- 23 hours ago
Greg Cosell of NFL Films joins Willard and Dibs to react to the 49ers' win over the Seahawks to improve to 5-0. How did the 49ers pull this off and what can the 49ers expect from the Commanders on Monday night?
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00:00Let's go out to the River Islands guest line on YouTube as well.
00:03Our absolute favorite, NFL Films.
00:06It's Greg Cosell.
00:08Hello, Greg.
00:09How are we doing?
00:11What's happening?
00:12Niners win last week, by the way?
00:14I missed it.
00:14Hang on.
00:15Let me check.
00:16I got to go to my internet.
00:18Yeah.
00:19They won by three, Greg.
00:21Oh, wow.
00:22I got to check that out.
00:24Yeah.
00:25You should go back and watch the game.
00:28Have you ever done that before?
00:30Uh, no, I don't know.
00:32If I miss it, you know, sometimes I miss it and I don't get to it.
00:35You know, you know how it goes.
00:36I sure do.
00:37Yeah, life can be busy, no doubt.
00:38All right.
00:39I mean, let's just start with, you know, you talked a lot about how the Niners were physically
00:45manhandled by Seattle at the end of last year.
00:47Why and what was different this time around?
00:51And if you recall, last week I said, I didn't think that would happen again.
00:54You remember I said that?
00:55We do recall.
00:56We locked it up.
00:57That was a good, solid prediction.
00:59There you go.
01:00And you know what?
01:01They were not physically manhandled in this game.
01:03In fact, and for people who maybe didn't see the game or saw, you know, pieces of it
01:08and maybe just looked at a stat sheet and saw what their rushing numbers were, they may
01:12have figured, oh, you know, they didn't run the ball great.
01:15But let me tell you something.
01:16That, to me, was a key, key component of this game.
01:19They were clearly able to establish a consistent, sustaining run game.
01:24No big plays.
01:25That's okay.
01:26But the kind of tough physical runs that generated hard-earned yards, kept the 49ers offense on
01:31schedule.
01:32I mean, they moved those D tackles for the Seahawks.
01:37They had a lot of double teams.
01:40And they moved them.
01:41I thought the center, Brendel, had a really strong game in the run game.
01:46He executed double teams and combo blocks.
01:49He worked to the second level with mobility and tracking.
01:53I thought the left guard, Colby, competed and battled his you-know-what off throughout
01:58the game.
01:58He had some bad snaps, but he fought.
02:00And I thought that he ended up on the plus ledger when the game was done.
02:04And I thought that the 49ers both subtly controlled and at times dominated the interior of the
02:11Seahawks D line.
02:12And I thought that was a critical, critical element in the game.
02:15And you look at the rush numbers, McCaffrey, six yards a carry, but the rest of the team,
02:19Kalon Black, I think, struggled.
02:21Was it mostly inside runs?
02:23Was it stretches and tosses or a mix of the two different types?
02:27No, they ran the ball inside for the most part.
02:33And, you know, you look at, was it the last drive or second to last drive where it might
02:38have been the winning field goal drive where McCaffrey ran for 11 yards.
02:42I think Black ran for 11 yards.
02:44McCaffrey, I think, ran for eight or nine yards.
02:46I mean, they ran the ball well.
02:49Now, I think the numbers, it might have been just 24 for 94, if memory serves me correctly.
02:54I'm not looking at a stat sheet, but obviously I studied the game very carefully.
02:58And look, it's not as if they put up 400 yards of total offense.
03:01I think they only had about 270 yards of total offense.
03:04But watching the tape, and of course, I saw the game as well on TV because I think there
03:09were only three late games for the East Coast this week.
03:12So I ended up watching most of that game as opposed to being on red zone.
03:18Watching the game, it felt like they were making offensive plays.
03:21Like, I didn't feel watching the game, I would imagine you guys felt the same way.
03:26It didn't feel like they were getting stopped.
03:28Now, obviously, you play a very good defense, you're not just going to go up and down the
03:31field on every possession.
03:33But it didn't have the feeling, to me, watching both on Sunday and the tape, that, boy, the
03:38Seahawks were really stopping them.
03:4024 for 94 is exactly right, Greg.
03:43It's just a wonderful memory that you've got going on over there.
03:47Hey, well, at my age, I'm very happy about that, you know?
03:50It's a good thing.
03:51Oh, it's exciting.
03:51It's a good thing.
03:52And I think the yards per carry is knocked off by the fact that Brock Purdy technically
03:56had six yards on five carries.
03:58Debo had four yards on two carries.
04:00That included that fumble and everything.
04:03This won't surprise you, Greg.
04:05Lots of talk about the wide receiver position for the 49ers because another one goes down.
04:11And Mike Evans has been wonderful.
04:14But there's a lot of thought about, you know, the trade deadline or whatever.
04:17I would love your thoughts outside of Mike Evans.
04:22How are the other guys performing?
04:24Brandon Cooks, Jordan Watkins, Jacob Cowling.
04:27What do you see on snaps for those guys?
04:31Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't study each guy on every snap, so I can't sit here and say
04:35what they're doing on every single snap.
04:37But obviously, Cooks is a veteran receiver.
04:40You know, he's been with a lot of teams, but pretty much everywhere he goes, he contributes
04:44in some way.
04:45My guess is because he's played a lot, he probably doesn't need a lot of learning, and
04:50you can line him up and play him pretty quickly, as they've done.
04:54You know, Cowling is an interesting guy because he sort of had two different college careers.
04:59His first stop was UTEP, where he was an explosive vertical dimension.
05:03His last stop was Arizona, where he was used much more as kind of a short, intermediate
05:07receiver, and his yards per catch was much different than it was at UTEP.
05:12I've always liked Cowling.
05:14Again, you know, he's now been in the league for a number of years, so, you know, I don't
05:18know how they see him, you know, if he has to play 30, 40, 50 snaps a game.
05:24You know, and Watkins, you know, Watkins is fast.
05:27He's explosive.
05:29You know, in an ideal world, they're going to really focus on Evans and Kittle.
05:34And, you know, obviously Evans had the big game, you know, this past week.
05:39Some of it came on one-on-one matchups.
05:41It was a great matchup with Joe versus Evans because the balls that Evans caught, he didn't
05:46necessarily beat him, you know, where there was tremendous separation.
05:49But, you know, Evans is 6'4".
05:51He's got great hands.
05:52He's got great body control.
05:54And Purdy, you know, he puts the ball in exactly the right spot.
05:58I mean, that's Purdy's game.
06:00Purdy's game is precise ball location, throwing it at the right time to the right receiver
06:04with the right kind of throw.
06:06That's what Brock Purdy is.
06:07I mean, I remember one slot fade.
06:09I think it was 28 yards.
06:11I think it was on second and 21, if I'm remembering the play correctly.
06:15I think it was second and 21 on a fourth quarter TD drive where he threw the, you know, that
06:21fade ball to the outside.
06:23You couldn't have placed it, couldn't have handed it to him any better given the positioning
06:27of Joe.
06:28So, you know, that's what Purdy does.
06:30And so Purdy helps receivers, too, by placing it exactly where it needs to be.
06:35And then he follows it up with a pressurized sidearm flip to Kittle and then the touchdown
06:40throw to Cooks where he's scrambling left and Cooks continues to work the play.
06:45Are those three throws in a nutshell kind of what defines the greatness of Brock Purdy?
06:51I mean, I wouldn't say just those three throws.
06:53I mean, Purdy is, look, you know, we've talked about him.
06:56You guys know how I feel about him.
06:58But, you know, it's funny.
06:59The Cooks play, I think, also speaks to Cooks as a veteran because he was running an in-breaking
07:04route.
07:04And then he looked back and he saw Purdy move to his left.
07:07And he knew that he had to move with Purdy because it was the safety Okada who had matched
07:13up to him on the in-breaking route.
07:14And then he ran away from Okada and gave Purdy a window to make the throw.
07:20And, you know, Purdy's mobility has been a bigger factor this year than I think in previous
07:24years.
07:25You know, he's you wouldn't call him an explosive athlete, but there's kind of a deceptive
07:31slipperiness to him.
07:32You know, he's got a certain calculated, controlled feel to his movement.
07:36Very rarely when he moves, do you feel like it's random and, you know, uncontrolled.
07:41There always seems to be a calculation to how he moves.
07:45Greg Cosell, NFL Films, every Wednesday, Willard and Dibbs, 95-7 the game.
07:49How did Mikel Williams look in his first game in a year?
07:53I thought he had some really strong run defense snaps where he showed his physicality because
07:59I think that's who he is.
08:01He still, you know, obviously hasn't been able to play and probably even, you know, practice
08:06much until recently because of the nature of his injury with an ACL.
08:10He'll still need work as a pass rusher.
08:12What was interesting to me, guys, is I believe he played 23 snaps.
08:16They were all on the outside, whereas last year, as you guys know, they moved him inside
08:20under Robert Sala and he played inside and third down and in pure pass situations in this
08:26game.
08:27And again, that doesn't mean the rest of the season will be like this, although I think
08:30it might be because of the quality play of Holden, of Diggie Zua, the ability of White
08:35to be a movable chess piece and line up inside and be a factor.
08:39So my guess is Williams will stay outside, but he still needs some pass rush work.
08:44You know, he's a little linear and a little stiff, but he's very strong and that showed
08:48up in the run game.
08:49Grayson Halton, you mentioned him.
08:51He had a sack.
08:52He had a forced fumble, a recovery, a touchdown.
08:54It wasn't just those two isolated plays.
08:57What else have you seen from Grayson Halton that has his stock up in your mind?
09:02Well, you know, it's funny.
09:03I really liked him coming out of college and he went to Oklahoma where, you know, because
09:07it's Brent Venables, he's a big, he does a lot of slanting and stunting with his D-line.
09:13You know, he's a different kind of college coach defensively than the large, large majority.
09:17So Halton was viewed, and it's probably one reason he was a fourth round pick, as someone
09:23who was pretty specific in what his traits were.
09:25But I tell you, watch him.
09:27He, he's continuing to show sudden explosive quickness off the ball.
09:30He's showing an effective swim move to penetrate gaps.
09:34He's a gap player.
09:35I mean, you saw that on the, on the fumble and the touchdown, but you've seen it basically
09:39since week one.
09:40I mean, he's an explosive athlete.
09:42You know, he's not 320 pounds, but he's an explosive athlete and he's, he's done well.
09:48But, you know, like I said, I think with Diggy Zua, look, they have a, they're in the top
09:5210 in the league and pass rush win rate as a team, even if, if, if, even if the sack
09:57numbers aren't high.
09:58And when you look at this game and that final drive, you know, their ability to rush the
10:03quarterback on that final drive was a big deal.
10:06You know, and, and I know people can point to the, to the ball that, you know, I'm sure
10:11Smith and Jigba will catch 99.9% of the time, but there were two or three plays on that
10:16drive
10:16where the pass rush was a big factor.
10:18So they've been able to generate pressure, even if the sack numbers have not been high
10:23and don't forget, they've been doing it without Bosa.
10:25Right.
10:26And in the second half of that game on the front seven, if you add them in, they were doing
10:30it without Drake Greenlaw.
10:31So it was really a nice game for Jaden Duggar and would love your, right.
10:36Let's hear it.
10:36Cause we're going to see it again on Monday night, Greg.
10:41Yeah.
10:41I love that kid too.
10:42I mean, he was one of the guys I did not get to in my draft work.
10:45You know, I can't get to everybody.
10:47I'm one person.
10:47Yeah.
10:48I probably did 220 guys.
10:49I didn't do him.
10:50So he was all new to me when I started watching the, you know, the preseason games and I liked
10:55him immediately.
10:55You know, he's a former safety.
10:57He's big, he's athletic.
10:59He's got physicality to him.
11:01I mean, I think this guy's on his way to being a really good player.
11:04And, uh, and by the way, the guy who wears 54, he's pretty good too.
11:07Yeah.
11:08I like his chances to maybe stick around for a little while.
11:11The guy who wears number zero is, he was kind of rated as a zero by many.
11:15I mean, Renardo green with the two picks in the game, what did you make of those interceptions
11:19and how he played them?
11:22Well, yeah, I mean, first of all, green was someone I did in detail when he came out of
11:26college and he was at Florida state.
11:27And I did him for two years, evaluated him.
11:30And he was a press man corner in college.
11:33That was his game.
11:34And obviously he went to a team that didn't play a lot prior, you know, to the change in
11:39the, in the coordinator.
11:40So, um, uh, you know, the, the, um, the first interception, he just read the route by Smith,
11:46the out by Smith and Jay, but he read the out cut.
11:49He jumped the route and the throw, you know, it was beautiful.
11:51I mean, that's the way you want it.
11:53You want him to read, you know, you're almost reading because he was playing off.
11:57So ideally you're reading what we call the triangle.
12:00You're reading the receiver through to the quarterback.
12:02So if you see the quarterback set and get ready to throw, then you can plant and drive
12:08because, you know, he's throwing the ball.
12:09So he did that exceptionally well on that one.
12:12And then the other one was on the crosser by, I believe Arroyo.
12:16Um, and I thought he did a phenomenal job on that because, uh, I'd have to go really into
12:22the weeds to explain it.
12:23So I won't do that because you'd almost have to see it, but he was playing, they had two
12:27tight ends to his side.
12:29And as soon as Barner stayed into block, he knew that he was going to play Arroyo because
12:35if, if Barner ran around, he would have had to stay where he was.
12:40And Arroyo would have run the crosser, probably been wide open, um, because it was a zone concept
12:45underneath.
12:46So he ran with him and he undercut it and it was probably just a touch under thrown,
12:50but he made a great play.
12:52The other guy who needs to be mentioned, by the way, I think their safeties have played
12:55really well this year, but you got to mention Mustafa.
12:57No, he didn't get a chance to start until this week, uh, because of the, um, the inactivity
13:02of, um, of, um, Siegel.
13:04But Mustafa is a tempo setter.
13:06This guy plays started on the first play of the game.
13:09I mean, this guy's got physicality, got toughness and incredibly quick trigger in the run
13:13game.
13:13I mean, he brings an attitude to your defense.
13:16He's a swagger player.
13:18Greg Cosell, NFL films with us every week, right here on 95, seven, the game.
13:23Um, you mentioned the pass rush win rate that the Niners are posting right now.
13:28And especially without Bosa, this is music to the 49er fans ears.
13:33I want to know if you see that as a personnel thing that's just working better, or is it something,
13:39uh, schematic with Raheem Morris and the way he's deploying them?
13:44It's a combo platter because they are among the top five teams in the league in terms of
13:49stunt percentage and stunt rate, whatever you want to call it, but stunt percentage, they
13:54have the third highest stunt percentage in the NFL.
13:57So it's not just individuals, but see, that's smart football.
14:01See, I don't view that as, as a negative.
14:03I view that as Raheem Morris doing a great job.
14:06I mean, you know, they're stunting a lot.
14:08Like I said, I think they stunt on 35, give or take 35% of all quarterback dropbacks.
14:14So it's the third highest in the league and, you know, it's very, very effective.
14:18And, uh, you know, when you have players, see White, Odigizua and Halton are all flexible
14:25athletes.
14:25So when you have flexible athletes, they're very good as loopers in the stunt game.
14:30So, you know, they can do that.
14:31And it's, it's been very, very effective for them.
14:34And you look at, you know, bendable and quick athletes.
14:37They've got a possible test coming up on Monday when you're talking about Jane Daniels,
14:42a guy who almost rushed for a hundred yards in that funky tie against the Giants.
14:46What are you seeing from the commanders, especially the commanders that have had
14:50Daniels out there as opposed to Mariota?
14:53Well, I'll tell you something.
14:55You guys should take a look at the Giants 49ers game because Denard Wilson just went blitz
15:00crazy in that game.
15:02And it was very, very effective.
15:03Now Raheem Morris won't do what, what Denard Wilson did, the Giants D coordinator, but he'll
15:08see what happened in that game and they could add in a few pressures because think about
15:13this in the second half and overtime in that game, guys, the commanders ran 30 plays on
15:2010 of them.
15:21The Giants went cover zero with all out pressure on 10 of the 30 and they just blitzed throughout
15:28that game.
15:29And it caused major problems for the commanders.
15:32Now, obviously we know that you have to account for Jane Daniels as a runner, however they
15:38choose to do that.
15:39I don't know if, if Raheem Morris will decide there's a spy that's necessary.
15:43Certainly someone like Duggar could fit that role because he's long and he's very athletic,
15:47but sometimes coaches think that, you know what, the quarterback's still going to be the
15:51spy.
15:52I mean, shoot, we saw on Monday night, there were a couple of times where the Rams use Nate
15:56Landman as a spy on Josh Allen and it meant absolutely nothing.
15:59You know, so some, some coaches, some coaches believe that, you know what, the quarterback's
16:04going to be a better athlete and Daniels is one of those guys.
16:07So maybe we won't do it.
16:08I don't know the answer to that, but you do have to some way account for it.
16:12Greg, while we're on that game, can we get your breakdown of what the hell happened there
16:16at the end?
16:18Of the, the, of the commanders game?
16:21Commanders and Giants.
16:22What's your view?
16:24You know what?
16:26I'm not good dealing.
16:27I hope I'm not good dealing with insane situations.
16:29So I don't really know how to respond to that.
16:32You know, look, my sense was this, and I could be dead wrong guys, but after that play happened,
16:40Daniels did not get up quickly at all.
16:43So my sense watching that both live and on tape was that he thought they had a timeout
16:49left because if he knew they did not have a timeout left, as soon as he hit the ground,
16:54he would have just gotten up immediately.
16:57You know, it still wouldn't have changed anything, but I just, that was my sense.
17:01Like I said, that's just from watching the tape and the game.
17:04I could be wrong, but I thought he probably thought they had a timeout left.
17:08Just looking at it through your lens, schematically, they're in 13 personnel, three tight ends,
17:13and it was a slow developing play where you had a couple of guys running fairly deep routes.
17:18Just from a play design standpoint with no timeouts, did that strike you as odd?
17:24Well, the other thing is, and again, something we don't know, Dan, is I don't know if that was the
17:28play.
17:29It had the look of confusion to me when he took the snap and sort of took a couple of
17:35steps back
17:35and then paused for a moment and then kind of went forward.
17:38So I don't know what the play call was, and obviously they're not going to announce it,
17:42and they're certainly not going to say whether Daniels thought there was a timeout left.
17:46You know, you've got to deal with it, obviously, and say you blew it.
17:49But beyond that, you don't have to give every specific detail.
17:52Greg, I want to go back to the wide receiver position.
17:54There's so much talk about it here, and I was waiting all week to ask you this
17:58because Juwan Jennings and the Vikings don't seem long for one another.
18:03And the Niners need help at wide receiver.
18:06Obviously, there's tons of familiarity there.
18:08When you look back at last year, people go, oh, but he's not a great separator,
18:13and that's what we needed.
18:14But at that time, he was being asked to do some of the Boundary X work
18:19to be kind of the wide receiver one.
18:21Now, he wouldn't need to do that now.
18:24No, no, and he's not that guy.
18:26Right, so what would be your vision?
18:28Does Juwan Jennings make sense?
18:30Could he play big slot?
18:32What do you think is the fit right now?
18:35Well, I mean, it's always good to have someone who knows the system.
18:38I mean, again, I don't know if he's available for trade.
18:41I mean, because they'd have to trade for him because he signed a two-year deal.
18:45He did.
18:45I think he signed a two-year deal.
18:47I don't know if it was one or two, but either way, yeah, he's under contract.
18:52The point is he's under contract, so, you know, unless they were to cut him,
18:55which I doubt that's going to happen, then you'd have to trade for him.
18:58I don't know what that means.
18:59You wouldn't have to give up a first or second rounder, obviously.
19:02It might be a fifth rounder.
19:04Who knows?
19:04But obviously, any time you get someone who knows your system really, really well
19:08that could step right in and play, that's a good thing.
19:11He's big.
19:12He's physical.
19:12He's tough.
19:13He's competitive.
19:14You nailed it.
19:15He's not a number one, and he had to play that role last year.
19:19And quite frankly, he did it, you know, well enough.
19:21You know, the Niners were a playoff team.
19:23I mean, you know, they won a lot of games last year with him being that guy.
19:26So he would not have to be that guy this year.
19:30And, you know, we know that he can work the middle of the field very effectively.
19:33We've seen him do it many times.
19:35He's big.
19:36He's physical.
19:36He's competitive.
19:37He plays with a chip on his shoulder.
19:39I mean, yeah.
19:40I mean, if that were available, sure.
19:43I mean, he wouldn't hurt.
19:45When you look at the Monday matchup with the commanders and you see the commanders on tape,
19:49what is it that you look at and say, oh, that's something that they can do well
19:53that maybe could apply on Monday night?
19:56Well, you have to understand that their defensive coordinator is Durante Jones,
20:00and he came from Brian Flores School of Defense.
20:02So, again, he doesn't – I don't think he has the personnel yet that he really feels he can do
20:07the kinds of things Brian Flores did do, you know, does on a weekly basis,
20:12which is very hard to play against.
20:16But theoretically, he can do that because that's kind of how he grew up the last couple of years.
20:21So, you always have to be careful, and I know Kyle Shanahan, you know,
20:25no matter what they've shown on tape in the previous games is going to be well aware
20:30that he could see pressure fronts, six, seven, even eight-man fronts, you know,
20:34and then you start getting into identification with pressures.
20:37You know, all those things are mental games.
20:40And then, of course, they show up physically when you play,
20:43but you have to be prepared for that because that's his background.
20:46Greg Cosell, NFL Films, we always save a lot of the fun for the very end.
20:51The Niners just played the 12s very loud there in Seattle.
20:56Greg, what is the loudest, greatest sporting event you've ever attended?
21:00Oh, boy.
21:02I can tell you what the loudest concert I've ever attended was.
21:05Well, then let's go with that.
21:06That's fine.
21:08Yeah, I would say the loudest concert I ever went to and enjoyed every minute of it
21:14because I was a little bit of a younger man was when I saw Led Zeppelin in
21:18Madison Square Garden, and I think it was 1975.
21:21Woo!
21:22Yeah.
21:24Special year for me, too.
21:25I loved that year.
21:27Was that a good year?
21:28That was the year I was born.
21:29Yep.
21:30Oh, that was – I was not born that year.
21:33Okay.
21:34Was that after Led Zeppelin II or was that Led Zeppelin III?
21:38No, no, no.
21:39No, it probably was – it was probably – well, one came out in 69, so three – four,
21:47the big one, came out, I think, in 72.
21:49So it was either Houses of the Holy or maybe Physical Graffiti had just come out.
21:55Man.
21:55Greg, did you –
21:56There were a lot of people – I was not among them because I didn't do that kind
22:00of thing because I was an athlete, but let's just say there were a lot of people at the
22:03concert who were dazed and confused.
22:05Got it.
22:05Oh, yeah.
22:06Did you have a drink, though?
22:08Did you have a drink?
22:09You know, I don't really like alcohol, so it's not – like, there's no moral imperative
22:14here.
22:15I just don't really like alcohol.
22:16So you just went on endorphins and a wallet.
22:20That's incredible.
22:21Well, the guy sitting next to me had all these drugs.
22:25He wasn't my friend.
22:26My friend was sitting on the other side.
22:28Had all these drugs, and he literally passed out before the concert started and then woke
22:33up when it ended, and I guarantee he went home the next day and told all his buddies
22:37what a great show it was.
22:38But he had no idea because he was passed out the entire show.
22:41Yeah, probably on a stairway to heaven with all those drugs in his own mind.
22:43There you go.
22:44Very well done.
22:45There you go.
22:46Next week, we'll get your breakdown of his performance at that concert.
22:53Greg, always great to have you.
22:55We'll talk to you next week.
22:57All right, guys.
22:57Really appreciate it.
22:58Thanks.
22:59All right.
22:59There goes Greg Kosci.