Analyzing why Kyle Shanahan is the limit of the San Francisco 49ers offense.
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00:00 When I used to cover Bill Walsh, I learned a lot of things about sports, football, and
00:07 life from him.
00:09 And as you've heard me say before, Bill would say, "Lowell, the quarterback is the limit
00:14 of my offense."
00:16 And I think what he meant was, I've had two of the greatest quarterbacks ever, Joe and
00:23 Steve, although really Steve was with George Seifried.
00:27 So I've had Joe, and I think Bill was saying, "I have a million plays in my imagination.
00:35 Probably Joe can't do every one of them, like throw down the field really long.
00:40 And he, as great as he is, he presents a limit to what I can imagine."
00:46 I think it's the exact opposite with the 49ers currently.
00:49 I don't think Brock Purdy is the limit to the offense.
00:52 I think he's good.
00:54 There's a lot of things he can do.
00:55 The limit to the offense is Kyle Shanahan, in that he limits himself.
01:01 He's doing well.
01:02 He has a lead going into the third quarter, and all of a sudden he makes very strange,
01:09 self-defeating calls, which come back to really hurt them, and they lose the game, and I think
01:16 he can go back to the third quarter.
01:18 So the limit of Kyle's offense is Kyle, not Brock Purdy.
01:24 He's his own worst enemy.
01:26 Yeah, I agree.
01:27 It's hard to say that Brock Purdy limits Kyle because this is what Kyle wants in a quarterback.
01:33 He's made it real clear.
01:34 This is exactly what he wants in a quarterback, because what's important to him isn't necessarily
01:40 some guy who can transcend his mistakes and go beyond the X's and O's.
01:45 He wants a guy who executes the system as well as possible, because his system is so
01:50 great.
01:51 So this is what he wants.
01:52 Brock Purdy isn't the limit.
01:53 The system is the limit.
01:54 The system's the problem.
01:57 It's a good system, but the system led Kyle Shanahan to call 11 passes for Debo Samuel
02:06 in a game where he couldn't get open, and the question is why.
02:09 Did you really think Debo was your best option, or did you just like the plays that he was
02:13 featured in?
02:14 Because if you were more focused on players than plays, which you should be, you'd be
02:20 calling plays for Brandon Iyuk, because in this game, he averaged 16 point something
02:26 yards per catch, and he only got six targets, and he caught three of them.
02:29 You should be going to him because he's objectively better than Debo Samuel.
02:33 Also George Kittle, you never threw him the ball.
02:36 You never called his number in the game.
02:38 You kept going to Debo.
02:41 Why?
02:43 That's a limit.
02:44 You can't even figure out who your best players are on that given day.
02:48 That's a limit.
02:49 I like what you're saying, and I'll even add to it.
02:53 He is so invested in his plays, he doesn't respond to the flow of the game.
03:00 He wants to call x number, x play here.
03:04 Well maybe it's not the right play there.
03:06 Maybe if you actually stopped looking at your play sheet and looked at the freaking field,
03:13 you would see what's really going on, and you would adjust what you're doing, but he
03:17 doesn't.
03:18 He's a prisoner of his own system, and because of that, he is his own worst enemy, and he
03:24 is his limit.
03:25 Iggy, I'm going to tell you this.
03:28 He may win a Super Bowl in his career, but I don't think he will.
03:33 I think he's always going to get in his own way, and if he wins a Super Bowl, and if I'm
03:40 still alive, I'll say I was wrong, but he's had his shots.
03:45 He's had three shots now, and he strikes me as what we used to call a high-level loser.
03:52 Because if he doesn't get what he expects, he can't adjust mid-game.
03:56 After the game, Brock Purdy said the Chiefs played a lot more man-to-man coverage than
04:01 we anticipated, meaning than Kyle Shanahan anticipated.
04:04 He makes the game plan, and by playing man-to-man coverage, the Chiefs had these really good
04:09 cornerbacks including their nickelback Trent McDuffie, who absolutely erased Debo Samuel.
04:15 22, erased Debo Samuel from the game.
04:18 Kyle kept calling plays.
04:19 I don't know what he was expecting, but after the fourth target, the fifth target, can't
04:23 you tell that Debo's not getting open?
04:24 I could tell, you could tell, everyone could tell that Debo wasn't getting open.
04:28 Instead of just sticking with the game plan, which wasn't even applicable anymore because
04:32 you weren't facing what you thought you would, why don't you adjust and go to the guy who's
04:37 been producing for you all year in Brandon Iuke, or your tight end who's been producing
04:41 for you for five or six years in George Kittle.
04:43 I just don't understand that one.
04:45 Can't blame Brock Purdy for that.
04:47 No, I thought Brock Purdy played well enough.
04:52 (music)