How Far Can the 49ers Go? Panthers-49ers Week 12 MNF Recap & Latest QB News

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Purty takes the snap, another toss play to McCaffrey gets to the edge on the left side.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Black from us check is.

00:00:05
Speaker 1: To the fast I want to speak into the e zone touchdown. What a beautiful play and that was vintage San Francisco clinic blocking.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: Yes, it was vintage Christian McCaffrey all night long, at least when his quarterback wasn't throwing the ball away. The forty nine Ers steamroll the Panthers twenty to nine on Monday Night Football. That was one of let's count him up. Twenty four carries, seven catches, thirty one touches for over one hundred and forty yards from scrimmage for Christian McCaffrey, who gets it done each and every week, as does Nick Shook, as does Justin Allegri. By the way, on KNBR, thank you for that forty nine Ers cruise, Shookie. And I'll start with this big picture. I'm not going to drill down on the McCaffrey of it all. Let's talk big picture. How dangerous do you think this forty nine Ers team is at eight and four with games against the Titans and Browns up next than a bye, they are very likely to be sitting ten and four in mid December, entering a tough final slate. How dangerous do you think this forty nine Ers team is?

00:01:22
Speaker 4: I mean very dangerous because they're most likely going to show up as a wildcard team. They're gonna be a wild card team that's gonna be able to take down a lesser division winner, which is the first step in improving your dangerousness to the rest of the league. It's also a team that has proven to be a great case study in how giving yourself a good backup quarterback and organizational cohesiveness can lead you through the fire like they have had enough injuries to derail their season. They've had previous seasons get derailed by injuries this team. No, yes, you lose, Fred Warner, guess what you gave up nine points to the Carolina Panthers tonight. You completely shut down their offense. Yes, de Brock party for a long time. Yeah, had Mac Jones to step in and the unifying factor to all of this. And I'm a little concerned about this because I just looked at his total touches going into tonight is Christian McCaffrey. It's it's kind of absurd. The amount of times he's touched the football this year. Like mental math, which I'm not very good at, so forgive me, but I believe he came into the game tonight with two hundred and sixty seven total touches and add another what thirty two tonight?

00:02:22
Speaker 2: What does that put us at two ninety nine?

00:02:24
Speaker 3: Oh my yeah, I think it was thirty one. So that is insane. He's almost over three hundred touches. People like, oh, well, you know, you gotta try to It's like, that's that's what we heard about Saquon Barkley, by the way, all off season. Oh, you know, the total touches. He'll be fine. And now you look, and I don't think it's a coincidence. Saquon Barkley is happening.

00:02:42
Speaker 2: They're here, Niners are here a career.

00:02:44
Speaker 3: But they're here. And that's that's kind of the long term view. I gotta say. McCaffrey, I think has looked better as this season has worn on, So you definitely don't see it affecting him on the field tonight. Yet he actually had his longest run I believe, of the season. No, he had a seventeen yard run in the second half and a nineteen yard catch. He did have a twenty yarder last week. But at least they're getting close to explosive plays that actually counts as an explosive. And here's another thing. They're good enough to overcome their quarterback throwing three interceptions in the first half. And I couldn't have been the only person that was thinking back about the Mac Jones brock Purty scale, and I was saying, you know, mac Jones climbed higher than I expected on the Kyle Shanahan quarterback scale. I think he passed Jimmy g and he's definitely below rock Purty. But tonight, you know, Mac Jones, I don't think would have been throwing those picks. It is a little bit of a concern in the short term. I'm not concerned about brock Purty in the long term. But it's now two games and if you went back and watched that performance last week, the ball just kind of came out funny. I thought last week, like, yeah, it didn't look great, and he had a two throws in that game that probably could have or should have been intercepted. And in this game, especially early, he had the three picks, and then after that he only almost threw a couple more at the at the end of the second quarter, You're thinking, what is going on here? As long as he wasn't throwing the ball in Harm's way, this offense looked awesome tonight, long drives in everything. What is your concern level of where Purdy is that.

00:04:14
Speaker 4: I mean, some of it feels like it's maybe rust because he just hasn't been on the field in so long. And then you also think about like how much is like they gave him a considerable amount of time to come back from the tow issue, but it wasn't the only ailment he was dealing with, at least earlier in the season.

00:04:26
Speaker 2: What I see is a ball that has too much air under it.

00:04:29
Speaker 4: Consistently, it doesn't come out with the same zip as it did I don't know, maybe last season or early this season, which makes me think that's foot related, as if he's not, you know, using his legs enough in his throwing motion. Like the first pick in the end zone left too much air under it and it ends up short. Second one kind of the same situation a little bit late on that throw, and then the third one was a great play by Jay z Horne but that's three play three series in a row where you're turning the ball over via interception. A better team makes you pay for that, and you maybe lose this game. And it's not to you know, rain on the forty nine ers parade for winning on Monday night football. But if you're going to be as good as possible, your quarterback has to be a big part of that. You have paid him a lot of money, You have built a lot of your identity offensively around him. It is a testament to Kyle Shanahan that you can acknowledge that maybe we don't need him or want him to carry us to victory, and we're just gonna lean on Christian McCaffrey and we're gonna become a bog constrict offense. We're gonna march down the field in ten plus plays in three of our four scoring drives. We're gonna take up at least six and a half minutes in three of those four scoring drives. And the one that didn't is because they had great field position after a takeaway.

00:05:27
Speaker 2: And that's fine.

00:05:28
Speaker 4: That you control time of possession on the road and in the playoffs, you're gonna win football games provided your quarterback doesn't give away the football too much, so level of concern pretty high, but he does have enough runway to iron it out, and I think a lot of it is still due to roughs.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're a great comment in the chat. Thank you to everyone who's joining us live on YouTube, and obviously thank you to everyone that's checking out NFL daily in your feed. We love you. We got a full week of shows here in Thanksgiving week, and look like those three interceptions, they were bad throws. He only had nine in completions, So I would say of those nine incompletions, like the Panthers got their hands on about six or seven of them. I could go check the box score in terms of pass the defense the rest of them. Like, he made the right decisions for the most part, even the decision on the interception to Piersall, for instance in the end zone where he steps up and he passes up a couple open receivers underneath. I don't even hate the decision, neither Detroy Aikman. But I thought the same thing where it's like, yeah, Pearsall had him one on one, and if he had a better ball location, Like I like Pearsall's chance with a little bit of leverage and his athleticism of making a play on the ball, and it's just the ball's not going where he wants it to go. So that's a concern. Sometimes the schedule gods help you out. And this is not a good Panthers defense, and they definitely got a lot worse when j C. Horn, who had two interceptions in this game. It was nice to see one of the star young Panthers players show up early. I mean he was in perty's head. He got his hands on another ball early. You pointed out on Twitter he looked great, and then he goes for a concussion test. And if it wasn't for that, man like, the Panthers defense just couldn't get off the field. They are not a serious defense. I think it's a reminder we're talking about the forty nine ers is like, okay, their defense shook, probably is not going to hold up in the playoff setting, at least not against like Seattle or LA if they had to play them. I think that'd be pretty dangerous in most other games. But it's nothing like the Panthers defense, Like there's still even if there's not necessarily that much more talent and there's probably a little more talent still in San Francisco. They're just better coached and especially playing at home, like they played with their hair on fire, and I know the Panthers offenses looked like that on a lot of nights in this season. But they've had their good games too, including last week. And the forty nine ers defense plays with a level of aggression and they're well coached. It was impressive to us.

00:07:55
Speaker 2: That's the key.

00:07:56
Speaker 4: They're well coached and they're able. I mean, because I think they made it really difficult for Bryce going to do anything tonight. Now, Bryce Young had his share of mistakes. He had his interceptions that he threw too, and the first one that he threw in the end zone was a gift to the forty nine ers after they'd given them the ball at the nine ers sixteen.

00:08:09
Speaker 2: It was a late throw.

00:08:11
Speaker 4: It was it was probably a full second late. It was a bad decision being thrown into traffic, and it was delivered with a casual nature that's typical of like an end of half hail Mary, not a play where you're rolling out on the goal line and when you could potentially run it in. And I think that's what started the downfall of this offense throughout the rest of the night because outside of the red zone opportunities, Bryce Young just looked like he was never really confident. And that is a testament to this Niners defense. Despite all the players that they've lost, they still have guys in their making plays and the most important thing, like you said, they're well coached. They're disciplined no matter who's in there. Maybe you don't have the elite athlete like a Fred Warner, but you got guys who are going to consistently get their job done within every play, and that's gonna make it tough for an offense with the ceiling that is really only raised by a big Rico dabble rushing game, Like, it's gonna make it tough for that offense to move the ball if they can't run the ball, which has been the Panther story all year.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: Can we get a little more Rico Daddle and Chuba Hubbard in this game he.

00:09:05
Speaker 4: Gets a carry for two yards and a carry for three yards. They're just like, we're just not gonna run the ball for the next ten minutes. It's frustrating.

00:09:12
Speaker 3: Here's the thing though, like Rico Dada went six for thirty eight. Tonight, Chuba Hubbard went three for sixteen. They only had nine runs, and so I see their design success rate. You know, it's a bad night for your design success rate, which is one of my favorite stats when I can tell like, oh, they were four for nine, Like that was their design success rate because they only ran the ball nine times, Like that's four for nine, Like that's crazy. True. Bryce Young ran it four other times, but those were scrambles, so they dropped back to pass thirty six times. And there were there were just a lot of not ready for primetime moments. Like literally, this Panthers team, when was the last time they were in a real primetime game. They had so many different moments that they just felt not ready. I think you picked the most important one, which is that first Bryce Young interception after they get the short field after their turnover. I mean, the game was just drunk early with those brock Party interceptions and Christian McCaffrey tried to fumble it at one point, but the Panthers couldn't fall on the ball. What was your favorite Panthers not ready for primetime moment? Hmmm? Putting you on the spot, m that's a great one.

00:10:18
Speaker 4: Uh, this is early, but I think it hurt their offensive momentum ted mcmillion dropping a wide open down that was one of them right there, Like that killed that drive.

00:10:27
Speaker 2: There was a.

00:10:27
Speaker 4: Scenario early in this game, I think where the Panthers faced four and three and Canalis had them rush up the line a bit of a muddle huddle and then immediately was like nope, punt, Like they just they didn't come with the aggression that you need to win a game on the road.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: Like that, Like Gus is what I'm talking about, gotless punt.

00:10:41
Speaker 3: We're on the same wavelength. I wrote down a feud not ready for prime time moments, and that was like two of the two of the five I wrote down, Like hell yeah, Canalis losing a little, a little love, a little like hood spots. Like they've been going for those four downs all year, which I've appreciated, and they've been a better offense than what they showed tonight and they punt there. You mentioned McMillan, and yeah, Jordan was texting with me tonight and she was just pointing out like he just wasn't physical enough tonight. He was getting bodied around a couple of times. It's just too bad to see because I think he's had an incredible year, and he did make some catches later, but it was not a great night.

00:11:17
Speaker 4: I would like to quote Jared Allen here and say that I think the lights were too bright.

00:11:22
Speaker 3: Mmm. It did kind of feel like that for them as a team or they Then again, I've seen them play some pretty terrible games at ten am Pacific this year too. That's the thing with this Panthers team, why even though they came into this game six and five, it was hard to really take them too seriously, not only the underlying like DVOA and all those sort of numbers, but in five of in like four of those five losses, they've just looked horrible, and they've looked like tonight where they're not competitive offensively. Xavier Lagett had his kind of one brain fart of the game where he went out of bounds late and then didn't re establish himself, just completely lost where he was. And then when I hate it when a team makes the extra point but there's a penalty on it. Shout out to JJ Jansen getting a little uh yes, yes, okay, he was a host. By the way of NFL Daily over the summer. That was a great episode with Jordan. And so they make the extra point and then they moved the ball from the two to the one and they're like, oh, we got to go for it now. That one yard made such a difference, And I'm thinking, okay, does it first of all, doesn't really make that much of a difference. And the answer is absolutely not if you throw the ball. Troy Aikman made the same rant that I was all ready to make. I had written it down. I'm like, I'm what's the difference of throwing the ball at the one or the two? And also, why are you confident in Bryce Young in that situation? He had no one opened to throw to it.

00:12:48
Speaker 4: Just just why every moment in which they had a chance to build momentum they took it out on themselves and that.

00:12:55
Speaker 2: Was one of them.

00:12:55
Speaker 4: And yes, I don't care what you think about momentum, because in a game like this you need a little bit on your side, especially the amount of comeback.

00:13:00
Speaker 2: In the fourth career point.

00:13:01
Speaker 4: You just had your best scoring drive of the night, your only touchdown drive of the night. You had a great ball to Teed McMillan in the back of the end zone, and what do you do.

00:13:09
Speaker 2: You get greedy?

00:13:11
Speaker 4: Let just take the extra point, make it ten points. At that point, I think they were only down by seven.

00:13:17
Speaker 2: Take that.

00:13:18
Speaker 4: It's fine. The one yard closer and you're not going to run the football. It doesn't matter. And what I also hate is that when you are down by that margin, and this is so pervasive in the NFL, and analytics says you should do this, but in my opinion, why would you go for two? And the thought is, well, if you go for two the first time, then you know what you need the second time. I don't care if you know what you need the second time, because I know what I need the second time, two extra points to tie the game, because if I don't get the two point conversion the first time, I have to get the two point conversion the second time to tie it. Obviously, they were never in a position to do that, but had they encountered that, had they lost by that narrow margin, you can go right back to that first decision, which is why I think it's dumb every time greed does not pay off in this game.

00:13:55
Speaker 3: Okay, let's actually listen to that touchdown throw so we can see something positive out of the Panthers and breakdown.

00:14:02
Speaker 1: Bryce and the gun Robert has been in all drive Young in the pocket pro steep down field, has a man open caught by McMillan, the California Connection, Bryce Young to Tenroa McMillan ay twenty nine yard touchdown, and it's all one score game, seventeen to nine with forty nine seconds to go in the third.

00:14:25
Speaker 2: You hear that that seventeen to nine as an ooh, they got a chance to get back into it. They look kind of.

00:14:31
Speaker 4: Good there yet until you missed the two point conversion, you're right back to where you were before.

00:14:35
Speaker 3: You know, that decision didn't cost them the game, but it was just annoying. I also didn't like them trying a fifty seven yarder at the very end of the game instead of just going for a fourth and eight, like because they were trying to cut it to eight from fifty seven yards out, like that's some sort of automatic and maybe I'm just judging the result. I love the comment here. I assume it's from a Panther fan who says his son is out of his mind worried about having a too short king for years now as a too short king like it's a fine way to be in the world. There are a lot of advantages on planes. It's just way more comfortable. We have a too short family here. We're all very happy. I think we're a good looking family. We all get along. It keeps you humble. But to play quarterback in the NFL, I do think it's a little bit of a negative.

00:15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit for it. Although although putting too short in quotes just makes me think of the rapper too short Bay Area legend. Appropriate for tonight.

00:15:42
Speaker 3: And yeah, thank thank you to the viewer who's saying I'm a perfectly short king. Okay, let's move on quick soon, and we are going to give a little love to one of the members of the forty nine ers. Yes, it is time for who Delivered, presented by Uber Eats. And I think the winner tonight has to be George Kittle, just because we haven't given him any love. Six catches for seventy eight yards. I also noticed him having some like flashy bot blocks in this game. It was almost like look at me blocks, which I love. Like him getting on the ground, getting dirty, and he's looked more explosive over the last couple of weeks and he has been absolutely great and is going to be crucial. I do think this offense, I think there's a path to win a playoff game against a team like the Packers or the Lions, or a team that has had enough offensive problems that you don't think or the Eagles that you don't think they'll necessarily fully punish what this defense is all about. And the reason I think there's a path shook is that I do think by the time the playoffs hit, brock Purdy could be playing better. And with Kittle and Jennings and pearsall who was pretty quiet tonight, and McCaffrey, even Brian Robinson as a backup, you got used check out there like they could put up thirty five in any game, and with their coaching staff, like I just think they have a chance to put a scare into someone or win a playoff game or two, which to me would be like a massively successful season. Two would be a little shocking, But even making the playoffs for this team, to me, will be an accomplishment, and I do think they will get there.

00:17:21
Speaker 4: You'd have to catch fire to win two playoff games. That would definitely exceed my expectation for them. But I do think that Kittle, being who delivered tonight is a great choice for multiple reasons, one the most important one being while we spend all this time focusing on Christian McCaffrey, I actually think it's George Kittle that unlocks this offense, and it's because of his rapport with Brock Party, and it's also because of the way that.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: He just kind of levels out their passing.

00:17:45
Speaker 4: Game because he's such a good blocker, but he's also a great, you know, threat in the passing game. He can make, you know, very athletic plays. He can serve as a reliable target. But that Brock Party has an extended rapport with all of that can kind of come together open up everything else for your receivers around you. You get yourself back from injury. You know, he played to night, and you got Jennings and everything else. I just think like you take Kittle out of the mix, that offense goes down a few notches, whereas with him involved, you're at a much higher ceiling, and then you can kind of use everybody.

00:18:11
Speaker 2: Else that you just listed.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: And I also think that what we saw tonight could be the formula for the forty nine ers. Winning a playoff game is by establishing just ball control, possession focused offense with a few splash plays to a guy like George Kittle.

00:18:24
Speaker 2: Maybe you're throwing up to Ricky Piersall and he makes the.

00:18:26
Speaker 4: Play, but Kittle's got to be the focus of your offense, even if it's not like blatantly the focus of your offense. Internally on the sideline, you got to be thinking all the time, how are we going to get Kittle involved in this play? How are we going to turn to him to make a difference, Because I think that's where their offense elevates the most.

00:18:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think their offensive line has played pretty well this year. I think it's grown into form. It's like there's just something about these Shanahan teams. You always think the talent on the offensive line isn't enough, and then you get to Thanksgiving and like it's enough. They're playing well. And you look at the backfield in terms of the defense, no matter who the coordinator's been there, and you're like, I don't know if they have enough players back there, Like they're a little smaller, they're mid mid to late round picks. I don't know if they're good enough. And then you get to the end of the season and they're playing pretty good ball, and I think this has been an impressive season. And I see a note that their schedule's not that easy. I beg to differ. They have a perfect schedule. I mean, they have two games where they'll be heavily favored, the Browns and the Titans. The Browns are you know, frisky enough that their defense can keep them in any game, but those are games they should win. That gets them to ten wins. That might be enough right there. The other three games has the Colts, the Bears, and the Seahawks. But none of those are easy games. But look, you want to find out where you are. Three straight is tough. But Colts and Bears are games that I don't think they're like heavy underdogs. If they're underdogs in those games at all, I don't necessarily think they are. The Bears games at home, and yeah, the Seahawks, like I said in the Rams, I think are going to be tough for this team. I think, yeah, last apart, but that's that to me. If you had one of those three games, you're at eleven wins and you're a six or seven seed, and if you win two of those games like you're pretty frisky.

00:20:14
Speaker 4: Pretty inos, I kind of wonder if they only have one method of success offensively.

00:20:19
Speaker 2: And this is I'm saying this while.

00:20:21
Speaker 4: Knowing what they did in Arizona last week, which is kind of a not a fluky game, but a weird game because it was just very much splash plays and not much else in between. In that, like the formula we self to night is their best chance of victory and that they may be the only way they beat a team like Seattle. I think Chicago doesn't present as much of a threat for them and leans more towards their favor.

00:20:38
Speaker 2: But maybe the same is true for Indianapolis.

00:20:40
Speaker 4: This next game though, And it's not because I live in Cleveland, but I know that Browns defense is a test for every offense they face.

00:20:46
Speaker 2: It's also I looked up the weather.

00:20:48
Speaker 4: Sunday high of forty low of thirty four, more than snow showers. The last time the Niners ran to inclement weather, Jake Moody missed a game winning field goal, so he's obviously not on the team anymore.

00:20:59
Speaker 2: But I think it is going to be an interesting test.

00:21:01
Speaker 4: Of Brock Purty coming off of a three interception performance, Can they get on the right track against the defense that's caused a lot of problems for a lot of opponents.

00:21:08
Speaker 3: I think the pressure has ratcheted up on Party this week. I'm not sounding the alarm bells because I spent a lot of the offseason actually backing up Rock Party, saying why some of the things he does his next level in terms of his anticipation, the way he sees the field. He's just physically not performing well enough right now. But I think he can get there. So I've had fun talking up Mac Jones. I think Mac Jones played really well for a backup quarterback. I think they need Brock Purty, as Jordan's pointed out, to unlock this entire offense to play at their very best. So I don't think that's going to be a talking point unless he has another one of these, and frankly, playing the Browns is a recipe for that. That and then you start he starts to just be a little concerned. But they're not going to bench him anytime, shoot soon, they shouldn't. And we're talking about the Panthers as if like they'd not in the playoff mix, they're still only half a game back of the Bucks, who are similarly having their own sets of issues. The Panthers have the Rams this week, then a bye, and then the Saints. You know, that's as big an underdog as you'll ever be against the Rams and as big of a favorite as you'll ever be against the Saints. And you never know what could happen. But they're likely seven and six, and they wrap up with two games against the Bucks in their final three weeks and the Seahawks Sandwich in between, so it's all in front of them. They could surprise us. I don't expect any of I don't expect them to make it happen, you know what I mean.

00:22:35
Speaker 2: It's possible. It's possible, but you got to still.

00:22:38
Speaker 3: Against the Bucks like you, as they like to say, they control their own distance.

00:22:43
Speaker 4: I will say this, this postseason is going to be the closing argument for the proposal that was floated at the owner's meeting in the off season, which is reseting the playoffs based on record and not on division title, because we are looking happen at every reality in which the South is going to produce a gross division title winner, and we're also looking at a reality in which the North in the AFC side could produce a gross division title winner and a team like Buffalo or a team like the Chargers or the Chiefs are going to end.

00:23:15
Speaker 2: Up on the road against one of these division winners and it's going to be lopsided and they're going to wonder why they got the home game in the first place.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: Question that asking, is the NFC South the worst news in NFL his now? I don't know. I know if you mean historically, because for how dare you seven and nine, it's been a lot of fun. AFC South has had plenty of but there's been way worse NFC South years just in the last decade. You know, there was a Panthers year where they got in at seven and nine. There was a Buccaneers year where they got in I believe, either with a losing record or five hundred record under Todd Bowls. So very recently it has been much worse. And I think the Bucks have a pretty high upside. Another comment that if Teddy two gloves is the QB, anyone can beat the Bucks. And while I agree with that, they're already saying Baker Mayfield has a chance to play this week. I'll put a pin in that because we're gonna talk some news and you know, just show up next time a little more ready to play at Carolina Panthers. By the way, that was who Delivered presented by Uber Eats. Thank you, George Kettle. When football makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order. Now, okay, let's just fire through news in like five minutes here, because we have a lot to get to. We're gonna get to a new segment that we're debuting called Quarterback Keeper, where she's gonna give us a little window, you know, into his mind of how he's putting together QB Index this week. But we did get some news. It's Monday, Shook, So the Giants have fired someone. This is what we do every Monday, right, Well.

00:25:07
Speaker 2: I mean the Raiders didn't even wait till money to fire Chip Kelly.

00:25:09
Speaker 3: So it's like, okay, they threw Davo off the off the boat, and now they've thrown Shane Bowen out the defensive coordinator after another just blown lead. I kind of forgot that, not forgot that Shane Bowen was there. But I was just like, oh, yeah, this makes sense. Why didn't you do it when you fired Brian Dabel in the first place, if you're going to do it now.

00:25:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I kind of it makes sense why you forgot he was there, because once you remove a head coach, you just feel like the whole staff's gone, because they basically are gone by the end of the season. It's a Giants defense that I actually believe has more talent than we realize, at least in the front seven, and just doesn't perform up to standard. Now. They make games difficult for opposing offenses. I mean, the week prior they pushed the Packers to the limit, but it has been inconsistent, and I think in a game like that, the Giants are in like machete mode, Like the organization is where they're.

00:26:04
Speaker 2: Like, Joe Shane is safe.

00:26:06
Speaker 4: He is our fearless leader, and he's been empowered with the largest machete you'll see, and he's gonna cut in any direction.

00:26:11
Speaker 2: He deems proper.

00:26:13
Speaker 4: If we continue to fail, and for a team like the Giants who comes so close to winning so many games and yet has not won in their last six, somebody must pay for our loss, our latest loss, and I think this time it was Shane Bowen. They're gonna get a whole new staff. I mean it's or are they.

00:26:31
Speaker 3: I don't know. Kafka a few gules up, another another flea flicker with Jameis Winston catching. I don't know. Kafka's looked pretty good last couple of weeks. I'll say this, I I feel like it's on the board because he does come from a different coaching tree, because there was always sort of like a he didn't it seems like he didn't get along with Dable. I'm just saying there's a path here. If the last five weeks go really well in jak and assuming he comes back for Monday Night Football next week, plays well down the streets, they would have to light it up and they'd have to like not love the cannons. I'm just saying there's a path for kaf back. And you know what my theory is on this firing of Shane Bowen. They wanted the new coach bump for their new coordinator, Charlie Bullen for their game against the Patriots. This is their super Bowl. The Patriots are playing their worst right now. The Giants are frisky and playing quite well despite losing these games. That's their super Bowl next Monday night. You're gonna have me all depressed afterwards when the Giants win that game.

00:27:37
Speaker 4: I wrote about the new coach bump, the interim coach bump, like I don't know, week when did when did we get our first firing in this year?

00:27:44
Speaker 2: When did Brian Callahan get fired? Like week five?

00:27:47
Speaker 4: And sure, and it's proven to be at five hundred or worse over the last like twenty years.

00:27:53
Speaker 3: It's yeah, but it.

00:27:56
Speaker 2: Is now. The numbers are there.

00:28:01
Speaker 3: First of all in terms of like you know, you're talking about the spread and we can talk about that, like in terms of that first week back, like there are there's historic president they do cover, you know, historically, but the winning percentage has it does improve over time. I mean it's nothing crazy, you improve from like the average team is obviously so bad, but yes, that it's been shown that you that there is a market improvement.

00:28:26
Speaker 4: And usually that's a product of a locker room that largely hated its coach, and I don't know if that's really the case here.

00:28:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, or it's just a product of the guys get fired off of terrible teams at the very bottom, and the averages will say over any you know, sample size. After that, they're bound to improve a little bit, which it does happen. So we'll see other news. Joe Burrow expected to play on Thanksgiving Night. Great news, not a surprise. T Higgins and Trey Hendrickson not expecting to play. We are going to preview all the Thanksgiving Day games on Tuesday actually with Colleen Wolf and Steve Weisch and Jordan So really looking forward to that. But glad we can talk about Joe Burrow. Will Campbell, the Patriots offensive lineman, has a torn MCL and their guard Jared Wilson has a high ankle sprain. Will Campbell. It's not believed to be a season ending injury, according to Mike Brable, So considering there was one report last night that said they feared an ACL, that sounds like relatively good news. They might have him back for the playoffs. Same thing with Jared Wilson, who might be back even sooner than that. We'll see you're shaking your head.

00:29:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, because i Will Campbell wins with his feet like that's his strength. It's not length, it's not size, it's feet and I'm thinking about somebody wearing a bulking eebrace because he has to and less than fully healthy knee, Maybe a little bit of hesitation knowing that that knee is injured. Luckily that they've already won ten games, they have a little bit of like runway for him to feel as right as possible before he has to play again. But I think that it diminishes his overall potential to just be a reliable blocker for this team. So while it's not season ending, and that's always good news, don't expect him to be quite at the level he was before.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Probably not going to be back for the two games swing they have against the Ravens and the Bills, which is really the key part of their remaining schedule. They will be heavy favorites in the rest of their games, including on Monday Night, but I think they've shown like they are due to stub their toe in one of these games where they're heavily favored it. They've been close to doing it so many times and they keep winning these close games. But they are at ten and two. Got to respect it. Also, got to respect the Vikings decision to sit JJ McCarthy this upcoming week. He is in the concussion protocol. It's not official that he is gonna sit, but seems pretty obvious, especially the way that he played. It wouldn't have been a total shock if they had sat him for performance reasons. But McCarthy reported concussions tomtoms on the way back, which you know, everyone made their comments and I.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: See you going, hmmmm, it's a trend.

00:31:07
Speaker 3: I thought that too, And then I saw the back to back sequence of plays he had where he had his head absolutely slammed into the turf, yeah, with five minutes left, and I thought, well, the second one looked pretty brutal.

00:31:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:31:20
Speaker 4: I will never discount or diminish somebody who is dealing with the head injury, having dealt with many in my own and I understand that they can manifest in a number of different fashions. It's just a trend that he's had like three post game injuries that have cost.

00:31:33
Speaker 2: Him time this season. It's it's a little bit of tinfoil hat there.

00:31:38
Speaker 3: What about your head? How is it doing after all these brain injuries, because it's a it's a big one. Honestly, I don't think it's just that you shave your head. It just I think it's it's a you're a big man, you got a big head.

00:31:51
Speaker 4: My hat size seven and three eight's were just a little bit at average or slightly above. Greg I'm not an egghead over here. Okay, no, but I'm just kidding no. I mean, concussions can showup in any different way. I had a concussion one time where everything went like shell shock. I'll get a World War two film where everything went black and white and my ears were just ringing and it wasn't even a high impact.

00:32:07
Speaker 2: So they can show up just a bad headache.

00:32:09
Speaker 4: It can be any sort of thing that you maybe don't even feel in the moment, you feel later. I hope you know he takes the time to get right. You know, obviously don't want to, like I said, diminish a head injury or anything. I'm just like in a really weird year for him, both in performance and lack of availability.

00:32:24
Speaker 3: Weird is a nice way to put it. Jayden Daniels also has had a weird year. He is unlikely to play this week, but it does sound like he will play again this season. He is going to start practicing, according to their coach Dan Quinn, So if he's practicing he's probably only a week or two away from playing, but that's just my guest shitter. Sanders will start again this week despite Dylan Gabriel clearing the concussion protocol seemed like an obvious choice, but it's nice to see that they're making it. And yeah, that not a bad matchup against the forty nine ers, which doesn't have much of a pass rush. By the way, the nine tonight, you want to know, they're combined sacks and QB hits in a game that Bryce Young couldn't get anything done. I want to guess, don't look, let's say five one and it was a quarterback?

00:33:14
Speaker 2: They had one sack?

00:33:15
Speaker 3: Did they?

00:33:16
Speaker 2: Yeah? One sack. That's why I said five. I thought there might be you know.

00:33:19
Speaker 3: The official number three quarterback hits. One was close ngs led me astray. Maybe maybe did they all happen? At the end? I apologize. I apologize to everyone who found dare you? And finally in the news, Baker Mayfield has a chance to start this week. He is a left shoulder sprain. Also, Todd Bowles expects Bucky Irving to return, but we'll update all that during the week. And yeah, we're gonna do a segment Shook on Thursdays moving forward called Quarterback Keeper, and yes it is time for Quarterback Keeper, presented by snap Dragon. And normally we'll kind of get into your quarterback rankings that you do every week GB Index and talk about why you're making the rankings, what it is. There's no Thursday this week, so we're doing it on Monday. We're not going to be doing a show on Thursday night this week. And I thought for the first one, I just wanted to hear based on your tape study, so everyone should know Shook's process. After we're all done on Sunday night and he's had a twelve hour day whatever it is, and he's done watching games, then he stays up and keeps watching games till like three or four of the morning on game pass anyways, up and watches them all the next day while he's doing news, so he gets through all the games so he can feel confident and have his notes to make these rankings. It's a grind. I've been there, checklist, I've done it all. I still go back and watch all the games too, but it's more intensive when you're doing the notes and the grading for the quarterback. So for this one. I just wanted to give you one riser, someone that you watched this week that you like their performance this week, that that could be climbing the rankings.

00:35:02
Speaker 4: So it was a weird Week four quarterback play overall, because if you look at it from a surface level, you think, all right, well, like Jamis had a great week, right, and like maybe he'll be the riser, or maybe you'll go look at Caleb William's stat line and think that maybe that suggests that he had a great week and he should be a riser. But as we mentioned last night on the show and the recap show, sometimes stat lines lie, and Caleb's stat line lied.

00:35:24
Speaker 3: So I'm going to go toward one that didn't lie that bad because it just looked like total chaos but bad.

00:35:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would I would like to put him there. But I'm going to go back toward a favorite.

00:35:37
Speaker 4: It's going to be Dak Prescott because yeah, he threw an interception in this game, but the way that he overcame the early challenges and and managed to lead this team forward and make some big time throws. And yes, he has George Picken who is clearly his favorite receiver. Now, I just felt, you know, the rushing touchdown, the somersault, and the end zone. The significance of his performance in the second half was indicative of somebody who is owning his role, his responsibility within this offense. So he's gonna be my strongest riser I think this week, although I'm still far from sorting out exactly, and sometimes that literally can.

00:36:10
Speaker 3: Come down to where was he last week? In the rankings?

00:36:12
Speaker 4: I got the order down where was he last time? Well, he's climbed back into the top ten after falling out after a couple of bad weeks. Right, so folks are like, well, why is he in there? Because they look at team records and they look at stats and they're like, oh.

00:36:23
Speaker 2: He's not very good. The numbers could sometimes lie.

00:36:27
Speaker 4: Dak climbed all the way up to six last week, and the guy he's behind, Patrick Mahomes, the other guy he's behind, Baker Mayfield, could move more.

00:36:35
Speaker 2: Not saying he's going to because the rankings are.

00:36:36
Speaker 4: Not finalized right now. That'll be something I do tomorrow. But he is a guy that I like as a riser this week, and the guy that's a faller. It's unfortunate, but we sucked the Night's Rock Birdie. Ah, we already talked about it, so I'm not going to go into it too deeply, but it just doesn't look good coming out of his hand right now. And it's not the decisions were terrible, but I have seen this too much from him over his career, and it is only his second game back from injury. But you could tell that they were trying to avoid putting it in his hands in big spots, and he did have some nice throws. You know, he'd hit Kittle a couple of times right touchdown past Juwan Jennings, which is a nice catch, and then Jennings doing.

00:37:13
Speaker 2: The rest of the work.

00:37:16
Speaker 4: For where I put Purdy in the rankings when he came back to the starting lineup, I think he's going to fall down.

00:37:21
Speaker 3: Well. He has thrown six interceptions this year on throws over fifteen yards and has one touchdown on those. Like he has just not been an accurate quarterback down the field, which is where he's done a lot of work strength right over the last few years, and he hasn't been really one hundred percent from the start of the season. People might have a hard time remembering what he looked like in those first you know, three or four weeks. I think he had a good week one and then it.

00:37:49
Speaker 2: Just kind of Jacksonville game wasn't bad.

00:37:52
Speaker 3: That wasn't good after that, So that makes sense. Look, everyone's a critic. I'm included, step up, take the stand da Dak Prescott should have been higher going into last week than he was. He was. He wasn't though, No, he was before.

00:38:12
Speaker 2: Two bad games. And this is all recency on your part, and I'll take you to tak for just.

00:38:16
Speaker 3: As not it's not. And I know that he had like a their offense was uneven three out of four games, which I think got lost in the shuffle when people were talking about like the best up ins in the league, Dallas cobbabys like actually they they went through a little bit of a slump there. On balance going into that stretch, I would have had him in my top three. So to me, that was enough good work and it wasn't that catastrophic afterwards that there's no way he would have been outside of my personal.

00:38:46
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, seven, I respect that at any point, and I will admit that my rankings have been volatile, uh from time to time this week because it's just been a very strange year for quarterback play. There hasn't been like a real cream of the crop outside of like May like even Josh Allen's had his struggles. And I always favor Mahomes because I appreciate what he does as an improviser and a play extender and somebody that powers that offense.

00:39:09
Speaker 2: And he's had some rough weeks. Baker obviously is a streaky player who hasn't put together a good game in a while now. So it's been a weird group at the top.

00:39:16
Speaker 4: Dak was in third in week eight, Okay, fell out of the top ten after week ten.

00:39:24
Speaker 2: Actually no, Okay, yes, yeah, exactly.

00:39:26
Speaker 3: I just love in the comment here that the unks are Ball and Dak and Stafford. And we'll wrap with this. I do love that the old school like way that Dak Prescott plays is so pleasing for me to watch. He He really is as close to a Manning Brady type of quarterback as I think we have. He's not at that level, but he plays that type of football where I think he really understands the game. I think he manages the game. I think he calculates risks. I think he's great before the snap and he plays from the pocket and I'm watching him. Obviously, Stafford is playing at another level even than Dak Prescott's playing at an MVP level. He's in a different situation where it's like the Yin and the Yang with him and McVeigh. And sometimes Stafford takes the wheel, sometimes McVeigh. Mostly McVeagh has the wheel. But Stafford is just just such a brilliant player that it is an incredible marriage. But Dak, to me, is like he's old school, He's Johnny you watch, you know, watching watching Jacoby Brissett this week. He's not doing as much I think in terms of making decisions, but he's just back there in the pocket throwing darts fifty times a game that reminded me of like old Dan Marino or j Bledtone. And I'm talking about like thirty six year old Dan Marino, not young Dan Marie. Yeah, but he's just like I kind of like watching that, you know what I love. I love the athletic you know, quarterbacks who are running around as much as anyone, maybe more, But I like having some variety. It's good to have this style quarterback too. It's good to have a little bit of both.

00:41:03
Speaker 4: I want to see your thoughts on hear your thoughts on my comfort Dak. I think he's a slightly more cerebral John Elway in the fact that he can extend the play and has the athleticism and the arm to get it done. I will It's gonna take me a long time to forget that throw that he completed against the Packers where he's jumping into a throw and getting hit at the same time and it goes all the way down and crazifi like.

00:41:28
Speaker 2: He makes some incredible plays. So that's why I put.

00:41:31
Speaker 4: Him more on the Lway than because like Brady was never really mobile and Manning was never really mobile.

00:41:35
Speaker 3: Dak's no, he's yeah, he I mean Elway was, I mean hearing somewhere wherever he is like the total shots fired that you just said, Uh, basically a smarter Lway.

00:41:51
Speaker 4: I mean that's I think that Dak is dealing with more compact coverage than John Alway.

00:41:56
Speaker 2: Ever, did not that John Ellaway wasn't cerebral, but John.

00:42:00
Speaker 3: Away a system quarterback.

00:42:01
Speaker 2: Come out, No, I'm not not at all just joking.

00:42:05
Speaker 3: John Away, you know, one of the all time great athletes. So I would I would take I would take a umbradge if I was John Elway with that comparison, just because he was a totally sick athlete. And I gotta be real when I'm talking about players from before my time and I watched them growing up and stuff, and like when I was in high school and stuff, I wasn't breaking it down. I don't know what he was like from the neck up, so I don't I'm not going to make some sort of disparaging remark like shie, did.

00:42:32
Speaker 2: Oh here we go? No, I mean, come on, dex an athlete? Did we not just talk about the Somersault Touch's an athlete?

00:42:37
Speaker 3: But he's not John Elway. John Away was like a top five pick in the MLB drafting that he's calling over people. He was like a mix of like Ben Roethlisberger and and Steve McNair or something like a much more athletic like he was so hard to take down.

00:42:51
Speaker 2: But I think you could think you the goal right now. I think that this is an unfair disparagement of Dak's athleticism.

00:42:58
Speaker 3: John Elway was. I want to look up his rushing numbers, you know what the heck? While we're here, and yes we are wrapping up here. I mean this, this man was a difference maker as a runner, but you know what, his rushing numbers not as good as I was hoping. So I'm not gonna thank you. Thank you you ever do that, by the way, you're like writing an article or even you're doing a podcast, and you have the time while someone else is talking to like look up stats, and you're like looking up for something good that you think is going to really support your point, and then it completely disproves your point and then just shut up. You don't ever mention it. Just like I'm still gonna make my point, but I just won't bring that up.

00:43:35
Speaker 2: Although I'll get you back here.

00:43:38
Speaker 4: Lay in the late stages of his career was operating the Shanahan offense, and we know how good the zone blocking scheme and what it did for running back.

00:43:44
Speaker 2: So it's not like he had to run very much.

00:43:46
Speaker 3: No, But I was shocked. I'm shocked because I think of him as a guy when he was younger that that was out there getting it done.

00:43:52
Speaker 4: But you throw he made in the drive that where he's rolling to his left and he just fires it.

00:43:58
Speaker 2: Dak makes throws like that. That's why that compon.

00:44:00
Speaker 3: Okay, it's a it's a better one than I thought. He's putting up like two hundred and fifty yards in like four rushing touchdowns a year. That's that's pretty dak like. Actually. Final comment of the day from from the great viewers watching us late on a Monday night. Elway was the goat before the goat. Appreciate y'all, Chookie, you are the primetime goat.

00:44:22
Speaker 2: Of this one with a big head, with a big head.

00:44:25
Speaker 3: This was Quarterback Keeper presented by Snapdragon. Learn more at snapdragon dot com slash laptops. Okay, that's it, let's hit the music. Let's get out of here. We got a couple of big shows to tape on Tuesday. I will be talking Thanksgiving games, like I said, Colleen Wolf, Jordan Rodrieg, Steve Weisch. We will also be previewing the Week thirteen slate. Overall, that show is going to go up on Wednesday, but we're gonna do it with a little twist. We're gonna put a timer on it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Big week coming up at NFL Daily. Thanksgiving is here,