1 Down, 16 more to go as the 49ers take down the LA Rams in Week 1

0:00Now back to dirty work. Adam Copeland and Derek Papa on KNBR 104 5 and 680 AM V sports leader. Dirty work on a Friday afternoon. Adam Copeland, Derek Papa hanging out with the Susan Slesre covers the Giants for the San Francisco Chronicles. She joins us each and every week like she does right now. She sponsored my surf side. It's not a sensor at Surfside Proud Partner of the Giants. Susan, how are you on a Friday? Hey, Susan. I'm great. How are you guys? We're doing well. I'm going to talk to you. I was looking at the, I know it's not something I should be doing, but I was looking at the Giants record. And I, they're at 62. Like I think there's something to not losing 100 games that I, I am pretty impressed with where they've come in the last couple of weeks in terms of just the quality of play. And it's not even so much about the development, but seeing guys like Bryce Eldridge continue to perform at a higher level than he had earlier this year. I think I don't think anybody wants to hang a hundred up there. So it's there, one went away from avoiding that the last three weeks. Yeah, I, you know, I, I kind of care a little bit less about like the numbers and more about

1:06getting guys experience and sorting through your options for next year and figuring out who's going to be here, who's not going to be here at lots of decisions coming up. And most important improvement, you know, our, our individual guys, especially the young guys showing improvement is Tony Vitelo showing improvement is, you know, like it's everybody kind of working in the same direction. The wins and losses at this point to me don't matter that much, but I think if you talk to most players, they would say like, yeah, nobody wants to be a hundred lost. I mean, it's such an easy tag. That's the thing. It's kind of a, obviously it's kind of a lazy simple tag that says you're a bad team. And it's not always necessarily the case. I've been going to be a bit lazy and simple, but I just want to avoid it. I'm more, I'm more, I'm more afraid of you all. I don't want to see that. I don't, I don't need that. Hasn't happened in my life. I don't want it, you know. Well, yes, the wins and losses don't matter. This point having said that Wednesday was impressive to come back down six to one in, in the, in the eighth inning, Rafael Devers had his first rest day in 309 games. And there, there was, there was an opportunity for him to pinch in the game in the eighth,

2:08but how impressive was it to see their comeback without Rafael Devers in the lineup? I kind of loved all of that. You know, it was the kids leading the way, essentially most of that game. Yeah. And it's showed in the results too. Ted Boakwell, Wilkinson gets his first win, Trent Harris gets his first save. The rookie started off that rally. I, that was really fun. And the fact that, you know, Vitello has every possibility to go to Devers in that inning. And certainly you would think when, when Shay Wickham comes up, okay, here's the perfect opportunity. Yes. And he leaves Wickham in and Wickham comes, comes through. Now he's not a guy who's necessarily even in their plans for next year. They're pretty well set at third base once Schmidt's back, Chapman's back, and they've got Christian class available to play third. But he is playing for every other team, right? You know, at this point, also auditioning because he's probably not in the Giants plans. This stuff is all great. And I think these are the things that people should kind of be noticing right now. They're actually playing well. And there's some fun young guys.

3:10Not everybody's going to be with the team next year. But right now they are. And they might be, you know, that might be somebody that suddenly is showing up in a big moment for another team next year. And they're like, I love that. That was that guy. Susan Slycer joins us on the, the Oomegaes line. I'm glad you brought up with Tony did there because I was at the game and I was like, why isn't it going to Devers? How come no Devers here? And then you try, like, and he said, you know, you're trying to win ball games. And he's even said at a points this year, you know, beyond where they were kind of out of it. And we're like, well, is that the most important thing right now? But I also then try to remember like this is development for Tony Vitelot. You know, this is this. I mean, how about who did he go to? I think you just mentioned out of the bullpen there where you're he's warming up with a five run deficit in the eighth inning. I can't remember who came in in that moment. And he was what was that? Frank Harris. Frank Harris. Right. And so he's down five. You think, okay, it's a mop up role. He comes in and he's asked to pitch for a save. Chuck who Lee was like the vet in the middle of that thing, which was a, which was kind of funny. Was was the consecutive games played for Devers? Important to him.

4:11Um, he doesn't really talk to us the last week. Not just, you know, isn't a, I'm not talking media kind of situation. Just I think he did a lot of talking on the last road trip. So, um, look, I didn't sound like Vitelot had to talk him out hugely. Add is coming out of it. He does not like coming out of the lineup. He certainly is a guy who posts every day of that. But I don't think he, you know, he obviously didn't say anything strongly enough to, to be in their order to get a pinch it. Yeah, it's just so unique. I mean, he played 163, I think last year, as he played every game with Boston, then came over here. You were covering the is when Tahada was in the middle. He had a really long streak. I think he's like top five or six all time. I think he was still going when he left the a's, right? Yeah, yeah, he was. I can't remember exactly what it was. 1100 games. It is, it's, it's really impressive. The big big league season is just absolutely ruling. There's so few days off. And a lot of time your day off is spent, you know, traveling from one side of the country to another. That's not a day off.

5:12That could be it leave you as tired as anything else. So, it is not necessarily an easy lifestyle, nor it's the hardest of the schedule. You know, you might, might not be getting pounded on like you are in pro football. You know, the cardio is not as much as it might be in hockey or the NBA, but from a sheer every day every night. And you know, throwing all the preparations before the games too, they do not, it's not like running like, you know, a couple drills and, and, you know, doing layups. It's pretty extensive preparation every day too. A couple of minutes, but Susan slusher on the Uma guest line. How weird is it going to be see Robby Ray pitch a night oracle park in a podra's uniform? Well, maybe not necessarily as weird as it would be if he'd been like a lifelong giant, but still pretty weird. You know, it does seem like we just saw him. He was, you know, for, in a fairly brief couple of years here, he was so good, you know, in an all star appearance last year. And the leader in the clubhouse, definitely a leader of the pitching staff did some great work here and just a fantastic guy.

6:20I think everybody's going to be happy to see him, not necessarily happy to oppose him, I think. Susan, enjoy the game tonight. We will talk to you next week. Thanks so much. Thanks Susan. Thanks for coming. Good stuff there from Susan slusher covers the giants for the San Francisco Chronicle. All right. We're going to get back into some football talk before we get over to giants pregame at about a half hour, 615 pregame. Robby Ray is pitching tonight. And the Padres a 339 ERA Anthony Molina gets the ball for the giant. He's three and oh, the 279 ERA. And the giants three know on the homestand. Do they? I don't think they have a four game win streak this year. I do not believe so. That ends now. If I get anything, you're calling it. You're booking it. Well, you want to you want to make that bet on this too? No, I'm okay. No, you don't want to bet against the giants. It's too big of you. It's too big of a fan. You know my little come on. Come on, man. Come on now. Come on now. Come on now. Come on now. Dude, I got Edgar and New Jersey hyped on the night. Is that any of that sound, Danny? From Edgar? I'm sorry. I put you on the spot there, bro. Which I need that guy. Make good stuff. Good stuff. Hey, now. Hey, now.

7:20He called us one time and his buddy was in the background of the call. Yeah. His buddy was like, was he a cowboy fit or a New York Giants fan? I can recall. He was arguing with him from the back of the car. He was like, you know, we are talking, man. I told Anna. Not just now. Oh, man. Come on, man. Come on, man. Come on, man. Come on now. Oh, man. You're gonna be a joke, dude. I mean, what do you mean, man? Oh, man. All right. Larry Krueger. I mean, we'll, no, we call him. He's probably been potting since the game ended. Oh, I was just talking to a lot. He's probably been live on YouTube since the game ended. Yeah. And then he'll jump off of that and he'll join us next. Krue joins us talking, Niner football. A day after the Niner's had beaten the L.A. Rams. 27 to 7. How differently does he view the NFC West after that one? We'll do a nice with Kruegan and Giants at 615 on the sports leader. Now, back to dirty work. Adam Copeland and Derek Papa in the KNB Arcasino Matrix Progressive Jackpot studios. Casino Matrix Progressive Jackpots are here. Where are you? Just drop in. Please play responsibly called 1-800-Gampler.

8:22Can you believe this? What? Well, it's dirty work on a Friday, I can't believe that. Yeah. Night was gonna win 27-7. We're coming on and Danine and my ear goes, you got the crew sponsor. What? I thought he was kidding. Oh, nice. It's a surprise to me too. Larry Kruger was sponsored by Friedman's Appliance, proudly serving all of Northern California with a wide selection of luxury appliances, visit them in Pleasant Hill to see the Friedman's difference. I'm a Friedman's guy. I'll be out there on the 24th, I think it is. Sounds like I'll be out there the 26th. How about that, dude? Maybe it's the 25th for me then, 26th. But this is about Kruger. Oh, yeah, sorry. Kruger's here. What up, dude? It's going on, Kruger. Get out and get yourself a fridge. Get out here and get yourself an appliance, man. I'll be out here. You know, Friedman's perhaps the greatest showroom in the country. Sounds like you've been, right? Have you been, Kruger? I have been. I was trying to explain it to Derek Hies and to Australia, but I have been to Friedman's. Yeah, Friedman's is incredible. We got like barbecue's out there. Like I'm talking, they do their sale event.

9:24It's like you've got all these people setting up all the equipment that actually does work. It's a lot of working vignettes. I've heard about it. I've heard about it. It's great. So I'm sorry. Bring the wife. Bring the wife. I think TJ Maxx or Marshalls might be next door. Right. You know, you say, hey, I'm, I'm going to check out some grills. Why don't you go hunt for some bargain belts or something? There you go. You know, I'll get a wife and I'll do that. Yeah, Derek, as soon as you get a wife, dude, we'll see you at Friedman's. Pick up the wife. Pick you up. We'll work costly, of course. Step one, get a wife. Step two, make sure she likes TJ Maxx. That's true. All right, Kruger. I'm going to get a wife. Get a wife. Get a loan. And then go to the, we've, we've, we've kind of been, I don't know if gushing is the right word. I've been really excited about the win from last night. The more I kind of pour over it, like there's some things I, I'd want to talk to you about on, on sort of the, the nitty gritty level and things that we probably don't want to see continue. But like about 24 hours removed from kickoff yesterday, how different are you feeling about the Niners than what you thought coming in? Just what did yesterday do for you and your mindset?

10:24Well, I mean, I was really encouraging. It was really encouraging. One, because the question of where is the past rush going to come from was kind of like an open ended question. I thought Nick Boses performance last yesterday was last night was amazing. I mean, considering he didn't practice, didn't know preseason, no nothing. I'm out there every day. He's basically running on the side. He was spectacular. He was fantastic. And then Rahe Morris, you know, Rahe Morris is a, is very positive. And he's also a great defensive backfield coach. And the Niners have all these young DBs that everybody's frustrated with because they had no past rush and they didn't develop the way that people wanted them to. So it's like, damn, this Daryl Luder, of course, he's not there anymore. But it's like all that, all the jire brown, camp play, Mustafa, camp play, Seagull, camp play, stout, camp play. These guys all can't play. Why? Because you have no past rush. Well, guess what? I mean, they're, they all looked really good yesterday.

11:25Stout looked good. I thought the DB play was really, really solid. Yeah, we can definitely say that they got a little bit more pressure on Stafford than we thought. But there were times where Stafford had time to throw and couldn't find anybody. I'm reviewing the game right now, I'm about through three quarters. And it's like, they were more than a few plays where Stafford kept a survey the field. They were like, look for Puka, look for Adams. They're in the, they're in the pattern. And he's just, he's not pulling the trigger. And it's because the coverage was really, really good. And also, I mean, if you forgot that Fred Warner is the best linebacker in football, your memory comes back quickly last night. What, what, what, what, what did his, what, what did his presence bring to the defense last night? His ability to cover the, the tight ends and the flat and also his coverage on Pukinakua from the jump. What did Fred Warner bring back to this defense last night, crew? I mean, he's just, he's just a lion out there. He's just courageous. I mean, what he's doing right now, though, reminds me a little bit of what D Ford mastered at the end of his career, the strip sack. And now he's got the punch out.

12:25And you know, he punched out to yesterday and, and one of them, they got some, I mean, he's just always, he's always going for the football. And if you can change possession as a linebacker, wow, that's the biggest play you can make. It's bigger than a sack. It's bigger than tackle for a loss. You get the ball back and handed to Brock Birdie and say, hey, we're in offense now. That's a huge play in the football game. So I thought, I thought Fred was, Fred was massive. I mean, 11 tackles, force, fumble. I mean, he's just amazing. The, the goal line stand. You know, he's, he is their defensive leader. You know, both, I think they're most important defender, but Fred's their defensive leader. And if you look at their stats last year and where things went totally south, it was after Fred went out. I think it was week six against Tampa, you know, the defense fell, you know, fell apart after he went out. So he's vital. Tim Ryan was calling it had the peanut punch. Now we're going with the water, the water wall up. It's it is called it, it's become something he does not.

13:27I mean, was it a couple of years ago, he saved it to games early in the season. There's one against Minnesota and maybe one against the jets. I've got Aaron Jones. I think he punched one out, maybe and one against, against Breeze Hall. I think in the one couple of seasons ago. Craig, if we were going to look at more on the defensive side, like in the first half, the rims were running the ball well. And it really got thrown out of whack when they couldn't pick up the first down on the drive that staff were through the pick. It was third and 10 from the nine or 35. And they had run it down their throat for like five or six straight plays to start the drive. Then they go, no, you're gaining complete interception. Was there any like they had to abandon the run after the night is one of 24 seven, but any thought to how the run defense performed outside of Bosa. Well, it's going to be a work in progress, especially early on because of the injuries. They lost some really good run defenders, you know, in theory. I think Afro Collins is a run defender in theory. He wasn't defending much before he went out, but he was a run defender and same with CMO. So, you know, it's a little bit of a hit and miss thing. There was going to be some was going to be I thought L.A.

14:29Should have stuck stuck with the run. I thought the biggest play of the game was the Renardo green interception because they were going they were going up 14 three. And they were in the nine or side of the field and he just floated it and green picked it out of the sky. You could see Stafford was pissed at himself for it. And then, you know, they they immediately start running Kayla on black and the next drive. And then he was really good. Purti had that beautiful laser through a sea of hands to Mike Evans on third and eight to keep the drive alive. And then he goes up top to Marcus Robinson and you know, all the people said, brocks get a rag arm. 55 yards in the air right there. To D Rob for for six and the Niners didn't look back from that point. The place was lit at that point. It was 10 seven, but the momentum was all with the 49ers. The energy was all with the 49ers. And then the three game guys was they were going to get something out of Okaranko. And sure enough, they did. You got to hit on the quarterback. You got three pressures. He gave him a little bit of a shot in the arm. Grayson Haltin in his NFL debut played 30 some odd snaps had a tackle for a loss.

15:34Really good against the run had a pressure. And then Odigizua Odigizua. I mean, what a. You know, that Dallas or the guys who were in the Cowboys are fools. And then they got to go to the Diggie Zua to the 49ers in his prime. You know, I think that was a very short-sighted maneuver. And I think Dallas is going to regret that five pressures for O. Diggy Zua. He's just too much in the middle to handle one on one. I know Miles Garrett after the game said it wasn't the best version of himself. He's not 100%. But would you make of caution a handsplay calling to neutralize the defending defensive player of the year? That was great. It was beautiful. I mean, and it wasn't just him because they, you know, agent zero on the other side and nothing against McIivitz either. So it was the Niners offensive line. Niners ran for six yards a pop and pretty got hit twice. He wasn't sacked all day and he was only hurried four times or pressured four times. So the Niners offensive line needs to take a bow. I mean, that was a tremendous performance across the board. I thought Connor Colby played really well. He played the whole game at left guard.

16:35So yeah, the 40. But yes, to point Derek. I mean, a lot of it was Kyle too. I mean, a lot of it was the brilliant play calling. So they chipped him. They did everything. They threw it all at him. You know, they, he never knew where, where the blockers were coming from. Um, there was one beautiful play where, you know, you've got him out there against Trent. And he thinks he's going to go one on one off the snap with Trent. And then here's, here's a fair roll kicks out on him. And then Trent deep sets. And after Garrett beats, Farrell, he's got Trent right there. Trent was like the second line of defense. And, you know, and of course, there was no impact at all. Also, Perdi's running was, was significant. I mean, we don't think of Perdi as a runner because he's more of a pocket passer. But man, I mean, when he takes off, he can go. And he, and he will burn you in the second half, trying to ice the game and trying to work, you know, for first downs. And he was spectacular outside of the terrible pick, which was totally, you know, I mean, I don't know why he threw that.

17:37And he was just a really, yeah, was a bad, just a bad ball. Other than that, it was almost an instructional video on how to play quarterback from Brock Perdi. And I just, it's time for people to understand that Brock Perdi is not the 16th best quarterback in football. He is a top 10 guy on his way to the top five with him with, you know, he has a belief that he's going to win a ball. And the question is, do you share that belief? I do. But a lot of people don't. And he's just going to have to prove it every step of the way. And that's a wonderful thing. You know, that's the ultimate meritocracy, right? If you do it, you either do it or you don't, he hasn't done it yet. But I believe he's going to get his ring. But, but is he better than Jeff Garcia? That's too much. Exactly where I was going next. I was like, I reminded me a lot of Garcia last night, bro. I was, yeah. Wow. I couldn't believe that. I mean, I'm not even the worst tech I've ever heard Murf had. That was a really bad tip. Who knew that Murf and Garcia were in the same family? I was thinking, I was like, what, what? I mean, talk about it. Talk about a glowing remembrance of the past.

18:37And then of course, Murf's like, well, he had, he had mooch. And I'm like, well, next time you have mooch on, let's tell mooch how bad he is. You know, Jeff Garcia, you know, you're no shana hand. You know, I don't think we're saying that to mooch when he comes around. So I don't know if we should be, you know, I mean, Garst, nothing against Garst. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. I mean, Brock, he's on a different level. Yeah. You know, all fairness. I mean, his career completion percentage, 61 six, Brock through 50 games now has the highest completion percentage in NFL history, which is pretty incredible. Again, not to knock him down. I just, I think Brock is already at a level beyond where Jeff Garcia ever was going and Brock still early in his NFL career. You're five now. I want to ask you about the backfield real quick. Like, yeah, I like that they balance it. We've talked about this for years. Will they manage McAfry after 400 touches last season? How will they go about this? Clearly they were balancing and they threw a lot early and then went heavy on the run game in the second half. I guess the question I would have is, is this consistent?

19:38You think with like balance run by design or does it speak a little bit to the early part of the season in McAfry? Not being 100%. Well, I think it really speaks to the fact that K-Lon Black checks all of the boxes that they need checked to get on the field, which is. Kyle's got to like you. You know, Bobby T's got to like you and they don't just like you because you're a nice guy. They like you because you can pick up the blitz. You got to be able to block and K-Lon Black is an awesome blocker. So that things cover, then you got to be trustworthy. You can't be one of these guys that fumbles the ball. He's not. He's got very strong hands. I mean, McAfry said he's a very mature winning football player who just won the national championship and is older. This is the, you know, the downside of older players is they're you're drafting guys that are a little bit older. Maybe the prime's going to be a little short. But if the upside of drafting, you know, you know, older players, as you get a ready to play man, not some kid who, you know, people are whispering into the year that he was a five star coming out of wherever.

20:39It's like, no, dude, you're a man now. You're it's time to you're playing for a check. There's a guy's leaning on you. There's a, you know, there's a layer of maturity. You got to have Black is serious, very serious person. So yeah, he, he's going to block. He's going to catch. He's going to do all the right things. He's going to be in his playbook. They trust him. I think they trust Jordan James to be honest. But yeah, they're going to offset the fact that Christian had four 50, 450 plus touches if you mix in the playoff games. So that's a ton of touches. And, you know, the, the natural body is that you're going to have some kind of negative. You know, a response to 450 touches in a season. So I think Kyle gets it. I think Christian gets it at this point. I think, you know, Ed McCaffrey's quotes in the off season or he's like, hey, man, you'd be nice if they, you know, took a little off of Christian. I think everybody's heating this because what do you want to give Christian one more great year or 450 touches. I think three or four more years is what they're wanting. So they're going to ease off on the gas pedal. Now they got backs they can do that with.

21:40Larry Krueger the voice you hear. Niners, nightly weeknights right here from six to seven on these sports later, but not tonight. We got Giants pregame. Yeah. Giants and the Padres YouTube only tonight. You two. I will be doing a six 20 show. So, you know, about 15 minutes from now on the YouTube side will do an hour. Perfect. We'll just recap. I'm, you know, recap what we saw on. You know, the only guy we haven't talked about that I'm really excited about is. To Marcus Robinson is like one of the most forgotten players in. In the league really. I mean, he had a tremendous summer on the practice field. And he's got a swagger about him and it's like he carries himself like a star. He really does. And I. He's had a great summer. And I expect that he's, you know, he's got a incredible rapport with party. Yeah. And I just think you're going to see, especially with struggling out. He becomes the deep threat. And this guy can do it. So I expect to Marcus Robinson to have a pretty nice little month here. It's exciting how diverse the offense looks.

22:40Crew, we got to run to get to Giants. Yeah. Great. Great show. Have a great show tonight. Six 20 YouTube only for a little nighters nightly with Larry Krueger. Recap in the night. It's 27 seven win. Have a good weekend. You guys. You guys. All Sunday and you're going down. Krueger. I'm working my way to a comeback. I'll talk to you next week. That's a whole cat. That's my response. That's my response. Yeah. Eat me, crew. I'm looking. Good luck. Get your head ready. Later later. All right. Giants baseball. Six 15 free game. That's next. We'll put the show to bed. We'll come on back on these sports later. Good. Good. Time for dirty work to put the show to bed. Are you crazy? I don't need a bed. On the sports leader. Now you will go to sleep. All right. Put you to sleep. I'm sorry. 30 work putting the show to bed on a Friday evening. Adam Copeland, D-Pop Danny Dunn with you. I'm talking to a 9-year football today on a victory Friday.

23:4124 hour rule though. Move on after this. Now I probably enjoy it for the weekend. Yeah, come on. It's nice when you get a win on Thursday. And then you get to enjoy the weekend. And just watch football. Knowing you got one in the bag already. There you go. Get a look at the next. We can. The Miami Dolphins. And you and I have a couple of bets we placed against each other. It's part of our head to head. We'll do this weekly. We're going straight up on the game. You think the bills are going to win over the Texans. I'm going to go with the Achilles heel Texans. Okay. Who was I told you into picking them? I said, I'm not really buying the hype. I'm going to take the Texans this week. For this game. Against the bills. And then I've got Cooper Rush with more pass yards this weekend. Then DeShon Watson. Okay. If you'll get about that. I'm rooting for DeShon. That's it. That's it. That's a really tough deal. All right. We've got to get out of here for pregame. You got a note to sell. Yeah. Note to sell Patrick Peterson. Host the podcast. There you go. Nice things covered. Oh, there you go. Note to sell. Larry Krueger has a hell of a cackle. Yeah. Larry Krueger does have a. My God. We can win the West there. I know to sell.

24:41Sean Ivay can not accept blame. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm only trying to provide it with. I'm just going to talk to him. I want to go about in a minute. I'll go to fly and get a pick-up of my plan. And I'm just going to skip a couple of course. Cause he can keep on kidnapped. You nab him trying to tell you how many different things are going to says you get up to him that's going to lie down. And he can't be arrogant about that. And I'm gonna go to the NFL season to build my race and make sure not to bother While L the past, I'm gonna.... Marcus Thompson, who's new book, Game Changers. Comes out next Tuesday. Yes, it does. Get it now, pre-order it now. And for anybody that needs to hear it, it gets easier every day. It gets a little easier. Just got to do it every day. That's the dirty work. But it does get easier. The Giants of the Podries game one starts right now. I'm a fool to do your dirty work.

25:41Go yeah. I don't want to do your dirty work no more.