Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00We're definitely going to take this call, the Hall of Famer is on the River Islands
00:03guest line.
00:04Let's do it.
00:05It's Kurt Warner joining us here on Willard & Dibb's 95.7 The Game.
00:09Hey Kurt, how are you?
00:10I'm good.
00:11How are you?
00:12We're doing fantastic.
00:13I really wonder if you see, do you see anything different this year with Brock Purdy's performances
00:20versus what we've seen in the first two years?
00:24I would say not a lot different.
00:29I think the hard part is you always got to kind of look at each game individually.
00:33I still think Brock has been playing really good football this year.
00:39It hasn't been quite as easy in the past.
00:42I felt like this Chiefs game was maybe the worst game that I've seen him play in his
00:47career.
00:48And again, I don't want to make a huge statement just on the last game, but he's played so
00:54well and been so consistent at making the plays that are in front of him and creating
00:59some opportunities within this offense.
01:02But I thought he really struggled in this game against the Chiefs.
01:05Just kind of seeing it, recognizing what they were doing, protecting the football, just
01:11some different things.
01:12Didn't think he played his best game.
01:14But overall on the season, maybe not quite as good as the last couple of years.
01:19But again, let's put it into context, right?
01:22The way he's been performing over the last couple of years is as good as we've seen anybody
01:27perform on a consistent level.
01:29And so this year may be a little bit of a down tick from that.
01:34You know, and really you just have to look at the whole team.
01:36I think the team isn't playing nearly as consistently well this year as they have in the past.
01:43And part of that is no McCaffrey all year and now Iuke is gone with a terrible knee
01:47injury as well.
01:48I wonder, Kurt, if when you watch the Niners, if you aren't seeing defenses come up with
01:52a plan against not only Brock Purdy, but Shanahan with playing press man and putting
01:57a lot more pressure on this offense.
02:00Yeah, I mean, again, you know, it starts with running the football with this offense, as
02:08we know, and you know, they've done that really well at times and not quite as good at other
02:13times.
02:14But yeah, as I've said, it just hasn't been quite as easy.
02:17They haven't had as many, you know, short throws go for big plays.
02:20They haven't had as many big play touchdowns, which to me always makes offense harder.
02:27You know, when you have to play 10 and 12 plays without making a mistake, without missing
02:32a throw, without having a holding penalty, that's much different than when you make big
02:37chunk plays all the time.
02:39And what we've seen from this 49ers team and really brought Purdy over the last couple
02:43years is he's made a lot of big plays every game.
02:47When this team and this offense clicks, when they make big plays, and they can shorten
02:51the field, you know, in terms of, you know, plays that they have to make, when you have
02:57to go the long distance, most offenses in this league struggle to be able to do that
03:02and then put seven points on the board at the end.
03:05And so I don't know if you can pin it on any one thing.
03:10But that to me is something that's really stood out is that they just haven't been getting
03:15as many of those chunk plays and big plays, you know, Brandon Ayoub hasn't had many of
03:19those.
03:20I can't think of very many when Debo has caught the short little quick screen and gone for
03:24big plays.
03:25You know, even the run game's been good, but we haven't seen as many of those breakout
03:29big runs that we were accustomed to a year ago from Christian McCaffrey.
03:33So I think that's helped, you know, helped that that's, you know, caused a little bit
03:39of the stoppage of the offense is that they have to be more methodical and more detail
03:44oriented and everybody's got to play, you know, a little bit more on their P's and Q's
03:48to make the plays when there is tighter coverage or when those big plays aren't there and when
03:53they have to play 10 and 12 plays to put points on the board and they just haven't been as
03:57efficient this year.
03:58Curt Warner with us on Withered and Dibs.
04:00Curt, I've been dying to ask you this because you get it in the age of social media.
04:04If you want to be a $60 million quarterback, then there are never any excuses.
04:09And if your team has injuries, you still need to be amazing.
04:12So I wanted to ask you this, if you went into a football game and there was no Marshall
04:18Falk and there was no Isaac Bruce and there was no Torrey Holt, how do you think it would
04:23affect your performance?
04:24I mean, I probably come down to some kind of arm injury or something.
04:30You know, I mean, if it's always going to affect your performance, and again, a lot
04:34of it really depends on, you know, I always looked at it like if a team was going to play
04:39me in zone coverage, then I didn't care who was out there.
04:43You know, if we were, if they were playing zone coverage, then it would fall on me to
04:46make the right decision, throw it to the guy.
04:48And of course, they got to make the plays on the other end.
04:51But it's being the right place when you're supposed to be there.
04:54And I think there's a lot of guys that you can get to do that.
04:57And so you feel like you can still play at a high level when that's the case.
05:01If a team's going to come out to out, you know, against you and, and challenge you physically,
05:07you know, in terms of like play man to man, and can your guys separate, then to me, it
05:12would it would fall the two things a, you know, can my guys win in those situations,
05:17it's probably going to be a little bit more of a struggle than it is with Isaac and Tory
05:20and Marshall and Larry Fitzgerald and those guys.
05:24But then you have to create more for those guys, you've got to get into some stacks and
05:29bunches and, and put them in situations where they're not going to get pressed.
05:33And, you know, you can create some more space for them, instead of expecting them to play,
05:39you know, the same way your other guys would play.
05:41And so I always felt like we would be successful.
05:45But how we had to be successful may have to change from a schematic standpoint, just to
05:52play and cater to what our guys are good at, or what they're not good at, or what we're
05:57going to be facing that week, versus when you have those guys, it doesn't, we don't
06:01really care.
06:02Like, you play as however you want, we're going to win against man, we're going to win
06:05against zone, we're going to play our scene, because it doesn't really matter.
06:08Well, you know, when you have lesser players, so to speak, now you have to be a little bit
06:14more creative in how you get them open or what you do and or, or how you force a defense
06:20to play against you, then you may have to with with all that talent.
06:25That's an interesting way to break it down, because we're starting to see defenses come
06:29up and pressure this team a little bit more with like you're talking about with man to
06:33man coverage.
06:34And I, I wonder how much the the new movement of defenses toward the two deep zone makes
06:39it tougher on offenses, because it seems like the big plays in the passing game are harder
06:43to come by now.
06:46That's a myth.
06:47I don't I don't buy into it.
06:49Here's the thing that is funny about that is that you say that, okay, the bigger plays
06:54are harder to come by because there's two deep safeties.
06:57Well, when you think about it, we you know, the base coverages you're going to see are
07:01two deep, three deep, or four deep, right?
07:05And so why would it be harder to get big plays down the field because two guys covering the
07:10entire back end of the field versus three or versus four.
07:14So that to me is is a myth.
07:18It's more what I would say is the the chunk throws or might be a little bit harder.
07:24By that I mean, kind of the 15 to 25 yard throws are a little harder, not the big plays
07:31down the field.
07:32And why that's harder is because you have five guys playing zone underneath and cover
07:36two.
07:37And so the windows are smaller, you know, in that second level, or you're always going
07:42to be throwing it over a guy in the second level, because of the underneath defenders,
07:49not because of the deep defenders.
07:51If you can protect, there's only two guys on the back end of the field, like, I can
07:55exploit that all day long, if you give me the time.
08:00And so that's, I think, the myth that that's going on out there.
08:04But yeah, you know, you have to be a little more precise on those chunk second level throws
08:10when you're playing against cover two, because you're going to have to throw it over a guy,
08:14you're going to have to layer it.
08:16You know, the windows are going to be a little bit tighter, you know, when that's the case.
08:21But that, to me, is the biggest thing about it, you know, more so than you can't get the
08:26big plays down the field, it's, you know, the consistency of the chunk plays there,
08:32you better be really good.
08:33Like when I played that, with Rams, we saw cover two all the time, you know, like we
08:39saw teams that wanted to jam our guys with the line of scrimmage, that's another thing
08:42that can factor in, right?
08:44You've got corners that are up at the line of scrimmage that can jam your receivers to
08:48slow them down, down the field.
08:49So you got to be a little more creative and getting your guys, but we saw a whole bunch
08:53of cover two, and we were good at getting big plays.
08:56But I think it's because we were so detail oriented, you know, and I had the capacity
09:01to kind of layer throws over the top and to be accurate with that second level throw.
09:07And that's probably the biggest difference is there may not be the precision at the quarterback
09:12spot that we've seen in the past.
09:15And so without that precision, those chunk throws are going to be harder to come by,
09:21not the deep throws.
09:22So just to kind of clear that up that, hey, it's harder to get big plays, you know, against
09:28cover two, I don't agree with that.
09:30But it might be harder to get, you know, those second level 25 yard throws on a consistent
09:36basis because of the precision of quarterbacks and offenses right now.
09:40Curt, I have a reason, a specific reason for asking this, which I'll reveal in a moment,
09:45but as a quarterback, if you could have basically a great teammate at a specific position to
09:54help you do what you do, what would that position be?
09:58Or if you want to put it on the other side of the ball on defense, you could do that
10:02too.
10:03So again, what position would I want to have or what kind of player would I want to have
10:09to make my job easier?
10:11Exactly.
10:12Like where, where would you want like a great teammate or great teammates at what other
10:16position to make your job go well?
10:18Um, you know, I mean, first of all, like I was fortunate to play with Marshall Fogg.
10:24And so I think a good versatile running back, you know, can be a real mismatch and can really
10:30help you dictate things if they can get out of the backfield and catch the ball, kind
10:35of like Christian does.
10:36Right.
10:37So he's kind of a positionless player that you can put a lot of different places.
10:42And I think those guys are, are so, you know, good and important, you know, a Devo Samuel
10:47would be another type guy that you would love to have.
10:51I still think the biggest mismatches in football are the tight ends.
10:55If you have a really, really good tight end, they're really tough to match up with.
11:01If they can play, you know, play in the run game, like George can play in the pass game,
11:06get down the field, make big plays, because they're being covered by those interior guys
11:10that have to worry so much about the run game, and so much about coming downhill.
11:16And so if you have a good player there, I think that's, you know, those are kind of
11:20two areas where you can create really, really good mismatches for yourself.
11:25Unlike outside, of course, I played with great receivers, and I'm not trading them for anybody.
11:30But you know, the best defensive athletes are going to be out there too.
11:34So the discrepancy in, you know, ability is going to be smaller in those areas than
11:40I think it is a linebacker covering a really good, you know, receiving back or a linebacker
11:47or safety covering a really good receiving tight end, where those guys can be involved
11:52in more parts of the game.
11:53I think those would be the areas that I would, I would definitely look to.
11:57Okay, so here's why I'm asking because you kind of got to receiver there as at the end
12:01it as a quarterback, I think that's kind of where our brains go.
12:05But I, Kurt, I'm amazed at what's happening at this position around the league.
12:10And the way that it's being paid, a lot of teams, it's their second highest paid player
12:15behind the quarterback.
12:16Hell, sometimes it's the second and the third highest paid guy, kind of like the Miami Dolphins.
12:22Does this make sense to you the amount of resources that are being put toward wide receivers?
12:28Um, you know, it's, I think it's, it's, that's a tough one, because it is a throw firstly,
12:35or it has been really until this year, you know, seeing that kind of trend change a little
12:40bit.
12:41And so you have to have a difference maker at that position, right?
12:44Like, you know, there's very few really good teams without a difference maker at that position.
12:50And if they don't have the difference maker at that position, then you better be really
12:54good in other areas.
12:58So I understand why those guys are getting paid, and especially the top guys in the league
13:02are getting paid.
13:03Um, you know, because the nature of the way it's going, um, and then I think you look
13:08at other spots, like, you know, I think resources need to go to the offensive line.
13:13You know, I think the teams that are really good in this league, that's another thing
13:15you start to see is offensive line becomes so important to those really good teams.
13:21And building there, I think, you know, that's vital.
13:26But I understand why at the wide receiver spot, because, again, you can look around
13:31the league at teams that, you know, I think about the Dallas Cowboys, you know, they got
13:36CeeDee Lamb, who's a really good wide receiver.
13:38They don't have much outside of that.
13:40So they're not running the football very well.
13:42And so it becomes a premium to have multiple guys on the outside that can be really good,
13:48that can win for you, that can be game changers for you.
13:51If you're really good in the other areas up front, then maybe that's not the case.
13:56But I just think because of the rules and the way it's all dictated, wide receiver is
14:00an important position, you know, you got to have them for most teams, kind of like the
14:06quarterback.
14:07So I understand the resources, you know, I just think the problem is, and even at the
14:12quarterback position, is that we've gotten to the point where all we do is, you know,
14:17we just slate guys in, oh, he's the next guy up, we're going to pay him this exorbitant
14:21amount of money.
14:23And the difference is, you need to pay guys that are worth that, that kind of money.
14:28And we need to somehow get away from having to pay everybody that kind of money.
14:34Because that to me is, I think, where the discrepancy is.
14:37And I look at it more from a quarterback lens now.
14:40But we've got all these guys making $200 million in the league that probably don't deserve
14:45to be making that.
14:46They're not good enough to be considered in that category, to hamstring an organization,
14:52to be expected to carry a team.
14:55They're not there, yet they're getting paid that.
14:58And you know, and I think we start to do that at every position where we start to overpay
15:03good players, instead of reserving that money, and that commitment for great players.
15:10It's the whole idea of resetting the market.
15:12And Dallas has a couple of guys who've done that.
15:14And I want to get your thoughts on Dak Prescott and just where you see Dallas right now, coming
15:18off a buy in a team at 3-3 that feels like they've been playing worse than that.
15:23What do you make of Dak Prescott and this Dallas offense coming into Levi's on Sunday?
15:28I don't think they're very good right now.
15:31I don't think there's anything that they do really well.
15:34You know, and that becomes a huge part of it, is that not every team can do everything.
15:40But if you want to compete in this league, you better be really good at something if
15:43that's the case.
15:45And Dallas isn't really good at anything.
15:47Dak's not playing really good right now.
15:49You know, their pass game isn't very good right now.
15:52Their run game is awful right now.
15:55You know, they're not playing great at the offensive line.
15:58Like there is no area or no player on their team right now that I say is really good,
16:04is one of the top, you know, situations or top areas offensively in the league.
16:10And so, you know, then you put a bunch of average together and you probably get below
16:15average.
16:16And then they're having their struggles on defense without being able to stop the run
16:19and some of those things.
16:20So I just, I see a team that's very, very average across the board.
16:26And I don't know how they get out of it.
16:28I don't know where all of a sudden this change comes from, because to me, if you don't have
16:34a dominant area on your offense, you better be really, really good at the details.
16:39Like the little things must be the, you know, the most important thing for you because you're
16:44not just going to out athlete people.
16:46You're not just going to beat them because, you know, you're better than them at the offensive
16:50line.
16:51So you better be really good from a technique standpoint, a detail standpoint, a creative
16:55standpoint offensively.
16:57And I just don't see this team being that either.
17:01I look at their film and I say, man, there's so many things I would do different in the
17:05offensive half of the game.
17:06So many details that aren't, you know, buttoned up that, that cost them.
17:10So when you put it all together, to me, they just, they're just not a very good football
17:14team right now.
17:15And I don't see how they work their way out of it.
17:18Curt Warner with us here on Weatherden Dibs.
17:20Curt, you won't remember this, but last season you came on this show and, and we talked about
17:26Kyle Shanahan's system and how it's not really built to come from behind.
17:32But the whole idea is to get a lead early and then hold it.
17:35And they do do that very well.
17:38But obviously it hasn't worked as well this year.
17:41And there's a lot of talk with this fan base with regard to Kyle's inability to have the
17:47right offense in place when there's chaos or when you fall behind.
17:51Is this a flaw in the system, in your opinion?
17:56Um, you know, I think that's really hard to use that term, but the way I always looked
18:04at it, and I do remember our conversation and I believe in that part of the conversation
18:07I, or in that conversation, I also said, here's the thing about every team is that every team
18:14has to focus and try to become great at something.
18:18And in doing that, something else is always going to be sacrificed because of it.
18:24If you want to be a great running team and commit more time to the run game, your past
18:28game, is it going to be as good, or you're going to say, I'm really good in the run game.
18:33Now I'm going to be really good with play action, AKA, you know, 49ers, AKA, the Lions,
18:40those, uh, those teams are really good at that.
18:42They're not as good in the drop that game.
18:45Um, and I think it's because they sacrifice some because of what their system is and how
18:51their system is built and how they expect to play.
18:54Most of the time, it doesn't mean they neglect, you know, when they have to play drop back
18:58football, it's just not their forte, it's just not what they work on and what they,
19:03you know, what they hone in on every week, that's going to be more limited.
19:07And the other things are going to be, you know, the more important part of it, or the
19:11more extensive part of what they practice and what they plan to do, because that's what
19:16they expect to be good at.
19:17And that's what they expect to win with most times out.
19:21And so when you say a flaw, I mean, yeah, I don't think they're as good in those areas.
19:26You know, I'm not as big a fan of, uh, you know, of the complexity of their past games
19:31and how they like to run it when, when they're playing drop back and spread out football.
19:36I love, you know, a lot of what they do in the run game and how their play action comes
19:41off of it.
19:42And so, um, you know, but, but I think you can look at a lot of teams, you know, I was
19:46on a lot of teams that were really good at throwing the football and we weren't great
19:50at running the football.
19:51Like that wasn't what we were great at.
19:53We didn't think that was necessarily our strength.
19:56You know, we could suffice.
19:57We could, you know, we could run the ball at times we could have good games running
20:01the ball, but it wasn't what we were great at.
20:04And it was, you know, because we chose based on our personnel or based on the scheme that
20:09we thought we could have success with, Hey, we're going to be a three and four wide receiver
20:13team.
20:14That's how we're going to win.
20:15That's the strength of our team.
20:16Let's be great at that.
20:18And then let's hope we're good enough at the others that when we have to do them, you know,
20:23we can be functional and we can be good enough to win.
20:26And so I don't know if it's a flaw because I don't know how many teams are out there
20:31that are good at everything, you know, that, that are great in every facet.
20:34So it's like, Hey, pick your poison.
20:36What do we want to do today?
20:37What's the dictate?
20:38Oh, we've got to come from behind.
20:39No problem.
20:40We're great at that.
20:41Oh, we're up.
20:42You know, we're up by 10.
20:43We don't have to pound the football and run it.
20:45Oh, we're great at that.
20:46Like there's not many teams that are good like that.
20:48And so it's figuring out what your team is or what your scheme is or building your team
20:53around your scheme and saying, this is how we're going to win most of the time.
20:59And then when we get into those two or three games where we have to do it a different way,
21:03let's hope we have the personnel.
21:05Let's hope we're good enough in that facet to get it done.
21:09Maybe one, maybe two of those three times.
21:11But we know that's probably not where we're going to hang our hat and we're going to understand
21:17that going in and hope we don't play in a majority of our games that play against our
21:22strength.
21:23I think that's a phenomenal answer.
21:25Yeah.
21:26That makes a whole lot of sense.
21:27Kurt, it's it's always great to have you.
21:30Thank you so, so much.
21:32You got it.
21:33Good to talk to you guys.