# Game Preview: 49ers Limp Into Atlanta With Hopes of 7-0

An episode of [Striking Gold: A 49ers Pod](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1056971799), 22 Oct 2026, 55 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75908148/sg621_yt.mp3

The 49ers remain undefeated, but the injury bug has begun to enact a toll on the roster, especially on offense. Can Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan, with a depleted receiving corps that may be without star Mike Evans, move the ball up and down the field enough to keep pace with a game Falcons offense? Will the defense look more like their first half against the Commanders or the second? Rob Lowder and Kyle Posey break it down in their Week 7 game preview. Follow Rob Lowder on X/Twitter: https://x.com/Rob_Lowder Follow Kyle Posey on X/Twitter: https://x.com/KP_Show Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/striking-gold-a-49ers-pod/id1056971799 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/45e2VCmAQqCKLgB4dStRRy

## Transcript

[0:11] Speaker 1: What's going on everybody?
[0:15] Speaker 2: This is Striking Gold.
[0:17] Speaker 1: I'm Rob Lauder.
[0:19] Speaker 2: That's Kyle Posey, also known as KP, and we cover
[0:24] Speaker 2: the 49ers. KPL does that stuff for NinersNation.com. Make sure
[0:44] Speaker 2: you head on over there and enjoy his analysis. It's
[0:48] Speaker 2: good stuff, and he's got a lot of good stuff,
[0:50] Speaker 2: a lot of good people going along with him. So
[0:53] Speaker 2: it's a constant stop for me. KP, it's Wednesday. 49ers
[1:00] Speaker 2: are 6-0. They're heading to Hotlanta. I say that with
[1:04] Speaker 2: so much like, Like.
[1:07] Speaker 1: Big, big fan of Atlanta, huh? Big fan of the
[1:10] Speaker 1: dirty birds.
[1:13] Speaker 2: Like I told you before, before you live in, I've
[1:15] Speaker 2: been up since like three 30 in the morning. I
[1:17] Speaker 2: just got no patience for a hot Atlanta right now.
[1:19] Speaker 2: Like I just, I can't do it. I can't do it.
[1:21] Speaker 2: I did have Jersey Mike's for a, for dinner though.
[1:23] Speaker 2: Have you, are you a, are you a Jersey Mike's guy?
[1:26] Speaker 1: We dabble. We do dabble. Have you been to Atlanta?
[1:31] Speaker 2: I've never have. I, well, I did a lot of
[1:34] Speaker 2: flying around for the military, going to different bases. If
[1:37] Speaker 2: I have been in Atlanta, the only thing I've been
[1:40] Speaker 2: in is the airport, like waiting for a connecting flight.
[1:43] Speaker 2: I can't remember if I'd been through there or not,
[1:45] Speaker 2: but no. Have you been? Did you enjoy it? I have.
[1:48] Speaker 1: I did not, but I have.
[1:53] Speaker 2: I kind of like assumed by the phrasing, the questioning
[1:56] Speaker 2: that you had been, and then the fact that you're like,
[1:59] Speaker 2: I have, but I did not. Why did you not
[2:02] Speaker 2: enjoy Atlanta?
[2:04] Speaker 1: I mean, let's just say I could have had a
[2:08] Speaker 1: better experience. We don't have to get into that.
[2:11] Speaker 2: Was it the place or the company?
[2:14] Speaker 1: I would say just the surroundings, everything involved, all encompassing,
[2:22] Speaker 1: would not be my first pick, let's just say that,
[2:24] Speaker 1: of destinations if I'm going to go on a tour domestically.
[2:29] Speaker 2: I've never had anybody tell me that I need to
[2:32] Speaker 2: go to Atlanta.
[2:33] Speaker 1: Yeah, also that.
[2:36] Speaker 2: But I mean, I'm not here to hate on Atlanta.
[2:38] Speaker 2: I know nothing about it.
[2:39] Speaker 1: I am.
[2:42] Speaker 2: I love it dude i will back you up i
[2:44] Speaker 2: i have nothing i have nothing to to add to
[2:47] Speaker 2: this but but i'm i'm here to support your your
[2:49] Speaker 2: opinion um okay we always lead off the uh the
[2:53] Speaker 2: game previews with the injury update which as you know
[2:56] Speaker 2: in 49ers land is always encouraging it's always fun um
[3:00] Speaker 2: you got the you you're the expecteds the debo samuels
[3:03] Speaker 2: still out with a hamstring Nick Bosa is still out
[3:07] Speaker 2: with a calf. Kyle Shanahan did say that he could
[3:09] Speaker 2: practice tomorrow. We'll see. I'm not entirely sold on the
[3:13] Speaker 2: idea that the 49ers are going to bring Nick Bosa
[3:15] Speaker 2: back right before the bye week to play in a
[3:17] Speaker 2: game on artificial turf. I mean, he could play, but
[3:22] Speaker 2: it doesn't necessarily feel like the play.
[3:26] Speaker 1: The one reason would be is because you have a
[3:29] Speaker 1: week off, right? That would be the only reason. He
[3:33] Speaker 1: hinted that he might be able to go last week,
[3:35] Speaker 1: short week so maybe they're like nope we're not gonna
[3:37] Speaker 1: do that if anything you come back this week so
[3:40] Speaker 1: i could see how you get there but man it
[3:43] Speaker 1: just it feels like like not to say if you
[3:46] Speaker 1: can't be the falcons you don't deserve to win but
[3:48] Speaker 1: bigger picture right like this this is not a do
[3:50] Speaker 1: or die type.
[3:51] Speaker 2: Of game last time the 49ers played the falcons without
[3:54] Speaker 2: nick bosa they got uh their ass handed to them
[3:57] Speaker 2: by um and who's the commander's backup quarterback now organ
[4:02] Speaker 2: organ boy Oh, Mr. Mariota. Dang, I forgot about him. Yeah,
[4:06] Speaker 2: Marcus Mariota tore him up. I think he went like
[4:09] Speaker 2: 18 of 18 at some point.
[4:12] Speaker 1: He was killing it.
[4:13] Speaker 2: There was some ridiculous streak in there. Some of the
[4:16] Speaker 2: other names on the injury list, backup linebacker Garrett Wallow
[4:20] Speaker 2: still out with a hamstring. Strong side linebacker Luke Gifford.
[4:25] Speaker 2: Out with a groin injury. Do you see what Sarah
[4:29] Speaker 2: Neal's injury designation was? I didn't see what it was.
[4:31] Speaker 1: No, but I just assumed it was the same as
[4:33] Speaker 1: last week, which is a neck. Okay. Which is dangerous.
[4:36] Speaker 1: Hold on. They actually did put it out just recently.
[4:40] Speaker 2: Upton Stout is still out with a– or is out
[4:44] Speaker 2: with a shoulder. That was the official reason he left
[4:46] Speaker 2: the game. I still saw people tweeting about– Doubling down. Yeah,
[4:51] Speaker 2: this might have been the reason Upton Stout was benched.
[4:53] Speaker 1: No.
[4:54] Speaker 2: I don't think he was benched. He got hurt. Coach
[4:55] Speaker 2: said he got hurt and nobody was better than Upton stout.
[4:59] Speaker 1: Sierra nil is a knee injury.
[5:01] Speaker 2: Ooh. Okay. So now we're knees. It's a new, um,
[5:05] Speaker 2: Marquis Siegel, which is, you know, that's a dangerous situation
[5:08] Speaker 2: to be in. The 49ers special teams has already struck
[5:10] Speaker 2: their coverage. Units hasn't necessarily struggled. What's struggled for the
[5:14] Speaker 2: 49ers special teams has been receiving punts and making kicks,
[5:19] Speaker 2: whether that be, um, extra points or, or otherwise. Um,
[5:24] Speaker 2: And so the problem here is you've got both Sarah
[5:26] Speaker 2: and Neil and Luke Gifford hurt. We don't know how
[5:29] Speaker 2: serious those injuries are, but those are your special team
[5:31] Speaker 2: studs right there. That's why they're on the roster. And
[5:34] Speaker 2: then you still have back. Well, starting safety Marquis Siegel
[5:37] Speaker 2: is still out with his ankle injury. High ankle sprain.
[5:40] Speaker 2: The one name on here that two names on here.
[5:45] Speaker 2: I think so.
[5:47] Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to start when he comes back.
[5:50] Speaker 2: Man, I really think he should, but I get it.
[5:52] Speaker 2: Everybody loves whatever. I don't know Jair Brown personally, so
[5:56] Speaker 2: I cannot say that, you know, but it seems like
[5:58] Speaker 2: every coach sort of endears himself to him. And I
[6:03] Speaker 2: did hear that he's a good communicator, like that he
[6:05] Speaker 2: does a good job.
[6:06] Speaker 1: Very good. You could see that. Like he's pointing all
[6:08] Speaker 1: different directions. So like that has to play a factor too, right?
[6:12] Speaker 1: I think Raheem's doing a really good job of just
[6:14] Speaker 1: kind of limiting what he does. So I'm not saying
[6:16] Speaker 1: that he won't be the starter, but like you have
[6:20] Speaker 1: one guy you can trust. So the leash could be
[6:23] Speaker 1: short for Jair.
[6:25] Speaker 2: Yeah, Cowichip does say Jacob Cowling has been the issue. Yeah,
[6:29] Speaker 2: Jacob Cowling just, he doesn't know when to call fair catch.
[6:32] Speaker 2: He doesn't know when to catch the punt. He doesn't
[6:34] Speaker 2: know when not to take a step back and, you know,
[6:38] Speaker 2: or when to let it get into the end zone.
[6:40] Speaker 2: He's just struggling in all facets of the punt return thing.
[6:45] Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if we see someone else get
[6:48] Speaker 2: a chance at it here in a little bit. Captain
[6:50] Speaker 2: Diner said Jacob, Kyle Williams, Cowling. That's dirty.
[6:53] Speaker 1: Come on, man. That's dirty.
[6:56] Speaker 2: It's a dirty name in the language.
[6:58] Speaker 1: We do not have to go there.
[7:01] Speaker 2: KP, Cowling says, can you teach me to football? We
[7:06] Speaker 2: just said that before we started streaming. So the two
[7:11] Speaker 2: names on here that we really need to discuss and
[7:12] Speaker 2: that are going to drive some of this conversation, one
[7:14] Speaker 2: name is, but the other name on here, defensive end
[7:17] Speaker 2: Mikel Williams. was out of practice with a knee injury. Now,
[7:21] Speaker 2: I don't know if we've gotten any words on that.
[7:24] Speaker 2: Was this a setback or was this just them giving
[7:28] Speaker 2: him days to recover? Do we know?
[7:31] Speaker 1: No, we don't know. He did not participate. But I'm
[7:37] Speaker 1: relatively sure this was the case last week. So I
[7:39] Speaker 1: know he was on the injury report for a fact
[7:41] Speaker 1: last week. I know Shanahan said he's just dealing with
[7:44] Speaker 1: the knee. So I think we might be jumping to
[7:47] Speaker 1: a little bit of conclusions here.
[7:49] Speaker 2: The guy that said that, the jump. Oh, you probably
[7:51] Speaker 2: haven't seen Office Space, have you?
[7:55] Speaker 1: I have, but I would not be able to recall
[7:57] Speaker 1: whatever it is you're saying.
[7:58] Speaker 2: Because there's a guy, an actor that recently passed away
[8:01] Speaker 2: that had one of the funniest lines in the movie
[8:02] Speaker 2: where he's like, it's a jump to conclusions, Matt. And
[8:07] Speaker 2: written on the mat are different conclusions that you can.
[8:11] Speaker 2: Jumped to. And that actor recently passed away. So when
[8:14] Speaker 2: you say jump to conclusions, I think office space. So
[8:17] Speaker 2: you think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves with
[8:18] Speaker 2: Mikel Williams?
[8:20] Speaker 1: So he was limited all week last week. So maybe
[8:24] Speaker 1: it's just– so today was a walkthrough, and that matters too.
[8:27] Speaker 1: They're not doing anything. They could have had Brock Purdy
[8:30] Speaker 1: as a DNP, and he would have been like, okay, whatever,
[8:32] Speaker 1: not doing anything. So he was going to be on
[8:35] Speaker 1: the injured report no matter what. They just played on
[8:37] Speaker 1: Monday Night Football.
[8:39] Speaker 2: So– Cowichip said they gave him Wednesday off last week
[8:43] Speaker 2: or Thursday because of the fact that the whole week
[8:46] Speaker 2: was pushed back one day because it was Monday night football.
[8:48] Speaker 2: So maybe this is all just.
[8:49] Speaker 1: This is going to be a Michael thing because he
[8:52] Speaker 1: just came back from a serious knee injury. You have
[8:55] Speaker 1: to manage those kind of players. I don't think it's
[8:57] Speaker 1: a surprise at all. Honestly, I don't think I think
[8:59] Speaker 1: this is a nothing to see here.
[9:01] Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I agree. it's the fact that there
[9:04] Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily any clarity that we at least got to
[9:07] Speaker 2: mention it and make sure we cover the basis. And
[9:09] Speaker 2: then the big name on the injury report is none
[9:11] Speaker 2: other than a wide receiver, Mike Evans, who is currently
[9:14] Speaker 2: out dealing with Achilles tendonitis. And yes, I'm sure when
[9:18] Speaker 2: I say Achilles tendonitis, your brain is immediately teleported to
[9:23] Speaker 2: Christian McCaffrey season from hell, where it took him two
[9:26] Speaker 2: thirds of the season to come back from that. And
[9:28] Speaker 2: when he did, he immediately crushed his knee in the
[9:31] Speaker 2: snowy grass. And, uh, and was out with a PCL injury,
[9:35] Speaker 2: which is the same injury that Ricky Pearsall suffered, which
[9:40] Speaker 2: then required surgery. So all of the 49ers injury webs
[9:45] Speaker 2: are in Halloween fashion, kind of like spinning together now,
[9:48] Speaker 2: making a big injury spider web. So one of the
[9:51] Speaker 2: things we're going to have to talk about, we'll eventually
[9:54] Speaker 2: get to here in a little bit, is what is
[9:56] Speaker 2: the 49ers offense going to look like? And there's nothing,
[9:59] Speaker 2: Mike Evans, could play. I would be very surprised and
[10:03] Speaker 2: I would sort of think it would be slightly malpractice-y
[10:07] Speaker 2: because I understand the 49ers. I mean, we could just
[10:11] Speaker 2: have a conversation now because we know what's coming.
[10:13] Speaker 1: Let's talk about the most important player on the offense. Right.
[10:17] Speaker 2: We always start with the offense, the 49ers offense against
[10:19] Speaker 2: the Falcons defense. And obviously leading that charge is Mike Evans.
[10:23] Speaker 2: And I think it may not be this simple, but
[10:27] Speaker 2: it's October 21st. I would rather have a healthy Mike
[10:30] Speaker 2: Evans on December 21st than I would on October 21st,
[10:35] Speaker 2: especially when you're 6-0 and you've got a nice little
[10:38] Speaker 2: lead in your division. What do you think, man? What's
[10:40] Speaker 2: your take on your feel on Mike Evans and his injury?
[10:44] Speaker 1: What is the reward for playing him, right? Like that's
[10:48] Speaker 1: what I'm thinking in terms of. You have– obviously you
[10:52] Speaker 1: want him on the field, but this could set up better, right?
[10:55] Speaker 1: You get one game and then you have your bye.
[10:57] Speaker 1: So you can basically give him a couple weeks off.
[11:00] Speaker 1: You can probably even give him realistically closer to three
[11:03] Speaker 1: weeks off, and that way come Sunday against the Raiders, hey,
[11:07] Speaker 1: your soreness is probably a lot better than what it
[11:09] Speaker 1: was three weeks ago. We haven't had you do anything.
[11:12] Speaker 1: How are you feeling now? Because they did give him
[11:13] Speaker 1: the opportunity to say, like, how are you feeling laid
[11:16] Speaker 1: up this way? He's like, oh, I'm good. Let's play.
[11:19] Speaker 1: And he makes it like, what, a quarter and a half,
[11:21] Speaker 1: two quarters, whatever it was. So, OK, now we're going
[11:23] Speaker 1: to take the keys out of his hand and let's
[11:25] Speaker 1: be professionals here and let our doctors do the thinking
[11:28] Speaker 1: and talking for us. So let's think big picture, right? Like,
[11:32] Speaker 1: what is the reward for playing Mike Evans? Maybe he
[11:35] Speaker 1: has a 200 yard game and three touchdowns.
[11:37] Speaker 2: Great.
[11:38] Speaker 1: Good for you. Well done.
[11:40] Speaker 2: Not with the– when he caught that 55-yarder or whatever
[11:43] Speaker 2: it was and he tried to break away from that DB,
[11:45] Speaker 2: you could tell he was like, ouch.
[11:47] Speaker 1: Ouch, ouch, ouch. His calf was like, no, you are
[11:50] Speaker 1: not going anywhere.
[11:51] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[11:53] Speaker 1: So, okay. The risk to that is more inflammation, right?
[11:57] Speaker 1: Something popped. Like the worst-case scenario could realistically happen if
[12:01] Speaker 1: you play him on a short week when he could
[12:04] Speaker 1: not make it through the entire game. That is terrifying
[12:07] Speaker 1: to think about. That's why this should be a non-starter. Like, hey, Mike,
[12:10] Speaker 1: somebody needs to take his helmet. Hey, nope, you're good.
[12:12] Speaker 1: We'll see you in a couple weeks. Enjoy the bye.
[12:15] Speaker 1: Help out our young guys. Teach them tricks, whatever it
[12:19] Speaker 1: is you can. But you're not stepping on this field.
[12:22] Speaker 1: You know what? You're not even getting on the playing field.
[12:24] Speaker 1: Not that far.
[12:25] Speaker 2: Which he should not.
[12:28] Speaker 1: If that's what it takes for him to not play
[12:29] Speaker 1: against the Falcons, so be it. It would be– I
[12:33] Speaker 1: think it would be malpracticed. which feels extreme, right? It
[12:36] Speaker 1: feels very media clicky to say, you should be fired
[12:40] Speaker 1: if you play him.
[12:41] Speaker 2: During the Jalen Hurts saga right now, medical malpractice is
[12:46] Speaker 2: all the rage currently.
[12:48] Speaker 1: Yeah, I just don't think the risk is there, man.
[12:50] Speaker 2: I agree.
[12:52] Speaker 1: The Bears were able, the Bears do not have a
[12:54] Speaker 1: Mike Evans on their roster. They have a Colson Loveland, who,
[12:56] Speaker 1: George Kittle, they have a Luther Burden, who I'm not
[12:58] Speaker 1: saying the 49ers have a Luther Burden, but they were
[13:00] Speaker 1: able to go up and down the field against the
[13:02] Speaker 1: Falcons three-year. I think Caleb had over 200 yards passing
[13:07] Speaker 1: in the first half or something crazy like that. So
[13:09] Speaker 1: they were able to move the ball pretty consistently, pretty
[13:14] Speaker 1: like on a down-to-down basis too. It wasn't like it
[13:16] Speaker 1: was 50, 60-yard plays. So you would think in the
[13:19] Speaker 1: same offensive guru like Ben Johnson, Kyle Shanahan, these guys
[13:23] Speaker 1: are the best of the best, you would think Kyle
[13:25] Speaker 1: would be able to game plan if only for a
[13:28] Speaker 1: week without Mike Evans. I know everybody hates all the
[13:31] Speaker 1: wide receivers on the roster, but they still have Christian McCaffrey.
[13:33] Speaker 1: They still have George Kittle. I think the other guys,
[13:36] Speaker 1: they're going to be compliments no matter what. And we
[13:38] Speaker 1: might see the ghost of Christian Kirk in action too.
[13:41] Speaker 1: So I think there are a couple ways around it.
[13:45] Speaker 1: As long as Shanahan's calling the plays, I will always
[13:47] Speaker 1: and forever think they're going to score north of 24 points.
[13:50] Speaker 1: They didn't last week because they didn't get the ball
[13:53] Speaker 1: in the second half. There's a lot being made now
[13:55] Speaker 1: that the offense is down in the dumps because they
[13:57] Speaker 1: didn't score in the second half. They drove the ball– sorry,
[14:02] Speaker 1: they drove the field. to begin the second half, and
[14:04] Speaker 1: then Brock just had a pass that was tipped. And
[14:06] Speaker 1: that's the only reason I didn't score a touchdown on
[14:08] Speaker 1: the first try. And then after that, just self-inflicted wounds
[14:10] Speaker 1: that still don't make sense watching it back. But I
[14:13] Speaker 1: just don't see that happening over and over again, or
[14:17] Speaker 1: at least for three possessions in a row, for sure.
[14:19] Speaker 1: So I think it's a little overrated about the talk
[14:23] Speaker 1: that the 49ers are doomed without Mike Evans. Big picture,
[14:26] Speaker 1: of course. Like in the playoffs, they're going to need
[14:28] Speaker 1: a wide receiver one. That's why they went out and
[14:29] Speaker 1: got a wide receiver one. But... For a one-week sample,
[14:33] Speaker 1: I don't think I see him in the world at all.
[14:37] Speaker 2: The Falcons are going to do their absolute best to
[14:40] Speaker 2: make the 49ers pass, especially given Mike Evans– again, there's
[14:45] Speaker 2: a chance he plays. So a lot of this conversation
[14:48] Speaker 2: could be sort of rendered moot if Mike Evans is like, no,
[14:51] Speaker 2: I'm good, which we know he's not, but we'll see
[14:54] Speaker 2: how that goes. But in terms of the Falcons' defense–
[14:57] Speaker 2: there's one stat that really stands out here in terms
[14:59] Speaker 2: of EPA per play at a 15th total EPA, 14th
[15:02] Speaker 2: success percentage, 17th EPA per pass 20th. So in that regard,
[15:07] Speaker 2: you know, in all those statistics, they're just mediocre and
[15:09] Speaker 2: sort of trending towards the back of the league. And
[15:11] Speaker 2: then you get to EPA per rush and they are
[15:13] Speaker 2: first in the NFL. They are the, and then they
[15:17] Speaker 2: they're one of the league's absolute best run defenses in
[15:20] Speaker 2: the NFL. They hold a running opposing running backs to 3.6
[15:24] Speaker 2: yards per carry, which is this, Same as the 49ers. And,
[15:27] Speaker 2: you know, we thought the 49ers run defense was going
[15:29] Speaker 2: to be really vulnerable. And they've been one of the
[15:32] Speaker 2: better run defenses in the NFL. So they're going to
[15:37] Speaker 2: try and force the 49ers to throw it, knowing that
[15:39] Speaker 2: their receivers, their top two receivers are probably going to
[15:42] Speaker 2: be Brandon Cooks and Christian Kirk. Two little like weird
[15:46] Speaker 2: little clones of each other. Little short muscular hamsters running around,
[15:52] Speaker 2: which isn't the worst. You could do worse than those two. Um,
[15:56] Speaker 2: I'm not sure who in the league is doing worse
[15:58] Speaker 2: than those two, but those are probably your two perimeter
[16:01] Speaker 2: players with a little bit of Jordan Watkins thrown in there.
[16:04] Speaker 2: And then you've got the usual George Kittle, Chris McCaffrey,
[16:07] Speaker 2: catch and passes. And this kind of goes back to
[16:09] Speaker 2: so gross. What he said last week, it is, uh,
[16:11] Speaker 2: you know, they could use somebody like Jake Tonges right now.
[16:13] Speaker 2: It's a legit tight end that could, that could function
[16:16] Speaker 2: as a, as a bigger receiver, but they don't really
[16:18] Speaker 2: have it right now other than George Kittle. Um, And
[16:22] Speaker 2: what kind of plays into the Falcons' hands is they
[16:27] Speaker 2: not only are one of the league's, if not the league's,
[16:30] Speaker 2: best defense against the run, but they have the league's
[16:33] Speaker 2: second highest pressure rate in the NFL. Not only that,
[16:38] Speaker 2: it's a little like Seattle. They have one of the
[16:40] Speaker 2: league's best pressure rates in the NFL, but they don't
[16:42] Speaker 2: blitz very much. They don't blitz now after seeing that.
[16:46] Speaker 2: Commander's game, do you think? that the Falcons are going
[16:49] Speaker 2: to blitz a little bit more than usual, seeing how
[16:53] Speaker 2: effective it was for the commanders in the second half?
[16:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine no, just because that goes against
[16:59] Speaker 1: their identity. I think it also says if they have
[17:02] Speaker 1: a low blitz rate and a high pressure rate, they're
[17:04] Speaker 1: probably used to getting home with four, so they're going
[17:06] Speaker 1: to continue to try to get home with four. As
[17:08] Speaker 1: for the run game, back to the run game, their
[17:10] Speaker 1: first in EPA per rush, as you mentioned, they don't
[17:12] Speaker 1: allow any big plays at all. They're very 49ers-y. It's
[17:16] Speaker 1: almost like, That's where the defensive coordinator came from. When
[17:19] Speaker 1: you look at like a lot of what they do,
[17:22] Speaker 1: their yards before contact numbers are very impressive. They only
[17:24] Speaker 1: allowed 113 yards total before contact. It's under a point.
[17:28] Speaker 1: It's actually 0.81 per attempt. It's third in the NFL.
[17:33] Speaker 1: They're not giving up big runs. As I mentioned, they've
[17:35] Speaker 1: only allowed 10, 10, 10 yard runs, which is.
[17:40] Speaker 2: Third in the NFL offensive line. Like, the inverse of
[17:43] Speaker 2: what you're saying about what the Falcons defensive line is.
[17:46] Speaker 1: Like they are, they're like top five in yards before care.
[17:48] Speaker 1: So something's got to give, right. The Falcons have only
[17:51] Speaker 1: allowed 10, 10 rushes of 10 yards or more, which
[17:54] Speaker 1: is third. The 49ers have four, which is still so
[17:57] Speaker 1: wild to me compared to what they were last year.
[18:00] Speaker 1: They're also doing a really good job of just stuffing runs,
[18:02] Speaker 1: making plays at her in the backfield. They're at 23.9%,
[18:05] Speaker 1: which is seventh in the NFL. So they do a
[18:08] Speaker 1: lot of really good stuff up front to limit teams and,
[18:12] Speaker 1: but I think there's some noise in these numbers. I
[18:14] Speaker 1: think what teams are doing is just like, you know,
[18:16] Speaker 1: screw it. We're not going to run the ball. We're
[18:17] Speaker 1: going to throw it all over you. And that's what
[18:19] Speaker 1: Chicago did last week. So I don't think we're going
[18:22] Speaker 1: to see a heavy blitz low just because of Brock
[18:24] Speaker 1: pretty is very good against the blitz. You would think
[18:26] Speaker 1: Jeff Olbert there, a defense coordinator knows that is aware
[18:29] Speaker 1: of that. And again, it kind of goes against what
[18:31] Speaker 1: they do defensively. I think they're just comfortable getting pressure
[18:34] Speaker 1: with four, do it, creating habit, do a lot with
[18:36] Speaker 1: the 49ers. You're just moving guys around, playing games up front, um,
[18:40] Speaker 1: I saw them.
[18:41] Speaker 2: Do a real cool, like double linebacker blitz where they
[18:44] Speaker 2: both kind of like X off each other. And they
[18:47] Speaker 2: were just like bowling balls, just, and then one of
[18:50] Speaker 2: them got through, you know.
[18:51] Speaker 1: That's the key on white special is what that is.
[18:53] Speaker 1: Just pinball off somebody else and get a sack. Yeah, no, it's,
[18:57] Speaker 1: it'll be a fun game. It'll be interesting game. Cause
[18:59] Speaker 1: it will be like very chess matchy, right? Like we
[19:01] Speaker 1: know they're probably going to stop the 49ers run as,
[19:04] Speaker 1: as good as the 49ers run game has been. And
[19:06] Speaker 1: I will say it's probably one of the best run
[19:08] Speaker 1: games I've played. I know they just face the bears, but,
[19:11] Speaker 1: The 49ers and Bears are– I would say the 49ers
[19:14] Speaker 1: are just a step up in class, a notch higher
[19:17] Speaker 1: than the Bears, but that's with Mike Evans. So we
[19:19] Speaker 1: don't know if Mike Evans isn't playing. If Mike Evans
[19:20] Speaker 1: isn't playing, it's probably on par just a little bit
[19:23] Speaker 1: worse than the Bears. Again, the Bears, they scored 30 points.
[19:26] Speaker 1: They probably could have scored 50 if they kept their
[19:28] Speaker 1: foot on the gas in the second half. If they
[19:30] Speaker 1: did not, they just basically stopped throwing the ball later
[19:33] Speaker 1: on in the game to protect the lead and almost
[19:34] Speaker 1: bit them in the butt. But I would imagine this
[19:37] Speaker 1: is a Brock Purdy game again. And this could be
[19:39] Speaker 1: very George Kittley, Christian McCaffrey, where they're both getting 10 touchdowns.
[19:44] Speaker 1: They're getting thrown the ball every other play. Do you
[19:47] Speaker 1: think this is fine? Could this possibly... be the week
[19:51] Speaker 1: where the 49ers throw the ball to one of their
[19:54] Speaker 1: receivers more than twice in a game? None of their
[19:58] Speaker 1: non-Mike Evans wide receivers, obviously.
[20:00] Speaker 2: Brock Birdie had to have a commander's defender wrapped around
[20:04] Speaker 2: his ankles to get him to finally throw to Jordan Brock.
[20:07] Speaker 2: It's like, fine. fine i'll throw it to you and
[20:11] Speaker 2: in his defense um when they showed the rep the
[20:13] Speaker 2: jordan watkins rep it was pretty impressive dude he fought
[20:16] Speaker 2: through some some pretty heavy contact well down the field
[20:19] Speaker 2: stumbled for about four yards yeah kept his balance and
[20:23] Speaker 2: then get but he was able to throttle down and
[20:25] Speaker 2: come back and create a decent amount of separation and
[20:27] Speaker 2: then and then get up field a little bit so
[20:29] Speaker 2: it was a great rep man it was a great
[20:30] Speaker 2: rep like there was a lot there um to, to
[20:34] Speaker 2: throw that rep off. And I thought he did a
[20:36] Speaker 2: pretty good job. You know, he's not, he's not a
[20:38] Speaker 2: small guy. So I think a lot of people equate
[20:41] Speaker 2: when you have the primary conversation about a receiver is
[20:43] Speaker 2: that he's fast. They kind of automatically assume that they're
[20:47] Speaker 2: on the smaller side. Jordan Watkins is a, is a
[20:49] Speaker 2: decent looking receiver when it comes to just the overall
[20:51] Speaker 2: size of his build. So it was encouraging to see
[20:54] Speaker 2: him fight through some contact there. And yeah, maybe, maybe they,
[20:58] Speaker 2: maybe this is the Jordan Watkins game, man. I mean,
[21:00] Speaker 2: it's just, you would think one of these guys, Didn't
[21:04] Speaker 2: he play a pretty good number of, I don't know
[21:06] Speaker 2: if you saw the snap counts, but I think Jordan
[21:07] Speaker 2: Watkins played like 40-something snaps.
[21:09] Speaker 1: Oh, no, he played more snaps than anybody else. Obviously,
[21:12] Speaker 1: Mike Evans left, but he was in the 40s, and
[21:14] Speaker 1: I don't think anybody else was over 20.
[21:16] Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean, at some point, you would think
[21:19] Speaker 2: something's got to break his way. He's putting in the work.
[21:22] Speaker 2: You know that's something, you know, minus any mistakes he's making,
[21:25] Speaker 2: even when the ball's not going to him, because that's
[21:28] Speaker 2: Shanahan's thing. But you would think that Shanahan is kind of,
[21:32] Speaker 2: getting to a point where, and hopefully Brock is too,
[21:35] Speaker 2: I guess that's the one he really needs to win
[21:36] Speaker 2: over is you could tell that sometimes when Brock Purdy
[21:39] Speaker 2: drops back, no matter who's open, he only wants to
[21:42] Speaker 2: throw it to a couple of people and we'll see.
[21:45] Speaker 1: I can show you so many screenshots from last game alone.
[21:47] Speaker 1: I'm not picking on Brock. I think the world of rock,
[21:49] Speaker 1: I think is a very good player and a very
[21:52] Speaker 1: aggressive player, but at least I could probably pull three,
[21:55] Speaker 1: four or five screenshots where whether it's cowing, whether it's Watkins.
[21:59] Speaker 1: And I mean, probably you can triple that number if
[22:01] Speaker 1: you want to go back three games where like they'll
[22:04] Speaker 1: be open and he's like, it'll be, it'll like go
[22:08] Speaker 1: to Kittle or McCaffrey or Evans.
[22:10] Speaker 2: So I don't think you can have a Watkins for
[22:11] Speaker 2: 10 or a Kittle for five. I'll take the Kittle
[22:14] Speaker 2: for five.
[22:15] Speaker 1: George. It is to me. It just screamed that he
[22:17] Speaker 1: doesn't trust him because I would, what that says to
[22:19] Speaker 1: me is in practice, they just can't catch the ball
[22:22] Speaker 1: at all. They're on the wrong routes on the play
[22:25] Speaker 1: on this. One of the second half sacks, I'm sure
[22:28] Speaker 1: there's been clips tweeted out about this, but Cooks is
[22:31] Speaker 1: running a deep cross and Kittle is running underneath him.
[22:35] Speaker 1: Cooks is at the top of his route when he
[22:38] Speaker 1: doesn't have to. He tries to fake out one way
[22:41] Speaker 1: and go this way when realistically, if you just keep
[22:44] Speaker 1: running that way, you're going to be open regardless. So
[22:46] Speaker 1: like that head fake causes him to run into Kittle
[22:49] Speaker 1: who does his job, right? You go under and then
[22:51] Speaker 1: you go over as you're crossing to fool the linebackers.
[22:53] Speaker 1: Kittle's always going to be right in that situation. And
[22:56] Speaker 1: he runs into Cooks, who for whatever reason is trying
[22:59] Speaker 1: to fake a defender 15 yards down the field. Those
[23:01] Speaker 1: are the kind of things that cause the quarterback to
[23:04] Speaker 1: get sacked and probably drive him insane.
[23:06] Speaker 2: Tick-tock, man. Got to show your brakes, man. You got
[23:11] Speaker 2: to shake them.
[23:11] Speaker 1: Highlights, yeah.
[23:12] Speaker 2: There's no defender next to me, but I'm still going
[23:14] Speaker 2: to shake him out of his shoes somewhere. It's just–
[23:19] Speaker 2: The 49ers right now, and one thing that could be
[23:22] Speaker 2: going for them in this game, we know they're going
[23:24] Speaker 2: to have to pass. You can assume. Now, interesting thing enough, though,
[23:29] Speaker 2: when the 49ers played the Falcons last year, Jeff Ulbrich
[23:32] Speaker 2: was their defensive coordinator, and Atlanta had one of the
[23:34] Speaker 2: best run defenses in the league. The 49ers played them
[23:37] Speaker 2: and still were able to run all over them. So
[23:40] Speaker 2: Shanahan probably just has a bit stronger grasp on what
[23:44] Speaker 2: he needs to do to run the ball against this
[23:46] Speaker 2: type of defense. But if that doesn't work, they're going
[23:49] Speaker 2: to be throwing a lot on third down, or at
[23:51] Speaker 2: least they're going to run into a lot of third downs.
[23:53] Speaker 2: The 49ers have the number one third down offense in
[23:55] Speaker 2: the NSL. The Falcons, on the other hand, have the
[23:58] Speaker 2: 23rd best defense in third down. And they give up 25.5
[24:03] Speaker 2: points per game, which is also in the 20s, 23rd.
[24:07] Speaker 2: So it's not like they can't be had. It's just
[24:11] Speaker 2: a matter of how heavily they have to rely on
[24:14] Speaker 2: throwing the ball. You mentioned in your text to me, like,
[24:16] Speaker 2: are they going to be able to make the 49ers
[24:18] Speaker 2: offense one dimensional to where they're faced with a lot
[24:20] Speaker 2: of third and longs and they're constantly trying to throw
[24:23] Speaker 2: the ball down the field, which plays into the idea
[24:25] Speaker 2: that Mike Evans is going to be there. That's obviously
[24:27] Speaker 2: what the Falcons would want them to have to do.
[24:30] Speaker 2: It's got to, is that your take for what you
[24:32] Speaker 2: think the Falcons are going to try to get the
[24:34] Speaker 2: 49ers into?
[24:36] Speaker 1: Yeah. And I wouldn't be surprised to see if like
[24:38] Speaker 1: they start sending extra bodies toward Kittle and toward McCaffrey. So,
[24:44] Speaker 1: the commanders did that late in the game without Evans,
[24:46] Speaker 1: even with Evans on the field, and are just daring
[24:49] Speaker 1: Brock to throw to somebody else, daring him to throw
[24:51] Speaker 1: to whether it's Cowling, Cooks, or Watkins. I think what
[24:54] Speaker 1: I'm interested in is what does Christian Kirk do? Because
[24:58] Speaker 1: he practiced in full, realistically probably going to play. What
[25:01] Speaker 1: does he bring to the offense? What role does he play?
[25:03] Speaker 1: Because Watkins is really the only X size-wise anyway. Kirk's
[25:08] Speaker 1: really more of a Z move-around guy in the slot.
[25:11] Speaker 1: Is Kirk really going to be this guy who can
[25:15] Speaker 1: be a guy you can throw to seven times. I'm
[25:17] Speaker 1: fascinated to see what he brings because I don't know
[25:19] Speaker 1: if anybody knows what he can bring because he hasn't
[25:21] Speaker 1: practiced since July.
[25:24] Speaker 2: I don't even know what he looks like anymore.
[25:27] Speaker 1: By the way, cool story about him. I don't think
[25:29] Speaker 1: I've ever shared this on air before. He's from Scottsdale.
[25:34] Speaker 1: He went to high school about 15 minutes from where
[25:36] Speaker 1: I grew up. Way back in 2020 when COVID first hit,
[25:40] Speaker 1: him and one of the other Cardinals players at the time,
[25:43] Speaker 1: they paid you for the rent for over 30 single
[25:47] Speaker 1: mothers in the Scottsdale area. It was like one of
[25:50] Speaker 1: the dopest things I've ever seen. And like, they didn't,
[25:54] Speaker 1: it wasn't broadcasted or anything. Like it wasn't like, you know,
[25:57] Speaker 1: but I make sure you think Christian Kirk and he
[26:00] Speaker 1: was a linebacker for, for doing this deed. But to me, man,
[26:04] Speaker 1: that just speaks volumes to like the kind of person
[26:05] Speaker 1: he is. So like, I was wondering, why, why are
[26:08] Speaker 1: they being so patient with Kirk? But if he's like,
[26:11] Speaker 1: that kind of person off the field, you would imagine
[26:12] Speaker 1: that he does the right things on the field.
[26:15] Speaker 2: Yeah. That's a good story. That's a good point. I
[26:18] Speaker 2: like that. That's a good spot to leave off too.
[26:20] Speaker 2: That's pretty sweet, man. That's pretty sweet. You always like
[26:22] Speaker 2: to hear, you know, and it's always, it's, it's somewhat related,
[26:25] Speaker 2: but anytime I think about an NFL getting player getting
[26:28] Speaker 2: paid and I kind of like put myself in that position,
[26:30] Speaker 2: like the very first thing that pops into my mind
[26:33] Speaker 2: is not the cool shit that I'm going to buy.
[26:35] Speaker 2: It's how many people you'd be.
[26:37] Speaker 1: Able to take care of.
[26:38] Speaker 2: That helped you along the way and have it be
[26:40] Speaker 2: no big sweat off your back. Like, dude, if I
[26:43] Speaker 2: just got 20 million guaranteed, like the amount of like
[26:47] Speaker 2: life changing, like that's what I always think about. Obviously
[26:50] Speaker 2: I'm taken care of, but the amount of help I
[26:52] Speaker 2: could give everybody, like, Hey, like you have no more debt.
[26:55] Speaker 2: You have no more debt. Your house doesn't cost anything.
[26:57] Speaker 2: You know, it's like, it's so cool to watch these
[27:00] Speaker 2: players not only earn that amount of money, but, and
[27:02] Speaker 2: then see what they do with it because it happens
[27:04] Speaker 2: all the time, dude. It's pretty sweet.
[27:05] Speaker 1: It sucks that we don't hear more stories like that.
[27:08] Speaker 2: Did you, this is totally unrelated, but in terms of
[27:10] Speaker 2: like people, like a people moment, did you hear Robert
[27:13] Speaker 2: Sala's comments on Jordan Elliott, the Jordan Elliott situation? I
[27:17] Speaker 2: thought that was like one of the absolute best answers
[27:21] Speaker 2: I've ever heard a coach give for anything. Like in
[27:25] Speaker 2: any context.
[27:26] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[27:27] Speaker 2: Yeah. If we're not going to, we won't direct, you know,
[27:29] Speaker 2: obviously that's not what this podcast is about, but Jordan
[27:31] Speaker 2: Elliott is a former 49er player currently playing under a
[27:34] Speaker 2: former 49er defensive coordinator and Robert Sala is, And obviously
[27:38] Speaker 2: it was a situation where he saw a.
[27:39] Speaker 1: Pretty big deal for what the 49ers have been.
[27:43] Speaker 2: He lost his cool and obviously went to his car
[27:45] Speaker 2: to grab a gun and who knows what he was
[27:47] Speaker 2: going to do with it. But the situation got handled and, and,
[27:51] Speaker 2: but you gotta, if you haven't heard it yet, go
[27:52] Speaker 2: find Robert Sala's comments on, on the situation. It was just,
[27:56] Speaker 2: he was, could not have been.
[27:58] Speaker 1: That is a leader, right? Like that's somebody who you
[28:00] Speaker 1: want running your team. I know Titans fans probably hate
[28:02] Speaker 1: him because of the record, but in my mind, like
[28:04] Speaker 1: that's the kind of guy who I want running the
[28:06] Speaker 1: ship for sure.
[28:07] Speaker 2: Yeah, I would run through a wall for a guy.
[28:09] Speaker 2: If I heard him say stuff like that and I
[28:11] Speaker 2: was on that team, I'd be like, all right, man,
[28:14] Speaker 2: if you're not already, let's go to work. Okay, so
[28:18] Speaker 2: let's switch gears. Let's get into the 49ers defense and
[28:20] Speaker 2: how they're going to need to handle the Commanders offense.
[28:24] Speaker 2: The little EPA lineup. Excuse me, not Commanders offense, the
[28:28] Speaker 2: Falcons offense. I still got my game notes. Wrong one there.
[28:32] Speaker 2: I'm going to change it even though I don't need
[28:33] Speaker 2: it anymore. Falcons offense, EPA per play, 22nd. So not great, Bob.
[28:37] Speaker 2: Total EPA, 21st. Success percentage, 14th. A little better. Success
[28:42] Speaker 2: percentage is something that kind of encapsulates. EPA per pass, 26th.
[28:47] Speaker 2: Not great, but they have– how many games did Michael
[28:49] Speaker 2: Penix miss?
[28:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's some noise in those numbers too just because
[28:54] Speaker 1: Penix played week three, week four, week five, week six.
[28:58] Speaker 1: So he missed the first two games. I want to
[29:01] Speaker 1: say one of those games I think he left and
[29:03] Speaker 1: that's why they lost. Um, maybe not, but yeah, uh,
[29:07] Speaker 1: they're clearly better through an interception. Right. Okay.
[29:10] Speaker 2: That was the Ravens game. That was reminds me of
[29:12] Speaker 2: a meme where.
[29:12] Speaker 1: He's like, that was, uh, um, obviously they're much better
[29:20] Speaker 1: with him on the field. If you just look at
[29:22] Speaker 1: his game logs, uh, he he's thrown for over 220
[29:25] Speaker 1: yards every time. Um, they're throwing it quite a bit, actually,
[29:28] Speaker 1: when he's on the field, which tells me like they
[29:30] Speaker 1: want the offense to run through him. They're hitting a
[29:32] Speaker 1: bunch of explosives, uh, With him on the field, his
[29:34] Speaker 1: yards per attempt is just night and day compared to
[29:38] Speaker 1: whatever a Cooper rush is. and a Tua. So, like,
[29:41] Speaker 1: their offense just looks like it's built for Pennix compared
[29:45] Speaker 1: to the other two quarterbacks, which no surprise that he's
[29:47] Speaker 1: their starter.
[29:49] Speaker 2: So weird that John Robinson, he averaged 6.8 yards per
[29:57] Speaker 2: carry and only got nine carries. in that game against
[30:01] Speaker 2: the bears. Like, how does that happen?
[30:02] Speaker 1: Like, which over correction this time, right?
[30:06] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[30:07] Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
[30:07] Speaker 2: You can expect the opposite. You know, I think that there,
[30:10] Speaker 2: that probably was one of the mistakes. I mean, Michael
[30:13] Speaker 2: Penix only completed 57% of his passes still through three
[30:15] Speaker 2: touchdowns and no interceptions. So there's not a whole lot
[30:19] Speaker 2: to nitpick there, but you got to think that, that
[30:21] Speaker 2: making sure that Bajon Robinson is, is taking your offense forward.
[30:27] Speaker 2: It's hard to think of, you want to get the
[30:30] Speaker 2: ball into Michael Penix's hands or, you know, you want
[30:32] Speaker 2: the offense to run through him when you have Bajon Robinson,
[30:36] Speaker 2: who might be the best running back in the NFL.
[30:39] Speaker 1: Oh, no might. I don't think we need to sugarcoat
[30:41] Speaker 1: this at all.
[30:42] Speaker 2: Well, I love Jameer Gibbs too, but I think Bajon
[30:45] Speaker 2: Robinson is. What Robinson can do in the open field
[30:49] Speaker 2: to your ankles is unlike anything else. So the dude's
[30:53] Speaker 2: averaging over five and a half yards per carry. He's like,
[30:56] Speaker 2: That should be a focal point. It's a first down
[30:58] Speaker 2: every two plays.
[31:00] Speaker 1: Right.
[31:00] Speaker 2: That's absurd.
[31:02] Speaker 1: Look at you doing your math.
[31:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
[31:04] Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like. So, okay, his longs, his
[31:09] Speaker 1: longest rushes in every game, 20, 11, 55, 59, 38, 23.
[31:15] Speaker 1: They gave him the ball nine times last game, and
[31:18] Speaker 1: he had a 23-yard run. So, like, what are we
[31:22] Speaker 1: doing here? And, again, like, probably going to be an
[31:24] Speaker 1: overcorrection where– In week three, he had 29 carries. So
[31:30] Speaker 1: coming off a nine-carry game, it's probably going to be
[31:32] Speaker 1: a heavy dosage of Bajon Robinson. But you would think,
[31:35] Speaker 1: like if there's anybody who has an idea of how
[31:38] Speaker 1: to stop the Atlanta Falcons offense, it would be the
[31:41] Speaker 1: current defensive coordinator who just coached the Atlanta Falcons offense.
[31:45] Speaker 2: I'm glad we didn't get through the pod without mentioning that.
[31:49] Speaker 1: That's such a major detail. Raheem Morris has some familiarity
[31:53] Speaker 1: with the players that he's been drafting over the past
[31:56] Speaker 1: few seasons. speaking of running.
[31:58] Speaker 2: Does it go the other way too though? Their familiarity
[32:00] Speaker 2: with Raheem Morris' defense?
[32:02] Speaker 1: 100%. Yeah, like no, they might know the ins and
[32:04] Speaker 1: the outs. They might know just like little quirks, little
[32:07] Speaker 1: ways to get over on, you know, the 49ers defense.
[32:12] Speaker 1: Speaking of the 49ers defense, we talked about it a
[32:15] Speaker 1: little bit. Like, how are they so good against the world? Like,
[32:18] Speaker 1: what is going on here? Like, what really changed? Because
[32:22] Speaker 1: when Bosa was out last year, like they couldn't do
[32:24] Speaker 1: anything and they just, just got Mike Hill back. So,
[32:27] Speaker 1: I know Mikel is a very good player. He proved
[32:29] Speaker 1: to be a very good player just last week alone.
[32:31] Speaker 1: But even before that, they were very good against the run.
[32:35] Speaker 1: So just reading off some of their stats, they're six
[32:38] Speaker 1: in EPA per rush, which, again, just last year, they
[32:42] Speaker 1: were bottom three, four across the board. They're a little–
[32:47] Speaker 1: they're not as good on a down-to-down basis, so success rate.
[32:50] Speaker 1: They're 41%, but realistically– The eighth-place team– sorry, the sixth-place team,
[32:56] Speaker 1: which is the Falcons, they're 38%. So not a lot
[32:59] Speaker 1: of leeway there. Like I said, they've allowed the fewest
[33:03] Speaker 1: 10-plus rushes in the NFL. Like I mentioned, the Falcons
[33:06] Speaker 1: are third at 10. The 49ers have only allowed four.
[33:10] Speaker 1: So they are really, really limited teams on the ground.
[33:16] Speaker 2: How?
[33:17] Speaker 1: Why? Like it's– they just missed Drake Greenlaw. And, like,
[33:21] Speaker 1: nothing really changed. Like, against an outside zone team, they
[33:24] Speaker 1: were able to limit them. I know Raheem Morris has
[33:27] Speaker 1: these guys on the move a ton. And they're– like,
[33:30] Speaker 1: to be fair, they're one-on-one. They're winning one-on-ones in ways
[33:33] Speaker 1: that they were not. Decent player.
[33:35] Speaker 2: Decent player. But I want to be– I held up–
[33:39] Speaker 2: I was on the podcast. I just obnoxiously held up
[33:42] Speaker 2: a picture of Fred Warner into the camera.
[33:45] Speaker 1: So, like, last week, Grayson Holden's making plays against LeBron.
[33:48] Speaker 1: And he was supposed to be a pass rusher. But, like,
[33:49] Speaker 1: he's legitimately– He threw the center to the ground on
[33:53] Speaker 1: one play.
[33:54] Speaker 2: He's too wiggly, man. He's too– I.
[33:57] Speaker 1: Don't even know how to describe it.
[34:00] Speaker 2: He's too twitchy. Like, yeah, that quickly manifests itself as
[34:05] Speaker 2: a pass rusher. But if you can just control a body,
[34:10] Speaker 2: then you can also be good against the run. You
[34:13] Speaker 2: know what I mean?
[34:13] Speaker 1: You can refuse to be– If you had no idea
[34:17] Speaker 1: that Grayson Holden, what round he was drafted in, And
[34:20] Speaker 1: somebody said, oh, look, that's a 49ers first-rounder from last year.
[34:23] Speaker 1: You'd be like, oh, no, that makes sense. What a
[34:24] Speaker 1: great pick. Right. That's what I'm saying. Just keep it moving. Like,
[34:28] Speaker 1: that's the conversation. But he looks like that. And even Valdez, man.
[34:33] Speaker 1: Valdez is making a bunch of plays. It's not like
[34:36] Speaker 1: they're dominating every other play. But for a D-line, and
[34:39] Speaker 1: I think I'm talking through how they're so much better
[34:42] Speaker 1: against the run. For a D-line, over the course of, like,
[34:45] Speaker 1: let's say they run the ball 25 times, if your
[34:48] Speaker 1: guys win– four or five times over the course of
[34:50] Speaker 1: a game, like you're probably in a really good spot
[34:52] Speaker 1: because you at least kept them in a second and
[34:55] Speaker 1: 10 second and long situation. And that's how you get
[34:58] Speaker 1: off the field. So they, they have so many more
[35:00] Speaker 1: guys who can win one-on-one Halton, big reason why Valdez, obviously,
[35:04] Speaker 1: but even with all the stunning and slanting, like, like
[35:07] Speaker 1: all these guys find ways to win. It's, it's really impressive, man. They're,
[35:11] Speaker 1: they're D line. I tweeted this during the game, the
[35:13] Speaker 1: D tackles are, it's such an upgrade from last year, but,
[35:16] Speaker 1: The injection of talent that they have this year is
[35:19] Speaker 1: just night and day from what it was last year.
[35:23] Speaker 2: To utilize another movie reference, there's this quick scene in
[35:29] Speaker 2: the original Top Gun movie. There's a scene like this
[35:32] Speaker 2: in Maverick, too, where all of the planes are dogfighting,
[35:35] Speaker 2: and they're in this crazy sphere of planes going this
[35:40] Speaker 2: way and that way and under and over each other.
[35:42] Speaker 2: And that kind of feels like one way that Raheem
[35:45] Speaker 2: Morris is having success against the run. It's not traditional.
[35:48] Speaker 2: It's not like I'm six, three, 340 pounds and you
[35:52] Speaker 2: just can't move any type of run stop. But it's,
[35:54] Speaker 2: if you just constantly have your defensive line moving stunning
[35:58] Speaker 2: and changing levels and crossing paths, you're inevitably going to
[36:04] Speaker 2: cloud rush lanes and you're going to confuse what a
[36:06] Speaker 2: running back thinks they're looking for. Yeah. It's just, there's
[36:10] Speaker 2: dudes all over the place. They're constantly blitz, not constantly blitzing,
[36:14] Speaker 2: but at least they're showing blitzes constantly. So it just
[36:16] Speaker 2: feels like as an offensive line, as a quarterback, as
[36:19] Speaker 2: a run game, there's just not a lot to feel
[36:21] Speaker 2: confident about in the way that Raheem Morris approaches it.
[36:24] Speaker 2: Like you're not, you're not, you're never that confident in
[36:27] Speaker 2: what you're seeing because there's so much variance, so much stunting.
[36:30] Speaker 2: And it's just feels like that's one way where Raheem
[36:34] Speaker 2: Morris has been able to take a unit that we
[36:36] Speaker 2: would expect to be bottom half of the league just
[36:38] Speaker 2: by the personnel.
[36:39] Speaker 1: And like this, Based on the entire year we just watched. Right.
[36:44] Speaker 2: And now they're, they're top 10. They're, they're top five
[36:48] Speaker 2: in some areas. It's, I mean, it's really fun to watch.
[36:51] Speaker 2: Nothing ever looks, but you've even got guys like Romello height.
[36:55] Speaker 2: Who's got a club on his hand. Who's getting double
[36:57] Speaker 2: team and he's splitting it. Keon white is splitting his
[37:00] Speaker 2: own double teams.
[37:01] Speaker 1: They're just like pinball God right there, man.
[37:04] Speaker 2: He is.
[37:05] Speaker 1: I don't know. Like if, cause he was not doing
[37:07] Speaker 1: this last year and I know they're, They're running a
[37:09] Speaker 1: different defense than last year, and they're asking him to
[37:11] Speaker 1: do more things, and he's allowed to rush inside more
[37:14] Speaker 1: of a key on white man. He legitimately looks like
[37:16] Speaker 1: the second rounder that the Patriots hoped he was. Romello Haidt,
[37:20] Speaker 1: his speed is like, I think the closest thing was
[37:25] Speaker 1: like a D4 type. Before I say that, I want
[37:29] Speaker 1: to make it very clear that as fast as he
[37:33] Speaker 1: looks off the line of scrimmage, statistically, Nick Bosa is
[37:37] Speaker 1: faster than him off the line of scrimmage. Nobody ever
[37:39] Speaker 1: mentions that. I know it shouldn't be surprising because we're
[37:43] Speaker 1: talking about one of the defensive players of the year,
[37:45] Speaker 1: one of the best players in the NFL, but that's
[37:48] Speaker 1: really what makes Bosa Bosa. It's not this technical prowess. No,
[37:52] Speaker 1: he's just faster than everybody off the line. Of course
[37:54] Speaker 1: he's going to win. He can cover ground with his
[37:56] Speaker 1: first two steps that most people can't cover in three
[37:59] Speaker 1: or four, but I was looking at some of the stats,
[38:01] Speaker 1: wondering where Romello Height ranked in the get-off time because
[38:05] Speaker 1: It's in the. 8s, which is like elite, elite. And
[38:08] Speaker 1: then Bosa's like. 79. Like, Jesus, man, you're such a
[38:11] Speaker 1: ball hog. You want all the attention. But, no, they're deep.
[38:15] Speaker 1: They can come at you in waves, and it's only
[38:17] Speaker 1: going to get better the more comfortable Mikel gets, who
[38:20] Speaker 1: had some really good rushes last weekend. And then once
[38:23] Speaker 1: Bosa gets healthy.
[38:27] Speaker 2: Drake London is good. Drake London is a good player.
[38:32] Speaker 2: He's a real good player. Do you think– After what
[38:36] Speaker 2: we saw against the Commanders, against a decent, I think
[38:40] Speaker 2: Traylon Burks had a really good game. I think he's
[38:42] Speaker 2: a good player.
[38:43] Speaker 1: A lot of guys who played a little better than
[38:45] Speaker 1: you might have wanted to.
[38:47] Speaker 2: Right. And then they lost Terry McLaurin, who started the
[38:50] Speaker 2: game out with a nice big play on a busted coverage.
[38:53] Speaker 2: Are you worried about the secondary? Because it seems like
[38:56] Speaker 2: Atlanta has the tools to punish Atlanta. the secondary just
[39:00] Speaker 2: as well as the commanders did. They're not necessarily great.
[39:05] Speaker 2: Their EPA per pass is 26th, but again, Pennix missed
[39:08] Speaker 2: some times. So that number is going to be skewed
[39:10] Speaker 2: a little bit. It's hard to take any of these
[39:13] Speaker 2: offensive numbers seriously when a quarterback misses time, which is
[39:16] Speaker 2: kind of what we ran into last week with the commanders,
[39:18] Speaker 2: Jaden Daniels had missed time. So the offense seemed like
[39:21] Speaker 2: it was incapable, but in reality, it was just more
[39:24] Speaker 2: of the starting quarterback missing time. So 23.7 points per game,
[39:29] Speaker 2: that's 16th. The 49ers defense allows 18.3 points per game,
[39:34] Speaker 2: which is fourth. So there's a little bit, but again,
[39:37] Speaker 2: it's hard to know how bad their offense truly is.
[39:40] Speaker 2: The big thing we know is Michael Penix is not
[39:42] Speaker 2: good when he's under pressure. Some of his pressure stats
[39:46] Speaker 2: I was reading online are just, They're pretty bad, especially
[39:48] Speaker 2: when you compare them to what Brock Purdy has been
[39:51] Speaker 2: able to do against the Blitz. Now, maybe those numbers
[39:53] Speaker 2: came down after what was going on with the Commanders,
[39:55] Speaker 2: but the 49ers have had nine sacks in the last
[39:58] Speaker 2: two games. And then on the inverse, Atlanta ranks 24th
[40:02] Speaker 2: in sacks allowed. They've allowed 16, but they still have
[40:06] Speaker 2: the second lowest pressure rate. So they don't give up
[40:11] Speaker 2: a ton of pressures, but in terms of sacks, Atlanta's
[40:14] Speaker 2: not doing great, and the 49ers seem to have kind
[40:16] Speaker 2: of found their stride against some decent offensive lines in
[40:19] Speaker 2: the Seahawks and the Commanders. So, I mean, that's got
[40:24] Speaker 2: to be the game plan for the 40. I mean,
[40:28] Speaker 2: it's not necessarily rewriting the wheel. It's been what they've
[40:30] Speaker 2: done over the past two weeks and the way they've
[40:31] Speaker 2: been able to pressure the quarterback and get home and
[40:33] Speaker 2: at least affect him. Michael Penix is not very mobile.
[40:36] Speaker 2: He's not immobile, but he's not a guy that likes
[40:39] Speaker 2: moving around and making plays. He likes to be in
[40:42] Speaker 2: the pocket.
[40:43] Speaker 1: I don't think he's comfortable at all when you ask
[40:45] Speaker 1: him to move off the spot. So like that should
[40:47] Speaker 1: be the plan. Again, with like the way that they
[40:49] Speaker 1: rush the passer with all the chaos they can create,
[40:51] Speaker 1: it should bode well. But this is a top 10
[40:53] Speaker 1: offense with Phoenix under center. So if you just filter
[40:57] Speaker 1: the four games that he played and looking at the
[41:01] Speaker 1: Falcons offense through those lenses, Falcons are seventh in EPA
[41:05] Speaker 1: per play. So very good, right? And looking at overall
[41:10] Speaker 1: success rate, they are ninth. So they're 46% success rate.
[41:15] Speaker 1: Compare that to the 49ers for a second, 51%. Again, very,
[41:20] Speaker 1: very good. 51 is not a real thing. That's not
[41:22] Speaker 1: what other NFL teams do. The fact that they're top
[41:25] Speaker 1: 10 in both EPA rushing, or sorry, just EPA for
[41:29] Speaker 1: big plays and success rate, which is more of a down-to-down,
[41:32] Speaker 1: really good. They're 10th in passing success rate. They're 48.4.
[41:37] Speaker 1: The 49ers are 49.2. They do a really, really good
[41:41] Speaker 1: job of throwing the ball on a down-to-down basis. In
[41:43] Speaker 1: those four games, When Phoenix is under center, the Falcons
[41:48] Speaker 1: have the second best EPA per rush. So everything is
[41:51] Speaker 1: much better with Phoenix under center. He likes to take
[41:54] Speaker 1: shots down the field, which helps open up the offense up.
[41:56] Speaker 1: You mentioned the secondary. I am a little bit worried, man.
[41:59] Speaker 1: I think there are some calls for concern just because
[42:01] Speaker 1: dating back to Denver a few weeks ago, everybody was
[42:04] Speaker 1: showing the screenshots. Hey, Bo Nix, throw it here. This
[42:06] Speaker 1: guy's open. There was a little bit of that in Seattle.
[42:09] Speaker 1: Not as much, but as the game went on on
[42:13] Speaker 1: Monday night, you could tell Daniel was like, oh, there
[42:17] Speaker 1: are guys open down the field. And they were more aggressive,
[42:20] Speaker 1: and that's how they moved the ball. So I think
[42:22] Speaker 1: the defensive line has been so good that it's masking
[42:26] Speaker 1: some of the defensive teams. And this was always going
[42:27] Speaker 1: to be the case, right? Because, yes, they invested in
[42:31] Speaker 1: the position in Bernardo Green a few years back in
[42:33] Speaker 1: the second round, but nothing's really changed since then. They're
[42:37] Speaker 1: hoping Malik Mustafa, who's been great. That's the one guy
[42:39] Speaker 1: who I would not point a finger at in this conversation.
[42:42] Speaker 1: I think Malik is on tier, on par. with as
[42:45] Speaker 1: good as the defensive line has been. But I just
[42:48] Speaker 1: feel like they've been a little more passive. I think
[42:50] Speaker 1: Lenore has been passive. I think Green just isn't getting
[42:55] Speaker 1: good reads, isn't understanding what the offense is trying to
[42:57] Speaker 1: do to him. And I think in Stout's case, I'm
[43:01] Speaker 1: not so sure he knows what to do. And that's
[43:04] Speaker 1: what it looks like. It just looks like a guy
[43:06] Speaker 1: who's almost reacting and not expecting what's coming. And it's
[43:09] Speaker 1: playing out like that. So I am a little bit worried.
[43:11] Speaker 1: And I think, you know, as much as this game
[43:13] Speaker 1: is going to revolve around like, Hey, Bijan Robinson. I
[43:17] Speaker 1: really think it's more like, dang, like Drake London could
[43:20] Speaker 1: really go off in this game. I think Kyle Pitts
[43:22] Speaker 1: could be dangerous in the slot against up in staff
[43:25] Speaker 1: in this game. Holy smokes. 42, 38. Yeah.
[43:30] Speaker 2: So I thought a good place to end was I was,
[43:33] Speaker 2: I was looking on the NFL stuff and I saw
[43:35] Speaker 2: their game preview picks on here and every single NFL,
[43:40] Speaker 2: this doesn't, this, this doesn't mean these are just NFL analysts. I'm,
[43:44] Speaker 2: you know, it's, It doesn't mean anything, I guess, is
[43:48] Speaker 2: just what I'm going to say. But I was surprised
[43:51] Speaker 2: to see that every single analyst, and I get the
[43:54] Speaker 2: 49ers are 6-0, and if you're on the podcast side
[43:56] Speaker 2: of things, there's 10 predictions on here from 10 different
[44:00] Speaker 2: NFL analysts, and every single one of them predict that
[44:04] Speaker 2: the 49ers are going to win. You've got scores all
[44:06] Speaker 2: over the place, 42-38, and then you've got 24-20, and
[44:08] Speaker 2: everything in between. And so it's hard for me. This
[44:15] Speaker 2: just isn't where I'm at. I'm not, like, convinced that
[44:19] Speaker 2: the 49ers can win this game. And it's not a
[44:23] Speaker 2: matter of me thinking the 49ers are anything less than
[44:26] Speaker 2: what they've shown to be so far. Like, I think
[44:29] Speaker 2: they're one of, if not the best team in the
[44:32] Speaker 2: NFL right now. But we've seen how everything has added
[44:35] Speaker 2: up to this point. You know, we are assuming that
[44:38] Speaker 2: Mike Evans is out. We're assuming that their top two
[44:41] Speaker 2: receivers are are going to be Brandon cooks. And, um,
[44:46] Speaker 2: who's the other one that we were just talking about? Well,
[44:48] Speaker 2: Watkins and then, uh, um, the ghost of Christian Kirk.
[44:53] Speaker 2: There we go. Um, so it, it's just, I mean, it's,
[44:57] Speaker 2: it's not, I haven't really convinced myself that I think
[45:00] Speaker 2: the 49ers are going to lose this game, but I'm
[45:02] Speaker 2: surprised that it's so unanimously that they're unanimously picked. Like
[45:05] Speaker 2: I get it. It's the Falcons. It's the 49ers, but, Man,
[45:08] Speaker 2: the 49ers are stretched thin. They're coming into this game
[45:10] Speaker 2: with a pretty depleted receiving core. And they had a
[45:14] Speaker 2: defense that looked like it was effective, but it was
[45:17] Speaker 2: also reeling at the same time. And it's just a
[45:19] Speaker 2: weird dynamic. They were able to call game. Malik Mustafa
[45:22] Speaker 2: was able to put together two plays to essentially put
[45:26] Speaker 2: that game away. And at the same time, they were
[45:29] Speaker 2: giving up big play after big play after big play.
[45:32] Speaker 2: And Washington was able to go on these long drives,
[45:34] Speaker 2: every drive in the second half, for Washington was essentially
[45:37] Speaker 2: a long scoring drive. So I don't know what to
[45:40] Speaker 2: think about this game, man. Does this surprise you? Does
[45:43] Speaker 2: seeing the 49ers favored like 10-0 surprise you at all?
[45:47] Speaker 2: Or where's your head at?
[45:49] Speaker 1: No, I mean, so like the line on this game
[45:52] Speaker 1: is only three. It tells you like they're expecting this
[45:56] Speaker 1: to be a close game. In my mind, it's all
[45:58] Speaker 1: about the schedule. It's all about the spot. And that
[46:00] Speaker 1: does not favor the 49ers. So short week, on the road,
[46:04] Speaker 1: early start time. likely without your wide receiver one, heading
[46:08] Speaker 1: into a bye, undefeated team. I think it just doesn't
[46:10] Speaker 1: set up well for the 49ers. And not to mention,
[46:14] Speaker 1: you have to think of the other team, what they're
[46:15] Speaker 1: coming off of. So the Falcons lost the game two
[46:18] Speaker 1: weeks ago to the Ravens in a game that they
[46:20] Speaker 1: probably should have won against a backup quarterback. Really just
[46:23] Speaker 1: didn't get off the mat until the second half against
[46:26] Speaker 1: the Bears last week. And once they did, they looked
[46:28] Speaker 1: like a team that was closer to 4-2 than 2-4.
[46:31] Speaker 1: But they have pieces. We know that they have the
[46:34] Speaker 1: kind of pieces– like the speed and the, I would
[46:37] Speaker 1: just say like the high end players in, in Drake
[46:40] Speaker 1: London and Bajon Robinson to really threaten the 49ers defense.
[46:44] Speaker 1: And they haven't really ran into that over the season.
[46:47] Speaker 1: Like if you think about the offenses that they faced, like, yeah,
[46:49] Speaker 1: I know they faced the Rams, but like that, that
[46:52] Speaker 1: Rams team is they're so slow. Like they cannot threaten
[46:55] Speaker 1: the 49ers like a, like a Bajon Robinson can, like
[46:58] Speaker 1: a Drake London can, like a Kyle Pitts can. So
[47:00] Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if it's, if it is the
[47:03] Speaker 1: first loss I got, I don't know what to expect.
[47:05] Speaker 1: And it's tough for me to bet against like a
[47:07] Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan team, but I don't think this is going
[47:11] Speaker 1: to be a touchdown kind of game at all. Like,
[47:13] Speaker 1: I don't think, I think it's going to for sure
[47:15] Speaker 1: come down to like a lot, like last week where
[47:17] Speaker 1: probably whoever has the ball is going to have a
[47:18] Speaker 1: chance to win, like whether they come through or not
[47:21] Speaker 1: is a whole other story. But I think there's been
[47:22] Speaker 1: enough cracks in the defense over the past couple of
[47:26] Speaker 1: weeks that they may not have shown, but they could
[47:28] Speaker 1: rear their ugly head in this game in this specific spot.
[47:33] Speaker 1: for the 49ers, not to mention probably not going to
[47:35] Speaker 1: have a 20-point head start if Mike Evans is not there.
[47:39] Speaker 2: Right, right. Let's end the pawn on a couple questions
[47:42] Speaker 2: here from Louie. He said, are Upton Stout's woes due
[47:46] Speaker 2: to coaching? Do you guys think Raheem wants something from
[47:49] Speaker 2: the nickel quarterback that's fundamentally different to what he did
[47:53] Speaker 2: with Sala? How come he's struggling so much? And then also,
[47:58] Speaker 2: do you think we stand a better chance at the
[47:59] Speaker 2: defense looking better just by dialing down the indiscipline? Penalties
[48:03] Speaker 2: killed the defense last time. That is a good point,
[48:06] Speaker 2: is the fact that the 49ers had to end the
[48:07] Speaker 2: game like three or four times. And two or three
[48:11] Speaker 2: of them were wiped out due to penalties. One of them,
[48:14] Speaker 2: the one on Ashton Davis, was just dumb. That didn't
[48:17] Speaker 2: look like a penalty to me. But it is true.
[48:21] Speaker 2: I think the 49ers against the Commanders got penalized 11
[48:27] Speaker 2: times for 88 yards. That's a big number. That's a
[48:31] Speaker 2: big number. for a 49ers team that had been relatively
[48:34] Speaker 2: low penalized up until this point. So KP, what about
[48:38] Speaker 2: Upton Stout, man? Do you think, you know, is there
[48:40] Speaker 2: something to be worried about there? It's just a little
[48:42] Speaker 2: bit of a sophomore slump. And you also have a
[48:45] Speaker 2: shoulder injury on top of that. I don't know if
[48:48] Speaker 2: you can call it a sophomore slump. I do think
[48:49] Speaker 2: the shoulder has to play a factor in it. And
[48:51] Speaker 2: maybe that's just from a preparation standpoint, but like these
[48:54] Speaker 2: were the same mistakes that he was making last week,
[48:56] Speaker 2: last year. So there were two times at the goal line,
[49:01] Speaker 2: And then there was another fourth down conversion where they're
[49:03] Speaker 2: just running somebody straight at him to pick him off.
[49:07] Speaker 2: And he just doesn't figure out what's coming, like what's
[49:10] Speaker 2: happening from the other wide receiver. And they get separation underneath.
[49:15] Speaker 2: I know that they talk about he's a film rat,
[49:17] Speaker 2: he's a junkie, but it doesn't.
[49:19] Speaker 1: Feel like that. He doesn't play like that. I think
[49:21] Speaker 1: his best trait is just, like, rushing the passer. Like,
[49:23] Speaker 1: he plays very fast when he gets to come downhill,
[49:27] Speaker 1: when he plays against the run. I think he's a
[49:28] Speaker 1: terrific run defender. I think he's still, like, one of
[49:31] Speaker 1: their better blitzers. But in coverage, man, it's tough to
[49:34] Speaker 1: trust him. And I think, like, especially a team like
[49:36] Speaker 1: the Falcons with how they attack, specifically like a Pitts–
[49:40] Speaker 1: and maybe even a London, you can get over on him.
[49:43] Speaker 1: So like, I don't know. I don't think it's a
[49:46] Speaker 1: coaching issue. Like I've never watched them and think, oh man,
[49:49] Speaker 1: they got to coach him up here. I think it's
[49:51] Speaker 1: just really him understanding how the offense wants to attack him,
[49:54] Speaker 1: which is a young guy kind of thing, right? Like
[49:56] Speaker 1: it takes time to learn. Slott is so hard, man.
[50:00] Speaker 1: Like K'Juan Williams wasn't K'Juan Williams right away. It took
[50:03] Speaker 1: him a long time to get to like how good
[50:06] Speaker 1: of a player he was. So. Yeah, I don't know.
[50:08] Speaker 1: I don't know, man. I don't know what to change
[50:10] Speaker 1: about it either. I don't know what I would tell
[50:11] Speaker 1: him to do differently other than not do what you're
[50:14] Speaker 1: currently doing.
[50:16] Speaker 2: Well, and he could have a slightly similar arc to
[50:18] Speaker 2: what he had last year. Last year when he started out,
[50:21] Speaker 2: he was a little rough around the edges. You could
[50:23] Speaker 2: tell he started to get it. Then after a few
[50:26] Speaker 2: games towards the middle of the season, he started to
[50:28] Speaker 2: make plays. One of them was I think he had
[50:30] Speaker 2: an interception wiped out to a penalty, stuff like that.
[50:33] Speaker 2: You saw kind of a turn of the corner, and
[50:35] Speaker 2: maybe we'll get something like that again this year.
[50:37] Speaker 1: He just had a second half. He like balled out.
[50:39] Speaker 1: So that's a good point. Right.
[50:41] Speaker 2: Um, Felipe said, uh, Hey guys, so happy to catch
[50:44] Speaker 2: the soul live for once, even if I missed most
[50:46] Speaker 2: of it. Um, are you the defense, especially the secondary?
[50:48] Speaker 2: Do you notice how Raheem was so unhappy yelling at
[50:52] Speaker 2: the bench at Monday night? So I think what you see,
[50:55] Speaker 2: he sees there is danger in the secondary house. Um,
[50:58] Speaker 2: and then he said, yeah, KP, your defensive tape last
[51:01] Speaker 2: week clearly showed some of stouts confusion. So, I mean,
[51:06] Speaker 2: to me, I don't think we're at the overreacting phase yet.
[51:08] Speaker 2: Like it's, it's just, he's a young player that's working
[51:12] Speaker 2: through things. And one of the toughest jobs that the
[51:15] Speaker 2: NFL football field has to offer, you know.
[51:17] Speaker 1: You've got defense. It probably is the toughest job. Right.
[51:20] Speaker 2: So it's, it's something like, I still think he's, he's
[51:23] Speaker 2: the 49ers third best corner. You know, like, I don't
[51:26] Speaker 2: think there's any reason to try and get him off
[51:27] Speaker 2: the field. And I think the 49ers under Sala last
[51:30] Speaker 2: season were a little quick to do that to some
[51:32] Speaker 2: players to get them off the field. You got to allow.
[51:35] Speaker 1: We saw what happens when you do yank him off
[51:36] Speaker 1: the field. Ashton Davis, who first play missed a tackle.
[51:40] Speaker 1: And then he also gave up a 30 yarder, held
[51:42] Speaker 1: the guy to give him a first down. Like he
[51:45] Speaker 1: play after play after play, you're running like.
[51:46] Speaker 2: Hey, are you sure you're not had a wide open
[51:49] Speaker 2: sack and just ran right by it.
[51:51] Speaker 1: All the things that Upton Stout doesn't do actually. So
[51:54] Speaker 1: like it, it, Let's give him a longer leash based
[51:57] Speaker 1: on how he finished the year last year.
[52:00] Speaker 2: Right, right.
[52:00] Speaker 1: Okay.
[52:01] Speaker 2: I think we did the damn thing. That is your
[52:04] Speaker 2: 49ers versus Falcons preview. Should be a good game. I'm
[52:08] Speaker 2: expecting it to be a good game. And I'll be
[52:11] Speaker 2: impressed if the 49ers can come away with the win
[52:13] Speaker 2: just by where they're at, what they've been through. You're 6-0.
[52:16] Speaker 2: You're in the game before your bye week. And this
[52:19] Speaker 2: is a team that badly needs that bye week. You're
[52:22] Speaker 2: probably not going to have your superstar play. Wide receiver
[52:25] Speaker 2: in Mike Evans. But again, we don't want to call that.
[52:27] Speaker 2: That hasn't been– we don't know that yet. It just
[52:30] Speaker 2: seems like things are trending that way. You may have
[52:32] Speaker 2: Nick Bosa. That changes the calculus quite a bit. But again,
[52:36] Speaker 2: it seems like it would be the smarter play to
[52:39] Speaker 2: give him one more week. But yeah, I think we
[52:43] Speaker 2: got it. KP, any closing thoughts? Did we get it all?
[52:45] Speaker 2: Get all your notes?
[52:47] Speaker 1: I will leave with a bold prediction that says the
[52:49] Speaker 1: 49ers passing offense, I don't want to say doesn't miss
[52:52] Speaker 1: a beat, but it's going to– quite a lot of,
[52:56] Speaker 1: we need to get a wide receiver talks after this game.
[53:00] Speaker 2: Good point. Good finish. If you want to hear our
[53:03] Speaker 2: thoughts on where the 49ers should go as a trade deadline.
[53:06] Speaker 2: Now that episode was recorded before Mike Evans, Achilles stuff,
[53:09] Speaker 2: but at the same time, it was still very big.
[53:12] Speaker 2: Just Mike Evans tendency to miss time was still a
[53:15] Speaker 2: part of the conversation. So if you want to go
[53:16] Speaker 2: back and check out our, our thoughts and our suggestions
[53:19] Speaker 2: for the 49ers trade targets, it was only a few
[53:21] Speaker 2: pods ago. So check it out. But, On that note,
[53:23] Speaker 2: I appreciate everybody for hanging out in the chat, being
[53:26] Speaker 2: part of the conversation. Appreciate everybody for listening, whether you're
[53:29] Speaker 2: on YouTube or on the podcast network. If you are
[53:32] Speaker 2: on YouTube, make sure you like the stream. Make sure
[53:35] Speaker 2: you're subscribed. Make sure you pass it along. Do whatever
[53:38] Speaker 2: you got to do. And if you're on the podcast
[53:41] Speaker 2: side of things, if you got a minute, leave us
[53:43] Speaker 2: a five-star review. We'd appreciate it. I think we did everything.
[53:46] Speaker 2: I think we've done it. I'm making sure I haven't
[53:48] Speaker 2: left anything. But otherwise, I'll ramble on. But all right, everybody.
[53:52] Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you. But for
[53:54] Speaker 2: another episode, that's KP. I'm Rob. This is Striking Gold,
[53:59] Speaker 2: and we are signing out.

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