- 4 weeks ago
Brian Baldinger joins Willard and Dibs to break down where the 49ers stand in the NFC.
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00:00uh the honored guest is already here brian baldinger on the set with us oh yeah man yeah
00:05good to be here man it's so good to have you here so good to have you here and all
00:10kinds of stuff to
00:10talk out with you today but uh man i don't know what uh when you look at this particular matchup
00:16that starts a week from tonight we've been going through some commentary already and i know what
00:21people think the rams are going to be on paper it's obvious and all of that but what stands out
00:26to you in this match you know honestly like i i went to 14 training camps this year in 16
00:32days so
00:32i saw almost half the league and everybody is got these injuries nobody's really playing in these
00:39preseason games any meaningful snaps and so you get to week one and you really don't know like you think
00:46you can look at on paper and you go the rams are stacked and they've they've filled all the holes
00:51all the weaknesses at corner aaron's back all this stuff but you don't really know and
00:56until you get out there and you gotta you gotta complete that third down pass you you've gotta
01:00get the ball across the goal line you gotta you know be a good specialty like you don't no coach
01:06really knows what they have you can walk through talk about it all that stuff but when your ball gets
01:12kicked off you know you just never know like last year the rams were gonna beat the 49ers and alfred
01:18collins who made two plays all year got the ball out of kyron williams hands at the two yard line
01:24and they won the game in overtime like you just don't know and so it's easy to sit here and
01:30talk
01:30to all the you know the the odds makers and all this kind of stuff and go all this the
01:35rams aren't
01:35going to lose a game they're favorite in every game they're going to be 17 until you go out there
01:38and you play it you just don't know i was even looking at last year and i i wrote down
01:42i think
01:43seven plays that changed the year and one of them against seattle they threw one up for grabs
01:48tonjas and tonjas high points it and they win and they're going to lose to arizona but
01:52upton stout with a fourth down pass breakup so i just wonder about when you go to camp like
01:58you're not trying to project the team out but when you go they're like what do you really look for
02:02when you go to a camp so when i go i look at um like we just saw there's a
02:07bunch of injuries in
02:08chicago and i was there literally two weeks ago and they had an intra squad scrimmage and i just thought
02:13like this ben johnson the practice was amazing it was crisp plays got in and out the quarterback
02:18caleb williams is interacting with every guy on the team you could just tell like he's the
02:22leadership thing is taking over so i'm looking at all those like how's practice like is what's the
02:28effort like how crisp is it do they get in and out of the huddle are they jumping off side
02:33like
02:33like how how good does it look you know just in general and then you're just looking at the overall
02:39talent because talent the talented players you know are going to win and lose games for you
02:45and so if you get enough of them mike evans can can catch a touchdown pass against anybody in this
02:50league i don't know how healthy he is what he looks like whatever but he's been doing it for
02:5412 years at a very high level and so i'm looking at all those different things right now but coaching
02:59is the biggest part of this whole industry we had 10 new head coaches this year we had a ton
03:05of
03:05coordinators all change 49ers change you know defensive coordinators obviously with solid
03:09leaving and so there's new language there's new ways of doing things there's all these things
03:15change in all these different places right now uh you mentioned it so we'll let everybody in on it
03:19yeah there's word that uh roma dunze and deandre swift both leave practice today in chicago swift
03:27they said looked like he was in significant pain i mean again because the the 49er offseason has
03:34sounded the way it is i'd love to ask you that are they because i've actually been trying to fight
03:40the good fight for for a month in this city that the niners are not necessarily way more injured
03:48than the next team yeah do you think they are uh well they there's some of their star players are
03:53coming back they're coming back they're coming back yeah major for sure the ones we already knew yeah
03:58but i mean if you go to kansas city and you watch patrick mahomes play you're like was he hurt
04:02right
04:03you can't if you go to indianapolis and watch daniel jones practice all day like you're like did he
04:08really tear his achilles like they're all back so you know everybody kind of comes back differently
04:13and there's different approaches to this stuff like i have a feeling that they're all going to be on the
04:17field you know come including george including nick and and fred obviously like i think they're all
04:23going to be back on the field and looking to play 17 games this year the acl and i think
04:29you mentioned
04:29this earlier that you know you had one and what it was then as opposed to what it is now
04:34like when
04:35you did your acl it wasn't quite like career ending but how much different was it then to
04:40yeah i mean you were just mentioning now like nick bosa's had three of these and he's on the plane
04:45getting ready to play in a week yeah it's night and day difference i mean literally i was in a
04:48cast
04:48when i tore my acl from my hip to my toe for four months like like now you come out
04:54of the acl
04:55surgery and you're doing rehab as soon as they wake you up right you're you're already starting
05:00to do leg weights and all this getting some movement back in it they start right away electrical
05:04therapy there's all these different things that guys do now now it doesn't ensure that it's going
05:09to be stable and good for however long it is like some guys just are just so powerful man that
05:15the
05:15joint just can't hold up and nick might be one of those guys to have three you know in less
05:20than
05:20nine years right now brian baldinger is with us here uh the summit is coming officially at four
05:26o'clock will it and dibs with you here live jack's restaurant and bar in pleasant hill with a great
05:32crowd on hand and actually we should back up and say let everybody in on what you said to me
05:36right
05:37before we got started here you're like there is absolutely nothing like getting to do stuff like
05:42this in a live format wait these guys are in the studio every day and studio it's fun you get
05:47in
05:47there you're ready to go you're getting yourself amped up maybe a couple you come to a live
05:51setting like this and you're looking at everybody's looking at you and you know people show up you know
05:56we're going to show up your start it's just you feed off the energy it's just a it's just a
06:00live
06:00audience and we know what kind of passion 49er fans have and you're bringing that to this set right
06:06now yeah you guys got a job today listen to that listen to that it makes a difference yeah absolutely
06:12makes a difference listen you you mentioned uh the way coaches are going about uh their camps and
06:18how that's evolving and changing um i think we'd be remiss if we didn't have a little fun about a
06:24conversation that you essentially brought up on our airwaves last year oh boy here we go no we got
06:31to do it we got to do it and and i'm glad you're sitting next to him and not me
06:35all right you might be
06:36catching a stray there not at all not at all the you you explained yourself well the opinion was
06:41basically that you would take the combo of sirianni and jalen hurts yes over shanahan and
06:47brock purdy yes and the the idea for you was they've done it and and and the other two have
06:53it
06:53that's all it was that all came down to right and i wanted to actually follow up and ask you
06:57is that
06:58sort of a cut and dry black and white thing for you or does that evolve on an on an
07:04annual what do
07:05you think now no but like right after the playoffs last year what travels with kyle everywhere he goes
07:09that damn place his play calling okay but in in the biggest games whether it's atlanta against
07:16new england up 28-3 and and he's not the head coach but he's the play caller yeah yeah you
07:21know
07:21julio jones catching the ball on the sideline this thing should be over and it's not over you know and
07:25so it's it's not a knock on kyle but that has traveled with kyle from atlanta to here and it
07:33has
07:33stayed with them and it's just the fact that it is all about bringing home the vince lombardi
07:39sure sure and so when you can't do that it it it bothers him there's there's no question
07:44his dad went through the whole thing until those two years with elway at the very end
07:50when he won back-to-back super bowls and things changed about his dad
07:53and andy it was all about andy in philadelphia you couldn't win the the same thing they chased
07:59him out of town and then you win three in kansas city and all it all changes now you're in
08:03the hall
08:03of so it just changes and that's all it came down to was it and i guess a lot of
08:09the the flack that i
08:10caught was because it was so knee-jerk it was so immediate like no there's no there is no like
08:16nick
08:16uh and jalen won and he's the mvp of the game and they they ran kansas city out of the
08:22gym
08:22that day and so that's all it came down to i mean i ran a list uh yesterday we did
08:27this on the air
08:27yeah this is good kyle's in his 10th year there have been 10 coaches in the super bowl era who
08:33have coached 10 consecutive years with a team and not won a super bowl is that right yeah there's
08:39that marv levy okay by the way 101 years old so no rest in peace there marvin lewis is one
08:46yeah and
08:47uh i'm holmgren yes andy reed was one yeah who had who had done it and so i ran through
08:52the whole
08:53list of 10 and kyle shanahan is on that precipice and you mentioned andy reed he got 14 years before
09:00they finally ran him out he went to one super bowl but kyle's already been to two and two conference
09:06championship games so look it's not it's it's not a knock on kyle kyle's a great coach yeah to win
09:1012
09:11games with the team that was decimated as they were a year ago that's great coaching i would never
09:16call kyle anything less than a great coach now is nick say is nick sirian a better coach i don't
09:22know
09:22if he is or not um he hasn't accomplished some of the things but but you know he's the head
09:28coach
09:28he's not the play caller they've changed a lot of play callers during his tenure but he has put
09:34together some great staffs and he does have help from the front office that has done some miracle
09:39things that certainly has helped but it is still about when you get to that that game can you be
09:47at
09:47your very best and bring home the trophy i would love actually to to talk more about the entire
09:54framework of the nfc with you and hear what you think about some of these teams that we're talking
10:01about how big of a gap if there's a gap between the rams and seahawks and everybody else where do
10:07you
10:07see chicago and philadelphia your old team dallas i know a lot of people like this year
10:13i factor the niners into this like what what is kind of the way the the the lay of the
10:18land in your
10:19mind well if you go to the if you go to the nfc championship game last year with seattle and
10:24los
10:24angeles like los angeles couldn't stop seattle they couldn't stop jackson smith and jigba and so they
10:30had a great game i mean matt stafford threw for 350 yards and they went up and down the field
10:35they
10:35couldn't finish the game and so what did the rams do they the weakness was they didn't have corners
10:41that could stand up to the receivers that seattle had and some of these other teams had and they
10:45went out and got mcduffie and jalen watson and they fixed the the weakest position they had and then they
10:50went and traded for miles garrett and they traded a great player in jayton verse like jaylen versus a
10:55great player and he's going to have a long career um but they they went and got a better player
11:00and
11:01so they said we're it's the arms race we're just going to load up and in some ways seattle did
11:07that
11:07during the season last year they went out and got rashid shaheed they went out and got players during
11:12the season to help them get over the top in addition to some great young draft picks so it has
11:18seattle like
11:19they're right there that seattle is they they they're bringing back largely the same team they just
11:24you know just uh gave leonard williams a big big extension and he deserves it and earned it but
11:30you know they they've continued to and they got to replace a great coordinator right now but i think
11:36brian flurry is a good coach he'll be fine like i i think it's it's all pretty close between those
11:41two
11:41and then you throw in the niners are they in that next tier down and i'm actually one of the
11:47people who's really
11:47bullish on dallas i think that dallas has done some of the upgrades that you talked about and when you
11:53look at that next tier of teams in the nfc is it the eagles and dallas and the niners or
11:59the niners
11:59maybe one rung low well you know look i i played for dallas i kind of know that organization pretty
12:04good you know they they've had a 65 year history nobody has ever given up more points than the
12:11cowboys gave up last year they give 511 points all right it was by far the worst defense they've ever
12:17put on a field and they didn't win a game their first year you know when they came in this
12:21league
12:22they um they they couldn't play man coverage they couldn't play zone they couldn't play anything last
12:27year and so this parker you know this new defense coordinator is a good coach he's got a lot of
12:33work
12:33to do they've upgraded the talent around it they let their best player go in micah parsons there's no
12:38other micah parsons in this league they let him go and what they got and changed for him isn't the
12:44same
12:44guy but they'll be better on defense and offensively let's let's just see if george pickens behaves
12:51himself and you know because he didn't always do that in pittsburgh yep yep and jason garrett by the
12:57way is another one of those coaches who went 10 straight years without a super bowl okay now that
13:01you mentioned dallas i'm i'm just trying to think of the other people on that list yeah well i mean
13:05look dallas is going to be a better team they're going to be a good team i think philly is
13:08still i think
13:09the giants are going to be a lot better if malik neighbors is healthy like they're going to be a
13:13good
13:13offense and defensively if they fix the defensive tackle position uh they have a chance to be very
13:19good they were they had blown denver out they they surrendered a fourth quarter lead they had kansas
13:24city beat chicago beat they had all these games beat last year they beat the eagle soundly and then
13:29they just pissed these games away like they're going to be better under harbaugh um we don't want to burn
13:34you out dude come on back at five let's come on back come on back at five and hang out
13:38with the whole
13:38crew man brian baldinger everybody brian baldinger