• 5 days ago
Transcript
00:00for you to discover the islands, River Islands in Lathrop. What's going on, Steve? How you doing, man?
00:05Hey, man, I am good to go. Looking forward to the game tonight. It's going to be an interesting
00:09weekend. It's December football. It's that time of year. Yeah, it's funny. If you look at the
00:13schedule, there's like four or five great games, and this is obviously a big one tonight at Levi's
00:19Stadium. Let me ask you this. You've had your eye on the 49ers all season long. We're at week 15
00:25right now. What do you think's been their underlying reason why they haven't been able
00:31to maintain the standard that they've had for the last two or three years?
00:37I mean, it's injuries. I mean, they've been decimated. I don't know if there's a team in
00:42the NFL that's just had so many frontline players, just from Trent Williams to Christian McCaffrey,
00:50Jordan Mason. I mean, it's crazy across the board. Brandon Ayuk. Defensively,
00:55they're rotating guys constantly through. It's hard. There's some teams that can overcome
01:02certain injuries, but again, when you have them to so many frontline players,
01:07and it just never really got on track. I mean, offensively, I think Purdy's been fine,
01:15but because of the injuries in the running game or the offensive line or wide receiver,
01:19they just haven't looked the way normally. And then defensively, that's been an issue too.
01:25We saw that in the past couple of games before they beat the Bears,
01:29injuries on that side of the ball and just not playing like we're used to seeing the 49ers play.
01:35Yeah, I'm with you, Steve. I follow you on social media. And speaking of, we saw the great Debo
01:40Samuel, who two, three years ago, this offense ran through him. We've seen it in the playoffs
01:45and help get this team to the Super Bowl. But the production and mainly in the passing game and the
01:50run game, he seems like, you know, he's getting gang tackled every time he went to social media,
01:55said the ball's not coming his way. And it was after a game, Steve, where they scored 38 points.
02:01Can you share with us what you thought of those comments and Debo's year on an individual basis?
02:08Yeah, you know, look, he's probably frustrated because he wants to be an impactful player.
02:12He sees the injuries and knows, Hey, I should be the go-to guy. But the defense knows he's
02:17the go-to guy, you know, and you know, his season overall, he's been hot and cold.
02:22I think it was about two or three games ago. He had two or three balls just go right through his
02:27hands. I mean, just some absolute gimme's. And I was like, man, Debo just has not been able to get
02:32it going this year. He had a couple of runs where he took some negative yards, not because of him,
02:36because the blocking wasn't there. So I'm sure that's frustrating. He wants to be a great player.
02:41He is a great player and he wants to be able to showcase what he wants to do. And the fact that
02:46he maybe didn't get the touches he'd like to get even after when he's, he's a little frustrated.
02:52I mean, this is, this is what happens to certain players when you win, win, win. And then you have
02:57that year, you have that year where the floor falls out and it's still not a complete disaster.
03:02I mean, they still have a chance to get into the playoffs and who knows what happens then,
03:07but I don't think anyone now is saying, okay, they're at the level of Detroit or Green Bay or
03:12Minnesota or the Eagles. But you know, again, it's, it's a bad year for the Niners is not a
03:19complete disaster. Steve Weiss joining us on 95.7 The Game, chief national reporter for NFL Network
03:25and NFL.com. I mean, if you were to handicap right now, the NFC West, who would you pick to win it?
03:32The Niners are, they're six and seven, but they're still technically in last place because
03:37the Cardinals have beaten them head to head. They play the Cardinals later this season,
03:41but looking at that division right now, and you had a bet, who are you betting on?
03:46Well, the team that's playing the best right now, Seattle, you know, they're,
03:50they're starting to pick it up a little bit. We know the Rams had the big win over Buffalo.
03:56Um, their offense is, is looking better. Um, the Niners, I mean, what, they strung together
04:03back-to-back wins just once this season. I don't know. I think, I think tonight could give us a
04:09little bit of a tell. I mean, they're just so beat up, man. I mean, that, that's the thing.
04:13Arizona is not playing well. So I'd probably say Seattle right now and the Rams being,
04:19you know, the next threat just because they've got Stafford and Nakua and
04:23Dutch who could tear you up like that. So yeah, it's, it's going to be a tough tell,
04:29but there, there's not going to be a wildcard team coming out of the West. If there is,
04:32I mean, something good happens for one of those teams we're talking about other than maybe the
04:35Seahawks. Steve, let me ask you about the, uh, the Rams quarterback and I know he's won a Super
04:40Bowl, but I gotta tell you, man, when I watched the Rams pass an attack outside of Detroit and
04:46some others, uh, Josh Allen on a good day, it's like a big boy passing attack and is led by the
04:51quarterback. He has a ring, but do you think in a crazy way? And I kind of feel like this, Steve,
04:57we've kind of taken Matthew Stafford for granted. The dude still throws one of the
05:01best balls in the game. Yeah. You know, he went through a stretch where he wasn't necessarily
05:06playing great, but I think that's because the bar he set for the last couple of weeks,
05:11he'd been insane. And, you know, part of that is because it seems now his one, a target
05:18is not Puka Nakua and not Cooper cup and their offense is diversifying. And they're running the
05:23ball. This is one thing we've seen from the Rams before when it gets late in the season and they
05:28really get that running game going. Kyra Williams is already over a thousand yards at touchdown
05:33machine. I mean, you've got 12 rushing touchdowns and that sets up with Matthew Stafford does best
05:38out of some of the run action stuff, you know? And so he's, I mean, he just throws such a beautiful
05:45pass. He's red hot right now. Again, the past couple of weeks, he's kind of gotten it back
05:50together. So, but those two receivers, you know, Nakua, you will not like Nakua is kind of like
05:56Debo. He does not go down on first contact and he is really rolling right now. So that's the
06:01player to watch tonight for the Rams and how he affects that secondary. And, and if, you know,
06:10the 49ers can get any pressure on Stafford, that's, you know, that's been an issue all season as well.
06:15Steve, we, we talked about Brock Purdy and the fact that there've been a lot of changes,
06:20let's say at running back and, and players have gotten hurt. Iuke obviously has missed a big
06:27chunk of the season, ditto for their rookie Ricky Pearsall. Does any of this affect his contract
06:34situation? And do you think there's anybody in the, in the organization, maybe looking at Purdy
06:39a little differently than they did at the start of the year, or is everything that's happened
06:43kind of understandable? I mean, I don't know how to look at him any different. He's played well.
06:48I mean, it's the record is the record, but he's talking about all the missing pieces
06:53he's had. And let's not, you know, not the skilled players. I mean,
06:55Trey Williams hasn't been there. The offensive line has not been great this year. Purdy's going
07:01to get paid. I mean, I think he's to the point we speak to around the league, you know, before
07:06the season people would probably say, well, the only people are really going to pay him are the
07:0949ers. Well, there's, there's some teams that would, that would pay Brock Purdy now,
07:14because I think he has shown, yeah, he could throw the deep ball. He's got the arm strength,
07:18but he's got that killer. We've talked about it before on the show. He's got kind of that
07:23late game Joe Burrow killer to him. And I think his experience going through, you know, injury,
07:31going through a lot of things has helped him gain that. And he's really stepped up at a time when
07:37he's really been coming to the, what the, the gunfight with the butter knife show this week.
07:42Who might be looking at, for a quarterback at the end of this year?
07:47I'm not saying that.
07:47Several teams that are going to be looking, but the Niners aren't going to make Brock Purdy
07:51available. I mean, that's not going to happen, but I mean, there's going to be, you know,
07:57the Jets are going to be looking for a quarterback. Cleveland is, you know,
08:03these are teams in new Orleans could be, right. You know, of course the Raiders, I mean,
08:10you know, the giants, I mean, there's, there's, there's teams that are going to be quarterback
08:13now. And some of those teams maybe aren't going to draft are going to be in a position to draft
08:18one. So it'd be interesting, but I mean, there's no way the Niners make Brock Purdy available.
08:22I did not see that happening in any way, shape or form.
08:26No, I hear you. That that's high praise. My ears perked up now just to piggyback off of that.
08:31So you wouldn't be shocked if, if bringing Purdy back, reset the market,
08:36it sounds like you almost kind of expect that. And if it happens, no big deal. He's worth it.
08:41Yeah. I mean, look, people, we, we get so hung up in the moment on quarterback contracts.
08:46Remember when Patrick Mahomes signed that 10 year 45 or a $450 million contract.
08:52Yep. That's like 12 now, you know, and he's readjusted it. Like the contracts are where
08:59they are. The cap keeps going up. It's going to go up 10 to $20 million. You structure it in a way
09:06where it may not necessarily handicap your team. There are very creative ways to get your
09:11quarterback his money with the guarantees. So it doesn't buckle your team's knees when you're
09:16trying to sign other players. Cause look, I think the one thing that's going to happen with the
09:19Niners after this year, they're going to sign Purdy and they're going to have to get rid of
09:22some of the veteran players and some of those contracts to sign other players. I mean, they've
09:26got, they've got to hit the refresh button. And I think Brock Purdy is going to be someone who's
09:31going to be a player they commit to and whatever the contract is, it may reset the market, but
09:37that is a fleeting expense. Well, again, when you see how these quarterback contracts continue to
09:42grow. Yeah, it's, it's interesting. It's very interesting. And you're right. They have a
09:46quarterback right now that they like. And so they got to probably figure out a way to keep them and
09:51just figure out the number. So man, uh, Hey Steve, as always, man, we appreciate it. And, uh,
09:57thanks for your time. Thanks. I appreciate you guys. Have a great night. Yes, sir. That's Steve
10:01Weiss chief national reporter for NFL network and NFL.com.