• 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00We're gonna talk it out with our next guest who's played the game. He's played it for the Niners. You know him, of course
00:04That's JT O'Sullivan joining us on the River Islands guest line. Hey JT. What's cooking man?
00:11Willard dibs. What's up, man? Happy Friday. Do you as well man? So
00:17We're bebopping through your breakdown, which is beefy man. That's a beefy breakdown of the Chiefs and Niners that you did
00:25You know, I'm not sure it's a good sign that a lot of my videos are getting longer and longer
00:29It just makes me feel like I'm getting older and angrier
00:32Join the club
00:35That does happen but but yeah your reaction
00:39To a lot of what took place I found interesting look Brandon
00:43I used out for the year, but based on what you've seen on film
00:47What what has been going on this year in terms of Brandon and Brock being on the same page? I
00:55Mean I feel like it got off to a rocky start, right?
00:59You don't get the time that you would normally get in camp. You have some struggles early on you have some drops
01:05You know, you're missing a handful of the Avengers. It never feels like you quite got the entire cast there
01:10So you're always it just felt like there were always maybe some
01:13Spot miss spots in the past that were kind of able to overcome because of personnel those blind spots now
01:20Become a little bit more exposed a little bit more obvious
01:23When you know, there aren't quite as many weapons and things aren't going quite as
01:28Clean as they have been kind of on schedule in the past few years
01:32And so certain things that I think have been issues over the last few years are now just more aware more often
01:40Because they're you know playing from behind
01:42Having to drop back and throw it having to get exposed having to get away from things that have been great in the past
01:48Are just a little bit tougher now and how much of that having different personnel affects the quarterbacks timing and I'm thinking about the second
01:56Interception to Ronnie Bell where they clearly weren't on the same page as a quarterback
02:00Does that make you a little bit more tentative when you don't have your usual guys out there?
02:05Hell, yeah. Yeah, I mean, especially when your usual guys are really really good. And so yeah, absolutely
02:12It's going to you know
02:13Just just the overall feel from being in the huddle when you know
02:17You've got a handful of pro bowlers all pro elite guys in the huddle
02:21So now all of a sudden you're missing a few pieces
02:23Now the course of the game you're missing even more pieces now
02:27You've got to deal with an injury in real time
02:28And so those things get magnified compound and you know
02:32You the output is usually a performance like that where there are throws where you're like
02:36There's no way we're missing that throw by that many yards. There's obviously some sort of disconnect between communication
02:43Expectation attention to detail all of the above JT O'Sullivan with us Willard and dibs few times
02:49You noted JT that Brock Purdy's footwork looked off a could you explain that to our audience and B?
02:56Is that something that you see often with him or just in this game?
03:01No, I mean, I personally would say that I really like Brock's footwork
03:05And what I mean by that to me is is
03:08Consistency of his lower half his base his ability to get the ball off quickly play on time on rhythm
03:14There's very little wasted movement. It felt like things felt a little bit sped up for him
03:20He's had a little bit more what I would consider wasted movement where our feet quite aren't where they're supposed to be now
03:25Maybe and some of that is certainly due to pressure and or hops or protections and that's a whole different
03:31Conversation probably but the idea of just being comfortable and being decisive
03:36You know, I think that was one of the things that was so really remarkable about Brock's kind of
03:42Insurgents into this office. He's always looked comfortable in the system
03:46And then when you see it not look like that
03:49You've got to start peeling back the kind of the layers and say well, how did we get here?
03:53Obviously, we've got some personnel issues. Obviously things are a little bit different when we aren't relying on the best running back in the game
04:00We don't have that dynamic play pass tethered to that run game. We can't formation and motion people
04:06We've got a drop back and throw it, you know, are we built to do that pass pro wise?
04:10Are we built to do that scheme wise all those questions now start to kind of compound and now you look a little bit more
04:16Unsettled you mentioned hots and pressures and it seems like they're not going to as many hots and it feels like there's more pressure than
04:23Ever are you looking at the scheme and seeing them maybe being too?
04:28Married to downfield throws as opposed to previous years. I
04:32Mean I don't know if I would say it to that
04:34I would say this past week it felt like Brock was a little bit more
04:38Aggressive down the field and maybe he has been in the past and what I mean by that
04:42It's easy to nitpick on the film when you take a shot
04:45You don't hit it and there's somebody else open underneath and so that's one of those things where maybe that was the plan
04:50Maybe they knew they needed to push the ball down the field that week
04:53You know, there could be any number of different reasons why you would do that
04:56I think the thing for me that that is that has always been a concern with this unit
05:01They are so elite so good at so many certain so many things offensively scheme wise specifically run game play action
05:08That intermediate in breaker route that he can throw with anticipation and timing when you can't do that
05:14So now we have to throw it now. We're down, you know, it's always been the question. Can we come back?
05:20Can we do that consistently in the drop back game and rely on him to make all the throws, you know
05:25To get the ball out that for the drop back game to have the answers
05:28That quite frankly you see many other places have that may be major in it when the 49ers probably minor in it
05:36JT when Kyle Shanahan in recent years has been three and four or three and five
05:42He's been really good at making an adjustment midseason and and getting things going the other way
05:49What what adjustment do you think he needs to make right now?
05:53I
05:54Mean the adjustment that's gonna help a lot is when Christian McCaffrey comes back. I sure I mean
05:59That's gonna make me feel a hell of a lot better and it's one of those things where yeah
06:03And you know, I always joke like captain obvious like yeah
06:06You need your best players to play at a high level and that and that's what it's for
06:09If we're if we're taking more of the scheme centric, you know play calling element of it
06:15You know, I don't know if there's a way
06:18I don't think there's any evidence to think that he is going to necessarily change or really
06:22No, I'm not. I don't want to say shouldn't I think that there has been evidence in the past?
06:27That a more adaptive approach at the line of scrimmage whether that's how the quarterback reads it
06:33So what I would consider like a pure progression centric offense, which I would say that they have in the passing game
06:39Verse in an option where you can go up there and based on the coverage
06:43You can dictate where the ball goes and a little bit more flexibility at the line of scrimmage
06:48And I think Brock has earned this opportunity
06:50to be able to have a few a little bit more latitude to feel like he's protected because when you turn on the film and
06:56there's a disconnect between the pass pro unit and
06:59Where it looks like Brock's eyes are and where his hot or sighted just throws are there's a disconnect there
07:05I think those are things that there's way too many smart people on that side of the ball in that
07:10Organization to have that on film
07:12And so I feel like those are the types of things that you would be surprised if they don't get fixed
07:18But I would have said that three years ago too. And so they haven't been fixed and to me
07:21It's just how they play offense and how they play offense
07:25Is that kind of the norm the league now where audibles aren't really what they used to be and now audibles are more like
07:31You know having a another play already called in the huddle and then you can default to that. I
07:38Mean I probably think you know, some of this is like a semantics conversation with the audibles, right?
07:44I don't think that there has ever been a quarterback
07:46That's just had the latitude to go anywhere
07:49They want in the volume of an offense to call whatever they want like people might want to cite like Peyton Manning and all the
07:54Craziness he did at the line of scrimmage
07:56but even then I would bet that there was a menu of things like guys just don't have the capacity to hold a
08:01Mint like a cheesecake factory menu of plays and be like I'm gonna get to it with this look on the line of scrimmage
08:06It just doesn't work that way. And so I think that there are different ways that football has adjusted
08:13for the quarterback in the pass protection unit to be able to make real-time changes at the line scrimmage as far as
08:18declarations who were going to where we're hot that it just looks like this offense hasn't and so I
08:25Think that they absolutely could
08:27but it's one of those things for whatever reason they haven't and when you look across the landscape of the league you see a lot
08:32Of quarterbacks at the line of scrimmage. It sure looks like they're re declaring the protection
08:37You know, you see guys like Caleb Williams. It's not it's not a totally different system that he's running in Chicago
08:42Caleb's a rookie Caleb sure looks like he's declaring the protections for the line
08:47and so it's one of those things where Brock doesn't have to do it all the time and I don't think
08:51Anybody in that building wants him with that kind of responsibility at the line of scrimmage
08:55The offense is very good operating as it is
08:58But on crucial down-to-distance and gotta have at moments for him to have the flexibility the command and the
09:05Capacity to do it feels like you're you're you're not operating at the max capacity of the offense if you're not allowing him to grow
09:12Into that JTO Sullivan is with us here on Willard and dibs 95-7 the game JT
09:18You've mentioned McCaffrey a couple times and and fans get it, right?
09:22Obviously, he's great
09:22But Jordan Mason has done so many good things that I do think there have been games where people are like, no, it's fine
09:29Can you sort of detail what the difference is in terms of what's it? What's it Kyle Shanahan's disposal?
09:36With Christian in there instead of Mason
09:41Well, I mean I would say
09:43Christian is one of the best offensive weapons in the league like he can literally is a great running backtail back in the backfield
09:49But he also has the capacity to pass protect
09:52He's also got the past to me to spread out and run an entire NFL wide receiver route tree
09:57They run choices and options to him all the time. He's got the ability to run double moves down the field
10:02He's what makes that kind of dynamic 21 personnel with use checks
10:06So electric because all those guys when they're all healthy can literally line up anywhere so you can have
10:13You know, you can have the tight end in the backfield. You can have the fullback at wide receiver
10:16You can do all these crazy motions and the defense doesn't know what to do
10:19And so it it makes the looks on defense have to be vanilla
10:22When you've got a back back there who is it having a great time running the ball?
10:27But he's not that dynamic threat in the passing game
10:30Maybe he has some mental errors in the pass protection world and we get exposed
10:34Those types of things just don't happen with a guy like Christian consistently
10:37And does this also affect the offense when you put in Ricky Pierce all who's just played one game and Jacob Cowling may have to
10:44Play more this week. Does that limit what Kyle can do knowing that he's got inexperienced wide receivers out there
10:50Who maybe don't know all the nuances of his offense. I
10:55Would imagine it certainly does it feels like over the course of the career with Shanahan in multiple stops
11:02It's always been kind of hard and maybe it's because I think he's a former wide receiver
11:06The volume that he asked those guys to carry and do in the detail that goes into play in that position there
11:11I can think of early when Iuke was in the program in the organization being frustrated with some of the usage
11:16And so it's a lot to have all that nuance and detail at the wide receiver position when maybe you're not used to that at
11:22the college game
11:23So to come into a robust system and be asked to do it
11:27You're probably not going to be asked to do the full catalog of things and that's certainly gonna handcuff
11:31The entire unit and you can see it. I mean just this past week
11:34I thought they did a great job attacking the middle of the field burst the Chiefs, but they did it with Kittle
11:40You know, there were there just weren't that many opportunities the opportunities for the younger guys they turned into you know a disaster interception
11:47They turned into looking like, you know
11:49We're not quite ready for the ball on certain crossers over the middle of the field
11:52It just looked totally disconnected from when we have you know
11:56I you got there
11:57He's running at full speed and they've had the full camp together and they're locked in and this unit is rolling the ball in the run
12:03Game, it just looked and feels totally different. Yeah JT you said that I mean
12:07It's clearly one of Brock Purdy's worst performances, but that he also didn't get a lot of help
12:12What what did you mean by that offensive line receivers not getting open? What what would you see?
12:18Well, I mean, I think early in the game are you kind of drop on a corner?
12:22That was a perfectly thrown ball. You know, you hit a big chunk like that all of a sudden
12:26You've got some momentum going I feel like there were certainly issues with the pass protection where he didn't hit
12:33You know, there was one play-action shot where they've got the guard and the tight end falling over each other
12:37And so things like that you you're not getting any help
12:40You've got it
12:41If you're not operating at a full capacity with your talent on the perimeter
12:45You need everybody else to be able to not necessarily step up but just be consistent in their job their role counted on you
12:52Can't have a different air at a different spot every other play
12:56That's gonna make the whole unit look like it's a dumpster fire
12:58And that's kind of what it felt like when you look at the entirety of the game
13:02Yeah, and it was a bit of a struggle especially
13:04You know early on where they went three and out a couple of times and then Brock through that that first pick
13:09I want to go back to that third interception. He threw and they got down to the five-yard line
13:13What did you see in that interception where he was pressured and he threw it into what felt like triple triple team trouble coverage?
13:23Yeah, I mean, I don't know if there is a good excuse there for me to kind of lay out for a pretty to make
13:27Sense of that. I'm not sure what he said about the play
13:29I would imagine it's one of those things were in a situation like that. You'd rather just eat it and have the sack
13:34It's a kind of a counterintuitive thing actually in the tight red zone because the tight red zone meaning like the 10 and in
13:40It's really not the end of the world to take a sack there because the field goal for these guys nowadays is so easy at
13:46That chip shot type of range. You really don't want to put the ball in harm's way
13:51So just feeling like and again
13:53There were many examples of this but feeling like he just forced it and was not necessarily out of character or aggressive because I think
14:00He's been aggressive in the past and been able to make plays and extend
14:03I think it's one of those things where it just felt so forced all day a couple times and that was just another
14:09Example of it and it just was way too much in that moment. You don't give yourself a chance
14:13JT a lot of the people listening have an emotional attachment to the 49ers
14:19One of the reasons I love talking to you is you can kind of take that emotion out of it
14:23When you look at the 49ers on film right now sure, there's the injuries the obvious stuff
14:28But take the emotion out of it. Do you think it's gonna be okay? Like do you think they're gonna figure this out?
14:35Well, I mean what's okay like okay like winning the Super Bowl or okay
14:39Like we're gonna be when the division be successful in the playoffs. I absolutely think that's okay
14:45Okay, I think you still have one of the absolute best play callers
14:49And proven one of the better head coaches across the league
14:52You've got a quarterback who's proven that he can play well for the vast majority of the time
14:56You got a lot of weapons. Hopefully many of them will be coming back healthy soon, you know, I
15:02Do they feel like they're at the top?
15:04Escalon of the league maybe where they have been in the last few years not right now, but it's only October
15:09I mean, you know if they're playing like this at the end of December then it probably will be me a little bit more nervous
15:16But man, you know, I still think it's one of the best systems
15:20One of the best offensive rosters huddles when they're fully healthy. They just have to get there
15:24I agree with you
15:26But when I watch the games and I never played in the NFL I tried but didn't make it out of on flag football as a
15:32Nine-year-old, but do you see?
15:34Defenses that have maybe caught on to or caught up with the Kyle Shanahan system
15:40Well, I mean, I don't know if I would say defenses
15:42I feel like you right like the beautiful thing about the NFL is it's so reactionary, right?
15:47We've got all this time between games. But when you're talking about the Chiefs, you're talking about one of the best defensive coordinators
15:52You're talking about some very good coverage guys some very what I would call elite sticky
15:59Multiple looks on the back end kind of unit and they've got a great player in Chris Jones
16:04It is a disruptor a game wrecker at the line of scrimmage
16:07So from that standpoint has that unit caught up to him, you know, absolutely
16:11there were reps in that game where it looked like spags and company knew what was coming before it the 49er snapped the ball as
16:19far as
16:19Different leverage that looked like it was unexpected where you know
16:23They're trying to run in and the defenders inside leverage and they've got no chance stuff like that to me
16:28Feels like you got steamed up a little bit. But do I think the entire league has the capacity to do that? No way
16:34Hmm JT great stuff, man. Thank you so much for spending some time with us
16:39No problem guys, have a good one