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00:00Hello, Greg Cosell. How are you? I'm doing great. Is there a big game this weekend?
00:05Well, we heard about one. Yeah. And actually, why don't we go there? Like,
00:09what do you gather on film from previous matchups that you think is applicable to
00:17this one? Well, I would answer that by saying that coaches tend to coach
00:22against coaches. That's the way the league works. The most important people
00:26on the side of a ball are the offensive coordinator and the defensive
00:31coordinator. And obviously, there's certain players that always have to be
00:34accounted for. But these are two, like, let's say you're looking at Kyle
00:38Shanahan and his offense versus Spags and his defense. You pretty much know
00:44what you're going to get. Now, are there tweaks? Are there little adjustments? Yes.
00:49But there's not going to be dramatic changes in how these two coaches coach
00:54against each other. So, you know, that's kind of the way it works in the
00:58league. You don't win games because you do things that are gimmicky or
01:04you totally change how you go about the way you play. I mean, this is a tough
01:08match. You could argue it's a tough matchup on both sides. Yeah, I get
01:13that. So, if it is sort of the tendencies of one coach against the tendencies of
01:18another coach, sort of, I guess I would take that answer and then apply it to
01:24the games that we've seen recently. Like, who kind of did what that
01:29was effective as far as that scheme and game planning in recent matchups?
01:34Well, Spags is a press man guy. He wants his corners to play press. If you
01:40remember in the Super Bowl, they did that effectively. Now, he had one of the two
01:44or three best press corners in the league in LeGarrius Snead, who's not
01:48there. Now, he will still play press because that's his belief, but Snead is
01:54one of the best in the league. So, you're playing probably with a lesser
01:58talent at the position, but that won't change how he plays. He's very selective
02:04but extremely effective with his pressure concepts. He's really good with
02:09overload concepts and sometimes he'll show an overload to one side and you
02:14protect to that side, but then he brings the overload from the other side. So,
02:18situationally, you have to be very aware of specific pressures. He uses his
02:23defensive backs as well as anybody in the NFL in his pressure schemes, both
02:29corners and safeties. He has someone who's kind of a new player this year. He
02:34was on the team last year and did play, but he's become critical this year.
02:37Number 27, Tamari Conner, who's a really, really important piece, particularly in
02:43their dime, their six defensive back package. He's a really good blitzer.
02:48How does this match up with Brock Purdy in the Niners offense as far as going up
02:53against man concepts? Has Brock been effective going up against man?
02:58Well, it's not so much Brock. When you're playing against man, then your receivers
03:02have to give you a place to throw the football because quarterbacks have to
03:06throw the football versus man coverage. If your receivers can't give you a place
03:10to throw the ball, you don't need a new quarterback. You need new receivers.
03:14That's kind of the way man coverage works. So now, it also comes down to the
03:19tactics of the schematic you use to attack man coverage. There's ways to do
03:23that. You can do stacks. You can do bunch. You can do motion, of which the Niners are
03:28a high percentage motion team. There's ways to try to create free access off
03:32the ball so that press man does not inhibit your ability to run your pass
03:37Greg Cosell with us with it and dibs as he is every single week normally on
03:41Wednesday with our special event yesterday. We're doing it today as we get
03:45ready for the weekend. So Greg, a lot of talk about the aggressiveness and the
03:50blitzing nature from Steve Spagnolo who was talking earlier today about how well
03:55Brock Purdy does against the blitz. So I'd love your insight on that. Like what
04:01is Spagnolo usually like to do with the blitz and and what do you usually see
04:06Brock Purdy do in terms of the way he handles that? Yeah, well we just talked a
04:10little bit about how Spags loves to use his DBs and you have to be aware of that
04:13and I think one reason why Purdy is good against the blitz is because he is
04:18really good both pre-snap and post-snap at recognizing what's going on. One of
04:24the things that has so stood out in his career and that you didn't really see in
04:28college because the college game is not like that, is his ability to recognize
04:32disguise and late coverage rotation. He recognizes it intuitively and he knows
04:38exactly where to go with the ball. So normally, and he's done this a little
04:42more the last couple of weeks and I'm very curious in this game, normally you
04:46don't see Brock Purdy get stuck in the pocket but the last couple of weeks he
04:51has and I don't like he I would have to be in his head to know the answer to
04:54that and that's why we've seen him run a little more and scramble a little more
04:59the last couple of weeks instead of delivering the football. This is a game
05:02to me where he's going to have to hit that back foot and and deliver the
05:07football. Now that doesn't mean there won't be any plays in which he moves but
05:11I don't think that can be the way in which he plays. Yeah and that's gonna be
05:14something that he's had to adjust to. He'd done a lot of scrambling this year
05:18and I'm wondering about the other side and the Kansas City offense Greg because
05:22I I look at a team that is markedly different than they were a few years ago
05:26doing a lot of two and three tight end sets. Is this a byproduct what you see on
05:31film of personnel or is it just something that they've gone to because
05:34they have good tight ends? Well the Chiefs have been a very high
05:38percentage of multiple tight end offense going back probably two years so this
05:43might be the third year in which they're they're doing that so this is not
05:47something you know that they've just started a week or so ago this is the way
05:51they play and because of Kelsey who essentially in the way he can be
05:55deployed within the formation he's essentially a wide receiver so they do
05:59play a lot with two tight ends and three tight ends so the question is
06:03because they become much more of a running team over the last really going
06:08back to last year is how do you deploy your personnel defensively to defend
06:13that? Do you play base in which case you know you're playing essentially to play
06:19the run game or do you play nickel because the pass game is still your
06:23most important concern and this way you might have you might have some
06:28deficiencies in your run defense. Greg you've expressed on our show the last
06:32few weeks some intrigue in Renardo Green so before we get too deep into Chiefs
06:39Niners I don't want to forget the game that was a week ago and get your reaction
06:43on on some of those performances the youth in the secondary for the 49ers
06:47Malik Mustafa Green with the wonderful interception that kind of clinched the
06:52game yeah what what what did you see on film from those players? I would say
06:58that the safety from Mike Forrest Mustafa he's he's at his best when he
07:02can be closer to the line of scrimmage or play downhill he's probably not a
07:07true deep safety as opposed to safety which which was they asked for Fong to
07:14do that quite a bit particularly when they played man coverage because
07:17obviously they don't have Gibson anymore but when they played cover one man
07:21coverage with a deep safety Gibson was almost always the tight end matchup
07:25against 11 personnel three wide receivers in a tight end and who Fongo
07:30was the post safety I'm not sure Mustafa is quite ready to fill that role so
07:34it'll be interesting to see what they do but Green I look I think Green played
07:39well I like Green they don't play a ton of press man but I thought he held up
07:44really really well I didn't think there was a problem with him at all so you
07:49know we'll see I mean I guess is Ward going to play this week? They're hoping
07:56yeah he's trending that way but yeah we don't we don't have anything official yet. Yeah I mean
08:01his interception I actually thought that Metcalf kind of angled his route too far
08:06vertically and he shouldn't have and I but Green still undercut it and made a
08:10great play. And you look at this matchup as you mentioned two tight ends and even
08:14three at times and the 49ers with one good linebacker and then Devondra Campbell
08:19better against the run than he is against the pass would you anticipate
08:22the Niners going to more nickel coverage to try to offset the linebackers not
08:27having an advantage against the Chiefs tight ends? Well that's going to be
08:32interesting I mean that's a decision that Nick Sorensen and staff have to
08:36make is how they want to play against multiple tight ends. Will they play in
08:40their base and put Flanagan Foles out there? Will they stay nickel and it just
08:44be Warner and Campbell? You know that that becomes the starting point for how
08:48you play because you do different things tactically when you play in your
08:53base in your base 4-3 versus when you play in your 4-2 nickel. So that's the
08:58starting point I can't answer what they will do but that's they're going to have
09:02in their mind an answer for that and some of that depends on down and
09:06distance some of it depends on field location some of it depends on how the
09:10game is flowing you know there's there's many factors that go into how you decide
09:15to play. You've been impressed this year with Jordan Mason he is practicing this
09:20week but in a non-contact jersey so the popular thought is is at best he's going
09:26to be out there but we are going to see some of Isaac Garendo who popped in that
09:30game a week ago I wonder what you saw from Isaac on film and what your
09:34reaction was? Yeah Isaac is kind of a one to me he's kind of a downhill back
09:40you know he's incredibly fast straight line he's not particularly
09:44loose-hipped and shifty in some ways he's a lesser case Mason in terms of
09:50how he runs. Mason is shiftier but you wouldn't call Mason extremely shifty
09:54where Garendo is even less so he's a little stiff but he's very fast you know
09:59to me he's kind of a probably a zone type runner you want to get him with
10:03that one cut let him go and hopefully he can hit the hole you know he's got
10:08really good size but you know I think one reason he was drafted where he was
10:13and he started at Wisconsin and then he ended at Louisville and he never truly
10:18became a feature back in college is because there are limitations to him
10:22even though he's straight line fast. Chiefs very good against the run what
10:26do you see from their front seven that makes it so difficult to run against
10:30them? Good players. That helps huh? Yeah yeah well we you know we know about Chris
10:37Jones but they've got a lot of other good players on that defensive front you
10:41know obviously everybody's going to talk about Chris Jones and deserve at
10:44least so but not as a really good run defender they've gotten really good
10:49snaps from Kershawn Wharton. Michael Dana is I can tell you for a fact that he's
10:54one of SPAC's favorite players. Drew Tranquil is a really good player we know
10:59about Nick Bolton you know Bolton and Jones are probably the guys that most
11:02people know about. Leo Chenal another Wisconsin player is really versatile in
11:08how he can be deployed so they've got a lot of really good pieces in that front
11:13group and versatile players who can do a lot of things so it's a combination of
11:17good players really schemed well. Greg this might sound like a silly person to
11:23ask about but I would love your perspective because for those who just
11:27kind of scan the league you're looking at Patrick Mahomes stats and they don't
11:32like stack up to what he used to do and this this team is a little bit more
11:36based on its defense than it used to be early in his career. And the run game.
11:40Yeah so like just what is your assessment of the evolution of Mahomes
11:46is he just is he still playing as well or how is it different? Well every year
11:51is a different year and we're not going to debate whether Mahomes is great he's
11:54got three Super Bowls that's not the point of what I'm going to say but every
11:57year is different so right now through the early part of this season the
12:02Chiefs passing game has lacked any kind of real rhythmic feel to it. You see very
12:07few plays in which Mahomes hits his planned foot and delivers the ball with
12:11a sense of timing. That's been an issue throughout the season. Mahomes has really
12:16not been a comfortable player. Now some people will automatically say that
12:20that's a function of the receivers. It could be we're not in his head but there
12:24are plays in every game in which Mahomes breaks down in the pocket
12:27prematurely and moves unnecessarily. But we know that off-schedule movement
12:32with outstanding vision is a definite strength of his game. So he's always
12:36dangerous but he hasn't really played consistent football this year. I mean
12:42there was a play in the last game that they played because they they're coming
12:45off a bye where we had he had worthy wide open on a deep over route on third
12:50down and he looked right at him from a clean pocket didn't throw it and ended
12:55up leaving the pocket and then he ran for seven yards in a first down. So I
12:59don't know how the coaching staff deals with that. They probably say good play
13:02Patrick but it would have been a long touchdown or worthy if he had just
13:05thrown the ball. So you know that's where his game is right now and again people
13:10listening to this you know they're gonna say well you don't like Mahomes. No we
13:14know what Mahomes is. You know he's a great player but this is a different
13:18year and he's not playing to his level right now. And we actually saw Mahomes
13:23line up as a as a tailback when you went to a pistol look with Travis Kelsey
13:28getting a snap and running a little read option to Xavier Worthy. Andy does all
13:33that kind of stuff but but just as a final point about Mahomes he's he can be
13:37great and you know he could come out this week and be phenomenal. We know that
13:40you know he's always dangerous. He could be phenomenal. Maybe this will be the
13:44best game of his season and he goes 30 for 40 for 450 and you know he's great.
13:49You know he's obviously capable of that any given week but I'm just telling you
13:53what the tape has shown this year up to this point. And you look at the tape and
13:58what you see Greg is it that they don't really need him to be phenomenal this
14:02year because of the way that they're scheming up a lot of passes near or
14:07behind the line of scrimmage? Yeah they are. They are. They throw a lot of balls
14:11near and near. You hit that right on the head. They don't they haven't really had
14:14any kind of consistent intermediate passing game. Vertical is different
14:19because you know you're not gonna you can't live or die with deep down the
14:22field throws but they really haven't had kind of a short to short to intermediate
14:27passing game with any consistency this year. They've really become a running
14:31team to some degree. I mean in some ways and this is a weird thing to say and
14:35Mahomes is certainly not gonna you know he doesn't really hurt you obviously but
14:40they've become a running team and a team built on defense and as long as
14:45Mahomes can be efficient if not great they're they're a really good football
14:50team. Their defense is really good. Yeah no doubt about that. You've mentioned a
14:55few times about like this sort of renewed focus on the run game which is
15:00interesting because they don't have their lead running back and Kareem Hunt
15:04wasn't even playing three weeks ago and now he's their lead back. What do you see
15:09from him on film specifically compared to who he used to be? Well he's kind of
15:14the same guy. He's a very physical inside runner. He gets hard yards. The
15:18last game they played when he was 27 for 105 was very representative of that. He
15:24gets hard tough yards inside. He's not an explosive back. I mean obviously if he
15:29gets a big haul sure but I mean in terms of just his normal way of running he's
15:33not necessarily explosive but he's physical. He's tough. You know runs that
15:39are blocked for three he gets six or seven. That's the kind of runner he is
15:42and that allows them to stay on schedule and makes it tougher on defenses. When
15:47you look at the Niners on film defensively against the run looked like
15:50they were improved against Seattle last weekend. Are you seeing the scheme and
15:55the personnel start to match up where this defense is starting to play better?
15:59Yeah so I mean it's always hard for me to discuss the specifics of a scheme
16:03because they're essentially you know a four down front and I know that every
16:08coach has specific tweaks and specific things that they ask of their players
16:11which obviously I don't know. I'm not in their meetings but they do have good
16:15people up front. I think Givens has you know has really come in and done a very
16:20nice job as you know replacing Hargrave and you know we know about the other
16:25players so you know it's just I would say that that they're the Chiefs all
16:31line particularly the three interior guys can be very very good any given
16:37week. You know the center Humphreys really good then the two guards Tooney
16:42and Trey Smith. I mean Tooney is getting up there in an age and he's not what he
16:48was three or four years ago but Trey Smith particularly in the run game can
16:52be absolutely dominant. I got a chance to meet and talk with him this summer
16:55actually and he is he's a big man who does not look the least bit heavy. I
17:01mean he looks like a freaking athlete. Greg Cosell with us every single week
17:06right here on Willard and Dibbs on 95-7 the game. Greg because you just brought
17:10up the name Hargrave I want to sort of pass along a question that I think a lot
17:14of our our listeners and 49ers fans have because Hargrave is known for an
17:19interior lineman as being better against the pass than the rush. That is correct.
17:23Okay so what with him out they suddenly had a really good game kind of bottling
17:29up Kenneth Walker and so people are like gosh did the Niners just get better
17:34against the run because he's out. How would you respond to a fan who says that?
17:39I would respond with the fact that the interior three of the Seahawks are way
17:44below the quality of the interior three of the Chiefs which doesn't mean that
17:48the 49ers can't play the run well this week but they're playing against a
17:52different animal this week so we almost have to wait and see. They're going to
17:56have to stop the run but using the last game as a foundation or basis for what
18:02we think might happen this week is not really realistic. Those three interior
18:06guys for the Chiefs that I mentioned Tooney, Humphrey and Smith are far
18:10better than the interior three of the Seahawks. And similarly you look at the
18:13tackles of the Chiefs and that seems to be a point of vulnerability and you saw
18:17Nick Bosa last week move from side to side and rush on the right tackle and
18:22the left tackle. Would you expect having seen the film last week that Nick Bosa
18:26might be able to feast a little bit against these two tackles? Yeah I would
18:30expect to see him again nothing's a hundred percent but I would expect to
18:33see him in right defensive end a bit in this game working against Wanya Morris
18:36the left tackle the second year left tackle for the Chiefs who's won that job
18:40over the rookie they were starting a rookie from BYU
18:44Sumitaya but now Wanya Morris who's very very physically gifted by the way but
18:49there's still a lot of concerns with his pass protection and he's the starting
18:53left tackle now for the Chiefs so I would expect to see Bosa get some
18:56opportunity against him. Greg you mentioned earlier that the Chiefs had
19:01success in the Super Bowl with their their their press coverage but they had
19:04Sneed and they don't have him anymore in general from the 49ers receivers
19:09historically on tape how do they handle that kind of coverage what Spagnolo
19:15loves to do? I think it's probably up and down you know press is hard not
19:22every team does it and not every team does it well so you don't necessarily
19:25see it every single week the Chiefs are masters at it it's what Spags believes
19:31in I mean I can remember plays in the Super Bowl critical plays where they
19:34pressed really effectively and it impacted in a negative way the passing
19:38game so now you have to decide if you're Kyle you know this so now how do you how
19:44do you put together your offense now are there going to be some plays where you
19:47just have to line up and play and your guy has to win there's always those
19:51plays in games but there's also tactics as we spoke about earlier in this
19:55conversation that you can use to minimize the impact of that press
19:59coverage. When you look at the Niners receivers between Juwan Jennings and
20:03Debo and Brandon Aiyuk who is the best man-beater of the trio?
20:08It's a great question. That's a tough one I mean you know I've seen Aiyuk
20:18you know win off the ball numerous times because he's got some quickness and some
20:23lateral quickness to him Debo is more physical and Jennings is more physical
20:28so they're different players but I mean I can remember in the Super Bowl where
20:32Snead matched up to Samuel in some critical situations and he did a really
20:36good job against him in press so you know press sometimes can be hard we'll
20:43see but they're going to get it the question now that that is one of the
20:47critical pieces in this game. Greg, Steve Spagnuolo earlier today said he can't
20:53find a weakness in Brock Purdy we know coaches always praise the opposing
20:58players I wonder how how you would answer that what do you see do you see
21:03any weaknesses or what is the weakest part of Brock Purdy's game? I would say
21:09in a strict sense there's not a glaring weakness to Brock Purdy's game I would
21:15say that you know obviously there are times on certain throws if he has to
21:20just sit on his back foot in the pocket like the touchdown he threw to Samuel
21:24against the Seahawks the long one he had to kind of sit on his back foot and
21:29throw it late and that ball hung up a little you know he's not he's not a
21:33power thrower but normally the nature of this offense doesn't ask him to
21:38make those kinds of throws the offense is so timing based so does he have a
21:42weakness in a strict sense no he does not have a weakness in a strict sense
21:47but he's not a power thrower so sometimes on occasion a deeper ball
21:51might hang a little bit. Greg just phenomenal stuff and with the size of
21:55this game on Sunday we are already looking forward to six days from now and
21:59and and breaking it down with you thank you so much. Appreciate it guys thanks so
22:03much. There he goes now the first thing I'm gonna say is that because this is a
22:07big moment on this show now big all right we're presented by Fremont Bank
22:11celebrating 60 years of full-service banking with no compromises. I don't
22:15know if I've ever seen a better comeback victory in all of my years of watching
22:21sports. Thank you. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that in my life
22:25I mean it started suddenly where he complimented an observation for you to
22:32get a pause and then a great question followed by a tough question yeah boy
22:40all within five seconds of each other had to be one of the highlights of your
22:45career no doubt 27 years in and that is in the top ten it might be on the
22:50Rushmore and you saw me in real time there were tears I didn't see you in
22:54real time because I was freaking out I was shaking over here and I had nothing
23:00to do with it this may be my finest hour as a as an amateur film analyst you just
23:07did what the Niners need to do big time step into a big moment and freaking
23:11perform let's go