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10-8 H3 12th Man Round Table · Chuck in the Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. We appreciate it. Yeah,
0:02
Speaker 1: this is a little bit of a change up. So
0:04
Speaker 1: we're going to have you and Greg match wits here
0:07
Speaker 1: for the next segment or so. Eric covers the 49ers
0:11
Speaker 1: for the San Francisco Chronicle.
0:13
Speaker 2: I'll start with you then, Eric.
0:15
Speaker 1: This game, obviously, the last two times these two teams played,
0:19
Speaker 1: Seahawks had their number. Um, what has that done to
0:23
Speaker 1: the 49ers preparation? I mean, how fired up, how angry,
0:27
Speaker 1: how vengeful are the 49ers as they get ready for Sunday?
0:32
Speaker 3: Well, funny you should ask, cause that was, uh, the
0:34
Speaker 3: topic of my story, uh, yesterday. And, um, I was saying,
0:40
Speaker 3: you know, you know, setting the scene kind of just
0:43
Speaker 3: like you did adding the fact that 13 to three
0:47
Speaker 3: and the regular season finale, uh, They took the number
0:50
Speaker 3: one seed from you. They handed you your second worst
0:54
Speaker 3: postseason loss in franchise history. And then they celebrated a
0:58
Speaker 3: Super Bowl victory by smoking cigars and dancing and shotgunning
1:02
Speaker 3: Coors Light in your locker room. How fired up are
1:05
Speaker 3: you for this game? How much motivation do you have? And,
1:09
Speaker 3: you know, the players I talked to were like, well,
1:11
Speaker 3: you know, oh, it's always a big game because it's
1:13
Speaker 3: a division game. You know, whenever you played there. the
1:17
Speaker 3: Seahawks Cardinals and Rams. Uh, yeah, it's a big deal. Um,
1:21
Speaker 3: and I'm just like, so this is like playing the Cardinals, um,
1:26
Speaker 3: losers of 17 of the last 21 games. Uh, you know,
1:30
Speaker 3: when Fred Warner says, yeah, you know, it's the next game. Um,
1:35
Speaker 3: so I think obviously there is something there. I mean,
1:41
Speaker 3: you know, that, that's a lot of, um, you know,
1:44
Speaker 3: downplaying it. Um, Now, with that said, I do think
1:49
Speaker 3: this is a veteran 49er team. Most of their stars are,
1:54
Speaker 3: you know, 30 and older. Um, and I do think
1:57
Speaker 3: there was a recognition that it is week five and,
2:00
Speaker 3: you know, where did their week one, um, when at
2:03
Speaker 3: Seattle get them last year, you know, not much, it's
2:06
Speaker 3: pretty meaningful by the time, meaningless by the time we
2:09
Speaker 3: get to January. Um, So I do think there is,
2:14
Speaker 3: you know, some of that coming from their leadership, like, Hey, okay.
2:18
Speaker 3: You know, we, yes, it's the Seahawks.
2:19
Speaker 4: Yes.
2:20
Speaker 3: There's something a little bit more, but this is not
2:23
Speaker 3: do or die, particularly since they have a four in
2:25
Speaker 3: the record. But yeah, I guess that's a long way
2:30
Speaker 3: of saying they are lying, you know? Yeah.
2:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:34
Speaker 1: Greg, do you think that it's just, you know, another
2:37
Speaker 1: NFC West game for Mike McDonald and the Seahawks this week?
2:41
Speaker 5: Hello, Eric. I am proud to have Eric Branch on
2:44
Speaker 5: our station.
2:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, look at this. Thanks for having me. Great to
2:47
Speaker 3: see you, Greg.
2:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, you too, Eric. Good pull there. Good pull. Eric's
2:52
Speaker 5: beating around the bush a little bit.
2:54
Speaker 6: Kyle Shanahan has been owned by Mike McDonald, and I
2:57
Speaker 6: think that that sticks in Shanahan's craw more than anybody
3:00
Speaker 6: in the Bay Area is willing to admit, maybe even Shanahan.
3:03
Speaker 6: Shanahan and McVeigh are the two minds that the reason
3:07
Speaker 6: John Schneider fetched Mike McDonald from the Baltimore Ravens, was
3:10
Speaker 6: to beat Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, to beat his offenses.
3:14
Speaker 6: He's had mixed success with Sean McVay's. He's had unequivocal
3:19
Speaker 6: success shutting down Kyle Shanahan's system. The reason is because
3:23
Speaker 6: of Nicky Manwari. He is the singular factor among all
3:27
Speaker 6: the teams the Seahawks play. Nicky Manwari's factor against the
3:30
Speaker 6: 49ers is largest. He tackles Christian McCaffrey immediately after the
3:35
Speaker 6: catch in space like nobody else in the NFL really does.
3:38
Speaker 6: McCaffrey is an all-pro and a zillion-dollar player because of
3:42
Speaker 6: the yards he makes after catches and contact. And Neiman
3:46
Speaker 6: Worre eliminated that last year. And then there's George Kittle.
3:51
Speaker 6: Nick Neiman Worre can cover him down the field unlike
3:53
Speaker 6: most safety-slash-linebackers in the league. And the reason why Kittle
3:57
Speaker 6: is an all-pro and a zillion-dollar player is because he
3:59
Speaker 6: beats all those type of guys the team's trying to
4:01
Speaker 6: put him on.
4:03
Speaker 5: That's the big difference in this game.
4:05
Speaker 6: Nicky Manwari is back to fuller go than he's been
4:08
Speaker 6: since at any time before that sprained ankle before the
4:10
Speaker 6: Super Bowl. He's going to play 90 plus percent of
4:12
Speaker 6: the snaps. He's going to play at every level of defense.
4:15
Speaker 6: He's going to be McCaffrey's spy. And when they send
4:18
Speaker 6: Kittle down the field, he's going to run after him too.
4:20
Speaker 6: And oh, by the way, McDonald's going to send him
4:23
Speaker 6: off the edge and pressuring and try to pressure Brock Purdy.
4:27
Speaker 5: That, to me, is the singular factor in this game.
4:29
Speaker 6: If this game was two weeks ago, the 49ers would
4:31
Speaker 6: win because Nicky Manwari wouldn't be playing. But now that
4:34
Speaker 6: he's back full go, I think they've been slow playing
4:37
Speaker 6: him for this game to have this as unveiling of
4:40
Speaker 6: the 2025 version of Nicky Manwari, and that has been
4:44
Speaker 6: a good proposition the last.
4:45
Speaker 5: Two times I've played.
4:47
Speaker 6: When San Francisco won 17-13 in Week 1 of 2025,
4:50
Speaker 6: Eric remembers this, Nicky Manwari got.
4:53
Speaker 5: Hurt on the fourth play.
4:54
Speaker 6: The fourth play of his career, he had a high
4:56
Speaker 6: ankle sprain, They tried to tie Okada on George Kittle.
5:00
Speaker 5: And as soon as.
5:01
Speaker 6: Eamon Worry went out of the game, the 49ers marched
5:03
Speaker 6: right down the field and Kittle scored a touchdown on Okada.
5:06
Speaker 6: That's how vital Nick Eamon Worry is to what Mike
5:09
Speaker 6: McDonald's been doing to Kyle Shanahan's offense.
5:12
Speaker 1: Eric, how would, how do you think Kyle Shanahan would
5:14
Speaker 1: describe his relationship right now with Mike McDonald?
5:17
Speaker 3: I don't know. Like, you know, I don't know if
5:21
Speaker 3: they're buddies or anything. I mean, I think he respects him,
5:24
Speaker 3: you know, for sure. You know, it was interesting. Um,
5:27
Speaker 3: Shanahan was a guest analyst for the Super Bowl last
5:33
Speaker 3: year at Levi's. Just as an aside, he was great,
5:38
Speaker 3: which better than I thought Shanahan would be if he
5:41
Speaker 3: ever wants to go on TV, which he doesn't want
5:43
Speaker 3: to do anytime soon. But anyway, the point of bringing
5:46
Speaker 3: this up is they said, hey, Kyle, you've played the
5:51
Speaker 3: Seahawks a lot. What's the secret? What do the Patriots
5:55
Speaker 3: have to do today? And he said, why are you
5:58
Speaker 3: asking me? The last two times we played them, we
6:00
Speaker 3: didn't score a touchdown. And then he went on to
6:05
Speaker 3: talk about the difficulties of facing that defense and Mike McDonald.
6:12
Speaker 3: So he has a tremendous amount of respect. His big thing.
6:17
Speaker 3: And one reason Shanahan was so good on TV is
6:21
Speaker 3: he can say a lot in a in a short
6:24
Speaker 3: amount of time. So I wrote a review of Shanahan,
6:28
Speaker 3: you know, as a TV analyst and in 18 seconds,
6:33
Speaker 3: he kind of distilled the Niners problems and what they'd
6:36
Speaker 3: have to do. And he said, you know, we have
6:39
Speaker 3: to get their two safeties. You know, they play deep
6:43
Speaker 3: and they're so good that they can have their two
6:46
Speaker 3: safeties play deep and still shut down your run game.
6:49
Speaker 3: And if you can't get those safeties creeping up, and
6:52
Speaker 3: create opportunities in the past game. You know, while you
6:56
Speaker 3: saw what happened to us the last two, the last
6:59
Speaker 3: two games. And so that's going to be a big thing.
7:03
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it's probably not quite as simple as that,
7:06
Speaker 3: but you know, if the, if the Seahawks safeties are
7:09
Speaker 3: playing in Tacoma and Christian McCaffrey still can't gain more
7:13
Speaker 3: than two or three yards, you know, that's going to
7:16
Speaker 3: be another long, long day for the Niners offense against Seattle.
7:21
Speaker 1: Eric Branch is with us from the San Francisco Chronicle.
7:24
Speaker 1: Greg's buddy joining us here. We've never done a roundtable
7:27
Speaker 1: where we've had somebody from the other team joining us,
7:29
Speaker 1: and so we thought that would be fun in Hugh's
7:32
Speaker 1: absence here today to have these two guys on together,
7:35
Speaker 1: at least.
7:35
Speaker 2: For a segment. Let's talk about some injuries. Greg, when
7:40
Speaker 2: Mike McDonald.
7:40
Speaker 1: Hears or you hear that Kyle Juszczyk is not going
7:44
Speaker 1: to be available for this game tomorrow, How does that
7:48
Speaker 1: impact it from a Seahawks perspective? And then I would
7:51
Speaker 1: ask Eric to answer the same thing after your response.
7:55
Speaker 5: Well, it takes away a pass game threat.
7:58
Speaker 6: A lot of people know Juszczyk and his physicality and
8:00
Speaker 6: a lead blocker and giving him.
8:02
Speaker 5: The ball, short yardage.
8:04
Speaker 6: He is a threat in the pass game that they
8:06
Speaker 6: have to game plan for, and now they don't have to.
8:09
Speaker 6: I think we're going to see more Debo Samuel in
8:11
Speaker 6: the backfield, which he has substantially hurt the Seahawks on
8:14
Speaker 6: his horizontal runs and out of the backfield. He's been
8:16
Speaker 6: like a third tailback, I understand, for the 49ers, Eric.
8:19
Speaker 6: I was talking to Matt Barrows yesterday about that. It's
8:23
Speaker 6: almost like the Rashid Jahid situation for the Seahawks, putting
8:26
Speaker 6: him in the backfield as a wide receiver because of
8:29
Speaker 6: the lack of running backs they have right now. And
8:30
Speaker 6: that's sort of what the second The second stint now
8:34
Speaker 6: of Debo Samuel is.
8:35
Speaker 5: Becoming him, putting him back in the backfield. So I
8:37
Speaker 5: expect to see Samuel more in the run game.
8:40
Speaker 6: But Ustek out of the backfield on third downs has
8:44
Speaker 6: always been a problem for Seattle and everybody else. So
8:47
Speaker 6: that's one fewer thing for McDonald to have to game
8:50
Speaker 6: plan for on Sunday.
8:52
Speaker 5: And as a side note, Chuck, I just.
8:54
Speaker 6: Want to congratulate you because you have two of maybe
8:57
Speaker 6: the two dozen left newspaper-traveling beat writers in the country. Yeah.
9:02
Speaker 5: We're like– this is like Jurassic Park. They just don't exist.
9:06
Speaker 5: We're kind of extinct.
9:07
Speaker 6: So the fact that you got two print newspaper beat
9:11
Speaker 6: writers on this show, there's got to be something.
9:13
Speaker 5: There aren't too many shows in the country who can
9:15
Speaker 5: say that.
9:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.
9:15
Speaker 1: Well, I got a branchosaurus and I got a beltillion.
9:19
Speaker 1: Is that what you're telling me here?
9:21
Speaker 5: Uh, dinosaurs, man, print journalists, look it up. There ain't
9:25
Speaker 5: many of us anymore that travel and be writing.
9:27
Speaker 1: Eric, what does it mean not to have Kyle Juszczyk, uh,
9:30
Speaker 1: for the San Francisco 49ers? How much does that, uh,
9:33
Speaker 1: disrupt what they want to do?
9:36
Speaker 3: Well, it certainly doesn't help. You know, one of the things, um, uh,
9:41
Speaker 3: among other things, one, one thing that makes, uh, Juszczyk
9:44
Speaker 3: so valuable, um, is it one of the, uh, Things
9:48
Speaker 3: about Shanahan's offense is, you know, based on the formation,
9:51
Speaker 3: you can't tell whether it's a run or pass. And
9:55
Speaker 3: so Juszczyk helps with that because he's a great blocker, but,
9:59
Speaker 3: you know, is great. just talked about, you know, he's
10:02
Speaker 3: an athletic fullback. You know, he can go down the field.
10:04
Speaker 3: He can catch wheel routes. So there's that. And they
10:07
Speaker 3: also have been employing a lot more cheat motion this season.
10:13
Speaker 3: And Juszczyk is great at that. It takes a lot of,
10:16
Speaker 3: you know, syncing up– with the snap count. And so he's,
10:23
Speaker 3: you know, that's like, oh, is the game going to
10:26
Speaker 3: be won and lost because they can't do cheat motion
10:29
Speaker 3: quite as well? No, but, you know, it is value
10:32
Speaker 3: that he provides. You know, he's able to get a
10:35
Speaker 3: running head start. And they call it cheat motion because, ah,
10:39
Speaker 3: is he going, you know, forward before the snap? And
10:43
Speaker 3: he's able to do it to where it's so close,
10:46
Speaker 3: but it makes it so effective. So, among other things, yeah,
10:51
Speaker 3: and they don't really have, obviously, but they don't have
10:54
Speaker 3: another fullback on the roster. So they're going to have
10:57
Speaker 3: to use a guy like Braden Willis or, you know,
11:00
Speaker 3: another tight end to fill that role. And they've had
11:03
Speaker 3: this happen in the past. And, you know, it does
11:09
Speaker 3: take away from what they like to do.
11:12
Speaker 1: Well, you have a lot of 49ers fans, for whatever reason,
11:15
Speaker 1: that are listening to Seattle Sports Radio this week to
11:17
Speaker 1: make sure that we acknowledge that this team was very
11:20
Speaker 1: injured at the end of the year last year.
11:23
Speaker 2: And so it wasn't a real fair fight at the
11:26
Speaker 2: end of the year.
11:28
Speaker 1: So it's not like it's a healthy team, but how
11:32
Speaker 1: much credence, Eric, do you give to the fact that
11:36
Speaker 1: that was a different team at the end of the
11:38
Speaker 1: year that the Seahawks were beating up because they had
11:40
Speaker 1: so many guys out with injuries?
11:44
Speaker 3: Well, not much. I mean, you know.
11:49
Speaker 2: Very honest of you.
11:49
Speaker 4: Thank you.
11:50
Speaker 6: Thank you.
11:51
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it is the NFL in January.
11:53
Speaker 3: How many teams are like, you know, the Niners have
11:56
Speaker 3: nine of their 11 week one starters available, you know,
12:00
Speaker 3: for that playoff game. Now, a Niner fan would go, yeah, yeah, yeah, but.
12:07
Speaker 3: And so they had a starting wide receiver, Ricky Pearsall,
12:10
Speaker 3: who was dealing with a bad knee that needed surgery.
12:13
Speaker 3: Christian McCaffrey hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and
12:17
Speaker 3: was kind of ineffective and then had to come out
12:20
Speaker 3: of the game. Um, one of those starters I mentioned
12:23
Speaker 3: that wasn't there is George Kittle. Yeah, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
12:28
Speaker 3: You know, 41 to six. Come on.
12:31
Speaker 4: Right.
12:32
Speaker 3: I think it was pretty clear who was the better team.
12:37
Speaker 3: And 14 days earlier, it was 13 to three at Levi's. So, um, Yeah,
12:44
Speaker 3: I think some of those fans you've been hearing from
12:47
Speaker 3: are on my social media accounts.
12:52
Speaker 2: Same guys.
12:53
Speaker 5: Same guys.
12:55
Speaker 1: Well, they are playing well this year. I mean, we
12:57
Speaker 1: don't have much more time with you. We've got more
12:59
Speaker 1: time with Greg, so I'll come back to you. Just
13:00
Speaker 1: 4-0 start. I mean, are they playing the best football
13:05
Speaker 1: in the National Football League so far this year?
13:07
Speaker 6: Eric, I want to know how the hell with a
13:09
Speaker 6: broken Mike Evans, a 30-year-old Debo Samuel, and just getting
13:14
Speaker 6: back to health, George Kittle, they're converting 57.5% on third down.
13:16
Speaker 5: That number just jumps out at me.
13:21
Speaker 3: Five words, Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan. You know, a
13:28
Speaker 3: big deal is that Purdy, you know, Purdy was good
13:31
Speaker 3: from day one, you know, in 2022 when he was
13:35
Speaker 3: summoned off the bench. And it was like, who's this guy?
13:39
Speaker 3: And he tore up the Dolphins. And then he tore
13:42
Speaker 3: up Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. So it's not like, oh,
13:45
Speaker 3: my gosh, you know, Brady, sorry, Brady. Purdy has taken
13:49
Speaker 3: this huge leap. but he has taken a jump this year.
13:53
Speaker 3: It's his fifth year in Shanahan's offense, and I think
13:56
Speaker 3: there's just kind of this comfort and understanding, and they're
14:00
Speaker 3: increasingly on the same page. And so that's the biggest thing.
14:04
Speaker 3: It's like, I mean, speaking of Brady, when you look
14:08
Speaker 3: at some of his weapons, you know, not the Randy
14:10
Speaker 3: Moss years or anything, but, you know, Troy Brown, and
14:15
Speaker 3: he was just, it didn't really seem to matter, you know,
14:18
Speaker 3: who was out there with him. you know, I'm not
14:22
Speaker 3: making the direct link here, uh, between Brock Purdy and
14:24
Speaker 3: Tom Brady, but I do think there is something, you know,
14:28
Speaker 3: to that. And, you know, players have spoken to that, um,
14:32
Speaker 3: you know, after some of these games, uh, just like,
14:34
Speaker 3: it doesn't, you know, I don't know, like, yes, we'd
14:36
Speaker 3: like to be healthier, but we have Brock Purdy, you know,
14:40
Speaker 3: type thing. It's just not the way they've, they've talked
14:43
Speaker 3: about Brock in, in past seasons. They've always been complimentary. Um, So, anyway,
14:49
Speaker 3: it's stuff like that. It's like they have kind of
14:53
Speaker 3: reached another level. Because Debo Samuel, yeah, he's maybe been
14:56
Speaker 3: better than expected. But he's the 30-year-old Debo Samuel. He's
15:01
Speaker 3: just not that guy anymore. Mike Evans, you know, played
15:05
Speaker 3: with broken ribs or rib last week and, you know,
15:10
Speaker 3: was limited. And it's not like they're bereft of, you know,
15:14
Speaker 3: offensive weapons. You know, there's George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey.
15:17
Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
15:18
Speaker 3: Trent Williams. So it's not like, oh, how is he
15:22
Speaker 3: getting it done? They haven't reached that level at all.
15:26
Speaker 3: But I would say when you look at their red
15:28
Speaker 3: zone touchdown percentage, when you look at their third down
15:32
Speaker 3: completion percentage, the fact that they don't have any sacks
15:35
Speaker 3: allowed through four games, they're the first team since the
15:40
Speaker 3: 2005 Colts. The 2005 Colts had Peyton Manning. The reason
15:44
Speaker 3: they didn't allow any sacks had a lot to do
15:46
Speaker 3: with Peyton Manning. and a big reason the Niners haven't
15:51
Speaker 3: allowed any sacks is because of Purdy, not in the
15:54
Speaker 3: same way Manning did it, although Purdy is a quick processor,
15:59
Speaker 3: but he has a point guard short area quickness, and
16:04
Speaker 3: his instincts and feel in the pocket and his ability
16:08
Speaker 3: to escape, I think is a part of his game.
16:12
Speaker 3: It's a huge part of his game, and I think
16:14
Speaker 3: it's been increasingly appreciated.
16:17
Speaker 1: More of a Steve Nash comparison than a Tom Brady
16:20
Speaker 1: comparison with Brock Purdy. Well, you're coming to town. Are
16:24
Speaker 1: you going to make Greg take you out somewhere here
16:27
Speaker 1: when you're in town?
16:28
Speaker 2: What's going on?
16:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's the most expensive place? Dick's Burgers.
16:33
Speaker 6: Dick's Burgers, I'll hook you up.
16:37
Speaker 5: Most expensive plate in town.
16:38
Speaker 3: I got you, Eric.
16:40
Speaker 6: I appreciate the Tony Gwynn pale ale, $ 3.
16:43
Speaker 5: 94 pale ale.
16:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough being a Padre fan. I'm sorry. Yeah,
16:52
Speaker 3: I guess.
16:52
Speaker 5: Yeah, Mariner fans listening, you know.
16:55
Speaker 3: It didn't go too well this year, right? But, yeah,
17:01
Speaker 3: I was giving my– Boy, my wife did tears the
17:05
Speaker 3: other night because she's like, why do we have to
17:07
Speaker 3: watch this game? It was a game three against the Brewers.
17:12
Speaker 3: And I said, you know, do you have a second?
17:14
Speaker 3: Can I tell you about 1984 when the Padres were
17:16
Speaker 3: down 0-2 against the Cubs and they rallied? She's like, no.
17:21
Speaker 3: So anyway, obviously we didn't have a weekend. We didn't
17:25
Speaker 3: have it. Have 1984 all over again.
17:28
Speaker 5: Oh, man.
17:29
Speaker 1: I laugh because that conversation hits home. I've only heard
17:32
Speaker 1: it 3,000 times in my life.
17:35
Speaker 5: All right, man.
17:36
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you for spending some time with us. We'll
17:38
Speaker 1: pick up the conversation with Greg on the other side.
17:41
Speaker 1: But have fun here in Seattle, and we appreciate you
17:45
Speaker 1: doing this for us.
17:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks so much for having me. It's a lot
17:48
Speaker 3: of fun, guys.
17:49
Speaker 1: All right, Eric Branch joining us here from the San
17:51
Speaker 1: Francisco Chronicle. A little different 12-man roundtable. No Hugh today.
17:55
Speaker 1: He's going to be with us for an extended time tomorrow.
17:58
Speaker 2: We had Greg.
17:59
Speaker 1: We brought on his buddy Eric Branch, who covers the 49ers,
18:03
Speaker 1: but he only had one segment with us. So when
18:05
Speaker 1: we come back on the other side, we'll get caught
18:06
Speaker 1: up to date with Greg, all the Seahawks stuff.
18:09
Speaker 2: That we normally lead the hour with. So that's next
18:11
Speaker 2: on Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM.
18:14
Speaker 4: Now back to Chuck in the morning in the 12th
18:16
Speaker 4: Man Roundtable with Greg Bell and Hugh Millen. Brought to
18:20
Speaker 4: you by the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling. On your
18:23
Speaker 4: home for the 12th Man. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
18:34
Speaker 1: All right, the roundtable continues. Our thanks to Eric Branch.
18:39
Speaker 1: We've got Greg Bell here. We've got Anders here. Christopher
18:41
Speaker 1: Kidd here as 12th man roundtable. We get you set
18:44
Speaker 1: for 49ers and Seahawks on Sunday.
18:47
Speaker 2: Well, we enjoyed Eric. Greg, we enjoyed your buddy. Hope
18:51
Speaker 2: you enjoyed your buddy having him on here today.
18:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, I've been working with Eric since I was at
18:56
Speaker 6: the Raiders. Yeah, it's 20 years or so I've been
18:59
Speaker 6: friend of mine.
19:00
Speaker 5: Yeah.
19:01
Speaker 3: Right.
19:01
Speaker 5: 49er weeks are fun for me because I know everybody
19:03
Speaker 5: on the Niners beat. I worked with a lot of them.
19:05
Speaker 6: Matt Barrows and I came into the Sacramento beat at
19:07
Speaker 6: the same year when I was the first year in
19:09
Speaker 6: the Raiders writer. He was the first year at the
19:12
Speaker 6: 49ers writer. That was 24 years ago. So there's a
19:14
Speaker 6: lot of there's a lot of ties to that stuff.
19:17
Speaker 3: Yeah.
19:17
Speaker 1: Well, I love how blunt he was about, you know,
19:21
Speaker 1: the domination that the Seahawks, you know, displayed against the
19:26
Speaker 1: 49ers at the tail end of the year.
19:27
Speaker 2: But it is a brand new year.
19:29
Speaker 1: And at this stage, the 49ers look like they're playing
19:31
Speaker 1: better football right now than the Seattle Seahawks, Greg. And
19:35
Speaker 1: so Mike McDonald had to address a few things this
19:39
Speaker 1: week and maybe get us up to date on exactly
19:42
Speaker 1: how he plans for this team to play differently on
19:45
Speaker 1: Sunday against the Niners.
19:47
Speaker 5: Well, we've talked about it all week. Just don't be stupid.
19:50
Speaker 5: with the penalties.
19:51
Speaker 6: Most of their penalties are just plain stupid. So if
19:53
Speaker 6: you just do a professional job and not hitting after
19:56
Speaker 6: the whistle and headbutting because you got blocked, not hitting
19:59
Speaker 6: quarterback on third and 24, then you're probably going to
20:02
Speaker 6: have three or.
20:03
Speaker 5: Four more defensive stops. And that, for instance, the Charger
20:06
Speaker 5: game is 27-6, not 30-23.
20:07
Speaker 6: So.
20:10
Speaker 5: Start there, and they have. They've had meetings, Jaron.
20:13
Speaker 6: Reed, Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones, Julian Love called a players-only
20:18
Speaker 6: meeting this week to fix the penalties and said, uh-uh,
20:22
Speaker 6: cut this bleep out. You ain't playing for us no
20:25
Speaker 6: matter whether the coach is benching you or not. You
20:27
Speaker 6: ain't playing for us next to us if you start
20:29
Speaker 6: doing that stuff. And guys like Derek Hall and Devin Witherspoon,
20:34
Speaker 6: they need to listen to that. Those are the guys
20:36
Speaker 6: who play right to the edge. And sometimes, as McDonald says,
20:40
Speaker 6: they go over it. And what makes Derek Hall and
20:42
Speaker 6: Devin Witherspoon so good is they play right to that edge.
20:45
Speaker 6: But in the NFL, you go over the edge and
20:47
Speaker 6: you pay for it and extended drives and points against
20:50
Speaker 6: and all of that. So start there. And then the
20:54
Speaker 6: turnovers is the other thing, of course. Just don't turn
20:56
Speaker 6: it over so that defense doesn't have to defend a 20-
20:58
Speaker 6: and 30-yard field. They get to defend a 75- and
21:01
Speaker 6: 80-yard one. That, of course, will be the key.
21:04
Speaker 5: The other thing the Seahawks have been doing this week
21:05
Speaker 5: is try to replenish their running backs.
21:07
Speaker 6: Robert Henry Jr. was on the field for the first
21:09
Speaker 6: time yesterday. I talked to him in the locker room.
21:12
Speaker 6: He's a new dad. So get this. This is real-world
21:15
Speaker 6: stuff here. You're on the practice squad for an NFL
21:18
Speaker 6: player who's a 24-year-old rookie. You had a baby. I'm
21:21
Speaker 6: talking about Robert Henry. He had a baby in college,
21:23
Speaker 6: his senior year at the University of Texas, San Antonio.
21:25
Speaker 6: His girlfriend had a baby while she was pregnant. That's
21:28
Speaker 6: why he didn't go take NIL money and go somewhere else.
21:31
Speaker 6: They wanted to stay in San Antonio in their roots.
21:34
Speaker 6: He was making $ 13, 000 a week, which is good change,
21:37
Speaker 6: of course, on the practice squad for the Washington Commanders.
21:40
Speaker 6: When the Seahawks signed him, he's making $ 45, 000 a week.
21:45
Speaker 5: $ 49, 000, actually.
21:46
Speaker 6: $ 48, 000 and change. So he's got a 4.5x raise weekly.
21:50
Speaker 6: That's a lot of diapers and formula, as Andrew's the
21:53
Speaker 6: new dad knows. We'll go with a 4x raise weekly.
21:57
Speaker 6: That's how excited Robert Henry was to pack up the
22:00
Speaker 6: young family and move on no notice from D.C.
22:02
Speaker 5: To the Seattle area.
22:05
Speaker 6: He's swimming, trying to learn the playbook, but because he
22:07
Speaker 6: has practiced every day on the practice squad and playing
22:11
Speaker 6: other NFL offenses, he's more ready to play Sunday than
22:15
Speaker 6: you might think just because they signed him this week.
22:17
Speaker 6: They signed him onto the active roster, which is actually
22:20
Speaker 6: the only way you can get somebody else's practice squad player.
22:22
Speaker 6: I think he's going to play. I think he's going
22:24
Speaker 6: to get snaps. It'll still be Emmanuel Wilson as the
22:29
Speaker 6: number one running back, but Henry is faster than He's
22:34
Speaker 6: 5'9 and below 200 pounds, so he's a completely different
22:36
Speaker 6: back than the more physical, plodding Wilson. And that faster
22:42
Speaker 6: dynamic in the backfield is what they're missing with Price
22:44
Speaker 6: on injured reserve. So I wouldn't discount Robert Henry being
22:49
Speaker 6: a factor in this game in week one of his
22:53
Speaker 6: four days after he arrives. They need to run the ball,
22:56
Speaker 6: and they need to do it effectively enough so that
22:59
Speaker 6: the Niners can't then tee up pressure on Sam Darnold
23:03
Speaker 6: before Smith and Jigba can get open down the field.
23:06
Speaker 1: To Eric Branch's last point about how well Brock Purdy
23:09
Speaker 1: is playing, I mean, he might be playing the best
23:12
Speaker 1: football of his entire career, which we give him credit for,
23:16
Speaker 1: but I would say if it wasn't now that he's
23:19
Speaker 1: playing his best, it was probably at the tail end
23:22
Speaker 1: of last year where he was playing his best football,
23:24
Speaker 1: and Mike McDonald still turned him into mincemeat on the
23:30
Speaker 1: football field on two different occasions. And so Brock Purdy's
23:33
Speaker 1: level of play seemingly has elevated.
23:37
Speaker 2: Does that change the outcome of this game, though, on Sunday?
23:42
Speaker 5: What is mincemeat? Do you actually buy that at a deli?
23:45
Speaker 5: Has anyone ever purchased it?
23:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, my dad used to get it all the time.
23:49
Speaker 5: Really? What is it?
23:51
Speaker 2: Is it chopped? Yeah, it's just like chopped different meats,
23:54
Speaker 2: you know.
23:55
Speaker 1: I didn't eat it. I wouldn't touch it. But that
23:57
Speaker 1: man would touch anything. That guy ate everything.
24:01
Speaker 5: Sounds like chip-chopped ham.
24:03
Speaker 1: A liverwurst guy, a canned sardine guy, that guy would
24:06
Speaker 1: eat anything.
24:06
Speaker 4: Ooh, liverwurst.
24:07
Speaker 6: Yep.
24:07
Speaker 5: Man, that's salt of the earth stuff right there.
24:11
Speaker 6: I don't think Brock Purdy playing the best he's planned
24:14
Speaker 6: will change this game, although it certainly doesn't hurt that
24:18
Speaker 6: he's only had one interception and 11 touchdowns.
24:21
Speaker 5: I keep saying the number, 57.5% third down conversions in
24:25
Speaker 5: this league is damn good.
24:26
Speaker 6: And their percentage in the red zone of scoring touchdowns
24:30
Speaker 6: because of how they're converting and how accurate Purdy has been. 70%
24:34
Speaker 6: of the time completing passes. Of course, they throw really
24:37
Speaker 6: quickly and get it out quickly. That's Shanahan's scheme. And
24:40
Speaker 6: If the Seahawks stop the run like they did last
24:42
Speaker 6: season against the 49ers, and that means tackling McCaffrey, then
24:47
Speaker 6: they are in third and long, and they have not
24:49
Speaker 6: been in third and long all season. San Francisco is
24:51
Speaker 6: one of the best third and short teams and one
24:54
Speaker 6: of the fewest third and long opportunities in the league
24:56
Speaker 6: so far this year, which is.
24:57
Speaker 5: Why their percentage of conversions is so high.
24:59
Speaker 6: So the job one is this most weeks, stop the
25:03
Speaker 6: run game and make third and longs that Purdy hasn't
25:05
Speaker 6: had to face.
25:06
Speaker 5: And that'll be the key. Of course, Purdy can run
25:08
Speaker 5: the ball too.
25:08
Speaker 6: People don't understand it when he can just take off
25:11
Speaker 6: and running on a pass play and get first downs
25:13
Speaker 6: that way too. Jaron Reed is talking about how they
25:15
Speaker 6: cannot create running lanes by rushing too wide and to
25:19
Speaker 6: stay in the gap integrity of pass rushing Purdy.
25:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, amazing that for the Mr.
25:24
Speaker 6: Irrelevant seventh round pick that he's become this much of
25:27
Speaker 6: a force in the NFL and he has become a
25:30
Speaker 6: perfect Kyle Shanahan and Mike Shanahan, for that matter, quarterback.
25:34
Speaker 6: He's definitely a factor, but if they stop the run,
25:37
Speaker 6: it might look a little bit like the divisional playoff
25:39
Speaker 6: game and the 13-3 Week 18 game last year.
25:43
Speaker 2: I stand corrected, by the way.
25:44
Speaker 1: Mincemeat is a sweet and spiced mixture of chopped dried fruits, apples, spices,
25:49
Speaker 1: and fat. There is actually no meat in mincemeat.
25:52
Speaker 2: How about that?
25:53
Speaker 1: What?
25:53
Speaker 5: I had to go look it up.
25:55
Speaker 3: See?
25:55
Speaker 6: I didn't know what it was.
25:57
Speaker 2: But my dad did eat it. It just wasn't what
25:59
Speaker 2: I was thinking it was.
26:01
Speaker 6: I've never gone to a butcher and asked for mincemeat,
26:04
Speaker 6: so maybe that's why it's not meat.
26:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just fruit and stuff.
26:08
Speaker 1: All right, one more segment with Greg Bell on our
26:10
Speaker 1: roundtable here today. We'll get his prediction for the game,
26:14
Speaker 1: his key.
26:14
Speaker 2: Same thing from Anders, Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM.
26:18
Speaker 4: Now back to Chuck in the morning in the 12th
26:20
Speaker 4: Man Roundtable with Greg Bell and Hugh Millen. Brought to
26:23
Speaker 4: you by the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling. On your
26:27
Speaker 4: home for the 12th Man. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
26:34
Speaker 1: No Hugh Millen today on the 12th Man Roundtable, and
26:37
Speaker 1: that is because we're going to put him to work
26:39
Speaker 1: tonight and tomorrow. If you want to be a part
26:42
Speaker 1: of Hugh Millen's Chalk Talk, he's going to be on
26:44
Speaker 1: stage this evening starting at 5 o'clock at Tulalip Resort Casino.
26:48
Speaker 2: We've got a special event planned for this evening.
26:51
Speaker 1: It is free to the public, but we do ask
26:53
Speaker 1: if you want to come, maybe reserve a seat or
26:56
Speaker 1: two or nine, however many you would like to have
27:00
Speaker 1: for the event this evening. Do that at 49451 and
27:03
Speaker 1: we'll work something out for you. So reserve your seat now.
27:07
Speaker 1: Seating is limited for Hugh Millen's Chalk Talk today, 5
27:11
Speaker 1: o'clock out at Tulalip Resort Casino. And then Anders and
27:15
Speaker 1: I will be doing the show from Tulalip tomorrow with
27:18
Speaker 1: Hugh Millen on the back end of the show for
27:21
Speaker 1: a significant period of time. and we'll catch up on
27:24
Speaker 1: all the things that we didn't get in the roundtable today,
27:27
Speaker 1: his thoughts toward this Seahawks 49ers matchup. Greg Bell is
27:31
Speaker 1: with us, though, our Seahawks insider, and he's got keys
27:35
Speaker 1: to this game and a final score for us as
27:38
Speaker 1: we always close things out.
27:39
Speaker 8: What do you see in your crystal ball, Greg? Well,
27:43
Speaker 8: it's the same key as most games. Run the ball,
27:46
Speaker 8: stop the run, don't turn over. The problem for Seattle
27:50
Speaker 8: is the run part. They still want to run it.
27:53
Speaker 8: It's why Brian Fleury's here.
27:55
Speaker 6: But now they have dudes in the backfield that they
27:57
Speaker 6: were not counting on. Emmanuel Wilson, Robert Henry Jr., Rashid
28:01
Speaker 6: Shahid as a tailback, George Helani. That is not the
28:06
Speaker 6: post-Ken Walker plan. And that's what they have wrought with
28:10
Speaker 6: having Chadarian Price on injured reserve. So can they get
28:13
Speaker 6: a running game against San Francisco with that cast? And
28:17
Speaker 6: I think they need to play Robert Henry Jr. to
28:20
Speaker 6: be a faster back more than just the plotting, punishing
28:23
Speaker 6: Emmanuel Wilson. I don't see Wilson getting 81 yards against
28:26
Speaker 6: the 49ers defense. So that starts one. There's a trickle-down
28:30
Speaker 6: effect there. If they can run the ball effectively, then
28:32
Speaker 6: Darnold will have better third downs and we'll be able
28:35
Speaker 6: to pressure him as much. Smith and Jibbert can get
28:38
Speaker 6: deeper down the field and so on and so forth.
28:40
Speaker 6: So I think that starts there for the offense and
28:42
Speaker 6: for the Seahawks past game. And then defensively, Nick Imanwuri
28:46
Speaker 6: is the key to the game, as I've been saying
28:48
Speaker 6: all week. He's the factor that nobody else in the
28:50
Speaker 6: league has against Kyle Shanahan. He's the reason why the
28:54
Speaker 6: Seahawks will win. He will keep McCaffrey from yards after
28:57
Speaker 6: the catch. He will keep Kittle from big plays down
28:59
Speaker 6: the field. It may not be a blitz game for Imanwuri.
29:03
Speaker 6: They'll use Witherspoon for that. Looks like Ty Okada is
29:06
Speaker 6: going to be back at safety. He was full go
29:08
Speaker 6: yesterday for the first time since he injured his hamstring
29:10
Speaker 6: in late August. So this is going to be as
29:12
Speaker 6: full as the Seahawks have been on defense all year yet.
29:15
Speaker 6: They're going to have Love and Okada, it appears, back
29:17
Speaker 6: in the deep, back in the secondary, so they can
29:19
Speaker 6: put Imanwuri up near the line, and they can move
29:22
Speaker 6: Witherspoon into nickel, where McDonald wants him to affect more
29:26
Speaker 6: of the play. I think both teams are in the teens.
29:28
Speaker 6: Nobody gets to 20 points, and the Seahawks win like
29:31
Speaker 6: 17-10 or even 17-6 with no touchdowns allowed.
29:36
Speaker 3: All right.
29:37
Speaker 2: What do you got, Anders?
29:38
Speaker 7: I have a slightly different viewpoint. I think this is
29:40
Speaker 7: somewhat of a blowout for the Seahawks. I think they
29:43
Speaker 7: put their first full game together. I think they're going
29:46
Speaker 7: to come out looking to prove something. somewhat doubters wrong.
29:50
Speaker 7: And I think Sam Donald's actually underrated Lee besides his
29:54
Speaker 7: two big turnovers in the last two weeks has actually
29:56
Speaker 7: had a really good return. And I think he kind
29:59
Speaker 7: of fully breaks out once again here in this game,
30:01
Speaker 7: 30 to 13.
30:02
Speaker 2: Seahawks, 30 to 13.
30:04
Speaker 5: Yes.
30:05
Speaker 7: Big thing is get them off the field on third
30:07
Speaker 7: down and score touchdowns in the red zone.
30:10
Speaker 6: Beside those turnovers, you're right. Sam Darnold's Joe Montana beside
30:14
Speaker 6: the turnovers. I mean, he wins Super Bowls, but he
30:17
Speaker 6: left the league in turnovers.
30:18
Speaker 7: Even with the turnovers, I believe he's played really good
30:21
Speaker 7: football the last couple weeks.
30:22
Speaker 1: I do think we're going to struggle to get the
30:24
Speaker 1: run established, and I think they are too. Christian McCaffrey's
30:28
Speaker 1: averaged three yards per carry in three games. Even when
30:30
Speaker 1: they were healthy 49ers fans at the beginning of the year,
30:33
Speaker 1: he still didn't run the ball effectively. against Mike McDonald's defense.
30:38
Speaker 1: So I think it may really come down to Brock
30:41
Speaker 1: Purdy or Sam Darnold, and I've just seen Mike McDonald
30:45
Speaker 1: confuse Brock Purdy more than I've seen the 49ers confuse
30:48
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold. I think Sam Darnold outplays him, and they
30:51
Speaker 1: win in a close one, 23-20 on Sunday. All right, Greg,
30:55
Speaker 1: thank you very much, sir. We appreciate you, what you
30:58
Speaker 1: got on the show today?
31:00
Speaker 6: We got our buddy Farhan Lalji, TSN Canada, the NFL
31:03
Speaker 6: expert from north of the border, He's going to be
31:06
Speaker 6: at the game on Sunday. We'll get his thoughts on that.
31:08
Speaker 6: I'll give him thoughts on Rams, Bills, all the undefeated team,
31:12
Speaker 6: the Vikings.
31:13
Speaker 5: Are they for real? Chiefs with Kenneth Walker.
31:16
Speaker 6: He's already talked about he doesn't think Kenneth Walker's workload
31:18
Speaker 6: can stay at this pace, and he'll hold up.
31:21
Speaker 5: We'll talk about that at 11 o'clock. We're going to
31:23
Speaker 5: talk about using your platform.
31:26
Speaker 6: I use the word sports journalism loosely these days, but
31:29
Speaker 6: when you have a platform as large as somebody on
31:31
Speaker 6: ESPN can pontificate about things, Need to be a hell
31:36
Speaker 6: of a lot smarter for a guy that makes the
31:37
Speaker 6: money he makes making old statements about mental health in
31:42
Speaker 6: this country.
31:42
Speaker 5: It's irresponsible. We're going to talk about that, too. All right.
31:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to get into that a little bit,
31:48
Speaker 2: but probably not as long as you are today. All right, Greg,
31:51
Speaker 2: thank you very much, sir. We appreciate it. We'll talk
31:52
Speaker 2: to you tomorrow.
31:54
Speaker 6: Enjoy Hugh and the chalkboard that's going to be wild
31:56
Speaker 6: are you guys going to like take that or put
31:58
Speaker 6: it on I.
31:58
Speaker 7: Don't know it's a good question I've had a couple
32:00
Speaker 7: people ask about that probably not.
32:02
Speaker 1: I think that we need to make it exclusive yeah
32:05
Speaker 1: so if you want to see it you've got to
32:06
Speaker 1: go that's what I think we've got to track on
32:08
Speaker 1: up there exactly but we'll see I don't know I
32:11
Speaker 1: don't know what the big plan is.
32:12
Speaker 6: You know I want to hear tomorrow how that went
32:15
Speaker 6: down what that was like in person come visit us I.
32:18
Speaker 7: Should actually yeah let's go alright Greg thank you sir
32:24
Speaker 7: There's Greg Bell, our Seahawks insider.
32:26
Speaker 1: Again, he'll be on at 10 o'clock, so a little
32:28
Speaker 1: over an hour from now, right here on his own
32:30
Speaker 1: radio show. And he'll be with us tomorrow at 7.05
32:33
Speaker 1: for the normal Friday segment. So, yes, we appreciate him
32:38
Speaker 1: kind of playing two different roles here today in our
32:40
Speaker 1: 12th man roundtable. And we'll have Hugh with his chalk
32:43
Speaker 1: talk tonight and be with us tomorrow. Coming up next,
32:46
Speaker 1: something that we used to do after the roundtable every
32:49
Speaker 1: Thursday back on the old show. was a game called
32:53
Speaker 1: Beat Bucky, and it was quite popular. Well, obviously, I
32:56
Speaker 1: can't bring back Beat Bucky. It was just special in
32:59
Speaker 1: its own right. But I do want to play a
33:01
Speaker 1: game on Friday, and I don't know if this is
33:04
Speaker 1: going to stick or not, but we're going to test
33:08
Speaker 1: it today.
33:09
Speaker 7: I like it.
33:10
Speaker 2: It's the pilot.
33:11
Speaker 1: Episode of a brand new game featuring Chris Kidd, Anders Hurst,
33:14
Speaker 1: and of course, we need a listener. We're not even
33:16
Speaker 1: going to have a prize today. We will in the future,
33:19
Speaker 1: but if you just want to be a part of
33:21
Speaker 1: our our maiden voyage into this brand new contest. Here's
33:27
Speaker 1: what the game is called. It's called The Age Game.
33:30
Speaker 1: And you got to prove to be the.
33:33
Speaker 2: Best in the discrimination. I like that.
33:39
Speaker 1: What we're going to do is we're not going to
33:44
Speaker 1: make fun of our age differences.
33:46
Speaker 2: We're going to celebrate our age differences. And we are
33:49
Speaker 2: going to reward points... based off of that. I'll explain
33:53
Speaker 2: the rules more on the other side.
33:55
Speaker 1: But for right now, if you would like to play
33:57
Speaker 1: the first ever age game here on the show, we
34:00
Speaker 1: need a contestant on the line at 206-286-9595 to go
34:05
Speaker 1: against Chris and to go against Anders. I got the
34:08
Speaker 1: rules for you next. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.