January 16, 2026 • 20 mins
Larry Krueger, radio host on KNBR in the Bay Area, sits down with Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk some smack while looking ahead to tomorrow's big playoff game.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us right now on the radio show. I know
this guy knows where these sound bites came from. You
feeling now, Larry Krueger K and B are YouTube superstar.
First not to got to know Larry what twelve thirteen
years ago with Jerry Radnich doing the radio show on
the Leader, K and BR in San Francisco, and now
here he is hanging out with us on a Friday
(00:21):
night in Seattle, getting ready for another monster game with
the Hawks and Niners.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I warre you, man, dude, it is great to be
here with you guys. I'm loving this city so far,
really enjoying myself. Yeah. Man, this is gonna be a
phenomenal weekend for the forty nine ers. Wow, for the fans,
They're gonna pack the house. We got some here and
it's gonna be awesome. Man, we cannot wait to kick
(00:48):
your guys ast. Okay, well, let's let's talk about that.
It's gonna be epic, fellas.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Let's tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
About that for a second, because, honestly, if you had
to bet every penny you own yes on this game tomorrow,
you're telling you're taking the Niners on the money line
tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
No, doubt, you're full of crap, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
One team has a rookie coach, one team has a
quarterback with a big arm who turns the ball over.
The other team's got a quarterback that walked off the
field against Patrick Mahomes a leader, and Kyle Shanahan, who's
probably a future Hall of Fame coach having his best year.
The forty nine ers, I get it, Dave, I get it.
I get it. They don't look on paper very good.
(01:28):
But if you think this is the same defense that
you guys played even two weeks ago, I know that's shocking,
but it's not.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How is it different. That defense had.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Injured linebackers who fell off seventeen tackles. That team couldn't
tackle CA nine couldn't tackle Sharbonnay. They've been replaced by
Eric Kendricks, Garrett Wallow, Marquis Siegel at safety, and those
guys are fresh and healthy now. Philly couldn't exploit them.
We'll see if Clint Kubiak can exploit them, because I
(02:05):
think they're They definitely can be exploited in the past game.
But they're way better against the run than the team
that you saw on week team who that fell off
of tackles and missed a ton.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
God Dick, He's talking about Week eight team like it
was six months ago.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean, I understand. I appreciate that. I get I
appreciate the confidence. I'll just I mean, we're gonna stick
to facts. I mean, tell me how many position groups
are better for San Francisco than they are for Seattle.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I mean it's a good point, but ultimately it
comes down to the efficiency of your quarterback and how
well can you play. I think the forty forty Niners have.
Christian McCaffrey. Is he better or worse than Canaine and Sharponnay.
I think he's better. He's had a better career, He's
(02:57):
a better player. I mean, he's had a better year
those guys. Would you would you not say?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I would say I would say, I would say in
the last I would say most of the season, yes,
I'd say in the last month, sharbon Ay and Walker
have been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, no, no, no question.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I mean, you know you catch him on the right day,
Sharpennay looks better than Walker to me, some days Walker
looks better than Sharponay. But Christian McCaffrey, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Is better than those guys.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But I mean it's like it's not about you know,
runners against runners, it's runners against run defense, you know
what I mean. It's it's your run defense, which is awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I get great respect for what you guys have on
the defensive side of the ball. And I asked Kyle
Shanahan about it. I said, Kyle, what I think it
was Tuesday? I said, what makes this defense so good?
And I asked him about it a couple of weeks ago,
but I asked him again. I said, I kind almost
apologize for asking him the second same question twice. But
he made a good point, he said, John Schneider, He's like,
this defense across the board is in year two and
(03:55):
they don't just have great personnel. They have great personnel
that really fits Yattle's scheme, like the Drake Thomases of
the world and the and the you know, the Loves
of the world and the you know, the I mean
two defensive tackles. Leonard Williams Murphy. I mean, these guys
are ideal e man, worry. I mean, they're ideally suited
(04:17):
to run these roles. So it's a really really good defense.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I just think.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
They Ultimately though, the forty nine Ers played horrible in
that game, and they what what happened in that game
was that you guys have a great defense, right, but
you also dominated the time of possession.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, thirty eight minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right, So if you do that for defense, looks like
the eighty five Bears, right.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And then yeah, but they did that partially because of
the offense. I mean the offense, Larry. Actually, I told
you this last night, and it's about time.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You start listening to me.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
By the way, I'm sick and tired of going on
your show and you're not listening to me. Okay, so
learn something. There were three drives. My wife would really
I know that. Yeah, this whole commentary. I must call her.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Next when this show's over.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Okay, Seahawks had three drives in that game where they
did not score you, yet they took one third of
the game off the clock. The first drive of the
game where Darnell misses a white up player, which doesn't
happen very often. Myers missed two kicks in the same game,
doesn't happen very often. If we're just sitting here as
impartial observers, which were not Okay, you're a Niner lover.
(05:24):
I'm a Seahawks lover. Let's just get it out there
and admit it. We're both capable of fair analysis. But
we're both fans, Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
A medium member. No, you're not. You've got your.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Years of Princess Leah costume, You've got your head.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean, let's be real.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
First of all, Hawk Blogger told you that two nights ago,
number one and number two, I did.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I had you on my YouTube channel, took me for
a turn of your house. I've seen Princess Leah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I'm just trying to figure out how far up Shanahan's
ass your head really is, Okay, because I know my
head's up the Seahawks ass.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, you might be further than me.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
But that game, the mistakes the Seahawks made, I feel
like we're more about the Seahawks making mistakes than you
forcing mistakes to the miss field goals, missing Zach Sharberney.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
That's got nothing to do with you.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That's got everything to do with them, and I don't
see him doing that again tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, okay, but you know there's one thing about this matchup,
and you guys know it it's a division game.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Was a division game two weeks ago?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, no, But I'm just saying these division games you
can kind of closer, closer, everything knows one another, right.
Greg co Sell went on the radio.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, he was on the day by the way too, not.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Necessarily our station, but the other station, and he he
made a point that's just kind of a smaller FM
deal off to the side, not like KMBR with the
big blowtorch, but another station. Anyway, Greg Cosell made the
point that it's really really hard to dominate a team
physically the way that the Hawks dominated the Niners physically
(06:57):
in Week eighteen. It's hard to do that back to
back right now. I personally, why do I like the
forty Niners in this game? I like the four Nears
in this game because I really believe Kyle Shanahan is
a better coach than McDonald's. I think he just out
coached Fangio. And I think McDonald is a young coach,
is a great young coach, but I think Kyle Shanahan
owes him one. I think Kyle Shanahan's gonna scheme up
(07:19):
some space. You're right, though, the defense was overwhelmed. Me
if we just looked at Week eighteen and said, is
this a template for this for this playoff game. I
wouldn't have flown up here on a bird and I
wouldn't be sitting here right now if I really thought
Week eighteen was indicative. I'll say this about the Niners.
It's a it's a different deal this time. It's like,
(07:41):
is this one of the best Niner teams? No, but
it might be the run might be the kind of
the grittiest. I mean like, is this Mariners team that
you saw this year? Have they had better teams?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Possibly? Yes, But man, there was a great factor to
the Mariners at the end of the year, and I
just feel like there's a there's a grit factor to
this Nighter team. I'll just say this, there's no The
feeling in their locker room this week wasn't like, oh
my god, we're going into a house of horror. Sure,
it was like, hey, man, we got this. We're doing this.
(08:14):
They're in our way. We're moving them out of the way.
So the Niners expect to be here. The Hawks expect
to be here. I think the most amazing part about
the matchup is that both sides have unbelievable confidence, and
somebody's confidence is going to be shaken by the end
of that game.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Larry Krueger joining us pre and post medium Maven from
the Bay Area up here on a bird to the
Pacific Northwest. I'm wanna get your take on Sam Donald
because the hate is real. And it's not just national hate.
I mean there's local hate for Sam Darnald, despite the
fact he is the best quarterback win loss record in
the last three years in the NFL. The yards per dropback,
(08:52):
which our man Hugh Millan has explained to us many
many times, is the most predictive of winning than any
other quarterback stat. He's number one in the NFL all
this season. He's one big games. He beat the Rams
a few weeks ago, coming back with a couple of
late scores to win that game.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
He'd beat Green Bay last year in a big game.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Why does none of the positive stick to Sam Donald
and yet all the negative sticks to Sam Donald.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You know the old saying if your premise is wrong
or your conclusion by definition is going to be wrong.
I don't know that your premise is right. I mean,
he Minnesota wanted him. You guys wanted him, right, you
signed him. So I don't know that there's like the
personnel people who run this league I think have a
pretty high.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Oh I'm not talking about those games. I'm talking about
the general. Well, it's turnover perspective. It's just turnovers. He
had a lot of turnovers at SC.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Then he had that one moment with it was that
the Jets where he's like he the I've Mike heard him,
got on the mic saying, you know, I saw ghosts
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Then that whole moment that didn't help him. I'll say this, I.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Know Sam Donald really well. I've interviewed him a bunch.
He found himself because of Brock Purty. Now a lot
of people point to Kyle Shanahan say, oh, he found
himself because of Kyle Shanahan. Now, if you go ask Sam,
he would tell you it wasn't Kyle, though Kyle helped.
It was Purty and watching party process and watching party
(10:14):
get ready for a game and go through every possible scenario.
Brock Purty is meticulous. Here's a play. What coverage could
we see on that play? What's my answer against this coverage?
That coverage, that coverage, that coverage, that coverage, and Sam
told me at the end of the year when he
was with the Niners, He's like, you know what, I
(10:34):
learned so much from Brock that you know, because now
his preparation has changed the way I prepare. I think
Brock Purdy that year with Brock Purty made him who
he is, and he carried it to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
He's carried it here. As far as the noise.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Around him, that's just fans being fans. Sam Darnold on
the twenty five yard the eighteen to twenty five yard
cut pattern to Jay is one of the most unstoppable
things in football today. And that's my biggest fear in
this thing. I think the Niners could get the I
think the Niners could win on first down, they can
win on second down. They could get the Hawks into
(11:12):
third and ten or longer, and still Sam Darnald has
the ability to just rip it to the perimeter to
JSN and he's and he knows what he knows him
so well they can throw it with timing. It's almost
it's almost impossible to stop. So you're gonna have to
get the One thing about Seattle is they're kind of
a one wide receiver team, even though there's Rasheed, you
(11:33):
know Rashid, and there's other guys here, but I mean
obviously Cooper Cup. But they're going to JSN. That's a
major advantage. So the forty nine ers should be able
to put some bodies between Donald and JSN since they
know he's going there.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Well, Larry Krueger is with us in person at the
ox Hall across from Lumenfield K and b are. We
wanted Gary Radnech, but he retires, so we got Larry instead.
Here on the radio show, how's Gary Dowing?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
By the way, is you good?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Carry all right?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
He gives us love. Yeah, tell him we said hello.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But I'm wondering how much of because there is a
lot of cockiness from Niner fans really yeah, oh yeah,
And I'm sure if we go down there, our fans
would be just as cocky towards you guys as you
guys are. As part of this easy answer, it's a rivalry.
We don't like you, you don't like us, right at
least on the football field. We get along great off
the air, but on the air, football field whatever, How
(12:29):
much of that is Niner fans still holding on to
the past because as Washington football fans. Dick and I
take a lot of heat from people. Well, you guys
are just thinking about ninety one when you won the
national championship. It was thirty five years ago. Well, you
guys haven't won a title in thirty two freaking years,
for God's sakes. I mean, you are closer your last
(12:49):
title is closer to the moon landing than you are
to present day. That's how long that's been. So how
much of this is just cockiness to be cocky, and
how much of this is Niner fans they just still
think of this franchise as the team that won five
championships between the early eighties and ninety four.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, I mean it's still the same franchise.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
The different owner, all that stuff. Owner.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well no, well we say fans, we got the daughter.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
No, I get that part. I get that part owners,
But it's a different deal.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I know it's I mean it's there was no cap before. Yeah,
that's the real difference, right, But I mean, forty nine
er fans just have a lot of belief. I mean
they just have a lot of confidence. I think it
has a lot to do with the with Brock Berdy
and Kyle Shanahan. To be completely honest, I just think
that there's a lot of belief that the four and
there's a lot of you know, guys like my age.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I'm fifty five.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I saw Joe, I saw Steve. I was there for
Super Bowl sixteen. There's guys walking around with thirty years old.
I've never seen the forty nine ers win a Super
of course, but they've seen them lose three, right, you know,
they lost three in the last decades, so you know
the forty nine I'll say this, I mean, what you're
gonna witness tomorrow is something that the rest of the
(14:00):
league also, you know, has witnessed.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Which I mean lots of fans in the stadium. The
forty nine ers are gonna pack your house. It's gonna
be it's gonna.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Look at there's forty nine fans here.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
There's there's two people here. There's only talking about people
in this bar. Four of them are with me. Yeah,
but that's quadruple our regular audience.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Anyways, the smartest people in this bar are wearing forty
nine er gear.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
No, but I mean the forty nine er fans pack
the house more than they did for Joe, more than
they did for Steve more than they did for Kaepernick,
more than they did for Harbaugh. They travel around the country.
It's amazing. I mean it really is. Seattle's gonna have
some fans at Levi's. The Niners are gonna have thousands
(14:45):
of fans They're gonna have. It's gonna feel like a
forty nine er home game. This whole twelve's thing is
a big facade.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
That's a yesteryear shots again, that's a yesteryear thing.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's seriously, that's let's get c man. You guys haven't
had that kind of fan passion.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You guys.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
The Seahawks are sending out notes to their fans threatening
them to take away their season tickets if they sell
to Niner fans. Why, because they know Niner fans are coming.
Every single flight from the Bay to Seattle booked solid.
The Niner fans are gonna descend on this place, bang
bang bang bang. Niner fans are gonna defend descend on
(15:26):
this place, and it's gonna be something that you guys
have never seen.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
God, did you hit Kemp's pool.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
What I gotta say is, can't be prepared to lose,
because you know, the bottom line is I know you
guys got a great team on great defense, great defensive team,
really good special teams, but you have Sam Donald, and
if brock perty played Sam Donald ten times in anything,
he beat him nine.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I don't mind the arrogance, and I think Softy's comparison
of Niner fans to Husky fans is very It's fair
because the Niners have been really good the last ten years,
just like the Huskies have been really good. Now you
haven't won a Super Bowl. We have won a national championship,
got to one, didn't win one. But but there's a
reason for arrogance. What I don't understand, and what I
was really blown away by, was the whining after the
(16:18):
last forty nine er game. That's what I didn't get
from a fan base that I think are really, really solid,
smart fans. It was like, you missed Joe Montana, Jerry Rice,
Roger Craig, Tom Rathlan, and Dwight Clark two weeks ago,
you missed Ricky Piersoll and Trent Williams, and yet you
got dominated on both sides of the ball. Why was
(16:40):
the was there so much whining about two guys being
out of that football game?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I mean that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
If tomorrow, all of a sudden, you showed up and
you didn't have Sam Darnold and JSN and you guys
lose to.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
The Niners, where there be people going we didn'ts different.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I mean, if you're talking about their only deep threat
and their larding left tackle, who's probably a first ballot
Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There's also thy seven, but he's playing at a high home.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Whoever, the best non quarterbacks are on this team.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Take them away.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Back in the day, if you took away Bobby Wagner
and Richard Sherman, would it have been significant? Yeah, now
makes a difference from like two to one yardage. I
mean that was because it was a blowout.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
It was a close game.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I told me to get it once again. The premise,
if your premise is wrong, your conclusion's wrong. I don't
know that I would agree with that premise. I do radio,
I do YouTube. I talk to people all the time.
I didn't hear a lot of Niner fans making excuses.
I heard a lot of Hey, they came to town
and they kicked our ass. Yeah, I really didn't hear.
I'd love to hear what you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I heard is about the schedule, right, like, oh my god,
I can't believe we have to play on Saturday. And
Shanahan started that immediately after the Eagle game.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, I thought it was harder ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, because we played you guys in week eighteen in
a short week coming back from Carolina. Dude, I mean
that game could have been played on Sun. They McDonald
didn't mention about it. Yeah, but I mean, do we
want to have our best games? I mean the Bears
and Packers played a day after. You would think that
they would put those guys on the Sun on Saturday.
(18:13):
I get that, but there's one thing to do it
behind closed doors, is one thing to do it in
the public eye. Like I remember when Michigan State came
here a couple of years ago and melt Tucker was like,
we gotta fly this seat. Oh my god lost and
they got a summer. So I thought it was a
bad look by Shanahan. Man, bad look by Shanahan. For
you could produce a quote from him. I was there
for the presser. He's like, hey, look we we would
(18:35):
prefer I told you, he said, we hope the NFL
is nice and let's just play on Saturday, Remember that, right, But.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I mean, but then once the decision came down, he's like,
it is what it is, let's go.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, you didn't hear any of that from McDonald two
weeks ago when we went to your place and that
was just a game and speed.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
No, he doesn't talk at all. As a matter of fact,
he is. All he does is just play great defense
and kick your asses.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, I didn't see I didn't hear that much complaining.
I'll say this. I talked to players. I never heard
one player say anything about it. I don't think that's
a factor. What's going to be a factor tomorrow is turnovers, uh,
Sam Donald, how well the Niners can defend the run
JSN right, all the stuff, all these steps, those are
(19:21):
gonna be the biggest I'll say this, the Niners respect
the hell out of McDonald, out of the Seahawks, out
of what they you know this this defense is really
really special, but they respect him. But there's no out
of fear.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Listen, just do this no matter what happens tomorrow. All right,
Monday night, you have me on, all right, you come
on with us. If you want whatever win or lose,
we'll figure it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Out.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
That's the deal.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I think you're gonna be eating your words on Saturday
night at about eight thirty tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Baby. By the way, I was gonna buy your dinner.
Screw you. You're on your own.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I still don't believe you give all his much. You
know what.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
By the way, this guy's loaded, all right, don't don't
don't let the way he rest is scare you or
confuse you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
He is loaded.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Here's the thing, though, one team and one quarterback has
been to the Super Bowl, and one head coach has
been to the super Bowl. You guys are hoping we've
been there. We know where the treasure met.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We have the map.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
You guys are kind of hoping to kind of figure
it out.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I just know this.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Caleb Williams just beat Jordan Love last week. Ben Johnson
just meet beat Matt Lafleur last week. You guys just
beat Jalen Hurts last week. So what people have done
in years past doesn't mean squat.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
For this game tomorrow. And you know it. That's true.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
All right, you're the man. Goodness see you, all right,
we'll talk, sir. Larry Krueger K and b are
Joining us right now on the radio show. I know
this guy knows where these sound bites came from. You
feeling now, Larry Krueger K and B are YouTube superstar.
First not to got to know Larry what twelve thirteen
years ago with Jerry Radnich doing the radio show on
the Leader, K and BR in San Francisco, and now
here he is hanging out with us on a Friday
(00:21):
night in Seattle, getting ready for another monster game with
the Hawks and Niners.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I warre you, man, dude, it is great to be
here with you guys. I'm loving this city so far,
really enjoying myself. Yeah. Man, this is gonna be a
phenomenal weekend for the forty nine ers. Wow, for the fans,
They're gonna pack the house. We got some here and
it's gonna be awesome. Man, we cannot wait to kick
(00:48):
your guys ast. Okay, well, let's let's talk about that.
It's gonna be epic, fellas.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Let's tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
About that for a second, because, honestly, if you had
to bet every penny you own yes on this game tomorrow,
you're telling you're taking the Niners on the money line
tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
No, doubt, you're full of crap, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
One team has a rookie coach, one team has a
quarterback with a big arm who turns the ball over.
The other team's got a quarterback that walked off the
field against Patrick Mahomes a leader, and Kyle Shanahan, who's
probably a future Hall of Fame coach having his best year.
The forty nine ers, I get it, Dave, I get it.
I get it. They don't look on paper very good.
(01:28):
But if you think this is the same defense that
you guys played even two weeks ago, I know that's shocking,
but it's not.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
How is it different. That defense had.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Injured linebackers who fell off seventeen tackles. That team couldn't
tackle CA nine couldn't tackle Sharbonnay. They've been replaced by
Eric Kendricks, Garrett Wallow, Marquis Siegel at safety, and those
guys are fresh and healthy now. Philly couldn't exploit them.
We'll see if Clint Kubiak can exploit them, because I
(02:05):
think they're They definitely can be exploited in the past game.
But they're way better against the run than the team
that you saw on week team who that fell off
of tackles and missed a ton.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
God Dick, He's talking about Week eight team like it
was six months ago.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean, I understand. I appreciate that. I get I
appreciate the confidence. I'll just I mean, we're gonna stick
to facts. I mean, tell me how many position groups
are better for San Francisco than they are for Seattle.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I mean it's a good point, but ultimately it
comes down to the efficiency of your quarterback and how
well can you play. I think the forty forty Niners have.
Christian McCaffrey. Is he better or worse than Canaine and Sharponnay.
I think he's better. He's had a better career, He's
(02:57):
a better player. I mean, he's had a better year
those guys. Would you would you not say?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I would say I would say, I would say in
the last I would say most of the season, yes,
I'd say in the last month, sharbon Ay and Walker
have been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, no, no, no question.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I mean, you know you catch him on the right day,
Sharpennay looks better than Walker to me, some days Walker
looks better than Sharponay. But Christian McCaffrey, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Is better than those guys.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
But I mean it's like it's not about you know,
runners against runners, it's runners against run defense, you know
what I mean. It's it's your run defense, which is awesome.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I get great respect for what you guys have on
the defensive side of the ball. And I asked Kyle
Shanahan about it. I said, Kyle, what I think it
was Tuesday? I said, what makes this defense so good?
And I asked him about it a couple of weeks ago,
but I asked him again. I said, I kind almost
apologize for asking him the second same question twice. But
he made a good point, he said, John Schneider, He's like,
this defense across the board is in year two and
(03:55):
they don't just have great personnel. They have great personnel
that really fits Yattle's scheme, like the Drake Thomases of
the world and the and the you know, the Loves
of the world and the you know, the I mean
two defensive tackles. Leonard Williams Murphy. I mean, these guys
are ideal e man, worry. I mean, they're ideally suited
(04:17):
to run these roles. So it's a really really good defense.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I just think.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
They Ultimately though, the forty nine Ers played horrible in
that game, and they what what happened in that game
was that you guys have a great defense, right, but
you also dominated the time of possession.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, thirty eight minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Right, So if you do that for defense, looks like
the eighty five Bears, right.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And then yeah, but they did that partially because of
the offense. I mean the offense, Larry. Actually, I told
you this last night, and it's about time.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You start listening to me.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
By the way, I'm sick and tired of going on
your show and you're not listening to me. Okay, so
learn something. There were three drives. My wife would really
I know that. Yeah, this whole commentary. I must call her.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Next when this show's over.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Okay, Seahawks had three drives in that game where they
did not score you, yet they took one third of
the game off the clock. The first drive of the
game where Darnell misses a white up player, which doesn't
happen very often. Myers missed two kicks in the same game,
doesn't happen very often. If we're just sitting here as
impartial observers, which were not Okay, you're a Niner lover.
(05:24):
I'm a Seahawks lover. Let's just get it out there
and admit it. We're both capable of fair analysis. But
we're both fans, Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
A medium member. No, you're not. You've got your.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Years of Princess Leah costume, You've got your head.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean, let's be real.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
First of all, Hawk Blogger told you that two nights ago,
number one and number two, I did.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I had you on my YouTube channel, took me for
a turn of your house. I've seen Princess Leah.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I'm just trying to figure out how far up Shanahan's
ass your head really is, Okay, because I know my
head's up the Seahawks ass.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean, you might be further than me.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
But that game, the mistakes the Seahawks made, I feel
like we're more about the Seahawks making mistakes than you
forcing mistakes to the miss field goals, missing Zach Sharberney.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
That's got nothing to do with you.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That's got everything to do with them, and I don't
see him doing that again tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Man.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, okay, but you know there's one thing about this matchup,
and you guys know it it's a division game.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Was a division game two weeks ago?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, no, But I'm just saying these division games you
can kind of closer, closer, everything knows one another, right.
Greg co Sell went on the radio.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, he was on the day by the way too, not.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Necessarily our station, but the other station, and he he
made a point that's just kind of a smaller FM
deal off to the side, not like KMBR with the
big blowtorch, but another station. Anyway, Greg Cosell made the
point that it's really really hard to dominate a team
physically the way that the Hawks dominated the Niners physically
(06:57):
in Week eighteen. It's hard to do that back to
back right now. I personally, why do I like the
forty Niners in this game? I like the four Nears
in this game because I really believe Kyle Shanahan is
a better coach than McDonald's. I think he just out
coached Fangio. And I think McDonald is a young coach,
is a great young coach, but I think Kyle Shanahan
owes him one. I think Kyle Shanahan's gonna scheme up
(07:19):
some space. You're right, though, the defense was overwhelmed. Me
if we just looked at Week eighteen and said, is
this a template for this for this playoff game. I
wouldn't have flown up here on a bird and I
wouldn't be sitting here right now if I really thought
Week eighteen was indicative. I'll say this about the Niners.
It's a it's a different deal this time. It's like,
(07:41):
is this one of the best Niner teams? No, but
it might be the run might be the kind of
the grittiest. I mean like, is this Mariners team that
you saw this year? Have they had better teams?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Possibly? Yes, But man, there was a great factor to
the Mariners at the end of the year, and I
just feel like there's a there's a grit factor to
this Nighter team. I'll just say this, there's no The
feeling in their locker room this week wasn't like, oh
my god, we're going into a house of horror. Sure,
it was like, hey, man, we got this. We're doing this.
(08:14):
They're in our way. We're moving them out of the way.
So the Niners expect to be here. The Hawks expect
to be here. I think the most amazing part about
the matchup is that both sides have unbelievable confidence, and
somebody's confidence is going to be shaken by the end
of that game.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Larry Krueger joining us pre and post medium Maven from
the Bay Area up here on a bird to the
Pacific Northwest. I'm wanna get your take on Sam Donald
because the hate is real. And it's not just national hate.
I mean there's local hate for Sam Darnald, despite the
fact he is the best quarterback win loss record in
the last three years in the NFL. The yards per dropback,
(08:52):
which our man Hugh Millan has explained to us many
many times, is the most predictive of winning than any
other quarterback stat. He's number one in the NFL all
this season. He's one big games. He beat the Rams
a few weeks ago, coming back with a couple of
late scores to win that game.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
He'd beat Green Bay last year in a big game.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Why does none of the positive stick to Sam Donald
and yet all the negative sticks to Sam Donald.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
You know the old saying if your premise is wrong
or your conclusion by definition is going to be wrong.
I don't know that your premise is right. I mean,
he Minnesota wanted him. You guys wanted him, right, you
signed him. So I don't know that there's like the
personnel people who run this league I think have a
pretty high.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Oh I'm not talking about those games. I'm talking about
the general. Well, it's turnover perspective. It's just turnovers. He
had a lot of turnovers at SC.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Then he had that one moment with it was that
the Jets where he's like he the I've Mike heard him,
got on the mic saying, you know, I saw ghosts
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Then that whole moment that didn't help him. I'll say this, I.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Know Sam Donald really well. I've interviewed him a bunch.
He found himself because of Brock Purty. Now a lot
of people point to Kyle Shanahan say, oh, he found
himself because of Kyle Shanahan. Now, if you go ask Sam,
he would tell you it wasn't Kyle, though Kyle helped.
It was Purty and watching party process and watching party
(10:14):
get ready for a game and go through every possible scenario.
Brock Purty is meticulous. Here's a play. What coverage could
we see on that play? What's my answer against this coverage?
That coverage, that coverage, that coverage, that coverage, and Sam
told me at the end of the year when he
was with the Niners, He's like, you know what, I
(10:34):
learned so much from Brock that you know, because now
his preparation has changed the way I prepare. I think
Brock Purdy that year with Brock Purty made him who
he is, and he carried it to Minnesota.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
He's carried it here. As far as the noise.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Around him, that's just fans being fans. Sam Darnold on
the twenty five yard the eighteen to twenty five yard
cut pattern to Jay is one of the most unstoppable
things in football today. And that's my biggest fear in
this thing. I think the Niners could get the I
think the Niners could win on first down, they can
win on second down. They could get the Hawks into
(11:12):
third and ten or longer, and still Sam Darnald has
the ability to just rip it to the perimeter to
JSN and he's and he knows what he knows him
so well they can throw it with timing. It's almost
it's almost impossible to stop. So you're gonna have to
get the One thing about Seattle is they're kind of
a one wide receiver team, even though there's Rasheed, you
(11:33):
know Rashid, and there's other guys here, but I mean
obviously Cooper Cup. But they're going to JSN. That's a
major advantage. So the forty nine ers should be able
to put some bodies between Donald and JSN since they
know he's going there.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Well, Larry Krueger is with us in person at the
ox Hall across from Lumenfield K and b are. We
wanted Gary Radnech, but he retires, so we got Larry instead.
Here on the radio show, how's Gary Dowing?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
By the way, is you good?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Carry all right?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
He gives us love. Yeah, tell him we said hello.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But I'm wondering how much of because there is a
lot of cockiness from Niner fans really yeah, oh yeah,
And I'm sure if we go down there, our fans
would be just as cocky towards you guys as you
guys are. As part of this easy answer, it's a rivalry.
We don't like you, you don't like us, right at
least on the football field. We get along great off
the air, but on the air, football field whatever, How
(12:29):
much of that is Niner fans still holding on to
the past because as Washington football fans. Dick and I
take a lot of heat from people. Well, you guys
are just thinking about ninety one when you won the
national championship. It was thirty five years ago. Well, you
guys haven't won a title in thirty two freaking years,
for God's sakes. I mean, you are closer your last
(12:49):
title is closer to the moon landing than you are
to present day. That's how long that's been. So how
much of this is just cockiness to be cocky, and
how much of this is Niner fans they just still
think of this franchise as the team that won five
championships between the early eighties and ninety four.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, I mean it's still the same franchise.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
The different owner, all that stuff. Owner.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well no, well we say fans, we got the daughter.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
No, I get that part. I get that part owners,
But it's a different deal.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I know it's I mean it's there was no cap before. Yeah,
that's the real difference, right, But I mean, forty nine
er fans just have a lot of belief. I mean
they just have a lot of confidence. I think it
has a lot to do with the with Brock Berdy
and Kyle Shanahan. To be completely honest, I just think
that there's a lot of belief that the four and
there's a lot of you know, guys like my age.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I'm fifty five.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I saw Joe, I saw Steve. I was there for
Super Bowl sixteen. There's guys walking around with thirty years old.
I've never seen the forty nine ers win a Super
of course, but they've seen them lose three, right, you know,
they lost three in the last decades, so you know
the forty nine I'll say this, I mean, what you're
gonna witness tomorrow is something that the rest of the
(14:00):
league also, you know, has witnessed.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Which I mean lots of fans in the stadium. The
forty nine ers are gonna pack your house. It's gonna
be it's gonna.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Look at there's forty nine fans here.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
There's there's two people here. There's only talking about people
in this bar. Four of them are with me. Yeah,
but that's quadruple our regular audience.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Anyways, the smartest people in this bar are wearing forty
nine er gear.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
No, but I mean the forty nine er fans pack
the house more than they did for Joe, more than
they did for Steve more than they did for Kaepernick,
more than they did for Harbaugh. They travel around the country.
It's amazing. I mean it really is. Seattle's gonna have
some fans at Levi's. The Niners are gonna have thousands
(14:45):
of fans They're gonna have. It's gonna feel like a
forty nine er home game. This whole twelve's thing is
a big facade.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
That's a yesteryear shots again, that's a yesteryear thing.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
That's seriously, that's let's get c man. You guys haven't
had that kind of fan passion.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You guys.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
The Seahawks are sending out notes to their fans threatening
them to take away their season tickets if they sell
to Niner fans. Why, because they know Niner fans are coming.
Every single flight from the Bay to Seattle booked solid.
The Niner fans are gonna descend on this place, bang
bang bang bang. Niner fans are gonna defend descend on
(15:26):
this place, and it's gonna be something that you guys
have never seen.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
God, did you hit Kemp's pool.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
What I gotta say is, can't be prepared to lose,
because you know, the bottom line is I know you
guys got a great team on great defense, great defensive team,
really good special teams, but you have Sam Donald, and
if brock perty played Sam Donald ten times in anything,
he beat him nine.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
I don't mind the arrogance, and I think Softy's comparison
of Niner fans to Husky fans is very It's fair
because the Niners have been really good the last ten years,
just like the Huskies have been really good. Now you
haven't won a Super Bowl. We have won a national championship,
got to one, didn't win one. But but there's a
reason for arrogance. What I don't understand, and what I
was really blown away by, was the whining after the
(16:18):
last forty nine er game. That's what I didn't get
from a fan base that I think are really, really solid,
smart fans. It was like, you missed Joe Montana, Jerry Rice,
Roger Craig, Tom Rathlan, and Dwight Clark two weeks ago,
you missed Ricky Piersoll and Trent Williams, and yet you
got dominated on both sides of the ball. Why was
(16:40):
the was there so much whining about two guys being
out of that football game?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I mean that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
If tomorrow, all of a sudden, you showed up and
you didn't have Sam Darnold and JSN and you guys
lose to.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
The Niners, where there be people going we didn'ts different.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I mean, if you're talking about their only deep threat
and their larding left tackle, who's probably a first ballot
Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There's also thy seven, but he's playing at a high home.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Whoever, the best non quarterbacks are on this team.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Take them away.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Back in the day, if you took away Bobby Wagner
and Richard Sherman, would it have been significant? Yeah, now
makes a difference from like two to one yardage. I
mean that was because it was a blowout.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
It was a close game.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I told me to get it once again. The premise,
if your premise is wrong, your conclusion's wrong. I don't
know that I would agree with that premise. I do radio,
I do YouTube. I talk to people all the time.
I didn't hear a lot of Niner fans making excuses.
I heard a lot of Hey, they came to town
and they kicked our ass. Yeah, I really didn't hear.
I'd love to hear what you guys.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I heard is about the schedule, right, like, oh my god,
I can't believe we have to play on Saturday. And
Shanahan started that immediately after the Eagle game.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Well, I thought it was harder ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
No, because we played you guys in week eighteen in
a short week coming back from Carolina. Dude, I mean
that game could have been played on Sun. They McDonald
didn't mention about it. Yeah, but I mean, do we
want to have our best games? I mean the Bears
and Packers played a day after. You would think that
they would put those guys on the Sun on Saturday.
(18:13):
I get that, but there's one thing to do it
behind closed doors, is one thing to do it in
the public eye. Like I remember when Michigan State came
here a couple of years ago and melt Tucker was like,
we gotta fly this seat. Oh my god lost and
they got a summer. So I thought it was a
bad look by Shanahan. Man, bad look by Shanahan. For
you could produce a quote from him. I was there
for the presser. He's like, hey, look we we would
(18:35):
prefer I told you, he said, we hope the NFL
is nice and let's just play on Saturday, Remember that, right, But.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I mean, but then once the decision came down, he's like,
it is what it is, let's go.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, you didn't hear any of that from McDonald two
weeks ago when we went to your place and that
was just a game and speed.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
No, he doesn't talk at all. As a matter of fact,
he is. All he does is just play great defense
and kick your asses.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You know, I didn't see I didn't hear that much complaining.
I'll say this. I talked to players. I never heard
one player say anything about it. I don't think that's
a factor. What's going to be a factor tomorrow is turnovers, uh,
Sam Donald, how well the Niners can defend the run
JSN right, all the stuff, all these steps, those are
(19:21):
gonna be the biggest I'll say this, the Niners respect
the hell out of McDonald, out of the Seahawks, out
of what they you know this this defense is really
really special, but they respect him. But there's no out
of fear.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Listen, just do this no matter what happens tomorrow. All right,
Monday night, you have me on, all right, you come
on with us. If you want whatever win or lose,
we'll figure it.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Out.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
That's the deal.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I think you're gonna be eating your words on Saturday
night at about eight thirty tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Baby. By the way, I was gonna buy your dinner.
Screw you. You're on your own.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I still don't believe you give all his much. You
know what.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
By the way, this guy's loaded, all right, don't don't
don't let the way he rest is scare you or
confuse you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
He is loaded.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Here's the thing, though, one team and one quarterback has
been to the Super Bowl, and one head coach has
been to the super Bowl. You guys are hoping we've
been there. We know where the treasure met.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We have the map.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
You guys are kind of hoping to kind of figure
it out.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I just know this.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Caleb Williams just beat Jordan Love last week. Ben Johnson
just meet beat Matt Lafleur last week. You guys just
beat Jalen Hurts last week. So what people have done
in years past doesn't mean squat.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
For this game tomorrow. And you know it. That's true.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
All right, you're the man. Goodness see you, all right,
we'll talk, sir. Larry Krueger K and b are
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