- 1 minute ago
Mark Schlereth, Audacy NFL insider, joins Willard and Dibs to react to the 49ers' 23-17 win over the Commanders to improve to 6-0.
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00:00Let's do it on the River Island's guest line.
00:02It's time to head out to our guy, Mark Schlereth.
00:06NFL Insider Call is presented by Nationwide for your insurance
00:09and financial needs Nationwide is on your side.
00:12Hey, Stink, how are we doing today?
00:14I'm good. I'm really good.
00:16And, hey, listen, man, if Evans was at full strength, it wouldn't be fair, right?
00:20I mean, you've got to play him a little bit horrible.
00:23He's probably nothing wrong with him.
00:24They probably just taped his ankle so tight just to slow him down a little bit
00:28to make it fair to Washington.
00:30That dude has been amazing, just amazing.
00:346-0, the 49ers need to let everybody else catch up some sort of a way, right?
00:38I mean, although I wonder if you'd weigh in on this
00:42because I knew this take was going to come,
00:44and I heard it from a lot of people here in the Bay today.
00:46You knew that he had Achilles soreness all week.
00:49Why don't we give up the battle to win the war, save Mike Evans from himself?
00:55He shouldn't have played.
00:57What is your perspective from inside a locker room as a football player?
01:04What do guys do each week to play, even when hurt?
01:09Yeah, I mean, everybody wants to play.
01:12That's just the way it is.
01:14Guys are competitors.
01:15You don't get to be an NFL player because you lack competitiveness.
01:20All these guys are alphas, right?
01:22All these guys want to play, and if there's any way you can go out and you can play
01:26and you can be a help to your team, and you're going to do it.
01:32You're going to go out there and do it, and the only time that it gets to the point
01:36where you don't want to play is when you realize, like, I'm a hindrance.
01:39It's like, I'm not helping this team right now, which is a tough thing to be able to admit
01:45and sit down.
01:46But guys are going to go out there and play, and let's face it, you're talking about Mike
01:51Evans.
01:51You're talking about San Francisco.
01:52You're talking about a receiving corps that's had injuries.
01:5580% of Mike Evans, as long as it's not one of those things that, hey, you could potentially
02:01injure this thing or make this thing so much worse, 80% of Mike Evans, 70% of Mike Evans
02:06is better than 100% of some of the other guys you got coming off the bench.
02:10So you're going to try to play.
02:13That's how it works, and I don't blame the Niners.
02:16I don't blame Mike Evans for wanting to play.
02:18How much more difficult does the short week make it when you have a situation like this
02:22where you can't even make it through half the game?
02:25Yeah, well, I mean, it's certainly going to make it trying, and we'll see.
02:30The great thing about Mike is he's played so much football, and he's such an absolute
02:35freak that he's not a guy that has to practice.
02:38He's not a guy that has to do anything.
02:40And if he's good to go, you know, if he's good to go pregame and he can get out there
02:45and do some things, they won't hesitate.
02:48It's not like one of those guys like, ah, he didn't practice all week.
02:51We're a little concerned about him not knowing what to do or not showing up.
02:55So then it just becomes, can you manage it?
02:57Can you get it good enough to be able to play even if that's 70% of what he normally
03:02is?
03:02Stig, what is your perspective on the idea of, wow, the offense just stopped when he went out?
03:08What did you see there in the second half from the Niner offense?
03:13Yeah, I mean, certainly it was different without Mike Evans.
03:17And, you know, you think about where they are right now.
03:19So when you have Mike Evans, you have Christian McCaffrey, you have George Kittle, right?
03:23You have so many different weapons that it's really hard to single one guy out.
03:27And if Mike Evans leaves, now all of a sudden we can say, okay, let's focus all of our attention
03:32to Christian McCaffrey, right?
03:33Let's go after Christian McCaffrey and let's find a way, you know, in the run game to stop him.
03:38And let's find a way to double team a guy like George Kittle.
03:44And then we'll survive on the other receivers one-on-one.
03:48And then, you know, you bring some pressure, you create some sacks, you get some three-and-outs.
03:53Like those things, momentum changes a little bit for you.
03:58And all of a sudden, you know, Washington gets a little bit of momentum, gets a little bit of confidence
04:02and starts playing well on the defensive side of the ball.
04:05The good news for San Francisco is they're incompetent on the other side of the ball
04:09when it comes to game time decisions and situational football.
04:13So, you know, I mean, Washington, I don't know what we're doing in Washington, but some of the decisions.
04:20Were you guys not, like, I know you're rooting for San Francisco and I don't have a dog in the
04:25fight
04:25and I used to play for Washington.
04:27And with three minutes left and three timeouts and the two-minute warning, you can stop the clock twice.
04:33You're like on the 25-yard line and it's fourth down and eight.
04:37And the clock stopped because you were incomplete on third down.
04:40And you come out of a clock stoppage and then you have to call a timeout because you don't get
04:45the play in.
04:46And then you go for it on fourth down and eight.
04:48Now they got the penalty and everything else.
04:49But I'm like, why wouldn't you kick it?
04:51Your defense has just created two three-and-outs, kicked a field goal, and then use your timeouts,
04:57the two-minute warning, give yourself a chance to win the damn thing at the end.
05:01I just, I don't, sometimes, I mean, sometimes I look at and I sit there and think,
05:07and I'm in the booth sometimes going, am I on crazy pills?
05:09Why are they doing this?
05:10Like, I don't understand what's going on here.
05:13When I look at the first half, too, where it's fourth down and I knew it, I was up in
05:17the press box
05:18and I could clearly see that there was a number four on the down marker.
05:21And yet, Jaden Daniels just decides to throw it away.
05:24And then, you know, coach calls for the field goal team.
05:26Coach, you don't get five downs.
05:28Either he didn't know it was already fourth down or they just don't like field goals.
05:33Like, what's the situation between a coach who's not the play caller and not being aware of downs?
05:39Yeah, like, that whole thing is a mess.
05:41Of course, it came out after the games.
05:43And, oh, of course I knew it was fourth down.
05:45I don't know that anybody knows on the Washington Commander staff that it's fourth down.
05:51It was an absolute mess.
05:53And then for Jaden Daniels, like, this is two gaffes in a row, week after week, where you don't understand
06:01the situation.
06:01You don't understand the fourth down.
06:03The one fourth down against the Giants was either throw the flat or throw it out of bounds.
06:09That was the coaching point.
06:11Instead, like, you walk out there and go, cannot take a sack.
06:15We don't have a timeout.
06:17Throw the flat.
06:18Get us an extra five yards.
06:19Get out of bounds.
06:20Or throw it away.
06:22And then you pull it and you run with it?
06:24I mean, so clearly you didn't understand that situation.
06:27And then on that fourth down and two where you scramble out, like, you can't throw it out of bounds,
06:33dude.
06:33It's fourth down and two.
06:35You either got to throw it into a team meeting.
06:37You're either turning it over on downs or you're getting it intercepted.
06:40But you got to give somebody a chance with the football or you got to scramble it.
06:44You got to try like hell to run somebody over, although, you know, he's 113 pounds, so I don't know
06:49you're going to run anybody over.
06:50But you got to give yourself at least a fighting chance to throw it out of bounds.
06:56He's like, throw it.
06:57He throw it to what's your 49ers mascot, Yosemite Sam or whatever.
07:01Sourdough Sam, and he hit him right in the buttons on that collared shirt, though, Slareth.
07:07It was a perfect throw to him.
07:09Right.
07:09He throws it to Sourdough Sam.
07:11Like, what are we doing, dude?
07:13I mean, gosh, it just is.
07:15It's one of those things where you just sit and you watch and you go, wow, this is not good.
07:20Nationwide is so much more than great insurance and a great insurance company.
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07:30Willard and Debs, and we're talking with Stank.
07:31Mark Slareth here on 95.7 The Game.
07:34Yeah, like, I struggled with that, too, the idea of what's on Dan Quinn and what's on Jaden Daniels.
07:40And I think Quinn, last week, he gets a bigger piece of the pie.
07:44But last night, that one, that's a head scratcher to me.
07:48Like, I get, and I actually think John Boyd did a little breakdown of the lip reading.
07:53I think Dan Quinn, I'm actually going to buy that he knew a little bit more than we think he
07:58did.
07:58But it doesn't, but either way, if you're a QB and it's fourth down, even if you see that flag
08:05on the ground, there's one of two things that's going to happen.
08:08That flag is on you, and therefore, it's going to be declined and you lose the ball.
08:14Or the flag is on them, and now it's even more reason for you to jam it into the end
08:19zone and see if you can catch the ball.
08:20So, throwing the ball to Sourdough Sam felt like choice three that I wouldn't have made.
08:26Right. No, there's no question.
08:28And I go back to last week.
08:29I think it's 100% on your quarterback.
08:32I think your quarterback is, like, those are Pop Warner decisions, man.
08:37These are things that we've been talking about since day one.
08:41And that, throwing it, again, throwing it out of bounds to Sourdough Sam is another one of those quarterbacking situations
08:47where you have to be better.
08:49So, listen, I appreciate Dan Quinn jumping on the hand grenade last week, but this is one for me where
08:56your quarterback has got to take some responsibility.
08:59And the other thing is, you know, come out and own it.
09:03Like, I think you would get a lot more respect in your own locker room if you just come out
09:08and own it and say, man, I had just a total brain lapse and, you know, inexcusable and whatever.
09:15It's not going to happen again, but by, like, denying and acting like it wasn't your fault, you come back
09:19out and you repeat the same mistake, essentially.
09:21Yeah, and honestly, if you just kick the field goal anyway, it's not an issue.
09:25And they had an illegal shift on the play, so whatever happened wouldn't have been a positive for them anyway.
09:30One thing that I took away from the game, Stink, is just that Niners defensive line, especially the young pups
09:36getting in there and wrecking the game.
09:37What did you make of the Niner front and especially, you know, some of those rooks?
09:42Yeah, I mean, some guys I've never heard of, 55, whatever his name is, he's out there just dispensing justice,
09:49man.
09:49And I love the rotation.
09:51I love some of the young guys playing.
09:54You know, it's just fun to watch, man.
09:56It's fun to watch the energy with which they play.
10:00And, like, the Niners right now, whether it's Raheem and that defense and the way they're playing and fighting for
10:06one another, Mustafa's been one of my favorite players since he came into the league.
10:10And that dude is a piss missile, man.
10:12He is just flying around, knocking the snot out of people.
10:16Love him.
10:17I mean, absolutely.
10:18He's just rewindable TV for me.
10:20I love watching that dude play.
10:23I think they're exceptional.
10:24And then, you know, I tend to, as you guys are playing offense, I tend to my man crush on
10:31Trent Williams.
10:32He gets the best of me.
10:33And I can't help but just tractor beam lock on to Trent Williams.
10:38And what is he, 60, 61?
10:41I don't know how old he is exactly.
10:43But that dude is still crushing fools.
10:47I mean, crushing fools.
10:49And his movement skills, his ability to get out in space is second to none.
10:57It's still, at this point, I don't know that there's a tackle in space that moves better than Trent Williams.
11:04And he's 39, 40 years old, whatever he is.
11:06It's insane to watch him play.
11:09I mean, I just get to the point where I'll put on your guys' offense from the coach's tape.
11:14And all I'll do is focus on 71.
11:17I'll just, I'll watch, I will watch play after play after play and not even care what the running back
11:23does, not care what the scheme is, not care.
11:26I'm just watching him play.
11:28And it's fascinating.
11:30Like, fascinating.
11:32Mark Slareth with us.
11:34This is maybe off the map a little bit in terms of our conversation.
11:38But because it was the commanders in town last night.
11:42Mark, do you know, does that organization ever look back on what they did with Trent Williams and sort of
11:49regret, A, the way that the whole sort of standoff went down?
11:53And then, B, the fact that they sent him to the 49ers for, in terms of draft capital, when you
11:59look at who we're talking about, my gosh, what an unbelievable steal that the 49ers got there.
12:06Yeah, I'm sure.
12:08Like, I think that was the old regime, right, when that happened.
12:12And that old regime was an absolute mess.
12:16And I'm sure you look at it now, and, you know, there's no way you could probably predict it, that
12:23he'd be able to continue to do this at the age that he's at.
12:27But, yes.
12:29Yes.
12:30He's just, he's just, like, he is just one of, like, he's a generational talent.
12:37Just a generational talent.
12:40And he's the type of guy, Kyle Shanahan once told me a couple years ago, I was at practice, and
12:45he goes, dude, our dudes will stop what they're doing in, like, training camp to watch Trent Williams go one
12:53-on-one.
12:54You know, and then, like, it was practice.
12:56It was a Friday, right?
12:57And the offense is off, and they're doing whatever, you know, the defense is doing, a defensive period.
13:02And he's throwing 40-yard bombs to the corner of the end zone, just tight spirals, 40 yards, you know,
13:09leading the receivers.
13:10Like, and then he'll go down to the basketball court and flat-footed slam dunk a basketball.
13:15Like, he is the freak of all freaks.
13:18There's only a few of those guys that have played the game.
13:21Larry Allen was that way.
13:24There's just a few guys, you know, that essentially, like, he's the landlord.
13:28He owns all the space between tight end and guard.
13:31That's his.
13:32And you're just in there to take your ass whooping and go home because that's what's going to happen to
13:38you.
13:38And on the other side, it seems like 54, Fred Warner, owns all of the territory from sideline to sideline.
13:44And I'm watching him stink, and I'm thinking that he is a guy who could have played in the 70s,
13:48the way he goes in there and leads with the helmet and just lights people up.
13:53Yeah, and they're picking up flags.
13:55They're afraid of him.
13:56They're like, he goes in there and goes helmet to helmet on somebody.
13:59They throw the flag, and then somebody else comes up and goes, hey, man, do you pick up that flag?
14:04I don't want my ass kicked by Fred Warner.
14:06So, I mean, like, I love it.
14:09That dude is also must-see television.
14:12The space he covers and the amount of, like, the amount of space he can cheat.
14:18So, like, if you're a hook dropper, you know, in a zone situation, and you're supposed to be at, you
14:24know,
14:2410 yards, 8 to 10 yards deep and 2 yards outside the hash, man, that's a dude that can expand
14:30to 4 yards outside the hash
14:32and 14 yards deep.
14:34And then when you're the quarterback and you see that and you say, okay, I'm going to hit this shallow
14:37cross,
14:38and you hit it, and it, you know, you complete it at 3 yards, and Fred Warner's there to tackle
14:43you for 4 yards.
14:44And then you're like, wait a minute, you mean we're still behind the chains?
14:47Like, that didn't, that should have got us 8 yards.
14:50Like, that's how explosive he is.
14:52And when you do that, you take away those intermediate routes.
14:55You take away some of the other routes, and you can still rally up and make that tackle.
15:00He's just special, and he's one of those guys that the Niners have a bunch of these guys or several
15:08of these guys.
15:10I came from Washington to play for the Denver Broncos, and I was a Pro Bowl player in Washington,
15:15and, you know, I had some injury issues in my last couple of years of Washington, came to Denver,
15:20and, you know, I thought I was a pretty good player.
15:24And then I started practicing next to Gary Zimmerman, and I was like, man, I got to pick it up.
15:29This dude is running circles, right?
15:31He makes me look like I'm not giving effort.
15:33And when you have that kind of guy on the football field, when you have that kind of guy on
15:38the defense,
15:39it just makes everybody play at a higher level.
15:42You know, it makes Dre Greenlaw, when he's out there, I know he missed yesterday,
15:46but, you know, guys like that, some of the D-linemen, some of the young pups,
15:50it makes everybody have to play at a higher level because if you don't,
15:54you start to look like an idiot on film.
15:56You get in on, you know, Monday or after a Sunday game or a Tuesday,
16:01and you're watching the film, and there's one dude that's playing at a different speed than everybody else.
16:06And so it makes everybody pick their game up the way Fred Warner plays the game.
16:11So can we go back to the pass rush a little bit that we were talking about?
16:15By the way, Sebastian Valdez is the guy that you were bringing up, number 55.
16:18But there's the young guys from Grayson Holton and Michael Williams and James Thompson Jr.
16:26And that Romello Height was awesome last night.
16:28What is this group's ceiling if and when they get Nick Bosa back?
16:34Yeah, right?
16:36I mean, you think about how good Nick Bosa is, what he provides off the edge,
16:41and then the fact that you feel as though because you're developing young guys who are playing really well for
16:47you right now
16:48that we've got this rotation where we can keep everybody fresh.
16:52There's nothing worse as an offensive lineman when you're behind and they keep rotating fresh guys on you
17:00and you're trying to put a drive together and you know you have to throw it.
17:04You know the run game has now become obsolete because you're behind.
17:09And San Francisco is going to play a lot of games that way where that offense is going to put
17:13a couple drives together early.
17:14You're going to get a 13-point, 14-point lead, and all of a sudden that run game has become
17:19obsolete.
17:20And you're going to have this rotation of young players, one after the other, and everybody's going to be fresh.
17:27That's a nightmare for offenses, an absolute nightmare.
17:31And so these are some of the situations that, to me, are kind of the blessings in disguise
17:36when you get a guy who's a veteran guy that gets injured and all of a sudden you find out,
17:41oh, damn, we've got two other guys who can really play off the edge.
17:44This is a good problem to have.
17:46We want Nick Bosa back.
17:48We want him to be healthy.
17:49But we're actually having an opportunity to still win games and develop players at the same time.
17:54And how is it that Raheem Morris comes in, and not to disrespect Robert Sala because he did a good
18:00job with what he had,
18:01and he's a great coordinator, but this year it seems like every player on that defensive line is suddenly better.
18:08Same thing on the back end.
18:09How can a scheme just instantly improve so many different guys?
18:14Yeah, I mean, like, one, their core guys are healthy, right?
18:20So, you know, you look at Fred Warner as healthy.
18:22You look at Dre Greenlaw.
18:23Dre Greenlaw coming back is also a linchpin.
18:27But that dude, as you guys know, he plays with an edge.
18:30He'll walk up to a coach on the sideline and just cuss him out.
18:35We witnessed that here in Denver.
18:36So, you know, I mean, but he brings that edge.
18:40And I would tell you this.
18:41There's very few guys that intimidate other players from a physical standpoint.
18:48They just, you know, most of the time you're like, whatever, shut up, dude.
18:51But I think Dre Greenlaw is one of those guys.
18:53I think, I mean, I think you have a couple of guys that are just really intimidating to play against.
18:57Trent Williams is that guy on the offensive side of the ball.
19:01You know, Mustafa.
19:04Is there a...
19:04Yep.
19:05Malik Mustafa.
19:06Yeah.
19:06Mustafa.
19:07Yeah.
19:07I always get it.
19:08I always want to go Lion King on him and say Mufasa, right?
19:12Mufasa.
19:13Well, he is the Lion King right now, man, after last night.
19:16Yeah.
19:17Dude.
19:18But he's been doing that.
19:19Like, it was almost like a coming out party last night.
19:22But he's been doing that for...
19:24When he's healthy, he's been doing that since he was a rookie.
19:27What is he?
19:27The third year in the league?
19:29Out of Wake Forest, I believe.
19:31He just crushes.
19:32Like, his ability to be 12 yards deep and to meet somebody at the line of scrimmage with bad intentions
19:40is about as good as...
19:43I mean, it may be the best in the league when it comes to triggering and just knocking dudes silly.
19:49And he did it last night, and I tell you what, every time I turn on the Niner tape, man,
19:55he is one of those guys that's like, again, rewindable moments.
19:58Oh, man, what was that?
19:59Like a flash.
20:00Bam!
20:01And you're like, oh, let me rewind that.
20:02Let me see what happened there.
20:03And it's usually, inevitably, number six has something to do with it.
20:08Stink, you're a trench guy, and I'm always interested to know what the, you know,
20:13the real physical football players are thinking when there's a kicker on the team struggling.
20:20So, here we are again.
20:22The Niner fans were used to this at the beginning of last year, too.
20:25And all of a sudden, Eddie Pinero is struggling.
20:28So, what are the teammates thinking right now, and how does it affect the game plan?
20:34Yeah, well, the teammates are thinking, dude, you're really not part of the team.
20:40Do your job, right?
20:41Like, you got the easiest job in the world.
20:43You make field goals.
20:44That's what you're paid to do.
20:45And if you can't do that, we'll find somebody that can.
20:48And listen, we love them.
20:50Like, you love kickers.
20:51Like, hey, man, they're great, you know, when they're making field goals.
20:54When they're not, there's not a lot of, there's just not a lot of patience.
20:59And you got to be able to make them, right?
21:01You can't be struggling.
21:03And, you know, I mean, obviously, you support a guy and you want him to get, you know,
21:09you want to get it right.
21:10But the bottom line is that's one of those thankless jobs.
21:14Like, if you're not making it, there's plenty of guys out on the street that can make field goals.
21:19We'll go find one.
21:20So, that's just kind of how it works.
21:23You know, you feel for them because I know that it's difficult.
21:27But you look at the way the kicking game is now compared to when I was in the National Football
21:32League.
21:32When I was in the National Football League, when you line up for a 50-yarder, if you made 50
21:37% of them, you're like, wow, we're really good.
21:39You know, 50-yard field goals.
21:40Now, when a dude misses a 55-yarder, you're like, what the hell's wrong with our kicker?
21:45Like, he sucks, you know?
21:47It's just crazy how it has changed and the expectations that are on those guys.
21:53But the bottom line is you have got to be, like, you have got to be reliable.
21:59And you have got to be able to make your extra points.
22:02You've got to be able to make anything inside of 55 yards nowadays is that's got to be made at
22:09a 90% clip.
22:11Yep.
22:11Yep.
22:12Stank, you're the best, man.
22:13Thank you so much.
22:14We'll do it again next week.
22:16Sounds good, my friends.
22:17Take care.
22:17Okay.
22:18That was Mark Schlereth with us here on Willard & Dibs.
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