S1 E11 - 49ers Look to Rebound vs. Giants After Texans Loss | The Saloon

Cam Inman joins "The Saloon" to break down the 49ers loss to the Texans, with interviews featuring LS Jon Weeks, and Giants reporters Kate Rooney and John Schmeelk preview San Francisco’s Week 9 matchup against New York.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey faithful, this is your team reporter Bree welcoming you
to our brand new podcast, The Saloon presented by Cisco.
Here you will get all of your latest news and
updates on the San Francisco forty nine Ers, including exclusive analysis,
interviews with coaches, players, and more.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Be sure to.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Subscribe on Sirius xm Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you
get your podcasts. Hey faithful, welcome back to The Saloon
presented by Cisco.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm your forty nine Ers team reporter.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Brionna Janelle, and in today's episode, there's going to be
a lot for you. We've got guests from across the country.
We're recapping week eight looking ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
To week nine in New York.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
First up, I'm talking to cam Enman from the Bay
Area News Group to recap everything that went down in
Houston against the Texans. All right, faithful, joining me on
the Saloon now is cam Inman. He is a member
of the Bay Area News Group and he travels with
the team to every game. He's inside and out knows
everything that's going on. Cam, thanks for joining me today.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thanks for having me. It's good to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
All right, let's talk about what happened in Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Cam from your perspective, or were some of the biggest
takeaways from this week ad game?

Speaker 4 (01:31):
You know, it's just it's one of those you don't
want to blame it on the ten am start time
because you can get sucked into that trap, and they've
overcome it in the past. But the whole first half
is so weird and sleepy, where they only have the
ball for five minutes and the defense is obviously going
to have growing pains this year, but they just couldn't
get off the field and so they come away with

(01:51):
the loss. And I mean, there were some spurts there
where you think, all right, they're going to be able
to rally. They're kind of staying close, and they just
never can get around to do it. And obviously there's
personnel issues because of injuries.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
You know.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
The week before they overcame it and did really well.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Against Atlanta with one of their best games of the year,
and then they followed up this with the worst game
of the year.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
And what I liked in the.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
Locker room was I talked to offensive and defensive players,
but I really liked how the offensive veterans, you know,
stepped up and kind of put to blame on themselves,
which is, you know, the valiant thing to do.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
But you know, it was both sides.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
The defense has to get off the field on third
downs regardless. The offense has to try to stay on
the field. And it was kind of a It's one
of those games where you just go, Okay, they just
never were in it, and that's that's too bad. They
have to figure out ways to get around it. And
you know the beauty of it is that's what happened
in the NFL. So this team has not lost back

(02:49):
to back games yet this season, and they have to
get back on that mentality going to the New York Gut.
It's a bounce back game. That was their dud in
Houston and now they got a rebound.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Definitely, was this game in Houston more about what the
Texans did right or what the forty nine ers couldn't
get going, or maybe a mixture of both.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
I mean, you do need to credit the Texans for
doing some mean, you knew that they were going to
have a great pass rush with Will Anderson and he
did really well. What I don't think we were expecting
was CJ. Stroud to be so efficient and being able
to kind of take advantage of the middle of the
field with his throws.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
And you know that's the middle of the field is
missing Fred Warner. It's obvious. I mean, anybody that knows
football knows the Niners are going to miss Fred there.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
It was glaring how they just couldn't get a pass
rush on him and Robert Sella's play calls. You tried
to do some blitzing early that wasn't working. He tried
to get the four man rush that wasn't working. So
I think the Niners know that they need to credit
the Texans for understand coming out with a smart game plan.
And you know, they did get the interception on Cjstrat
before halftime, it just they weren't able to, you know,

(03:54):
flip it into points. And so again, kind of your
fifteen games without an interception that's turned into points, and
you you know, any team needs to get takeaways and
converting get points on him, and the Niners aren't doing that.

Speaker 5 (04:07):
Still.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, even George Kittle acknowledged to CJ. Stratt after the game, like, hey,
you were slicing and dicing over on offense, and you
mentioned it earlier in the podcast that Kyle Shanahan even
called the first half a very tough and.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Unusual first half.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
What you see as the biggest issue early on for
this offense.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
I mean, it's hard to say they couldn't get in
a rhythm because they really didn't have chance. It was
just three and out, three and out, three and out.
They only had the ball for five and a half minutes,
and there were penalties, There was protection issues. You can
say Christian McCaffrey didn't run the ball. We didn't have
many opportunities around the ball, and that reflects everybody. Somebody
was saying that, well, mac Jones is a mobile en

(04:47):
out Rock Perdy been mobile.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Mac Jones. He had a nice scrambled to midfield.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
The problem was there was a penalty that negated that's framble.
So you can't have those laps of the in a
game where you don't have a lot of margin for victory,
and it's margin for error margin for victory. Regardless, the
Niners did not play well offensively or defensively, and.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
It showed up.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Speaking of mac Jones, he did have two touchdowns in
this game. Although it was sort of a slow start
for the beginning of the contest, but how would you
evaluate his performance overall and how he's been stepping up
to the plate each week that he's been, you know,
under center.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, he's won four games as Rock Parties fill in,
and he's done it in a way where the team
likes to rally around him. He's a he's a fun guy,
but he's also a very talented quarterback. And those those
touchdown passes the George Chittle and Jake Thomas right on
the money, although the one that Jake was intended for.
Kittle and Jake somehow caught this one hundred and ten

(05:46):
mile an hour.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Fastball as if he saw it in the World Series.
It was great.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
I really enjoyed Mac covering him for a couple of months.
And you know, the wild thing is back in twenty
twenty one when they're debating what to do with the
number three draft pick. I think I wrote a story
about Mac Jones like this was. I had no agenda
against Mac Jones. I still don't, but there was such
a ground swell of negativity.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Nobody wanted them to draft Mac Jones.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Kyle Shanahan may have wanted to, but there was this
really strange just perception that oh, don't bring him in here.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
This an Alabama quarterback.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
We want something different, we want, you know, anything else,
And now that you have him, it's just what a
godsend he's been because he's obviously knows how to run
an NFL offense. He has his teammates support, he's very talented,
and it's been a great addition for them to have
to have in placed. Well, brockets his toe healthy, so
you know, it's what you want out. I'm a backup quarterback.

(06:41):
I don't think there's any quarterback controversy that people like
to kind of inspire after any win. But at the
same time, you need Brock to be fully healthy before
he's back on that field.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, this is a total team effort, especially in that
quarterback room. I think he's a great fit for this
locker room. Now, looking a little bit at the defense,
they did take several hits in this game. Jordan Elliott
d Winter's sam O. How much did those losses affect
San Francisco's ability to, you know, rush the passer and
even stop the run against the Texans.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, it's it's too fair and it's unfair.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
To pin that on the on the on those injuries
they were like, you know, second half injuries for the
most part, and the Texans were doing damage throughout the game.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
And as much as you want the next about mentality,
and that's what it has to be.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
It's almost like the next the next next string up
because they've got from first string to second string almost
third string now. And the concerning thing about that is
we're only at the midway point of the season. Is
everybody going to come back? Know, so you need to
find guys that rise to the occasion, and they did
that against Atlantic, So it's not a lost pause, but

(07:46):
there's there's gonna be attrition every game and you just
hope it's nothing too serious.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
And they have to figure out a way to rush
the passer.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
There's going to be another young quarterback that's going against
him this week in New York and Jackson Dard who
can run the ball. He has one more rushing touchdown
than Christian McCaffrey, So that's concerning. But but they'll figure
it out. I mean, it's the fact that he brought
Robert saul in as a defensive coordinator. Everybody knows that's
very reassuring and that he's going to try to do
whatever he can to generate intense pressure, physicality, and there's

(08:19):
going to be growing pains. And the problem is they
have to overcome the growing pains by making key plays,
making key stops, not missing tackles like they did throughout
in Houston, not blowing assignments, staying in their gaps, and
following the orders.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
You highlighted defensive bag Diometer Lenora finally getting an interception
and stopping that drought of no interceptions for this forty
nine Ers defense. I want to hear your take on
the forty nine ers secondary. What have you liked so
far as the group continues to grow? As me intr
Week nine now, I.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
Don't know if there's anything I love about it. I
just I don't think. I've always been very much part
of the path brushes tied to the coverage, and the
path rush hasn't been there yet this season, and so
the coverage units aren't.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Making plays on the ball.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
They I get that for having to shuffle safeties in
and out trying to get this stop up to see
that's great because I think he hits it as a
presence fact there he has too many tackles this past game.
Diomed Or did make a play. Fine, this is great.
The first interception since his contract exceptions, first one about
a year. I mean, he made a really good play
on the ball. I mean that shows you.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Hey has an instinct on where the ball is going.
I enjoyed talking him about that.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
And then he was very honest after the game and
saying that he was he had a lack of awareness
about the time situation.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Now he's going to try to sort as he saw
that and that's you know, you want to be a planmaker, you.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Want to get points on the board for your team
when he probably should have slid set up a field
goal attempt.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
And that's part of the learning curve, growing pains.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
And he's you know, it's a young secondary still, so
they have to kind of figure some things out.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
And the best way to do that is you have
a pass.

Speaker 4 (10:00):
Rush where there's going to be you know, some balls
up there where they can go get And that's.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Just part of it. It's part of the growing pains
that they know they go through.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
No excellent point, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
Now, we can't talk about this week eight contest without
talking about National tight Ends Day. We've got two tight
ends reaching the end zone. There just how important was
George Kittle's return for this offense and also just tight
end pl lay as the offense is working through a
lot of injuries.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
They are working through injuries and the receiving corps is
not quite at full stat as this needs to be.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
So getting George back on the field the past two games,
you know, against Atlanta it with Carold it is a
great effort for their run game with his blocking and
I think the Falcons front contributed to that. So the
Niners new had to attack it. You know, just having
George on the field is just as presence of all, right,
there's another big playmaker you have to be aware of
the sites Christian and then Jake Tongas has come through

(10:53):
and he's got four touchdown catches this year, the first
four of his career.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
And it's really cool to see that those two guys that.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Come along, and then Luke Ferrell's comes through here and there,
so they have to help take the you know, the
pressure off receiving corps that hasn't delivered there.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
That they're so waiting for.

Speaker 4 (11:11):
Brandon and I Rickey Piercell's battling back through a knee injury.
John Jennings doesn't have his best season, but everybody knows
what he's capable of, and you know, and at the
same time, you're doing this with quarterback instability, and so
it's when you have a veteran tight end like George
Kittle on the field is an option that knows how
to read defenses and is on the same page.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
That's great to see With New.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
York next up, what's the biggest adjustment the forty nine
ers need to make in order to have that bounce
back game against the Giants in Week nine?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
So you know, the Giants are two and four to
and five.

Speaker 4 (11:47):
They won their last two home games, and they've kept
opponents under twenty the nine and half to score over
thirty for the first time this season.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
They have to scored over thirty this season.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I think they can do so because the Eagles showed
and they have two hundred yard rushers last week against
the Giants. So you need to get McCaffrey running the
ball a lot. And it's not just on Christian you
need to have great blocking. So the offensive line needs
to have a bounce back game. They are going to
face some very tough defensive ends and whether they when

(12:17):
they do need to pass. They've got to be aware
of that, maybe do some rollouts to kind of negate
some of that path. And you know, the Eagles had
a nice blueprint on how to attack the Giants and
they had a lot of success, so that the Niners
are not the Eagles offense. But the Niners can't know
how to steam things up, and I think it's there
for the taking. And then defensively, obviously, they just need

(12:38):
to play more sound than they did before. And Jackson
Dart doesn't have his buddy Cam Scattabo in the backfield.
There's a rookie running back. He just looked at at
the ankle unfortunately like Fred did, and so Scattaby is
going to have or excuse me, Jackson Dart's gonna have
a lot of pressure on him to make more plays.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
And putting that pressure on a rookie quarterback they can do.
So I mean, blitz him, do.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Whatever you got to do to get him off his mark,
and just make sure you have the right guys covered.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
So I think this is a game that the Niners
can take.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Obviously, if you're going on another long road trip, another
ten am start, they just have to come out ready
to go. From the get go. They can't be sleepy.
They got to be like hyped up. You're going to
be in New York. It's going to be a different atmosphere.
They're going to be hungry, so I expect a different result.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
All right, on to New York. Thank you so much
for joining me today.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Your take has been very awesome as the faithful sort
of digest that hard game in Houston.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
I appreciate your time today.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
All right, thanks for having me in the saloon.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
And now we're going to take it back to before
kickoff in Houston, I sat down with forty nine Ers
long snapper John Weeks to talk about his time with
the Texans and the impact he's making here in the bay.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
What's that, faithful?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
This is your forty nine Ers team reporter sitting down
with John Weeks right before the forty nine Ers versus
Texans matchup in Week eight. John, thanks for joining.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
Me today, for having me it's a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
You're getting ready to go back to Houston, a place
where you spent fifteen years playing a city in an
organization that shaped the player you are today. What's the
feeling like knowing you'll be back in that building? But
this time in the Redd and Gold.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
Yeah, it's a very strange feeling, but I'm very excited
to go back to see all the familiar faces, to
be able to say hi to everybody and just see
how everybody's doing.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
I'm very excited, as we should be fun. It would
be a good game.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
What's it like in the Bay Area? Tell me more
about that transition. What made this place the right time
and place to join the forty nine ers.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
The transition's been fantastic. The organization has been absolutely amazing.
To be given the opportunity to come play for such
a historic organization, a great coach, a great organization itself,
was something that I couldn't pass up, and I'm truly
grateful for the opportunity to come here and be a
part of what they've established and what they continue to

(14:45):
do here.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, and you're liking it.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
It looks like you're having The weather is amazing.

Speaker 6 (14:48):
I mean, if I had to, you know, the organization's unreal.
It's fantastic, the team, the locker room, everything's great.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
But the weather.

Speaker 6 (14:55):
From someone who was raised in Phoenix and lived in
Houston for the last fifteen years, the weather has been
absolutely unreal.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
And awesome.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
I know we should expect some crazy climate this weekend
over in Houston.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
You know it's gonna I think it's going to rain,
which is kind of on par for what Houston is.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
So Houston's a closed stadium though energy it is.

Speaker 6 (15:12):
A retractable roof. It will open, but the conditions have
to be absolutely perfect. So if there's any chance to
rain on Sunday, which I believe there is, they will
have it closed.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Interesting we'll look forward to that.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
But I was just saying, it looks like you're having
a lot of fun with Thomas Morristead and Eddie Pinero.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
It takes a group.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Effort for Eddie to have his perfect field goal record here.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
So far. What's it like working with those guys.

Speaker 6 (15:34):
It's been awesome. Both those guys are true pros. The
room is real relaxed, we all get along. It's just
been a pleasure to watch both of them work. Both
masters of their craft, so be able to sit back
and watch how they approach, you know, the punning and
kicking aspect from a mental aspect, physical aspect has been
really cool to watch.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Now.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I can't imagine that you've always wanted to be a
long snapper. Tell me about your football journey and how
it led you to snapping the ball and becoming one
of the best to do it.

Speaker 6 (16:03):
Yeah, well, thank you for that compliment, but you know,
it was it was something that was presented to me.
When I was a freshman in high school. A coach
came up to me and asked me if I wanted
to play college football. I think, as a young kid,
that's all of our goals at the time is to
play college with a chance to make it to the pros.
And you know, he told me, if I was willing
to put in the work, he would teach me a
skill that would get me to college. My mom was

(16:24):
an assistant principal. My father had just retired from the military,
so I, you know, as their son, wanted to do
whatever I could to help financially, understanding that college could
be expensive, and went and taught myself the skill.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
At the end of the year, I was the freshman
long snapper. He told me that I was.

Speaker 6 (16:42):
You know, he came up to me, so, okay, you
show me you're willing to put in the work, and
now I'll teach you. And he taught me the skill
and kind of took off from there. Now, did I
ever imagine it would take me to the places it's
taken me, No, not at all. But it's something I'm
incredibly grateful for. My coach, Ben Bernard back in Arizona
now coaches a lot of.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
Kids to be long snappers. So it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
See that's awesome. You just fell in love with the
game from there.

Speaker 6 (17:03):
And I mean I've always been in love with football,
played football as long as I can remember, so giving
me another skill to continue playing my career was kind
of a no brainer for me. And again, I never
imagine it would take me towhere it's taking me, But
here I am and I get to meet amazing people,
and this is great.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
That's really cool. Did you ever play any other positions?

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (17:21):
I was our wellhigh school. I did on high school.
It was our starting offensive tackle and defensive lineman.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Nice both sides of the ball.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
No, it was fun high school. High school was fun
for me.

Speaker 6 (17:31):
It was one of those where if there's one hundred
and twenty plays in the game, I played one hundred
of them, you know, so the ultimate just football love.

Speaker 5 (17:38):
Just loved doing high school football was so much fun.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Really cool, and it's taking you so far, You've built
a reputation as one of the most consistent players at
your position at thirty nine years old. How do you
maintain that level of precision just year after year.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
I think for me, mostly it's just self expectations, something
I expect out of myself.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
It's also something that the job requires.

Speaker 6 (18:00):
I think our job is all about consistency and dependability,
and I think one of the proudest things I can
say is that being able to do what I've done
for so long, I've been able to back up that
part of the job that it calls for that part
of the job, right, So I think just expecting it
out of myself and kind of never being satisfied always.

Speaker 5 (18:20):
How do we put it?

Speaker 6 (18:21):
A couple of the other guys say it, it's the
strive for perfection, but just to accept the consistency of
it kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
I like that, accepting the consistency. That's good. Yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Well, the forty nine ers will be up against a
very familiar face. Their former defensive coordinator, Dimiko Ryan's head
coach of the Texans. Now you played under his leadership
for a couple of seasons. Tell me about his impact
on that team. Did he ever talk about his days
at the forty nine Ers?

Speaker 5 (18:46):
Oh he did all the time.

Speaker 7 (18:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
One of the funny stories I have about Cap.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
I mean, so I was fortunate enough to not only
play for coach Dimiko, but be his teammate for the
first two years of my career.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Oh wow.

Speaker 8 (18:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
And when I walked into that building, you know, and
you're getting used to the building, the first thing guys
would do is point to Dimiko and say, Okay, that's
the captain of the team. What he says goes and
that's Cap. So we all called him Cap. So transitioning
from Cap to coach Ryan's was hard, right, but one
of the one of the first things he did, which
we all gave him a hard time for, was he

(19:18):
actually broke his Saturday night meeting. His rallying cry would
be Texans, and he'd all say, swarm. Well, he gives
us this really good speech and then out of nowhere
he goes Niners and we just kind of we laid
into him.

Speaker 5 (19:33):
He gives such a good speech, and he.

Speaker 6 (19:35):
Had the room ready to roll, and then he just
kind of slipped back into I think his old habits.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
But yeah, you can't fall him for that after so
many years here.

Speaker 6 (19:44):
There are not enough words to talk about what an
amazing human being he is and how lucky that organization
is to have him back and leading those men.

Speaker 5 (19:53):
And I don't have enough good things to say about Tomiko.
He's just the most stand up human being I've ever met.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
In my life.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
This is gonna be a fun matchup on Sunday.

Speaker 6 (20:01):
It is really You can see a lot of similarities
in both teams, so it'll be exciting.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
John, you were also a leader for that team. I
don't want that to go unnoticed. Longest tenured Texans player
Walter Payton, Man of the Year nominee in twenty twenty three.
Your character is just as strong and consistent as your game.

Speaker 5 (20:18):
Well, thank you.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
With that being said, we're approaching that might cause my
clead season and it's your first time here with the
forty nine ers. Are you participating this year and is
there a specific cause you're looking at?

Speaker 6 (20:27):
Yeah, yeah, we are participating, and we're excited with the
organization that we paired up with. But you know, something
that my wife and myself have always been passionate about
is just trying to help kids as much as possible,
and we got really involved with an organization out in
Houston called Child Advocates, which dealt with foster kids and
getting to meet all these young kids and hearing stories

(20:47):
about the struggles that they've gone through and kind of
what it's been like.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
For them growing up through the system and stuff.

Speaker 6 (20:52):
It's just something we became super passionate about and something
that we wanted to continue to help with. So we're
super passionate about helping kids in general as much as
we can, and we're excited with the group that.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
We're working with.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Awesome, you've brought such a great energy over here to
the Bay Area. Now. Forty nine Ers fans are known
for packing out opponents stadiums. There's likely going to be
a lot of Niners fans in Houston this second.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Any recommendations for them. Barbecue are best.

Speaker 6 (21:16):
Places to be at, man, I mean just asking you
shall receive what do you guys want to know? The
best barbecue in Houston, in my opinion, is done by
my friend Ronnie Killing. He's got a couple of amazing
barbecue places called Killing's Barbecue. Good Company Barbecues, a solid spot,
our favorite Mexican restaurant in Houston was l Tampo.

Speaker 5 (21:36):
That place is awesome. What else you need?

Speaker 6 (21:40):
I mean, unfortunately, it's supposed to be kind of rainy,
so you're gonna get the full Houston effect. Bu Rice
Village kind of near the stadium where the University of
Rice is, is an awesome little area. I mean, there's
just a lot of great places in Houston, a lot
of great food, a lot of great places to.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
Go and catch college football if you want to watch
some football before so it'll.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Be fun, awesome. Well, the Niners fans are in free
treat this weekend. John, thank you so much for joining
us today, being amazing.

Speaker 5 (22:05):
Thank you, Misel, thanks for having me now for.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
An exclusive look at that Texans game. Our studios team
was there to capture all the action. Here are the
sites and sounds from week eight.

Speaker 7 (22:16):
Oh Loome, not a good bye mane, not a guy bye?
You know, no no.

Speaker 9 (22:42):
Sixteen no sist what of all I got?

Speaker 10 (23:21):
John?

Speaker 7 (23:22):
Right Bay? Thank you, great kjege, Next time, great time.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Day. Now it's time to look ahead to the Giants
this Sunday. We've got some voices from New York joining
us on the podcast. First up, I catch up with
Kate Rooney, who spent some time covering the forty nine
Ers as a beat writer here in the Bay and
is now covering all New York sports on the East Coast.

(25:17):
Then I talked to Giants insider John Schmelck to get
some more insight on the matchup. Check it out here,
all right, faithful joining me on this loon now is
Kate Rooney that Picks eleven sports reporter over in New York.
But you might recognize her because she covered the forty.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Nine Ers for a few seasons. Kate, thanks for joining.

Speaker 11 (25:33):
Us today to see you. So I've good to be
back talking some forty nine Ers football too.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
You've covered both the forty nine Ers and now the
Giants this season.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
How do you compare the coaching, the culture, and just
that outlook for each of these two teams? Yeah, and
you have some really different franchises.

Speaker 11 (25:50):
It's been so interesting for me because the forty nine
Ers was the first professional football team that I covered,
and they set the bar really high in terms of
establishing an incredible culture, both under Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch,
but also under the ownership. And then when I came
to New York, the Giants were very much still trying
to figure things out under head coach Brian Dable and
GM Joe Shane. Now they've been there for a few
years already, so you're starting to get a sense of

(26:11):
what they're all about. But they've had some issues with personnel.
They haven't quite been able to build the roster that
they wanted. They started off with a quarterback they inherited
and Daniel Jones, so it's really always has been about
making do with what they had, and now this is
sort of the first time that they were able to
work with their own roster, and that includes Russell Wilson
Jameis Winston. Bringing those guys in, they really wanted to

(26:31):
make that switch at quarterback.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
But of course their draft class.

Speaker 11 (26:35):
Jackson, Dart Camp, Scataboo, these guys have really helped shift
the culture there. Last year, I think the Giants players,
the veterans who've been around for quite some time, were
feel a little dejected, not really sure about the direction
of where this team could go. And this was a
little bit of approven year for dave Ball and Shane.
Their draft this year was absolutely huge for them. In
so far, it seems to be working out because the

(26:55):
spark that has been provided by Dart, by Skataboo, and
a lot of people are still encouraged by the play
of Abdul Carter, who was their number three overall pick.
I think that things are starting to shift there and
they're working towards building a culture that they hope will
be comparable to the forty nine ers, because as I
see at the forty nine ers are really the gold standard.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah yeah, Kate, from your time in the Bay, how
do you see head coach Kyle Shanahan responding after a
tough loss against the Houston Texas.

Speaker 11 (27:23):
Well, that's one thing about Shanahan. He has never shied
away from responding after a loss. There have been so
many times where, over the course of the Shanahan era,
the forty nin Ers didn't get off to the greatest starts.
In fact, that's kind of been a knock on Shanahan
during his career in San Francisco is that sometimes they'll
start in the season with these really high expectations and
end up losing three of their first five games and
then going on to make the NFC Championship. Right, So

(27:44):
he has really as a coach taught his players to
believe that they are never out of it, that they
can always bounce back.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
And I think they've shown that.

Speaker 11 (27:52):
This season as well, because they came back and won
after losing to Jacksonville. They came back and one after
losing to Tampa Bay and losing Fred Warner. No reason
they think that they can't come back and win this
week as well, even though last week's loss was really discouraging,
and you look at how banged up the team is
even more after that.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Certainly a lot of things that they have to overcome.

Speaker 11 (28:10):
But if there's any team that has the faith and
the structure in place to overcome that, I do believe
it's the forty nine ers.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
All right, now, key take us to New York.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
How do you see this locker room responding to a
two and six start?

Speaker 2 (28:24):
How are the.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Giants getting it going, especially with a lot of you
players on the roster.

Speaker 11 (28:29):
Yeah, well, I think it's been a really great locker room.
I've been really impressed. You know, during training camp, it's
always hard to gauge because every team is oh and
O right.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Every team feels encouraged.

Speaker 11 (28:40):
And positive, and they work so hard and they think
that this is the year they're going to improve and
break through.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
For the Giants, I think that even though their.

Speaker 11 (28:48):
Record might not have them atop the power rankings, they
feel that they have been competitive in every single game
that they at least had a chance to win in
every single game. Now, of course, closing out some of
those games has proved to be a really big issue
for them, and they are not without a great deal
of flaws, but the locker room throughout it all has
been much more positive, much more energetic, and just overall

(29:09):
much more fun. So it's going to be interesting to
see how this week is when we get into the
locker room, because I think losing Camp Scataboo is a
really big glow to this team. That being said, they
believe in themselves and they know that they are working
on building something, and so I expect them to have
that attitude going forward. They have a tough schedule, and

(29:30):
they always knew that there were gonna be a lot
of challenges on this schedule. But if they can knock
out a few more wins, if they can maybe come
finish the season five hundred or with a winning record,
it's not impossible. It's gonna be tough, but it's not impossible.
They believe they can do it, and I think it's
going to be one of the more interesting storylines for
the rest of the season is how they handle that.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Now, now you've covered young quarterbacks before, what stands out
about Jackson Dart so far?

Speaker 11 (29:56):
I was pretty impressed with Jackson Dart from the first
day he walked into the Giant's training camp this summer.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
He has a poise well beyond his years.

Speaker 11 (30:04):
And you know, there's a fine line between being cocky
and having swagger, and he is right on that fine
line in the best possible way. He is unbelievably confident
in his own skill set and his ability to produce
and make plays, but without being over cocky about it, and.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
So far he's backed it up.

Speaker 11 (30:24):
So he has the right attitude, he says all the
right things, and he has the right demeanor. As far
as what he actually does on the field, it's still
a lot of work, right, Still a lot that he
has to learn about what it takes to play in
the league. I mean, he played at Ole Miss, which
is a very quarterback friendly system under Lane Kippen, and
the NFL whole different opera completely. But for Jackson Dart,

(30:45):
He's been incredibly impressive in terms of his decision making.
We saw right away what an upgrade that was over
what we saw from Daniel Jones last year, although of
course he's doing well in Indie now and even Russell
Wilson in those first three games of the season when
Jackson Dart came in. I believe he's the first rookie
quarterback with five eight passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns

(31:06):
through his first five games. Only one start has he
not had a rushing touchdown. I think that just shows
his versatility, his toughness. He's not afraid to play physical,
and he is not afraid to take his time, let
a play develop, go through his reprogressions, and make the
best decision impossible.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
And we've seen that.

Speaker 11 (31:24):
So now we just got to see can he be
more efficient all the time? Can he be clutch because
we haven't been able to see these Giants necessarily close
out all the games they wanted to close out, And
can he just continue to improve making those good decisions.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
On that Notekate, Let's take a closer look at his
forty nine Ers Giants matchup. What do you think are
going to be some of the biggest challenges when the
Giants get in San Francisco this Sunday, Well, the.

Speaker 11 (31:50):
Number one biggest challenge is going to be containing Christian McCaffrey,
because the Giants run defense has been let's just put
it mildly porous this season.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
They are the third worst run defense in the league.

Speaker 11 (32:01):
They're allow one hundred and forty eight point nine running
yards per game, and here they are playing arguably the
best running back in the league. Christian McCaffrey, of course,
also a huge threat in the past game too. This
is probably my favorite stat of the season three but
Christian McCaffrey is number two in receptions in the ENF
all this season, behind Jamar Chase. As if you didn't
already know what a dual threat this guy is. But yeah,

(32:23):
the Giants run defense has just not been enough to
par this season, and as far as the best way
for Shanhan to respond, it's obviously get the ball on
Christian McCaffrey's hands as much as humanly possible. I fully
expect that to be the basis of their game plan,
especially with the way the Giants run defense has performed.
That's what it's really going to come down to, and
if the Giants can figure out a way to stop him,

(32:44):
it's gonna be a lot tougher for the forty nine
Ers to score.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
If they can't, then I'm not sure they have much
of a chance. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, forty nine Ers fans.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Christian McCaffrey is leading and rushing yards and receiving yards.
As if you didn't know he was a dual threat.
Now when it comes to the forty nine Ers game
planning against New York from the Giants' perspective or who
could be an X factor in this matchup?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
That and I'm stand's got to keep an eye on.

Speaker 11 (33:08):
Yeah, well, I think this week it's going to be
Tyrone Tracy. And it's interesting because the Giants have had
their share of injuries as well. No one is as
banged up as the forty nine Ers, but they've had
to already rely on a lot of backups throughout the season,
and their offense has been depleted from the beginning with
injuries to Malik Neighbors to Darius Slayton in the receiving corps.
Tyrone Tracy, second year player, showed a lot of promise

(33:32):
last season and before Skataboo really started.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
To break out. I think a lot of people thought.

Speaker 11 (33:37):
Tracy was going to carry the heavy rumload on this team,
So now is a chance for him to show that,
to get back in there, show that he can be
a number one tied back handle that workload. And if
he is able to contend with the number of yards
that Christian McCaffrey is able to put up, maybe the
Giants can hang around more. Maybe they have a better

(33:57):
chance of making some offensive moves in this game that
a lot of people are kind of counting them out
for after all those injuries to their offense.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Definitely, no, Kate, we're coming up on week nine.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
What will define success for both of these teams as
we head towards the second half of the season.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
I'll start with the forty nine Ers.

Speaker 11 (34:15):
The unfortunate thing about being one of the all time
greatest franchises right is that anything other than the Super
Bowl would is not acceptable.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
It's a nice problem to have.

Speaker 11 (34:26):
But when you look at just the way this roster
has been utterly depleted for the forty nine Ers, it
is realistically it's really hard to imagine them winning the
Super Bowl. It would be one of the greater stories
in NFL history about overcoming the odds.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I think that being said, we already.

Speaker 11 (34:43):
Talked about the culture under call Shanahan, the winning culture,
the physical brand to play that the forty nine ers have,
their craftiness on offense, and last week notwithstanding, I have
actually been really impressed by what Robert Sala has done
with this young defensive unit and how creative he's been
and trying to replace Bosa and Warner and what he's
been asking of these younger guys on that side of

(35:04):
the ball.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
And I think they've done a really good job.

Speaker 11 (35:06):
They've overperformed considering so I don't think it's unreasonable to
think that the forty nine ers could make the playoffs
and surprise some people they have. They're still in a
really good position in the NFC West, right, so if
they can keep that up and keep winning divisional games,
that'll really help them.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Trade deadline going to be crucial.

Speaker 11 (35:26):
Obviously, they're not going to be willing to part with
any of their major important pieces, but how can they
creative and pick up some guys who can help this
roster go the distance? And for the Giants, I actually
think it's kind of similar. It would take a little
bit of a miracle for them to be a playoff team,
but they want to proceed as though they have a
winning culture. They want to get the pieces in place
around Jackson Dart and really invest in this team. So

(35:49):
I expect them to be very active at the trade
deadline too. I think their best case scenario would be
like a five hundred finish, right, and that would be
a vast.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Improvement over last season.

Speaker 11 (36:03):
And if they were to be able to know that
they are getting Camp Scataboom Malik Neighbors back next year
and have their young defensive players take a step forward,
that would be a huge step in the right direction.
All the Giants fans are asking for is a little
bit of hope. I think they've already gotten that, and
if they can finish out this season strong, it'll basically
be a win for them this season.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
All right, thank you, She got the awesome coverage from
coast to coast.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
You really appreciate you joining us on the saloon today.
It's been a lot of fun. Thanks free.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
All right, faithful joining me from the New York Giants
is John Schmilck. John, thanks for joining us on the
saloon today.

Speaker 8 (36:35):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
We are talking to the faithful here, John, What do
forty nine Ers fans need to know about this Giants
team heading into Week nine?

Speaker 10 (36:43):
Now, Well, I love spending time in a good saloon,
first of all, so I'm very happy to be with you.
I think right now the Giants are unfortunately trying to
chase the forty nine Ers in terms of the number
of players that are injured and aren't being able to
take the field, which is obviously not great. Cam Scataboo
out for the year, or at least we think he's
out for the year with that really gruesome angle injury
last week. If you haven't seen it, don't go and

(37:05):
find it. It is not a fun thing to look at.
In the secondary. On defense, Paulson Adebo and Paulson A
deebl their starting corner really their number one corner, and
Javon Holland both the free agent editions last offseason. Holland's
did one of their safeties. They both missed last week's game.
Then they lose Cordell Fly to a concussion during the
game and another backup cornerback or at Green, so towards

(37:27):
the end of the game they were starting Corey Black,
who was a seventh round pick last year, got caught
at the end of training camp, got signed to the
Jets practice squad, and the Giants had just brought back
earlier last week, so they really banged up in the secondary.
They lost their starting running back Camp scatban with league
neighbors obviously lost of the year earlier in the year
with that knee injury.

Speaker 8 (37:48):
So they're trying to figure things out.

Speaker 10 (37:50):
But I think they're probably a little bit better than
their record would indicate. They had a lead against both
Dallas and Denver this year and lost both those games late.
So they're talented, they're young, they're feisy, They've an exciting
young quarterback, but they are dealing with some injuries on
other sides of the ball.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
Yeah, if any team knows about working through injuries, it's
definitely the forty nine ers, So we feel you on
that front. The loss of camp Scataboo is obviously the
news of the weekend. How does the Giants offense go
from here? Who needs to step up?

Speaker 10 (38:19):
Yes, you mean Tyron Tracy And he was a draft
pick from the in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft,
and before they drafted camp scattab he was slated in
to be their starting back this year. He had a
thousand yards from scrimmage as a rookie. He's a converted
wide receiver from his college days. Played running back his
final year in college at Purdue after being a wide
receiver at Iowa. Came in the really nice job last

(38:42):
year for the Giants is running back, so I think
he had a lot of time on Tracy.

Speaker 8 (38:44):
You'll get some Devin Singletary as well.

Speaker 10 (38:47):
Tracy, again a converted wide receiver, also good in the
passing game, so it'll have a different feel for the
running game. Cam scatted with more of a downhill powerback.
Tracy more of a slasher. But I think he'll be
an effective runner, even though he's a different type of
runner than Scataboo.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Yeah, I want to hear about quarterback Jackson Dart. He's
got a few more reps than now as we enter
week nine. How have you seen his confidence in command
grow week after week?

Speaker 10 (39:11):
Oh, there's been never issue with this confidence. This guy's
got swagger, he's got moxie. He believes in himself. He's
got that in spades. And the best way I could
describe Jackson dar is that he's a playmaker. He'll figure
out a way to find extra time in the pocket.
He has a great pocket presence in spidy sense where
he can kind of sense where the rushers are move around,

(39:31):
buy extra time.

Speaker 8 (39:33):
He likes to step up in the pocket.

Speaker 10 (39:34):
He'll throw on the move and he's been great on
third down, So when you get into these third and
medium third and lungs, he's been able to buy some
time with his legs. He has good vision to see
guys down the field, wants to play breaks down. Now
he has work to do in terms of getting from
one read to the next, keeping his eyes up if
the pressure gets to him a little bit, finding guys

(39:56):
when he's in the pocket.

Speaker 8 (39:57):
But the playmaking skills.

Speaker 10 (39:58):
Are there as he tries to figure out what he's
doing in terms of figuring out the mental part and
kind of the art of playing quarterback in the National
Football League. But he's certainly given the Giants team and
the organization and the fan base a huge burst of
energy where there's a lot of now optimism for the
future that the Giants might have their quarterback moving forward.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Well, looking at that Giants Eagles game, the Giants did
give up five sacks. How do or what's the key
to protecting Dart against the forty nine ers front this week?

Speaker 10 (40:27):
So they have one of the best pass rushes in football.
And then you had the Eagles last week who managed
five sacks as well. So that was a lot to
do with Jackson Dart holding the football. You know, I
talked about Jackson Dart's playmaking ability. Some of that has
him holding the ball a little bit. He held the ball.
His average time to throw last week was three point
six seconds, which is extremely high. He only threw eight

(40:48):
passes in the game where he got the ball out
an under two and a half seconds. So if the
Niners can stay with their pass rush and bring Dart down,
which has kind of been the challenge this year where
he's been again very elusive in the pocket, he will
hold the football a little bit. The Giants offensive line
has been better this year. It's been an Achilles he
o for this organization over the past I don't know

(41:08):
ten seasons, but this year has been better. Andrew Thomas
came back in Week three, played around twenty snaps. Since then,
he's been a full time left tackle. He's played like
a pro bowler, and since then, the offensive line has
played better both in run blocking and pass protection. But
again we'll hold the ball and that should give some
opportunities to the Niners pass rush. I know they're blitzing

(41:30):
a little bit more. Dartsman pretty good against the blitz.
We'll see how they handled that this week.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
All right, Well, looking at the defensive side of the ball,
some injuries allowed some younger players to fit into the
secondary there.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
How do you see those.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Players adjusting to those rules? And what is your take
on the Giant's secondary.

Speaker 10 (41:47):
Yeah, I think if you look at their defense, it's
been That's the level of the defense that's been a
problem this year. There's been too many free runners, too
many guys running open. Not blown assignments necessarily, but the
guys in the secondary not finishing plays. You know, I
kind of talked in my first answer about the injuries
back there. I don't know if Paulson Adebo's going to
be back this week. I don't know if Cordo Flatt's
going to be back this week. I don't know if

(42:07):
Javon Holland is going to be back this week. So
those are three huge injuries. If Holland can't go, it'll
be Dame Belton and Tyler Nuban again as safety, and
then at corner. Honestly, it's going to be Deontay Banks
in one corner. The other one we'll have to see.
It could be Corey Black. I'm sure the Giants are
going to bring a lot of guys for tryouts this week.
See who else they can bring in to try to

(42:28):
help with that cornerback spot, because right now that is
a source of weakness in the secondary. And if there's
one spot to attack right now, it would be the
Giant cornerback spot given all their injuries.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
There, John, you're New York.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Giants faced Saquon Barkley in week eight and are now
facing Christian McCaffrey in week nine. What adjustments does the
defense need to make for this game plan against San Francisco.

Speaker 10 (42:50):
Yeah, look, and you look at the Giants overall rush
defense numbers, they're not good. Last week, the Eagles had
gone five straight games for rushing fewer than ninety yards.
It was their longest streak since two thousand and five,
and they went for two hundred and seventy four yards
last week against the Giants rush defense. The Eagles put
on their big boy pants. They played multiple tight ends
six offensive linemen and Frankly ran the ball down the

(43:12):
Giants throats and they got bullied a little bit. The
Giants linebackers got blocked in the game. They were Eagles
offensive line were able to get to the second level,
and I think they just have to do a better
job of playing physical upfront for one, and then at
the linebacker spot, get to your gaps. Don't let these
linemen get to the second level on these linebackers and
create those big spaces. Because look, Christian McCaffer when he's healthy,

(43:36):
and he's healthy this year, he's probably the best running
back in the National Football League, second in the NFL
in receptions, not to mention his ability to run it.

Speaker 8 (43:42):
So that's the guy.

Speaker 10 (43:43):
I'm sure in the Giants game plan meetings this week
that's going to be circled with the big red sharpie
and they're going to say, we have to devise on
the sky at all time. But the Giants have to
be more physical and then they'd be more simon sound
to prevent the type of the wus that they had
last week against the Eagles in the run game.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, definitely a lot of areas of the game to
look at as we get closer to Sunday's game, John,
what will be the deciding factor for the Giants to
pull off a win at home against the Niners.

Speaker 10 (44:09):
I think it's figuring out how to slow down Kyle
Shanahan's scheme right, And you know, we know what a
offensive genius he is. And even though they keep having
mounted injuries on offense, whether it's Spock per quarterback, no
Brandon Ayuk, no rookie piersol Juwan Jennings missed a lot
of time. You're bringing Kendrick Born off the scrap peep.
He's going for one hundred yards. Kyle Shanahan knows how

(44:31):
to put together an offensive game plan. He's one of
the two or three best offensive coaches in the National
Football League. So I'm sorry he looked at that Eagles
table last week with the Giants struggled. He looked at
the fourth quarter against the Broncos where the Giants gave
up thirty three points in one quarter against the Denver Broncos,
and he's gonna find some things that he can try

(44:51):
to exploit.

Speaker 8 (44:52):
So you're gonna have to close those holes.

Speaker 10 (44:54):
Close those gaps, be as simon sound and to your point,
try to contain Christian McCaffrey and play good defense, keep
yourselves in the game, hope against a banged up Niners defense.
No Fred Warner, no Dick Bosa Jackson dark can make
enough plays to keep you in this game and try
to walk away with a victory.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
A lot to look at as we head towards Sunday, John,
thank you so much for joining me and I'll see
you in New York very soon.

Speaker 8 (45:16):
Looking forward to it. Thanks Breanna.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
All right, that'll do it for this episode, Faithful, thank
you so much for joining us. Us on the Saloon
presented by Cisco. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast
on YouTube, Siria, s XM, and your favorite podcast platform.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
We'll see you next time, and go Niners.