy is, and this is the reason it took so long for people to come around is because
07:43he's not spectacular in the way we think of spectacular.
07:46You know, he's not as big as you like.
07:48He doesn't have a hose.
07:50He's a good athlete, but not a dynamic athlete.
07:52What he is, is he's plays the position with the highest level of detail, nuance, subtlety.
08:00He plays the position as a true discipline craft.
08:04And very often that doesn't look spectacular.
08:07I mean, I'm going to give you an example.
08:09They get the ball with what?
08:10Just under four minutes to go this past week.
08:12And the score is 17, 14, right?
08:14You remember, you remember the game, right?
08:15Of course.
08:16Yep.
08:17Okay.
08:17Okay.
08:18So they gain one yard on first down.
08:21It's a second and nine.
08:22So what they call a pass play.
08:24I mean, they got a score at 17, 14 with four minutes, you know, less than four minutes
08:28to go.
08:28You're not running three plays and punting.
08:30You got to move the ball.
08:31So they call, what they want to get is what we call why stick to Kittle to the left side
08:37of the formation.
08:38Okay.
08:39So he drops back and he looks to Kittle.
08:41That's the call.
08:42Why stick?
08:42But the corner is, is a trap corner.
08:45Meaning if he throws the why stick, the corner is sitting right there.
08:49So what he does is he takes two steps back, resets his throwing platform and throws to
08:55McCaffrey on the sit route on the other side of the field.
08:58It gains nine yards.
09:00Okay.
09:01So now it's third and one.
09:02They get the first down and number one, you get a completion.
09:05So the clock keeps moving.
09:06And now it's third and one.
09:08That's the kind of play you'll never see in a highlight guys, but it is such a good quarterback
09:13play in a critical situation.
09:15And it just looks like the way it plays out.
09:18It looks like the three of us could do it, but it's super hard to do.
09:21And that's what Brock Purdy is that to me, that's a great snapshot of what Brock Purdy
09:27is.
09:27And then two plays later to me, Greg, it was a perfect snapshot of Kyle Shanahan where,
09:32all right, you're trying to run out the clock.
09:34It's second and eight.
09:35And so they go zero blitz trying to stuff the run.
09:37And he calls a screen.
09:38What did you see from that play?
09:41Yeah, I mean, again, you know, I can't sit here and say, and I don't know what, I don't
09:45listen to press conferences, so I don't know what Kyle said, but I don't know, you know,
09:48if he anticipated zero or not.
09:52But obviously, you know, he called a screen and my guess is he anticipated pressure, maybe
09:57not zero, but Vance Joseph obviously is a high percentage pressure coach, particularly
10:02at high leverage, critical moments.
10:04And that was a high leverage, critical moment.
10:06So the play call beat the defense, you know, it's just one of those.
10:09It was, you know, so, you know, of course, what people say is great play call.
10:13Yeah, it turned out to be a great play call, you know, but it was great.
10:17I mean, it was, it was awesome.
10:19You know, I think the thing that speaks to both Kyle and I don't think Purdy gets enough
10:23credit for this.
10:25This team has been phenomenal on third down conversion rate since Purdy basically became
10:30the starter.
10:30And it's easy to say, oh, gee, Kyle's great.
10:33But you know what?
10:34When it's third and nine, you can call plays all day long.
10:37Those are tough plays to execute against good defenses and Purdy executes them.
10:41I mean, through four games, they're 57% on third down.
10:45That's remarkable.
10:46I mean, you know, you have to execute your quarterback has to, it's not so easy in the
10:50NFL guys to convert on third and seven or third and eight or third and nine.
10:53And it's easy to say Kyle's great and everybody knows he is.
10:57I mean, we know that, but you still have to execute it.
11:01Greg Cosell, NFL films with us, with it and dibs 95.7 the game.
11:04Okay, Greg, I want to take you through this because this has been a big thing here in
11:08the Bay, quite frankly, for the last year.
11:10The thought was with their struggles specifically with Seattle at the end of the year last year.
11:17Yeah.
11:17Seattle was able to load the box and the Niners did not have receivers who could separate
11:24against man and therefore make Seattle not load up the box.
11:29I'd love to know if, A, you truly think that's what was holding them back and, B, with the
11:36new personnel they now have, Mike Evans, Debo, and others with their weaponry, how much better
11:43are they equipped to handle what Seattle will throw at them this year?
11:49Well, I think tactically they're better equipped, guys.
11:52But one of the things that did stand out in those games last year, and I'm sure you guys
11:56would agree, is they were physically handled inside.
12:01And, you know, that, again, I don't know how Kyle Shanahan's going to go about dealing with that
12:06because last year in those games, even though the rushing numbers weren't awful, when you
12:11watch the games, both on TV, as I did, and on tape, it just, you felt like the interior of
12:18the
12:19Seahawks' defensive front just physically handled the 49ers.
12:23I think you guys would agree with that. That's what came away from those games.
12:27Now, I think with Mike Evans lining up at Boundary X, you're going to get the matchup against
12:32Josh Jobe. He's the boundary corner. That's a good matchup. Josh Jobe is a very good player.
12:37He does get beat once in a while, as all corners do. It would not surprise me to see them
12:41attack
12:41that matchup. I think with Debo, he gives you so much more now formation versatility because now
12:49they have two players, and then we'll get to the use check thing because I have some thoughts on
12:54that too. Now you have two players in Debo and McCaffrey, not just one, as they did a year ago
13:00with McCaffrey, that are, you know, movable chess pieces within the context of your offense
13:05and add an extra dimension that we'll see how Seattle deals with it. You know, believe me,
13:11Mike McDonald will, in his mind, will have something, some way to deal with it, but it's not easy.
13:16So, you know, those two players, I think, add tactically to what the 49ers can do in terms
13:22of putting together an offense. But the use check piece, and they love to do 21 personnel,
13:26as you know, two running backs, one tight end. Do they go more 13 and try to shift one of
13:31those
13:31tight ends back into the use check role? Well, now it raises questions about, you know, what they do.
13:38I mean, being honest, and none of us know the answer. So, of course not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
13:43obviously they brought Willis in last week. Does he get more time this week, you know,
13:47as part of the practice schedule? And is he the guy that's going to play 30 snaps this week or
13:5125
13:51snaps? We don't know. Do they decide they want to line up in more 11 personnel? I mean,
13:56we don't know the answer to this question. Obviously, use check is a really important player because in a
14:02sense, he's also part of that movable chess piece to mention because he lines up all over. So,
14:08you know, and in his own way, he's a really important player. You know, it might not be a
14:13numbers thing, but he's a really important player. So, you know, I'm very curious myself to see what
14:19Kyle Shanahan does. Look, I don't know. And he's certainly not going to announce it to the public.
14:23So I don't know what the answer is. Well, I guess I'd ask you this, because in listening to you
14:27talk
14:28about how up front, the Niners offense was manhandled last year. It's pretty much the same offensive line.
14:34Now they're performing at a very high level, but where does a Niner fan go for optimism that this
14:40year it will look different? You know, that's a hard question. I mean, look, the game is still
14:49physical on some level. You can be tactical all day long, but, you know, I think that we'll see what
14:55he decides to do with the run game. You know, there's a lot of multiplicity in their run game.
14:59Last year, they tried to run inside a lot and that didn't work particularly well. But then again,
15:03last year, the run game wasn't very good overall. You know, I think it was the lowest
15:07yards per carry for a season since Kyle Shanahan became the head coach. This year,
15:12the run game's actually been good. You know, and the nice thing is, is they're not overusing
15:17McCaffrey early in the season. So they're not wearing him down. Last year, he played 93%
15:21of the snaps. He had over 400 touches. Right now, he's not on pace anywhere close to that.
15:26So, and Kalon Black, he's a very strong physical runner who, you know, he gets hard yards.
15:33So I don't think Kyle's going to shy away guys from trying to run inside because there is a,
15:38a physical manhood element to that. And you don't want to basically tell your team by your game plan
15:43that they're better than we are. I don't think you, you want to do that, you know? And I think
15:48there's a, I think there's a, and I'm not a coach, so I don't know how to present this stuff
15:52to a
15:52team, but I think there's a balance between knowing that, Hey, we may not be able to do some
15:59things against this defense, but you're not going to tell your team that, Oh, they're just
16:03better than us. So we can't do it. Cause that's not the way I think you want to go into
16:06a game.
16:07And you look at the Seattle offense and there are things that they can't really do based on
16:12what we've seen, which primarily is run the ball and the Niners run defense is pretty vulnerable.
16:17So when you look at the Seattle offense, Sam Donald is kind of regressed and they have no
16:21rush attack. What scares you outside of JSN? I don't think Sam Donald's regressed. I think that
16:28as most quarterbacks are overall, they're a function of the team and the offense, Sam
16:34Donald's still the same guy. He was, you know, right now they have not shown an ability to run the
16:39football. Um, you know, uh, JSN is obviously a big time receiver. Um, so, you know, their offense
16:46is lacking some dimensions right now. And I think, you know, Shahid's an interesting player
16:50in some ways, he's their version, not exactly the same, but he's their version of Debo last week.
16:56He scored a touchdown as an eye formation runner. Uh, and they did that twice in the game. You know,
17:02one of them, he scored the touchdown for, I think, 28 yards, something like that. And you saw the juice
17:06that he brings to the table. They really, I guess I'm surprised since they got him last year that they
17:12haven't really integrated him in the past game as much as I thought they would,
17:16because this guy can run. Um, so, you know, we'll see, but, but Darnold hasn't regressed. It's just
17:22that he's, he's a function of a team and they're missing some parts on offense. Yeah. And, and Greg,
17:26we like acknowledging what they're missing in the running back room, but obviously they made a choice
17:32to, to let Kenneth Walker go the finances of it. So how would you put into words the running attack
17:39they had last year? Kind of how many rungs down the ladder has it fallen with what they currently
17:45have this year? It's way down the ladder. I mean, look, they drafted Trudery and price who I liked a
17:51lot coming out of Notre Dame. He's now on IR and he struggled with, you know, some, some fumble
17:56issues, which of course is going to put you right on the bench with most coaches. Um, so he has,
18:01when he's run, he's looked good, but you know, he fumbled a few times and that's a big problem.
18:06So it's Emmanuel Wilson, who's probably a nice number two back, but right now, I don't know.
18:12I don't know if Zach Charbonnet is ready to go this week or not. I know he was back practicing.
18:16I think last week, I don't know the status, but he's a complimentary back. He's a, he's not your
18:21feature back. And they knew that that's why they drafted Trudery and price. They told us what
18:26Charbonnet is by who they drafted. Uh, and the fact that they looked into Joe Mixon this week,
18:30who they obviously chose not to sign that's tough. They are telling you, you know, I've always believed
18:35guys that coaches kind of tell you about their players by what they do. You know, we don't have
18:38to interpret this, you know, they're telling you. So right now their run game is really not very good.
18:44You know, that's the way it is. What does the film tell you about who they want to be with
18:49a new
18:49offensive coordinator? I'm sure that they ideally would like to run it more, but as you mentioned,
18:54they haven't had a really reliable back to be back there. But when you watch the first four games,
18:58what do you see from their offense? A lot of Niners plays with Brian Flurry. I mean,
19:05believe it or not, I'm not joking about that. I mean, there's a lot of things I look at and
19:08say,
19:09that's, that's kind of reminds me of the 49ers because that's where he's been. So, you know,
19:13I think, you know, overall, you know, that they want to be like that. I mean, they play a lot
19:18at a
19:18base personnel, a ton at a base personnel. They play a lot with a fullback. I mean, this, this in
19:24many
19:24ways, looks like the Niners. I mean, that, you know, that's sort of what they are. So, you know,
19:30I think that, that that's kind of the direction that they're in right now. And I mean, look what
19:35they did last week. They had, you know, they, they had eight snaps and 12 personnel. They had five
19:42snaps and 13 personnel. They had 11 snaps and 22 personnel. I mean, this is a team that plays a
19:47lot
19:47at a base personnel and they play with a fullback. Greg Cosell, NFL films. All right. The, the,
19:53the big question at the end. Hey, Greg, how do you get your steak cooked?
20:01I'm a medium rare guy. That is a correct answer.
20:05Yeah. That's it. If it was family feud, there'd only be, you know, it's funny. I don't eat a lot
20:10of steak, you know, but I, I'm a medium rare guy all the way. Okay. The only answer on the
20:14board,
20:14Greg burgers as well. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, people who like it well done. I don't,
20:21I mean, I don't understand how, you know, you can't even chew that. It's a hockey puck. Is there
20:25anything that is named more poorly in the English language than red meat? Well done. Yeah. I mean,
20:35yeah. You know, medium rare all the way, you know, I even like it pink on the inside. Well,
20:40that would, that would be a medium rare. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You pass the test
20:45and you get to, you get to do this again next week. Well, you know, I appreciate that guys. I'm
20:51glad
20:51that, uh, that I passed your test and you know, thanks for having me back. Uh, Greg, we can't wait,
20:56man. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you again next Wednesday. All right. Thanks guys. Appreciate
21:00it. Us too. Greg Cosell.