Latest / The Richard Sherman Podcast / NFL Week 5: 49ers-Seahawks Preview, Herbert Debate, Harrison Jr. Trade Take, McBride-Ref Drama, Travis Hunter & Power Rankings
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Wait, wait, Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell. Marvin Harrison Jr. should be
- 0:03Speaker 1: traded to the Eagles. That's my hot take of the day.
- 0:06Speaker 1: I think the Eagles should trade for Marvin Harrison Jr.
- 0:10Speaker 1: Devontae Smith has a hamstring injury. They don't have a
- 0:12Speaker 1: ton of depth at the receiver position. Dontavian Wicks has
- 0:16Speaker 1: been a really good addition to this team, but I
- 0:19Speaker 1: think Marvin Harrison Jr. needs a new start. He needs
- 0:23Speaker 1: a fresh setting. He needs a new team, and I
- 0:26Speaker 1: think they should go out. That's the kind of the
- 0:28Speaker 1: move that Howie makes. And I think they should.
- 0:31Speaker 2: Richard, we saw a bit of a wild scene, something
- 0:34Speaker 2: we don't see a whole lot of. It's going viral
- 0:36Speaker 2: right now on X, Instagram, whatever social media site you
- 0:40Speaker 2: want to go on these days. And it's Trey McBride
- 0:42Speaker 2: in an exchange with an official and the official saying
- 0:46Speaker 2: F you to Trey McBride. I got to believe, you know,
- 0:51Speaker 2: as a player, you do not take to that very
- 0:54Speaker 2: kindly way.
- 0:55Speaker 3: How does this happen?
- 0:56Speaker 2: What are your thoughts about officials talking back to players
- 1:00Speaker 2: in this manner?
- 1:01Speaker 3: Well, it happens all the time.
- 1:03Speaker 1: Maybe this is one of the few times it gets
- 1:05Speaker 1: caught on camera and fans get an insight to how
- 1:09Speaker 1: the dynamic works sometimes. But these referees are human beings,
- 1:13Speaker 1: and they get overly emotional and get overly caught up too.
- 1:17Speaker 1: You saw it in the Minnesota Vikings game. One of
- 1:19Speaker 1: the defenders was kind of thrown into a referee. The
- 1:22Speaker 1: referee gets up, gets all in his face, starts pointing
- 1:24Speaker 1: and yelling at him. And these are highly charged games.
- 1:27Speaker 1: These are high adrenaline, you know, individuals playing in these
- 1:32Speaker 1: football games. And you got to try to keep your
- 1:34Speaker 1: cool as a player while these referees aren't always keeping
- 1:37Speaker 1: their cool. And they have a lot of power and
- 1:41Speaker 1: they have a lot of power on the outcome of
- 1:42Speaker 1: these games. So I'm sure the league will reprimand the
- 1:47Speaker 1: ref in some way, but it's just it's just a
- 1:51Speaker 1: a snapshot into the dynamics of a football game you
- 1:54Speaker 1: know you wonder how these guys do and you're like
- 1:56Speaker 1: oh man these guys are pretty calm and reserved and
- 1:59Speaker 1: they're not they're not always reserved and sometimes you get
- 2:02Speaker 1: into and you wonder why a player's gotten so frustrated
- 2:04Speaker 1: throughout the game and why he's going off and it's
- 2:05Speaker 1: because sometimes there's been numerous conversations with this ref and
- 2:09Speaker 1: there's a level of disrespect happening that you can't respond
- 2:12Speaker 1: to because you'll be penalized and and this is just
- 2:15Speaker 1: one of those examples where a player is getting cursed
- 2:17Speaker 1: out and you, what you, what you're going to do,
- 2:19Speaker 1: you know, you just got to turn around and walk
- 2:20Speaker 1: back and hope that something's done about it. And not
- 2:22Speaker 1: every time is it caught on camera like this.
- 2:25Speaker 2: Have you ever had exchanges with refs in your days?
- 2:28Speaker 2: What was the worst thing a refs ever said to you?
- 2:31Speaker 1: I've had many exchanges with refs and, and you know, it's,
- 2:35Speaker 1: it's just, it's charged in a moment. I can't remember
- 2:38Speaker 1: everything that said, or, you know, I'm not going to
- 2:40Speaker 1: try to try to relitigate things from the past, but Again,
- 2:43Speaker 1: it's charged up. They don't always agree with the things
- 2:46Speaker 1: you're doing. And sometimes the refs are offensive-centric usually. And
- 2:50Speaker 1: obviously in this clip, it's Trey McBride, a tight end,
- 2:54Speaker 1: who was frustrated. But a lot of times they're almost
- 2:56Speaker 1: frustrated with DBs to the point where they're like, hey,
- 2:59Speaker 1: get the F off of them. You know, stop doing this.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Like they're with the offense. And you're like, hey, I'm
- 3:05Speaker 1: playing in this game too. You're supposed to be an
- 3:07Speaker 1: objective party. And so you get kind of frustrated with that.
- 3:10Speaker 1: But you got to deal with it. That's part of
- 3:11Speaker 1: the game.
- 3:12Speaker 2: I want to get back to this Justin Herbert conversation, though,
- 3:15Speaker 2: because you brought up Jim Harbaugh. It dawned on me,
- 3:18Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh has been viewed as this QB whisperer ever
- 3:21Speaker 2: since the Colin Kaepernick days with the 49ers. And I
- 3:26Speaker 2: don't know how much of his credit is truly deserved.
- 3:29Speaker 2: I mean, Colin Kaepernick, obviously, out of Nevada, under Jim Harbaugh,
- 3:34Speaker 2: rose to stardom, great quarterback. But since then, I mean,
- 3:38Speaker 2: what are we talking about here, man?
- 3:40Speaker 3: Yeah, you go to U of M.
- 3:41Speaker 2: We saw what happened with J.J.
- 3:43Speaker 3: McCarthy.
- 3:43Speaker 2: Looks like a failed experiment in the NFL. Now we
- 3:46Speaker 2: go to the L.A.
- 3:47Speaker 3: Chargers.
- 3:48Speaker 2: And under Brandon Staley, I think it's fair to say
- 3:50Speaker 2: Justin Herbert looked like a star on the rise in
- 3:53Speaker 2: this league. Statistically, he was airing the ball over the field.
- 3:57Speaker 2: He elevated a lot of the receivers around him. But
- 4:01Speaker 2: for some Quinton Johnston drop big passes downfield, his stats
- 4:05Speaker 2: could have been a lot higher than what they are.
- 4:07Speaker 2: That being said, when you look at Jim Harbaugh and
- 4:09Speaker 2: his introduction into this team, Richard, I've seen nothing but regression.
- 4:14Speaker 2: I don't know if he's gun-shy or what, but when
- 4:17Speaker 2: you look at the tape from Justin Herbert from two
- 4:19Speaker 2: years ago versus last year and now this year, it's
- 4:22Speaker 2: almost like you see a different, more reluctant quarterback behind center.
- 4:27Speaker 2: And I wonder how much it has to do with
- 4:28Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh, the one that is pulling the strings behind
- 4:31Speaker 2: the scenes today. Richard, you played under Jim Harbaugh. What
- 4:34Speaker 2: are your thoughts here? Do you think it's a coaching
- 4:37Speaker 2: issue with Herbert?
- 4:38Speaker 1: It could be, but at the end of the day,
- 4:40Speaker 1: coaches coach, players play, and cheerleaders cheer. At the end
- 4:43Speaker 1: of the day, you're out on the field, you make
- 4:44Speaker 1: the decisions, you pull the trigger or don't pull the trigger,
- 4:47Speaker 1: you throw these passes, you make those decisions. And if
- 4:51Speaker 1: you're saying the plays aren't good enough, the tape will
- 4:54Speaker 1: say that. But If you're throwing into double and triple coverage,
- 4:59Speaker 1: if you're throwing the ball too low straight to linebackers,
- 5:01Speaker 1: it's hard to put that on the coaches. You throw
- 5:03Speaker 1: interception to Drake Thomas' first play of the game where
- 5:06Speaker 1: the receivers, it looks like six, seven yards behind the linebacker.
- 5:11Speaker 1: It's hard to defend that. It's hard to put that
- 5:12Speaker 1: on Jim Harbaugh. So I don't know how much of
- 5:15Speaker 1: it's on Jim Harbaugh. Obviously, there's been some regression, but
- 5:19Speaker 1: I don't know what else, what do you think is
- 5:21Speaker 1: the right decision in this situation, Mitchell? Do you fire
- 5:23Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel and say, oh man, it's
- 5:26Speaker 1: not Justin Herbert, fire them and bring somebody else in.
- 5:29Speaker 1: But then when it doesn't work again, when you keep
- 5:31Speaker 1: doing the same thing and you keep getting the same results,
- 5:35Speaker 1: when do you start to stop avoiding pointing the finger
- 5:39Speaker 1: somewhere and just say, hey, maybe he is great.
- 5:42Speaker 3: Maybe he is.
- 5:43Speaker 1: An incredible top five talent in the National Football League.
- 5:47Speaker 1: And maybe it cannot work out here. Maybe that's the
- 5:51Speaker 1: truth of the matter. Maybe it cannot work in L.A.
- 5:53Speaker 1: for some reason. And you need to build around somebody else.
- 5:57Speaker 1: You need to build the team a different way. Because
- 6:00Speaker 1: you have tried for seven years. And they are looking
- 6:03Speaker 1: 0-5 right in the face. What are you going to do?
- 6:07Speaker 1: What are you going to do? Your next game is
- 6:08Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos coming off a tough loss. Motivated team.
- 6:15Speaker 2: This season, they need a factory reset on it because
- 6:18Speaker 2: this could not be going any worse for the Chargers.
- 6:21Speaker 2: I mean, the Houston Texans and the LA Chargers, stories
- 6:24Speaker 2: of the NFL for the reason you don't want to
- 6:26Speaker 2: be in them, and that's just horrendous starts. These are
- 6:30Speaker 2: two teams that a lot of folks were picking as
- 6:32Speaker 2: dark horses to make the Super Bowl. So you look
- 6:35Speaker 2: at it in the AFC, and I just got to
- 6:38Speaker 2: believe Justin Herbert. If you opened him up on the
- 6:41Speaker 2: open market, I would venture to guess two-thirds of the
- 6:44Speaker 2: league would have their hand in the air. They want
- 6:46Speaker 2: him as their starting quarterback. I think it's a schematic
- 6:48Speaker 2: issue with them in L.A., and hopefully this plays out
- 6:53Speaker 2: because I think he's a tremendous talent. Richard, it is
- 6:57Speaker 2: the Sherman Bowl, and you are not allowed to pick
- 6:59Speaker 2: a 25-25 tie like you have in years past. It's
- 7:03Speaker 2: just not allowed, man. I'm setting the standard, setting the
- 7:06Speaker 2: tone right now. You must declare a winner before the
- 7:10Speaker 2: end of this podcast. Richard, two gladiators are about to
- 7:15Speaker 2: enter the Coliseum on Sunday. One shall come out victorious.
- 7:19Speaker 2: This is a colossal matchup in Seattle. Polymarket gives Seattle
- 7:24Speaker 2: the edge at 58% likelihood to win over the red-hot
- 7:28Speaker 2: San Francisco 49ers. What do you expect to see out
- 7:33Speaker 2: of this game when these teams enter Lumen Field on Sunday?
- 7:40Speaker 3: I expect it to be electric. It's going to be electric.
- 7:43Speaker 1: The Seattle Seahawks reigning, defending Super Bowl champions at home,
- 7:49Speaker 1: coming off a big win against the Chargers, and they
- 7:52Speaker 1: look good. Mitchell Sam Donald starting to find his rhythm.
- 7:55Speaker 1: He had an early interception, first play from scrimmage, threw
- 7:59Speaker 1: the ball to other team, shook that off. JSN, reigning
- 8:02Speaker 1: offensive player of the year, looks fantastic. They're finding ways
- 8:05Speaker 1: to get Rashid Shahid involved. That's been great. This offense
- 8:10Speaker 1: is starting to find themselves. This defense continues to create turnovers.
- 8:14Speaker 1: They got six interceptions on the season, got two more
- 8:17Speaker 1: from Justin Herbert the other day. Drake Thomas got one.
- 8:20Speaker 1: They're playing good football. The D-line is starting to generate
- 8:24Speaker 1: a little bit more pressure. They're figuring that part of
- 8:26Speaker 1: it out. Their sack rate is increasing. I think they're
- 8:30Speaker 1: seventh in the league at 8.15 right now. I love
- 8:37Speaker 1: to see how they're playing in the back end. They're
- 8:38Speaker 1: getting a little healthier. It was great to see Julian
- 8:40Speaker 1: Love back in the mix. You could see his impact immediately.
- 8:43Speaker 1: You could see it in the last play of the
- 8:45Speaker 1: game when Uchenna Nwosu gets the sack. Justin Herbert was
- 8:49Speaker 1: looking for that dig route backside. Julian Love was right there,
- 8:53Speaker 1: ready to poach it, made Herbert hold the ball for
- 8:55Speaker 1: an extra tick. Sack, forced fumble, game time. There were
- 8:58Speaker 1: so many plays, so many impact plays, whether you see
- 9:01Speaker 1: it on the tape or whether you see it on
- 9:02Speaker 1: the stat sheet from that guy that continue to show up.
- 9:05Speaker 1: Ernest Jones, Ernest Jones had an incredible impact in this game.
- 9:09Speaker 1: And Nick Eamon Worry. I mean, what a godsend. This
- 9:11Speaker 1: guy was making plays all over the field. They were
- 9:13Speaker 1: lining him up everywhere. One time I saw him in
- 9:16Speaker 1: a four-point stance at the end going against Joe Alt,
- 9:20Speaker 1: the former top 10 pick, and hit him with a
- 9:23Speaker 1: spin move.
- 9:24Speaker 3: Beat him.
- 9:25Speaker 1: Beat him for all intents and purposes. Beat him like
- 9:27Speaker 1: he's a pass rusher. You talk about a Swiss Army
- 9:29Speaker 1: knife of a player, a guy that literally can do
- 9:32Speaker 1: and play any position in this defense. You can put
- 9:34Speaker 1: him at the end. You can put him At D-tackle,
- 9:37Speaker 1: you can put him at middle linebacker. You can put
- 9:39Speaker 1: him at safety, corner, and he can pass, Mitchell, the
- 9:42Speaker 1: old booby mouth. This guy is just a great football player,
- 9:46Speaker 1: and that's why he's the guy that Mike McDonald said
- 9:49Speaker 1: was most important to this defense and makes such a
- 9:52Speaker 1: big difference because no matter where they put him, he's
- 9:55Speaker 1: going to make an impact. And he had a sack
- 9:57Speaker 1: in this game. They used him to cover backs, tight ends.
- 10:00Speaker 1: He's going to factor into this game, no question about it.
- 10:03Speaker 1: On the other side of the coin, the special teams
- 10:08Speaker 1: has been a little up and down. Rashichi, he hasn't
- 10:11Speaker 1: had the impact on the special teams that he had
- 10:13Speaker 1: last season. There were a number of big pump returns
- 10:16Speaker 1: and kick returns that he had that really turned the
- 10:18Speaker 1: tide in a couple games. He hasn't had the impact
- 10:21Speaker 1: on the offensive side either that we expected him to have. Yes,
- 10:24Speaker 1: they put him in the backfield. He found his way
- 10:26Speaker 1: to the end zone. That was an incredibly innovative way
- 10:29Speaker 1: to use him. But I'm still wondering why they aren't
- 10:33Speaker 1: able to use him in the passing game in the
- 10:36Speaker 1: way that we thought they would. There are clear and
- 10:39Speaker 1: easy ways to use a speedster like that.
- 10:42Speaker 3: He was getting used.
- 10:43Speaker 1: His usage rate in New Orleans was incredibly high. I mean,
- 10:46Speaker 1: he's a guy that can push the ball down the field,
- 10:48Speaker 1: that can stretch the field. that could take the top
- 10:50Speaker 1: off the defense and really open things up for Jackson
- 10:53Speaker 1: Smith and Jigba. And before the season started, that's the
- 10:55Speaker 1: way I thought they would use him. It hasn't come
- 10:58Speaker 1: to fruition yet, and some of that may have been
- 11:00Speaker 1: Sam Darnold getting hurt, Drew Locke coming in there, and
- 11:03Speaker 1: just a little bit of uncertainty at quarterback for a
- 11:06Speaker 1: quick second. But now Sam Darnold's back, and I'm still
- 11:08Speaker 1: not seeing it. Also, this Seahawks run defense, it hasn't
- 11:14Speaker 1: been terrible. It hasn't been terrible, but they gave up
- 11:16Speaker 1: 147 yards last week to the Chargers. And again, Mike
- 11:21Speaker 1: McDaniel and Kyle Shanahan have some similarities, especially in the
- 11:25Speaker 1: run game. Kyle is going to watch this tape and
- 11:27Speaker 1: see things that the San Francisco 49ers can do well
- 11:31Speaker 1: against this team if they can move them. Now, I
- 11:35Speaker 1: know the Seattle Seahawks fans are going to say, this
- 11:37Speaker 1: is going to be an easy game, Mitchell. It's going
- 11:39Speaker 1: to be an easy game. They beat them 41-6 in
- 11:42Speaker 1: a divisional. They beat them 13-3 last game of the season.
- 11:45Speaker 1: They lost to them first game of the season, 17-13,
- 11:47Speaker 1: but Over these three games, the San Francisco 49ers have averaged, what,
- 11:53Speaker 1: about eight and a half points? Eight and a half
- 11:55Speaker 1: points a game? That's terrible.
- 11:58Speaker 3: So if you're a Seahawks fan and you believe that, Mitchell,
- 12:01Speaker 3: do you think you're sitting pretty?
- 12:04Speaker 2: I wouldn't be sitting pretty. I got to believe, Richard,
- 12:06Speaker 2: that San Francisco, this is a new team compared to
- 12:09Speaker 2: last year. You know, they had deficiencies down the stretch
- 12:12Speaker 2: last season. They had injuries. This year, sure, they have injuries.
- 12:16Speaker 2: but they're finding a way to overcome them. I mean,
- 12:18Speaker 2: with the addition of Mike Evans, we've already talked about
- 12:20Speaker 2: him a number of times. George Kittle coming back and
- 12:23Speaker 2: defying the odds, tearing his Achilles and running almost 20
- 12:26Speaker 2: miles an hour last week. Listen, I'm a neutral party here.
- 12:31Speaker 2: I like the faithful. I like the 12s. I like
- 12:34Speaker 2: both of you guys. I'm a Detroit Lions fan. I
- 12:36Speaker 2: might be looking for a new fan base to be
- 12:38Speaker 2: a part of if my team keeps down this abysmal path.
- 12:42Speaker 2: But coming into this game as a neutral bystander, I
- 12:46Speaker 2: love what San Francisco is doing. Seattle, the last two weeks,
- 12:52Speaker 2: you guys got beat by the commanders, and sure, you
- 12:55Speaker 2: got out to an aggressive lead against the Chargers. Reality is,
- 12:58Speaker 2: the game finished a one-score game. My mojo, my momentum,
- 13:03Speaker 2: that meter, is tilted towards the San Francisco 49ers in
- 13:08Speaker 2: this game. Richard, who do you think has the advantage
- 13:13Speaker 2: entering Sunday?
- 13:15Speaker 1: Well, let me go back and continue what I was
- 13:19Speaker 1: getting at because I don't want to just give it
- 13:21Speaker 1: to them that easy. This is too big of a
- 13:23Speaker 1: game for me to just kind of breeze through it.
- 13:25Speaker 1: So I'm going to take my time. I'm going to
- 13:28Speaker 1: run through some stats for you. And I just like
- 13:30Speaker 1: to leave things objective. I don't want to leave it subjective.
- 13:33Speaker 1: It's not my opinion. These are things that both teams
- 13:35Speaker 1: have put on tape. Offensively, points per game, San Francisco
- 13:40Speaker 1: 49ers are– Let's make sure we're accurate because there are
- 13:49Speaker 1: things that are different. They're second at 30.5 points per game.
- 13:55Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks are 10th with 26.3 yards per game. Total yards,
- 14:01Speaker 1: San Francisco is seventh, Seattle's 13th. Yards per play, 6.8.
- 14:07Speaker 1: San Francisco is first, Seattle is eighth. So relatively close offensively.
- 14:12Speaker 1: And it sounds like, hey, both offenses can score points,
- 14:15Speaker 1: move the ball. But this is where the gap is.
- 14:20Speaker 1: And the things change. The Seattle Seahawks have had a
- 14:25Speaker 1: much tougher time finishing drives, finishing plays, converting third downs.
- 14:31Speaker 1: San Francisco 49ers are the best team in the National
- 14:34Speaker 1: Football League. Number one in conversion rate. They convert 57.5%.
- 14:39Speaker 1: percent of their third downs. You get them to third down,
- 14:43Speaker 1: they're likely converting. And that's because usually Kyle gets them
- 14:46Speaker 1: to manageable third downs because he's going to run the ball.
- 14:49Speaker 1: They're going to be efficient. Brock Purdy is going to
- 14:52Speaker 1: get the ball to the right person in these situations,
- 14:54Speaker 1: and they're going to push the ball down the field
- 14:55Speaker 1: when they need to. But on the flip side, the
- 14:58Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks are 31st in the league in conversion rate.
- 15:02Speaker 1: They only convert 31 percent of their third downs. That's
- 15:08Speaker 1: an issue. That's a canyon, Mitchell. That's a big disparity.
- 15:13Speaker 1: And I think that's going to have a huge impact
- 15:15Speaker 1: on this game. And then if you go deeper into this,
- 15:19Speaker 1: the red zone, San Francisco 49ers this season, four games in,
- 15:24Speaker 1: have converted 84% of their trips in the red zone.
- 15:28Speaker 1: That's number one in the league by far. On the
- 15:31Speaker 1: flip side, the Seattle Seahawks have converted 56.7. That's 17th
- 15:34Speaker 1: in the league. Again, you're talking about scoring points. You're
- 15:38Speaker 1: talking about finishing drives. You have to be able to
- 15:40Speaker 1: do this, especially in a game like this where the
- 15:43Speaker 1: teams are really evenly matched on a lot of fronts.
- 15:47Speaker 1: I think that obviously what happened last year matters. I mean,
- 15:52Speaker 1: just mentality-wise, mindset-wise, a lot of these guys are the same,
- 15:56Speaker 1: especially on the offensive and defensive lines. The defensive line
- 16:01Speaker 1: for the Seattle Seahawks manhandled this offensive line for the
- 16:04Speaker 1: San Francisco 49ers last year. But the cool thing about
- 16:08Speaker 1: human beings is they have pride. They have pride. You
- 16:11Speaker 1: see that. You feel that. You spend all offseason saying, hey,
- 16:14Speaker 1: I'm never going to let that happen again. These guys
- 16:16Speaker 1: didn't make it to the NFL. These guys haven't played
- 16:18Speaker 1: as well as they have all season long and given
- 16:21Speaker 1: up zero sacks. Their sack percentage is zero right now
- 16:24Speaker 1: for the San Francisco 49ers. Again, number one in the league.
- 16:26Speaker 1: They have not let Brock Purdy get sacked. And obviously
- 16:29Speaker 1: Brock Purdy's legs and his creativity and his elusiveness have
- 16:35Speaker 1: contributed to that as well. They have kept him safe,
- 16:41Speaker 1: and I think they are going to take pride in
- 16:43Speaker 1: running the football this game. That's the one weakness that
- 16:46Speaker 1: you could say. If you're a Seahawks fan, there has
- 16:51Speaker 1: been some leaky yardage on the ground. And if the
- 16:55Speaker 1: San Francisco 49ers can run the ball as well as
- 16:57Speaker 1: they have the last few games, and it's been better,
- 17:02Speaker 1: they're sixth in the league at 137 yards per game
- 17:04Speaker 1: on the ground. I think that's going to make the difference.
- 17:09Speaker 1: And then on the flip side, defensively, the Seattle Seahawks
- 17:14Speaker 1: have been really good. They're always good. They're fifth in
- 17:17Speaker 1: points allowed per game. They're first in yards allowed per game,
- 17:21Speaker 1: first in yards per play, first in net passing yards.
- 17:24Speaker 1: This Seattle Seahawks game is still very formidable through the air.
- 17:29Speaker 1: And they're a top 10 rush defense. They're top 11
- 17:31Speaker 1: rush defense. They're 11th in the league at 102 per game.
- 17:39Speaker 1: But there are ways you can get them. And if,
- 17:41Speaker 1: with Julian Love, they're a different secondary. And obviously Kyle
- 17:44Speaker 1: Shanahan knows this. He speaks about Julian Love in the
- 17:47Speaker 1: way that he should be revered. He's an all-pro caliber player,
- 17:51Speaker 1: and I think he finally gets his all-pro nod this year.
- 17:54Speaker 1: But can Brock Purdy finally figure this defense out? Can
- 17:59Speaker 1: he be efficient? Now, this matchup is a much different
- 18:02Speaker 1: matchup than it was last season. You've got to add
- 18:04Speaker 1: in Fred Warner. You've got to add in Dre Greenlaw
- 18:07Speaker 1: back into the equation. two monsters, two monsters, huge difference
- 18:11Speaker 1: makers in this game. You got to enter in a
- 18:14Speaker 1: healthy George Kittle, a healthier Trent Williams. Those guys are
- 18:20Speaker 1: going to make a difference. And if this offensive line,
- 18:22Speaker 1: they're playing like a better unit. They are playing their
- 18:25Speaker 1: best football. So you have to put that into the equation.
- 18:28Speaker 1: With all that said, I think the San Francisco 49ers
- 18:31Speaker 1: find a way to win this game. I think they
- 18:33Speaker 1: find a way to win this game. It's not going
- 18:34Speaker 1: to be a pretty win. It's not going to be
- 18:36Speaker 1: One where you're like, oh my God, we're going to
- 18:38Speaker 1: put this in the Louvre. But I think that Brock
- 18:42Speaker 1: Purdy and the level that he is playing right now,
- 18:44Speaker 1: I think he only has one turnover on the season
- 18:47Speaker 1: and he's amongst the league leaders in touchdown passes, is
- 18:51Speaker 1: going to be the difference. Not that Sam Darnold isn't
- 18:53Speaker 1: playing great football, but he's still kind of finding his
- 18:57Speaker 1: sea legs a little bit after the injury.
- 18:59Speaker 3: You know, he's missed a couple games. He's not four
- 19:00Speaker 3: games into the season.
- 19:01Speaker 1: He's only two games into the season or two in a,
- 19:05Speaker 1: or one and a half, whatever you want to call it,
- 19:06Speaker 1: because he played one series of the New England game,
- 19:10Speaker 1: or a couple plays of that series, and he came
- 19:13Speaker 1: back last week against the Commanders, and he played this game.
- 19:15Speaker 3: So two and some change games into this.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Season, so he's still, you know, finding his rhythm. I
- 19:21Speaker 1: think Brock Purdy is in rhythm. He's playing the best
- 19:23Speaker 1: football of his life. They got Mike Evans, who's obviously
- 19:26Speaker 1: banged up, but they got Deebo Samuel, another guy that
- 19:29Speaker 1: has factored into this series over the history of the game.
- 19:34Speaker 1: Last year, they didn't have these guys. Depot Samuel has
- 19:36Speaker 1: had a factor in these games. He's not getting 10,
- 19:39Speaker 1: 15 touches a game, but when he touches the football,
- 19:42Speaker 1: whether it's in the backfield, in the screen game, he's
- 19:44Speaker 1: making impact. Even on the hook and lateral that they
- 19:47Speaker 1: had the other day, he took it 80 yards for
- 19:49Speaker 1: a touchdown. broke a tackle on the way. He's going
- 19:52Speaker 1: to factor into this game. He has factored into this
- 19:54Speaker 1: rivalry over the last couple years. I think the San
- 19:57Speaker 1: Francisco 49ers win this game 24-21.
- 19:58Speaker 3: Holy cow.
- 20:06Speaker 2: We have breaking news on the Richard Sherman podcast. Richard
- 20:10Speaker 2: has picked the San Francisco 49ers to beat the Seattle Seahawks.
- 20:14Speaker 3: That's shocking.
- 20:15Speaker 2: The other shocking part of this, Richard, is in my
- 20:18Speaker 2: history of sitting down with you and being able to
- 20:20Speaker 2: be a part of this podcast with you, I cannot
- 20:23Speaker 2: remember a singular time that you picked against the Seattle Seahawks.
- 20:27Speaker 2: I'm not going to call you a homer. I'm just
- 20:29Speaker 2: going to call you a very smart man. You know, obviously,
- 20:33Speaker 2: I question you in a lot of those matchups, but
- 20:36Speaker 2: the Seattle Seahawks have been winning and winning a lot recently.
- 20:40Speaker 2: But you're projecting to get knocked off this weekend. I'm
- 20:43Speaker 2: going to join you. I like the San Francisco 49ers
- 20:45Speaker 2: in this one. I think they're the hotter team. I
- 20:48Speaker 2: think they got the old squad back together with Debo
- 20:51Speaker 2: and Kittle and obviously the introduction of Mike Evans. There's
- 20:56Speaker 2: been so many times throughout the last few years where
- 20:58Speaker 2: you wonder, you know, when is this window open? of
- 21:01Speaker 2: championship for the 49ers going to ultimately close. You know,
- 21:06Speaker 2: they had the Trey Lance experiment go bad. They've had
- 21:09Speaker 2: to spend a bulk load of money on guys that
- 21:11Speaker 2: were getting injured. And here they are, you know, arguably
- 21:15Speaker 2: the best team in the league. I mean, certainly they're
- 21:17Speaker 2: number one on my power ranks and yours now. It's
- 21:22Speaker 2: remarkable stuff. We'll see how they hold up in Seattle.
- 21:25Speaker 3: In mine now. Well, I I should have said mine now.
- 21:29Speaker 2: Richard, you've always been ahead of the curve with the 49ers,
- 21:32Speaker 2: just like you were last year with the Seahawks.
- 21:35Speaker 1: And the reason, Mitchell, if it wasn't for that Commanders
- 21:39Speaker 1: game where Marcus Mariota had his way with this defense,
- 21:43Speaker 1: there's no way I would pick the San Francisco 49ers
- 21:46Speaker 1: against this team. But as I've said all year with
- 21:50Speaker 1: my power rankings, for me to move the champs, Somebody
- 21:55Speaker 1: got to beat him. And I did not think the
- 21:56Speaker 1: Washington Commanders with a backup quarterback would beat him. But
- 21:59Speaker 1: it showed me some vulnerabilities in that game. And obviously,
- 22:03Speaker 1: they're going to do what they can to fix those things.
- 22:06Speaker 1: But if Marcus Mariota can do that with the receivers
- 22:10Speaker 1: that they had, Diggs and McLaurin, not saying that they're
- 22:15Speaker 1: not great receivers in their own respects, but I feel
- 22:18Speaker 1: like Kyle Shanahan can look at that game and say, hmm.
- 22:21Speaker 3: We have some of those plays. We have some of
- 22:22Speaker 3: those things in our arsenal. Can we do it?
- 22:25Speaker 1: Now, again, the Seattle Seahawks were without Julian Love in
- 22:27Speaker 1: that game.
- 22:28Speaker 3: Big deal.
- 22:29Speaker 1: Much bigger deal than people give credit. At the end
- 22:34Speaker 1: of the day, the game's played on the field. The
- 22:35Speaker 1: numbers are the numbers. Sometimes people just have your number. Now,
- 22:41Speaker 1: last year, that's what it seemed like. It seemed like
- 22:43Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks just had the San Francisco 49ers number.
- 22:46Speaker 1: The San Francisco 49ers couldn't get healthy. They got Worse
- 22:49Speaker 1: health-wise as the season progressed.
- 22:53Speaker 3: We're going to see.
- 22:56Speaker 1: I just use objective numbers to come to a fair conclusion.
- 22:59Speaker 1: That's what the numbers say, Mitchell. We'll see what the
- 23:01Speaker 1: football says.
- 23:03Speaker 2: You had to be objective in this analysis, my friend,
- 23:05Speaker 2: and I respect it.
- 23:07Speaker 1: I don't want to say I told you so about
- 23:08Speaker 1: Travis Hunter. I don't want to say they made a
- 23:11Speaker 1: big deal because I said he'd be one of the
- 23:13Speaker 1: best corners in the National Football League. And then I
- 23:17Speaker 1: said something else about him at receiver, you know, and
- 23:19Speaker 1: they were like, oh, my God, they put it on shirts, Mitchell.
- 23:22Speaker 1: They said, oh, my God, he's so offensive. What was it?
- 23:27Speaker 3: Bland. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, wait, what?
- 23:32Speaker 1: Like, bland? Like, that's what, the round? But I said
- 23:37Speaker 1: he would blend. I said he would blend in. He
- 23:39Speaker 1: would just be another guy. He would not stand out
- 23:42Speaker 1: in the way that he would stand out at corner.
- 23:44Speaker 1: And guess what, people?
- 23:45Speaker 3: Ball knower. I know the game. I know players. Right now,
- 23:50Speaker 3: on his.
- 23:50Speaker 1: Team, he'd be the fourth, fifth receiver because they have
- 23:55Speaker 1: guys that play receiver, that have only come into the
- 23:57Speaker 1: National Football League to play receiver, who have done nothing
- 24:01Speaker 1: else during their time, but be professionals at playing wide receiver.
- 24:06Speaker 1: And Jacoby Meyer, Brian Thomas, Parker Washington. They're the guys.
- 24:13Speaker 1: They're the guys on this team. And that's why they're
- 24:15Speaker 1: not wasting time putting him on offense, trying to get
- 24:17Speaker 1: him throws. Because when you're creating an offense, when you're
- 24:21Speaker 1: trying to create a plan going into the season, you
- 24:23Speaker 1: can't be sitting there like, hey, how do we get
- 24:26Speaker 1: this guy the ball if our number one, number two
- 24:28Speaker 1: guys are these guys? And then Brenton Strange, your tight end,
- 24:32Speaker 1: is a guy that needs to factor into there. And
- 24:35Speaker 1: then you got Tootin in the run game, in the
- 24:37Speaker 1: screen game. like it's hard to create a plan for
- 24:40Speaker 1: a guy like that, but you know what you can do?
- 24:42Speaker 3: You can let him play defense and.
- 24:43Speaker 1: Really as a rookie, as a, as a young guy,
- 24:45Speaker 1: as a second year player, start to get his legs
- 24:47Speaker 1: under him, let him stay out there, let him continue
- 24:49Speaker 1: to get in the rhythm. And if you need him
- 24:51Speaker 1: on offense for a play or two, you want to
- 24:52Speaker 1: get him a screen, you want to throw a go
- 24:54Speaker 1: route to him, throw a post.
- 24:55Speaker 3: And see what happens. Sure.
- 24:57Speaker 1: Put him over there, but don't waste it. Don't waste you.
- 25:02Speaker 1: Defense isn't played that way. There are very, few rotational
- 25:05Speaker 1: corners in the National Football League because that's too hard
- 25:07Speaker 1: of a position to say, hey, oh, this is a
- 25:10Speaker 1: big drive in the game. Get in there and guard
- 25:11Speaker 1: their best receiver, even though you haven't played corner all day.
- 25:14Speaker 1: That's not how this works. So it's great to see
- 25:16Speaker 1: them finally playing to Travis Hunter's strengths. And he looks great.
- 25:21Speaker 1: He looks like the all-pro caliber player that we all
- 25:25Speaker 1: knew he could be coming out of Colorado. He's an
- 25:27Speaker 1: incredible athlete with great ball skills, great IQ, great instincts.
- 25:33Speaker 1: Everything you need to be a great quarterback. And I
- 25:35Speaker 1: saw him be physical. There were a few plays in there, Mitchell,
- 25:37Speaker 1: where he put his shoulder into God. They called a hitch,
- 25:40Speaker 1: and he said, shoulder into him. Guy's on the ground.
- 25:44Speaker 1: Travis Hunter, physicality, tackling well. And he had an interception
- 25:48Speaker 1: in the game where they threw the pass up. I
- 25:49Speaker 1: think he was guarding Jamar Chase before Jamar Chase went
- 25:51Speaker 1: out with a concussion. The play ends up getting called
- 25:55Speaker 1: back for a rough in the passer. But great pick,
- 25:58Speaker 1: great return. Just looks the part.
- 26:00Speaker 3: Smooth. Smooth.
- 26:01Speaker 1: As anybody you've seen, smooth as glass, as Tony Gonzalez
- 26:04Speaker 1: would say. And I hope that they continue to let
- 26:07Speaker 1: him thrive on the defensive side of the football because
- 26:10Speaker 1: that's where he should be. He's born and bred to
- 26:14Speaker 1: do it. And sure, he can make plays offensively. He's
- 26:18Speaker 1: great with the football in his hands. Get the football
- 26:20Speaker 1: in his hands and let him make some plays, but
- 26:21Speaker 1: that's not where he's going to butter his bread. And
- 26:26Speaker 1: if they continue to just let him play defense and
- 26:28Speaker 1: let him develop, I think it's going to be the
- 26:30Speaker 1: best decision they could have made. And I think he'll
- 26:32Speaker 1: live up to the number two pick that they used
- 26:34Speaker 1: on him. They traded up for the number two pick
- 26:36Speaker 1: for a reason. I think he's that good of a
- 26:38Speaker 1: corner that it still will make sense. On the other side, Philadelphia.
- 26:43Speaker 2: And before we wrap, Richard, we got to talk about
- 26:45Speaker 2: our power ranks here. And I'll let you take a
- 26:48Speaker 2: moment to formulate your opinion. And I'll start with mine.
- 26:52Speaker 2: I got the San Francisco 49ers. Call it a hot take.
- 26:55Speaker 2: It's really not one. But they're number one in my
- 26:57Speaker 2: power ranks. And you've been on this team all season long,
- 27:00Speaker 2: and I finally.
- 27:01Speaker 3: Agree with you.
- 27:02Speaker 2: They've proven it. They're number one. Number two, the Kansas
- 27:05Speaker 2: City Chiefs, led by Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State. Go green,
- 27:10Speaker 2: go white. I love to see what he's doing with
- 27:12Speaker 2: the Chiefs. You have not seen this level of production
- 27:15Speaker 2: behind Patrick Mahomes. It unlocks a whole new layer for
- 27:18Speaker 2: this offense. I like the Chiefs for now and in
- 27:21Speaker 2: the future. They're on bye this week, so we're not
- 27:23Speaker 2: going to get to see them. But so impressed with
- 27:25Speaker 2: what Kenneth Walker brings to the table. And they might
- 27:28Speaker 2: be in on the Tyreek Hill sweepstakes. We shall see.
- 27:32Speaker 2: At number three, and this is a little reluctant for me,
- 27:36Speaker 2: but I'm going to give it to them. The Seattle Seahawks.
- 27:39Speaker 2: I like this team a lot. I'm going to look
- 27:42Speaker 2: at this weekend as a true measuring stick game for them.
- 27:45Speaker 2: How do they respond against division foes, San Francisco 49ers?
- 27:50Speaker 2: Lock me in with the Seattle Seahawks at three. That
- 27:52Speaker 2: being said, if they lose this week, Richard, they're out
- 27:55Speaker 2: of my power ranks and they might not be in
- 27:57Speaker 2: it for a little bit with two losses. At number four,
- 28:01Speaker 2: the Chicago Bears. As much as it pains me to
- 28:03Speaker 2: say it, what I've seen on tape from this team,
- 28:06Speaker 2: led by Ben Johnson, they are a force offensively. And
- 28:10Speaker 2: if they could just maintain teams defensively, this team... I
- 28:13Speaker 2: think is going to win the North, and that really,
- 28:15Speaker 2: really pains me. But I love what I see in
- 28:17Speaker 2: Chicago right now. I think that fan base should be
- 28:19Speaker 2: super excited. And then finally, making their debut in my
- 28:23Speaker 2: power ranks, the Jacksonville Jaguars. They go on the road
- 28:27Speaker 2: in Cincinnati and knock off Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.
- 28:31Speaker 2: I just love what I see from this team. They've
- 28:33Speaker 2: got enough spark plugs offensively. I love their wide receiving core,
- 28:37Speaker 2: but it's their defense. It's their defense that is the
- 28:39Speaker 2: difference makers for this team right now. Give me the
- 28:42Speaker 2: Jacksonville Jaguars at number five, Richard, what did I get wrong?
- 28:47Speaker 1: Well, Mitchell, you finally got number one, right? I was
- 28:50Speaker 1: waiting for you to get on the train and now
- 28:51Speaker 1: you're finally on board. The San Francisco 49ers are playing
- 28:54Speaker 1: the best football in the national football league right now.
- 28:56Speaker 1: And despite all the injuries at wide receiver, despite the
- 28:59Speaker 1: injury to one of their best defensive players, Nicholas John Bolsa,
- 29:02Speaker 1: they continue to play well on both sides of the ball.
- 29:04Speaker 1: Well coach executing well, and just about every phase of
- 29:07Speaker 1: the game. Uh, number two, we're going to go with
- 29:10Speaker 1: Kansas city chiefs. Um, They got a bye week, so
- 29:12Speaker 1: they're not going to move out of that spot this week.
- 29:14Speaker 1: It was the Buffalo Bills, but that loss to the
- 29:16Speaker 1: New England Patriots just put a bad taste in my mouth.
- 29:19Speaker 3: That defense continues to let me down, and it's.
- 29:22Speaker 1: Letting them down. And I don't really know how you
- 29:26Speaker 1: get that fixed. So number three, I'm going to go
- 29:29Speaker 1: with the Seattle Seahawks. I agree with you there. I'm
- 29:31Speaker 1: not just going to knock the Seahawks out of the
- 29:36Speaker 1: running because of a loss to the Commanders even. though
- 29:40Speaker 1: that loss to the Commanders, again, just bad taste in
- 29:43Speaker 1: my mouth. But still, one of the best teams in
- 29:45Speaker 1: the National Football League, one of the most complete teams
- 29:48Speaker 1: in the National Football League on both sides.
- 29:50Speaker 3: Of the football.
- 29:51Speaker 1: Number four, I'm going to give them a little more
- 29:53Speaker 1: credit than you gave them, the Jacksonville Jaguars. They're playing
- 29:56Speaker 1: good football in Duval. Again, one of the best receiving
- 29:59Speaker 1: cores in the National Football League. Parker Washington, Jacoby Meyer,
- 30:03Speaker 1: Brian Thomas Jr. They're getting everybody involved. Then that defense.
- 30:07Speaker 1: If they can continue to make plays, put pressure on
- 30:09Speaker 1: a quarterback. Our guy, friend of the program, Eric Armstead,
- 30:12Speaker 1: got him one other day. Anytime you see the belly rub, Mitchell,
- 30:15Speaker 1: he's having a good time. And then in their secondary,
- 30:18Speaker 1: finally playing Travis Hunter and allowing him to do what
- 30:22Speaker 1: he did. Jordan Lewis got an interception last week. They're
- 30:26Speaker 1: an opportunistic defense. The middle linebacker, Alua, continues to make
- 30:33Speaker 1: big plays, continues to make a case to be a
- 30:36Speaker 1: Pro Bowler this season. And number five, it got to
- 30:38Speaker 1: go with the Bears. I got to go with the Bears.
- 30:41Speaker 1: The Bears playing great defense despite the injuries at quarterback.
- 30:47Speaker 1: I love the Case Keenum. I thought they would play
- 30:49Speaker 1: him again. I thought it was a really cool deal
- 30:52Speaker 1: that Ben Johnson put him out there for the first
- 30:53Speaker 1: play just to kind of make a point. Tyson Bajent
- 30:56Speaker 1: is going to have to play better football to beat
- 30:58Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers. It's going to be a tough
- 31:00Speaker 1: divisional game, but I think they pulled that one out.
- 31:02Speaker 1: I feel really good about this top five. There are
- 31:04Speaker 1: a couple of teams that are right there on the edge.
- 31:06Speaker 3: I know the Minnesota Vikings fans are like, we're 4-0.
- 31:09Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're a 4-0 that's a really flimsy 4-0.
- 31:13Speaker 1: And until I see you beat a team that we
- 31:16Speaker 1: have a ton of respect for, it's going to be tough.
- 31:18Speaker 1: And I know you can only play the schedule that
- 31:20Speaker 1: you play, but we've made that mistake before, putting teams
- 31:23Speaker 1: in there with flimsy schedules, Mitchell. If you're still there
- 31:26Speaker 1: in a few weeks, we will put you in. If
- 31:30Speaker 1: you win this one, I'll put you in. How about that?
- 31:34Speaker 2: But you're talking flimsy schedules. They're going on the road
- 31:36Speaker 2: against the Saints, man. I don't know if you can
- 31:41Speaker 2: necessarily hang your hat on that. Speaking of hats, how
- 31:44Speaker 2: about this hat, Richard? I'm debuting the new Richard Sherman
- 31:47Speaker 2: podcast hat here. I'm twinning it up with my guy
- 31:50Speaker 2: Richard over here. Another main guy, another main team that's
- 31:53Speaker 2: not in the top five of either of our teams
- 31:56Speaker 2: is the Buffalo Bills. And I know you briefly touched
- 31:58Speaker 2: on them, but what they showed the last two weeks,
- 32:02Speaker 2: five turnovers against the Chargers and then ultimately losing against
- 32:05Speaker 2: the Pats, that was enough for me to knock them out.
- 32:09Speaker 2: They got a little bit to prove to get back in. Richard,
- 32:12Speaker 2: this concludes our preview of week five. You know, we're
- 32:15Speaker 2: about quarter way through the season right now. It is
- 32:17Speaker 2: always a pleasure sitting down with you every week. I
- 32:20Speaker 2: will let you sign us off, my friend.
- 32:23Speaker 1: As always, we appreciate you guys joining us. You could
- 32:25Speaker 1: be anywhere in the world, but you're here with us,
- 32:27Speaker 1: and we greatly appreciate it. Please hit that like and
- 32:30Speaker 1: sub button. Continue to support us. We continue to try
- 32:33Speaker 1: to bring you the best content we have, the best,
- 32:36Speaker 1: most objective. Try not to yell too much. Try not
- 32:38Speaker 1: to get too crazy. But we love football, and we
- 32:41Speaker 1: love you guys. So thank you so much. We will
- 32:43Speaker 1: see you next time.