49ers vs Rams, DEEP DIVE Preview

49ers vs Rams, DEEP DIVE Preview

So, we’ve almost made it to October. That’s right. This is going to be our last show of the month. Four games down. In the past, we’d be able to say a quarter of the way through the NFL regular season. Now, it’s just shy of 25% since they added that 17th game. But, I thought we’d finish it up with a storyline behind this 49ers Rams game that isn’t really being talked about enough. And it’s funny because the 49ers might be starting their backup quarterback and M. Jones might even be likely at this point. We’ll see. There’s a lot up in the air for a Thursday game. But you know how everybody was talking about M. Jones and comparing him to Jimmy Garopolo, especially around the 2021 draft. Guess who the backup for Matthew Stafford in LA is? It’s none other than Jimmy Garopolo. This is the thumbnail that Mike made. Very good thumbnail, Mike. Thank you. These are the two best quarterback rooms in the NFL, and they’re going to be squaring off or the teams are going to be squaring off on Thursday. Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garopppolo, the former 49er down in LA. Brock Perie, the successor to Jimmy Garopppolo in San Francisco. And M. Jones, who wears the number 10 that Jimmy wore with the 49ers. A lot of people thought that he’d be the successor to Jimmy, the people who thought the 49ers would would draft Mack. But it’s really remarkable to me that both of these teams have stocked up their quarterback position in such a robust way and and it’s already paid off big time for the 49ers. And given the fact that Matthew Stafford has had back issues, it might pay off big time for the Rams as well. Uh, I’m curious to hear what people think is the better quarterback room, Los Angeles or San Francisco, because I think that could be up to a really spirited debate. I I will say as we look at at QBR right here, let’s get this up on the screen for everybody. I have to find the the window that contains the graphics that pop up on this screen, but QBR is here. It is almost have it. Give me a second. This gives you the the rankings that include adjustments for drops. And as you can see, the 49ers have Brock Perie in a very good spot. And if I extend this to move a little bit lower, we could slide it down. Look who’s number 14. M. Jones. The 49ers have two quarterbacks in the top half of the league when it comes to QBR. Brock Pie’s number six. Six for Pertie. Down at number 14 for M. Jones, which is really good. Matthew Stafford is at number eight in terms of QBR so far. When we get a more full set of numbers tomorrow when it comes to EPA per play, uh, adjusted EPA per play, which factors in drops and stuff that’s outside of a quarterback’s control. I’m predicting that Brock Pury will still be in the top five. He was number two entering this past week where the 49ers lost to Jacksonville, but they had six drops. And if Max starts against a defense that he thinks is the best in the NFL and the Rams, we’ll see if he can stay in the top half. It’s going to be tough because the 49ers are going to be missing a lot of players. But just the fact that through a month, two starts each for each of the two 49ers QBs. The fact that the 49ers have two quarterbacks in the top 16 gives them fairly legitimate claim to the top QB room in the league. Now, the Rams have Stafford. He’s obviously very accomplished in his own right. And Jimmy Garopppolo is an accomplished quarterback. He hasn’t had a chance to play yet this season. So, I mean, it comes down to the Perie Stafford debate and then the the M. Jones Jimmy Garopppolo debate. Who’s the the better QB, too? and they both are working with excellent play callers in Kyle Shanahan and Shawn McVey. But I just think that’s an interesting twist here. There was a time about a month ago where we thought that the Rams might be playing Jimmy Garopppolo against the 49ers because Matthew Stafford couldn’t get out to practice during training camp with the back issue that just kept on stretching out and stretching out. But he finally got it right. Got on out there. Matthew has played well as you saw. Number eight QBR so far this year. still delivering his vintage signature no look passes and uh he’s advancing in age. I think everybody gets that as he climbs into his upper 30s, but Matthew Stafford is still as dangerous as ever. I will say though, as far as predictions for this game go, a you know, I’ll warn you, you could watch my prediction show tomorrow morning. I’m going to have that uploaded tomorrow. I’m going to warn you, this is going to be tough for for the 49ers. But I also do think that, you know, regardless of how tough it’s going to be, Matthew Stafford has traditionally put some balls in harm’s way for the 49ers. He traditionally has put some passes out there that can be intercepted. The question is, will the 49ers intercept them or not? I mean, you had the 2023 week 2 game at Sofi Stadium where where you saw Diam Lenor seal it with an interception. You could go all the way back to the NFC Championship game in 2021. Or let’s even let’s go before that. Let’s go 2021, week 10, Levi Stadium, the Jimmy Ward, Taleno Fonga. One of the years was Jimmy, one of the years was Tallenoa. 21 or 22. I think 21 was Tolenoa and 22 was Jimmy. Unless it was the other way around. Was Jimmy gone by 2022? It might have. Yeah, Jimmy was It was Jimmy in 21 and Tolanoa in 2022. That’s right. because Talanoa didn’t come aboard as a starter until 2022. So Ward picked six in 21 off Matthew Stafford. Talenoa picked six in 2022. Ambry Thomas interception of Matthew Stafford to seal the 49ers playoff bid in week 18 of 2021. And then I mean this is going to be a more painful memory, but NFC Championship game 2021 season, Jakquaski Tart had what was one of the easier interception attempts that you’ll ever see, but he dropped it and might have cost the 49ers uh trip to the Super Bowl in 2021. My my point is that I’m just giving you examples of when Matthew Stafford has served up interception opportunities to the 49ers and it’s usually come down to whether or not the 49ers have caught them or dropped them. They caught them in the Ambry Thomas game. They they caught one in the uh Monday Night Football game that that that saw Jimmy Ward take back the pick six. 2022 pick six for Tano Hufanga. They won that game after catching the interception. 2023 Dome Lenor sealed it with a pick of his own when it was 2720 at Sofi. 2023 Stafford didn’t play in the season finale. Playoff seedings were already locked up that year. 2024 I don’t think that the 49ers intercepted Matthew Stafford in the game that they lost at at Sofi. And then at Levi Stadium last year, the 49ers had every opportunity to intercept Matthew Stafford over the first half. He threw like three to them and they didn’t grab it. So the 49ers don’t have an interception since November of last year. Isaac Yadam against Gino Smith and the Seahawks. And I know they had a couple near picks and one nullified against Jacksonville last week. If they they stand a chance to win this game, they’re going to have to catch what Stafford throws them in. Stafford takes risks. Stafford forces some footballs. You got to make him pay for it if and when he does that in this football game, period. That I think that’s the 49ers one realistic chance to to even this out a little bit because they will be at a talent deficiency in this game. Now, as far as the 49ers, we’re not sure if it’s going to be Brock or M. Jones. Mack today, he said that he thought that the Rams have the best defense in all of football. And I have the rankings for the defenses. Might as well pop this out. The EPA and DVOA rankings right now for the best defenses in the NFL are not uniform. Toward the end of the season, once we get a much larger sample size, then I think that you’ll begin to see a little bit more uniformity between those rankings. For now though, I’ve got it here and I’ll get it up on the screen. Mack today, his quote was that he thinks that after watching the tape of the Rams that he that he thinks this is the the best defense in in all of football, number one, he said if you go by DVOA, which is defense adjusted value over average, which factors in strength of schedule, Seattle’s the number one defense, 49ers went in there, beat them week one. Cleveland with Miles Garrett and company’s number two. Jacksonville 49ers just played them. And you know, people are talking about how scary Jacksonville’s defense is, but the 49ers had nearly 400 yards and probably would have had 30 or more points had they just dropped a couple fewer passes in in that game. But Jacksonville can turn the ball over, that’s for sure. That’s why they score so high. Atlanta much improved. They’re coming to Levi Stadium after this 49ers road trip. and Detroit, the the Lions also much improved. Aiden Hutchinson is back for the Lions by expected points added. Minnesota at the top, that’s the Brian Flores defense. Jacksonville number two. So Jacksonville is the team that shows up on both of these lists. So, you know, there there’s something legit about what the Jags are doing, but there’s also something legit about the fact that the 49ers were basically able to move the ball at will against Jacksonville. They just weren’t able to to hold it at will. Harbaugh’s Chargers, the Denver Broncos, the 49ers saw them in in the preseason training camp actually uh with the joint practices and the Rams number five by EPA. One thing to remember because we talk about the 49ers invoking the Rams model in in building a football team. I think they took a little bit from Buffalo as well, some of these teams who have been good at retooling. But the Rams model was built on heavy heavy drafting uh of the defensive line and they saw veterans retire like Aaron Donald. They jettisoned other veterans like Leonard Floyd. They brought in a lot of firstear players. They had 20 plus rookies uh the other year on this football team and it was a just a completely overwhelmed roster when it came to to the youth and they were the number 29 defense over the first three months of the season in 2024 and over the final two months including the playoffs last year the Rams were the number five defense in the NFL. So they blossomed in real time and now M. Jones today he said he thinks that just the style of play, how hard they play and obviously how how sound they play with with the really good line with Jared Verse, Braden Fisk, Byron Young is a is a really good edge rusher. They’ve added Puna Ford into the mix. They could really he’s been excellent big defensive tackle they can rotate through. The Rams have the fifth ranked defense by EPA. So this is going to be a big challenge because these guys can play both sides of the ball. Now, special teams has cost the Rams the block field goal against Philadelphia, but they were still in position to win that game. That’s why they’re 3-1 like the 49ers right now. But, uh, they’re much healthier. The Rams are the healthiest team in the NFL while the 49ers are the most injured team in the NFL right now. It’s literally one against 32 in that regard. And they’re going to have their starting quarterback. We can talk all we want about how fascinating the the the quarterback rooms of these two teams are. I think they’re the best in the league, but but the Rams will have their starter for sure and the 49ers, it’s it’s really iffy there between M. Jones and Jimmy Garopolo. I do think on the quarterback front, you need to you absolutely need to. The Bengals are learning that the hard way right now. I mean, Jake Browning is not it. I I think that’s that’s obvious. Joe Burrow is hurt again. He’s going to be out what, three months, I think was the estimated timeline with the much more severe turf toe injury required surgery. And the Bengals just completely fell apart on Monday night. The 49ers won games against the Saints, which I I realize is not the biggest feather in anybody’s cap, but they also beat the division rival Cardinals the next week with not only a backup quarterback, but but also several other reserves, which just goes to show you the value of having a competent number two QB who’s able to actually even elevate the play of the the guys around him. So, uh, these long NFL seasons, you know, last year, Matthew Matthew Stafford is is tough and he’s held up fairly well through these seasons, but he’s getting older and older. He’s about my age. I’m 37. And the likelihood of him getting through an entire season without missing any time gets lower and lower the older that he gets. So that they have Jimmy Garopppolo as his backup and and the 49ers have a situation where they realize that 95% of NFL QB1s don’t make it through the whole season, don’t start every single game. They realize they needed a better backup than Brandon Allen or Josh Dobs and and San Francisco went with uh M. Jones who who I think has very clearly given them that elevation of play at the QB2 position. And and we’ll see how it all plays out. Wouldn’t it be something though if Jimmy Garopppolo came into a game against the the 49ers? I think that uh that would that might break 49ers Twitter. That might break the the internet in these situations. I’m going to answer your questions about this 49ers Rams matchup right now. I’m sure you have a lot of good ones. This is our end of the month celebration. I mean, let me just look at my calendar right now to help me relive September. Sep the first day of this month was Labor Day. I was back in New York City on Labor Day. We did a video from the first day of this month. Saw Jawan Jennings return to practice for the 49ers. And I was at Finerities in New York. I’ll be back at Finerities in New York in a month when the 49ers play the New York Giants. So, it’s amazing that was already a month ago. But Joan Jennings returned to practice on September 1st. That was one of our biggest videos of of the year so far was the Jennings return to practice. And uh some people incorrectly reported that he had folded in negotiations. He didn’t. He got a sweetened deal. A few days later it was finalized and it was announced. 3 million added in incentives for Jawan Jennings. But the the month got off to an auspicious start for the 49ers because they got that contractual situation worked out. That’s all while I was at at Finerities over in New York. Then the 49ers uh had their first week of practice and on the 6th I judged the San Francisco Fire Department chili cookoff. That was cool. The Christian McCaffrey injury drama happened that week. A lot of people got that wrong, right? They thought Christian was was somehow seriously hurt. We if you watched here, you knew that he wasn’t. And and he ended up playing and playing really well in Seattle. and the 49ers won a game in Seattle that that looks more and more impressive by the week. Seattle is now ranked number one in the whole league as a team in DVOA. And the 49ers went in there without George KD for most of the game. They were they’re with him for the first touchdown, but but then he hurt his hamstring against Seattle. But there obviously without Brandon Iayuk, without Malik Mustafa, Christian McAffrey was in, Brock Perie suffered the the toe injury in the second quarter of that game. So the the team that so far through through the first month has ranked as the best in football by Aaron Chhatz’s DVOA. They’ve had great defense, really good special teams. Offense has picked it up for Seattle as well. The 49ers were able to beat short-handed on the road. That was I mean it that is going to continue to age really well. They will not see the Seahawks for another three months. They they won’t see the Seahawks until the very end of the season, week 18. But the fact they were able to get that that win 1713 over Darnold, Mike McDonald, all those guys with the Jake Tanes touchdown was uh truly truly impressive special for the 49ers to open things up. Then they went to New Orleans in in week two and and the Saints aren’t nearly as good as the Seahawks. But because Pertie was hurt, the 49ers had to start a backup in in M. Jones. Trent Williams was banged up after the knee bruise against Seattle. They they squeaked through in New Orleans. It was a it was a tough trip for the 49ers, but they prevailed to 2 and 0. That was on September 14th. It was still hot back in New Orleans for that game. And then they went back home and they had the game against the Arizona Cardinals. My Nashville airport experience was in between those two games where the airport had like the apocalyptic traffic. Do you remember that video? I mean, there’s been so much that’s happened over the course of this month. It’s crazy. The the Saints game the 49ers were in firm control of throughout essentially the the whole game. I think they actually led wire to wire. The Cardinals game in week three was not that. I mean, week three in against Arizona, 49ers wearing those all whites at home, Kyler Murray was running around a little bit. M. Jones back at the quarterback position for San Francisco. Perie wasn’t back yet for the 49ers. The the win probability for the 49ers plummeted there toward the end of that game. And somehow someway they were able to pull things out. M. Jones led them on that drive. We saw the big Ricky Pierce saw helmet catch for the 49ers the drive before that. So, I mean, some real struggles for San Francisco near the goal line. Christian McCaffrey just got leveled. Man, that was M. Wilson got him. You guys remember that? Right on fourth down after uh stuff got a little hairy getting out of the huddle for San Francisco. But, but Mack figured it out after he threw the interception when he was uh locking in on Ricky Pieraw a little too much. He he spread the football beautifully. Dramatic game-winning drive. Eddie Diero, you know, on September 1st, at the start of this month, the 49ers still had Jake Moody. To end the month, Eddie Pierro is their kicker. I showed Eddie the all-time field goal percentage leaderboard in the locker room today because he wants me to keep him updated on that. And he’s at number three. He’s behind only Justin Tucker and Cameron Dicker of the Chargers. Dicker’s way way ahead of everybody. He just hit the 100 kick minimum. But Justin Tucker is at like 89.1% at 80. Eddie Pinero is like at 88.7%. I told Eddie, you know, I haven’t done the math yet, but but a few more games of made kicks. If he doesn’t miss one, he’s going to pass Justin Tucker for number two all time, which I think would definitely warrant uh warrant the story there. So Eddie kicking confidently for the 49ers and and he won that game for San Francisco against Arizona. You look back at those two wins in this month of September, Seattle and the Cardinals, those two division wins, absolutely massive. You can make an argument that the 49ers stole those two games and it’s a good thing they did because what happened to close the month against Jacksonville and also what happened against Arizona with Nick Bosa tearing his ACL but what happened to close the month against Jacksonville, Brock Pury leaving with the toe soreness, you know, just more injuries, Ricky Pierce all hurt after the game against the Jaguars. When you spin it forward to to the next two games at the Rams and then the Buccaneers, the 49ers may be underdogs in both of those games. So, the fact that they were able to find ways to win against a lot of odds against Seattle and then against Arizona put themselves at three and 0, even though they blew the game against Jacksonville, it’s a game they probably based on the statistics should have won. um that they’re still on the right side of uh the game, not sign stealing, the game stealing equation, right? You got two in your column for Seattle and Arizona and then yeah, you blew the one against Jacksonville, but that you’re still two and one there and then the one against New Orleans was was an obvious win for the 49ers. So, they’re three and one. They can absorb three and two. They can absorb three and three. The key is they need to start getting guys back. If they can steal one of the next two, and I think it’s probably going to be easier to steal Tampa Bay than it is going to be the Rams, but you never know. But if they can steal one of the next two, the 49ers will be 4 and2 entering the Falcons Sunday night football game back at Levi Stadium. And that wouldn’t be a bad position for the 49ers to be in. So all things considered, September was a good month for the 49ers. You open it up three and one in the marathon that is an NFL season. They they did lose a a key Warrior for for the whole run and Nick Bosa. Robert Solah’s defense wasn’t good in the first half, that’s for sure, against Jacksonville without Bosa, but they were good down the stretch against Arizona and then good down the stretch against Jacksonville. And that’s a reputation you want to develop if you can be a good defense over the second half of games. uh that that if that becomes part of the 49ers identity, if adjustments and successful execution of those adjustments become part of their DNA this season, because right now the cement is still drying, right? We’re still trying to figure out who all these teams are. Probably through October the cement still going to be drying. By November, it’s usually firmed up, but it but if the 49ers uh have that reputation of strong finishers on the defensive side of the ball, which which they showed with Bosa in week one and then Bryce Huff in in week two, right? Um then then they’re going to be fine. I think that that the their offense is going to get healthy enough to be able to to lead the charge and then take the complimentary efforts from the defense. And all the while, you can’t have special teams screw it up, which is where I’m not sure if the 49ers are going to be fine. They started this month with special teams issues and they ended this month with special teams issues. As unfortunate as that is, even though there were better special teams moments in the middle, that’s still where the 49ers are. They’re they’re slightly above average in terms of DVOA on both offense and defense. They’re number 30 on special teams. They’re plus five in overall point differential. I talk about point differential because this past game, the literal point difference was the punt return they allowed for a touchdown. If you combine that with the kick return that set up the Jacksonville field goal, the 49ers lost eight points against the Jaguars. So, they’ve got to fix special teams that otherwise it’s just going to be the thorn in their side that ruins any progress that they do make offensively and defensively. And we know there’s room for progress in both of those phases of the game. So, as a celebration to wrap up this month, everybody should sign up to become a member. We just got a new member here. Welcome. And I’m going to answer some of your questions. So, good questions here to finish up the month of What just happened? Oh, okay, I’m back. I I lost my monitor for a second. Good questions here to finish up the month of September from Ryan. David Adams is probably Stafford’s favorite target. No, uh, Puka is Stafford’s favorite target, but but point taken here. The secondaries, who in the secondary is best to line up against him? Well, okay. So remember that Puka Nakua is leading the NFL right now. He’s the second highest graded player in the league behind only Fred Warner. So the Puka is big, strong, he’s younger than Devonte Adams. I would say he’s a bigger threat at this point than Devonte Adams. But they got two really good receivers between Puka and Devonte. Then they got 22 Atwell. They they don’t have Demarcus Robinson anymore. He’s with the 49ers. He has switched teams in this rivalry. But the the primary focus probably does need to go on Puka Nakua. He he has really really blossomed for the the Rams. The 49ers have their best cover man is is Domer Lenor. Whenever somebody is in the slot, Upton Styles is probably going to pick them up and Upton has been good for the 49ers, but Upton is still a developing player as well. So, uh I mean it’s it’s going to be hold your breath time on Thursday. I don’t know how else to put it. I mean, the Rams have a lot of weapons. They’ve got more firepower than the 49ers do right now. And the 49ers don’t have a proven pass rush without Nick Bosa. So, I don’t know if Ronaldo Green’s going to play or not, but there I thought that Derell Lutter Jr. was good in his first game, but this is going to be a whole new test alto together for the 49ers. So, Upton on Puka, that’s only when Puka lines up in the slot. Upton’s not going to follow anybody around to the outside. Upton is physical. Upton is strong, but Puka is bigger than him. That’s all that’s going to be the book on Upton Stout for his whole career. Can he overcome some of the size disadvantages that that he has at at 5’8? So far, the 49ers love how Upton has progressed all the way up to that interception last week that was nullified, but that was a tickytac call. Will the offensive line keep up with the Rams defense? So, the 49ers offensive line is is is a tricky beast to analyze. People are being way too simplistic with it. First off, Trent Williams hasn’t been bad. And and there’s this narrative going around that Trent, oh my god, he’s aging. You know, of course, he’s 37. He’s not going to be the same player that he was at at 33 or 34, but 2021 was probably his best year. And then unfortunately, that’s when he suffered the high ankle sprain that that compromised him in the NFC Championship game. But you’ve got to be able to to take Trent’s performance and look at it in the context of the whole line. The weakness on the line right now is left guard with Connor Kby. You can’t have Trent playing both left guard and left tackle. like he needs to focus on left tackle, but so far some of the blemishes to his right at left guard have created an issue for just it was making the degree of difficulty very very tough on Trent Williams. Anyway, the Rams have got really really good edge rushers and Byron Young and and Jared Verskivitz has been the number one great at right tackle in all of football. So, he’s going to get to work against guys like uh like I said, like Byron Young and and Jared Verse. And it’s going to be a fascinating matchup. McKibbitz is at it. Those seven pounds of muscle. He’s he’s really surged year after year. I think Trent Williams will be ready for the challenge on on on Thursday as well for the 49ers. But will they be ready to handle the interior? Because it’s not just about your tackles. It’s about what Puna Ford can do for the Rams on the inside. It’s it’s about Braden Fisk and and and what he can do for the Rams on the inside. And I think that Jake Brendle has been about average. He’s ranked number 14 in pass protection, number four in run blocking. And Dominic Puny, he’s slid a bit. I don’t know if he’s fully healthy, but but he’s been about average. Left guard though has been bottom barrel for the 49ers. And they’re playing a seventh round rookie who injured his groin before his first start. And this offensive line is only going to be as good as its weakest link. So if they could repair the weakest link, yeah, they have a chance to really compete. But this is going to be a tough tough game against one of the I think five best defenses in all football. A front that is blossomed together that’s added a piece in Puna Ford. The strength of this Rams defense is its line for sure. Can the 49ers hang? Can they can they run the ball a little bit? Can they diffuse some of that pass rush? I think that the 49ers strategy has to be take the profit. I think they have to be very very smart with how they operate offensively. Win in a bar fight against the Rams. That’s what you did in 2021 and 2022 when your back was up against the wall. You you simplified the offense. You went short game heavy. You kept that pass rush from getting to you because of all the quick release stuff you were doing. Debo Samuel was a huge part of that game plan. Maybe put Christian McCaffrey in the Debo role if you’re the 49ers here. May maybe surprise the Rams with some Isaac Gerendo at the running back role. You know, who knows? Jordan James can get in the game. I I think this is the the kind of game to try some of that stuff out. It’s not a must-win, but it’s a it’s a game where I don’t know if you’d be all too wise to to play your your injured players. So, I don’t know if Ricky Pearl is going to go. I don’t know if Brock Birdie is going to go if he’s not 100%. I think that you give the Rams your best shot schematically and then try to create a mini by week or a faux by week with a longer rest, but also a chance to give some of the injured guys a full week or two weeks off before they play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Whatever you do, I think that you could look at the game plans in 2021, 2022, even 2020 as really good ones. Even 2019 when the 49ers came in there with two backup tackles at the Coliseum against the Rams, Justin School and Daniel Brunskill. You guys remember those days? And and they were able to to use a paired down game plan to beat Aaron Donald and the Rams. They were able to to get the ball out quickly. It was Jimmy Garopolo back in those days and run the ball decently efficiently, but but just with a high enough floor to where they weren’t losing yardage. Three and four yard gains were enough. They hogged the ball. You know, they’ve moved the ball well so far. Now, it’s time for the 49ers to hog it. The way that they’ve beaten the Rams when they’ve been short-handed in the past is through ball hogging. Keep the defense on the sideline. Even more important without Nick Bosa available. So, we’ll see if the 4, you can’t get in a track meet with these guys. They are way more equipped than you are right now. You cannot get in a track meet with the Rams. That’s the key. It’s technically Levi South and it’s a home game. There’s going to be 61% 49ers fans according to Vivid Seats in this stadium. Maybe not as much as the 80% 70 to 80 that we’ve seen in the past, but they also might be underestimating how many 49ers fans there will be. Man, we got some people thinking that this is going to be a Ner’s 417 win. I don’t know about that, man. We got other people think the Rams are going to blow the 49ers out 45 to 10. I think if the 49ers win it will be very close. I think if the Rams win it could be it could be a bigger margin in this game. Now this this right here LAX is not the best airport in California. Hands down. LAX is one of the worst airports in the Western Hemisphere. I I have the lack of a privilege to to have to fly into there tomorrow. I wish I could fly into Burbank instead, but United So, I guess United might be able to get me to to Burbank, but but anyway, LAX is a miserable place. SFO is much better than LAX. And I cannot disagree with this comment more. I have to put this one on blast. Sorry. I mean, LAX that they they recommend to people. I I don’t follow it, but they they want people to get there four hours before their international flights to give you any idea of what kind of operation LAX is. SFO is a much much more pleasant place. Plus, you know, you could I think SFO is a better Asia gateway, especially with United. I mean, we can go into all that stuff. You get all the same domestic flights from SFO. I, you know, somebody growing up in Vicelia, which is between LAX and SFO, I’ll tell you what, we we we were a little bit further from SFO, but we picked SFO to use because nobody wanted to use LAX. Like people in LA hate LAX. It like like Joshua here says LAX is an absolute circus. The best airport in SoCal is Ontario. Well, in fairness to LAX, by the way, do you guys see this? the saloon font. Let me get this up on the screen. This is ah I gotta get the banner out of the way. Give me one second. This is the saloon font deli board. One of the best sandwiches around. This is their sweater. Don’t you guys like that? I featured them before on the show. They’ve been the sandwich of the day a couple times. Uh, Ontario’s solid, but if you X’s credit, if you’re looking for direct flights, like it’s the best airport in that region, right? Like you could get direct flights to a lot of places in the world. You’re not going to be able to do that from Ontario. But if you’re looking to go regional, avoid crowds. If you like to fly Southwest, yeah, it’s Ontario all day. 916 likes the saloon font coming in from Sacramento. I am repping Delhi Board. Shout out to Adam over there at Delhi Board. Come on. El Paso, Texas. At some point, we’re comparing apples and oranges here. LAX and SFO are are much bigger airports than than El Paso. The the trick for an airport to me is can can you handle a lot of direct flights and be very convenient in that regard while also managing the crowds and also bringing you a pleasant food experience and also not having a ton of delays and things like that. So, you know, whenever I fly into any one of the New York airports like Newark, just so unpleasant on so many levels and and and a lot of delays and it’s just not good. Uh, LAX I’ve I think has a really high delay rate too. SFO has some issues with the fog planes coming in, but for for the most part it it consistently is at the near the top of a lot of the airport rankings because of how how pleasant it is for a very large airport. Seattle is a bad airport. It’s not good. All right, we can talk about football now. Sorry that we got sidetracked. Demarcus Robinson game. That’s right. This could be the Demarcus Robinson revenge game was with the Rams. 500 receiving yards last year. Where is Garando? That’s a good question. I think that this could be the perfect game for a Gendo sneak attack. I think if you’re going to unload any trick plays, you do it as an underdog. This might be the the biggest point spread the 49ers face as underdogs of the season. To be 100% honest, they’re they’re five and a half point underdogs. They’re like nearly touchdown underdogs in this game. there’s ever a time to to bust out some some tricks, it it’s here. I mean, special teams might want to consider doing something crazy because they can’t be much worse than they’ve been in that game against Jacksonville. So, we’ll see. need some good questions. Let’s go. Do I think the team has any answers to fix the special teams? You just got to tackle better. I mean, some of those that punt return was bad and and you know, maybe they’ve identified some clips on there, like clipping penalties that weren’t called, but you’ve got to be better. There is a form of a clip or a hold, I think, on every return, but you have to be disciplined to your lanes. you have to swarm the football and and the the punter has to put the ball in the charted area where the where the coverage is going. Uh you have to do that consistently so that you could fight through even potentially uncalled penalties. I mean to me the main answer to to one of the special teams issues was Eddie Pinero who’s obviously better than Jake Moody. So the 49ers made that change. Okay, great. They’ve done that but now they’ve got to figure out the kickoffs. they can’t keep on giving the other team the ball at the 35 with touchbacks. But the it’s kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation because if they kick it into the end zone, um that it goes out to the 35, but if they don’t, then their coverage unit is really bad and it could cross the 50 like we saw at the end of the first half against Jacksonville. So, I don’t know if they’re going to try one of those dirty kicks if Eddie Pierro is working on some of that stuff, but uh whatever the 49ers are doing needs to change because the opposing field position coming off of kickoffs has been way too good and and their punt coverage has has been terrible as well as we saw on that Parker Washington return. So, they fixed the kicking game. I think the punting has been decent, but the coverage game needs to be better for the 49ers. No, I did not agree with the stout PI. I’ve watched that about 25 times and again I see contact on every single play and I think the contact that actually obstructs of receiver should be called. I don’t it didn’t seem to me that Travis Hunter was taken off of his spot at all. And I don’t think that Upton Stout even used any of that contact to accelerate forward. I thought that he drove with his legs and I thought that Trevor Lawrence telegraphed the bad pass that that Upton Stout intercepted on the play. I just think it was an excellent play that might have surprised officials, but I don’t think it was a good call at all. Ryan asks about the fumble. Perie is supposed to be behind the B gap. Brendle and Puny let one then a second Jaguar get in and one of them was Armstead. Yeah, Pertie was thrown off of his spot big time. I mean, the the job of the quarterback in an ideal world is to to hold on to the football if he gets hit, but that’s not often not always going to happen if uh the the pocket around him is collapsing in a really unpredictable way. I mean, they did need to protect that play better than they did. It was a good rush scheme up by Jacksonville, and Armstead was one of the two guys that got through. Perie tried to sidestep one of them, but his sidest stepping took him right into the arm of Eric Armstead. I mean, it’s it’s tough. The the protection on that play wasn’t good enough. Has it been terrible this year? No, I I don’t think so. I think they’ve had one weakness they’ve really had to try to account for over the past two weeks, and that’s Kby giving up those 10 pressures at left guard. And I think that’s had a domino effect around the the rest of the offensive line, but that one particular play obviously wasn’t what the 49ers wanted it to be. Must have felt good for Eric Armstead, though. All right, that is the month of September. Let’s wrap it up, everybody. Thanks for watching this month. We will be moving on into October. We’re starting tomorrow morning with our 49ers Rams prediction. So, hit the alarm bell, hit the subscribe button, do all that. I will talk to you then. Thanks for a great month, everybody. It’s been a fun journey. Next one should be even more intense. 49ers are three in one as we turn the page of the calendar.

UPDATE: 49ers or Rams — BEST QB room in the NFL? Purdy, Stafford, Mac Jones, Garoppolo