• 18 hours ago
Transcript
00:00Let's hop in with our good friend Mark Schlaereth, who joins us every couple of weeks, River
00:04Islands guest line, Odyssey, NFL insider Mark Schlaereth, host of the Stinkin' Truth podcast,
00:10Insider Calls are brought to you by Hellman's Rio Mayonnaise, Mayo Game Day be delicious.
00:15Hey, Mark, what's going on?
00:16How you guys doing, man?
00:17Great to talk to you.
00:18We're fantastic.
00:19We're remembering the last time you were on, the Niners were about to play the Bills and
00:23you were kind of thinking that, boy, we're going to see what the Niners are made of.
00:27This is make or break.
00:28And obviously they were awful.
00:31So what, what did that make you think about the Niners?
00:37Made me think that they're done.
00:39Like stick a fork in them.
00:40They're like, you know, I mean, there's still what, two games out behind Seattle right now.
00:45Game out behind, I think they're tied with Arizona.
00:49Game out behind the LA Rams, the LA Rams in that division control their own destiny.
00:54And we saw what they did to the Buffalo Bills, unbelievable performance by the two wide receivers
01:00in Pukanukuwa and Cooper Cupp and Matthew Stafford.
01:04So I still think the same thing.
01:06I think they've dug themselves too big of a hole.
01:08They have not been able to compete offensively.
01:10They have not looked the same that they normally look, you know, and have not created the explosive
01:15plays that we're used to watching them, you know, create.
01:17And I think right now it's, it feels to me to be a little too late.
01:21So the, the, the win over the bears didn't do a whole lot for you.
01:24I don't know.
01:25It was great.
01:26I mean, it, it, like you watch it and you're like, Oh, there's the Niners.
01:31Where's that team been all season?
01:33Like where's that offense been all season?
01:35So yeah, it didn't make me feel like all of a sudden, Oh, they got a chance.
01:39I just think they've dug themselves too deep a hole.
01:42And so you look at a Ram game coming up on Thursday and you know, you may have Nick Bosa
01:46coming back and Trent Williams, we don't yet know to be certain, but you look at this match
01:52up with a Ram team that has Nakua this time and Cooper cup, maybe he's going to go.
01:56Is it one of these games where the 49ers are playing well enough to maybe win this or are
02:02the Rams just too, too hot right now?
02:04No, I don't.
02:05I don't think the Rams are too hot.
02:06I didn't get the Niners.
02:07They played like they did get Chicago.
02:08I think they can beat just about anybody.
02:10Um, that's a big if, and you know, it's really interesting.
02:14One of the things that the Rams have done, you know, we talk about cup being bad.
02:18We talk about Puka Nakua being bad.
02:19We talk about all that stuff.
02:20But one of the things that Rams made a conscious effort in is they were like, Hey man, we have,
02:25you know, we've neglected our offensive line.
02:27We have not run the ball very well.
02:29Sean McVay.
02:30Anytime you talk to him, he'll always talk about the illusion of complexity.
02:33Hey man, we're going to show you a lot of formations where emotion, where I do a lot
02:36of things that they like, like caution and does they work together?
02:40Right.
02:41But really what we're, we're downhill run team.
02:43We want to run the football.
02:44That's what we want to do.
02:45So, um, that's what I expect from them.
02:48I expect them to run the ball well.
02:50And those two wide receivers block like they're tight ends or offensive guards.
02:54I mean, those two guys are pretty incredible.
02:57So it's the one thing that they have done because San Francisco had their way with the
03:02brands for a while and they made the games tighter a year ago.
03:08And the one thing the Rams have done, they've, they've been like, Hey man, we can't beat
03:11San Francisco.
03:12We can't match them at least close to match them physicality wise.
03:15And so that's a change they've made.
03:17That's a conscious decision that they've made.
03:20Mark's Larris with us on Willard and Dibs think, uh, I wonder if you could, uh, you
03:24know, you probably played at a time where you didn't need to worry so much about people
03:27tweeting after games or whatever, but, but like, how would you feel if you won a football
03:33game and then the next day a teammate, um, is, is, is on Twitter saying, I I'm doing
03:40fine.
03:41I'm just not getting the ball.
03:42How would you react to that as a teammate?
03:47It did irritate me and it pissed me off, uh, by the way, you lead the team in, in drops.
03:52Um, so Mr. I'm getting along fine.
03:55Like the thing I, I, Debo's a phenomenal football player, phenomenal football player.
04:01And you became who you are because of your versatility, because they could line you up
04:09in the back.
04:10Cause I truly believe that Debo Samuel could line up at the back of the rush for 1200 yards
04:14as a running back.
04:16So they ran you at the running back position.
04:18They used you in the jet sweeps, the orbit sweeps.
04:20They use you in a screen game, the bubble screen game, the rip a tear screen game.
04:25They used you, you know, in a myriad of different ways, the deep overs and everything else.
04:29You're built like a fullback, like you're an incredible football player and your versatility
04:34has made you a superstar and got you paid millions upon millions of dollars.
04:39But that's not good enough, right?
04:41Because what I'm not being paid as much as Brandon or I want to be an X receiver.
04:46I want to be something I'm not.
04:47I want to be a real boy.
04:48You know?
04:49I mean, at some point, except who the hell you are and be grateful for what they've done
04:55in creating a superstar.
04:58I don't understand like why it's not good enough to be who you are.
05:03And what, what they've done for you is, is created, you know, generational wealth and
05:10like you've worked hard.
05:11I get it.
05:12I mean, you're a great player, but you're not Justin Jefferson running the X, you know,
05:17you're, you're not, you're not that guy.
05:19So I just, I don't, I don't understand where the, the disconnect comes from.
05:24I don't understand that, you know, disappointment, I don't, I just, I don't understand.
05:28And it comes, it always comes from the wide receiver position.
05:31Like at what point did we make these guys so valuable?
05:35They're so self-consumed because it's always, it's, it's always one of these guys that feels
05:42like, I mean, in Philadelphia, it's AJ Brown.
05:44Like at what point did we overvalue them to the point where they feel like they're above
05:49the team?
05:50I don't, I don't understand.
05:51You should make him line up one-on-one and play guard for the whole practice and get
05:58a mouthful of Rydell every play.
06:00And then start to understand what other guys have to do for you to even sniff a football.
06:04Cause it bought, it bothers me.
06:06And that's one of the things about Kyle Shanahan.
06:08I know this to be true, understanding other people's issues and problems, but he is so
06:13big on that from a coaching standpoint, coach to coach, player to player, you need to understand
06:18what other guys have to go through the other guys have to sacrifice so that you can have
06:23some success.
06:24And then we're going to pout because we only got two balls.
06:27We got three balls thrown to us.
06:28We only had two receptions for 22 yards.
06:31We've got, well, one T on the season.
06:33So now we're in pouting mode, right?
06:36And not that we won a game, that we handled them offensively and being excited for George
06:41Kittle and the day he had, and like, we can't be excited.
06:44We got to pout about the lack of production we had.
06:48And that, that amount of selfishness, honestly, just, it just irritates the piss out of me.
06:56No doubt.
06:57Especially when you contrast it with Juwan Jennings' stink and you see the way he's going
07:01out there and, and playing and making plays.
07:03Does that give you a little bit of a lift to seeing a player like Juwan, who's kind
07:08of embodying exactly what you're talking about?
07:11Absolutely.
07:12And, and let me just be clear, man, I'm a huge D Boat fan.
07:15Like what that guy has been able to do throughout his career and the state, like the, the play
07:21in the running back spot and all the different things he's done.
07:24I think it's incredible.
07:26And I think it's, I think it's just one of the cool things that I've ever got to watch.
07:31It just is, it just is bothersome, I guess.
07:34And, and Juwan Jennings, man, that dude, I called a game last year in San Francisco against
07:39I think Seattle.
07:40And that dude is like, they got to rip that guy off of people.
07:44He's trying to kill people.
07:45And I love it.
07:46Like, you know, that's, he's just a football player and they develop so many of those guys
07:51in San Francisco.
07:52And I don't know what the disconnect is, but you know, I said this a couple of weeks ago
07:56on television, man, there, he just seems disgruntled.
07:59It just seems like it's not the same.
08:01And you know, we made, we made light of, oh, you know, the, the Pepper Tabor stuff, you
08:06know, and the choking people and all that kind of stuff.
08:08But the bottom line is something hasn't been right.
08:11Something hasn't been right within that locker room or within with him.
08:17And and I think, you know, I think that tweet, you can, you can, you can dismiss it or you
08:23can say whatever you want about it.
08:25But ultimately, you know, that's, um, that's one of those things that doesn't lie.
08:31That's one of those that's like, you know, things that they always joke around things
08:35that don't lie.
08:36The, the running game, you know, small children, drunk people and yoga pants, yoga pants don't
08:43lie.
08:44So, I mean, all those things don't lie and, and that's what he was feeling at that particular
08:49point in time.
08:50You could take it down, but it, the damage is done.
08:54Your calls are brought to you by Hellman's Rio Mayonnaise.
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09:01and creamy flavor to your game day dishes this football season.
09:04And we are talking with Stink, Mark Slareth, right here on Willard and Dibbs on 95.7 The
09:08Game.
09:09So listen, uh, Stink, we could look at the records and I get all that, but you watch
09:13a lot of ball Seahawks, Cardinals, Rams, Niners.
09:16When you just watch those teams, who do you think is the best team?
09:20Um, I think it, it comes down to the Rams and the Niners.
09:28And obviously, obviously Seattle's winning right now and they're making some plays and
09:33big cat Leonard Williams is, is probably playing the best football of his career.
09:37Um, but I, I honestly think the two best teams, when I watched those teams, um, the deficiencies
09:44of Seattle or alarming, um, you know, they're winning in spite of, of their lack of being
09:51able to block and do things.
09:52So an alarming, you know, that's an alarming watch for me, but the two teams that I look
09:58at and think those two teams can play are the Rams and San Francisco.
10:03And you mentioned that the run game, one of the things that doesn't lie along with young
10:06children and yoga pants, which is, I'm going to be stealing that by the way.
10:10Absolutely.
10:11I mean, the name of my fantasy team next year, yoga pants don't lie.
10:14Exactly.
10:15It's pretty good.
10:16But you look at the Niners on the ground, by the way, yoga pants, a privilege, not a
10:20right.
10:21A lot of, a lot of this is getting written down by the way, you're in your bag today.
10:29The ground game, McCaffrey out and Mason out Garendo, maybe out.
10:35Can the Niners still do it as they're down now to their fifth string running back?
10:39Yeah.
10:40Isn't it?
10:41Incredible.
10:42Right.
10:43It goes, it like father, like son, man, it was just like, we would go one guy, roll out
10:48another guy, roll in one guy, roll out another guy, roll in.
10:51You know, I remember a streak there.
10:53We had TD for 2000 yards and TD gets hurt in 1999 and Orlando's Gary comes in and runs
10:59for 1200 yards.
11:01And then in week one, the next year, week two, the next year, Gary Orlando's Gary goes
11:05out.
11:06He comes in and runs for 1400 yards and it's like, it was just a factory.
11:11So do I think they'll be able to run it?
11:14Yeah.
11:15You know what I mean?
11:16Ultimately everybody goes, well, it just is the system.
11:17It's the system.
11:18This, that, and the other.
11:19And that's, you know, that has a lot to do with it.
11:21It's a lot of the coaching I watch.
11:24I watch more film than I probably should, but man, there is, there's so much good coaching.
11:32Bobby Turner is an amazing coach and he does a great job of helping those guys understand
11:41what the scheme is, where the weakness of the scheme is, the likelihood of being able
11:47to press, whether you're going to have to cut back, uh, where the, where the weak link
11:52is, where the strong point of the defense is like all those things.
11:56And you can see those guys understanding that setting their blocks up, cutting accordingly,
12:03you know, in all those things that, and you know, one of the things that Mike Tomlin once
12:07told me, and I loved it and I stole it, that you guys are going to steal my stuff is that
12:12like not every run needs to be, um, not every run needs to be a buffet.
12:18Sometimes you just need to have an appetizer and so many backs try to make every run of
12:23a buffet, every run of backup, a breakout.
12:27And what ends up happening instead of getting a nasty three, three and a half that keeps
12:32you on schedule, you get a one or a zero or minus one because you're trying to be a star.
12:39And that system is not coached that way.
12:41Bobby Turner does not coach it that way.
12:44Bobby Turner, if you take a four yard game and make it a one yard game, because you're
12:49going to spill it outside and try to, you know, outrun the defense, outflank the defense,
12:55your ass is going to be on the bench.
12:57And so it's coached that way.
12:59And I just think those guys are exceptional coaches that really understand the running
13:04game, the strengths, the weaknesses.
13:06Um, and, and like, so every guy is coached exceptionally well, and that's why every guy
13:11to me, um, you know, has success, you know, and I always say, Hey, the year that Mike
13:17Anderson had 1400 yards, TD would have had 2100, you know, I mean, cause he's that good
13:23and he makes up for a multitude of sins, but still you can have a lot of success regardless
13:27of the guys, your starter or your fourth or fifth string.
13:30Um, Mark, you're so good on, on, uh, on breaking down the offense, but I do want to ask you
13:36about the 49er defense.
13:37Their new defensive coordinator, Nick Sorensen has, has not really made himself popular with
13:43the, the, the fans so far.
13:46And, and Jordan Love and Josh Allen ran all over them without Nick Bosa, but then suddenly
13:51they hold the bears to two yards at the first half.
13:54Did they figure something out or were they just playing the bears?
13:57Yeah, I think probably a little bit, a little bit of both.
14:01Listen, man, it's, it's hard when it's not just one coordinator, right?
14:07It is.
14:08How many different coordinators have they had year after year?
14:11It was Wilkes.
14:12Who was before that?
14:13Uh, you know, there was, I mean, there, there have been multiple guys.
14:18And so you've heard multiple voices, multiple nuance, multiple changes across the board
14:23and every guy wants it done a little bit differently.
14:27And so, you know, I have this kind of 10,000 hour rule and I always think about it the
14:32way that I approach the game, man, I've run this particular play 10,000 times.
14:41You've defended it 200 times, you know, it's the, it's the global gym effect.
14:46I'm better than you.
14:47And I know it.
14:48And so let's run this play that I'm really good at.
14:51There's not a defense you could line up in.
14:53There's not a look that you can give me that I haven't repped a hundred, a thousand times.
14:59And so ultimately when you go through a defense coordinator after defensive coordinator from
15:04Sala to whoever else was next to, oh, it was Domenico, Domenico Ryan's to, to Wilkes,
15:13to, you know, to Sorensen, like that is hard because every little piece changes, every
15:19little nuance changes.
15:20And it, it sounds like a small deal, but it's a big deal.
15:26And continuity is important.
15:28And then you're hearing a different voice and then you're saying like, you don't have
15:31success with it.
15:32And you're like, well, shoot, when we did it with so-and-so, we had a lot of success
15:36and I was doing it differently.
15:37I was, you know, I was playing this style a little bit differently.
15:40I was playing this technique a little bit differently.
15:42I was playing this leverage a little bit differently.
15:45And the way it was explained to me before made sense, but the way this guy's explaining
15:50it doesn't mean it's wrong.
15:51It just doesn't make sense.
15:53And so like, those are hard things.
15:56Those are hard things.
15:58And like, I even look at Seattle, like Seattle.
16:02When we talk about your division, Seattle came in, they were awful early defensively.
16:06They actually dumped two of their starting linebackers and picked guys up off the street
16:10and they're playing a lot better, but they've played the system for a while.
16:14And then they got a couple of guys that fit better to that system.
16:17So part of great coaching is fitting your system to the guy's eyes and what they see
16:23and how they play.
16:25And so all that stuff takes time.
16:29And unfortunately, when you start a season, that's one thing you don't have.
16:33You can't say, hey, let's roll into this for nine weeks and figure it out.
16:37It doesn't work that way.
16:39Yeah, you can't make up continuity and you can't make up, you know, the experience that
16:44you have with a coordinator who's been there and a team that's been there as well.
16:48I want to ask you, Mark, about philosophically what the Niners do because they don't blitz
16:52very often, yet they don't seem to play a lot of press man coverage.
16:57How important is it for a defense to marry what you do with the front four with how you
17:02cover on the back end?
17:04Everybody, like every defensive coordinator I talk to when I sit down with them, they
17:08always talk about burying the pass rush, you know, with coverage and like all those things
17:14are incredibly important.
17:16And you know, talking about nuance and how this stuff works, I was having a conversation
17:22with Eric Mangini today, we were just talking football.
17:26And I was like, you know, one of the things that I always thought of as a player is on
17:31this particular play, like I want to know the global perspective of what we're doing.
17:39I want to know what my tight end is doing.
17:40I want to know what my fullback is doing.
17:42I want to know what my halfback is doing.
17:43I want to know the releases.
17:44I want to know the depth of the routes.
17:46I want to know how many hitches the quarterback has.
17:48I want to know what the timing of the route combination, when the ball is out.
17:52I want to know all that stuff, right?
17:53So I can adjust to accordingly.
17:55And then I want to know like, Hey, where's the quarterback set up on play pass?
17:59Where's he set up on, you know, on three-step draws, like all the, does he drift in the
18:04pocket for based upon what we're throwing?
18:07Like all these different things are important to me because the first thing I thought to
18:10myself as a player is like, I'm walking up to the huddle, I go, where can I not get beat?
18:14That's my first, like my first thought is where can I not get beat?
18:19Where do I have help?
18:20Where do I have leverage?
18:21You know, a fullback or a tailback releasing through the B gap.
18:24How can I funnel a guy to where, you know, where there's traffic and that traffic will
18:29help the foot traffic of a back or a tight end or whatever is going to help me block
18:34the guy.
18:35So those are the things that you think about.
18:37And when you haven't been coached, you know, and you don't have that continuity, guess
18:41what's lost that nuance.
18:45And the difference between being good and being average is nuance.
18:52This whole game is nuance.
18:54And there's so many little tricks and there's so many little things that take you from good
18:59to great and great to exceptional.
19:02And when you don't have a lot of time on task, it's really hard because you know how you
19:07learn by getting your ass kicked.
19:11That's how you learn.
19:12You know, I always joke around, you can't upkick a four-eye.
19:16And for those who don't know what a four-eye is, a four-eye is a defensive end that's lined
19:20up on the inside shade of an offensive tackle.
19:24And an upkick is a short set where you actually fake run.
19:28Well, you know how I learned you don't upkick the four-eye?
19:31Because when you upkick a four-eye, it turns your body and it gives you a soft edge on
19:34the outside, a soft edge on the inside.
19:37You know how I learned that?
19:38By upkicking a four-eye on a three-step drop and get my ass kicked and give it up at bat.
19:42That's how I learned it.
19:43Right?
19:44And I was like, oh shoot, you know, so we had like my production crew, we have a joke.
19:49Like when somebody says something and maybe it doesn't make sense or something says that
19:53or something that didn't go right, we always say, we look at each other and go, guy upkicked
19:57the four-eye.
19:58We're a moron.
19:59Yeah.
20:00You know?
20:01All right, Stink.
20:02So even if they go seven and seven and win this game Thursday, you still think they're
20:06dust, huh?
20:08I do.
20:09I do, unfortunately.
20:10But, uh, hey, listen, man, I'm the biggest Niner fan because I'm a huge Kyle Shanahan
20:15fan and, uh, and you know, Mike Shanahan is a dear friend and a mentor of mine.
20:21So I'm always rooting for the Niners, but I just think they put themselves or dug themselves
20:26too big a hole.
20:27But I had a coach that used to tell me all the time, the only place you ever start on
20:30top is when you're digging a hole.
20:32So, uh, maybe they can get out of it.
20:34Well, yeah.
20:35I mean, there's no doubt about the fact that it is unlikely.
20:38Mark.
20:39Thanks, man.
20:40Great stuff today.
20:41All right.
20:42Be good.
20:43All right.
20:44There he is.
20:45That was Odyssey NFL insider Mark Schlereth, host of the Stinkin' Truth podcast.
20:47Insider calls are brought to you by Hellman's Real Mayonnaise Mayo.
20:51Game day be delicious.