Jan. 6, 2026
49ers vs Eagles Preview: Can a Banged-Up Defense Survive the Wild Card? | We Want Winners
Rod and Garrett break down the San Francisco 49ers' brutal Wild Card path through Philadelphia and the decimated linebacker corps. Can Kyle Shanahan’s squad overcome the injury bug to keep the Super Bowl dream alive?
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WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, it's Rod and double G back here mid week.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We don't usually do mid week shows.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We don't usually do preview shows, but we are back because when we last left,
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[SPEAKER_00]: the fine folks of the audience of the we want winners podcast.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We were unsure who the 49ers were going to play because the Niners played Saturday night against the seahawks and then Sunday and we we figured out it's going to be the Eagles not though necessarily the two we wanted to play but that is the reality and you know what else is kind of a harsh reality
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[SPEAKER_00]: is if the Rams take care of business against Carolina, which I think most people expect to happen, even though Carolina did beat them during the regular season.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But for the Niners to actually get to the NFC title game, they would have to go through the Eagles and then through the Seahawks.
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[SPEAKER_00]: which is a rough, rough, two game matchup there because playing in Philly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I looked, and it looks like it's possible rain.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's gonna rain before the game for sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then to go into Seattle now, the Niners went in the Seattle earlier this year and beat them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But this feels like a slightly different Seattle team.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, Rod, I think when we went off the air on Saturday night,
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[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of hoping and feeling that maybe we could get a little bit of a break when it comes to the way the tournament breaks out, but we did not we got the worst case scenario.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So what are you feeling on this Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon as we talk about this game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: they have been up and down.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And what you hope is that we can kind of catch them, kind of napping or taking us for granted, but when I just start looking at the matchups, it's pretty scary, plus when you,
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[SPEAKER_01]: before we came on.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You alluded to our injury situation.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Um yeah, our linebackers don't look good and that's not a good place to be with the Eagles especially.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's going to be tough sledding.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So Tatum Bethoon is out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's, he heard his growing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So he's out for the game for sure, which means that he can, uh, Kendrick starts at middle linebacker.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then, um, it also looks like Luke Gifford is dinged up, and D Winter is dinged up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, some may go, well, you know, Luke Gifford's not fantastic, but that means that the player beneath him, who is their wallo.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The guy who we barely realizes on the team last week,
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[SPEAKER_00]: That means he made it a lot of reps.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that is the situation.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then Nick Martin was put on injured reserve, and he would have to sit out one more week.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But Kyle Shanahan said, he wasn't even sure if he was still in concussion protocols.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, you know, Kyle wasn't doing his injured reserve homework when they had asked him the question.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's, you know, you get to this long season,
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[SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of teams are like this just dinged up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately for the Niners because of the stakes of Saturday night's game, they could not sit out a lot of guys who may have been dinged up kind of like, you know, what some of these other teams did because Josh Johnson
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[SPEAKER_00]: beat the Eagles because no Jaden Daniels and no Marcus Marriota.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you saw that across the league with with lots of backups playing football.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And but the Niners couldn't afford that neither could the Seahawks by the way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The seed they were both playing for that by week and for the position of the number one seed in the NFC.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to go for it like they did.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And they just came
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[SPEAKER_00]: against the Eagles is the reality, but I think if you have, if you have any sort of, if you believe that the Niners can actually get through this game, it is because of what you said, which is the Eagles haven't really been a serious football team all year long from the perspective of talent and
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[SPEAKER_00]: whatever, you know, just roster and defense, like they should be just decided favorite against 49ers, but there's that Super Bowl hangover thing that people talk about.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Sake Juan Barclay is not the same guy he was last year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Jalen Hertz is not the same guy he was last year, at least during the regular season, we'll see when it comes to the, you know, the playoffs, because this is what they're playing for, but yeah, like I think
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[SPEAKER_00]: If you're nine or seven, you're looking for a little bit of, you know, a light at the end of the tunnel, it is that can the eagles turn it on in the playoffs when they couldn't really get themselves up for the entire regular season.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's um, and it's it's when looking at the matchups.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's weird, because like you said, we really, I do this every week, but we rarely, we never talk pre-game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But look, just looking at the numbers, it's been this way for several weeks.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The obvious matchup for, till they tried to exploit his AJ Brown, we are just, they look
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[SPEAKER_01]: weakness in the run game and while the sick one, Barclay has not had a great year coming off that other year that you would think that's where they would strive to attack us.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as Kyle mentioned last week before last week's game, teams, you know, for some whatever it is not for whatever he said for whatever reason, but we all know teams look at that secondary and they just see food and they're like we're just going to attack these dudes and that's and we they, you know, teams have led us off the hook running the ball obviously Seattle did not do that last week and I think that you it you're the one who hit me to that and I've been thinking about that is how I'm
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think that might have had more to do with them, you know, worrying about Sam Darnal losing the game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, more so than, you know, obviously they had a run advantage, but they clearly went into that game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Not wanting to put the ball in Darnal's hand.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know that, um,
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[SPEAKER_01]: Philadelphia is because, you know, Hertz is very careful with the ball, so I don't know that they would be so inclined.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to be interesting to see from that standpoint.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then from the 9th or standpoint, you know, Fangio and his pre-snap.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, trickery is what's gonna give Brock probes along with their obviously very talented front seven So yeah, we got to keep Brock upright and you know give him some time to try to do something I it's just this is just an awful matchup.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I was really hoping for I was really hoping to go to Chicago
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was the way like this is that it's so crazy how the NFL kind of Fick like that they they've created this way that they can eventize even the most unimportant game of the season for most teams which is this last week of the season and you know, they're stacking certain games on certain days.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The only time it didn't really work
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[SPEAKER_00]: was Carolina in Tampa because that game was on Saturday, Tampa wins, but then you have to wait on Sunday to see who wins the meaningless Falcons at and Saints game, and then
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[SPEAKER_00]: then Tampa's win against Atlanta or against Carolina kind of becomes meaningless and and Carolina back doors their way into the place that was the only one where it didn't work like I wonder if they knew that was the scenario they would have maybe changed schedule a little bit, but like they they made this nine hours and seahawks game like one of the most important games of the year and I think.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In our hindsight, we were like, if that game is important for us, that means we had a good season.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So that you can also take that away from this season.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I was telling Brad, who's on Thompson Clarke, he's a Rams fan.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And we were talking about how, what are the scenarios?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want to ask you now, if you were to rank the NFC playoff teams in, you know, who you think is the best teams one through seven, how would you have ranked them?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Or how would you rank them right now?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it has to be, I would say,
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[SPEAKER_01]: I, I still, I think the, that the Vante Adams injury is, I mean, him being out affected what we saw in the last week, he let the league and in receiving touchdowns.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, I think I'm still, I think Seattle is the team and, and the, and the, and the
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[SPEAKER_00]: But how about you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I think what's amazing about how this playoff is going to shake out is every single team has an Aztrix of some sort because if you believe Seattle's the best team,
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[SPEAKER_00]: The one thing that you're worried about, it really is Donald is about his ability to make a big play when they need it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If you're the Rams, you go, okay, maybe defensively, we are not up to par, but we can score with anybody.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I would put both of those teams at one A and one B and depending on who they play is who I is, is how I would rank them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would put the Eagles at three because I, you know, I think if you are even even the biggest cynic,
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[SPEAKER_00]: at least them having a home game in week one, you go, okay, like that they are the Super Bowl champions for a reason.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I would put the Niners at four and the Bears at five.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then
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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, and then it shakes out that way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the Niners, if they played Chicago this week, I think that's like a 50-50.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's a coin-flip football game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's only that way because in the Niners are still banged up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's only that way because these are the baby bears, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like they have not been in this scenario.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Williams has not been in the game like this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: their defense, uh, Brock Brock feels much more comfortable playing against Chicago than he does against Seattle or Philly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so that that's how I would kind of lay that whole thing out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then, uh, you know, then it's probably Packers and then Panthers, like there was a way for this playoff bracket to shake out where it was a much easier path for the Niners.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately,
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[SPEAKER_00]: The only way that they're probably going to have to get to that title game is through the two hardest teams for them, and that is just the way that things shook out, and it's the way that it happens when you can't win the game that you need to win so that you're in the driver's seat, because what happens is, I believe this is how it works, which is if the Niners do beat the Eagles, and that's that's a giant question, then,
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Rams beat the Panthers, then they re-seed and then the Niners go to Seattle.
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[SPEAKER_00]: If the Panthers were to beat the Rams, the Panthers would go to Seattle and the Niners would shake out the other way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we can look at it from the chalk perspective, that's not always how it's going to break out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But that looks like a like-need, likely,
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[SPEAKER_00]: scenario, but if the Niners had gone to Chicago, and then maybe, um, they get the Rams before Seattle, like that is, that is a whole other thing that that could have happened like that then there, there is a path where the Rams could host the Niners in the NFC title game, but again, the Niners would have to, I mean, imagine.
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[SPEAKER_00]: they win and filly like how how you know with Trent with pretty ricky those guys missing the game prior and then possible injuries coming out of that game and then you got to go play another crazy physical game in Seattle like that that is a that is a tough task and at this point if you're an Irish fan you go well you know you just got to let it fly you just got to see what happens and and try you know this is a one a single game elimination for a reason
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[SPEAKER_00]: But the football fan in me says, man, this may be the hardest, the hardest thing for any team, any team in the playoffs on both sides, the Niners seem to have the hardest path to get to the title game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: One of those things where, you know, sliding doors, we talk about, you talk about the Panthers being around.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You sure wish, maybe the Rams win that game in November
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[SPEAKER_01]: and how that will look, you know, it's hard to be the team twice.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not, it's not like the pastors are going to sneak up on the ramps.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They are very aware that they can go in there and lose because it's happened.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It happened, you know, a month ago, they've already done that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, not, you know, the playoffs, you go in aware, obviously, but they're very aware that they can lose in Charlotte.
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[SPEAKER_01]: just that extra bit of hungry or, you know, whatever the cliche, the sports talk cliche is, um, wary, just more wary going in this week as opposed to maybe, you know, the panthers can, you know, I don't think anybody catches anybody slipping at this point of the season, but yeah, it's going to be, it's a tough road for us to, um,
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[SPEAKER_01]: because I just, even if we were to able somehow to win this game, what I saw on Saturday just has me very weary of us going up to Seattle.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I just don't, I don't know that this team can handle another physical, perform, I mean, a physical, can I, I fully expect this week to be a real physical game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it just it's it's it's a tough ask for for this football team from here on out.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think not now.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There's good.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There is a type of fan.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Who's going to go man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They should have known that they weren't this good.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And now they're going to have a bad draft pick and X Y and Z.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is the entire reason why these guys play.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like they want to win as many football games as possible.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to you know, actually so.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Joan Jennings having the the year that he had, which, you know, I think in in some instances was little disappointing, but in some, you know, he finished off the season fairly well.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's got, it looks a lot better to other teams, the fact that the Niners were as good as they were versus if they were like a five and 12 team.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, like these guys, they don't, they don't
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[SPEAKER_00]: and their life in danger to just be like, yeah, what we're fine tanking so that the team that signs us to this contract for this season gets a better draft pick.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's not how these dudes look at it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm, you know, I'm very happy with the season that they had.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's just unfortunate for us as fans that it shook out in the way that it did with the role of the dice and how the playoffs work.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I looked at the playoff schedule.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So all the the two NFC games in the wildcard round are on a Saturday, the two, two of the three, I should say, and then two of the three, or no, two AFC wildcard round games on Sunday, and then they get the Monday night one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: will know you know how the Rams game and how the Packers game shakes out before the Niners even play and and I don't know if that gives them any sort of like motivation, but if you know that if the Panthers win that game
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Niners are like, oh man, we just got to get through this Philly game, and then we don't have to go to Seattle.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if, I don't know if players look at it that way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think, I don't think the coaching is going to change.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a little bit of inspiration in some way to score board watch.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But at least we will know as fans, you know, how those games shake out before we even take the field on Sunday.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's it's I'm I'm looking forward I don't because part of me thinks that this should be a close game I think that
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's a path for us to win this game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I just hope we don't get overwhelmed.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Quick, cause I could see it going both ways.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I could see it being a close game like that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I say that knowing that in my heart, I really didn't feel like I never really felt like we had a chance to win that game on Saturday.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But it was, you know, points wise, close.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I just hope we're in this game in the fourth quarter that's that's that's my hope is that we can just hang on and get there to where we give Brock a chance to do something special because that will be such a great story for him with his last playoff.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the whole story around his last playoff game is really, I think that would be a, it would be a great story for him to come back and, you know, play well and to very least and to win it, that would be awesome.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think the most important thing for the offense is just for Trent to be back.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I know that he's going to do everything humanly possible to be healthy for that game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But as we saw on Saturday night,
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[SPEAKER_00]: no Trent means that the defense is just looking their lives.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, we can do so many more things that we want to do if that dude is not playing and Austin Pleasant is playing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that is first and foremost.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know the gameism and ship of that if Kyle and John Lynch are going to kind of just make him questionable, all the way up to the snap, the first snap of the game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty ricky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think is important, um, they've played without him a lot this year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, he's not, it's not like if he doesn't play, that they don't have a shot because they've learned how to play without him.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It just really limits what they can do.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and it makes George, you know, a lot more important in the passing game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then if Trent is there, then you're not as worried, uh, where you need George to do as much blocking as he sometimes does.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of like little domino effects relating to Trent.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, you know, I'm sure, you know, CMC is like,
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[SPEAKER_00]: man that he he makes my life so much easier to because there's just so many things that I just I just imagine like the defensive coordinator and the defensive coaches going like okay here all the things we're doing if Trent is not playing and we're not as scared to do them as if he was playing so I think that's the that's the biggest X factor for the
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[SPEAKER_00]: And then on the defensive side, as we mentioned at the top, Slimebacker situation is very scary.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as you say, Juan Barclay in his off-year, he was still averaging 4.1 yards a carry.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He still had 1100 yards.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think they wanted to limit his touches, but he still had 280 carries.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like,
22:24.344 --> 22:31.669
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's not like they just decided that that it was going to be tank bigs be, you know, taken half of the carries.
22:31.709 --> 22:34.438
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not the situation at all, though.
22:34.958 --> 22:45.234
[SPEAKER_00]: Tank had almost six yards of carry when he did take the football, but say quann, you know, I think we'll know very early on what the game plan is.
22:45.294 --> 22:55.650
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, then, then they'll do the the stuff for Jalen kind of, if say quann starts cooking, then Jalen will hold the ball there and decide whether to give it to him or not.
22:55.791 --> 22:57.453
[SPEAKER_00]: And that opens up their passing game.
22:58.254 --> 23:01.860
[SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, I mean,
23:01.840 --> 23:14.396
[SPEAKER_00]: The Niners defense of game plan has got to be like, man, if we can, if we can keep say quann, honest and and unlike on Saturday night, that's probably the best path to victory because they don't rush the passer.
23:15.358 --> 23:29.116
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Jaylin hurts to take some sacks, but a lot of that comes from him wanting to make plays with his legs sometimes and maybe not throw in the ball away when he should, but he's a, he's a, he's a game breaker himself.
23:29.216 --> 23:30.177
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
23:30.157 --> 23:33.504
[SPEAKER_00]: That's uh, the Niners defense is going to have their work cut out for him.
23:33.604 --> 23:44.606
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it goes back to what we said going back several weeks is that the offense is really the the thing that needs to step up because they're going to need to outscore teams.
23:44.866 --> 23:51.299
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't know how you do that in Philly without at least, uh, you know, a good effort by the defense.
23:51.920 --> 23:52.401
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
23:54.035 --> 24:03.307
[SPEAKER_00]: If the defense gives up 30 points here, it may be insurmountable, but if we give up 24 points, then maybe we could win a 27, 24 game.
24:03.728 --> 24:08.834
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think if Jalen is just, you know, it is just cooking.
24:08.934 --> 24:10.036
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be a tough one.
24:10.096 --> 24:19.468
[SPEAKER_00]: But that is my hope is that the defense just, you know, they play the best possible game that they can play on this stage and give the Niners offense fighting chance.
24:20.191 --> 24:29.917
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like you know, like the solace is, you know, he said two weeks ago, you know, we've given up the thought of religion and league and yards given up.
24:29.937 --> 24:36.394
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to give up your eyes, but if we can hold in the field goals, that could be the hope is that they are just able to
24:36.374 --> 24:37.936
[SPEAKER_01]: keep them from scoring.
24:37.996 --> 24:50.315
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, what you were talking about with her, the thing that worries me about him is, once they're in the red zone, you know, his efficiency rushing the ball is a problem.
24:50.715 --> 25:03.394
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, with our linebackers and with our front seven's issues, I think he becomes, you know, once we are in the red zone, he becomes a, a much more viable threat.
25:03.914 --> 25:07.101
[SPEAKER_01]: couple of that with AJ Brown and his physical play.
25:07.121 --> 25:11.572
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I want us to be able to hold in the field goals.
25:11.732 --> 25:17.485
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think that the defense is going to be they're going to have their hands school.
25:18.325 --> 25:29.399
[SPEAKER_00]: The RPO, I remember when we played in the NST title game in Philly and Brock got hurt, the RPO just looked like, this is unstoppable.
25:29.880 --> 25:39.192
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when we beat them in the regular season, I was like, okay, like this defense is actually making him adjust to them a little bit more.
25:39.713 --> 25:42.156
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we're going back again to where,
25:42.136 --> 25:53.651
[SPEAKER_00]: we're going to be at the mercy of what he wants to do and some of this is going to have to be who can make a play these young dbs, you know, that they are sometimes can be risk takers.
25:54.432 --> 26:04.144
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought, you know, even though we know it was Sam Donald and he's a different quarterback than Jalen, there were some moments where I was like, oh,
26:04.293 --> 26:05.655
[SPEAKER_00]: Mustafa's here to play man.
26:05.695 --> 26:25.980
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this
26:26.737 --> 26:35.367
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the idea that, you know, these young DBs, they know that they kind of have to have to grow up in these playoffs or in these big games.
26:36.428 --> 26:40.994
[SPEAKER_00]: There's opportunity there for them to step up and make big plays.
26:41.634 --> 26:50.685
[SPEAKER_00]: And at this point, that is kind of what you have to hope for, knowing the linebacking core is so beat up, knowing that the defensive line
26:50.665 --> 26:54.529
[SPEAKER_00]: is just, you know, generally just getting pushed around by the good offensive lines.
26:54.669 --> 26:59.214
[SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe, you know, maybe there's an opportunity there for somebody in the secondary to make some big plays.
26:59.254 --> 27:03.659
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I know, Jai, your brown is dinged up a little bit.
27:03.699 --> 27:08.904
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see he was in a secondary where we almost got no interceptions.
27:08.924 --> 27:12.348
[SPEAKER_00]: He's maybe the best playmaker we have back there.
27:12.428 --> 27:19.035
[SPEAKER_00]: But, yeah, there's, you know, there's some things that also, if you're a long-time 49ers fan.
27:20.517 --> 27:31.192
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a feeling we're going to look at this game and go, okay, we can actually make some decisions about next year's team or create some excitement about next year's team.
27:31.413 --> 27:36.780
[SPEAKER_00]: If up in Stout makes a couple of big plays, you're like, okay, like he's going to be in the mix.
27:36.800 --> 27:42.048
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, because that secondary is very young and you want to see them step up.
27:42.108 --> 27:50.440
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is not the 1981 secondary, but you had mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about some of our favorite defenses,
27:50.420 --> 27:52.503
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no Ronnie lot on the defense for sure.
27:52.543 --> 28:01.514
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a first round pick at a USC like very highly touted, but that 81 team had a very young secondary.
28:02.015 --> 28:06.060
[SPEAKER_00]: And that secondary like showed out in the playoffs.
28:06.140 --> 28:17.254
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was how they made their name error great in Dwight Hicks and and lot in Carlton, Williamson and those guys now that would be a great time for these guys to shine.
28:17.875 --> 28:26.072
[SPEAKER_00]: But Niners lore says that, you know, if you have a good team, your players make themselves known in the playoffs.
28:26.092 --> 28:28.638
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be kind of an optimistic viewpoint.
28:29.680 --> 28:36.795
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Niners can come away with victory, I do think some of it would be because somebody in the secondary steps up and make some plays.
28:38.632 --> 28:54.463
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, the revisited in the hotlick, that would be awesome, that's one of my favorite, the white Hicks in the hotlick, that was the one of my favorite sports nicknames, but yeah, that would be great if if for nothing else, if
28:54.781 --> 29:05.618
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we come away with a much better feeling about our young players, you know, in a, um, even in a defeat, if we show well.
29:06.319 --> 29:16.975
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I mean, and I guess we could, you could to a certain extent, we can already say that we, this, this has been, I'm not ready to do a postmortem quite, but.
29:18.136 --> 29:38.910
[SPEAKER_01]: On the fact that, again, I rather than being disappointed, the fact that we were in a game in week 18, that if it goes the other way, you know, we could have had the number one scene and home games throughout the playoffs is a remarkable turn of events for this team.
29:39.131 --> 29:40.633
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that,
29:41.710 --> 29:54.994
[SPEAKER_01]: they found something and you know guys like West and Collins and Samo seems to be at the very least all three of those guys are rotation players.
29:55.413 --> 30:02.484
[SPEAKER_01]: solid and, you know, Kyle seemed to think that Collins has much more upside than that.
30:03.085 --> 30:12.079
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said the same thing about Williams, but we have been able to see the progression of our for Collins because he's actually playing.
30:12.199 --> 30:15.003
[SPEAKER_01]: So that has been a, it's been good for us in that way.
30:15.023 --> 30:21.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, like I've said at the trade deadline, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
30:22.649 --> 30:51.762
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the way this team has to go rather than trying to pick up a, you know, Leonard Floyd or, you know, somebody who got cut at, you know, the trade deadline or whatever and giving those guys those kind of reps just see what you got with these young guys, see what you got with green and, um, stout and the like and so you've got a head start on next year
30:52.805 --> 30:55.211
[SPEAKER_01]: preagency and draft when that comes up.
30:55.231 --> 31:06.797
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I think I think you've earned a lot about this team this season and hopefully they can go in there and and fight and make this a game.
31:07.368 --> 31:08.529
[SPEAKER_00]: this week.
31:08.549 --> 31:17.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, look, you know, we are very realistic and we've been realistic all season long, and this has been so much more of a fun season than last year.
31:17.500 --> 31:18.200
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
31:18.801 --> 31:22.826
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're not, you know, we're not putting the L in the box score quite yet.
31:23.707 --> 31:30.895
[SPEAKER_00]: The odds say that this is going to be a really hard game and probably the worst of the matchups for the Niners, but
31:30.875 --> 31:41.118
[SPEAKER_00]: Dave proven all season long that hey like they they are are are playing above above what we have expected.
31:41.218 --> 31:44.125
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think they're going to I think they're going to
31:44.932 --> 32:13.572
[SPEAKER_00]: If I know anything about kind of how Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch think about these things, just go back to when there's the 3rd and 17 play and Seattle kind of did the give up run play and then you see John Lynch in the booth and he's like doing like the McColley Culkin home alone face because he couldn't believe that they gave up 19 yards on that play.
32:13.720 --> 32:27.527
[SPEAKER_00]: They're lifers, right, that they, if anything, they want to prove that this football team is not the same football team that we saw on Saturday night and they're going to, you know, so I think the Niners are going to come out.
32:28.520 --> 32:31.104
[SPEAKER_00]: aggressive and they're going to come out and they're going to fight.
32:31.365 --> 32:36.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, do they have the talent necessarily to stack up and go out and win one in Philly.
32:37.655 --> 32:38.417
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see.
32:38.477 --> 32:49.195
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if that happens, I'm going to be the most jazz person, you know, Rod and I will come back here on, you know, Sunday evening and.
32:49.175 --> 32:55.245
[SPEAKER_00]: and say, yeah, man, they, they balled out in our pessimism was probably a little strong.
32:56.527 --> 33:07.525
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, sometimes when you're a fan, your pessimism overcomes your optimism, because you don't want to feel like you fell for the banana and the tailpipe, right?
33:07.566 --> 33:13.255
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I know there are some nine or fans who are like, we got this game, we got this game, we're going to go into Philly, we're going to win.
33:13.636 --> 33:15.098
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they don't,
33:15.078 --> 33:19.437
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they're going to feel so sad and frustrated because they had such high expectations.
33:19.879 --> 33:24.700
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little bit of a lower my expectations kind of fan with all of my teams.
33:25.490 --> 33:32.157
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, when they do do it, if they do win, if they can pull this game out, I'm going to be just as fired up as anybody.
33:32.378 --> 33:37.183
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd be really great to say, hey, yeah, I missed on this one.
33:37.263 --> 33:39.466
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope that that actually have.
33:39.486 --> 33:42.649
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope we come in on Sunday and go, you know what?
33:43.470 --> 33:45.753
[SPEAKER_00]: We had this game wrong, and here's why.
33:46.033 --> 33:48.696
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's my hope for Sunday after the game.
33:49.435 --> 33:50.236
[SPEAKER_00]: absolutely.
33:50.696 --> 33:58.886
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, do you have any predictions on what you think is going to happen in this tournament on both ends?
33:58.906 --> 34:17.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you were, you are a betting man, what would be your superbowl, and we can eliminate the Niners out of this thing, if not the Niners, what do you think the
34:21.329 --> 34:36.993
[SPEAKER_01]: My prediction is, and this is more so I'm thinking rams and Texans is my prediction, rams Texans is my prediction.
34:37.514 --> 34:48.130
[SPEAKER_01]: See, I'm stuck between the NFC team is the one that, I basically between the rams and the sea hawks.
34:49.055 --> 34:49.717
[SPEAKER_01]: there.
34:50.439 --> 34:54.070
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the rounds are just a little bit more explosive offensively.
34:54.411 --> 35:00.769
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to go with that and then I just think that they found that the, you know, the strap looks good.
35:01.087 --> 35:12.123
[SPEAKER_01]: coming back and they found something with that little young back Jordan there and they don't with that defense they don't really need that much offensively.
35:12.743 --> 35:16.429
[SPEAKER_01]: Um to yeah I just I really like that team.
35:17.770 --> 35:19.593
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to make go let's be real.
35:19.873 --> 35:26.723
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah you know I look at the other side and every single
35:27.108 --> 35:35.983
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I agree with you, like if I was to say who's the most complete team in football left, I would say the Rams would, would edge it out for me.
35:36.003 --> 35:41.473
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have Philly next though you don't know how they're going to get up for this stuff.
35:41.513 --> 35:42.475
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'd have Seattle.
35:42.515 --> 35:49.006
[SPEAKER_00]: The only reason I'd put Seattle third is just because of, of Donald, because the QB, yeah, so important during the playoffs.
35:49.587 --> 35:51.310
[SPEAKER_00]: But then if I look and I go, man,
35:52.133 --> 36:06.008
[SPEAKER_00]: Denver is the Seattle of the AFC does anybody believe that Oh, Nick's is going to get it done and then if you look at who's the best player like who's the player that you
36:06.899 --> 36:10.364
[SPEAKER_00]: that you would kind of look at it to go on fire.
36:10.945 --> 36:27.349
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe it's Josh Allen, but if you watch Buffalo play all year long, they were kind of like Philly in that they were often just as disappointing as they were good, nobody believes in Jacksonville.
36:27.990 --> 36:31.575
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, can you imagine people picking Jacksonville to go to the Super Bowl?
36:32.236 --> 36:35.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that is wild and they may be,
36:36.751 --> 36:43.213
[SPEAKER_00]: one of the best teams on that side, but are you ever going to pick that quarterback to beat another good quarterback?
36:43.815 --> 36:45.480
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just can't.
36:45.982 --> 36:47.487
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I know.
36:47.973 --> 36:58.655
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm kind of picking at 49er fast now, but when you watch that Buffalo team, I just they are they are a BA away from being a really good football team.
36:58.936 --> 37:08.395
[SPEAKER_01]: He just really doesn't secure is fine, but Josh Allen needs an X he needs a number one receiver for them to be.
37:08.375 --> 37:12.622
[SPEAKER_01]: Seriously, and again, it's one of those things where I you know, it's crazy as it sounds.
37:12.962 --> 37:15.586
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Sean McDermott might be coaching for his job.
37:15.627 --> 37:17.950
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, because how long how many times?
37:18.090 --> 37:18.992
[SPEAKER_01]: Because now it's open.
37:19.052 --> 37:20.414
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no my home there.
37:20.454 --> 37:23.239
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no tomorrow there.
37:23.299 --> 37:25.222
[SPEAKER_01]: This is it.
37:25.342 --> 37:32.273
[SPEAKER_01]: It's laid out for Josh Allen, but I just, you know, I don't
37:32.860 --> 37:39.192
[SPEAKER_01]: They just seem like a really unsurious team to me, but if you were to tell me
37:39.830 --> 37:48.440
[SPEAKER_01]: The Josh Allen goes on a heater and puts him on his back and care he is the kind of player that absolutely can win three games in a row by itself.
37:49.021 --> 37:52.245
[SPEAKER_01]: I would not, I can't, me Superman.
37:52.285 --> 38:04.740
[SPEAKER_01]: He's literally one of the best players in the league, but that defenses suspect they don't really, you know, they really just don't have the weapons that they have put around him are just
38:05.615 --> 38:07.178
[SPEAKER_01]: It's problematic.
38:07.319 --> 38:11.307
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that's why I come and come down to you.
38:11.367 --> 38:15.476
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you say, are we, are you really going to pick Bonix to win?
38:15.716 --> 38:17.901
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I, I have to see you.
38:17.921 --> 38:20.306
[SPEAKER_00]: I will have to see you.
38:20.346 --> 38:23.573
[SPEAKER_00]: So, somebody is going to come out of,
38:23.553 --> 38:29.184
[SPEAKER_00]: that side of the bracket as they're going to earn their stripes.
38:30.005 --> 38:34.874
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, no chiefs, no ravens.
38:35.335 --> 38:44.132
[SPEAKER_00]: So they may earn their stripes without having to go through what people would consider to be the best teams.
38:44.392 --> 38:44.953
[SPEAKER_00]: But the
38:44.933 --> 38:53.245
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, my home's going to be out for the whole year next year possibly with his injury, who knows when he's going to be able to come back.
38:53.305 --> 38:57.972
[SPEAKER_00]: So it might be like two years before they get one last shot to get in there.
38:57.992 --> 39:03.280
[SPEAKER_00]: So the the F C is so interesting, but at the same time, you look at the quarterbacks and you're like,
39:03.985 --> 39:09.195
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I trust anybody to go out there other than Josh Allen.
39:09.236 --> 39:12.462
[SPEAKER_00]: So it'll be, it'll be, it'll be, that that side's going to be really fun.
39:13.023 --> 39:22.382
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the NFC is just going to be a battle of attrition who lasts, who's the team that's left standing, they're if they are not beat up.
39:22.362 --> 39:23.784
[SPEAKER_00]: buy that Super Bowl game.
39:24.845 --> 39:28.671
[SPEAKER_00]: The best team left, it might be the best team in football.
39:28.731 --> 39:31.234
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what makes this thing so interesting.
39:31.314 --> 39:31.575
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
39:31.995 --> 39:38.304
[SPEAKER_00]: Rod now will be back after Niners and Niners and Eagles on Sunday.
39:38.805 --> 39:40.127
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll talk about all of it.
39:40.227 --> 39:44.072
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully we'll have some good things to say about that game.
39:44.413 --> 39:44.673
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
39:44.893 --> 39:48.218
[SPEAKER_00]: For Rod, I am double GC when we see you piece out.
00:10.105 --> 00:14.073
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, it's Rod and double G back here mid week.
00:14.253 --> 00:16.317
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't usually do mid week shows.
00:16.337 --> 00:22.950
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't usually do preview shows, but we are back because when we last left,
00:23.015 --> 00:26.999
[SPEAKER_00]: the fine folks of the audience of the we want winners podcast.
00:27.480 --> 00:49.123
[SPEAKER_00]: We were unsure who the 49ers were going to play because the Niners played Saturday night against the seahawks and then Sunday and we we figured out it's going to be the Eagles not though necessarily the two we wanted to play but that is the reality and you know what else is kind of a harsh reality
00:49.103 --> 00:56.999
[SPEAKER_00]: is if the Rams take care of business against Carolina, which I think most people expect to happen, even though Carolina did beat them during the regular season.
00:57.600 --> 01:06.859
[SPEAKER_00]: But for the Niners to actually get to the NFC title game, they would have to go through the Eagles and then through the Seahawks.
01:06.957 --> 01:14.244
[SPEAKER_00]: which is a rough, rough, two game matchup there because playing in Philly.
01:14.264 --> 01:17.687
[SPEAKER_00]: And I looked, and it looks like it's possible rain.
01:17.727 --> 01:20.370
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's gonna rain before the game for sure.
01:20.410 --> 01:25.955
[SPEAKER_00]: And then to go into Seattle now, the Niners went in the Seattle earlier this year and beat them.
01:26.035 --> 01:28.858
[SPEAKER_00]: But this feels like a slightly different Seattle team.
01:28.918 --> 01:35.985
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Rod, I think when we went off the air on Saturday night,
01:36.556 --> 01:45.808
[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of hoping and feeling that maybe we could get a little bit of a break when it comes to the way the tournament breaks out, but we did not we got the worst case scenario.
01:45.848 --> 02:01.888
[SPEAKER_01]: So what are you feeling on this Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon as we talk about this game.
02:02.662 --> 02:04.265
[SPEAKER_01]: they have been up and down.
02:04.325 --> 02:22.122
[SPEAKER_01]: And what you hope is that we can kind of catch them, kind of napping or taking us for granted, but when I just start looking at the matchups, it's pretty scary, plus when you,
02:23.030 --> 02:24.011
[SPEAKER_01]: before we came on.
02:24.051 --> 02:26.233
[SPEAKER_01]: You alluded to our injury situation.
02:26.254 --> 02:33.601
[SPEAKER_01]: Um yeah, our linebackers don't look good and that's not a good place to be with the Eagles especially.
02:34.022 --> 02:36.685
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's going to be tough sledding.
02:37.486 --> 02:39.448
[SPEAKER_00]: So Tatum Bethoon is out.
02:39.908 --> 02:41.490
[SPEAKER_00]: He's, he heard his growing.
02:41.530 --> 02:48.818
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's out for the game for sure, which means that he can, uh, Kendrick starts at middle linebacker.
02:48.798 --> 02:57.814
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, um, it also looks like Luke Gifford is dinged up, and D Winter is dinged up.
02:58.856 --> 03:08.513
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, some may go, well, you know, Luke Gifford's not fantastic, but that means that the player beneath him, who is their wallo.
03:08.634 --> 03:12.240
[SPEAKER_00]: The guy who we barely realizes on the team last week,
03:12.642 --> 03:15.245
[SPEAKER_00]: That means he made it a lot of reps.
03:15.946 --> 03:17.607
[SPEAKER_00]: So that is the situation.
03:17.647 --> 03:24.675
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Nick Martin was put on injured reserve, and he would have to sit out one more week.
03:24.795 --> 03:29.921
[SPEAKER_00]: But Kyle Shanahan said, he wasn't even sure if he was still in concussion protocols.
03:29.961 --> 03:37.389
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, you know, Kyle wasn't doing his injured reserve homework when they had asked him the question.
03:37.449 --> 03:42.514
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's, you know, you get to this long season,
03:42.494 --> 03:45.438
[SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of teams are like this just dinged up.
03:46.419 --> 04:00.739
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately for the Niners because of the stakes of Saturday night's game, they could not sit out a lot of guys who may have been dinged up kind of like, you know, what some of these other teams did because Josh Johnson
04:00.719 --> 04:05.283
[SPEAKER_00]: beat the Eagles because no Jaden Daniels and no Marcus Marriota.
04:05.784 --> 04:10.688
[SPEAKER_00]: And you saw that across the league with with lots of backups playing football.
04:11.188 --> 04:15.172
[SPEAKER_00]: And but the Niners couldn't afford that neither could the Seahawks by the way.
04:15.352 --> 04:22.218
[SPEAKER_00]: The seed they were both playing for that by week and for the position of the number one seed in the NFC.
04:22.358 --> 04:24.500
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to go for it like they did.
04:24.841 --> 04:30.726
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just came
04:30.706 --> 04:54.587
[SPEAKER_00]: against the Eagles is the reality, but I think if you have, if you have any sort of, if you believe that the Niners can actually get through this game, it is because of what you said, which is the Eagles haven't really been a serious football team all year long from the perspective of talent and
04:54.652 --> 05:06.823
[SPEAKER_00]: whatever, you know, just roster and defense, like they should be just decided favorite against 49ers, but there's that Super Bowl hangover thing that people talk about.
05:07.183 --> 05:10.006
[SPEAKER_00]: Sake Juan Barclay is not the same guy he was last year.
05:10.446 --> 05:23.798
[SPEAKER_00]: Jalen Hertz is not the same guy he was last year, at least during the regular season, we'll see when it comes to the, you know, the playoffs, because this is what they're playing for, but yeah, like I think
05:23.778 --> 05:38.284
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're nine or seven, you're looking for a little bit of, you know, a light at the end of the tunnel, it is that can the eagles turn it on in the playoffs when they couldn't really get themselves up for the entire regular season.
05:39.646 --> 05:43.693
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's um, and it's it's when looking at the matchups.
05:44.602 --> 05:50.848
[SPEAKER_01]: It's weird, because like you said, we really, I do this every week, but we rarely, we never talk pre-game.
05:51.389 --> 05:55.192
[SPEAKER_01]: But look, just looking at the numbers, it's been this way for several weeks.
05:55.312 --> 06:13.410
[SPEAKER_01]: The obvious matchup for, till they tried to exploit his AJ Brown, we are just, they look
06:14.082 --> 06:29.256
[SPEAKER_01]: weakness in the run game and while the sick one, Barclay has not had a great year coming off that other year that you would think that's where they would strive to attack us.
06:29.658 --> 06:58.821
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as Kyle mentioned last week before last week's game, teams, you know, for some whatever it is not for whatever he said for whatever reason, but we all know teams look at that secondary and they just see food and they're like we're just going to attack these dudes and that's and we they, you know, teams have led us off the hook running the ball obviously Seattle did not do that last week and I think that you it you're the one who hit me to that and I've been thinking about that is how I'm
06:58.801 --> 07:05.110
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that might have had more to do with them, you know, worrying about Sam Darnal losing the game.
07:05.271 --> 07:12.642
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, more so than, you know, obviously they had a run advantage, but they clearly went into that game.
07:12.682 --> 07:16.107
[SPEAKER_01]: Not wanting to put the ball in Darnal's hand.
07:16.608 --> 07:18.210
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know that, um,
07:18.933 --> 07:27.972
[SPEAKER_01]: Philadelphia is because, you know, Hertz is very careful with the ball, so I don't know that they would be so inclined.
07:28.012 --> 07:31.379
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to be interesting to see from that standpoint.
07:31.780 --> 07:37.853
[SPEAKER_01]: And then from the 9th or standpoint, you know, Fangio and his pre-snap.
07:38.153 --> 07:59.115
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, trickery is what's gonna give Brock probes along with their obviously very talented front seven So yeah, we got to keep Brock upright and you know give him some time to try to do something I it's just this is just an awful matchup.
07:59.255 --> 08:03.199
[SPEAKER_01]: I was really hoping for I was really hoping to go to Chicago
08:03.179 --> 08:29.374
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was the way like this is that it's so crazy how the NFL kind of Fick like that they they've created this way that they can eventize even the most unimportant game of the season for most teams which is this last week of the season and you know, they're stacking certain games on certain days.
08:30.215 --> 08:32.899
[SPEAKER_00]: The only time it didn't really work
08:32.947 --> 08:49.167
[SPEAKER_00]: was Carolina in Tampa because that game was on Saturday, Tampa wins, but then you have to wait on Sunday to see who wins the meaningless Falcons at and Saints game, and then
08:49.147 --> 09:11.425
[SPEAKER_00]: then Tampa's win against Atlanta or against Carolina kind of becomes meaningless and and Carolina back doors their way into the place that was the only one where it didn't work like I wonder if they knew that was the scenario they would have maybe changed schedule a little bit, but like they they made this nine hours and seahawks game like one of the most important games of the year and I think.
09:12.383 --> 09:18.473
[SPEAKER_00]: In our hindsight, we were like, if that game is important for us, that means we had a good season.
09:18.553 --> 09:21.257
[SPEAKER_00]: So that you can also take that away from this season.
09:22.459 --> 09:30.291
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I was telling Brad, who's on Thompson Clarke, he's a Rams fan.
09:30.271 --> 09:33.636
[SPEAKER_00]: And we were talking about how, what are the scenarios?
09:33.676 --> 09:45.531
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I want to ask you now, if you were to rank the NFC playoff teams in, you know, who you think is the best teams one through seven, how would you have ranked them?
09:46.132 --> 09:49.417
[SPEAKER_00]: Or how would you rank them right now?
09:50.919 --> 09:56.346
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it has to be, I would say,
09:57.102 --> 10:09.214
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I still, I think the, that the Vante Adams injury is, I mean, him being out affected what we saw in the last week, he let the league and in receiving touchdowns.
10:10.315 --> 10:23.447
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I think I'm still, I think Seattle is the team and, and the, and the, and the
10:23.866 --> 10:24.707
[SPEAKER_00]: But how about you?
10:25.488 --> 10:45.317
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think what's amazing about how this playoff is going to shake out is every single team has an Aztrix of some sort because if you believe Seattle's the best team,
10:47.305 --> 10:56.657
[SPEAKER_00]: The one thing that you're worried about, it really is Donald is about his ability to make a big play when they need it.
10:57.110 --> 11:05.422
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're the Rams, you go, okay, maybe defensively, we are not up to par, but we can score with anybody.
11:06.263 --> 11:16.157
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would put both of those teams at one A and one B and depending on who they play is who I is, is how I would rank them.
11:17.058 --> 11:25.210
[SPEAKER_00]: I would put the Eagles at three because I, you know, I think if you are even even the biggest cynic,
11:25.747 --> 11:31.763
[SPEAKER_00]: at least them having a home game in week one, you go, okay, like that they are the Super Bowl champions for a reason.
11:32.586 --> 11:36.175
[SPEAKER_00]: I would put the Niners at four and the Bears at five.
11:37.258 --> 11:39.705
[SPEAKER_00]: And then
11:40.343 --> 11:42.426
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, and then it shakes out that way.
11:43.447 --> 11:49.937
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the Niners, if they played Chicago this week, I think that's like a 50-50.
11:49.957 --> 11:51.319
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a coin-flip football game.
11:51.859 --> 11:54.984
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's only that way because in the Niners are still banged up.
11:55.244 --> 11:58.769
[SPEAKER_00]: It's only that way because these are the baby bears, right?
11:58.829 --> 12:01.413
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they have not been in this scenario.
12:01.433 --> 12:04.157
[SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Williams has not been in the game like this.
12:04.137 --> 12:10.883
[SPEAKER_00]: their defense, uh, Brock Brock feels much more comfortable playing against Chicago than he does against Seattle or Philly.
12:11.684 --> 12:14.967
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so that that's how I would kind of lay that whole thing out.
12:15.448 --> 12:31.563
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, uh, you know, then it's probably Packers and then Panthers, like there was a way for this playoff bracket to shake out where it was a much easier path for the Niners.
12:32.464 --> 12:33.925
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately,
12:34.343 --> 12:59.946
[SPEAKER_00]: The only way that they're probably going to have to get to that title game is through the two hardest teams for them, and that is just the way that things shook out, and it's the way that it happens when you can't win the game that you need to win so that you're in the driver's seat, because what happens is, I believe this is how it works, which is if the Niners do beat the Eagles, and that's that's a giant question, then,
13:00.483 --> 13:05.930
[SPEAKER_00]: The Rams beat the Panthers, then they re-seed and then the Niners go to Seattle.
13:06.391 --> 13:12.379
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Panthers were to beat the Rams, the Panthers would go to Seattle and the Niners would shake out the other way.
13:14.041 --> 13:19.909
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we can look at it from the chalk perspective, that's not always how it's going to break out.
13:20.009 --> 13:22.913
[SPEAKER_00]: But that looks like a like-need, likely,
13:22.893 --> 13:45.087
[SPEAKER_00]: scenario, but if the Niners had gone to Chicago, and then maybe, um, they get the Rams before Seattle, like that is, that is a whole other thing that that could have happened like that then there, there is a path where the Rams could host the Niners in the NFC title game, but again, the Niners would have to, I mean, imagine.
13:45.488 --> 14:13.285
[SPEAKER_00]: they win and filly like how how you know with Trent with pretty ricky those guys missing the game prior and then possible injuries coming out of that game and then you got to go play another crazy physical game in Seattle like that that is a that is a tough task and at this point if you're an Irish fan you go well you know you just got to let it fly you just got to see what happens and and try you know this is a one a single game elimination for a reason
14:14.176 --> 14:29.932
[SPEAKER_00]: But the football fan in me says, man, this may be the hardest, the hardest thing for any team, any team in the playoffs on both sides, the Niners seem to have the hardest path to get to the title game.
14:31.674 --> 14:37.961
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those things where, you know, sliding doors, we talk about, you talk about the Panthers being around.
14:38.001 --> 14:43.947
[SPEAKER_01]: You sure wish, maybe the Rams win that game in November
14:44.433 --> 14:47.858
[SPEAKER_01]: and how that will look, you know, it's hard to be the team twice.
14:48.339 --> 14:51.483
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's not, it's not like the pastors are going to sneak up on the ramps.
14:51.523 --> 14:57.091
[SPEAKER_01]: They are very aware that they can go in there and lose because it's happened.
14:57.111 --> 15:00.716
[SPEAKER_01]: It happened, you know, a month ago, they've already done that.
15:00.916 --> 15:14.035
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, not, you know, the playoffs, you go in aware, obviously, but they're very aware that they can lose in Charlotte.
15:14.960 --> 15:42.165
[SPEAKER_01]: just that extra bit of hungry or, you know, whatever the cliche, the sports talk cliche is, um, wary, just more wary going in this week as opposed to maybe, you know, the panthers can, you know, I don't think anybody catches anybody slipping at this point of the season, but yeah, it's going to be, it's a tough road for us to, um,
15:42.972 --> 15:56.771
[SPEAKER_01]: because I just, even if we were to able somehow to win this game, what I saw on Saturday just has me very weary of us going up to Seattle.
15:57.592 --> 16:12.152
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just don't, I don't know that this team can handle another physical, perform, I mean, a physical, can I, I fully expect this week to be a real physical game.
16:12.487 --> 16:19.894
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it just it's it's it's a tough ask for for this football team from here on out.
16:20.014 --> 16:20.515
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly.
16:20.595 --> 16:22.096
[SPEAKER_01]: I think not now.
16:22.156 --> 16:22.857
[SPEAKER_00]: There's good.
16:23.077 --> 16:24.499
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a type of fan.
16:25.019 --> 16:26.140
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's going to go man.
16:26.200 --> 16:28.843
[SPEAKER_00]: They should have known that they weren't this good.
16:29.263 --> 16:31.746
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they're going to have a bad draft pick and X Y and Z.
16:32.467 --> 16:35.209
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the entire reason why these guys play.
16:35.229 --> 16:40.054
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they want to win as many football games as possible.
16:40.094 --> 16:42.156
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to you know, actually so.
16:42.136 --> 16:52.753
[SPEAKER_00]: Joan Jennings having the the year that he had, which, you know, I think in in some instances was little disappointing, but in some, you know, he finished off the season fairly well.
16:53.534 --> 17:03.210
[SPEAKER_00]: It's got, it looks a lot better to other teams, the fact that the Niners were as good as they were versus if they were like a five and 12 team.
17:03.250 --> 17:07.857
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, like these guys, they don't, they don't
17:07.837 --> 17:17.668
[SPEAKER_00]: and their life in danger to just be like, yeah, what we're fine tanking so that the team that signs us to this contract for this season gets a better draft pick.
17:17.688 --> 17:19.910
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's not how these dudes look at it.
17:19.970 --> 17:23.774
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm, you know, I'm very happy with the season that they had.
17:23.834 --> 17:32.003
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just unfortunate for us as fans that it shook out in the way that it did with the role of the dice and how the playoffs work.
17:32.123 --> 17:35.667
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I looked at the playoff schedule.
17:35.647 --> 18:00.608
[SPEAKER_00]: So all the the two NFC games in the wildcard round are on a Saturday, the two, two of the three, I should say, and then two of the three, or no, two AFC wildcard round games on Sunday, and then they get the Monday night one.
18:00.588 --> 18:19.069
[SPEAKER_00]: will know you know how the Rams game and how the Packers game shakes out before the Niners even play and and I don't know if that gives them any sort of like motivation, but if you know that if the Panthers win that game
18:19.673 --> 18:25.903
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the Niners are like, oh man, we just got to get through this Philly game, and then we don't have to go to Seattle.
18:26.443 --> 18:30.209
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know if, I don't know if players look at it that way.
18:30.249 --> 18:32.593
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think, I don't think the coaching is going to change.
18:33.174 --> 18:37.140
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a little bit of inspiration in some way to score board watch.
18:37.701 --> 18:44.031
[SPEAKER_00]: But at least we will know as fans, you know, how those games shake out before we even take the field on Sunday.
18:44.992 --> 18:48.077
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
18:49.340 --> 18:58.708
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's it's I'm I'm looking forward I don't because part of me thinks that this should be a close game I think that
18:59.515 --> 19:02.097
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a path for us to win this game.
19:02.338 --> 19:04.139
[SPEAKER_01]: I just hope we don't get overwhelmed.
19:06.021 --> 19:08.923
[SPEAKER_01]: Quick, cause I could see it going both ways.
19:08.983 --> 19:11.526
[SPEAKER_01]: I could see it being a close game like that.
19:11.686 --> 19:22.836
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say that knowing that in my heart, I really didn't feel like I never really felt like we had a chance to win that game on Saturday.
19:23.196 --> 19:27.700
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was, you know, points wise, close.
19:28.169 --> 19:46.937
[SPEAKER_01]: I just hope we're in this game in the fourth quarter that's that's that's my hope is that we can just hang on and get there to where we give Brock a chance to do something special because that will be such a great story for him with his last playoff.
19:47.761 --> 20:03.728
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the whole story around his last playoff game is really, I think that would be a, it would be a great story for him to come back and, you know, play well and to very least and to win it, that would be awesome.
20:04.197 --> 20:09.908
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think the most important thing for the offense is just for Trent to be back.
20:10.529 --> 20:15.599
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that he's going to do everything humanly possible to be healthy for that game.
20:15.659 --> 20:19.827
[SPEAKER_00]: But as we saw on Saturday night,
20:20.583 --> 20:23.846
[SPEAKER_00]: no Trent means that the defense is just looking their lives.
20:24.207 --> 20:31.814
[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, we can do so many more things that we want to do if that dude is not playing and Austin Pleasant is playing.
20:32.275 --> 20:34.417
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that is first and foremost.
20:34.817 --> 20:47.670
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know the gameism and ship of that if Kyle and John Lynch are going to kind of just make him questionable, all the way up to the snap, the first snap of the game.
20:47.650 --> 20:48.632
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty ricky.
20:48.672 --> 20:54.601
[SPEAKER_00]: I think is important, um, they've played without him a lot this year.
20:54.661 --> 21:03.254
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, he's not, it's not like if he doesn't play, that they don't have a shot because they've learned how to play without him.
21:03.315 --> 21:06.840
[SPEAKER_00]: It just really limits what they can do.
21:06.820 --> 21:11.368
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and it makes George, you know, a lot more important in the passing game.
21:11.729 --> 21:21.025
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if Trent is there, then you're not as worried, uh, where you need George to do as much blocking as he sometimes does.
21:21.106 --> 21:26.115
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of like little domino effects relating to Trent.
21:26.135 --> 21:30.803
[SPEAKER_00]: And, uh, you know, I'm sure, you know, CMC is like,
21:30.985 --> 21:57.330
[SPEAKER_00]: man that he he makes my life so much easier to because there's just so many things that I just I just imagine like the defensive coordinator and the defensive coaches going like okay here all the things we're doing if Trent is not playing and we're not as scared to do them as if he was playing so I think that's the that's the biggest X factor for the
21:58.863 --> 22:07.176
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on the defensive side, as we mentioned at the top, Slimebacker situation is very scary.
22:07.216 --> 22:13.947
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as you say, Juan Barclay in his off-year, he was still averaging 4.1 yards a carry.
22:13.967 --> 22:15.510
[SPEAKER_00]: He still had 1100 yards.
22:15.630 --> 22:22.962
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they wanted to limit his touches, but he still had 280 carries.
22:23.042 --> 22:24.364
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like,
22:24.344 --> 22:31.669
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's not like they just decided that that it was going to be tank bigs be, you know, taken half of the carries.
22:31.709 --> 22:34.438
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not the situation at all, though.
22:34.958 --> 22:45.234
[SPEAKER_00]: Tank had almost six yards of carry when he did take the football, but say quann, you know, I think we'll know very early on what the game plan is.
22:45.294 --> 22:55.650
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, then, then they'll do the the stuff for Jalen kind of, if say quann starts cooking, then Jalen will hold the ball there and decide whether to give it to him or not.
22:55.791 --> 22:57.453
[SPEAKER_00]: And that opens up their passing game.
22:58.254 --> 23:01.860
[SPEAKER_00]: And so yeah, I mean,
23:01.840 --> 23:14.396
[SPEAKER_00]: The Niners defense of game plan has got to be like, man, if we can, if we can keep say quann, honest and and unlike on Saturday night, that's probably the best path to victory because they don't rush the passer.
23:15.358 --> 23:29.116
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Jaylin hurts to take some sacks, but a lot of that comes from him wanting to make plays with his legs sometimes and maybe not throw in the ball away when he should, but he's a, he's a, he's a game breaker himself.
23:29.216 --> 23:30.177
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
23:30.157 --> 23:33.504
[SPEAKER_00]: That's uh, the Niners defense is going to have their work cut out for him.
23:33.604 --> 23:44.606
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it goes back to what we said going back several weeks is that the offense is really the the thing that needs to step up because they're going to need to outscore teams.
23:44.866 --> 23:51.299
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't know how you do that in Philly without at least, uh, you know, a good effort by the defense.
23:51.920 --> 23:52.401
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
23:54.035 --> 24:03.307
[SPEAKER_00]: If the defense gives up 30 points here, it may be insurmountable, but if we give up 24 points, then maybe we could win a 27, 24 game.
24:03.728 --> 24:08.834
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think if Jalen is just, you know, it is just cooking.
24:08.934 --> 24:10.036
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be a tough one.
24:10.096 --> 24:19.468
[SPEAKER_00]: But that is my hope is that the defense just, you know, they play the best possible game that they can play on this stage and give the Niners offense fighting chance.
24:20.191 --> 24:29.917
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like you know, like the solace is, you know, he said two weeks ago, you know, we've given up the thought of religion and league and yards given up.
24:29.937 --> 24:36.394
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to give up your eyes, but if we can hold in the field goals, that could be the hope is that they are just able to
24:36.374 --> 24:37.936
[SPEAKER_01]: keep them from scoring.
24:37.996 --> 24:50.315
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, what you were talking about with her, the thing that worries me about him is, once they're in the red zone, you know, his efficiency rushing the ball is a problem.
24:50.715 --> 25:03.394
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, with our linebackers and with our front seven's issues, I think he becomes, you know, once we are in the red zone, he becomes a, a much more viable threat.
25:03.914 --> 25:07.101
[SPEAKER_01]: couple of that with AJ Brown and his physical play.
25:07.121 --> 25:11.572
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I want us to be able to hold in the field goals.
25:11.732 --> 25:17.485
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think that the defense is going to be they're going to have their hands school.
25:18.325 --> 25:29.399
[SPEAKER_00]: The RPO, I remember when we played in the NST title game in Philly and Brock got hurt, the RPO just looked like, this is unstoppable.
25:29.880 --> 25:39.192
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when we beat them in the regular season, I was like, okay, like this defense is actually making him adjust to them a little bit more.
25:39.713 --> 25:42.156
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we're going back again to where,
25:42.136 --> 25:53.651
[SPEAKER_00]: we're going to be at the mercy of what he wants to do and some of this is going to have to be who can make a play these young dbs, you know, that they are sometimes can be risk takers.
25:54.432 --> 26:04.144
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought, you know, even though we know it was Sam Donald and he's a different quarterback than Jalen, there were some moments where I was like, oh,
26:04.293 --> 26:05.655
[SPEAKER_00]: Mustafa's here to play man.
26:05.695 --> 26:25.980
[SPEAKER_00]: This dude is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this
26:26.737 --> 26:35.367
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the idea that, you know, these young DBs, they know that they kind of have to have to grow up in these playoffs or in these big games.
26:36.428 --> 26:40.994
[SPEAKER_00]: There's opportunity there for them to step up and make big plays.
26:41.634 --> 26:50.685
[SPEAKER_00]: And at this point, that is kind of what you have to hope for, knowing the linebacking core is so beat up, knowing that the defensive line
26:50.665 --> 26:54.529
[SPEAKER_00]: is just, you know, generally just getting pushed around by the good offensive lines.
26:54.669 --> 26:59.214
[SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe, you know, maybe there's an opportunity there for somebody in the secondary to make some big plays.
26:59.254 --> 27:03.659
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I know, Jai, your brown is dinged up a little bit.
27:03.699 --> 27:08.904
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see he was in a secondary where we almost got no interceptions.
27:08.924 --> 27:12.348
[SPEAKER_00]: He's maybe the best playmaker we have back there.
27:12.428 --> 27:19.035
[SPEAKER_00]: But, yeah, there's, you know, there's some things that also, if you're a long-time 49ers fan.
27:20.517 --> 27:31.192
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a feeling we're going to look at this game and go, okay, we can actually make some decisions about next year's team or create some excitement about next year's team.
27:31.413 --> 27:36.780
[SPEAKER_00]: If up in Stout makes a couple of big plays, you're like, okay, like he's going to be in the mix.
27:36.800 --> 27:42.048
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, because that secondary is very young and you want to see them step up.
27:42.108 --> 27:50.440
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is not the 1981 secondary, but you had mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about some of our favorite defenses,
27:50.420 --> 27:52.503
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no Ronnie lot on the defense for sure.
27:52.543 --> 28:01.514
[SPEAKER_00]: He was a first round pick at a USC like very highly touted, but that 81 team had a very young secondary.
28:02.015 --> 28:06.060
[SPEAKER_00]: And that secondary like showed out in the playoffs.
28:06.140 --> 28:17.254
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was how they made their name error great in Dwight Hicks and and lot in Carlton, Williamson and those guys now that would be a great time for these guys to shine.
28:17.875 --> 28:26.072
[SPEAKER_00]: But Niners lore says that, you know, if you have a good team, your players make themselves known in the playoffs.
28:26.092 --> 28:28.638
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be kind of an optimistic viewpoint.
28:29.680 --> 28:36.795
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Niners can come away with victory, I do think some of it would be because somebody in the secondary steps up and make some plays.
28:38.632 --> 28:54.463
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, the revisited in the hotlick, that would be awesome, that's one of my favorite, the white Hicks in the hotlick, that was the one of my favorite sports nicknames, but yeah, that would be great if if for nothing else, if
28:54.781 --> 29:05.618
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we come away with a much better feeling about our young players, you know, in a, um, even in a defeat, if we show well.
29:06.319 --> 29:16.975
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I mean, and I guess we could, you could to a certain extent, we can already say that we, this, this has been, I'm not ready to do a postmortem quite, but.
29:18.136 --> 29:38.910
[SPEAKER_01]: On the fact that, again, I rather than being disappointed, the fact that we were in a game in week 18, that if it goes the other way, you know, we could have had the number one scene and home games throughout the playoffs is a remarkable turn of events for this team.
29:39.131 --> 29:40.633
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that,
29:41.710 --> 29:54.994
[SPEAKER_01]: they found something and you know guys like West and Collins and Samo seems to be at the very least all three of those guys are rotation players.
29:55.413 --> 30:02.484
[SPEAKER_01]: solid and, you know, Kyle seemed to think that Collins has much more upside than that.
30:03.085 --> 30:12.079
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said the same thing about Williams, but we have been able to see the progression of our for Collins because he's actually playing.
30:12.199 --> 30:15.003
[SPEAKER_01]: So that has been a, it's been good for us in that way.
30:15.023 --> 30:21.994
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, like I've said at the trade deadline, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
30:22.649 --> 30:51.762
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the way this team has to go rather than trying to pick up a, you know, Leonard Floyd or, you know, somebody who got cut at, you know, the trade deadline or whatever and giving those guys those kind of reps just see what you got with these young guys, see what you got with green and, um, stout and the like and so you've got a head start on next year
30:52.805 --> 30:55.211
[SPEAKER_01]: preagency and draft when that comes up.
30:55.231 --> 31:06.797
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I think I think you've earned a lot about this team this season and hopefully they can go in there and and fight and make this a game.
31:07.368 --> 31:08.529
[SPEAKER_00]: this week.
31:08.549 --> 31:17.480
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, look, you know, we are very realistic and we've been realistic all season long, and this has been so much more of a fun season than last year.
31:17.500 --> 31:18.200
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
31:18.801 --> 31:22.826
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're not, you know, we're not putting the L in the box score quite yet.
31:23.707 --> 31:30.895
[SPEAKER_00]: The odds say that this is going to be a really hard game and probably the worst of the matchups for the Niners, but
31:30.875 --> 31:41.118
[SPEAKER_00]: Dave proven all season long that hey like they they are are are playing above above what we have expected.
31:41.218 --> 31:44.125
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think they're going to I think they're going to
31:44.932 --> 32:13.572
[SPEAKER_00]: If I know anything about kind of how Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch think about these things, just go back to when there's the 3rd and 17 play and Seattle kind of did the give up run play and then you see John Lynch in the booth and he's like doing like the McColley Culkin home alone face because he couldn't believe that they gave up 19 yards on that play.
32:13.720 --> 32:27.527
[SPEAKER_00]: They're lifers, right, that they, if anything, they want to prove that this football team is not the same football team that we saw on Saturday night and they're going to, you know, so I think the Niners are going to come out.
32:28.520 --> 32:31.104
[SPEAKER_00]: aggressive and they're going to come out and they're going to fight.
32:31.365 --> 32:36.954
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, do they have the talent necessarily to stack up and go out and win one in Philly.
32:37.655 --> 32:38.417
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see.
32:38.477 --> 32:49.195
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if that happens, I'm going to be the most jazz person, you know, Rod and I will come back here on, you know, Sunday evening and.
32:49.175 --> 32:55.245
[SPEAKER_00]: and say, yeah, man, they, they balled out in our pessimism was probably a little strong.
32:56.527 --> 33:07.525
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, sometimes when you're a fan, your pessimism overcomes your optimism, because you don't want to feel like you fell for the banana and the tailpipe, right?
33:07.566 --> 33:13.255
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I know there are some nine or fans who are like, we got this game, we got this game, we're going to go into Philly, we're going to win.
33:13.636 --> 33:15.098
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they don't,
33:15.078 --> 33:19.437
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they're going to feel so sad and frustrated because they had such high expectations.
33:19.879 --> 33:24.700
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a little bit of a lower my expectations kind of fan with all of my teams.
33:25.490 --> 33:32.157
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, when they do do it, if they do win, if they can pull this game out, I'm going to be just as fired up as anybody.
33:32.378 --> 33:37.183
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'd be really great to say, hey, yeah, I missed on this one.
33:37.263 --> 33:39.466
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope that that actually have.
33:39.486 --> 33:42.649
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope we come in on Sunday and go, you know what?
33:43.470 --> 33:45.753
[SPEAKER_00]: We had this game wrong, and here's why.
33:46.033 --> 33:48.696
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's my hope for Sunday after the game.
33:49.435 --> 33:50.236
[SPEAKER_00]: absolutely.
33:50.696 --> 33:58.886
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, do you have any predictions on what you think is going to happen in this tournament on both ends?
33:58.906 --> 34:17.468
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you were, you are a betting man, what would be your superbowl, and we can eliminate the Niners out of this thing, if not the Niners, what do you think the
34:21.329 --> 34:36.993
[SPEAKER_01]: My prediction is, and this is more so I'm thinking rams and Texans is my prediction, rams Texans is my prediction.
34:37.514 --> 34:48.130
[SPEAKER_01]: See, I'm stuck between the NFC team is the one that, I basically between the rams and the sea hawks.
34:49.055 --> 34:49.717
[SPEAKER_01]: there.
34:50.439 --> 34:54.070
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the rounds are just a little bit more explosive offensively.
34:54.411 --> 35:00.769
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to go with that and then I just think that they found that the, you know, the strap looks good.
35:01.087 --> 35:12.123
[SPEAKER_01]: coming back and they found something with that little young back Jordan there and they don't with that defense they don't really need that much offensively.
35:12.743 --> 35:16.429
[SPEAKER_01]: Um to yeah I just I really like that team.
35:17.770 --> 35:19.593
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to make go let's be real.
35:19.873 --> 35:26.723
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah you know I look at the other side and every single
35:27.108 --> 35:35.983
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I agree with you, like if I was to say who's the most complete team in football left, I would say the Rams would, would edge it out for me.
35:36.003 --> 35:41.473
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have Philly next though you don't know how they're going to get up for this stuff.
35:41.513 --> 35:42.475
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'd have Seattle.
35:42.515 --> 35:49.006
[SPEAKER_00]: The only reason I'd put Seattle third is just because of, of Donald, because the QB, yeah, so important during the playoffs.
35:49.587 --> 35:51.310
[SPEAKER_00]: But then if I look and I go, man,
35:52.133 --> 36:06.008
[SPEAKER_00]: Denver is the Seattle of the AFC does anybody believe that Oh, Nick's is going to get it done and then if you look at who's the best player like who's the player that you
36:06.899 --> 36:10.364
[SPEAKER_00]: that you would kind of look at it to go on fire.
36:10.945 --> 36:27.349
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe it's Josh Allen, but if you watch Buffalo play all year long, they were kind of like Philly in that they were often just as disappointing as they were good, nobody believes in Jacksonville.
36:27.990 --> 36:31.575
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, can you imagine people picking Jacksonville to go to the Super Bowl?
36:32.236 --> 36:35.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that is wild and they may be,
36:36.751 --> 36:43.213
[SPEAKER_00]: one of the best teams on that side, but are you ever going to pick that quarterback to beat another good quarterback?
36:43.815 --> 36:45.480
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just can't.
36:45.982 --> 36:47.487
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I know.
36:47.973 --> 36:58.655
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm kind of picking at 49er fast now, but when you watch that Buffalo team, I just they are they are a BA away from being a really good football team.
36:58.936 --> 37:08.395
[SPEAKER_01]: He just really doesn't secure is fine, but Josh Allen needs an X he needs a number one receiver for them to be.
37:08.375 --> 37:12.622
[SPEAKER_01]: Seriously, and again, it's one of those things where I you know, it's crazy as it sounds.
37:12.962 --> 37:15.586
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Sean McDermott might be coaching for his job.
37:15.627 --> 37:17.950
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, because how long how many times?
37:18.090 --> 37:18.992
[SPEAKER_01]: Because now it's open.
37:19.052 --> 37:20.414
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no my home there.
37:20.454 --> 37:23.239
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no tomorrow there.
37:23.299 --> 37:25.222
[SPEAKER_01]: This is it.
37:25.342 --> 37:32.273
[SPEAKER_01]: It's laid out for Josh Allen, but I just, you know, I don't
37:32.860 --> 37:39.192
[SPEAKER_01]: They just seem like a really unsurious team to me, but if you were to tell me
37:39.830 --> 37:48.440
[SPEAKER_01]: The Josh Allen goes on a heater and puts him on his back and care he is the kind of player that absolutely can win three games in a row by itself.
37:49.021 --> 37:52.245
[SPEAKER_01]: I would not, I can't, me Superman.
37:52.285 --> 38:04.740
[SPEAKER_01]: He's literally one of the best players in the league, but that defenses suspect they don't really, you know, they really just don't have the weapons that they have put around him are just
38:05.615 --> 38:07.178
[SPEAKER_01]: It's problematic.
38:07.319 --> 38:11.307
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, that's why I come and come down to you.
38:11.367 --> 38:15.476
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you say, are we, are you really going to pick Bonix to win?
38:15.716 --> 38:17.901
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I, I have to see you.
38:17.921 --> 38:20.306
[SPEAKER_00]: I will have to see you.
38:20.346 --> 38:23.573
[SPEAKER_00]: So, somebody is going to come out of,
38:23.553 --> 38:29.184
[SPEAKER_00]: that side of the bracket as they're going to earn their stripes.
38:30.005 --> 38:34.874
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, no chiefs, no ravens.
38:35.335 --> 38:44.132
[SPEAKER_00]: So they may earn their stripes without having to go through what people would consider to be the best teams.
38:44.392 --> 38:44.953
[SPEAKER_00]: But the
38:44.933 --> 38:53.245
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, my home's going to be out for the whole year next year possibly with his injury, who knows when he's going to be able to come back.
38:53.305 --> 38:57.972
[SPEAKER_00]: So it might be like two years before they get one last shot to get in there.
38:57.992 --> 39:03.280
[SPEAKER_00]: So the the F C is so interesting, but at the same time, you look at the quarterbacks and you're like,
39:03.985 --> 39:09.195
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I trust anybody to go out there other than Josh Allen.
39:09.236 --> 39:12.462
[SPEAKER_00]: So it'll be, it'll be, it'll be, that that side's going to be really fun.
39:13.023 --> 39:22.382
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the NFC is just going to be a battle of attrition who lasts, who's the team that's left standing, they're if they are not beat up.
39:22.362 --> 39:23.784
[SPEAKER_00]: buy that Super Bowl game.
39:24.845 --> 39:28.671
[SPEAKER_00]: The best team left, it might be the best team in football.
39:28.731 --> 39:31.234
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's what makes this thing so interesting.
39:31.314 --> 39:31.575
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
39:31.995 --> 39:38.304
[SPEAKER_00]: Rod now will be back after Niners and Niners and Eagles on Sunday.
39:38.805 --> 39:40.127
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll talk about all of it.
39:40.227 --> 39:44.072
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully we'll have some good things to say about that game.
39:44.413 --> 39:44.673
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
39:44.893 --> 39:48.218
[SPEAKER_00]: For Rod, I am double GC when we see you piece out.
