- 1 week ago
Willard and Dibs react to ESPN's Adam Schefter relay a text he got from an unnamed Seattle Seahawks staffer, saying that they thought the 49ers were the best team in the NFL, even before the 49ers won the game on Sunday.
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00:00I'm not telling you the Niners are going to win the Super Bowl.
00:02There's like a whole November and December and January.
00:05Like, there's all kinds of stuff that could happen.
00:09But I firmly believe they're the best team in football,
00:12and they are not bulletproof, but they have kind of a bulletproof vest on.
00:20They're able to handle a lot that's coming at them.
00:23They're able to handle injury.
00:24Hello, have you watched them the last couple of years?
00:27Still the most injured team in football this year?
00:30And if you don't believe me about them being the best team in football
00:35or you don't believe dibs, I don't know.
00:38Maybe you should ask the Seahawks.
00:40Ask the Seahawks who the best team in football is.
00:44Did you catch this?
00:45From whom?
00:46Adam Schaefter.
00:47Okay.
00:49Check this out.
00:50He starts, and this is part of the Adam Schaefter podcast,
00:54he starts just by talking up the Niner roster.
00:57That win on Sunday in Seattle was the most impressive win of the season
01:03by any team I've seen so far.
01:05And what stands out about the Niners to me as I assess why they're able to do this
01:11is, I mean, it's a great organization, great people running it,
01:15but they are a top-heavy team.
01:17And when I say top-heavy, what I mean by that is, in my mind,
01:22the San Francisco 49ers have five, five sure-fire Hall of Famers
01:31on their roster right now.
01:33Ready?
01:34Christian McCaffrey, future Hall of Famer.
01:37Trent Williams, future Hall of Famer.
01:39Yep.
01:40George Kittle, future Hall of Famer.
01:43Mike Evans, future Hall of Famer.
01:46Fred Warner, future Hall of Famer.
01:49Five, no doubt, sure-fire Hall of Famers.
01:52Think about this.
01:53How many other teams out there have five, no doubt, sure-fire Hall of Famers?
02:00Okay, let's talk about this for a minute because it's funny to me how old
02:04and decrepit now turned into, oh, future Hall of Famers.
02:08All of it, I guess, was always true.
02:13But the old and ineffective argument is, so far, not holding up.
02:19Now, someone could say that's going to show up more in the second half of the season
02:22than the first.
02:24But let me go through the names again that he mentioned.
02:26Who did he say?
02:27He said Trent Williams.
02:28Trent, Fred, George, Christian, Mike.
02:32Okay.
02:32So, there's at least a couple other maybes.
02:36Well, he's talking sure-fire.
02:37Okay.
02:38I mean, the maybes would be...
02:40Nick Bosa probably needs a little bit more.
02:42But when you win a DPOY, you're already getting close.
02:46Well, trajectory-wise, he's on the trajectory, but it's flattened out based on injury.
02:51Sure.
02:51So, normally, you need to get into that 100-sack range and stack a bunch of Pro Bowl appearances.
02:59And I know you trigger on this because you're a buddy, Lowe, but, you know, fullbacks, what?
03:05They usually don't make it?
03:06Ever.
03:07Ever?
03:08No fullback has ever made it?
03:09Well, if you want to go back to what the fullback used to be, Jim Brown, for example, is a
03:14fullback.
03:15And back then, like, you'd have three running backs, and so one of them would be the fullback.
03:20And I think it was like Larry Zonka was a fullback.
03:24But your traditional modern fullbacks, Lowe Neal, certainly, and Mike Allstott, who was kind of a hybrid.
03:30And you go through all the other names of all the other guys, Larry Centers and some of these guys
03:35who stacked up great careers.
03:37They just don't get in.
03:39You know who else is on a Hall of Fame track?
03:42Cordis Waitman, the punter.
03:45Special teams player of the week, Randy.
03:47Giving out Fs.
03:48Oh, yeah.
03:49That had to make the show.
03:49Boy, you had to eat that, didn't you?
03:51That probably didn't taste very good.
03:53You had to eat that.
03:55When we did grades yesterday, I told you it doesn't matter what happens elsewhere.
03:59That kind of muff punt, it's an automatic F.
04:01I'm just sick and tired of it.
04:02Yeah, and you know what?
04:03We're sick and tired of your grading.
04:04It's too hard.
04:05All right.
04:05We don't have to do the same one anymore.
04:06I'm not taking your class.
04:07So you have Professor Grandy and the big test, you bomb the big test.
04:11You fumble the big test.
04:12But that group project, I kind of nailed it.
04:15And the pop quizzes, we were pretty good.
04:17And I did all my homework.
04:20See?
04:20Oh, no, no, it's an F.
04:22You failed the big test, you get an F, and you don't get to repeat the class because I hate
04:26you.
04:27I get it.
04:28That's actually good teaching.
04:29That way, once we're done with the test at the halfway point, if you fail it, then that's it.
04:34You don't have to come to class anymore.
04:35Now I've got Fridays off.
04:37Sweet.
04:38Anyway.
04:38To answer Adam Shifters.
04:41Say it.
04:41Who else is on a Hall of Fame track?
04:44Oh, on the Niners?
04:45Yeah, it's very early, but he's on the track.
04:49Well, I mean, you're going to say Brock Purdy.
04:51Of course he is.
04:52He's five passes away from being the highest rated passer in the history of the league.
04:57I think when you start talking about quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame, there are certain things that you need
05:02to do in order to get there.
05:04You do not have to win a championship to be there.
05:06No, but you have to aggregate.
05:07It's an aggregation sensation.
05:09I said track.
05:10Phillip Rivers.
05:10Well, he's going to have to play 12 more years.
05:13For sure.
05:14But, like, that's a track.
05:17That's a damn four.
05:19I get it.
05:20It's just, like, the numbers are on the track.
05:23That's all.
05:24Nick Bosa's got to do more.
05:25Brock's got to do a lot more.
05:26But the numbers are currently on the track.
05:29No?
05:30Sure.
05:30Five years in.
05:31And, I mean, if you're taking the train trip across the country, he's probably, you know, heading toward the Rocky
05:39Mountains.
05:39Yeah.
05:40The train's pulling into Denver.
05:41Yeah.
05:42San Francisco to New York.
05:43I'll buy that, but it got there fast.
05:45Yeah.
05:45I mean, it got there.
05:47Yeah.
05:47The train broke down a couple times, but the train had turf toe.
05:50Back on the track.
05:51His question, though, I thought was interesting.
05:53What other team can you look at that has five surefire?
05:57And I'm looking at the Rams, and they've got four surefire.
06:01Garrett, Devontae, Stafford.
06:04And Donald.
06:05Oh, Aaron Donald.
06:05Right.
06:06And then if you want to talk about Chugga Chugga, he's on the track.
06:09Pooka's on the track.
06:10Yeah.
06:10For sure he is.
06:11No doubt.
06:12For sure he is.
06:12Is Trent McDuffie?
06:17Is he, like, I don't know, adjacent?
06:21I guess it's just a longer track.
06:23Yeah, that one's tough.
06:25Okay.
06:25All right.
06:26So, check this out, though.
06:28Adam Schatter has more to say about what he's been gathering after watching the Niners defeat the Seahawks.
06:36And, by the way, that brings me to the text of the week, which came in on Saturday.
06:42You know, just going back and forth with somebody in the Seahawks organization, and they just texted, going to be
06:48a tough one Sunday.
06:49And I said, they are tough, but your team is really good, too.
06:53And the response I got back was, they are best in NFL right now, in my opinion.
07:00Wow.
07:00That was Saturday, Saturday, before the 49ers went into Seattle, won the game, and justified that text that they are
07:12best in NFL right now.
07:14Text from, I didn't know Adam did text of the week.
07:18Text of the week.
07:19Text of the week.
07:21Text of the week.
07:22Text of the week.
07:23Text of the week.
07:24All right, so, someone in the Seahawks organization, before the game even happened, said, this is going to be hard.
07:32The best team in the league is coming to our place tomorrow.
07:37And then they went and did that.
07:39So, now what do you say about them?
07:41Well, I mean, they went and did that.
07:43They won.
07:44They won the game.
07:45And they won the game because their defense came up with two huge takeaways at the perfect spot.
07:51One got you at the 11.
07:53One got you in the EZ.
07:55And it's not to say that the offense wasn't really good when they needed to be, but the offense had
08:01a really tough time against Seattle.
08:03Of course, there's a great defense.
08:04The same way their offense had a really tough time against the 49ers.
08:08Sometimes I laugh about, like, the way that it happened.
08:11It sounds, I know you didn't mean this, but let me push on it a little bit.
08:15Sounds to me like you're saying the Niners caught a break.
08:17No.
08:18Or got lucky.
08:19Wrong.
08:19They made the big play in the big spot.
08:21They also outplayed the Seahawks based on advanced metrics.
08:24Go ahead.
08:25Do the whole EPA, the yards per play, the blah, blah, blah, who moved the ball better.
08:29The Niners outplayed the Seahawks.
08:30Seahawks fans up there have been whining and crying and doing the social media and calling radio shows.
08:36And, oh, if we hadn't fumbled, you got outplayed.
08:40Not by a ton.
08:41The Seahawks are great.
08:43Obviously.
08:43They're very, very good.
08:45But that's your building.
08:47And you got turnovers, too.
08:50The 49ers outplayed the Seahawks on Sunday.
08:53They were the better team on the field.
08:55Yeah.
08:55And if you want to look at it on a score basis, if you gave, for me, it would be
09:01out of 100 points.
09:02It was probably a 53-47 Niner win if there are 100 available points.
09:08I'll buy that.
09:09It wasn't a 60-40.
09:10And I highlight, I do my notes, and then I highlight the big plays of the game.
09:14And as you go through, there's a pick by Renardo Green, and then Brock throws a pick.
09:20JSN with a touchdown where no one touches him.
09:22Debo hurts his hammy and fumbles.
09:24And in that moment, you're down two with 20 minutes to go.
09:28And I was thinking, oh, boy.
09:30I mean, it's been a back-and-forth affair.
09:32And now you go, you miss a field goal.
09:35Your guy throws a pick.
09:37Debo hurts his hammy and fumbles.
09:39And you're thinking, okay, this is not going great.
09:41They make a field goal.
09:43Cowing gets the kickoff.
09:44He gets hurt.
09:45On the return, you're down by five.
09:47And you're thinking, okay, this is not going the way we had hoped.
09:50And then your boy, President of Brockostan, over there, leads you on that drive.
09:54You take the lead.
09:55You win the game.
09:56But that thing was in the balance the whole time.
09:58Of course.
09:59Of course.
09:59I'm not saying that the 49ers blew them out.
10:02But they're the better team.
10:03And I'm not saying they got lucky.
10:06Because ultimately, when you have Malik Mustafa hustle up and get just enough of Cup or Coop
10:11to push him out of bounds, that's not luck.
10:14That's a hustle play.
10:15And you get credit for it.
10:16Well, I just, to me, it's funny the way we assess football games, any sport for that matter.
10:24There are certain things where we credit a team.
10:27And then other things where we go, ooh, there's kind of a break that you got that.
10:32I mean, in a weird way, it even happened in Australia.
10:36It's like you played better on offense, defense, and special teams.
10:39But that flight, oh, caught a break there.
10:42It's like, well, wait a minute.
10:43No, it's all part of the picture.
10:46The way a football team plays is not just the quarterback and the wide receiver
10:51and then your favorite linebacker.
10:53You know, if you are able to create turnovers, that counts.
10:56That's part of playing football.
10:57If you make a stupid flight plan, that counts.
11:00That's part of your organization.
11:02It's the whole thing and the way that it all comes together.
11:06And so, I don't love it when there's certain plays that happen and people go, well, oh, you, like, okay,
11:13you won that game because JSN dropped the ball.
11:16All right, let's talk about that for a second.
11:18First of all, I have no idea what play happens next.
11:21That puts Seattle in field goal range.
11:24They'd probably tie the game.
11:25I don't know if they would win the game.
11:28But execution of what you're doing is part of football.
11:32So, the Niners dropped a pass as well.
11:35It happened to me in the first quarter.
11:36You dropped a pass in the fourth quarter.
11:38That's part of everybody's execution.
11:41The Niners did not drop passes in the fourth.
11:43You did.
11:44They win.
11:44Like, that's – so it's not luck.
11:47No.
11:47This is all part of what these guys go do.
11:50It's what football is.
11:51And, you know, you have Cowing Muffapunt that he should have fair caught.
11:56They take advantage and score a touchdown.
11:58You've got Holani from his own four who decides to not put five points of pressure on the football.
12:04He's just carrying the thing like I carried my sandwich today from Gambino's.
12:09And, pop, it's out.
12:10So, that's not luck.
12:12That is a sloppy play by an inexperienced running back, and you took advantage.
12:16If you want to point to a lucky fumble, the first one that would come to my mind would be
12:20Debo,
12:21who seemed to drop the ball because he got hurt.
12:23Like, his focus got totally adjusted.
12:27Also, all part of it.
12:29But, I mean, the Seahawks fumbles were because the Niners made plays.
12:34They made plays on the ball.
12:36Right.
12:37You know what I mean?
12:37And the one with Halton.
12:39Halton is just, you know, a guy coming into his own.
12:41And Greg Cosell joined us earlier and talked about how he's got the swim move
12:45and he's a gap player.
12:46And so, he fought through the gap and got there and had a chance to see the ball
12:50and pop the ball and fall on the ball and score the ball.
12:53All four of the 49er turnovers that they got were plays on the ball.
12:58The Seahawks, of the three that they got, one of them was a play on the ball.
13:02Not in the pump was a play on the ball.
13:04Yeah.
13:04The guy dropped it.
13:05The gunner was all over him.
13:07Right.
13:07But he should have raised his hand.
13:09But he didn't.
13:09And so, for me, Seattle gets credit for that.
13:12For sure.
13:12They get credit.
13:13So, that's a play on the ball.
13:14They get credit for everything.
13:15But I'm just, you know, kind of talking out the whole idea of turnovers are lucky.
13:22You make plays.