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00:00Ricky Pearsall trying to beat his man in the end zone, and he is in! Touchdown, San Francisco!
00:08Now, back to Will and Dibby on 95.7 The Game.
00:12Well, I believe that it was on this show that well before Ricky Pearsall was scoring touchdowns and getting a lot of targets in games,
00:22I believe it was on this show that someone once called him juicy.
00:26Yeah, one man, and it wasn't me, and I'm a fan, but I'd never use the word juicy like he's some sort of succulent fruit or something. Who would do that?
00:36It was a memorable moment courtesy of our next guest who joins us on the River Islands Guest Line.
00:42He is the senior producer of NFL films. He breaks it down like no one else. He is Greg Cosell. Hey, Greg, good afternoon.
00:49Gentlemen, what's happening?
00:51We're hanging out, man, and in fact, I think we should start off by letting you kind of go a little bit deeper into those early comments that you made about Ricky Pearsall and what we're now seeing. What do you think?
01:05Well, I mean, all that came from watching his tape at Florida. So, you know, I liked him a lot when I watched his tape and evaluated him coming out of college.
01:15He's big. He can run. And, you know, what we talk about a lot in our matchup room is when a guy, you know, has some quickness to him, some burst, we say he's got a lot of juice.
01:26So that's kind of, you know, where that expression came from. My guess is I'm not the only one who uses it.
01:31But, you know, you see that right away. You can tell that when you watch guys on tape, the guys that have sort of that little extra quickness to them.
01:39It's not a pure speed thing. I mean, Pearsall is not not a 4-3 guy, but you can just see the way he moves.
01:45And in fact, on that touchdown, there was a spot after he caught the ball where you could see that there was a little more giddy up.
01:51He just kind of put it into another gear. So he's yeah, he's a little juicy.
01:56And that was a juicy play. And I want to go through that a little bit more technically, Greg, because, you know, 21 personnel, but Sobertson and not Kittle.
02:05And they run that little route down the middle. What did you see on tape that made that scheme so successful?
02:11Well, they were in 21. It was a three by one. They were in the pistol formation and it was not McCaffrey on that play.
02:18It was actually Mason. It was a four man route concept that expanded the three under three deep coverage because they technically blitzed Whitehead.
02:27He ended up peeling because of Mason, but he was technically a blitzer.
02:31So it was three under three deep coverage and they ran a double dig. So Saubert ran a dig and Pearsall ran a dig.
02:39And the nature of the coverage was that both those routes isolated linebackers.
02:44So obviously, who do you prefer to throw it to? You prefer to throw it to the wide receiver matched against the linebacker.
02:51And it was a backup linebacker, J.J. Russell.
02:54So basically, you know, you never know if a coach like Kyle has a feel for what the defensive call will be.
03:02You know, very often coaches have a feel for that. But it was a great call against the defense that they got,
03:10because ultimately what happened was Pearsall was isolated on his dig route against Russell, a linebacker.
03:17And Purdy, you know, with really good anticipation hit Pearsall. He was on the outside dig and there was run after catch.
03:25Greg, what we were all waiting for when we were heading into this game is to see Christian McCaffrey back on the field.
03:33So what did you see in terms of how they used him and how it may have changed the 49ers attack?
03:41Well, they used him the way they always used him. Nothing was different. He looked good, I thought, despite the yardage totals.
03:46I thought that he looked crisp. He moved well. I thought he had some burst.
03:51And again, you saw the motions. You saw the shifting. You know, this is what they do with him.
03:57And you saw that with he and Samuel, things are different.
04:00And, you know, we talked about this, that it expands their shifting and motion offense.
04:04It expands their options in the pass game.
04:07I mean, you're not going to run the route when McCaffrey caught the 30-yard reception in the fourth quarter, which was an unbelievable play in all respects.
04:15But, you know, you're not going to see that with Garendo or Mason.
04:19So, you know, right there you're seeing something that is different because McCaffrey's on the field.
04:24And let's go to that route because they're down four at that point.
04:27And it's, again, 21 personnel and it's a little bit of a wheel route.
04:30The throw from Brock and the route itself, what did you see on tape that made that such a win?
04:35Well, that was just one of those special plays, which, you know, you don't know that when the play starts because he's running kind of a wheel route, as you said.
04:44And normally on a wheel, the way he ran it, you're giving the quarterback a vertical indicator so he knows when you're going to take it vertical.
04:52But Purdy, because of pressure, inside pressure, couldn't wait for the indicator and he just had to throw it up.
05:01And it obviously turned out to be a perfect throw that McCaffrey caught.
05:06And I know McCaffrey was pissed that, you know, when he cut inside he didn't score.
05:10But it was just one of those special plays because, you know, all Purdy could do in response to the pressure was throw it up.
05:18And it turned out to be placed beautifully.
05:21NFL Films, Greg Cosell with us as he is every single week here on Witherington Dibs, 95.7 The Game.
05:27Hey, speaking to what you just brought up, the pressure, because I'm not, you know, I'm not like you, Greg.
05:33I'm not one of these tape people.
05:35I need to know what's going on here because I'm hearing from fans a lot.
05:39It looks like the offensive line or the running backs, whoever, whatever the responsibilities are, Brock Purdy too often is dealing with very quick pressure or missed blocks or missed assignments.
05:55Is that accurate or what do you see right now with their line in general?
06:00Yeah, I would say it's been a combination of the fact that there's been a little more pressure this year.
06:06You'd have to know all their protection calls to know exactly who makes mistakes.
06:10But there's been a little more pressure.
06:13And I think that Purdy has also responded to what is by NFL standards not necessarily pressure by leaving the pocket at times too early.
06:22And I thought in this game he didn't really do that as much.
06:25I thought he settled in in this game pretty well.
06:28That could also be a function of just feeling better about everything because McCaffrey's back.
06:33So I don't know.
06:34I don't know what's in Purdy's head.
06:35But yeah, there's probably been at times this year a little more pressure that Purdy has responded to.
06:41Ideally, we don't, that goes away.
06:46Look, even when they're playing at their best, the fact is that the right tackle McKivitz is not great in one-on-one pass protection.
06:54And there are going to be plays where he does get beat or he does allow the pass rusher to squeeze Purdy in the pocket.
07:03I think the right guard, the rookie, Poonies, played very, very well for the most part.
07:06So that's not been a major issue.
07:09But yeah, that's probably fair.
07:11But like I said, without knowing all the specific protection calls and how they block particular fronts and how they block particular pressures,
07:19you can't pinpoint one player or what the overall issue is.
07:23It looks like Jake Brendles had some problems as a center in pass protection.
07:27Is there anything you can do from an offensive standpoint to mitigate that when your center gets beat?
07:32Then again, that depends on the front and the pressure.
07:38A lot of teams line up in five-man fronts where they want to dictate one-on-one.
07:43And your center, everybody all across the line has to block one-on-one.
07:47Teams, it depends on what they want to do with their blitz concepts.
07:51So all these things become specific to opponents, specific to particular schemes.
07:57And then like I said, it's how you choose to protect it.
08:00And Chris Forster has been doing this a long time.
08:03He's one of the best in the business.
08:05He's been doing it over 30 years.
08:08And sometimes guys get beat.
08:10I mean, that happens in the NFL.
08:12Sometimes guys get beat.
08:14Absolutely.
08:15Hey, Greg, four years ago, Diamondo Lenore was a young player who was behind Ambry Thomas on the depth chart.
08:22And look at him now.
08:23They signed him to a big, fancy extension.
08:26What have you seen on tape of his development from year over year, the last few?
08:32He's up to you guys pay grade, huh?
08:34Finally.
08:35Getting closer.
08:36Yeah, yeah.
08:37You know, he's become a really key player on their defense because of what he does.
08:41He plays outside in their base defense, and he plays slot in their nickel.
08:45And they're almost an exclusive nickel sub defense.
08:48They really don't play any dime.
08:50So he's a critical piece.
08:52And it's hard to find players who can do both those things, and you feel good about that.
08:57And they're not a heavy blitz team.
08:59In fact, they rush five or more, the lowest percentage of any team in the league.
09:03But there are times when they do use him as a blitzer from the slot, and he's very good at it.
09:08So he's just a really, really important player.
09:11A great example of a player that if you just look at the player, you're not going to sit here and say he's one of the three or four best corners in the league.
09:18But he's critical to what they do.
09:21And that's ultimately how teams think.
09:22It's how teams think when they go into a draft.
09:24They think, can we draft a player who's better than the player we have at that particular position?
09:30And he's a really good player in the context of their defense.
09:34So without him, they couldn't do a lot of the things that they do.
09:38And would you add Renardo Green to that same conversation as far as the fit that he has been in his rookie year to a team that had to play without Mooney Ward this weekend?
09:47Yeah, well, again, he hasn't played enough to say that he's a critical piece in that.
09:52But as I've told you guys, I really liked his college tape.
09:57He played at Florida State, which in the two years he was there, they were a very heavy press man team.
10:03So that was his experience, and I loved him doing that.
10:06But he's shown the ability to play off coverage, and it'll be interesting to see what's Ward's contract status.
10:15Yeah, he's a free agent after this year and obviously going through an awful personal situation.
10:21Yeah, I know, I know.
10:22And again, you hate to talk about a guy when he's going through a personal situation.
10:25But they could very well let him walk, and Green and Lenore could become the outside corners in their base.
10:33And then we'll see what they would do in their nickel, because Lenore would still move inside, I assume, because he's so good at it.
10:39But Green, to me, is for sure going to be a starting corner for them next year.
10:43And he is right now for the most part.
10:45Yeah, absolutely.
10:46Ward, I think, is still tracking toward not coming back this weekend as he deals with his family situation.
10:53I know, that's horrible.
10:54Yeah, it's brutal, brutal.
10:55Greg Kosel, NFL Films, with us.
10:57Greg, let's talk about Nick Bosa for a second.
10:59He had a huge sack, and then there was the play that everybody talked about where Baker took him for a ride.
11:05But outside of that, I thought they largely locked him up more than normal, and I know he was playing hurt.
11:14What did you see in terms of Nick in this game versus what you normally see?
11:18Well, first of all, you've got to be careful, and I'm being honest with you guys, you've got to be careful about doing this.
11:23Because the Bucks gained 215 yards of offense.
11:26They averaged 3.7 yards per play.
11:29This was a dominant defensive performance overall.
11:32Mayfield completed 18 passes for 116 yards.
11:36You have to try to be that bad.
11:38So you have to be careful about pointing out one guy.
11:43Bosa's not going to get five sacks every week.
11:46That doesn't happen.
11:47And I'm being honest with you guys, so I hope you appreciate what I'm saying.
11:52Nick Bosa's not a different player today than he was two weeks ago.
11:57He had a big sack in the fourth quarter against the backup left tackle when he just played off contact and beat him to the inside.
12:06And that turned out to be, obviously, a big sack.
12:09They went empty on that play on 3rd and 13, which kind of surprised me.
12:13I don't rip coaches, but I was surprised because that left Bosa one-on-one on the backup left tackle.
12:18So Bosa's just a really, really good player.
12:21If we had an offensive tackle who played against Bosa regularly on this call right now, they would rave about how difficult he is to block.
12:31I'm telling you right now.
12:33I challenge none of that.
12:35Here's what I'd say.
12:36To me, he did not look like himself in this game.
12:40Who did he look like?
12:42A lesser pass rusher.
12:44Somebody who just in school could largely stop on most plays.
12:50Well, you also have to remember that there was a lot of quick game throws.
12:54When the ball comes out quick, pass rushers are not going to get there, and it just looks like there's no pass rush.
13:01I mean, they didn't throw the ball down the field hardly at all.
13:04In fact, the one time they really wanted to was the time that Green actually got beat on the out-and-up by Miller, and Collins was able to apply pressure on Mayfield.
13:13And he had a spin away, and he threw it late.
13:15You probably remember this play.
13:17Yep.
13:18And Green was able to recover.
13:20But for the most part, everything was quick.
13:23They didn't throw the ball.
13:24And you know what that tells you?
13:26They were very worried about the pass rush, because if everything's going to be quick, they know that that takes care of the pass rush.
13:34Yeah, and I had that as a first and ten, Greg, at the end of the third quarter with a great pass breakup.
13:39And also, according to my notes, they had no explosive plays, nothing that Tampa Bay netted 20 or more yards.
13:46Right.
13:47So, again, let's be careful, because you have to look at when you feel like there's not a great pass rush, okay, the first thing you want to think about is what does the pass game look like by the opponent?
14:01Because if everything is going to be quick and the ball's going to come out, you're not really going to get meaningful pressure.
14:08And that doesn't mean that the pass rushers are doing a lousy job.
14:12Greg, how much of that also has to do with the fact that the Bucs' downfield threats are largely hurt?
14:17Yeah, well, you have to play to your talent.
14:20I mean, they're playing with Miller, who's a free agent out of Furman.
14:23They're playing with Rakeem Jarrett, who I believe was a free agent, but he's out of Maryland.
14:28I'm trying to remember who the third wideout was.
14:31But, you know, Otten in many ways is their number one target right now, and he's a tight end who's not really a three-level dimension.
14:39He's kind of a short, short-to-intermediate receiver.
14:42Looking ahead now, as we always pivot with you, Greg, and we start to think about the next game, and it's now Week 11 with Seattle up next on the schedule at Santa Clara.
14:52What do you see from Seattle on film that might pose a threat to the Niner defense?
14:57Well, Seattle's got good players. That's the thing.
15:00The big issue for them has been O-line, and this is a game where you would expect to see the 49ers D-line be a factor.
15:08Now, Seattle is aware that their O-line is bad, so obviously they're going to try to mitigate against that.
15:15We'll see what they do, but their O-line has been a problem all season long.
15:19They've struggled at right guard.
15:21They drafted a kid from Connecticut named Christian Haynes, who has obviously not won the job because they're playing Bradford at right guard, and he's struggled for much of the season.
15:29The right tackle. I don't know if Abe Lucas is back this week coming off the bye.
15:33He's missed basically the whole season, and they've really struggled at right tackle.
15:38Even Charles Cross, a top 10 pick, he has not been as good as they hoped at left tackle.
15:45He's a good player. He's not a stiff, but when you draft a guy in the top 10 at left tackle, you're expecting him in his third year to start being in that conversation of the top 3, 4, 5 left tackles in the league, particularly in pass protection.
15:59That's why you draft tackles in the top 10, pass protection.
16:02He hasn't quite been at that level.
16:04Their O-line is their biggest concern, but they do have a lot of weapons.
16:10Can they beat you? I assume Metcalfe will be back coming off the bye week.
16:15They can beat you because Metcalfe, Lockhart, and Smith Najigba are really good players.
16:23I look at this, too, and I wonder what a deeper dive would do with regard to the play of Geno Smith.
16:29Geno Smith and Brock Purdy are both in the top 6 in passing yards this year, yet they've both had their bye already.
16:36Their yardage per game, pretty high-level stuff, but when you look deeper than just those simple numbers, what do you see from Geno Smith with regard to his effectiveness this year?
16:47Geno Smith, I think, if memory serves me correctly, has thrown more passes than any quarterback in the league, or he's right there.
16:57They have thrown the ball a ton.
17:00Right now, he's fourth, Greg, but again, he's at a bye.
17:05Per game, he's thrown the most. He's had the most dropbacks per game.
17:13The guys ahead of him, my guess would be Burrow, probably Baker, probably Stroud, guys like that.
17:18Burrow, Rogers, and Baker.
17:21They've played 10 games.
17:24They've thrown the ball way too much.
17:27Now, they obviously feel they have to.
17:29There have been games, including the first 49er game, if you guys recall it, where they clearly made an early commitment to run the ball, and they could not run it at all against the 49ers.
17:40They've tried that in a couple of games, and they've been unable to generate any sustainability with their run game.
17:48Offensive coaches, the way they think, if you're getting two yards running the ball, they can only take that for so long.
17:54They start to think, well, I'm not going to bang my head against the wall and gain two yards.
17:58Let's start throwing it.
18:00He's thrown the ball an awful lot, and because of their O-line, there's been some tough going at times.
18:07Even though Geno's not a statue, he's basically a pocket quarterback at his core.
18:12That's what he is.
18:13You don't want him having to run around and try to be improvisational.
18:17They've struggled at times, and he's struggled at times.
18:20The numbers are still pretty good, although he's thrown probably a few more interceptions than they would like.
18:25He's tied for the league lead in interceptions.
18:29He hasn't thrown as many touchdowns, I'm sure, as we've seen in the last couple of years.
18:35I think that's been their big problem.
18:39You have to throw that much your O-line.
18:42No offensive lineman wants to be in that reactive pass protection mode for an entire game, and that's hard.
18:49It's much better for an offensive lineman to go forward than to go backward.
18:53I'm thinking about this Niner offense now, Greg.
18:55When you've got CMC back and you've got Ricky Pearsall getting comfortable,
19:00how much more of a threat are they against Seattle in this matchup?
19:04Kyle Shanahan obviously is going to tweak certain things depending on the opponent.
19:10He knows Mike McDonald well, I'm sure, because they played Baltimore last year.
19:16Coaches tend to coach against coaches more than they coach against personnel,
19:20unless there's a great player that you've got to deal with and they don't really have that guy.
19:25He's going to coach more against what he believes Mike McDonald's schemes will be.
19:30I think the Niners, for the most part, kind of do what they do.
19:37Like I said, there's always going to be tweaks depending on who the opponent is.
19:40We talked about the Pearsall play.
19:44That's what the foundation of their offense is.
19:48If I'm not mistaken, Tom Brady did that game this past week.
19:51That's correct.
19:52He talked a lot during the game.
19:54He obviously knows a little bit about the pass game.
19:57He was just talking about the foundation of their pass game
20:00numerous times during the telecast is between the numbers.
20:03I've said that to you guys.
20:04That's their pass game.
20:06That's the way they play.
20:07That's not going to dramatically change.
20:09That doesn't mean every single throw is between the numbers,
20:13but that's what they're going to do.
20:14That's the way they work their pass game.
20:16By the way, they've got major issues at linebacker.
20:19It's funny because they just cut Terrell Dotson.
20:23He was their leading tackler,
20:24but I had a great conversation with Hugh Millen last week.
20:28You guys probably know Hugh Millen.
20:30Yeah, of course.
20:31We were talking about the fact that Dotson, despite that,
20:35the tape is not very good at all.
20:37Then three days later or four days later, they cut him.
20:41The tape doesn't lie.
20:42You can see stuff on tape.
20:44They've got major issues at linebacker.
20:46Hey, Greg, real quick.
20:48Just thinking about the weather this weekend,
20:50there's a little bit of a chance of rain.
20:52I know maybe it's hard for you to look at tape and tell this,
20:56but there's this idea from 49er fans that Brock Purdy struggles
21:01with a wet football.
21:02I'm thinking of Cleveland last year.
21:04I'm thinking of the playoff game against Green Bay.
21:06In your film study,
21:08is that something that you've noticed that he struggles
21:12when there's weather?
21:14That's a hard thing for me to answer.
21:16That's a personal thing for a quarterback.
21:20It's probably more mental than anything for a quarterback.
21:24It becomes physical, obviously, but maybe he does.
21:28I don't know.
21:29I don't know if the sample size is large enough.
21:31I don't know if he struggled in those two games,
21:34although I remember the Cleveland game very well,
21:37which they should have won with the missed field goal at the end,
21:40and he had the great drive to get to that situation.
21:44He's made some really good throws in that game,
21:46so I can't answer that because you don't want to get caught up in the idea
21:49that when he makes a bad…
21:51Well, the weather bothers him,
21:52but then what happens when he makes a great throw?
21:54Does the weather just not bother him on that throw?
21:56Then it doesn't bother him, exactly.
21:58You can't get caught up, so I don't know.
22:00Only he can answer that.
22:02I know Troy Aikman always talked for years about how he hated rain,
22:05and some quarterbacks, I'm sure, are like that.
22:08I don't know if that's true with Brock.
22:10Greg, can't wait to break this one down with you next week.
22:12Thank you, sir.
22:14Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it.
22:15All right, there it is.
22:16Greg Cosell, NFL Films.