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00:00Uh, let's hop out to the River Islands guest line because 315 on Wednesdays, this is our
00:05jam, man.
00:06This is our jam.
00:07We love this.
00:08Hanging out, spending some time with the senior producer of NFL films, the absolute guru of
00:15the NFL film, and that is none other than Greg Cosell.
00:18Hey, Greg, what's cooking today?
00:20Gentlemen, what's happening?
00:22I hope nobody's like getting too upset, thinking like the whole season's falling apart now,
00:26you know?
00:27No, the season's over.
00:28It's over, Greg.
00:29It's time to get rid of the quarterback, move on, you know, it's time to change everything.
00:36You know how it goes.
00:37They say Superbowl or bust.
00:39It's bust.
00:40Um, Greg, we, we got so many questions for you.
00:46Uh, can we start with this across the league?
00:49We're seeing a trend, it's only two weeks, but a lot less passing, a lot more running.
00:55We're watching quarterbacks have a hard time getting to 300 yards.
00:59What gives?
01:00Why?
01:01Um, there's probably a couple of reasons for that.
01:06Um, some could just be a function of, you know, teams not playing a lot of people in
01:12the preseason, which, you know, over time has an impact and, uh, it has an impact in
01:17particular for offensive line play, uh, because those guys need to play and then find cohesion
01:22together.
01:23Um, I think it has a lot to do too with how teams are playing defensively.
01:27There's more and more, um, what we call, um, too high structure defensively.
01:33It makes it harder to throw the ball at the intermediate and deeper levels.
01:37Um, so you're seeing a lot more, they're not check downs necessarily, but a lot more short
01:43throws.
01:44And if those receivers get tackled, obviously you're not gaining a lot of yards.
01:48Um, so, you know, those are just two things that, uh, you know, I can think of immediately.
01:53Um, so yeah, obviously I, you know, I hope people understand that I don't know what you're
01:58going to ask me.
01:59So, you know, I, those are two things that immediately came to my mind.
02:03And I think those are good and accurate answers.
02:05And if you're a field goal kicker, you're loving it right now, but I want to focus on
02:09the first part of your answer, which is offensive line play, particularly with the 49ers, because
02:14it seemed like in the run game, they were effective, but in the past game looked like
02:19they struggled.
02:20What did you see from the Niners O-line against Minnesota in week two?
02:23Yeah, well, there were six sacks.
02:25The Vikings are one of the toughest defenses in the league to play because they're so,
02:29so multiple with what they do, uh, with their fronts, with their looks, um, they put people
02:36up on the line of scrimmage, they move people around.
02:38Um, so then you have to identify people.
02:41Um, they rushed six an awful lot last year, by the way, they rushed six more than any
02:48team in the league.
02:49And they're basically doing that again.
02:52Um, they, they rushed five or more on 20 of Purdy's 46 drop backs.
02:58So they clearly were going after them.
03:00They're really good with stunts.
03:01Um, and stunts are a great example of where you need communication with your offensive
03:06line.
03:07Uh, so, um, yeah, they struggled a bit at times, uh, in this game, but the, the Vikings
03:12are a really, really difficult defense to play against.
03:16Greg, a couple of questions about the 49 or receivers, um, as a group right now, they
03:22are last in the league in terms of separation.
03:26Is that a, to be, does that just mean nine receivers are not running great routes and
03:31getting open?
03:32Could there be other reasons for that?
03:34What say you?
03:36I don't know what that means, to be honest with you, because, you know, I have to watch
03:39the tape to see this kind of stuff.
03:41Those kinds of stats don't mean a lot to me because I don't know who's doing that guys.
03:46I'm just being honest with you.
03:47It's just like when I see stats, well, quarterback being pressure throws, well, I have to see
03:52what they mean by pressure.
03:54I don't know what they mean.
03:55So I don't know what the definition of separation is.
03:58Well, can I just, can I ask it this way?
04:00Do you see that the Niner receivers are doing a good job of getting open?
04:04Well, I know this, that the Vikings played more zone than man.
04:08So I don't know what the definition of separation means against zone coverage.
04:13So I would say that you have to understand one thing, Purdy completed 28 of 36.
04:22He made a lot of difficult throws in the middle of the field, which is what the 49ers offense
04:26is all about.
04:27It's throwing the ball between the numbers.
04:29Now the Vikings came in with a plan where they wanted to play what we call robber coverage
04:35and lurk coverage, which tries to minimize throws between the numbers.
04:40That's what some teams do against the 49ers because that's the foundation of their past
04:44game is to work between the numbers.
04:46So you will see teams play robber coverage, which by the way, the Cleveland Browns did
04:50last year in the game that the 49ers lost.
04:53So teams do this in some weeks at work, some weeks it doesn't.
04:58If one thing worked all the time, everybody would do the same thing.
05:02So there are some weeks things work.
05:04For instance, you can play robber coverage and the 49ers can beat it, but let's say on
05:08the same play, you have robber coverage, the pass rush gets all.
05:11So there's all kinds of reasons why things happen and don't happen in a game.
05:17But to me, there was not a problem with the 49er pass game in terms of their receivers.
05:23I mean, I know he's going to be out for a number of weeks, but Samuel had a big game.
05:28They actually busted on a kiddo play early in the game for a 25 yard completion.
05:32Jennings had some plays that, you know, in the middle of the field.
05:35So I didn't really think the 49ers past game was a problem from Purdy's perspective.
05:41What about from Brandon?
05:42I use perspective and I know that these are the first two games back and he had no preseason.
05:47Are you seeing the same sort of route ability that you talked about in the preseason, his
05:52short area quickness and his ability to be at top speed and break open on routes?
06:00You know, I'm not studying him on every single play.
06:02You know, you have to understand one thing.
06:04A lot of times, you know, plays are called and it might be a read to one side of the
06:09field.
06:10And if he's not on that side of the field, then, you know, he's not going to be involved
06:14in the progression necessarily.
06:16You would expect that as the season progresses, that he'll be more involved.
06:21Don't forget, he missed a lot of time.
06:24So it's just, it would just be normal.
06:26And again, I'm not going to say this is true or not, because I'm not studying him on every
06:29play, but it would just be normal for him not to be at the level that, you know, that
06:35he can be at based on his physical abilities, because he missed a lot of time and it no
06:40matter how much, let's say running he did on the outside, it's not the same as participating
06:45in camp and it's not the same as playing in games.
06:48So it will probably take him a little time.
06:51And I'm sure now with Samuel out, McCaffrey still being out.
06:55And then to be honest with you guys, I'm a little concerned about McCaffrey and the way
06:59this all played out.
07:00I'm just worried he might end up missing the season.
07:02But again, who knows?
07:04But but I'm sure IU will become a bigger factor now going forward, because Samuel will be
07:08out.
07:09Senior producer of NFL films, Greg Cosell is with us here on Willard & Dibbs, 95-7 the
07:14game.
07:15Greg, I've heard from a lot of NFL people I respect who break down the videos and whatnot.
07:19The setup on defense on the 97-yard touchdown to Justin Jefferson really put the Dibbs in
07:26a bad spot and didn't make any sense.
07:29What did you see on that particular play?
07:33Well, I can describe what happened on the play.
07:36You know, I mean, the Vikings shifted to a two-by-two set.
07:42Both tight ends were aligned to the closed boundary and stacked, and there was stacked
07:45wins to the field.
07:47It was play action.
07:48It was a shot play.
07:49They went seven-man protection.
07:51Naylor was the outside receiver in the stacked look.
07:56He ran the deep over route, and Jefferson from the inside ran the corner post.
08:02Now post safety Brown, JR Brown, he was late to react to Jefferson, so he allowed him to
08:07get over the top.
08:09As a post safety, if anybody runs a post route, that's your responsibility.
08:13He did not play his responsibility properly.
08:16If he played his responsibility properly, that throw would not have been there.
08:21So, you know, my guess is, you know, I don't listen to all the interviews of teams after
08:27games.
08:28My guess is Brown probably said that he didn't play his responsibility properly, because
08:33he didn't.
08:34Yeah, and as a result, Jefferson got deep and got over the top and was able to score
08:39from 97 yards out.
08:41Look, it's pretty simple.
08:43If you're playing a coverage, which is essentially cover three, and so in cover three, you have
08:49a deep middle safety.
08:51If any ball's caught in the deep middle, that's the responsibility of the deep post safety.
08:56So Brown made the mistake on that play.
09:00He was late to react.
09:01Now Jefferson ran kind of a, he ran a corner post.
09:06So when Jefferson, you know, made his move toward the corner, it's possible Brown thought,
09:11okay, he's going to run a sail route and now my corner is going to be responsible for that,
09:17which I believe was Ward, because it was to that side of the field and Ward's the left
09:21corner.
09:22So he probably, I don't know, I don't know what's in his head, but he may have thought
09:27that, okay, Jefferson is now not going to be my responsibility because he's going to
09:30run to the corner.
09:32So he sort of stopped.
09:33And then when he came back on the post, Jefferson, that is Brown was, was, was too low and he
09:38couldn't get deep enough.
09:39Yeah.
09:40It looked like Ward had actually followed the over route anyway.
09:42And so there was no corner help on the backside of that.
09:46And that was one of only four plays upon which the 49ers blitzed.
09:50When you look at the tape, are you seeing a team that is relying on a four man pressure
09:55a lot?
09:57More so?
09:58Yeah.
09:59Yeah.
10:00We talked about this last week.
10:01They've got a really good four man pass rush.
10:05You know, this was an odd kind of game because the Darnold did not throw a ton of balls.
10:09This was not a game where the Vikings dropped back a lot in the game, just the way the game
10:14played out.
10:15I thought they had some issues though, in their zone coverage concepts and their predominant,
10:19they play more zone than man.
10:21And particularly in the first half, I thought there were too many voids that define the
10:26reads and the throws for Darnold and allowed him to throw within the structure of the play
10:30call.
10:31And with really good timing, I thought Naylor had an 18 yard completion reception in the
10:36first half.
10:37Jefferson had a 16 yarder on third and 13 late in the second quarter.
10:41There were two, the voids were too defined and that makes it much easier for a quarterback.
10:46Greg, I'd love your perspective on this just from years of watching Kyle Shanahan system
10:51and watching the 49er games in the last, certainly at least three years.
10:56When you hear that Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel are both going to miss a game,
11:02that makes you think what, in terms of how much the 49ers need to change a normal game
11:06plan?
11:07Well, it'll change what they can do formationally and with some motions because we know what
11:16McCaffrey can do, although I got to tell you, Jordan Mason continues to look really, really
11:21good.
11:22If I told you that they'd run for a hundred yards and Purdy would throw for over 300,
11:25you'd probably say that the 49ers would win that game.
11:28Would you not?
11:29Yeah, of course.
11:30Yep.
11:31Yeah.
11:32So, so, you know, offensively in terms of putting up yards, that was not a problem,
11:36but I, but I think in terms of what they can do going forward with what they can do with
11:39motions and formation diversity, that'll probably be limited to some degree because Samuel and
11:46McCaffrey are the two guys that really do that and give all those looks to the defense.
11:52So again, I'm not, you know, in the meetings, I don't know how Kyle coaches it.
11:57Maybe it's possible that the players who will go in can do this stuff in terms of the tactics
12:02of it.
12:03They probably can't do it as well because Samuel and McCaffrey, that's what they do.
12:08But I would imagine there'll be some limitations to what they can do from, from a motion perspective.
12:14And they're one of the highest percentage motion teams in the league.
12:17And from a, just a formation of multiplicity perspective.
12:21From this perspective of the ground game, what are you seeing differently with Jordan
12:25Mason as opposed to when McCaffrey is there?
12:28Because I'm seeing a, a run game, it's a little bit more direct inside the tackles and I'm
12:33seeing use check used more as in on the line of scrimmage blocker.
12:37What are you seeing on the film as far as the run game concepts go?
12:41Well, it's funny you say that because I thought that they actually ran the mid zone and wide
12:45zone run game really, really well.
12:48And I thought Mason, Mason showed an excellent feel for those runs, patience, vision, he's,
12:54he's really good at reading his blocks and what we call defensive gap fluidity because
12:59gaps change once the ball is snapped.
13:02They're not the same as when the, you know, before the snap of the ball, he's got short
13:06area burst, he runs with velocity, he hits it with speed.
13:09Well, you wouldn't call him shifty.
13:11He's got enough of it to navigate confined space at the second level of the defense.
13:16And he's really physically tough and competitive.
13:19I mean, he's your classic sustaining back.
13:22He gets tough, hard earned yards.
13:25Now he's obviously, you can't do with him in the past game, what McCaffrey is.
13:30And that does, you know, place a limitation on what they can do.
13:34So you know, those kinds of limitations do matter over the course of time.
13:39Which forces Kyle and his offensive staff to have to do some things differently.
13:43Greg, let's start looking ahead.
13:45I got a couple questions about this matchup with the Rams this weekend.
13:49First and foremost, right?
13:50There's no McCaffrey.
13:51There's no Debo.
13:52Guess what?
13:53There's no Cooper Cup, no Pukanukuwa.
13:54Yeah, I know.
13:55Yeah.
13:56So, so based on your, your knowledge of the Rams, how much of what they do on offense is
14:03going to be unavailable because of the loss of those two stars?
14:09Well, I mean, obviously they're going to be playing with lesser players.
14:12So I think it impacts them greatly because one thing about Naku in particular is he's
14:16phenomenal working between the numbers and in the middle of the field.
14:20They don't have a receiver now who can really do that.
14:23So I think you're going to see some creativity from Sean McVay.
14:26I think they'll try to run the ball.
14:28I thought the 49ers had some issues on the edge in the run game this past week.
14:34You saw Chandler have a number of runs to the edge.
14:38So I think you'll see them have to face a Rams offense that probably focuses a little
14:44more on the run game, assuming they can do it.
14:47Now, obviously if you're going to run the ball, you have to have some success to stay
14:50on schedule.
14:52You know, Stafford is so, so good that, you know, he is one of those quarterbacks that
14:56if he is on, he can probably throw it to anybody, but it probably for them as well, limits the
15:02kind of route concepts.
15:04They're another team that uses a ton of motion.
15:07I mean, you're dealing with two teams that use as much motion along with probably the
15:12Dolphins and obviously Mike McDaniel being there and his background, but you're seeing
15:17two teams that use motion as much as any team in the league.
15:20Yeah.
15:21Same background, obviously with McVay and Shanahan and the tree they come from.
15:25How similar are these two schemes?
15:29You're talking about McVay and Shanahan?
15:30Yeah.
15:32There are some similarities, but there's also some differences.
15:36Obviously McVay is an 11 personnel guy, meaning he plays with one back, one tight end and
15:42three wide receivers when he has all his people.
15:46So you know, that's what he's done over the recent years.
15:48They've been among the higher percentage teams in the league playing out of 11 personnel.
15:53Clearly we know that the 49ers under Kyle play probably 40, 45% of their offensive snaps
15:59out of what we call 21 personnel, meaning, you know, two backs and it's use check.
16:05So there's a difference right there that changes the way you can run the football.
16:10You know, cause use check in a sense, he's a full back slash tight end, but it just changes
16:16some of the blocking concepts in your run gate.
16:19So there are some differences there.
16:23But the use of motion is something that they both do quite a bit.
16:26So for the 49ers going up against a Ram team without Pukanuku and without Cooper Cup and
16:32likely playing a lot of 11 personnel still, would you anticipate the 49ers play a lot
16:37more base defense with three linebackers to try to stop the run game and dare Stafford
16:42to beat them with other weapons?
16:45No, I think they'll play nickel.
16:47I don't think they're going to play base defense with three linebackers against 11 personnel.
16:52I think they'll play with their nickel.
16:55And yeah, cause I mean, there's still going to be three wide receivers on the field.
16:58So I don't think they're going to play base versus three wide receivers.
17:01I mean, is it possible on maybe some first and tens they might do that, but they're not
17:06going to do that foundationally as the way in which they play the game.
17:09Greg, how deep of a dive did you do on the trenches in that Niner Viking game?
17:15There's some individuals I'd love to ask you about if you, if you got a really good look.
17:20I mean, sometimes I do.
17:22It depends who you want to ask me about.
17:25Let me throw a couple of names at you.
17:26You tell me what you saw.
17:28One on the defensive side, Javon Hargrave, big free agent signing a year ago.
17:33He's been disappointing.
17:34What are you seeing if anything?
17:38I mean, I think Hargrave is a better pass rusher than he is a run defender overall.
17:42I think as a pass rusher, he's, he's very powerful and he's really good driving, you
17:48know, interior alignment back into the pocket.
17:50But I think that's his game more than, than being a run defender.
17:54So, you know, I, I didn't study him specifically in this game, but that's who he is as a player.
17:59And then on the other side of the ball, there's some videos starting to circulate today that
18:03are not too kind to Niner center, Jake Brendel.
18:08Like whatever of the six sacks and the breakdowns there, what, what did you see up the middle?
18:13Oh, I mean, they got a couple of sacks on stunts, which had nothing to do with Brendel.
18:19I mean, so again, I, I didn't view him and I wasn't studying him.
18:24I'm being honest on, you know, on every play, obviously, but I didn't come away from watching
18:28the tape and seeing those sacks thinking, man, that Brendel had a really bad game.
18:34I thought there were some really well-schemed stunts that, that were able to get home.
18:40You know, I, I think that and those stunts did not involve Brendel.
18:45So, you know, it's very possible he had some bad snaps, but I don't think he was the
18:50reason that the offensive line may have struggled on, you know, in some pass protections.
18:54The 49ers have really relied on two defensive ends, and I think that Nick Bosa had a pretty
18:59good game in week two, but what are you seeing overall from this Niners pass rush through
19:04two weeks so far?
19:07You know, I think, look, it's two games.
19:11I think you're dealing with, with two guys, Bosa is, is a dominant player.
19:17You talk to O'Leinman, which I have, because I've been fortunate enough to go to events
19:20where there's O'Leinman and they talk about Bosa in just glowing terms, the kind of player
19:25that he is.
19:26So there's no problem with Bosa.
19:28I think Floyd's a solid pass rusher on the other side.
19:31He's totally different than Bosa, so he's a totally different kind of player.
19:36And then you have the interior players.
19:38Like I said, Hargrave's best, the best part of his game is pass rush.
19:42Collins is, I've always liked Malik Collins a lot.
19:46You know, obviously they play other players, they play Gibbons, he gets snaps.
19:50But I don't think the pass rush is going to be an issue.
19:53You know, I think that that down four, particularly when those guys are in, in, in pure pass situations
19:59is a really good force them to rush the quarterback.
20:02Greg, real quick, I'd love to just ask you about the three surprising two and O teams
20:07in the NFC.
20:08Get your take on the sustainability of what they're doing, the Saints, Bucks and Vikings.
20:14Well, the Saints, I have found, and I've seen both of their games, both sides of the ball
20:18on tape.
20:19I think the Saints have really looked good through two games.
20:24Again, as you said, short sample size, but two things that are probably overlooked about
20:28the Saints, because everybody will want to talk about Derek Carr and all, you know, that's
20:32everybody wants to talk about the quarterback.
20:34I think their O line through two games has been phenomenal.
20:38Athletic, physical, really strong points.
20:42There's a perfect example where when you watch tape, it jumps out.
20:45Like I'm not saying, Oh, I better watch the O line, but it jumps out when you watch their
20:48tape.
20:49And the other thing is I think they have a really, really good defense.
20:53And Dennis Allen, when you talk to offensive coaches in the league, they will tell you
20:57that he is very difficult to play against.
21:00And they've got really good players at all three levels of their defense.
21:04And he does a lot of things.
21:06There's a lot of versatility with use of personnel and with tactics.
21:10So I've been really, really impressed with the Saints through two weeks.
21:13Greg, we're always really, really impressed with your visits, man.
21:17Thank you so much for coming on, as always.
21:19Thanks, guys.
21:20Really appreciate it.