• 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00Now back to Stiney and Guru, live from the Hilton Santa Clara.
00:07All righty, it's crossover time. Matt Stine, Matt Stine, the Guru Johnson, joined by Mark Willard and Dan Dibley.
00:15What is going on, gentlemen?
00:19Yeah, Stiney. Let's go, Stiney.
00:21Now, you guys, you guys got here at 9 in the morning, I imagine.
00:26Yeah, I did.
00:27Wait till you go walk through.
00:29Okay.
00:30Wait till you do it.
00:32Oh, my God, the energy out there is good.
00:34It's incredible.
00:35It's good. It's real good.
00:37Oh, man.
00:38And they call this work.
00:39Exactly.
00:40Wow.
00:41Look at Stiney.
00:42Stiney.
00:43Yeah.
00:44Bang, bang, Niner Gang, Stiney.
00:45You're going to hear it.
00:46You're going to feel it.
00:47You're going to, dare I say, smell it when you walk outside.
00:51Okay.
00:52Niner Nation is pungent and fragrant and ready.
00:56Tonight's kickoff, obviously, 5-15, gents.
00:59And here's the one thing that, to me, is the theme tonight.
01:03And it's you can't ignore the fact that Aaron Rodgers is playing after getting hurt last year
01:08and Brock Purdy starting his second full year as the starting quarterback for the 49ers.
01:14And in a way, it feels like Rodgers has more to prove in a way than Brock Purdy.
01:20No doubt.
01:21I think it's because of the age and the injury and the fact that, you know,
01:25Brock with his team has already done it.
01:27Aaron has not done it with his team.
01:29And so who did we talk to earlier with the Sloss Gardner?
01:33Oh.
01:34Beningo.
01:35Joe Beningo.
01:36Oh, yes.
01:37Yeah.
01:38Joe Beningo.
01:39Joe Beningo.
01:40Jets fans have been waiting for 50-something years.
01:42Forever.
01:43Forever.
01:44Super Bowl III.
01:45Wow.
01:46I like that.
01:47Your favorite.
01:48Yeah.
01:49It's been that long since they've actually gotten there and won one.
01:50And so this is their only chance.
01:52You want to talk about Super Bowl or bust with the Niners?
01:55I think it's more appropriate for the Jets.
01:57I'm trying to remember what he told us.
01:59It was something along the lines of like he was just kind of getting out of college.
02:04Wow.
02:05The last time the Jets went to the Super Bowl.
02:06Now he's about to turn 70 years old.
02:08Just think so.
02:09Tomorrow is not promised.
02:10No.
02:11Nothing is promised.
02:12He's 70.
02:13Think about that.
02:14About to be 70 years old.
02:15Yeah.
02:16And he was like, you know, just buying beer for the first time the last time they went
02:19to the Super Bowl.
02:21So, you know, that puts it all in perspective, but you're not wrong, Stiney, at all.
02:28I mean, it has been a long time.
02:31If you really track it, not just since we've seen Aaron, but go back even further.
02:36When was the last time we saw Aaron play well?
02:39I would argue it's been three seasons.
02:41It's a long time.
02:43Yeah.
02:45We had Emmanuel Acho on.
02:46I didn't realize he didn't have a 300-yard game in 2022, the year before he got there.
02:51His last year with the Packers was underwhelming for sure.
02:54But he's in, I believe, a good spot in regard to, and I'm just telling Stiney, take the
02:58injury away.
02:59You can't.
03:00But it just, there's some parallels to what Brady stepped into at Tampa Bay.
03:04And if you don't think Rodgers is hearing what Stiney said, people thinking he's done,
03:09I get it.
03:10But you got Sauce Gardner.
03:11You got Quentin Williams.
03:12Yeah.
03:13You got Reese Hall.
03:14So if Aaron Rodgers can tap back into what Brady did when we thought he was done and
03:19his arm was noodle arm, like, I think the Niners almost makes it, it's the greatest
03:26test for Rodgers to win and say, I beat the Niners.
03:29To almost, well, you still got to show us more.
03:32But to start the season off by, if you were to come in here and get a dub and look like
03:36Aaron Rodgers, people would be like, oh, wow, you're accelerating what we were waiting to
03:41see.
03:42People would be like, this is a big place for opportunity.
03:44It's a big opportunity.
03:45But I do think it's different than Brady because Brady, when he went to Tampa, was not coming
03:49off an injury.
03:50No, you're right.
03:51He was 10 years removed.
03:52But we thought he was done.
03:53A lot of the streets thought he was done.
03:54Right.
03:55But it turned out he wasn't done.
03:56And I'm not saying that Aaron Rodgers is done, but he's doing something that Brady didn't
04:00have to do, which is come back from injury at 40.
04:03When Brady was 40 or 41 in Tampa, he was just Tom Brady in Tampa.
04:08He was old, but he was not coming off injury.
04:10This is a whole different thing now.
04:12This game, to me, it boils down to what you guys are talking about right here, which is
04:17the rebirth of the 49ers pass rush.
04:20And whether or not, well, if you want to tie this to everything that's been discussed with
04:24Steve Wilkes or whatever, none of it matters now.
04:27Now it's just about like, OK, what do you look like?
04:30And if the Niner, right, like if the Niner pass rush comes out and has a really good
04:34night, this is going to be next to impossible for Aaron Rodgers.
04:38Which has been for him in the postseason against the Niners.
04:40He can't move that well.
04:41Even if he's playing well, like even before the injury, he no longer moved the way he
04:46used to move.
04:47He used to move really well.
04:49And he doesn't anymore.
04:51And like I would refer, if I'm a Niner fan, this is what I'm looking at.
04:55And it's your boy, Stiney.
04:57Did you watch the Atlanta Falcons yesterday?
05:00We brought it up late.
05:01That's what an aging quarterback off of an Achilles looks like.
05:06He couldn't move.
05:07He couldn't move and they couldn't score.
05:09And that's what the opportunity that sits there for them.
05:12Because T.J. Watt ruined that game.
05:14He ruined the game.
05:15And Nick Bosa should be able, you'd hope if you're a Niner fan, to be able to do
05:20something similar like that tonight.
05:22Because Cousins had weapons.
05:24Bijon and Drake London and Kyle Pitts.
05:26And he's got all kinds of stuff there.
05:28And they could not move the ball.
05:31And that's what I hope the Niner defense creates tonight.
05:34And that's what Acho was talking about when we had him on.
05:36I was asking him what does a guy like him look at for Aaron Rodgers to kind of
05:41figure out how much he has left.
05:44And he said he's going to be watching for whether or not he's still trying to
05:48extend plays or whether he kind of throws it away more because he's thinking
05:54about the injury.
05:55And maybe he's also thinking about the age.
05:57But, yeah, I'm excited about tonight.
06:00And you guys got any predictions?
06:04Well, I would say, I feel like.
06:07I would 24-17 Niners.
06:09My thing is, you want to call it 24 or 25.
06:13First one and only one to get to that number wins the game.
06:16Mike.
06:17It looked to me around the league like defenses were ahead of offenses.
06:20Yep.
06:21It's real hard to be in sync now.
06:23The short and preseason, top players don't play very much.
06:27Niners had some holdouts.
06:29Whatever.
06:30All of it sort of lends.
06:32And especially in a game like this where you've got a lot of name value on
06:35both defenses, I think points will be at a premium.
06:38If the Niners can get to 24 tonight, I'd take it and I think that they'll win.
06:42But I'll go 27-17.
06:44Yeah, I'll save my pick for later in the show.
06:46Oh, wow.
06:47Because these guys have this cute little thing called fade the dibbers.
06:50Fade the dibbers.
06:51Oh, okay.
06:52It's become a thing.
06:53We've got something like that.
06:54I hit on mine.
06:55Whatever.
06:56It's one-on-one.
06:57They think that I'm wrong all the time.
06:59I came out one-on-one Friday night, so I'm one-on-one.
07:02In fact, I'm actually more of a winner than the three of these jabrons
07:07combined, but it's okay for the bit.
07:09For the show, I'm willing to play the heavy.
07:12Whatever, Grandy.
07:13How about that fantasy scoreboard?
07:15Fantasy scoreboard, Grandy.
07:17Yeah, yeah, Grandy.
07:19How much of Robert's familiarity with the Niner offense means anything?
07:24I don't think it means anything at all.
07:25It's been a while.
07:26It's been a while.
07:27You know what I mean?
07:28Does this Niner offense under Brock Purdy remind you of what it looked like
07:31under Jimmy Garoppolo?
07:32I don't know.
07:33Christian McCaffrey.
07:34These are people.
07:36Trent Williams.
07:37These people weren't here when Robert Sala knew this offense.
07:39He knew the Raheem Mostert offense.
07:41Wow.
07:42You know what I mean?
07:43I don't know.
07:45These guys, when you're Kyle Shanahan, when you're Robert Sala,
07:49when you've been around the league, these guys all know what the other
07:51one's trying to do.
07:52They know exactly what they're trying to do.
07:54It's just a matter of who's able to kind of impose the will
07:57and execute what they're trying to do.
07:59And, yeah, like that's what we're looking at tonight.
08:03What's your sense of the McCaffrey situation?
08:07Listed as questionable.
08:09It still feels like Kyle Shanahan expects him to play,
08:13but going into week one, Dibbs, McCaffrey.
08:17Half Achilles.
08:19Oh, man.
08:20Acho brought up Durant.
08:22Wait a minute.
08:23Hold on a minute.
08:24Guru's worried?
08:25It wasn't just me.
08:26It was Durant.
08:27We didn't even ask him.
08:28He said he don't like calf injuries.
08:29That was all.
08:30Is that wrong?
08:31Well, and, I mean, do we know the nature of the injury?
08:35Has he missed any regular season games because of the injury?
08:38No.
08:39See, I think of flare-ups, though, because he's going to play
08:41and then be aggravated.
08:43Does he get worse?
08:44That's all.
08:45I mean, you're assuming that there actually is an injury,
08:47and I'm more of the mind, like Mark was saying all along,
08:50like it's a mosquito bite or a bug bite or whatever he was saying.
08:53I don't think that it's a real thing now.
08:55Wow.
08:56Do you want to give him 25 touches a game over 17?
08:58No, you don't.
08:59But you're going to lean on him early,
09:01and you're going to lean on him often because this is one of the games
09:04that counts.
09:05And, you know, if he comes up and he has a little bit of a cramp
09:08or an ache or a strain, then I'll be worried.
09:11But in the meantime, no worries.
09:13Go out there and play football because you're not going to have
09:16Brandon Ayuk in full.
09:18You're probably going to have about a half of Ayuk.
09:20You're probably looking at maybe 35 snaps from Brandon,
09:24depending on how the offense.
09:25So no pitch count for McCaffrey?
09:27I don't think so, no.
09:28Gu, let me ask you this.
09:30What would make you more worried, the way the situation is right now,
09:36or if the 49ers said, you know what, we're going to take the safe route
09:42with McCaffrey, we're going to give him the first five weeks of the season
09:45off, but when he comes back week six, he's going to play a 12-game season,
09:50and we are going to be ready to go.
09:51I'm in control with the best of them.
09:53But obviously not the second one.
09:55Come on now.
09:56I'm just telling you, I watched these games again.
09:58We'll get into Tom Brady.
10:00I guess I can do it right now real quick.
10:02You weren't bad, but I need some personality, Willard.
10:06I need some volume.
10:07I need some energy.
10:08And he just was ho-hum.
10:11And he wasn't bad.
10:12He was like, he's Tom Brady.
10:13I get it, but that job requires him.
10:15Greg Olsen, pow, boom, John Madden.
10:18He's an offensive player, and all the offensive players are half-stepping
10:22into week one is what it looked like.
10:24I'm going to give him a little space the same way you give all the quarterbacks.
10:28Yeah, but the other thing is, I mean, you know this.
10:31We're watching red zone.
10:32I don't think you get bits and pieces of Tom as they go out to the bronze.
10:36So I didn't go over with a fine-tuned comb at all.
10:39But, you know, look, he's Tom Brady.
10:42Is it going to feel overpaid no matter what he says?
10:45Sure, sure.
10:46But the McCaffrey situation that you're worried about,
10:50like, I almost don't know how to answer that
10:53because he's been tucked away in a closet.
10:56I have no idea.
10:57And it was barking men.
10:58That's why there was no contact.
11:00We don't know.
11:02Like, I don't know anything.
11:04I know that they tucked him away.
11:06And they shut him down.
11:07But then he worked on the side for weeks.
11:09He's been running on the side for weeks.
11:11Like, I just think the word Achilles makes this uncomfortable.
11:15Okay, no doubt about it.
11:16And that's all I get.
11:17I don't want to be right.
11:18At the same time, I got to trust that the 49ers are not going to put him in a bad situation.
11:22And we have no frame of reference as to what he looks like right now.
11:25He might be fine.
11:26Because Kyle laughed at a reporter basically when they asked about his touches
11:29when there was no injury.
11:31And he acted like there was no scoreboard at all.
11:34And all I want from Kyle now to say at least with this news,
11:38you can spell them if you're up 21-3 late in the fourth.
11:41And they do.
11:42They usually do when they're up 21-3 in the fourth.
11:44They do spell them and they go to Mason or they go to Elijah Mitchell.
11:47Whatever they've done in the past, they'll do it again.
11:49But in the meantime, if you want to win a game, you're going to go with your best players.
11:54And he's your best player.
11:55So he's going to carry the ball.
11:57And he's going to get the ball thrown to him.
11:59And if something happens in the course of that, that's just football.
12:03Well, I'd say this too.
12:04In the age of fantasy football, I laugh sometimes at how many press conferences
12:08turn into reporters asking coaches to give the game plan.
12:13And they do because we all want to know, is the lead running back an 80% guy?
12:18Is he going to get 62% of the carries?
12:21It's like because that's the way we watch ball now, that's the questioning we ask.
12:26And, of course, they're going to laugh at you.
12:28It's like I'm not telling you who I'm playing.
12:30I'm not telling you what do you want.
12:31First play is a run play?
12:32Like what do you want from me?
12:34Kyle's not going to give you that.
12:36You're listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM at HD1 San Francisco,
12:40and he's live on the free Odyssey app, Twitch, and YouTube,
12:42powered by First NorCal Credit Union.
12:45And Dibbs, I know he's among your favorite players of all time.
12:50I know he's done a lot of good things in this league, our league,
12:54but it truly is a legacy year for Trent Williams, don't you think?
12:59I don't think it's a legacy year at all because if Trent Williams were to,
13:03right now, on his way in the stadium, step in a pothole
13:08and suffer a high ankle sprain and miss the whole game,
13:11he's still a first ballot Hall of Famer.
13:13So in terms of his legacy, his legacy's intact.
13:16Now, what he can be for the Niners, and it's funny you use the word legacy
13:21because I'm fresh off the Dwayne Dibbley Memorial Race up in Ferndale
13:24when my brother famously declared that it was about a legacy,
13:28a legacy, a legacy, a legacy.
13:32Yeah, he said it four times.
13:33Mikey 1.0 couldn't get off it.
13:36So this is not about a legacy for Trent Williams.
13:38What this is, he could vault himself into all-time pantheon, Stiney.
13:44He could be a part of the Niners' pantheon.
13:47If he's a part of a Super Bowl-winning team and he's already first ballot,
13:52he becomes one of the all-time great Niners,
13:56more than just one of the all-time great players.
13:58Pantheon.
14:00I think about it this way.
14:01When you're talking about the names that are on this team,
14:04ESPN sort of put out a question to the public today,
14:08like do you feel like the Niners have it in them for one last shot
14:14at a Super Bowl run?
14:15And you know how I feel about that.
14:17Oh, you don't like it.
14:18The window's not closing, that's stupid, or else you shouldn't sign Brock.
14:23But it's not so much about the window.
14:26I think this is kind of the way we shaped that question,
14:29which is if you're a Niner fan,
14:31how much do you care about this current crop of players
14:36being the ones that break through for a ring?
14:40For instance, Frank Gore on our station on Friday.
14:43He never got one.
14:44That hurts, man.
14:45You know, like if we do move on and Debo never got one.
14:49That would hurt.
14:50Or George never got one.
14:51Some of the best to ever do it.
14:53Maybe you get one four years from now and they're not on the team anymore.
14:57That matters.
14:58I agree with you.
14:59I agree with you.
15:00When I look out on this crowd and I see these jerseys,
15:02it feels like 70% of them are of players that may not be on this team in three years.
15:08Maybe not in one year.
15:10I don't know.
15:11I see a Montana and Rice, and I think you're right.
15:14Yeah, they got one.
15:16I think they got one.
15:17You know what I mean?
15:18But like that's –
15:19That's deep.
15:20Especially George and Debo.
15:23Because Trent, you know, Trent, he's not homegrown and whatnot.
15:27He didn't have one either.
15:28So this has been his best chance.
15:29And so him too.
15:30But when you see, like, George, the famous, like, I will be back here,
15:34I will be back here.
15:35And then he got back here and it got even more painful.
15:37And now, you know, so now he's becoming –
15:39some of these guys are becoming the best players to have not won
15:43or the best team to have not won.
15:45And so that's what –
15:46I feel that.
15:47That hit me, man.
15:48I think that's where the urgency sits.
15:49And I asked Acho just about this Niner run since –
15:52and I know this is old and tired, but it means something.
15:55You were talking about Kyle and the validation of what they built,
15:58how, you know, to you, Acho, how important it is.
16:02And he was paraphrasing, like, he argues that Kyle is the best coach,
16:06but he loses because there's no bling.
16:09And somebody can say McVay has one and you've got to go to the back of the line.
16:14And this is not taken away from Kyle, but it's what you said.
16:17You want to stamp an era of greatness that you guys have built
16:21and been so close, man.
16:23That's all.
16:24Yeah.
16:25That's what I feel.
16:26I mean, there's so much blood, sweat, and tears and great plays
16:29and everything from these crops of players.
16:31I think, you know, the Niners, even with the McCaffreys and the Williams
16:34and whatnot, they have a homegrown feel in that a lot of their best players
16:39were drafted here and they've been here for a minute,
16:42so you feel like you've gotten to know them.
16:44And, yes, as a fan, you want it for you.
16:47Let's be real.
16:48That's how most of us wake up in the morning.
16:50We want things for ourselves.
16:51But I do.
16:52I'd hate to see Fred Warner and Deebo.
16:55And Deebo might be gone, so he could be looking at this year
16:58like this might be my last run.
16:59I'm not hoping he's not, but that's the reality for Deebo.
17:03Yeah, for a lot of guys, I'm sure.
17:05And it's funny, as Mark was saying that, looking at the jerseys,
17:08and I'm looking out here at the great Hilton tailgate party.
17:12It's a mix of former Niners who have won and current Niners who haven't won.
17:17I'm yet to find a jersey of a player who is, you know,
17:21either not current or somebody who hasn't won one.
17:25Oh, I got what you're saying.
17:26I got what you're saying.
17:27Like a Jeff Olbrich or a Joe Staley or, you know.
17:31What about these reports about when the season's about to start,
17:35it already did Sunday, and you hear Jay Glazier talk about,
17:38oh, you almost got traded.
17:40When we asked that, it felt like an episode of The Office,
17:43like, hey, get off the phone, stop.
17:45But does it really matter now?
17:47Because everybody should be happy.
17:49Bobby McFerrin.
17:50It's interesting.
17:51It's an interesting story, you know, to hear the way that it all sort of got.
17:55But is it?
17:56Because I thought we already knew you almost got traded.
17:59No, but I mean, when you start getting the picture of, like,
18:03I mean, like, the papers were being signed,
18:06and people are running up flights of stairs.
18:08Get off the phone.
18:09Right?
18:10Like, stop, stop.
18:11It's like every movie where you're chasing someone at the airport
18:14who's about to get on a plane and you're never going to see him again.
18:16Like, that's what it felt like.
18:18I did take something from that,
18:20which is what a lot of us guessed for the entire summer,
18:23which is that Brandon had absolutely no interest in leaving the Niners,
18:26and that never made any sense.
18:28But I'm also with you.
18:30I'd rather these stories don't come out today,
18:35because that's not what today is about.
18:37I don't want to – you know what I mean?
18:39Like, today is about pop your drink, get your people, get your food,
18:43get your seat, and let's go.
18:46Like, I don't want to be talking about this guy, you know, this fight.
18:50Oh, stop.
18:51Yeah.
18:52Like, at least put it off for another day.
18:54Yesterday was obviously first NFL Sunday.
18:57Anything stick out, Tibbs, to you, either overall
19:00or with an individual team or player?
19:02Nothing too sticky.
19:05I do think that it's noteworthy that Houston was able to find a way to win that game,
19:10even though it got a little sideways.
19:12I do think that Houston is a team that is one to watch,
19:15and that's a game that definitely could have gone south on them.
19:19And then you get to the Sunday night game, the Jared golf ball, so to speak,
19:23and, you know, that was a close one.
19:26What about Antonio Pierce not going for it?
19:28Fourth and one with six minutes left.
19:30He should not be the head coach.
19:32It's Mike Singletary-esque is the way I look at it.
19:35Antonio Pierce is – I don't think that he's cut out for the job,
19:39and I think that it's another example of a Raider organization
19:43that is broken from the top down.
19:45Yes, Mark Davis, I'm looking at you, and you can change cities,
19:49you can change states, but you still have no clue,
19:52and your team is now going on one of the longest playoff droughts in the NFL,
19:57and it's not by accident.
19:59I think that's well said.
20:00Antonio Pierce, if you don't know what Tibbs is talking about,
20:03not going for it on fourth and one if the opponent's 40,
20:06six minutes to go and you're down by six is wild, especially in 2024.
20:10Well, that's what I was going to say.
20:1130 years ago we might not have said much about it.
20:13But put that aside for a second for this breaking news.
20:17Oh, what do you got?
20:18Which is that the injury to Puka Nakua is significant.
20:22Rams head coach Sean McVay just told reporters
20:25that Puka is an injured reserve candidate.
20:28Wow.
20:29Again, that's not the season ending IR that it used to be,
20:32but at minimum it's four weeks,
20:34and whenever they say at this point he's a candidate,
20:36even if they don't put him on,
20:39that tells you you're looking at a minimum two to three,
20:41so Puka Nakua is going to be.
20:44And they have something so good they compliment each other.
20:46Him and Cub.
20:47It's a reminder.
20:49I don't want to put the thought there,
20:51but it's a reminder going into this game tonight from Puka Nakua to Jordan Love.
20:55Man, these seasons to what happened to Aaron last year.
21:00These seasons can change in a damn blink of an eye.
21:04So the Rams are 0-1 and now missing a star,
21:07and the Packers are 0-1 and they're missing their quarterback.
21:10Who we all had penciled in the playoffs.
21:12Packers in for sure.
21:13And I don't want to celebrate other injuries,
21:15but I do think this, if the Niners win tonight,
21:17they had a phenomenal opening weekend.
21:19Phenomenal.
21:21When you look at the Rams losing, the Cardinals losing,
21:24the Packers are not what they are.
21:26Now the Packers are compromised.
21:28You know, the Eagles won a game okay.
21:31I didn't think Jalen Hurts looked great.
21:33I know Pete, the Cowboys, whatever, dude.
21:36Deshaun Watson.
21:37You know, the Falcons are nothing.
21:39Like, if the Niners win tonight, that was a strong opening weekend for their standing.
21:45Do we know anything?
21:46Did we get an update on Josh Allen?
21:48Josh Allen.
21:50From what I heard last night, there was very little concern.
21:52Okay, very little concern.
21:53Yeah, his hand is fine.
21:55Arizona could have won that game.
21:56It's NFL goo, but yeah, they could have won that game.
22:00I'm excited, yeah.
22:01As you should be.
22:02Yeah, this is a lot of fun.
22:04Rest in peace to everybody who took the Bengals in their survivor pool.
22:07Oh, my God.
22:09I tried to tell everybody on Friday, don't do it.
22:12The Bengals start slow.
22:14They're a hot mess.
22:15I woke up to real quick an email that said, if you want back games,
22:18everybody lost with the Bengals.
22:20I tell you what, they didn't just lose,
22:22but Jamar Chase is ripping the coaching staff after the game already.
22:26I just think, wow, wow.
22:28That's nasty work.
22:29That's nasty work.
22:30They're not a team.
22:31They're not a team.
22:32Another broken organization.
22:33Oh, the Bengals.
22:34Oh, have been forever.
22:35Oh, my.
22:36Even Zack Taylor, good young, bright mind.
22:38All right.
22:39We are a team here.
22:40I'll see you inside, Sonny.
22:42Yeah, you guys can take it the rest of the way.
22:45Don't go anywhere.
22:46Willard and Dibbs have the pregame show.
22:48Kickoff, 5-15.
22:50It's football season on 95-7.
22:53The game.