What the San Francisco 49ers have to do to beat the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2. Should the 49ers play Christian McCaffrey or rest his achilles? Coverage data, run game and MORE!
San Francisco 49ers fans are treated to daily news and analysis with Locked On 49ers, hosted by football analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL/AFL cornerback Eric Crocker.
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LO49ers?sid=YouTube
Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL
Follow Brian Peacock and Eric Crocker on Twitter, where they’ll be sharing the latest news about the Niners and talking with fans.
Twitter: twitter.com/BDPeacock, twitter.com/eric_crocker
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
PrizePicks
Go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.
BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.
eBay Motors
For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.
FanDuel
Now through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by FX's American sports story, Aaron Hernandez. From executive producer Ryan Murphy comes the first installment of FX's American sports story. The limited series charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez and explores the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their legacy in sports and American culture. FX's American sports story, Aaron Hernandez, premier September 17th on FX, stream on Hulu. We're driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. Ditch the busy work. Use Indeed for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. The listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/lockdontnfl. Just go to indeed.com/lockdontnfl right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast, indeed.com/lockdontnfl, terms of conditions apply, need to hire, the podcast network, your team, every day. Welcome to Lockdown 49ers, Brian Peacock and Eric Crocker at BDP Cock at Crocky 209. Thanks everybody for making us your first listen right here on the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day we love and appreciate all of our every day is out there and all of our new listeners, make sure you are subscribed on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown 49ers brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates. You want to talk to you faster, post your job for free at linkedin.com/lockdontnfl, terms and conditions apply. All right, looking at the injury report, Crock, and we'll start with Christian McCaffrey who is still limited in practice this week, and it's probably going to be another game time decision with Christian McCaffrey. He says he's good and practicing like he's going to play. It seemed like he was going to play last week and all of a sudden, you know, whatever time it was for 15 and the end actives come out and Christian McCaffrey is on the list. And so seeing and I don't know if how good the 49ers ran the ball, how good Jordan Mason looked changes it for you, but knowing where Christian McCaffrey is, knowing you being somebody who's currently dealing with Achilles, tendonitis, what do you think the 49ers should do with Christian McCaffrey? Should they be precautionary, hold him out and tell he is 100% and then unleash him on the NFL? Or should they just say, look, you feel good like you can play it, then okay, we're going to have you play. You know, I think if they've been informed that he can't do any more harm to it, then you can play them. If he feels good, can't do any more harm, go ahead, put him out there, put him on the field. But if there's any risk that if he's not 100% or as close to 100% as possible and going out there could potentially make this worse, that's when I'd say, you know what, and you mentioned this yesterday, we have to protect you from yourself. So we're going to sit you whether it's, you know, this Sunday against the Vikings or another two Sundays, whatever it is for whatever length of period of time to where we feel comfortable that it's in the spot where it won't hurt us for the long haul because for another, the main goal is super bowl and you're not going to win a super bowl in September right now. So what do we have to do to make sure that Christian McCaffrey can finish through that finish line at the end of the year and be as impactful during that time as possible. If it's having him set out a little bit cool. And I do think that because of how Jordan Mason played, I think, you know, getting the post of the 49er faithful, most fans are like, whoa, you're fine. You got Jordan Mason, Christian McCaffrey definitely makes you better. This is a guy that was up for, or shoot, one offensive player of the year, a guy that people potentially thought could win in the field MVP. He played at that caliber level. Jordan Mason is not that, but he is definitely suitable to get you by if there is an instance where Christian McCaffrey may have to sit for, you know, the first four weeks of the season. So, you know, I wish I knew more about this injury. I know from my perspective, but again, I don't have doctors, you know, around me all the time, giving me the best advice. I don't have, I'm not doing rehab, you know, around the clock, trying to get ready for a game. Christian McCaffrey knows more where he's at. And hopefully the plan that they have in place for him is something that will not only help him right now, but in the long term as well. I'm kind of in a similar spot. And I lean toward just with the information that we have, holding him out until it feels like he is truly 100% or close to it. And the fact that he's limited in practice, I think already tells you the story, because he would be practicing normally if there wasn't something that he could do and harm himself in practice, right? Unless it's just a pain threshold, and that's it. And it doesn't feel like that that's what the situation is with Christian McCaffrey right now. And I don't think it's that painful, and there's definitely ways to whatever pain he's feeling. You can mask that. Like they can give you that torridol shot and they give you that you won't feel that Achilles at all. But something with the torridol shot is it just masks what is screaming at you that is not okay. So do you want to mask it, play him in the game, he feels good enough to play. Okay, you won't feel that ache, that pain, that soreness, but then because of the way you're pushing yourself during the game, you potentially, you know, there's some risk there. And that's a tough thing. And that's why you can listen to Christian McCaffrey say, Oh, I'm good. I can play with the medical staff saying clearly they're saying something enough to where the 49ers had a whole amount of last game. And neither one of us are doctors. But I do want to go to a doctor, Dr. Narav Pandya, who is a local UCSF orthopedic professor of orthopedic surgery, director of sports medicine, Benioff Children's. So, and it's kind of local injury analysis guide for the sports world here locally in the Bay Area. And he has some bullet points about Christian McCaffrey and the Achilles tendonitis that he's dealing with. And this is what he says, some of the key points about Achilles tendonitis and Christian McCaffrey for the 49ers fans. Number one, Achilles tendonitis does increase your risk of an Achilles rupture. But this is not as common as you would think studies have shown the rate is between 4% and 10%. Second, there is varying degrees of Achilles tendonitis based on the amount of inflammation preexisting degeneration in the pain it causes based on an athlete's biomechanics. Number three, not all cases are severe, but some injuries can take several weeks, if not several months, to resolve. And then there's the fourth one, Croc, and this is big. And number four, decreasing workload is key for this injury to prevent chronic changes to the tendon. And so, real quick, now, you don't want the chronic, you don't want the chronic issues. And when he says workload, what is that? Is that Eric Crocker going out jogging two miles or is that an NFL player going through a game, cutting, running, bursting out at a 100% speed, you know what I'm saying? So, like, it is not a workload where, hey, just give him six less carries in a game. That's a smaller workload for him. He's still in whatever reps and snaps, he's out there pushing his body to 100%. That that's the part right there when you talk about protecting him from himself. So the workload right now that is getting majority of it in practice, right? That's control. You can control that and maybe he's just doing individual drills. It's kind of like work. Hey, let's make sure you're good. Let's pull him off to the side, have somebody rub out his, you know, his heel and his Achilles, his calf, massage those things out. It's just more controlled as opposed to, one, what I'm doing, which I'm still running on it, but that's right compared to you getting or needing to 100% Chris McCaffrey in a game. Decreasing workload is key for this injury to prevent chronic changes to the tendon. You don't want the chronic, as you said, Crocker, this isn't a 1994 Dr. Dre album, right? This is something that can change the functionality of your classic album and you're an NFL running bag. Like if you could alter how you run for the rest of your life, potentially, that's what you say in chronic changes to your tended. And this is the type of injury that, you know, for a, we saw Kirk Cousins not be able to throw very well coming off of an Achilles, well, he's a quarterback and all he has to do is drop back a couple steps and then, you know, utilize his lower half to throw the ball. He's going to be in a running bag. And someone who's approaching 30 years old at running bag. And this is kind of the time a lot of guys break down. And so I think it's serious enough to where you got to be smart about it. And you don't win the Super Bowl in September. You much rather have Christian McCaffrey on the field in January and hopefully February than in September. So if there's any question, any doubt for me and it just makes it, it makes, it makes the decision that much easier seeing how well they ran the ball last week, seeing Jordan Mason do his thing. And by the way, we don't need to give Jordan Mason 28 carries either. Isaac Arendos on the team, Patrick Taylor had a uniform on the sideline as well. You know, you can mix in a couple touches for those guys as well. And let's not get those guys injured too, right? So there's another doctor, Dr. Jesse Morse, he touched on this as well. So I'll just give his take on this and it'll kind of be my final thing. So what is Achilles tendonitis, you know, for Christian McCaffrey, tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon, tendon, tendon, tendon, often, often, tendon, pathi, tendon, that's a word I can't say I'm, I'm, but is, is the disorganization of a tendon fibers, see picture below. He has a picture. He says tendonitis is usually acute wreak havoc for a couple of weeks. Then hopefully it dissipates. This causes pain and swelling that can wax and wane. So what is the difference between Achilles, tendonitis and Achilles, tendon, pathi, tendon nothabi, whatever, uh, uh, the tendon apathy is a disorganization of the tendon is chronic and slow builds up over the years. Now, now that's the part right there and he thinks that Christian McCaffrey may have the chronic one based on kind of where he's at. We were informed last season that he was having calf issues and I wonder if those calf issues, even if they didn't tell us also have something to do with the Achilles and once he's starting to feel that Achilles pain, but hey, we're in the thick of this season right now, it is the last half. He said, Hey, if I could play, you know, if it's important, I can play. He played through it, did the, whatever he played through last season, make it worse and potentially more of a chronic situation that he's currently dealing with now. Yeah. That's the. I am not a doctor to say we're trying to work with the fact that they thought he wasn't going to need to stay out for four weeks and didn't put him on any injury lists. I think is telling that they think he'll be back pretty soon. I have a feeling he'll play or he'll be back very, very soon. I'm with you though, crock, let's, let's be smart about this thing and not make it worse, but you wonder if maybe man, maybe he already played through something and that's why it's already worse now because we're talking about an, if it is the same injury that's inflamed again from the end of last season. Maybe it's already in the chronic stages with that, uh, that tendonitis. Next more on the injury report for the San Francisco 49ers. Could they get some key players back in week two and the keys to victory? What the nighters need to do to win at the Minnesota Vikings next? This episode of lockdown 49ers brought to you by LinkedIn jobs when you're hiring for your small business. You want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. And LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you find professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, but might be open to the perfect role in a given month. Over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading jobs sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place and on LinkedIn 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. So hire professionals like a professional on LinkedIn and LinkedIn knows the small businesses are wearing so many hats, might not have time or resources to hire. So they're constantly finding ways to make the process even easier. So post your job for free at LinkedIn dot com slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn dot com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions of life. Today's episode is also brought to you by FanDuel America's number one sports book. You've heard us talk so much about FanDuel and there's a reason they're America's number one sports books. They have offers like this. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet just $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time and bet all those 49ers games, bet on to win the Super Bowl weekly lines, prop bets and so much more. And if that's not enough, be sure to check out FanDuel's profit boost in the app and use it for FanDuel's double year winnings for all Sunday. This Sunday pregame money line bets, profit boost will be live starting Thursday. So view your account page now to learn more about your boost. Just visit fan duel dot com and download America's number one sports book. Man, I think I can read well, but that word was kicking my ass. The medical words, they get pretty wild. The only reason I know what that might be is because I've heard about all the opathies from from my wife who's a physical therapist. So I get to hear some of those medical touch words, but yeah, that's a there's a reason crossing either. Neither one of us went to med school. Gee to her gross mottos on the field at practice on Thursday as was Talanohu Fanga still limited these guys. We don't know what the exact designation is quite going to be yet as of this recording. But right now, this week, you two are gross mottos doing some things back on the field. Talanohu Fanga getting closer with his knee injury, Joanne Jennings was limited to start the week. Christian McCaffrey obviously limited as well as Aaron Banks limited. It does feel like Joanne Jennings and Aaron Banks or guys are going to be limited early in the week and then be able to get a full practice in by the end of the week and pop possibly play. But right now, that's what the injury report looks like and be nice for the 49ers depth the E-2 or gross mottos back and we really didn't see much of him in the preseason either. So don't know what to expect out of him. And that kind of leads to one of my keys to victory crock is and I want to talk a little bit about some coverage data too, but get pressure on same Donald. I think that's my number one this week because I believe in the 49ers offense against that Minnesota defense, they don't have Dennell Hunter anymore on paper. It looks like the 49ers should win that matchup. And it would really help the 49ers to win the matchup on the other side as well. And that would be to get Sam Donald to see ghosts and do some weird stuff. And that starts with pressure and the 49ers didn't really get the 49ers defense line was awesome. And they were great against the run last week against the Jets, but they didn't really pressure Aaron Rodgers all that much. Kind of just contained him in the pocket and played the run and Leonard Floyd did get in for one sack. And I think another Rogers might have got hit one other time, but I think pressure on Sam Donald would be a huge key for the San Francisco 49ers in this one. You know, I saw a post on social media and it was someone listing like 49ers had a dominant game against Jacksonville. I think most people would agree with that and they could have been even more dominant. This is a team that kicked six field goals. Imagine if a couple of those were touchdowns as opposed to field goals and that's a team still kind of shaking off the breath. So you're still able to put up 32 points. You're very good defensively and the 49ers were missing a lot of pieces that they expect to be on this roster playing at some point this year, whether it's, you know, Christian McCaffrey. We talked about gross models who now is returning to practice. Ricky Pirasaw and there's several Aaron Banks. There are several other players where these are guys that are potentially limit this team even better. So I think that's the scary part. But when you do look at some of these guys who now are starting to look a little healthier, I think with gross models, like you said, didn't see a whole lot of them in preseason. But I'm excited to see what his role is. I think Leonard Floyd, he flashed and he flashed a few different times in this game. I think it's very clear the type of pass pressure that he is, but the 49ers, the team that was really good against the run, especially gets a very talented running back in Breeze Hall, how they were able to really limit a lot of his carries and what that looked like. Matter of fact, I think he had like a couple of carries for like eight yards or so, like there were a couple where he was able to get around the corner. So I mean, when you include that in his carries and he still only averaged like three yards per carry or whatever it was, that is pretty damn dominant in the run game. And now was something that I was very curious to see what that looked like, you know, are they going to be stout versus stout? Are they going to be pushed around? Well, you have gross models who is known to be more of a run defender, a guy that's going to be stout and have Leonard Floyd play off of them. I think it seems like this defense is only going to get better. And when you're looking at the Minnesota Vikings and they have guys like Aaron Jones, is he going to have trouble running against the 49ers? And if he does, you talked about kind of one of the keys to victory. I think the key to victory for the 49ers is put the game on Sam Donald's shoulders. You talked a lot of good about him yesterday, the improvements that he made. I think that's improvements from where he was, you know? So like, it's like one of those situations you can kind of only go up from there. Has he kind of gone up and kind of met his kind of peak? And now you have a team that is like, all right, we're going to make you, you're going to have to be the Sam Donald. And you talked about seeing ghosts. I think that's when you may see the worst version of Sam Donald in this game. Now, all of a sudden you're not playing against the New York Giants or whoever they played last week where you were super efficient, you're doing this and you kind of get to play with house money. It's comfortable playing like that. Now you got to play potentially from behind and you have to be the guy to make the plays to potentially pull this victory out. Can you win that way? I doubt it. What's your first key to victory for the 49ers against the Vikings on Sunday Croc? I did for the 49ers. Just doing kind of what they did last game, establishing the run and established that early. I thought, Drake Mason ran very well early in that game. You know, a lot of people talk about the performance of Sam, excuse me, Sam Donald. Still thinking about Sam Donald. But the performance of Brock Purdy. For me, what I saw from a guy, and this is not a bad thing because when he's had to take over games, we've seen him be able to do that at times, but he was the ultimate game manager. He did not turn the ball over. The 49ers ran the ball well. He didn't do anything bad to put the 49ers behind the sticks. When guys were open, he made those throws. When he needed to make some anticipatory throws, he made those throws. When Kyle Youschek is running wide open down the left sideline, he did not overthrow him. I saw some people complaining, "Oh, if he hits him and stride, it's a touchdown." The hill was trying to hit him and stride, "Hey, let's just hit him." Right? That's a massive game right there. You try to hit him and stride a lot of times, you end up overthrowing the guy who nobody's within 10 yards of him in any direction. So I thought he did a lot of the things that were necessary to win. It didn't feel like it was above and beyond, but he did a great job of managing the game and not putting the 49ers in a bad situation, even on drives where that didn't result in scores early on. Right? The first drive, three and out. The second drive, three and out, but off of the turnover, you're able to get a field goal. He didn't make anything worse in the game, and I think if he's able to just do that, that should be the number one key to victory to beating the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah. And you look at the front for the Minnesota Vikings. This is their starting front seven. They got Jonathan Bullard, Harrison Phillips, Jerry Tillery on the D-line. They got sort of the outside backer, Ed Drushers and Jonathan Greener and Andrew Van Ginkle. By the way, people love Andrew Van Ginkle. He's like their secret superstar over there in Minnesota this year. We'll find out what he looks like on the field against the Niners. Backers, they got Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace, Jr. but it's not a stalwart group and you would think the 49ers can win that battle. And I love the way the 49ers offensive line looked. And I love the way that Jordan Mason looked. I love the way that I saw Debo blocking and Kittle blocking. And here's an interesting nugget that Steph Sanchez relayed from an analytics site. It's that the 49ers ran right on 64% of their runs in week number one. In 2023, they ran right the least of any team in the NFL. That's usually kind of a team's power side is the right side. They ran a lot left in a lot. We always talk about how so many big plays for Christian McCaffrey come on the left side behind Trent Williams. Last year they ran the least of any team in the NFL of 41%. So I wonder if that was just a Jets thing if that's like maybe because of Trent Williams not wanting to lean too much on him and wear him out too much or what that is. So we'll see if that continues. But I thought that was really interesting in that 90 something yards of Jordan Mason's 147 yards came before he was even touched by a fender before a contact. So the offensive line was working last week. A lot of people talked about this officer line and they were very upset that the 49ers did do more to address certain positions and specifically that right tackle spot would call him a kid. But I did ask a question in the off season. What happens if he gets better? Like can he get better? He was a guy that kind of came in, played guard, didn't do quite well there, played tackle sparingly. But last year that was his first year starting. Kenny potentially get better and everyone pointed to how the 49ers cannot run right. They can only run to the left. And the proof was all there on the film last year. But I think being able to run 64% of your runs to the right and have the success the 49ers did, I think that that's a positive for McKivens. And again, is he Trent Williams or something like no. But if the 49ers can just continue to gain a play like how he did, maybe he could beat him in there, but just play that, that, that, get that kind of protection out of him. I think that'll be a massive win for the South Cisco 49ers. So McKivens just do what you did last week. Right. And, and Poonie being the real deal at right guard helps too. And by the way, when Banks left the game with his injury and Spencer Burford jumped in a left guard, looked good, looked more natural left guard than he ever did even at right guard. I mean, he was the left left hand left side guy left tackle in college. So I would love to see him get some, some tackle reps to maybe just that super sub player on the offensive line. So it's now he's no longer a starter at right guard next, I have a diamond and a rough right there. Not even know him. All of a sudden he's like this great left tackle is like, yeah, I just, I just couldn't, I can't write left handed, but I could write right handed if you ask me having a McKivens, he got cut because he didn't look good at guard and all of a sudden I was just starting off with the tackle. So yeah, they're going to absolutely have him. Um, next let's talk coverage. Croc and more keys to victory for the 49ers to win week two at the Minnesota Viking. This episode of locked on 49ers is sponsored by price picks. Price picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Price picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play DFS and unlike other apps on price picks. It's just you against the numbers. You're not playing other players and other sharks that might be in the pool. It's just you against those stat projections. You pick more or less on a two to six stat projections and watch those winnings roll in at price picks. And by the way, they're giving you a free one all month of September as well. All you need is one Caleb Williams passing yard and that gets you one win on price picks. Price picks every week in September and with price picks, they invented the flex play, which means you can still cash out even if your lineup isn't perfect. You can double your money even if one of your picks doesn't hit. So download the price picks app today and use code locked on NFL and get $50 instantly when you play $5. That's code locked on NFL on price picks to get $50 instantly when you play just $5. You don't even have to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed price picks run your I love five hour energy after a big win for my favorite team. I love diving into the tape, but after hours of making content, I can eat a boost. There's nothing like a watermelon five hour energy shot to make sure I finish the job with zero sugar and a convenient portable size. It's the perfect pick me up for getting stuff done. If you go to five hour energy dot com, that's the number five hour energy dot com and get some five hour energy product today. You can use my promo code locked on FB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. It's not good on subscription orders, go to five hour energy dot com today. Gabe. All right, Croc. We were asked earlier this week by some listeners what you thought about the play of George Odom who started for teleno who Fonga at safety and I thought the 49ers were really good in the secondary and then I ran across some numbers, Croc, in about the coverage rates for the 49ers in week one. Now look, this is one week and it can be, you know, team opponent dependent. So I don't know if this is going to continue, but if you remember last year we talked about this and I found it from the app football insights, which was relayed from fantasy points data is where this came from on Twitter. So coverage rates in 2023 for the 49ers. The 49ers were really big and ran 60% of either cover three or cover four. So they were really big amongst the tops in the league in those two coverages. So 32% cover three, 27% of the time in cover four, so 60% of the time about they were in those coverages and then next most was 18% in cover one week one this year, Croc. The 49ers were in man coverage a lot more and more than in zone coverage and in fact, they were amongst the top, I think two or three teams in how much they ran cover one 35% cover one and then 23% cover two and then down to 13 and 10%. So over half as they ran cover three and cover four less than half as much as they did on average last year in week one. Do you think they had to do with week one opponent or do you think the 49ers are leaning in toward and young indoor Lenore and wanting to man up on guys a little bit more this year under Nick Sorensen's defense? You know, I think some of it has to do it, you know, game, game flow and who you're playing. I'm a high school football coach and we'll see certain teams and depending on their concepts and whatnot, we're like, man, we can man these guys up. We have the guys that I'm looking at these receivers. Let's just go man, single high. We'll play some orange where we have a guy being able to help on on crossers and I pass for us. You guys got to get out of three. We'll send some blitzes, right? But then we might play another team where it's like it might be a little bit more difficult to just lock down these guys on the outside. We have to play more zone. So I'm curious to see what his philosophy is as we start to get more of a sample size of it. Did he go more man because he's like, well, you have Garrett Wilson, let's limit what he does, which they did a very good job of. He kind of patted his stats with a couple of catches late in the game. But let's make the others beat us and there's a hard score, two touchdowns, but you know, I saw one. There's a little bit more of a busted assignment. Uh oh, Crockett-Fros, by the way, we'll get back to Crockett's thoughts here when he unfreezes. Just real quick. Looking at the Minnesota Vikings coverage numbers and again, that way they were playing with the New York Giants. So I don't know how their scheme will differ. Some teams like to run a lot of the same shell coverages a lot and you know, it'll change slightly, but I don't expect it to change it a ton. They were too high a lot, two deep safeties, cover two and cover four quite a bit is what the, uh, the, the, the coverages were for the Minnesota Vikings in week one. And then of course you're going to see a lot of blitz coming from Brian Flores's defense. And so, um, usually with two safeties back, it's a good time to run the football. And if they bring cover zero, it's a, it's a great way for defense to get pressure. It's also a great way for teams to make big plays and you get some run after catch getting the ball out to your running back in the ball out. Quickly to debo to Brad and I you to George kill, get some run after catch going to you. So that'll be the chess match when the 49ers were on offense against Brian Flores defense is that pressure, the pressure looks and, uh, if I remember correctly, was it them? Uh, and I think Luke talked about yesterday and I always forget what the stat is. I think it was one of the most that Brock pretty's ever seen pressure in that game. And so the, the 49ers have to play better. That was one of the games, but they were out when they were without Trent Williams and they were without Deebo Samuel, when they played the Minnesota Vikings last season. And that was when the 49ers were slumping a little bit. I expect them to get back to it here. Uh, Croc, did you want to finish your thought there before, uh, before we move on to the final keys to victory? Uh, I mean, it was just different philosophies for different teams. You have your main philosophy, but the way you go about execution wise has to do sometimes with who you're playing against. And if you feel like, you know, Hey, we have favorable match ups. You might do more man. I thought the 49ers did a really good job of saying, all right, somebody else is going to have to beat us. Uh, you know, and we like our chances against Garrett Wilson. Um, I thought there was something they could have done a little bit better, but they did a good job of limiting his production, uh, aside from that, I, I would like to see do you run as much man coverage when you have Jordan Madison and Justin Jefferson out there. Jordan Addison on the injury report, by the way, for the Minnesota Vikings, let's see, but he's, uh, he still did not practice on Thursday. He's got an ankle injury. There's a chance that Jordan Addison doesn't play at all for the Vikings. This was what the, what the New England Patriots would have done back in the day. They go man coverage. They put their second best guy following Justin Jefferson around, but they combo him so or bracket him so they, they'd have help and then our best corner, we're going to put that on the number two receiver and that guy is not going to be our best guy. So who's your third guy? He's going to have to beat us who, who is the third guy for the Minnesota Vikings? Like, you know, that's a philosophy that the Patriots would do. I'm not sure what the 49ers adopt that type of philosophy. You don't want CJ Ham to go ham on you, crock. He's the fullback. Uh, Aaron Jones, I mean, Aaron Jones is probably their number three because behind Addison and Jefferson, um, you got, you know, Josh Oliver, former San Diego state tied in, right? Because, um, uh, what's San Jose state, uh, San Jose state, what did I say? San Diego state. Oh, yeah. San Jose state because Hockinson's out. So he's not an option and you might have Jordan Addison out. So that means they're going to Trent Surefield, um, Jalen Naylor. So yeah, triple cover Justin Jefferson, if that's the case. Surefield, former 49er, Naylor, Michigan state, I believe. Sounds right. Sounds right. Like you got it. Uh, any other keys to victory before we go, crock, uh, you know, I think with the 49ers, you know, they did a good job of it last weekend and it, it, there's certain things that can really change the tide of a game. One big one is definitely turnovers. So no tournament for the 49ers. There was some time there where it was a little weird offensively. What if they would have won turning the ball over? Maybe that changes the way that this game starts off. Uh, I think for the 49ers that, and most teams, that's the, that's the philosophy, but definitely for a team who everyone views as the better team going in there. Six and a half point favorites last time we checked on the road. You are the favorites. Don't do anything to help that team. And I think a big part of that is definitely not turning the rock over because you start giving them that. Well, my coach calls false confidence from there. Now you end up in the dog fight and we saw what happens with that last season. You fumble early in that game, you know, they, they start hitting some passes, start making some plays. But hey, we could be, we could beat this team. You don't want the Vikings start believing that because that's when things start to get a little dangerous for not as having won a game in Minnesota since 1992. So you got, you got to change them fortunes. They're due. This is the year crock Niners win at the Minnesota Vikings. Thanks everybody for making us your first listen here on the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Make sure you check out for your second listen one of the other 200 podcasts on the network, including the peacock and Williamson NFL show myself and former NFL scout Matt Williamson break out the break down the entire league daily, the new locked on NFL, a fanist locked on fantasy, locked on dynasty, your team's covered, no matter the sport, not just football here on the network as well. So check it out and come back with me and crock post game and we'll break down everything we saw from the Niners at the Minnesota Vikings. Next time right here, locked on 40 Niners. A prime members, you can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. Today's episode is brought to you by game time. Game time is a new feature called game time picks that makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier. Game time picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time, download the game time app, create an account, use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed.
