- 6 hours ago
Herm Edwards, former NFL player and head coach and current ESPN analyst, joins Willard and Dibs to break down the 49ers' 4-0 start to the season and this weekend's matchup against the Seahawks.
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00:00Kerm Edwards, who joins us now on the River Islands guest line as we get back to the Niners and
00:05the NFL.
00:06Coach, how are you doing, man? It's great to have you.
00:10Thank you for allowing me to come on your show. I'm doing well.
00:13I think now this next four weeks, we'll start figuring out the good teams and the not-so-good teams.
00:21I've always felt with the lack of preseason participation by a lot of the players anymore,
00:25the first four regular season games are really preseason games, except they count.
00:31We'll see the next four weeks.
00:32Yeah, that's an interesting comment. I mean, you know, I get it.
00:36We're still in the feel-it-out phase, but do you feel like you're able to get a beat on
00:42at least some teams?
00:43How do you feel about the 4-0 start for the Niners?
00:47Well, I think it's a great start for them. They've been playing well.
00:51I mean, when you look at, you know, they're scoring 30 points a game and only giving up 16.
00:56I mean, you win a lot of football games doing that.
00:59And it doesn't matter who your opponent is. I mean, that's the numbers.
01:03I mean, when you can score 30, average about 30, and give up 16, that is a good number, especially
01:08defensively.
01:10I think the acquisition of Raheem was good.
01:14They get a guy that has been in their division, which I think is important.
01:18I think some people overlook that. So he's coached against all the teams in his division.
01:23So he has a pretty good, you know, he's not coming in there trying to figure it out, and he's
01:26actually coached against them.
01:28So that was a good get. And I think they're playing really well right now.
01:32I mean, you know, if they can just stay healthy, I mean, it seems like they always get wounded.
01:35A guy is down or two, but the offense is playing well.
01:39It all revolves around McCaffrey, for sure.
01:42But quarterback's playing well. They're playing good defense.
01:45So they're a hot football team right now.
01:47You look at the defense, and Raheem is doing different things than Salah did last year.
01:52What are you seeing in terms of the scheme from Raheem that has led this team to be even better
01:57defensively?
01:59Well, I think Raheem knows, and I think Salah too, but, you know, he's going to try to look at
02:04it from his point of view
02:06and say, look, I've always said, and Raheem knows this, I gave Raheem his first job.
02:11Raheem was at Hofstra when I was the head coach of the Jets.
02:14He was just finishing up, and he walked over one morning and said, I want to learn how to coach.
02:18I want to be a coach.
02:19I told him, I said, well, you can meet me here tomorrow at 4.30.
02:21He showed up, and he worked for about a week or two, and then we sent him down to Tampa.
02:27That's how he got started.
02:28But I just think, you know, Raheem knows this, the system has to reflect the player's skill set.
02:36What do your players do well?
02:37He's smart enough to figure that out.
02:39Look, this is what these guys can do.
02:41This is how we're going to play it.
02:42It's not my defense.
02:43It's your defense, and he's kind of done that with them, and they're playing really good.
02:47Herm Edwards with us on Willard and Dibs.
02:49Coach, look, when the year ended last year, it was obvious the Seahawks were overwhelming the 49ers physically in that
02:57matchup.
02:57I'm sure the Niners spent all offseason trying to build a new tower to go against them,
03:04and some of those players are not going to be available.
03:06But I'd love to know if you think this is going to look different this year as opposed to last
03:12year.
03:13Yeah, I think so.
03:14I think 49ers are a very confident football team.
03:16And look, as you mentioned, you know, when the season ends, you'll always reflect on your division,
03:22and you ask yourself the question with your staff.
03:26Look, we've got to get better in our division because unless we can win our division, you know,
03:31that's what you build your team on, and you go out and do that on the offseason,
03:35whether it's for your agency or acquiring new players or to look at it.
03:39When you look at how it fared last year, I mean, the 49ers beat Seattle first game, what, 17-3?
03:45And then after that, the next two, count the playoffs, 49ers only scored a total of six points.
03:51You ain't going to win many games doing that.
03:53So I think this is a big game for San Francisco, obviously, because they're playing Seattle.
03:58The last few times they played them, it didn't fare well for them.
04:01But I think they're well aware of this.
04:03I think the players are well aware of it, too.
04:05You know, this is the team they're going to have to deal with, and they're going on the road to
04:08play them,
04:09and they understand that.
04:10But I think their mindset right now, a good football team, playing good,
04:14I think they're going to live up to the challenge of this.
04:17So Seattle wins the whole thing, and they've got the Super Bowl MVP,
04:20and he's up for a contract, and they let him go.
04:22And since, they've been really struggling to run the ball so far this year.
04:27What do you make of that personnel decision to let KW3 go to Kansas City?
04:33The running back, right?
04:34There's no value in running backs anymore, except for the Kansas City Chiefs.
04:38The Kansas City Chiefs figured out, you know what,
04:39we need a runner again, because Andy Reid's an old offensive line coach,
04:44and Eric Biennium, he is a running back coach.
04:46They said, you know what, we're going to help Patrick Mahomes.
04:49We're going to start running the ball again, and guess what?
04:52Chiefs are looking pretty good, and that runner they got, that MVP guy,
04:56he's running real good, too.
04:57By the way, they're 4-0, so like Zarazusco.
05:00But they're a balanced football team now.
05:02He's a tough, physical runner.
05:04And Seattle probably just didn't want to pay him.
05:05And he can't pay everybody.
05:07He just can't.
05:08And then they drafted the kid to Notre Dame, you know,
05:10and then so they figured, well, we'll get another running back.
05:13But obviously this guy, he is a really, really good football player.
05:18I'm like, whoa, this guy, he can play.
05:22Yes, yes he can, Coach.
05:24He's at least the non-quarterback MVP of the league so far this year, only four games in.
05:32I want to throw something at you that's been tossed around a lot around here over the last couple of
05:38years.
05:38Because of what happened against Seattle last year, plus, a few years ago,
05:43Niners go against the Ravens on Christmas Day.
05:47Brock Purdy's an MVP candidate.
05:49He throws four picks.
05:50They lose a game to the Ravens.
05:52At that time, Mike McDonald was the defensive coordinator for Baltimore.
05:56So, the statement that gets thrown around here is,
05:59Kyle Shanahan has a Mike McDonald problem.
06:02Do you agree with that?
06:05I don't know that.
06:06I mean, you know, when you have a, when a coach kind of has your number,
06:10you always like, you say, oh man, he's playing that guy.
06:12Well, look, coaches don't play.
06:13Last time I checked.
06:15None of these coaches can play anymore.
06:17Now, some of them might have played a long time ago, but they can't play anymore.
06:20I just think, you know, there's always a team that, or coaching that, you know,
06:28they might be one up on you.
06:30And if that continues to go in your career, that's the conversation.
06:34You know, he has trouble beating his coach.
06:37But look, I think the 49ers are a really good football team.
06:41And they understand this, if they could go up there and beat Seattle, in Seattle,
06:48that's going to be huge.
06:50There's more pressure on Seattle than San Francisco, in my opinion,
06:55because Seattle's playing at home.
06:57San Francisco's going up there, okay.
06:59You know, now Seattle, like San Francisco, has not lost a division game,
07:04and it's important to division game.
07:06But if San Francisco could find a way to beat these guys up there,
07:10which they're capable of doing, ooh, they just sent a message now.
07:16Yeah, and they'd be 3-0 in the division, and like you said,
07:18a two-game lead in the division.
07:20I wonder, Herm, about your head coaching experience when you have one of these
07:24divisional games and you know the opponents so well.
07:26Is it hard to not get too deep into your own head trying to think what they think
07:31that you might be thinking?
07:33How do you approach those games?
07:34No, you approach them, you know, that's all off-season conversation
07:39on what went wrong, you know, and how did this happen.
07:42I mean, look, if you look at San Francisco, they've got to ask themselves this.
07:45The last few times they played Seattle, now, you know, before the playoff game,
07:49the last game of the season, it was 13-3.
07:51So, you, and the first, and then the first game they won was 17-13.
07:57So, it's kind of like, all right, we'll both.
08:00Now, the last one is 41-3.
08:02That's not who they are.
08:04That's just, that's a blip in the radar.
08:06You've got to go, look, we played them twice before the playoffs, and no one scored 20 points.
08:13We won 17-13, and they beat us 13-3.
08:18The 41-3, look, we, we would, they were beat up, so wash that one.
08:24But you've got to, your team has to look at it and go, hey, guys, this might be one of
08:29those games where, you know,
08:31scoring might not be high, and we've got to be okay with that.
08:35And, you know, and we've got to know, eventually we've got to make a play or two to win it.
08:39So, that's got to be your mindset when you're playing these guys.
08:42Coach, this is one of those annoying media questions, but I do think a lot of us are trying to
08:48understand how this whole thing comes together.
08:50When you look at the way Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy are working together right now,
08:55obviously both of them get a ton of credit.
08:58But who do you see as kind of maybe, like, helping the other one out more?
09:03Is Brock elevating Kyle?
09:05Is Kyle elevating Brock, you know, one of them maybe a little bit more than the other?
09:12No, I think they finally found their niche.
09:15Kyle understands the quarterback.
09:17Look, when you're the play caller, and this was made, the quarterback has to be comfortable.
09:22It's kind of like one of them deals where, hey, look, I know what he likes.
09:25I know his strengths.
09:27I know situationally what he likes.
09:29I got to make sure I call that for him.
09:32Now, it's not about the plays I have on the chart.
09:35You got a lot of plays.
09:36It's what does a quarterback like in this situation?
09:39And the more you grow the play caller with the quarterback, it just becomes a nice flow in the game
09:44where the quarterback feels comfortable.
09:46You know, that, hey, he's going to call something that I like.
09:50You know, he likes this.
09:51He likes motion.
09:51He likes this formation.
09:53He likes this personnel in the game.
09:56So all those things, the more you, you know, coach the quarterback
10:00and the more the quarterback is around you, the better feel you have for it.
10:04And that's, you know, that's important because at the end of the day, quarterback plays with the ball.
10:09You know, it's easy to draw stuff up on the dirt and say, hey, man, run this play.
10:12No, no, no, no.
10:13Let's just do what the quarterback likes in certain situations.
10:16And then, obviously, situational football is really critical.
10:19One thing that Brock clearly likes, and I think that every quarterback has liked when playing with Mike Evans,
10:25but it is Mike Evans playing with dinged-up ribs.
10:28What have you seen from Mike in this fit with the Shanahan offense and Brock Purdy?
10:33Well, when they got him, I started laughing.
10:36I said, he's the perfect guy to run a slant.
10:39That whole offense is built on slant, on a five-yard slant play.
10:44Hit the receiver on a five-yard slant, run in the middle of the field, and all of a sudden
10:48you're sitting,
10:48worst-case scenario, you're sitting at second and four, or he's going to make a first down.
10:53He's a big receiver, and don't get me wrong now.
10:58I'm not saying this is who he is, but his stature is similar to whose?
11:03Hall of Fame receiver they had, Jerry Rice.
11:06And, right, I mean, he's about the same size, about the same attributes.
11:10I mean, Jerry Rice is Hall of Famer.
11:12I'm not saying Mike Evans is Jerry Rice.
11:13But a guy of his stature, who is big as he is, when he comes across that middle, you can
11:20see him.
11:21I mean, you can see the guy because he's big, and he's got long arms.
11:25He's not afraid to go in there to catch slants underneath routes.
11:30That's linebacker territory.
11:32When you get inside the hashes, linebackers live in that world,
11:36and you've got to have a receiver that will go in there that can take a hit,
11:40maybe bounce off a tackle, keep running.
11:42I mean, how many slants in your lifetime, when Joe Montana was up there
11:46and Jerry Rice was there, that Jerry Rice caught?
11:49It was almost laughable.
11:51He's going to run a slant.
11:53That's the whole West Coast offense.
11:55They run a slant, the guy catches it and says, oh, it's a five-yard.
11:58No, it's not like 15 yards.
12:00Run a slant play.
12:03Herb Edwards with us on 95.7, the game, Willard and Dibbs.
12:06Hey, put your coaching hat back on.
12:09If you were coaching the Niners this week, Kyle Juszczyk is out.
12:13How do you try to make up for that absence?
12:16Yeah, I mean, you're going to have to turn, you know, to somebody else because he's big.
12:23Look, you've got to get, to me, Kittle's got to be involved in this.
12:28I mean, he's got to, you've got to wear him out a little bit.
12:31And I've always said this, and Kyle, you know, and these coaches that know,
12:37they know this, that the tight end in the National Football League,
12:43he gets overlooked a lot.
12:45There's no answer for defenses to cover tight ends.
12:51No one has an answer for an athletic tight end that can run and can catch.
12:55No one covers the guy.
12:58When you watch the tight ends in this league catch balls, you go,
13:01who's covering that guy?
13:02Linebackers can't cover him.
13:03Okay?
13:04So you put a DB in there, and he's going to be more physical than the DB.
13:08He's going to be bigger than him.
13:09And so these offenses are starting to use these tight ends more,
13:12which is kind of funny to me.
13:14I mean, you know, you look at the Rams.
13:15Rams come out there with three tight ends sometimes.
13:18And they sit there and it's just a run.
13:19No, it ain't.
13:20It's a pass.
13:22You've got a problem.
13:22And I think, you know, Kittle, I mean, he's really good, man.
13:27I mean, I'd wear him out.
13:30And I love the way you broke that down because I think without use check,
13:33the Niners will probably turn to some of that three tight end stuff as well.
13:37But then again, they have Debo Samuel, who is kind of like a tight end in his physicality.
13:43What have you made of his renaissance, coach?
13:44Yeah, no doubt.
13:46And he's hard to tackle, you know, and he's excited that he's playing in an offense
13:51that will get in the ball.
13:51And he's another one.
13:52You know, he's physical enough where he can go inside.
13:57You know, this is where, when you think of football, you know, it's kind of unique.
14:02When you think about even when you play man-to-man, okay, that's one thing.
14:05But when you play zone, for the history of football, inside the hash marks,
14:12there's no defense that covers inside the hash marks, guys.
14:16There's not a one ever made.
14:18The hash marks inside those two hash marks, it's open area.
14:22Just watch the game.
14:24When you watch the game and look at the hash marks and go, you know what?
14:27No one's in there.
14:28No one covers inside the hash marks.
14:31My people, I laugh at it.
14:33I say, no one ever covers inside the hash marks, man.
14:34It's been open even when I was playing.
14:37And when you throw it in there, the guy has the ability to run and catch it.
14:41And, you know, I mean, before you know it, they're running,
14:44and it's like, who's covering the guy?
14:45Nobody.
14:46Nobody covers the receiver that goes in the middle of the hash marks.
14:49The history of pro football tells you that, unless you're in man-to-man.
14:54Coach, who do you think is winning this game?
14:57Well, you know, I ain't never going to bet against San Francisco.
15:01I can't.
15:03I can't.
15:05I got too much love for San Francisco for a lot of reasons.
15:10And so I think San Francisco's playing hot right now.
15:13And I think if they can continue to play the way they played, I mean,
15:15I think it's an important game for them.
15:17And I don't think if they lose, all of a sudden, you're in the world.
15:19But if you can go up there and beat Seattle in Seattle, ooh.
15:25And they have the chance to do that.
15:28I mean, they really do, because they're playing good.
15:30And they're playing good on defense.
15:32And I don't think they're getting enough credit for that.
15:35Raheem's done a nice job with his defense.
15:36Yep.
15:37They're playing good, man.
15:39Look, when you don't give up points, you got a chance, guys.
15:43You always get.
15:44When you're holding people to 124 points, man, in the National Football League,
15:49how hard that is to do.
15:51I mean, people score.
15:53In the National Football League, people score points in the pregame warm-up.
15:58And when you watch the defense, you know, people don't want to see defense.
16:01That's what's funny about football now.
16:03They only want to see defense when you're winning in the fourth quarter
16:05and you got to leave.
16:06Defense, you got to stop them.
16:07But other than that, they want to see scoring.
16:10Defense still matters.
16:11And they're playing good defense right now, too, San Francisco.
16:15Coach, you're the best.
16:16Thank you so much for some time this afternoon.
16:19My pleasure, man.
16:20Okay.
16:21Herm Edwards.