What Kyle Shanahan Views as 49ers Biggest Challenge Facing Cowboys
The 49ers will face their first threatening opponent in Week 5 against the Cowboys.
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00:00 Let's acquaint ourselves with the Cowboys and why they're going to lose to the 49ers
00:04 this week.
00:05 Dad,
00:06 Iggy, I really feel that not only do I feel the Niners will beat them, the Niners are
00:12 really good, but I feel the Niners will kill them.
00:16 So you're better at this than I am, but let me just give a few reasons off the top of
00:20 my head.
00:21 Dallas lost to Arizona.
00:23 Yeah, I mean, you know, come on.
00:29 It's hell on any given Sunday.
00:31 It shouldn't have been on that given Sunday.
00:34 Another thing, no given Sunday with the Cardinals beat the Niners on no given Sunday and they
00:40 beat this.
00:41 They beat those other guys.
00:44 I feel Dak Prescott is an incredibly overrated quarterback.
00:49 I do.
00:50 He's, you know, they always say he's athletic.
00:54 He's this, he's that.
00:55 He makes a lot of mistakes and he's, he's not, he wins games, but I don't consider him
01:01 a big time winner.
01:02 I don't.
01:03 Yeah.
01:04 He's like Kirk Cousins.
01:05 He's not a big time winner.
01:06 I would agree.
01:08 I don't like the coach.
01:09 Now the coach has a 49er background and he's supposed to be really a quarterback guy and
01:15 a really good offensive guy.
01:17 Iggy, I don't see it.
01:19 I don't see that at all.
01:22 So I guess those are three reasons off the top of my head that not only will the Niners
01:27 beat them, I think they're going to murder them.
01:31 Well here's what Dallas has going for it.
01:33 It has a really good defense.
01:36 Their coordinator is Dan Quinn.
01:37 He was Kyle Shanahan's head coach.
01:39 Every time Dan Quinn has faced Kyle Shanahan since they split up, Dan Quinn's done really
01:42 well.
01:43 Also, he has a lot of talent.
01:44 They got this guy, Michael Parsons, probably the best pass rusher in the league, probably
01:48 better than Bosa.
01:49 They also, as a team, they have the second most sacks in the league at 14 and they're
01:55 holding quarterbacks to an average pass rating of 55.
01:58 So passing on this team is really, really, really tough.
02:01 The Niners don't have the best offensive line.
02:02 It's a tough matchup for the Niners.
02:04 But the Cowboys are giving up 4.6 yards per carry, which is 27th best out of 32 teams.
02:12 So the Niners have Christian McCaffrey.
02:15 Seems like they should be able to run this one to a win.
02:18 You can't stop Christian McCaffrey.
02:19 I don't see how you beat the 49ers.
02:21 So yeah, I think the Niners should be able to control the game and win.
02:27 I would say, even though the Cowboys have gaudy statistics about pass coverage, Purdy
02:37 is so precise on the short to medium stuff and Iggy, he gets it out really fast.
02:44 He gets the ball out really fast.
02:46 So I think, I don't mean he'll murder, he in and of himself will murder the Cowboys,
02:52 but I don't think he'll be as pressured as other quarterbacks have been against them.
03:00 Purdy played Dallas in the playoffs last year at home.
03:03 He was 19 to 29 for 214 yards, no touchdowns, no picks, quarterback rating of 87, which
03:08 is good considering how good that defense is.
03:10 The Niners scored 19 points and won.
03:12 So he should play better his second time around against the Cowboys.
03:15 He seems to be improving.
03:16 But still, like, go ahead.
03:20 He's better now than he was then.
03:22 He was.
03:23 He is.
03:24 I want to tell the story real quick.
03:25 I've told it before.
03:26 Last time the Niners played the Cowboys in that playoff game, I was sitting next to Patrick
03:30 Willis in the press box and the Niners, either they fell behind or their offense wasn't
03:35 working early in the game.
03:37 And Patrick Willis turned to me or just said out loud, why aren't the 49ers just taking
03:44 it to the Cowboys?
03:45 Why are.
03:46 Why aren't they punishing them, meaning why are they trying all this fancy stuff on offense?
03:51 Why don't they just pound the ball?
03:53 And shortly after that, I think some people on the Niners team said that to Kyle Shanahan
03:57 and he started doing that.
03:59 Sometimes he overthinks things and tries to get not cute, but exotic.
04:03 I don't think the Niners have to be too exotic in this game.
04:05 I think they can just win running the ball.
04:09 And also he was exotic because he wants to show Dan Quinn he's better.
04:13 You got to remember it's a chess match between the offensive coordinator, Kyle, and the defensive
04:19 coordinator.
04:20 They're in each other's.
04:21 They're in each other's thought process.
04:23 And I think Kyle and it's a good thing and not good thing.
04:27 He has a big ego and you need a big ego to do what he does.
04:32 So I think probably he was trying to be not only beat the Cowboys, but to outsmart Dan
04:37 Quinn.
04:38 Right.
04:39 And also think about it this way.
04:40 He's like, well, Dan Quinn knows what I like to do.
04:43 Knows my offense.
04:44 So I got to do something different.
04:46 And so you come into the game and you're calling all these plays that you wouldn't normally
04:49 call because Dan Quinn's in your head and your players don't execute these plays as
04:54 well because it's not your bread and butter to use a cliche.
04:58 And all of a sudden you're not winning and your players come up to you and say, hey,
05:02 we're better than this team.
05:03 Can we just do what we do?
05:04 Can we stop trying to outsmart them?
05:06 Can we stop trying to trick them and just line up and beat them?
05:09 That's what they did in the playoffs.
05:10 That's what they should be able to do in this game as long as they commit to running the
05:13 ball, which they've been committed to since McCaffrey got here.
05:16 Right, right.
05:18 So let me ask you this, Iggy.
05:19 I'm saying the Niners will murder them.
05:22 I'm picking the Niners in every game until they lose.
05:26 And then I would have to like re-evaluate things.
05:28 Do you feel it would be a close game or a murder?
05:32 I think it'll be a closer game.
05:34 I think Brock Purdy's a hell of a quarterback, especially when the Niners give him a pocket
05:39 and time and space to go through his reads and throw.
05:42 I don't think he's going to get that in this game.
05:44 He didn't get it last time he faced Dallas.
05:46 Dallas has the best pass rush in the league and the Niners don't have the best offensive
05:48 line.
05:49 I think he's going to be under a lot of pressure when he does throw.
05:52 And I think it's going to be more of a modest output from him in the offense.
05:56 But we've seen Dak Prescott be so bad against the Niners time and time again.
06:01 This could be a game that the Niners' defense wins as opposed to the last one.
06:06 A final question about the Cowboys.
06:09 Who is more important to the Cowboys' success, Dan Quinn or Mike McCarthy?
06:15 Dan Quinn.
06:17 I absolutely feel that.
06:19 Yeah.
06:20 Because they're winning with the defense.
06:23 Absolutely.
06:24 And I feel like as long as Mike McCarthy is their head coach, I don't take that team seriously.
06:27 Mike McCarthy.
06:28 Yeah.
06:29 He's going to outsmart Kyle Shanahan.
06:33 Not in a million years, right?
06:35 Not in a million years.
06:37 He seems like the most mediocre quarterback there could be in the NFL.
06:41 We're talking about McCarthy.
06:43 McCarthy.
06:44 Yeah.
06:45 You said you called him a quarterback.
06:46 You mean a head coach.
06:48 Nothing innovative about him.
06:50 Made his reputation when I was in college, supposedly developing Aaron Rodgers.
06:56 Who has he developed since then?
06:57 Did he develop Aaron Rodgers or did Aaron Rodgers develop himself?
07:02 I mean, was he always good?
07:05 Jeff Tedford had a lot to do with bringing along Aaron Rodgers, I think.
07:08 That's true.
07:09 That's true.
07:10 Mood Man says, "Lowell, ever go to a Niners game again to watch live?"
07:16 I'll think about it sometime.
07:18 [Music]