- 2 months ago
Willard and Dibs discuss if talking heads are just assuming that the 49ers are going to get injured this season. Is that fair?
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00:00We're going to let you hear some things that John Lynch told Tim Kalkami on the TK show about this
00:06trip out there.
00:07As you said, they're just probably landing here within the next 15 to 30 minutes or so.
00:12Turns out there is one player who's not on the plane, Sam Okawano, and the defensive line is already thin.
00:20And so that's an unfortunate injury. We don't even know exactly what it is.
00:24There are rumors moving around out there. I don't want to throw that out there, though, until we know.
00:28But you would think this is not a situation where he's going to head out there on his own.
00:33So my guess is if he's not on the plane, that's another defensive lineman down probably for the 49ers.
00:39Possibly. I mean, he might be flying out with the Rams.
00:42I mean, he could try to get healthier the next five or six days.
00:46And like, hey, McVay, would you mind if I jump on with y'all and fly with you guys?
00:51But yeah, it's not good news, especially as you mentioned, a line that's a little bit thin already.
00:57But it's just one game. And so hopefully what you have with, you know, Weston Collins and you've got Osa
01:03Odigizua, hopefully that's enough to, you know, make it through.
01:07And Nick Bosa. Right.
01:08Nick Bosa is right now again expected to play.
01:12In fact, let's let you hear right out of the gate because we want to kind of play a few
01:18things for you.
01:18And then I think there's something really important to say after we listen to all of this.
01:24But start with what John Lynch had to say with regard to Kittle and Bosa and an update on those
01:32two being on the flight.
01:33The expectation is that they both are. They both have been tracking very well.
01:38Now, as we've said many times, ideal.
01:41No, but I think given the circumstances, we feel very good about where they're at.
01:46Big day for Nick today. You know, he's getting out on the practice field doing doing reps.
01:51That day was yesterday for George. George. George performed very well.
01:55His is his rehab has been outstanding, as has Nick's.
01:59Nick just, you know, people at different times during ACLs.
02:02This is it's kind of the norm. Nick is, you know, I think we all know blessed genetically.
02:08And I think in his other ACLs hasn't had this hiccup and, you know, I call it a hiccup, but
02:13most guys go through it and they get a little tendinitis.
02:16You have to back off. We didn't foresee that with Nick, but it happened.
02:20And so you adjust accordingly and feel very good about his ability.
02:24He trains so diligently. I think he's he's ready and and, you know, we'll we'll see provided everything goes well
02:33here today.
02:34We'll expect Nick to be in uniform and making the impact he always does against the ramps.
02:40So what does John Lynch say there?
02:43What has he said a number of times?
02:45This is something that I really want to drive home.
02:48I love that he admits, look, is it ideal?
02:51No. But again, these are injuries from last year.
02:54He said the phrase about both of them.
02:57He's ready. He's ready.
02:59Yeah. And and and I think that that's an important thing to note based on the way a lot of
03:05people are talking about this season that's about to unfold.
03:08And in particular, the opponent that the 49ers are about to face.
03:12I've noticed a lot of people talking about the presence of Aaron Donald.
03:16The Rams haven't even said if this guy is going to play at all.
03:20And even if he does, what exactly does he look like?
03:24What version of Aaron Donald is he?
03:26We're going to get to a lot of this.
03:28But John Lynch says right now, those guys are heading toward being ready.
03:33The game is a week from tonight.
03:34And the fact that they're on the flight means a lot to the extent of they wouldn't bring him out
03:39there unless they thought that he probably
03:41or possibly could be good to go.
03:44And just the way John Lynch laid that out where, you know, he had a little bit of a setback
03:48a couple of weeks ago,
03:49but he worked through that.
03:50And Nick Bosa actually said the same thing in his own words about what he went through.
03:55And the fact that he went through that and now he feels better encourages me that by the time they
04:00land here in about 20 minutes or so,
04:03the next day or two will be, you know, kind of recovering from the flight.
04:07But after that, Nick Bosa, ramp up and go play.
04:11I guess kind of what I'm getting at is that it feels to me like people think that the 49ers
04:18are just crossing their fingers.
04:21This entire season is built on a wing and a prayer.
04:25And it's just like, well, this is who we got.
04:29Everybody's kind of either broken or old, maybe both.
04:32But let's just cross our fingers and hope.
04:35And look, is there some of that?
04:38I mean, I could argue there's some of that with every single football team.
04:41It's football.
04:42But here's the next one.
04:44Listen to Lynch talk about how diligent they have been with those who are working their way through injury.
04:52And then they're not going to just willy nilly stick them into the game based on fingers crossed.
04:58With every player, you take the totality of the whole situation into account.
05:04You test it with various different angles, you know, obviously the doctors, the experts, the trainers, the objective testing, all
05:14those things.
05:15And so you don't allow them on the field unless they've hit all the necessary markers.
05:19And the good news with these guys is they have up to this point.
05:24Now you got to see can they, you know, last time Nick went out on the field and started doing
05:28drills and football type drills.
05:30Because there's one thing, rehabbing off to the side.
05:33But when you get back in football activities, there's a change there no matter what you've done.
05:37And so there is that.
05:39But absent that, these guys are doing really well.
05:42Okay.
05:43So they got to hit certain injury mandates.
05:45And it appears that they have.
05:47So here's what I want to get to.
05:50I don't know if you are.
05:51I'm a huge fan of Louis Riddick.
05:53Oh, he's the best.
05:54Louis is fantastic.
05:55He's a great analyst.
05:56I think he's smart enough to be a scout, a GM in this league.
06:00But he probably doesn't want the gray hair that comes with that.
06:04So just keep on working for ESPN.
06:08So NFL Live, check this statement out.
06:11The core of what he's talking about, the Rams are better than the Niners.
06:16I don't disagree with that.
06:17I mean, we haven't played any games yet.
06:19I don't disagree with the Rams are better than fill in the blank with any of those teams.
06:23The Rams were better last year, yet you split with the Rams.
06:26You split with the Rams.
06:27And yes, you did.
06:29And going into the final game of the season, the Niners were the team that had a chance to win
06:33the division, not the Rams.
06:34But be that as it may, take a listen to this point that Louis Riddick just made on NFL Live.
06:40Look, I think there's a significant gap between the two teams.
06:42When you just look at it individually, all right, if you say, I'll get a fully healthy Trent Williams, a
06:47fully healthy Christian McCaffrey, a fully healthy George Kittle, a fully healthy Mike Evans, that's a pretty good group right
06:53there.
06:53You'd stack them up, you know, man for man against whoever the 49ers had, and then you move over to
06:58the defense.
06:58If you get a fully healthy Nick Bosa and a fully healthy Fred Warner, you go, okay, that's a pretty
07:02good group.
07:03It's just that, look, those are aging guys, except for Fred Warner, obviously.
07:07And guys who, like right now in the previous clip that we just ran, these are all guys who right
07:11now, we don't even know how they're going to be as far as their availability and how much they're going
07:15to be as close to 100% as possible in week one.
07:19We're talking about week one, not the middle of the season.
07:21We're talking about week one.
07:23When you look at the Rams, look, Matthew Stafford, you haven't heard a word about his health and his back
07:28this preseason.
07:29So you give them the edge there.
07:30He's coming off an MVP type of season.
07:32Devontae Adams, another aging guy on the outside.
07:34You haven't heard a word about him not being available or him having any kind of issues in training camp.
07:38You figure they're going to be fine there.
07:40The guy on your screen coming back after two years off, fresh legs, saying that he feels as good as
07:44he's ever felt in Aaron Donald.
07:46That's a problem.
07:47Miles Garrett, best player in the league in his position.
07:49The secondary as a whole, they just went out and got two studs in Trent McDuffie and Jalen Watson.
07:53So they're solid there.
07:55Linebacker court, you probably give the nod to San Francisco.
07:58But look, right now, when you break it down position by position, there's a reason why the Rams are being
08:04talked about the way that they are.
08:06Okay.
08:06Did you catch it?
08:08Did you notice it?
08:10Did you notice what Louis Riddick just did there?
08:13He was talking about older guys getting hurt.
08:15Absolutely.
08:16Which is a thing, obviously.
08:18Right.
08:19The Rams on paper are a thing.
08:21I'm not here to argue any of the core of his point.
08:25Here's what I noticed, though.
08:27The 49ers, if you name someone like a Trent Williams or a Fred Warner or a George Kittle or anyone
08:35like that,
08:36Louis presents that as, well, that's an aging player.
08:40Yeah, sure.
08:40And we have to shrug our shoulders.
08:43We have no idea if those guys are going to be available.
08:47And if they are, we don't know what version of themselves they are.
08:51We don't know.
08:52I don't know how we can know because they're aging.
08:55And then in the next sentence, he goes to the Rams and goes, Aaron Donald says that he feels better
09:00than he ever has.
09:01Fresh legs.
09:02So that's a problem.
09:03Fresh legs.
09:03He's got fresh legs.
09:04And the Niners are going to get schooled by the whole league.
09:07Wait a minute.
09:08He's 36 and hasn't played in two years.
09:11And what about Devontae Adams, who he mentioned, like, Devontae Adams, I mean, he comes in feeling great and he
09:17had a big year last year, but he's also, what, 34 years old?
09:21Devontae Adams was also hurt at the end of the last year, just like Mike Evans was.
09:26Believe me, take it from someone who had shares of Devontae in fantasy.
09:30Listen.
09:31You probably have every player, though, in fantasy with all the teams you have.
09:34This is a great point that you just made.
09:36But anyway, my point is the same as it was yesterday.
09:41I submit the Niners have had, I loved your word yesterday, a salacious and weird and headline-grabbing offseason.
09:53It has taken us for a ride and led us down the road of the negative assumption for multiple players.
10:02And by the way, I'm not saying you're wrong, but you better damn well offer that for other teams and
10:10people who are in the exact same position.
10:12I love Louis Riddick.
10:13I think it's laughable that you would say, boy, we have no idea what we're going to get from Nick
10:20Bosa.
10:21And in the next sentence, act like Aaron Donald in his prime just showed up to the NFL.
10:27That's ridiculous.
10:29Especially when you're talking about a guy two years off the couch, and I don't know if we have had
10:33a precedent where you have somebody who, in that position, comes off the couch after two years.
10:39And we saw last year Phillip Rivers, who was, what, four years off the couch.
10:43And he came in, and he was pretty good at times, but he wasn't the Phillip Rivers we remember.
10:49And he came back after four years at quarterback.
10:52And you're asking Aaron Donald to come in after two years off the couch to be the same guy that
10:58he was when he left the football field?
11:00There's no way.
11:01Bottom line for me is this.
11:03I'm not here to tell you the Niners are going to win next Thursday night.
11:06They probably won't.
11:07They're not supposed to.
11:08They might.
11:09I mean, it's a football game.
11:11Right.
11:11They're allowed to, as you would say.
11:13They're allowed to.
11:14We've all done survivor pools before.
11:17If it was that easy to tell you who was going to win a football game, all of us would
11:20be very rich.
11:21Or actually, survivor pools wouldn't exist because everybody would make it to the end of the year.
11:25And, in fact, a lot of people have a hard time getting out of week one.
11:28Look, I remember when the Niners played the Rams on a Thursday last year, and Brock Purdy wasn't even in
11:34the game, and the game was at SoFi Stadium.
11:37And we sat down to watch that game, and what happened in the first ten minutes of that game made
11:42no sense.
11:43It made none.
11:44Why was Mack Jones moving the 49ers up and down the field?
11:48And the Rams couldn't get into scoring position.
11:52And it was 14-0 before.
11:55Before I got off Bart.
11:56Before you got off Bart.
11:57And before I was done with my first drink.
11:59Yeah.
12:00So, like, all of these points that are being made, I think, in a grand sense, there is some validity
12:08to them.
12:09The Niners have age, concerns, people coming off injuries.
12:13This is all true.
12:14And the Rams have a lot of good players.
12:18Answers at seemingly almost every position.
12:20But I think the way that that's being processed right now is a little out of whack.
12:28The idea that the Rams don't have question marks surrounding Aaron Donald and Devontae Adams.
12:35The idea that the Rams will just show up and win all of their football games this year, I think,
12:41is an erroneous way to look at this.
12:43And you didn't even mention the quarterback, Matthew Stafford, who is either 39 or about to be 39.
12:47And last year, going into camp, he had a back issue that was either made up, because we know this
12:54year the Niners' injuries were mostly make-believe.
12:56But Matthew Stafford last year came in, and I guess he is only 38.
13:01He'll be 39 the week before the Super Bowl.
13:03So he won't be playing when he's 39.
13:05He'll be watching.
13:06That was crazy.
13:08I mean, by metrics, you're probably right.
13:11I mean, he could be.
13:12He's allowed to be.
13:13Because the Super Bowl is either, it's on Valentine's, right?
13:15It's on Valentine's Day.
13:16Which is going to be great.
13:17Go ahead and brace yourselves.
13:19I mean, some of us don't have that issue.
13:21Listen.
13:22Trust me.
13:23I'm good.
13:23I already am of the firm belief that Valentine's Day this year is on February 13th.
13:29It's a Saturday.
13:30It's easier.
13:31Get out ahead of it.
13:33Take your girl somewhere if you got one on February 13th.
13:37Don't do this whole combo platter.
13:39No.
13:40I'm going to yell at the TV screen, but during commercials, give you a kiss.
13:44Like, let's not.
13:45That's too much to ask.
13:46And I'm already of the mind, as you know, and I'm on the record saying this,
13:50that Valentine's Day is like the monster under your bed.
13:54It doesn't exist.
13:55And maybe that's why I'm in the spot I'm in.
13:58And I say this knowing full well that it's 222 and it's a no-fly zone.
14:03It's a long way to go until February.
14:05Whatever Valentine's Day.
14:07The Super Bowl.
14:08Stafford will be 39 if he plays in that game.
14:10But my greater point is the whole thing about, ooh, age.
14:14And the Niners, they're so old.
14:16The Rams quarterback is 38 and a half.
14:19He had his half birthday already.
14:21And he's had a back issue.
14:23He's got a lot of tread off those tires.
14:26So, God forbid we talk about a 38-and-a-half-year-old quarterback maybe getting hurt, right?
14:31Well, I mean, look, again, as you've said so many times, it's football.
14:34Anything can happen.
14:35Anybody can get hurt.
14:36And just because we, quote, haven't heard about anything out of Rams camp, I just, I don't even know.
14:42So, I don't know what that means or why that matters.
14:46This stuff can all change in an instant.
14:48It almost always does.
14:50Monday morning during the NFL season is crazy because it feels like a whole new world every single Monday because
14:56of who did what, who outperformed their expectations, who got hurt, who didn't.
15:01I look at this now kind of the same way it's like a Brock Purdy conversation that you and I
15:08have had for a long time, which is even though Brock has sort of quieted a lot of the doubt,
15:15I don't think it all really fully goes away until he wins a ring.
15:21And at that point, the doubt and the comparisons and the draftism go away.
15:28Here's the microcosm of that.
15:30Same thing with this Niners offseason.
15:33No matter what we say, no matter what we do, it doesn't go away until the season starts.
15:39I've never seen a team in my life in more dire need of the season to start so that all
15:46of the substation, Dajon Love, Kyle Shanahan car accident, solicitation, all of this stuff, it doesn't matter, it doesn't go
15:59away until we play.
16:00First injury, substation.
16:02Yeah, thank you.
16:03It's substation.
16:05It's substation.
16:06It's solicitation.
16:08It's my accident and stuff.
16:11And it's, you know, Dajon Love.
16:14It's so many things, but I'm just hoping that we can get through a healthy portion of the season where,
16:19you know, the people that you think are going to get hurt actually don't get hurt.
16:24Because injuries happen, and we know that.
16:26So, you know, you come back from Australia, and even if they win or lose in Australia, if they come
16:32back and they lose week two, it'll be, oh, boy, that damn flight.
16:36You know, the flight is what cost them game two.
16:38There's always going to be things that people concoct to try to pin losses and injuries upon.
16:45There's always going to be things that people with their house when they get hurt.