Panthers vs 49ers Week 12 | Gruden’s Preview

Panthers vs 49ers Week 12 | Gruden’s Preview

Okay, Monday Night Football. It’s the Carolina Panthers playing a meaningful, very meaningful game late in November at the San Francisco 49ers. Both of these teams coming off impressive victories and there’s a lot of playoff implications in this one. This top of mind is brought to you by Chevrolet. Football season’s in full swing. And whether you’re grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, there’s one ride that’s always game ready. The Chevy Silverado. Built for the hustle, ready for the gaming. Silverado is America’s most dependable full-size truck. Head to chevy.com and learn more. And then build your own Chevy Silverado. Okay. Carolina and San Francisco, two teams led by offensive head coaches. Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers in just his second year has Carolina competing for first place potentially against the San Francisco 49ers who are led by Kyle Shanahan, one of the best architects of offense in the league. You know, I’m filming this game before the Monday night kickoff. So, if Tampa has lost to the Rams, you know, Carolina’s playing for a share of first place. That’s an awesome job by this young Carolina football team. And I think it’s time for Carolina to play complimentary football in all three phases. You saw glimpses of that last week at Atlanta. They were down 21 to7. They couldn’t stop the Falcons in the first half. They couldn’t get anything going on offense either. But in the second half, their defense rose up. Bryce Young and this offense took off and their young rookie field goal kicker kicked a gamewinner. So, if they can play complimentary football, play their best stuff tonight against the 49ers, they have a chance to get another road victory. And for Kyle Shanahan, they have some positive momentum. They got their quarterback Brock Pery back last week. Ricky Pierol returned at wide receiver. They got three turnovers from their defense and they put a 40 burger up on the Arizona Cardinals. They got a lot of positive vibes coming out of their locker room. You know, you hear that phrase all the time, meaningful games in late November. It’s nice for Carolina to be in meaningful games. They’ve been down for some time, but I hope Carolina has the mindset that, you know what, forget this meaningful Let’s cross the line. Let’s break the door down and let’s get an impressive victory and show the world on Monday Night Football that we’re for real. You like that, Malisk? I do. Does that fire you up, Clay? Love it. The 49ers have overcome some unbelievable injuries to their best players. Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, their first round draft choice, Michael Williams. Brandon Iayuk, their great receiver, hasn’t suited up yet, but they’re somehow seven and four with Brock Perie missing six games. And George KD’s been out for crying out loud. Their top two receivers have missed action, but the 49ers are seven and four. I kind of get the feeling they’re playing with house money. And I look for Kyle Shanahan to go allin on his offense. He knows he’s decimated on defense. I would not be surprised if Shanahan comes out blazing tonight with a very aggressive game plan. Both of these teams though when you study them, man, you get like this car sick feeling. You know, the 49ers start off 0 and three, then they get the injuries and it’s been kind of a rocky road ever since. Carolina started off one and three, then they won three straight, and then they went lost, win, lost, win. So, it’s really been one of those car rides that’s been uncomfortable. It’s kind of like my dad driving around when I was a kid, bouncing around the back seat. It wasn’t very comfortable. The Carolina Panthers have been impressive on the road. They’ve won three straight road games. They haven’t done that since 2017. And the 49ers, they have not been dominant at home, just two-2 this year. And they’re 6 and7 at home since the start of the 2024 season. I mean, 6-7. What the hell? This is a rare Monday night football game for Carolina. They haven’t been on the prime time Monday circuit very often, but they’re 2-7 in their last nine prime time games if you care about that stuff. San Francisco on Monday Night Football, they’ve lost three straight. What the hell? I was an announcer on Monday night. you’re supposed to play your best stuff on Monday night. So, both of these teams haven’t really thrived in prime time. There’s not much of a history between these two teams. The 49ers lead the alltime series 13-9. The last time they played, I looked it up, was 2022. San Fran went down to Carolina, won a game 37-5. So, this game with serious playoff implications. You know who the four division leaders are right now. off the season ended. Seattle, Green Bay, and San Francisco at 7-4 would make the playoffs as wild cards. But in the hunt, there’s Detroit at 6 and4. And there’s Carolina at 6 and5. Keep in mind the upcoming schedule of the Carolina Panthers. They don’t want to lose this game, Jake, because guess who they got next? A by-week. They get fresh. They go to New Orleans. Winnable game. And then it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina, but then they got to play Seattle and on the road at Tampa. So Carolina’s got a lot of big games ahead. They want this one bad. And San Francisco, they go to Cleveland next week, then they have their buy, then they’re at Tennessee. So they have some winnable games in their near future. They got the Colts, the Bears, and at Seattle. So, that’s where these two teams stand as they head into this big Monday night tilt. These two quarterbacks, interesting players. Bryce Young, as you know, the number one overall pick. And how about Brock Perie? He’s the number 262 overall pick. The last guy picked against the first guy picked. Both of these guys have had doubters. I heard people, even some profound people saying, “Hey, stay with M. Jones. Stay with M. Jones. He’s five and three. Come on. I’ve heard a lot of people get down on Bryce Young, too. 17-7 loss to the Saints two weeks ago. 124 yards passing. Not a good performance. Get him out of here. Go with Andy Dalton. Both of these guys have withtood the pressure, the negativity, and they played awesome football last week, and I think they’re ready to make their push towards the playoffs. You know, you think about Bryce Young. Pressure. pressure. Two firsts, two seconds. They trade DJ Moore just to get him. The Panthers let Baker Mayfield walk. He’s leading the division in Tampa. They let Sam Darnold walk. He’s in Seattle kicking ass. You don’t think people in Carolina are going, Bryce Young, come on, man. And Brock Pury, what he has done coming into San Francisco. Remember the 49ers? I think they used three first round picks to get Trey Lance. Okay, it didn’t work out. He couldn’t play good enough. They go to the 262nd pick in the draft. And if you look at Pury’s numbers, and I ain’t comparing them to Joe Montana and Steve Young. I was with the 49ers. I know what they did. But if you look at their first 43 games compared to Pertie, pretty damn impressive when you look at the numbers. And Pury took the 49ers to the Super Bowl in just his second year. So, both of these young quarterbacks, I know they have a lot to prove, but man, they show a lot of guts, mental toughness, and they played really good last week for their teams. Also, this is the Christian McCaffrey Bowl. Christian McCaffrey had some great years in Carolina. Matter of fact, in 2019, he became the third running back in history to have a thousand yards rushing and a thousand yards receiving in the same year. I mean, I saw Roger Craig do that, Marshall Faulk do that. That’s how good McAffrey was. He gets traded to the 49ers. You know, McAffrey had back-to-back years where he had some injuries. Carolina fires Matt Rule. They have a new owner. They trade McCaffrey to the 49ers. And the 49ers give up a second, third, and fourth round pick in 2024. And in 2025, they gave up a fifth round pick. Well, they used that second round pick to move up to get Bryce Young. They used that third round pick. They traded it to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They used two threes to get a guy named DJ Johnson, a pass rusher who I’ve never heard of. So, it didn’t really work out that well for Carolina, but they did create some cap space. But when you look at Christian McCaffrey right now, this is a badass MVP candidate. He is the number one offensive weapon in the league right now. He’s first in the league in scrimmage yards with 1439. He’s ninth in the NFL in receiving yards. I mean, hell, the eight guys ahead of him are all wide receivers. This guy’s doing it all for the 49ers. And don’t forget, when McAffrey went to the 49ers in 2023, he was the offensive MVP, and he helped San Francisco get to the Super Bowl, too. But he’s going to be going up against one of the great stories in the NFL this year, and that’s Rico Dael. You know, Dowel had a thousand yards with the Cowboys last year. He was a very under the radar signing by the Panthers. They already had Huard who’s a hell of a back. Huard had 1,200 yards in 2024 and he missed two games. They gave Hubard $32 million. Clay, they signed Rico Dow, I think, to be a backup complimentary back. Well, guess what? Dowel has 833 yards rushing. He’s in the top five in yards from scrimmage. And I think Rico Dowel can’t wait to get on stage and go up against the former Carolina Panther Christian McCaffrey. The only thing to keep an eye on is Dael has been quiet the last two weeks. Defenses have been keying on them. They’ve been daring this Carolina offense to throw the ball. Dowel had 18 for 53 against New Orleans and 19 for 45 against Atlanta. My mathematics say that’s under three yards a carry over the last two weeks. Last thing to think about, I think that’s really important. These are two very good offensive head coaches, and they’re going to be featuring two very good running backs against two defenses that are decimated at linebacker. I mean, I had to really work hard to find out who’s playing linebacker for Carolina. And I had to work just as hard to find out who these linebackers are for the 49ers with all these injuries. So, I expect these coaches to force the opposition to play as many linebackers as possible, spread them out, play action passes, misdirection runs. This is going to be a real battle of two great offensive head coaches against two decimated defenses. Let’s take a look at the kicking situation for the Carolina Panthers. I give them a big edge. They got a rookie place kicker, Ryan Fitzgerald. He kicked a gamewinner last week against the Falcons. He kicked a gamewinner against Dallas and Green Bay. 17 out of 20 on field goals. He has struggled with pats. He’s only 16 for19. In San Francisco, they thought they solved their place kicking problem. They’ve had a lot of problems with that. They signed the ex Carolina Panther Panero. Eddie Panero. I used to have Eddie Panero with the radius. Panero was 22 for 22, man. six for six from 50 plus, but he hurt his hamstring. So, they signed Matt Gay. Matt Gay was just released from the Washington Commanders. He’s been struggling this year, 13 for 19, but maybe getting out of the nation’s capital. Perhaps getting out of that place and going out to California. Maybe that’ll cool him off a little. He’ll find his rhythm. And the 49ers, I’ll tell you, when I turned the film on last week before I sat down, Sky Moore, the ex-C Kansas City Chief, took the opening kickoff back 98 yards. So, be careful. Carolina kicking the ball to Sky Moore. He’s feeling it. The turnover battle in this game, it’s not pretty. Both of these teams are towards the bottom in turnover margin. Carolina’s minus4. That’s 21st in the league. The 49ers are minus5. That’s 25th in the league. Any carelessness with the football will put you away in a game of this magnitude. Injuries to look at. Carolina has two huge injuries. And I know a lot of you at home may not know these linebackers, but let me tell you, Christian Roseboom, he had 91 tackles. I think he wears the green dot. His hamstring is going to keep him out of this game. And Trevan Wallace, number 32. He’s a good linebacker for the Panthers. He’s not going to be able to play. has got a shoulder injury. So, you got to find out who’s going to play linebacker against Christian McCaffrey in prime time. Good God. They’re also going to be missing Cade Mazize, their starting center. So, that’s not good either. Three big injuries. We do have some good news. Ransom, their fourth round draft choice at safety. He’s been on the field, been a full go. And Xavier Legette, he came out of that game last week against Atlanta with a hip. that wide receiver, he’s ready to go. Boy, he looked good last week. The 49ers, we already know they’re missing Fred Warner, perhaps the best linebacker in the league. They had another guy named Tatum Bthoon, number 48. If you watched him play, you would think that’s Fred Warner sometimes. Well, he got hurt last week. He’s going to be out with a hamstring for a couple weeks. That is big for the 49ers. They also lost their kicker. We talked about Eddie Panero. 22 for 22. He’s out. Robert Beal, backup pass rusher. He’s out of the game. And keep an eye on Luke Gford. He’s another backup linebacker that has about 28 tackles. We don’t know if he’s going to play either, but look into these injuries before you do anything. We’re going to have some fun on Monday night. Let’s get into it. Okay, this Carolina offense, San Francisco 49er defense, there are some new names you probably need to get updated on. and refamiliarize with Carolina. Dave Canales, the head coach, I see him calling the plays down there, but young offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, he does a nice job throughout the week game planning and communicating on game day. The Panthers numbers have not been very good. They’ve been very inconsistent offensively, but when they’re on, man, they are a good team. They’re balanced. They got a lot of young contributors. They’ve had some injuries on the offensive line, but they’ve battled and battled. Their numbers prove they’ve been inconsistent in all the major categories. Scoring, they’re 28th. Total offense, 22nd. Passing offense, they’re 27th. They’re below the line on third down and below the line in the red zone. You just don’t know exactly what’s coming out of the tunnel with this Carolina offense. I mean, I watched them against the New Orleans Saints. 50 total plays, 175 yards total and seven points at home against the Saints. Man, ah, not good. But then next week they play the Atlanta Falcons. 75 offensive plays, a season high 486, 30 points, and I’m like, woo, give me some season tickets, man. This is some exciting stuff. What’s going to come out now down the stretch in these meaningful games? Let’s go, Carolina. I can’t believe I said that. This is a run first operation. You know, when I coached against Carolina twice a year, they had these two guys they called double trouble. And I hated them both because they were problems, man. D’Angelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart. Now they have their own version of double trouble. Chuba Hubard and Rico Dael. These two backs when healthy, they can give you all kind of problems. They run the ball 47% of the time. That’s the top five in the NFL. So, they’re committed to running it, rightfully so. They’re a physical offensive line. They are missing one of their starting guards. They’re going to be playing a new center. So, keep an eye on that. But, as I said, the last two weeks, New Orleans shut this run game down, and so did the Atlanta Falcons. 70 yards against the Saints, 67 yards total on the ground against Atlanta. Defenses are daring Carolina to pass the ball. They’re daring Carolina to pass protect and pick up blitzes. They’re daring Bryce Young to make accurate throws. And they’re daring these young receivers to catch the ball and protect the ball and stay away from penalties. What I loved is Carolina answered the bell last week. You’re daring us to do that? They shredded Atlanta, man. They had nine passing plays of over 20 yards. Six different Carolina Panthers made a catch and run of 20 yards or more. It was fun to watch. That should loosen up some defenses after that performance. You know, when you study Bryce Young, there’s some statistics that say, “Ah, he’s just so so.” QBR is 86. He’s 24th in the league. He’s 22nd in the league in completion percentage and he’s 24th in the league in yards per pass. So, people are like, “Ah, yeah.” Well, let me tell you this. last week was the best passing performance in the history of the Carolina Panthers. Bryce Young is six and4 this year as a starting quarterback. Go watch the one game that he didn’t play against Buffalo and see how lucky are to have this cat. I know Bryce Young had seven straight games of 200 yards or less. But there’s still a lot of things to like when I watch him play. I see last week he throws a hot on a screen to Dowle for a touchdown. He makes a beautiful accurate deep throw for a touchdown to Legget. Then he has an awkward delivery to Leette on a little under route for 25 yards. It’s just like, woohoo, he gets out of way and can somehow navigate the ball accurately. Movement in the pocket to create throwing lanes. He’s tough as hell. He threw a 20 yard bench route to McMillan. He gets his arm hit. Then he gets smashed on a deep cross. The center got walked into his lap. He throws a perfect pass to Coker on the deep cross. So, there’s a lot to like. A lot of people didn’t think Bryce Young and Carolina could win a shootout having to throw the ball over and over. The Panthers were 0 and12 when Bryce Young threw the ball 35 times or more until last week. He got into a shootout with Mike Pennix. And guess who won? Bryce Young is coming off his best game. That should give them some momentum and some confidence as they head down the stretch. Bryce Young leads the NFL in game-winning drives since he’s come into the league. Believe that. And I know he’s been behind a lot in these games. Some of these other teams have been running out the clock, but this kid plays really good at crunch time. I think the team rallies around Young. I mean, he has that ankle injury against the Jets a few weeks ago. He can’t play against Buffalo. He gets sacked in the first half. He’s hurt. He has to come out. Then he gets stepped on again on the same ankle. He comes back again. The players believe in him, man. They rally around him. And then what they did is he ended Atlanta’s season basically with a great great effort at crunch time. The Carolina Panthers use a lot of no back sets. Matter of fact, they use empty backfield sets more than any team in the league. Keep an eye on that in this game. They’re going to spread out the 49er defense. And if you’re a linebacker, you got to move out here in space and cover a tight end or a back or a wide out sometimes in these zone coverages. That could be a big advantage for the Carolina Panthers. San Francisco just hasn’t revved up any pass rush this year. So, I expect Dave Canales to use a lot of no back sets. The defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers is Robert Salah. He returns to San Francisco where he once was the coordinator. remember he was the head coach of the Jets, but he has had a lot of injuries on his side of the ball. Man, the 49ers right now are struggling. They’re 25th in total defense, 28th against the pass. This was a top 10 defense for the last six years. So, a lot of these 49er coaches have really had to check their ego at the door and showcase some patience because they’re playing a lot of backup defenders. When you lose guys like Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, your first round pick, Michael Williams, and then you start losing some of their backups, it can really impact how you put a game plan together and how you call a game plan. But I watched them against Arizona last week, and although they blew the Cardinals out. Arizona completed 47 out of 57 passes, 47 completions. That’s an NFL record. And I know a lot of these completions were garbage time, but what was most concerning wasn’t the 452 yards passing, which hasn’t been done against the 49ers since 2007. It wasn’t the 47 completions, which is an NFL record. It’s that they didn’t get a sack, not one sack against Jacobe Brassette and the Arizona Cardinals. And it was a predictable pass after pass after pass. So, that’s a big concern heading into this game against the Carolina Panthers who just lit up the Atlanta Falcons. You know, I was watching the Super Bowl 49er defense against the Kansas City Chiefs just trying to remind myself of the players. I look out there, they had Bosa, DeForest Buckner, Eric Armstead, and D Ford in the front four, and they were impossible to block. Then they had Fred Werner and Dre Green Law playing linebacker. Well, now you’re gonna have to really learn some of these new players that are competing for the 49ers. It’s a lot different. San Francisco is last in the NFL with just 12 sacks. Hard to believe. They’re decimated at linebacker. Fred Warner is out and his backup Bthun is out. So, I’m watching San Francisco carefully. They’re playing number 59, Curtis Robinson, who’s really a career special teams player. only had played about 150 defensive snaps in his whole life. They got a lot of young guys playing in the secondary, too. Guys like Upton Stout, their slot corner, third round pick out of Western Kentucky. All of these new players at different positions, it can really limit the coverages you call, the blitzes that you call, and when you call them, and how you call them and how you communicate. The 49ers, when you watch them, they’ve had a lot of blown coverages this year. Hell, I’m watching Tampa Bay. A guy runs right down the field, touchdown. Nobody covered him. They blew it. Then they get another one right down the scene. The safety man blew a coverage. The Rams throw a hot in the flat. Nobody covered him for a touchdown. They snuck the tight end through in the second game. Another touchdown for the LA Rams last week against Arizona. Guy runs right down the seam wide open. So, they’ve had some breakdowns in the coverage, which makes you think maybe we should shrink the game plan, run some basic coverages where everybody is on the same page and we don’t make a mistake. But once you do that, coaches start calling plays to beat certain coverages. And it’s a another problem that you have to deal with. It’s fire after fire you got to put out. Pretty soon you’re like burning to death, man. I mean, the reality is the numbers speak for themselves. Opposing QBs have a QBR of 104.5. They’re completing 70% of their passes, 21 touchdowns against this 49er secondary, only three interceptions, and 250 yards a game passing. So, these are numbers I think that Carolina’s looking at, and they’re going to try to attack. Very important for San Francisco to remember. Bryce Young is 5 foot10 204 and we got to keep him in the pocket. We got to make that status matter. Bat some balls down. Try to restrict his vision so he has to throw some blind throws against our defense. He’s had seven balls batted down this year. Perhaps one or two of those can result in a tip ricochet interception. Since Fred Warner’s been down, this defense has given up 400 yards or more in three out of four games. I look for Dave Canales, a head coach of the Panthers, to use some uptempo offense, try to reduce their communication. Who’s wearing the green dots for the 49ers? Who’s communicating the calls? Who’s making the hand signals to the back end? I would expect some uptempo offense, some shifts, a lot of these empty formations. You might even see unbalanced lines or wildcat formations. Let’s stress the hell out of these young linebackers and make them see things and do things they haven’t practiced. 49ers play a lot of cover, four, four deep, three underneath with a fourman rush. They play it 24% of the time. Last week against Arizona, they played it about 50% of the time. Perhaps the score of the game indicated that. Perhaps the number of backup players they were playing with had a lot to do with it. Also, San Francisco plays about 80% nickel. They’re going to play five DBs at a time. You’ll see a big nickel with Jason Pinnick, a safety, playing down here to try to get him more girth against the run. And you’ll see a lot of Upton Stout number 20, their rookie corner, who’s a pretty darn good player. He’s just 5 foot8. He doesn’t have a lot of height and length, but keep an eye on a lot of nickel for San Francisco in this game. They have to find a pass rush. How do they impact the quarterback? They don’t really have a premier inside rusher. And other than Bryce Huff, the ex- New York Jet, they don’t have anybody that’s getting home often on the outside either. Let’s take a look at these matchups for the Carolina Panthers. The offensive line, there is going to be a new starter. Cade Mazize out of the game for the Panthers. He’s going to miss his third game. I think it’s going to be Austin Corbett who started at center earlier when Maize was hurt. Corbett number 63 is back in the pivot. They are playing their fourth different right guard. This is Charles Zavala. He’s playing right guard. He’s an NC State Wolfpack. He was a teammate of their left tackle Icky Auanu. Auano is a very good player. He’s number 79. He missed a couple games with injuries. way. Do you see the length, the arm length that this man has? Good pass protector. Damen Lewis is their best player, I think, at left guard. He wears number 68. He can really get out on screens. And right tackle Taylor Motton is a solid player. He missed a couple games earlier as well. This group is going to work with a new center, so obviously the quarterback center communication is something to keep an eye on. The 49er defensive lineman, they’re led by Bryce Huff. Huff is far and away the best pass rusher on this team. He’s got four sacks, 36 pressures, leads the team in both categories. Remember, Huff played for the defensive coordinator when they were together at the Jets. But in the last 21 games, Bryce Huff only has six sacks. They got to get him going. He’s got to be a factor in this game. The two inside rushers for the 49ers, they featured Elliot number 92 and Davis number 93. Between the two of them, they just have a half a sack. You’ll see some young players coming in here in support. Alfred Collins, number 95, out of Texas. He’s a high draft pick. They’re still waiting on some splash plays from him. And they’re also going to use number 99 CJ West. They have four different players they use, but since Michael Williams got hurt, their best inside rusher, none of these guys have really stepped up and made a splash for the 49ers. The other rusher on the other side is going to be Sam Okuanu, number 91. He plays with a lot of effort. He had some sacks early in the season, but he’s stuck at that number two. They got to get more from him. He’s not the biggest defensive end. He does play hard and I think with the injury to Beal, you got to ask yourself who is the third and fourth edge rusher for the 49ers. They made a trade with the New England Patriots to get number 56 Keon White and I haven’t felt his presence yet either. They need the ex New England Patriot to make some plays. They also have Kevin Gibbons and Cle. I just know the 49ers pass rush has got to pick up and they might want to look at some new players in this game after that showing last week. Remember, no sacks, four hits. Brassette was 47 out of 57. It’s all going to go through Rico Dow. I think the Carolina Panthers are going to hand it to Dowel. They’re going to throw it to Dowel and they’re going to fake it to Dow with playaction passes. And they got to do a better job, I think, with their blitz pickup. Knowing the 49ers can’t get home with a fourman rush, there’s going to be some spontaneous fire zones and pressures. And the one thing Dael needs to get better at, cuz nobody’s perfect, is pass protection. On my spider protection last week, he failed to get that defensive end on the ground. And I got his 38 pass protections on a reel. He’s got to pick it up in pass pro to help Bryce Young deliver strikes. And look for Hubard, especially in some third down situations. When you look at him pass protect, his 26 pass protection opportunities, he’s batting a thousand. This guy’s outstanding picking up blitzes. He has been battling a bad calf, but he still has 334 yards rushing and he’s a dangerous receiver. Both of these backs against these unknown linebackers favors Carolina. Dwyers has had a good year. He’s got over 70 tackles. He is wearing number 53. He’s a running hit linebacker, man. This guy’s a former TCU Horn Frog and he plays like one. He’s mean as hell, but he does struggle in pass protection, playaction passes, bootlegs. He missed a run fit against ETN of the Jaguars. It resulted in a 60-yard touchdown. He missed a run fit against the Buccaneers on a counter play. He sees it, he hits it, but he guesses sometimes. And when he does, 49ers have been hurt. He’s got to be more consistently reliable. And Curtis Robinson, number 59, we don’t know much about. Hell, matter of fact, they’re playing Nick Martin, number 45, late in the game, and in a short yardage situation. Arizona cracked a power play for a 60-yard touchdown run, but the tight end held Nick Martin, it came back. Of course, Arizona had 17 penalties for 140 yards. You know, Arizona, that’s another story. They haven’t had that many penalties since 1936 when they were the freaking Chicago Cardinals. Anyways, these linebackers are going to be under siege with these running backs and all the things that they can do. The matchups on the outside are fun to watch because there’s a lot of young players in Carolina. McMillan, he wears number four, T McMillan, I call him. Man, he is really having a great rookie season. He’s got 748 yards receiving. He ripped Atlanta last week. Over 130 yards receiving, two touchdowns, and he has run routes, and I’m talking about over 10 yards. He’s run more pass routes over 10 yards than just about any receiver in football. Justin Jefferson, Devonte Adams, and T McMillan, they lead the league in routes run over 10 yards. So, that’s saying something. And they trust this guy to run out breaking routes, all kind of inbreaking routes, and he can run double moves. And he is a force on the 50/50 ball at 6’4, 220 lbs. Remember, if they put him in the slot, Upton Stout is only 5’8. Advantage Panthers. And this corner over here, I want to talk about Lenor. Deodor Lenor. It rhymes with Commodore. I love this guy’s name. I love the way he plays. I always have. He could be one of the top slot corners in the NFL, which he has been, but now he’s playing outside. I keep reading this pro football stuff where he’s giving up six touchdowns. I look at it like this I don’t see it. I don’t see it. I see this guy still as a hell of a player, man. He’s battling a calf injury. A lot of people didn’t even think he’d play last week, but he had a big pick against Arizona. took it back 64 yards. That calf looked pretty good to me. He’s a good tackler. He’s very instinctive. Lenor’s a hell of a corner, man. And the other guy is Renardo Green, number zero. Green is having a hell of a year. And if you look at the targets, the results of these targets, he is really having a fantastic season. The ex Florida State seminal, he wears number zero. The strength of the 49ers, I think, is these outside corners. And I think the strength of the Panther pass off is these outside receivers. Xavier Legette, 32nd pick in the first round, 2024 draft, South Carolina. He went nuts last week. He jumped on a guy’s cushion. He stepped on his toes. He burned that backup corner for the Falcons for a touchdown. Legette 24 catches, 264 yards. Nowhere near McMillan, but he is coming on, man. And I think it’s exciting. Last year he had eight drops. Everybody was on his case about the drops. None this year. I really like the progress that he’s making in the last couple weeks. And in the slot, you might see the ex Holy Cross Crusader Jaylen Coker. He wears number 18. They use a lot of different guys. Even an ex-raider Hunter Refro had two touchdowns in the opening game. Jimmy Horn, another rookie. They got a lot of guys they’re giving snaps to, but I think it’s going to be Coker, Legette, and McMillan against Lenor Green and Upton Stout inside. Stout, keep an eye on this kid. He’s got a sack. He ripped the ball out of that tight end’s chest of Arizona last week on the goal line. Over 50 tackles. He is a tough, instinctive, badass inside. The two safeties for San Francisco, Mustafa number six, is back. He had a big interception. He is not the biggest safety, but he will rock you, man. He caught that interception last week. He smashed into his own corner. Green. Green laid there for a while thinking, “Holy Mustafa is a very physical tackler. He does get out of control sometimes and miss some shots, but he is a good young player.” The other safety, number 27, Brown, is solid. But I think both of these safeties got to really do a good job being alert against these tight ends of the Carolina Panthers. They use three tight ends distinctly different. Sometimes they’ll use 13 personnel and play three at a time. Tommy Treble had a great catch and run to win the game last week. Notre Dame, they got another guy, Javian Sanders out of Texas. He got hurt the first week of the season. He hasn’t had the dynamic receiving games yet, but he’s healthier and healthier. Keep an eye on him. He wears number zero. I like Mitchell Evans, another rookie tight end out of Notre Dame. All three of these tight ends play in 13 personnel. And it was 85% run. 85% run when these three tight ends are in there. Guess what Canales did last week? Play action. And Mitchell Evans, he snuck across the formation. 40yard gain. You better be careful, San Francisco. I would look for a lot of 13 personnel in this game to try to force the 49er linebackers to do a lot of different things. Let’s get into the other side. Okay, the San Francisco 49er offense. Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, calls the plays. Andy Gerro Ao, one of my former assistants, he calls the plays. He’s in his third year as defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers. You know, the Carolina Panthers historically had a horrible year on defense last year. They brought in a lot of new players. They’ve made some improvements and Kyle Shanahan is just now starting to get his offense back at full strength. Pier saw it wide out came back. You saw Brock Perie come back. That’s a good sign for San Fran. They’re coming off one of their best offensive performances. This offense is all through Christian McCaffrey. He leads the league in touches. He accumulates 37% of San Francisco’s entire offense. He’s their leading rusher with over 700 yards. He’s their leading receiver with over 700 yards. And he’s going up against his old team. And he’s going up against a defense that’s decimated at linebacker. So, if you have any Macaffrey uh prop bets, bet the over. That’s what I would do. For some reason this year, the 49er run game has just stuck in the garage. You know, when you look at 94 yards a game, that’s 27th. And when you look at just 3.6 yards per carry, I think it’s 29th in the league. McCaffrey as a runner, the longest carry he’s had is 20 yards. They just haven’t broke a long run. They’ve had some negative yardage runs. And George KD at tight end, listen to me, young tight ends. George KD when he’s on the field, the 49ers average 4.4 yards per carry and seven rushing touchdowns. But when he’s hurt, he’s not in there, they average 3.3 yards a carry, one touchdown. If you can’t block the C gap or the D gap on the line of scrimmage, good luck having a good running game. So hopefully the full health of George KD, the return of Pierall to take pressure off the running game, that could be a huge asset. But the numbers are down with the linebacking core of the Carolina Panthers knowing their two starters are out. I would expect Kyle Shanahan to use a lot of misdirection running plays, counter plays, just like Canales is going to do to the 49er linebackers. Wildcat, empty backfield sets, shifts, you name it. Let’s give these guys all they can dream about and become a nightmare with our formations and whatnot. Brock Purie is back after his six-w weekek absence. And if you listen to people in San Francisco, meet some of the players on the team, everybody talks about this elite presence he has in the huddle and on the sidelines and at practice. It’s awesome, man. Some guys have it, some guys don’t. Guys believe in him, man, and they want to play with him. They have a blast out there playing football with Brock Perie and he has talent, man. This guy can run, he can throw, and he’s tough as hell. And as I already said, the statistics back up the fact that this guy’s a hell of a player. Probably why they gave him $257 million. Man, Shanahan does a great job with play action. They have some beautifully designed down the field shot plays and they always have playaction screens and bootlegs to complement the shot plays. It’s going to be something you see a lot of. Last week, young linebacker Cherylless number 53 for the Carolina Panthers. If you just study him, you love the effort, but you also see he has a hard time recovering on play action where he bites on the fake. Oh my goodness. I didn’t get back quick enough or maybe I bit too hard on the fake. He’s got to do a better job smelling out some of these runa action pass attempts otherwise Shanahan will expose you. San Francisco uses 21 personnel. This is very important base personnel. They use a fullback Kyle use and they use the tail back Christian McCaffrey. They have the tight end KD two wide receivers Jennings and it’ll be Pearl. but they use two backs, one tight end, two receivers. That personnel grouping forces a defense to play a base defense. And I think that’s what Kyle Shanahan will do. He will make Carolina load up with some linebackers, otherwise San Fran will run the ball. But when you do that against San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan will create every formation known to man. Because Kyle you check is very versatile. He’ll line up in the slot. The next play he’ll be in the back field and McCaffrey will be over there. It’s going to really force these linebackers to play in all kind of different places that they don’t practice in. That’ll be a real challenge for Carolina. The 49ers, even though they’ve struggled to run the ball, they have the number two pass offense in football. A lot of it has to do with their pass protection up front. They got an 11time Pro Bowler at left tackle and Trent Williams. Colton McKibbus has been really solid at right tackle. They got a Pro Bowl tight end. They got a great passing game. Kyle does a great job keeping you off balance with some new ads every week that you haven’t seen. The 49ers are also one of the top NFL teams on third down, converting almost 50% of them. And that’s not good because Carolina on defense has been very poor. They’re giving up almost 44% on third down. So, I look for San Francisco to really push the envelope on offense. Carolina’s defense has been up and down. If you watch them carefully, you’re going to see them shut out the Atlanta Falcons at home earlier in the season, 30 to nothing. Then you see them go to Green Bay and Lambeau Field and they shut down Green Bay. They held the Packers to 13 points. But then you turn on the film and they give up 40 points to Buffalo and you’re like, what the hell’s going on? Then you watch the New England film, they give up too many points in that game. They’ve been up and down just like they were last week in the first half against the Falcons. Poor first half, good second half. I mean, how the heck do you give up 257 yards, 21 points in the first half to Atlanta and then come out and give up six points and 90 yards in the second half? They got to be more consistent and they got to make sure they’re on the details against Shanahan and this 49er offense. They play a ton of zone coverage and I think that’s a good thing for them. They play 84% zone. That’s as much as anybody in pro football. And Brock Perie has really done well against man coverages. He has had some trouble against zone. People reading his eyes. He’s thrown four interceptions against zone coverage. Remember, when you’re playing zone, you’re running into your area. You’re keying the receivers. You’re keying the quarterback. You’re able to make good breaks on the ball. So, I think Carolina’s zone background against the 49ers should help them a little bit. Remember this also. They play a lot of dime defense. They play 20% dime. That’s six DBs. Dime defense is six. Nickel is five. Base is four. You know why Carolina plays six DBs at a time, Jake? They don’t have any linebackers. They’re all hurt. So they use Trayvon Maring, who’s had a hell of a year at safety, as a linebacker. And I think that’s going to be right up Kyle Shanahan’s alley. I think that’s going to go right into his wheelhouse. He’s going to use used check. He’s going to make them play base defense and make some of these inexperienced linebackers come onto the field and then expose them with some play action passes. You know, you lose your talented, instinctive linebackers. You also lose a lot of communication and you lose a lot of coverage ability underneath. And remember, Christian McCaffrey has over 70 catches. And when you look at McCaffrey, they’re going to line him up at wide receiver. Hell, I saw him run a snag route against the Giants. He ran a quick screen. He ran a under route. He runs routes that wide outs run. Then they put him in the slot, the number three spot against the New Orleans Saints. He runs a corner route for a touchdown. Then they put him in the two spot in a slot. He runs a quick out for a touchdown against the Rams. They put him in the dot right behind a quarterback. They love to bring him through the line of scrimmage and run a check through. Then they let him run an option. and he can break either way. Then they put him in an offset position. He’ll check through the line of scrimmage. He’ll burst the other way. He runs a ton of choice routes when he’s in the offset position. About eight or nine completions on choice routes, sitting down versus zone, breaking out or in versus man. He runs a seam route last week against Arizona. He runs a rail route down the far sideline against the Giants for a big play. He runs a comeback route out of the back field. Can you believe this guy? Then he runs wide flares. Another wide flare. Then he starts on the wide flare and he comes back inside on the hide screen. He runs into the flat. This guy has a route tree that is incredible. And it’s a credit to him and Kyle Shanahan and the work that they have put in. But if you’re a linebacker, good god, man. I wouldn’t want to be one. Carolina has struggled tackling. They are in the top seven in the NFL and missed tackles 13%. And if you’re a Carolina Panther on defense, when San Francisco gets into the red zone, keep an eye on KD and keep an eye on these 49er tight ends. KD has five red zone touchdown receptions. Luke Ferrell has two. Hell’s Bells, Jake Tongis, he’s got four. 11 touchdown receptions in the red zone by these 49er tight ends. Oh my. For Carolina, they have got to get more pass rush. The 49ers and the Panthers are at the bottom of the food chain rushing the Panthers. Carolina’s only got 15 sacks. You know, it’s been a problem in Carolina for some time. I used to coach for Tampa. I had I had to go out there against Julius Peppers, man. Mike Rucker, Chris Jenkins. That was not fair. That was a pain in the ass. You mean to tell me in 2023 we got a 29% pressure rate and then in 2024 it’s down to 25.5 and here we are in 2025 and it’s only 28%. They got to get the pass rush going or they’re in deep And these linebackers, the injuries that they have had there, that’s another problem for Carolina. Let’s take a look at the matchups. The offensive line for the 49ers is intact. Williams at left tackle, 11time Pro Bowler. He’s fantastic. Right tackle is Colton McKivitz. And the matchups they have are interesting. DJ Wanom over here against Williams. He had five and a half sacks in 2024. He has zero right now for Carolina. He does have 23 tackles. He has some pop in the running game. Had a big tackle last week, but they got to get Wanom going. His backup is Gibson, number 52. He has no sacks. They got to get more production from their right ends. On the other side, the most valuable pass rusher coming off the edge has been their rookie from Texas A&M, Nick Scorton. He’s got three sacks, 22 pressures. He had a huge play last week, a 5-yard TFL against the Falcons. He is coming on, man. This guy’s got some juice. He wears number 11. He’ll go up against McKiv. They also have another rookie from Mississippi, a high draft pick. He’s number three. His name is Princeley Umami Ellen. I love saying that name. He’s from Old Miss. He’s got a sack and a half. These two young pass rushers and DJ Wanom. Let’s go. The best player on the field by far for Carolina is Derek Brown, number 95. He is a wrecking ball man. If you watch him against the Jets, you’d put him in Canton. He batted down three passes. He had three sacks. Holy He was unbelievable. You know, in 2023, Derek Brown broke an NFL record. He had 103 tackles coming from this defensive tackle position. He got hurt, missed the whole year last year. He is healthy. He’s got three sacks. He is the energizer, the leader, the relentless tone setter of this Carolina defense. And he’s going to have to bring his best stuff against these guards. Berford 74 who missed three games with an injury. And be careful over here, the right guard of the 49ers, 77. Pun is having a hell of a year. He’s a great pass protector. I look for Derek Brown right over here on Berford, left guard of the 49ers. The other defensive tackles, the ex Kansas City Chief, Tawn Wharton, number 99. He’s had a good year. They play Alshon Robinson, number 94. He’s been around the league a little bit. former Lion, former Ram, high effort player, got some pass rush. He’s got two and a half sacks. That’s the nucleus of players that they’re using against this 49er offensive line. We all know McCaffrey 64 yards a game rushing, 66 yards a game receiving. He is a hell of a player. 17 times he scored a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the same game. No one’s ever done that. 267 touches. They got Brian Robinson, the ex Washington commander. He had 2400 yards rushing for Washington. Been awful quiet with San Fran. Robinson wears number three. These two backs and fullback Kyle use check will have to go to work against these young Carolina linebackers. Remember Clauden Cherilus, number 53, he will make his second start ever. He played last week against Atlanta. He did some good things, but he’s got to have better eyes. He’s got to read out of some of these bootlegs and play action passes a lot better. Plays his ass off. He’s just very inexperienced. If they have to play Bam Martin Scott, number 57, that’ll be the first time I’ve seen him. So, I do think this inexperience, the injuries to Wallace and Roseboom are significant. It’s going to be a real challenge for these young linebackers against these two backs. Good God. The matchups on the outside. JC Horn, number eight for the Carolina Panthers. He’s a hell of a talent. He’s been injuryfree now for two years. I like him, but I want to love him down the stretch here. I thought he had some lapses in his play. He missed a couple tackles last week against Carolina. You got to do that, too. If you’re going to be a great corner, you got to tackle better. He gave up a big touchdown to Chris Olavi. He slipped and fell on another touchdown against Jawan Johnson of the Saints. They got to have him throw shutouts, man. He’s got to be like one of those LA Dodger pitchers. He’s capable of taking it to an elite level and he’s going to have to against the 49ers. Demarcus Robinson is starting to take more reps at wide out. He started last week. He had some injuries. He’s got 12 catches. Kendrick Bourne, who left town, went to New England, came back. He’s been solid. 31 for 482. But JC Horn, we want more. It’s never enough either from him. He’s that good. On the other side, this kid Mike Jackson, number two, the ex Miami Hurricane. He’s been targeted almost as much as anybody in the league. People don’t want to mess with Horn. They take their shots over here against Jackson. Do you know this kid’s been targeted 59 times and the catch rate is under 50%. This kid has had a hell of a year in coverage, but he missed the tackle last week. And let me remind you, they missed 13% of their tackles. Horn and Jackson, they got to tackle better because they’re going to get McCaffrey out here on all these routes and they got to bring them to justice. The slot corner for the Carolina Panthers, they’ve used two guys. Shaw Smith Wade, number 26, is a hell of a slot corner. For some reason last week they went with Thornton number 31. Bigger guy against the Falcons. Perhaps they wanted to set the edge with some bigger people. I don’t know who it’s going to be in the slot, but I expect Kyle Shanahan to get Jawan Jennings going. Number 15, the ex Tennessee volunteer. You know Jennings, he had a contract thing going in training camp, then he had numerous injuries. I think he’s the key to the San Francisco 49ers down the stretch. He’s been dominant at times. He’s also been quiet at times. Let’s go, Jawan. Let’s freaking go, man. On the other side, the 49ers welcome back Ricky Persaw. Persaw was their first round pick out of Florida. Last year, he got off to a great start. 327 yards in his first four games. Now he’s back. Played 40 snaps last week against Arizona. Just had one catch for no yards. But I think this cat with Jawan Jennings, I think it’s time for these two guys to start making big contributions. And then you got to keep an eye on George KD. You know, KD just caught his 50th career touchdown last week. This is one of the most productive tight ends in 49er history. Man, he can do it all as a run blocker. In his last two games, he’s got three touchdowns, 15 catches, 151 yards. You should take the over on KD and McCaffrey, I think, in this game. And they’re going to go up against some safeties of the Carolina Panthers. One guy for sure you got to circle is Trayvon Merring. Not just because he’s an ex Raider and he got $51 million. This guy has really done a great job for the Panther team with all the injuries at linebacker. Here’s your guy that has left his safety position and come down. and he plays linebacker 25% of the time. He’s second on the team with 75 tackles. He’s got nine tackles for loss. This guy’s a hell of a football player mirroring. And when he gets down around the line of scrimmage, you better keep your eyes on him because he will blitz. The other safety is Nick Scott, number 32. He’s played 98% of the snaps this year, been a very solid Panther with 56 tackles. When they put Maring at dime linebacker, it’ll be the rookie number 22 Ransom. He’s coming back after missing last week with a hand injury. So, to make a long story short, Kyle Shanahan and his 49er offense are at full strength. I think Carolina’s got to get Derek Brown going on this left side of the 49er offensive line. Very important that Horn and Jackson have their best games as tacklers. And I think Kyle Shanahan is going to make Carolina play linebacker Scott Cherilus by using 21 personnel and get after him with McCaffrey in this great route tree that he has. Well, you got to pick somebody. I’m gonna go with the 49ers 33- 24. Christian McCaffrey prime time at home against his former team. Some beat up linebackers. Neither team rushes the passer particularly well. I like Brock Pury and what I saw from this 49er outfit. I’m still waiting for Carolina to put it all together in all three phases and I hope they do. This is going to be a lot of fun.

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