Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and
Speaker 1: ten podcast, 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 Brian McDonald and joining me
Speaker 1: today is forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay Polares and
Speaker 1: special guest from the Arizona Cardinals, Craig Rilu. Craig, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us today, My pleasure amazing. So both teams
Speaker 1: are yearing up for the twenty twenty four season finale
Speaker 1: this Sunday, so let's dive right into this week eighteen contest. Lindsay,
Speaker 1: to start, it looks like quarterback Rock Party will be
Speaker 1: sidelined and Josh Shabs will be taken over as the
Speaker 1: Niners quarterback for this final game. Could you tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit more on Perdy's injury and how has
Speaker 1: Dobbs been preparing for this role.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so rock Perty is dealing with right elbow contusion,
Speaker 2: also dealing with some nerve inflammation. I think, just given
Speaker 2: where the forty nine Ers are at this point of
Speaker 2: the season, this is the last game of the year.
Speaker 2: Postseason is not on the table for this year, So yes,
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers are going with Josh Dobbs. Head
Speaker 2: coach Kyle Shanahan talked a little bit about his decision. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Josh Dobbs has that dual threat ability, whereas Brandon Allen
Speaker 2: is more of a traditional pocket passer. He said that
Speaker 2: he's viewed both quarterbacks as his number two this year.
Speaker 2: There is some decision making that went into what the
Speaker 2: offensive line will look like in Week eighteen. You know,
Speaker 2: I know last week Colton mckivitt's the starting right tackle,
Speaker 2: was able to suit up. He has not practiced the
Speaker 2: last two days, so it is going to be interesting
Speaker 2: to see where the pass protection is. Obviously, the line
Speaker 2: did very well in Week seventeen against the Detroit Lions,
Speaker 2: but you definitely want a quarterback that can extend play,
Speaker 2: and Josh Dobbs certainly brings that. He has been with
Speaker 2: the team all season long, had his first appearance in
Speaker 2: Week seventeen, and he's going to be the guy suiting
Speaker 2: up for this season finale. We heard from guys like
Speaker 2: George Kittle Juwan Jennings who are all very excited to
Speaker 2: see what he brings to the field this week. For
Speaker 2: Juwan Jennings especially, he's a former teammate of Dobbs, played
Speaker 2: a couple seasons with him at Tennessee. He's definitely looking
Speaker 2: forward to playing with Dobbs in the season finale.
Speaker 1: All right, Yeah, Now, looking at the Cardinals offense, Craig
Speaker 1: Trey McBride has had an exceptional season, including making the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl and breaking records for tight ends. How do
Speaker 1: you think McBride will approach this final game and what
Speaker 1: does he need to do to build momentum heading into
Speaker 1: the offseason.
Speaker 3: Well, the one thing he doesn't have to worry about
Speaker 3: is that he has got his first receiving touchdown of
Speaker 3: the season, and he did that last week, so that
Speaker 3: has crossed off the list of things that needed to
Speaker 3: happen before the end of the season. But he has
Speaker 3: been the guy for much of this season and he's
Speaker 3: darn near closed to breaking the single season tight end
Speaker 3: record for receptions in the league. We'll see what brock
Speaker 3: Bauers does with the Las Vegas Raiders coming up on Sunday.
Speaker 3: But it's again what we've heard all week long is
Speaker 3: making sure you finish on a positive note. Obviously the
Speaker 3: goal is to win, but to keep stacking those performances
Speaker 3: even though momentum doesn't carry over into the offseason, confidence
Speaker 3: does and gets continuing to build confidence, especially we forget
Speaker 3: McBride is still relatively young. It's his third season, but
Speaker 3: he hasn't been a full season starter for very many
Speaker 3: years in this league, so he still feels that he
Speaker 3: can get better now.
Speaker 1: While we're taking a look at tight ends, George Kittle
Speaker 1: has had another standout season, reaching one thousand yards for
Speaker 1: the fourth time in his career. Given the lack of
Speaker 1: playoff pressure, how do you expect Kittle to approach this
Speaker 1: final gave him of the season and what role will
Speaker 1: he play in helping set the ton for this game?
Speaker 2: Lindsay, Yeah, you know, I think with George Kittle, one
Speaker 2: of my favorite things that he says, and he says
Speaker 2: it a lot, is that he goes into every game
Speaker 2: thinking it's a winnable game and that the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers are going to do what's necessary to win. That's
Speaker 2: not going to change in Week eighteen, despite what this
Speaker 2: season looks like and kind of has panned out to be.
Speaker 2: So expect that same competitive fire from George Kittle. Like
Speaker 2: you mentioned, he's already hit that thousand yard mark for
Speaker 2: the fourth time.
Speaker 1: In his career.
Speaker 2: He's one of five tight ends in NFL history to
Speaker 2: be able to hit that thousand yard receiving for four
Speaker 2: seasons in their career, so a huge congratulations to him.
Speaker 2: He was named one of four Pro Bowlers for the
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers. But for him, it is really, like
Speaker 2: Craig said, stacking the success that he has found this season,
Speaker 2: and I'm playing to win, playing for pride. He is
Speaker 2: a person that reps that forty nine Ers logo harder
Speaker 2: than really anyone else and that isn't going to waiver
Speaker 2: in Week eighteen regardless of kind of what's on what's
Speaker 2: at stake for this team, and I think he has
Speaker 2: been a really big source of inspiration and leadership for
Speaker 2: the rest of this team that takes the field. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think expect a lot more competitive fire that you know,
Speaker 2: the George Kittle isms that we hear every single week,
Speaker 2: and I think he's very much rooting on guys around
Speaker 2: him that are very close to those really big benchmarks,
Speaker 2: like Juwan Jennings, who is seventy seven yards of that
Speaker 2: thousand yards receiving for the first time in his career.
Speaker 2: So just expect more of the same from George Kittle
Speaker 2: in the best way possible.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Yeah, we're talking Pro Bowlers and Pro Bowl rosters
Speaker 1: were announced yesterday. Alongside George Kittle, Nick Bosa, Kyle Uschek,
Speaker 1: and Fred Warner were also selected to the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five Pro Bowl, with Leonard Floyd Diamed, Leonor rock Perty,
Speaker 1: and Trent Williams named as alternates for Arizona. Safety Budda
Speaker 1: Baker made the cut with Trey McBride, and the Cardinals
Speaker 1: also got three alternates kick returner DJ Dallas, left tackle
Speaker 1: Paris Johnson Junior, and kicker Chad Ryland. So, with it
Speaker 1: being the final game of this season, Craig, how much
Speaker 1: motivation do you expect from honestly each side to finish
Speaker 1: strong in this finale? Tell me about the extra emphasis
Speaker 1: on ending the season with a win, especially with what's
Speaker 1: at stake for these players individually.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no guarantee that there is a next season
Speaker 3: for a lot of players. You can play your way
Speaker 3: into the league, remain in the league, or you can
Speaker 3: play your way out of the league. And I think
Speaker 3: that's something that's been preached all week long, really all
Speaker 3: season long, to make sure that each and every week
Speaker 3: you bring it as a coach, as a player for
Speaker 3: the Cardinals, specifically, a win on Sunday, you double your
Speaker 3: win total from a year ago, you finish five hundred
Speaker 3: within the NFC West after not winning a single division
Speaker 3: game a year ago. And then I think it's important
Speaker 3: to send the fans home happy. It's the final home
Speaker 3: game of the regular season. A win on Sunday, that
Speaker 3: six wins at State Farm Stadium this sea, which has
Speaker 3: not been done since twenty fifteen. So again, there's some
Speaker 3: tangible aspects to get a victory on Sunday moving into
Speaker 3: the offseason and hopefully building upon how you finish a
Speaker 3: regular season going into the offseason.
Speaker 1: And Lindsey, how important is this game for evaluating the
Speaker 1: depth and young talent on the Niners roster? Are there
Speaker 1: any particular players look you're looking at to make a
Speaker 1: statement in this game? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think this is a bit of a twofold game
Speaker 2: of for younger players especially. We heard the veteran players
Speaker 2: talk a lot about how the rookie wall is a
Speaker 2: real thing that younger players have to push through and
Speaker 2: this is the longest season of football that they have
Speaker 2: played so far in their careers. So being able to
Speaker 2: play at a high level, like we keep talking about,
Speaker 2: finishing on a high note, is a real thing that
Speaker 2: you want to see from them this late in the year.
Speaker 2: And I think you talk about younger players. You've got
Speaker 2: wide receiver Ricky Piersal. He gets to go back to
Speaker 2: his home state play at State Farm Arena. He told
Speaker 2: me it's his first time actually playing there. He's going
Speaker 2: to have fifty five members of his family just on
Speaker 2: his mom's side that are going to watch him play.
Speaker 2: So this is a really big career moment for him.
Speaker 2: And he's coming off his career best performance in Week seventeen.
Speaker 2: He hat over one hundred and forty yards receiving a touchdown.
Speaker 2: He wants to keep stacking those successes. Same goes for
Speaker 2: Jacob Cowing, also in Arizona Native. He has been the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers punt returner this year. He wants to
Speaker 2: get more reps out wide receiver. Then you've got guys
Speaker 2: like Madlik Mustafa and Ernardo Green who have been really
Speaker 2: integral parts of the forty nine ers secondary this year.
Speaker 2: Due to injuries, they just want to keep that pace
Speaker 2: and momentum that they have had for the rest of
Speaker 2: the year, head into the off season with a lot
Speaker 2: of confidence, and I think this is the time to
Speaker 2: do it. Week eighteen. It's your last go at it,
Speaker 2: So yeah, let's get it done.
Speaker 1: Definitely, And we've been talking about it all morning. Now
Speaker 1: this is the twenty twenty four regular season finale, So Craig,
Speaker 1: what's the biggest way you want to look for it
Speaker 1: in this final game that will help both teams as
Speaker 1: they look ahead to twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3: I think a key is going to be who takes
Speaker 3: advantage of their opportunities, who takes advantage of their snaps.
Speaker 3: No James Connor this week for the Cardinals, so Michael
Speaker 3: Carter won't get another opportunity for the second straight week
Speaker 3: to kind of fill those shoes. Is he someone that
Speaker 3: this team looks forward to next season? And also keeping
Speaker 3: an eye on Kelvin Beacham's status as far as the
Speaker 3: Cardinals left tackle is concerned. He's been dealing with a
Speaker 3: knee issue. If he can't go, then it would likely
Speaker 3: be rookie Christian Jones getting the start and another opportunity
Speaker 3: to showcase what he's capable of doing. He got one
Speaker 3: series in last week against the Rams, but Obviously, if
Speaker 3: Beach is not able to go, then that's even a
Speaker 3: bigger load for Christian Jones, one of those draft picks
Speaker 3: from a year ago that has been waiting for an opportunity.
Speaker 3: And that's, as Jonathan Ganna likes to say, are you
Speaker 3: maximizing your opportunity when it presents itself, And this on
Speaker 3: Sunday is another opportunity for a lot of young players.
Speaker 1: Definitely, And lindsay, what's your biggest takeaway from this final
Speaker 1: game before looking ahead to twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: I think it's just effort level. You know, this is
Speaker 2: a team that has faced a ton of injuries this year,
Speaker 2: and one thing that the veterans have continued to preach
Speaker 2: is that there's still plenty of playmakers left on this roster.
Speaker 2: So it is just about finishing the year on a
Speaker 2: high note. You know, the forty nine ers didn't get
Speaker 2: the season that they wanted, but there is still opportunity
Speaker 2: to play for pride, played for the logo, play for
Speaker 2: the fans. Obviously, they're playing on the road, but the
Speaker 2: Faithful are such an enthusiastic fan base that you can
Speaker 2: expect a lot of them to be there in Arizona.
Speaker 2: Especially since it is a close West Coast game, so
Speaker 2: I think it is really about just finishing strong in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's going to be a good one this Sunday.
Speaker 1: Thank you Craig for joining us today, Faithful, don't forget
Speaker 1: to tune into the Niners versus Cardinals game on Fox
Speaker 1: at one twenty five pm Pacific time. Dribe to First
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Speaker 1: breaking news. Thanks for tuning in.