How encouraging is that? And how do you expect them to keep that momentum going this weekend against the Dolphins?

I think maybe the biggest play in the game that we haven't talked about, and generally I'm guilty of this too, like everyone hasn't talked about as much, was the Renardo Green interception.

It came right after the Brock Purdy interception, and the Rams were moving down the field, and that game could slide away from you pretty quick there.

If the Rams turned that into a touchdown, it could slide away from you pretty quick.

But Renardo Green had a really good camp, and before he got injured toward the end of the preseason, I thought he was the guy who looked like he was poised to take that leap forward.

to the next level.

And when he was talking after the game, he talked about how the play he made in that game, staying home, dropped and sinking into coverage and making that interception against Stafford was very similar to a play that or a coverage that he messed up against the Seahawks that got him in hot water with Kyle Shanahan at the end of last season.

But you don't get any sense, right, of any taking the Dolphins or even the Cardinals next week, who are coming off a win over the Chargers, taking these opponents lightly after a tough, pivotal matchup like we saw week one against the Rams.

How, from your perspective, has the view or responsibility upon Brock changed that organization to while there's so many veterans that might be at the end of their era, your franchise quarterback is here to step into kind of his golden era as the face of the Niners?

I think it's a great point, Matt, when you frame it that way because it's something that the three of us have talked about on this show a lot is kind of this idea of how the 49ers transition out of this nucleus of stars to that next nucleus of stars.

And the one guy that we know is part of that next nucleus for sure is Brock Purdy, which is a great sign because it's the position That matters the most.

But there has to be kind of a way to bridge those two things.

And I think Brock Purdy is the guy who is being tasked with being in charge of that.

And, you know, you can go back and look.

And as of this year, Brock Purdy will become the longest tenured quarterback Kyle Shanahan has ever worked with.

scouting for week nine scouting for week

rotate is if someone's just

Connor Colby starts it and is playing great.

Exactly.

That's how I felt, too.

And it was like, he's the one that volunteered this information.

But I say that to say, like, Not having Aaron Donald on the other side, it doesn't make it easy by any means because there's still really good players on that Rams interior.

But it's one thing that's maybe not as devastating because you can put more attention toward Miles Garrett and the trickle down of that.

Can this guy be the guy that can? Because he looks so explosive and so fast.

as good of a job as you could possibly expect them to do, and with these guys coming back, even with the change at the defensive coordinator position, it feels like the defense would be a lot better.

Yeah, I think you're 100% right, and it's particularly true in Bosa's case because the 49ers have for so long under Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, they've wanted to build their entire defense around having a dominant or at least very good pass rush.

And last year they had a non-existent pass rush.

I mean, Miles Garrett had more sacks than the 49ers did as a team last year.

The, the, the, the other, the other metrics, whether it's pressure percentage or a pass rush win rate or whatever that they were ranked in the, you know, bottom two or three in the league.

And now, so they didn't have anything there.

And, There's a trickle-down effect that comes with that.

How important is the relationship, the pairing, the chemistry, the symmetry between Deshaun Stribling and Brock Purdy headed into the regular season?

as good of a job as you could possibly expect them to do, and with these guys coming back, even with the change at the defensive coordinator position, it feels like the defense would be a lot better.

Yeah, I think you're 100% right, and it's particularly true in Bosa's case because the 49ers have for so long under Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, they've wanted to build their entire defense around having a dominant or at least very good pass rush.

And last year they had a non-existent pass rush.

I mean, Miles Garrett had more sacks than the 49ers did as a team last year.

The, the, the, the other, the other metrics, whether it's pressure percentage or a pass rush win rate or whatever that they were ranked in the, you know, bottom two or three in the league.

And now, so they didn't have anything there.

And, There's a trickle down effect that comes with that.

How important is the relationship, the pairing, the chemistry, the symmetry between Deshaun Stribling and Brock Purdy headed into the regular season?

What is a week and a half with Kyle around, but not totally coaching? What, what has that been like from your perspective?

I mean, it's been weird, and, uh, I even...

I, I can cop to this.

I'm so used to, like, addressing questions to Kyle that when John Lynch came in and talked to us on Saturday, uh, was that Saturday? Whatever day that was, about, about Ricky Pearsall, I started a question with K- Kyle, and then I caught myself.

I was like, "Sorry." I'm so used to saying Kyle [laughs] that, uh, that I messed that up.

So, uh, it's weird for us, but I can imagine it's even weirder for players.

And, um, the progression has been about what they told us it was going to be.

So I don't know chicken or the egg what comes first, but how do you interpret what players are saying about this defense?

Like people start to connect dots and say, "Well, is it something with the 49ers versus three individual situations?"

situations?"Well, first of all, uh, uh, the, bringing the DeAndre Campbell thing into this makes no sense- Right ... 'cause he quit on the team because Dre Greenlaw came back and reclaimed his starting job basically.

Right.

Like, Dre Greenlaw, one of the, the, you know, talk about pelts on the wall and what he's done for this team- Yeah ... and the level of player that he is.

And so, uh, you know, he came back and then DeAndre Campbell got upset that he, he stepped back into the starting lineup, and then he walked out in the middle of the game.

So if that's your, if that's what you wanna go on- Yeah, that's kind of a bizarre one.

Yeah ... as, as...

Granger, for the ones who get it done.

I don't know, I might think people are a little sleeping on the Seahawks here, which are the Super Bowl defending champions.

It's crazy to say, but yeah, I'm with you.

That Seattle nucleus, the young guys that they have that are really just kind of scratching the surface on who they can be.

You know, JSN obviously had the massive year last year, but That was really his big leap forward.

He used to say he can't continue to do that.

And John Schneider is really good at his job.

I think Mike McDonald is really good at his job.

Um, about the way i think about this team and some percentage because of this move