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 Brion McDonald and joining me
Speaker 1: today is forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay Palaraz and
Speaker 1: special guest Tracy Sandler from Fangirl Sports Network. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining the pod.
Speaker 2: Tracy, thank you for having me. Guys.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's always a pleasure talking game day with you. Now,
Speaker 1: let's take a look at Sunday's matchup at Levice Stadium.
Speaker 1: The forty nine Ers are hosting the four and eight
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears this weekend in San Francisco's looking to bounce
Speaker 1: back after three straight losses, so both teams are coming
Speaker 1: in hungry for a win. Tracy, what are some of
Speaker 1: your initial thoughts on this matchup?
Speaker 3: Well, the forty nine Ers have a tough task against them,
Speaker 3: and I think the Bears record doesn't necessarily do them justice.
Speaker 3: And maybe that's a strong way to put it, but
Speaker 3: they've been playing pretty good football over the last few weeks.
Speaker 3: They just keep finding ways to lose in the fourth quarter. Eventually,
Speaker 3: in theory, that's going to change, but we're seeing Caleb
Speaker 3: Williams play a little bit better. We're seeing things come together,
Speaker 3: and they have the unquantifiable interim coach bump this week,
Speaker 3: which seems to really help teams when when a team's
Speaker 3: coach gets fired in the middle of a season for
Speaker 3: reasons unexplained, the following week under the interim head coach, the.
Speaker 2: Team seems to win and do well.
Speaker 3: So I know that that's not an x's and o's thing.
Speaker 3: It's very unquantifiable, but it is kind of a thing,
Speaker 3: and it's something to look out for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Definitely, another thing to look out for in this
Speaker 1: game day is that there's unfortunately been quite a few
Speaker 1: injuries to track from the Niner side, especially after that
Speaker 1: Bills game. Lindsay, after almost a full week of practice,
Speaker 1: they got another day worked today. But what are some
Speaker 1: of your latest practice updates and what are some things
Speaker 1: you're looking out for and head coach Kas Shanahan's final
Speaker 1: injury report today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, some of the injury updates are actually positive.
Speaker 4: Dimitris Flanagan fouls and linebacker who's actually been out the
Speaker 4: last two games is a limited participant for the first time. Thursday,
Speaker 4: we also saw cornerback Diamador Lenor, who actually missed that
Speaker 4: Week thirteen matchup against the Bills. He's a limited participant
Speaker 4: on Wednesday and was upgraded to full on Thursday. So
Speaker 4: that's going to provide a really big boost to the
Speaker 4: forty nine ers secondary, assuming that he gets the green
Speaker 4: light today, which I imagine he will, so not all bad things.
Speaker 4: We also saw safety Talanoa Hufanga get his practice window
Speaker 4: open on Wednesday. He's gonna be a limited participant and
Speaker 4: did so on Wednesday and Thursday is actually playing with
Speaker 4: a club on his hand, So I think again, just
Speaker 4: in this similar way to Drake Greenlaw, just to have
Speaker 4: a seasoned player, a veteran player back always just provides
Speaker 4: a really good morale boost. We're going to get more
Speaker 4: insight as to when he would actually be activated. We
Speaker 4: don't have that information yet. A couple guys to be
Speaker 4: on the lookout for that. We're actually added to the
Speaker 4: injury list, which is not what we want to see.
Speaker 4: But what actually happened safety George Odom who's also a
Speaker 4: special Teams ace. He did not participate on Thursday due
Speaker 4: to a knee injury, and then defensive lineman e tour.
Speaker 4: Grossmatos also added to that injury list a limited participant,
Speaker 4: also with a knee injury. And then I also forgot
Speaker 4: to mention Jordan Elliott, defensive tackle, a starter.
Speaker 2: He was in the concussion protocol last week.
Speaker 4: He's been full of the last two days, so again
Speaker 4: a good boost for the forty nine ers d line.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks, Lindi. We'll keep an eye out for
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan and his final injury report later today. That'll
Speaker 1: be on forty nine ers dot com. But now, aside
Speaker 1: from the matchup, there is an extra special element to
Speaker 1: game day this Sunday at Levice Stadium. The forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers are celebrating my Cosmike Cleets this Sunday, also honoring
Speaker 1: their Walter Payton Man of the Year, who was announced
Speaker 1: just yesterday. Lindsey, would you like to give us more
Speaker 1: information on both sides there.
Speaker 4: Yes, congratulations are in order for linebacker Curtis Robinson. He
Speaker 4: is the forty nine Ers nominee for the Walter Payton
Speaker 4: NFL Man of the Year Award.
Speaker 2: For those that.
Speaker 4: Aren't as familiar with this award, thirty two players are
Speaker 4: nominated across the league, one from each team. Just for
Speaker 4: their above excellent contribution to the community and outreach. And
Speaker 4: Curtis Robinson is someone that has an interesting story. He
Speaker 4: was a practice squad member he signed in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 4: earned a spot on the fifty three man roster in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four, and unfortunately suffered a season ending ACL
Speaker 4: tear very early in the season. I think one of
Speaker 4: the coolest things about him, he's very passionate about education,
Speaker 4: access outreach and helping educators in the communities they serve.
Speaker 4: He has been a regular at so many of the
Speaker 4: forty nine ers community Tuesdays over the years, and even
Speaker 4: after suffering that season ending injury, he really has not
Speaker 4: missed a Community Tuesday unless it was involving, you know,
Speaker 4: a surgery for that injury. So I think it's been
Speaker 4: pretty remarkable, really really dedicated to the Bay Area community.
Speaker 4: And yeah, the My CAUSEMKE Cleats, thirty four players from
Speaker 4: the forty nine Ers are going to be taking part
Speaker 4: in that this weekend. They'll be wearing customized cleats that
Speaker 4: show tribute and help raise awareness for all their individual causes.
Speaker 4: It's a really cool league wide initiative. It's been happening
Speaker 4: over the last couple weeks. So this week is the
Speaker 4: forty nine Ers week, just because they have a home
Speaker 4: game and they can wear all their really cool cleats,
Speaker 4: and we're gonna have a ton of articles on forty
Speaker 4: nine ers dot Com breaking down the individual causes and
Speaker 4: then doing a deep dive on guys like Diamador Lenor
Speaker 4: and Tabor Pepper.
Speaker 2: So be on the lookout for those. You know Curtis Robinson.
Speaker 3: Every year I cover a lot of these events, and
Speaker 3: he's at every single one, and he's at every single one,
Speaker 3: hurt or not, and he's so engaged with everybody they're
Speaker 3: working with, and he is just fantastic. In Lindsay's right,
Speaker 3: he has such a great story and the injury is
Speaker 3: so unfortunate, but he really is somebody who embodies how
Speaker 3: the organization works in the community, how important the Bay
Speaker 3: Area community is to the organization. So big congratulations to
Speaker 3: Curtis Robinson on that nominee and with my Causemike Cleats,
Speaker 3: I just I think it's the most fun part of
Speaker 3: the year because when you talk to the guys about
Speaker 3: their causes and they show you their cleats, there's a
Speaker 3: level of pride and excitement in the causes that they're
Speaker 3: talking about and having design their cleats, and I think
Speaker 3: it really gives the players an opportunity to show fans
Speaker 3: the other side of things that are important to them,
Speaker 3: because sometimes fans can forget players are human and there
Speaker 3: are things that are important to them other than football,
Speaker 3: and we get to see what those causes are, how
Speaker 3: they spend their time, how they spend their resources building
Speaker 3: those causes up and again with the designing of the cleats.
Speaker 3: It's just a really fun weekend and it's a really
Speaker 3: fun day throughout the NFL. Obviously, I've really just covered
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers doing it over the last several years,
Speaker 3: but it's just a really cool thing to see.
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, thank you so much, Chasey. Now let's
Speaker 1: talk about Sunday's matchup against the Bears again. They're coming
Speaker 1: in zero to five in the road in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: A lot of those struggles have come from close losses,
Speaker 1: so really tough games, emotional games for them. What's your
Speaker 1: perspective on how the forty nine ers could possibly capitalize
Speaker 1: and take advantage of these struggles and come out with
Speaker 1: a win on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Well, the Furtniters are coming off three losses, two really
Speaker 3: really tough ones on the road. So I think for them,
Speaker 3: if the Bears are getting an interim coach bump, I
Speaker 3: think the Fortininers are getting a coming home bump to
Speaker 3: an actual not snowing gold Day bump.
Speaker 2: So I think it'll be nice for them to be home.
Speaker 3: And I think at this point for the last five games,
Speaker 3: so the forty Niners are not out of it entirely.
Speaker 3: So they're playing for that, and they're also playing for pride,
Speaker 3: and they would like to show that these are the
Speaker 3: forty nine ers that fans are used to and that
Speaker 3: people are used to seeing. Yes, they have suffered a
Speaker 3: multitude of injuries, but I think if they can somehow
Speaker 3: figure out to be a little how to be a
Speaker 3: little bit more efficient in the red zone, if they
Speaker 3: can stop the run game or at least put some
Speaker 3: sort of leakage on the run game. Right now, the
Speaker 3: run game is literally, for lack of a better turn,
Speaker 3: running all over them. If they can figure out a
Speaker 3: way to not miss those tackles, to stop running backs,
Speaker 3: to not let Cayleb Williams run around on them, because
Speaker 3: he does have that ability, and the Forteos defense does
Speaker 3: struggle with those type of quarterbacks. I think they could
Speaker 3: really come out and win this game. They're going to
Speaker 3: need Deebo Samuel to step up. They're going to need
Speaker 3: Juwan Jennings to continue to do what he's doing. George
Speaker 3: Kittle was not targeted that much in the game against
Speaker 3: the Bills, and I think that's something they're going to
Speaker 3: have to look at because he's so reliable. He and
Speaker 3: Brock Purty have such chemistry between them. So I think
Speaker 3: those are the ways in which they can win this matchup.
Speaker 3: It is a winnable game for them, but they too
Speaker 3: have fourth quarter losses, and they too have found ways
Speaker 3: to lose in the fourth quarter. And they're going to
Speaker 3: have to play a complete football game. That's really been
Speaker 3: one of the big issues for the forty nine ers
Speaker 3: all season long. They need to play a complete football game.
Speaker 3: I do think some of the people coming back will
Speaker 3: give them a boost. Of course, there were a lot
Speaker 3: of people lost in addition this week, and that's been tough.
Speaker 3: But they can win this game, but they have to
Speaker 3: do the things right that they do right, and that
Speaker 3: is of course executing red zone efficiency, not making special
Speaker 3: teams bunders and somehow figure out a way to stop
Speaker 3: the run.
Speaker 1: The run game, yeah, well, looking at the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers run game, there obviously are concerns about the impact
Speaker 1: of Christian McCaffrey's season ending injury, especially given the loss
Speaker 1: of Jordan Mason as well. Lindsay, how do you see
Speaker 1: the offense adapting without those two?
Speaker 4: You know, I think it is something the forty nine
Speaker 4: ers have had to do a lot this season, just
Speaker 4: given with how how long the injury list is now
Speaker 4: and how it has been in previous weeks. It's all
Speaker 4: about the next man up for the forty nine Ers.
Speaker 4: In Week fourteen, that is going to be rookie running
Speaker 4: back Isaac Garndo.
Speaker 2: He's a fourth round pick.
Speaker 4: He's definitely become more involved in the forty nine ers
Speaker 4: offense as the season has gone on. He played the
Speaker 4: most in Week eight against the Dallas Cowboys. We were
Speaker 4: talking to him in locker room where he said that,
Speaker 4: you know, each week he's been preparing as if he
Speaker 4: was the starter. You never want to see veterans and
Speaker 4: more experienced players go down in front of you, but
Speaker 4: that is the nature of football. Guys get hurt, and
Speaker 4: it really is about stepping up and filling that role
Speaker 4: as soon as possible, and head coach Kyle Shanahan has
Speaker 4: given him a vote of confidence. You know, he feels
Speaker 4: like he's ready for this moment and he's going to
Speaker 4: have to be other changes to the forty nine ers
Speaker 4: running back room. They've elevated Patrick Taylor Junior from the
Speaker 4: practice squad and then also added claimed running back Israel
Speaker 4: Aba Cananda off waivers from the New York Jets. So
Speaker 4: the running back room looks a lot different than it
Speaker 4: did a week ago. But the forty nine ers are
Speaker 4: going to do their very best to adjust and you know,
Speaker 4: do everything in their power in order to get that
Speaker 4: run game going. They had a really successful showing out
Speaker 4: in Buffalo. They actually had one hundred and fifty plus
Speaker 4: yards on the ground. Obviously different personnel out there, but
Speaker 4: they still are a talented team. So now it's just
Speaker 4: about utilizing different players in this week.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, a lot to look out for on Sunday,
Speaker 1: So thank you so much Tracy for joining us today. Faithful,
Speaker 1: don't forget to tune into the Bears versus nine Ers
Speaker 1: game on Fox at one twenty five pm Pacific time.
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Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Eight