Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and
Speaker 1: ten podcasts, presented by Cisco. Ten minutes of the most
Speaker 1: up to date forty nine Ers news. First Thing in
Speaker 1: the Morning, I'm your host Brion McDonald and joining me
Speaker 1: is forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay Polares. The forty
Speaker 1: nine Ers fell to the Rams twenty seven to twenty
Speaker 1: four on Sunday. It was a tough loss for the team.
Speaker 1: It came down to a very close game and a
Speaker 1: field goal deciding the winner. Lindsay, what went wrong for
Speaker 1: the Niners in Week three?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Brace, So the Niners were very much in the
Speaker 2: driver's seat for most of this game, and I think
Speaker 2: really the difference between winning and losing than this one
Speaker 2: were some special teams errors and then some costly penalties.
Speaker 2: You know, we always talk about out the turnover battle
Speaker 2: being significant. Rams didn't turn over the ball at all,
Speaker 2: while the forty nine Ers had one turnover. You know,
Speaker 2: just a lot of I think execution errors more than
Speaker 2: anything down the stretch. Like I mentioned, forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: racked up over one hundred yards and penalties, and then
Speaker 2: quite a few of those came in the final minutes
Speaker 2: of this game.
Speaker 3: That allowed the Rams to jump back in it.
Speaker 2: And so it was a little bit of everything that
Speaker 2: didn't work out in the end. But I think the
Speaker 2: positives we can take from this game is that the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers were missing some of their biggest offensive
Speaker 2: playmakers and then we're still able to run a productive
Speaker 2: and efficient offense. And like you mentioned, this one quite
Speaker 2: literally came down to those final seconds. So I think
Speaker 2: for this one, it's just about cleaning things up, tightening
Speaker 2: things up headed into Week four, making sure that they're
Speaker 2: not giving up explosive plays. And we heard this from
Speaker 2: a lot of the players during the press conference. There
Speaker 2: wasn't a lack of effort. There wasn't a lack of enthusiasm,
Speaker 2: you know, lack of motivation. It really wasn't anything about that.
Speaker 2: It is just looking at the execution, cleaning that up,
Speaker 2: and then getting ready for Week four, because the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers will be back at home and welcome in
Speaker 2: the Patriots in Week four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Niners had several key players sidelined for this matchup,
Speaker 1: But lindsay, how did you see the team adjust in
Speaker 1: week three?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think it's very much a next
Speaker 2: man up mentality always when you're missing some key players,
Speaker 2: and I think for the forty nine ers, who are
Speaker 2: who were without George Kittle, without Christian maccaffery, who's on
Speaker 2: IR without Deebo Samuel whose sideline for a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks with the Calfs train, you saw people rise the ranks,
Speaker 2: and you know, I think Juwan Jennings is certainly someone
Speaker 2: that is very much appreciated by the forty nine ers,
Speaker 2: faithful by the team. You know, he's earned that nickname
Speaker 2: third and Juwan for a reason.
Speaker 3: But he put up a career.
Speaker 2: Game against the Rams, and that's something that I think
Speaker 2: should not get lost in this loss.
Speaker 3: Eleven catches for one hundred and seventy.
Speaker 2: Five yards, three touchdowns, a career first for him both
Speaker 2: in yards and scoring. So a huge congratulations to Juwan Jennings.
Speaker 2: Caught nearly every pass thrown his way and was absolutely
Speaker 2: I would say the offensive MVP along with Rock Purty yesterday,
Speaker 2: and we just saw that he very much rose to
Speaker 2: the occasion in his first start of the year. I
Speaker 2: think one of the cool tweets that I saw out
Speaker 2: on X yesterday was that Juwan Jennings had two regular
Speaker 2: season touchdowns in all of twenty twenty three, so he
Speaker 2: surpassed that in one game three touchdowns yesterday, and you know,
Speaker 2: it was just it was contested catches, it was touchdown receptions,
Speaker 2: it was you know, big conversions.
Speaker 3: He had a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2: Obviously great passes thrown by brock Party, but just someone
Speaker 2: I definitely wanted to highlight coming out of this Week
Speaker 2: three matchup.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, even with a tough loss, there was some really
Speaker 1: standout performances from the forty nine ers. Brock Party had
Speaker 1: an impressive three touchdown game again despite missing key offensive weapons. Lindsay,
Speaker 1: what did you learn from the quarterback after his Week
Speaker 1: three performance?
Speaker 2: You know, I think this is a great example of
Speaker 2: brock Party is an incredibly talented elite quarterback. We will
Speaker 2: say it again, missing three of the biggest offensive playmakers
Speaker 2: for the forty nine ers, you know, in recent history,
Speaker 2: and he posted his second one hundred plus passer rating
Speaker 2: game of the season, led a really efficient, productive offense.
Speaker 2: You know, I think there were certainly opportunities there that
Speaker 2: he created. The forty nine Ers were able to score
Speaker 2: on five of their nine offensive series.
Speaker 3: So a lot of good.
Speaker 2: Things from brock Party, and obviously that connection with Juwan
Speaker 2: Jennings absolutely on fire yesterday. Juwan Jennings, I think he
Speaker 2: had twelve targets, caught eleven of those passes, so certainly
Speaker 2: the hot hand was Juwan Jennings. And then you know,
Speaker 2: Brock Purty also leaned on Jordan Mason to take care
Speaker 2: of the ground game he also delivered. So yeah, huge,
Speaker 2: huge congratulations to Brock Purty as well. I think this
Speaker 2: was a really good showing from the quarterback. And you know,
Speaker 2: and still you hear him in his post game press
Speaker 2: conference just say, you know, I want to be better,
Speaker 2: I can be better. Just such a humble person that's
Speaker 2: always looking to improve his game. But definitely one of
Speaker 2: the highlights of the forty nine ers offense yesterday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we can see Juwan Jennings praises after this game,
Speaker 1: his standout game with eleven catches and three touchdowns in
Speaker 1: each and every way, Lindsay, tell me about how he's
Speaker 1: worked up to this career high performance.
Speaker 2: I think Juwan Jennings has always had this. The opportunity
Speaker 2: definitely was there yesterday with you know, so many guys out.
Speaker 2: This was his first start of the twenty twenty four season.
Speaker 2: He took that opportunity, he ran with it, and he
Speaker 2: over delivered. This is exactly what the forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: needed from him in Week four. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: and then Juwan Jennings always is a huge impact when
Speaker 2: it comes to blocking. He's one of the best blocking
Speaker 2: wide receivers this team has, and we hear about that
Speaker 2: a lot because he's physical and that's exactly the brand
Speaker 2: of forty nine Ers football that you know they pride
Speaker 2: themselves on.
Speaker 3: So he can do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2: He was the hot hand yesterday and you can just
Speaker 2: see that he's been building on that chemistry, that connection
Speaker 2: with Rock pretty over the past three seasons. You saw
Speaker 2: the fruits of that labor yesterday against the Rams.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: One other highlight from the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 1: was All Pro safety Tellano Whufunga's return. He had his
Speaker 1: first game back from his ACL tear recovery. How has
Speaker 1: his return brought a new energy to the Niners defense?
Speaker 2: You know, I think this is a long awaited return,
Speaker 2: not just for the defensive side of the ball, but
Speaker 2: the team as a whole. He brings an energy that
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers very much welcome.
Speaker 3: He's a hype man on the defense.
Speaker 2: He's I think is just a great locker room guy
Speaker 2: and obviously going through a significant ACL injury and ended
Speaker 2: his season in twenty twenty three. See him, to see
Speaker 2: him working back and finally complete the comeback is always
Speaker 2: a great way to uplift your team, and he brought
Speaker 2: a lot of energy yesterday seven tackles against the Rams,
Speaker 2: and I think the coolest showing really was his very
Speaker 2: first defensive snap. He goes and gets the tackle. It's
Speaker 2: as if no time has passed. Obviously, you know you
Speaker 2: have to work your way back up, as with any injury,
Speaker 2: but I think a good first outing for Talano Hufunga
Speaker 2: was playing alongside gay Year Brown yesterday, but definitely more
Speaker 2: good things to come.
Speaker 3: This is just obviously the first game back for him.
Speaker 1: And finally, Lindsay, you gave us a glimpse into sort
Speaker 1: of what the tone was like from the team after
Speaker 1: the game. But what was the message that the team
Speaker 1: shared following that Week three game against the Rams.
Speaker 2: I think one of the great things about this team
Speaker 2: is that they're very introspective and always hold themselves accountable,
Speaker 2: and I think that was the theme of all the
Speaker 2: players that we heard from and like I just mentioned that,
Speaker 2: it wasn't about you know, not having a good practice
Speaker 2: week or not having the motivation or running out of steam.
Speaker 2: It really was just about cleaning up the execution. The
Speaker 2: talent is there. They know what they have to do,
Speaker 2: so no one has like lost hope by any means,
Speaker 2: and they know what they need to do to get right,
Speaker 2: and now it's just about doing it and moving forward.
Speaker 2: And we've seen this team handle a bunch of adversity
Speaker 2: in the offseason. We've seen it happen in recent seasons.
Speaker 2: They always find a way to bounce back. So I
Speaker 2: would definitely feel optimistic still about this team moving forward.
Speaker 2: No one in that locker room is freaking out, you know.
Speaker 2: So now it's on to the next Yeah, we're looking
Speaker 2: ahead to Week four at home against the Patriots now,
Speaker 2: But that will do it for today's episode. Subscribe to
Speaker 2: First and ten presented by Cisco for more forty nine
Speaker 2: Ers updates and turn on the notifications for any breaking
Speaker 2: news Move the Chains episodes. Thanks for tuning in.