In this episode, Taylor reacts to the San Francisco 49ers NFL Week 17 Overtime win over the Las vegas Raiders. When he focuses on the 49ers, he talks about what is different with Brock Purdy at quarterback, how he sees a successful 49ers playoff run going and where the defense fits into that run. When he focuses on the Raiders, he is impressed with Jarrett Stidham, he talks about what he brings to the offense that is different and where he sees the Raiders going from here.
In this episode, Taylor reacts to the San Francisco 49ers NFL Week 17 Overtime win over the Las vegas Raiders. When he focuses on the 49ers, he talks about what is different with Brock Purdy at quarterback, how he sees a successful 49ers playoff run going and where the defense fits into that run. When he focuses on the Raiders, he is impressed with Jarrett Stidham, he talks about what he brings to the offense that is different and where he sees the Raiders going from here.
Taylor: What's up, everybody? It's the Roundtable sports podcast. My name is Taylor McLean and we're hitting our fourth game of the week with the San Francisco 49 ers overtime m win over the Las Vegas Raiders. I think both these teams are interesting not just for the 49 ers in the playoffs, but what the Las Vegas Raiders are going to do going forward with their team. And I got a good look at this game because there weren't that many games in the second window and the Vikings game got out of hand pretty quickly. So I got a pretty good look at this game going live. But I went back and I watched the coaches film to really get an idea on how I feel about the quarterbacks and how I feel about the teams and everything. So I thought we'd go through it real quick. Let's give a shout out to our sponsor, Evergreen Power Solutions. They're a concierge power company. They're going to go in there, shop around, and get you the best rate now and minimize the fees that you pay for that with your bill. And then when it comes time to renegotiate a contract, if you're anything like me and forget about that, they go in there for you and get you a lower rate if that's available. But if it's not, they don't raise your rate at that point so you're not having to participate in increased prices. If that's what happens, give them a call 8886-6586, use prompt number two and let them know that Taylor McClain and the Roundtable Sports Podcast sent you. This is for our Texas listeners only. Now let's get to the football. This was a hard fought game on both sides. I think both teams should be proud of their performances that they put out there, especially with the turmoil that both these teams have gone through to varying degrees at the quarterback position. On the San Francisco side, we've gotten a pretty good chance to see Brock Purdy play the quarterback position at this point and admittedly, he's the reason that I've been watching a lot of San Francisco football as of late. It's also highly interesting and I really like the way that Kyle Shanahan diagrammed his place. And that's not something that just started this season. That's always been the case. But it's been interesting to see what he's done with the various quarterbacks that he's had. The rule of thumb is that you want to have six games of game tape to really get a feel for what a team likes to do. And of course, there was lots of games before Brock Purdy got in there, so there's that game tape, but there's also now five games worth of game tape that he's been in there and played a full complement of snaps. And he seems to have gotten better as time has gone on here and he's gotten more comfortable. The big thing for San Francisco and the former Mr. Irrelevant is that his play isn't all that different from what they were getting from Jimmy G. Sky is super steady, which so is Jimmy. They don't really seem to get rattled by the moment, which is very impressive for a rookie quarterback. But when you think back to how many games this guy has started, having been with Iowa State for so long, he's got a lot of experience and it's not like Iowa State wasn't in big games that he was able to win at times. And it was one of Bill Parcel's rules for drafting a quarterback that they have a bunch of college experience and have just started a bunch of games because that's just experience that you can't replicate. And it's one of the things that I think held Trey Lance back in his debut this year was that he just hasn't played that much quarterback because of the pandemic. It's not all his fault. There's other things that got in the way of that. But to Brock's credit, he's gone in there and played that steady quarterback that the 49 Ers have had through Jimmy G and he's kind of continued that on with his play. The cool thing is Brock is able to add an element that Jimmy G. Really didn't have in his bag because Brock is way more mobile than Jimmy G. I don't know that his pocket presence is an absolute plus right now as far as him navigating a cloudy pocket. But the fact that he has more speed and better quickness to get out of that pocket and to bootleg with and to put him on the move, that's an element that the 49 ers offense hasn't had with Jimmy. G. They certainly had a lot of those elements with Trey Lance. But Brock Purdy is actually a lot more accurate and a lot more consistent as a passer than what Trey Lance could offer during his time. And he's on par with Jimmy G's decision making, and he also seems to be a little calmer and a little bit more in the moment. And then I would also posit that the arm strength is there, at least a Jimmy G level, maybe even a little bit more when you watch him throw. So the physical tools kind of give Braca a better edge to his game with the 49 Ers, which is crazy to think, but when he's making these calm, cool decisions and he's throwing accurate passes on time and delivering the ball in this offense, that can be extremely effective. I still don't know that I think he's like an elite decision maker or he's going to be able to throw the 49 Ers back into games, but I don't think that that's something they had in Jimmy G either. So at least you get these added elements and then you've got all these playmakers that he can deliver the ball to and that can make big plays for him at the point of contact. And that makes him even better. 49 ers have really solid weapons with Christian McCaffrey, Brandon IO, George Kittle, all playing at a really high level right now and then you're going to hopefully be able to add Debo Samuel back to that mix. It seems like Debo is expected to practice this week and they're also hopeful about Elijah Mitchell as well. I'm much more excited about Debo Samuel getting out there, but Christian McCaffrey is so good that you could put him out there in the slot or out wide or wherever really Kyle Shanahan can dream of, which is a lot of different places. So having all the weapons on the field also it just increases what Brock Purdy can do out there and it really plays off what Brock Perdy can do because it's all about the pitch and catch right now, delivering the ball on time and throwing accurate passes and he's been able to do that. It's not perfect though. I don't think that if the 49 ers get down by 21 that that's a good thing and that he's going to be able to just go in there and throw them back into that game because in those scenarios you have to move the ball quickly. You have to be able to drop back and throw tight contested balls without the screen of play action or without it being a perfectly diagram play. It's a lot more muddy and it turns into a situation that relies more on the quarterback. Kind of like NBA basketball. Sometimes in the last two minutes it breaks down into who has the best guy and who can isolate and score. NFL kind of breaks down to who can go in there and throw anticipatory throws that get the guy open, not just throwing it to open guys. There's a difference in those two things and we haven't seen Brock have to do that as much. I think he's capable, but I'm not sure it's going to be at an elite level. He's more game manager than he is. Explosive playmaker, which is exactly what they need. They just need some explosive plays and Kyle ask him to make a couple of different big throws throughout the game, I think he's capable of that and then he's creating more time with the legs and being in the bootleg and stuff and I think that's really positive for the 49 ers. And of course there's a big advantage even if he was just your backup and you tried Trey Lance next year to having somebody from the 7th round be your quarterback, those prices are really cheap even if he's just a backup. So, great situation for the 49 ers. They can let go of Jimmy G and then see what they traded the first round picks for. But first they've got this playoff run which they look super legitimate in, in a role as having a great defense and then being able to be functional on offense and be able to rely on your playmakers to get the job done. Christian McCaffrey, as we've talked about, has been an amazing fit for the Kyle Shanahan scene and his path finding through the holes and his ability to fight juke and really strength through arm tackles has been at another level. You saw him running over guys and running around guys and it all meshes so well. The path finding, like I said, that he has when he's going through holes is just second to none at this point. And then there's these alleyways that get created by the different plays at the 49 ers run. And then, as I said, you can split him out and he makes all the different routes from the backfield even better when he's able to get out of there. And then when he's in space with these different linebackers and secondary people, he can do whatever he needs to do to get by them or just get a couple of extra yards. That gets them either closer to the sticks or closer to a touchdown. And they're doing it without Debo Samuel right now, as I said. So hopefully he's able to maybe get a couple of snaps in Week 18 and then be ready for the first round, I say the first round. They have a pretty good shot at getting the first overall seed if the Eagles go down and they're able to beat the Cardinals, which I expect them to do if they play their guys and the like, but I don't think that the Giants are going to play their guys in their game versus the Eagles. And Jalen Hurts may be back to secure that number one seed. It seems Jalen Hurts by the buy through the ball pretty well after he had sprained his shoulder, so I think they've just been holding him out, trying to get him healthy for the playoffs because they knew they didn't have to risk really all that much to secure that number one seed. I'm sure they expected to win one of those games and I've already locked it up, but oh well. And I digress in this 49 ers part of the podcast here. But the point being it would be good to see Mitchell and it would be good to see Depot Samuel back in there and get a couple of snaps before everything goes down and your season is on the line. I think it's funny to think about their season being on the line and having the season go as well as it did with all the quarterbacks that they've lost to this point. It's a testament to how Brock Purdy has stepped in and done this role, but he's in a great position to succeed all the different weapons. He just needs to be able to get it in their hands and allow them to run with it and he's been making those passes and I think these coaches that are able to scheme the way that Shanahan McVeigh and the like are able to scheme. They can get around your flaws as a quarterback most of the time. We saw Sean McVeigh do it with Jared Goff for years. We've seen Kyle Shanahan do it with Jimmy G for years, and there is sometimes a cap on how far that can take you. It'll be interesting what teams do with Jimmy G outside the Kyle Shanahan system and how good he looks outside of that ecosystem. Jared Goff has been okay this season, but I still don't think he's a really good quarterback. But it's interesting that he's looked a lot better this season once they went back to a lot of the things that Sean McVeigh used to do with Jared Goff. So it'll be interesting to see if Brock Purdy has that same ceiling, that eventually some team is going to be able to take away all the different peripheral things and they're going to make the 49 ers, put it in Brock's hands and make those throws that I've been talking about. And you'll either make them or they won't. And it'll also be really hard to make the 49 ers do anything because they are really good at taking what they want with their weapons. With Kittle playing the way he is, destroying the fantasy playoff dreams of a lot of teams when he hadn't really been very consistent throughout the season, he's looking good, they just haven't had to rely on him because they have so many other guys. It can be IOK. It can be debo CMC. Hell Mason got a touchdown in this game. So a lot of guys moving in every direction that it's really hard to telegraph when you're the defense and we'll just see how far that can take them. And of course, it's also on how far can the 49 ers defense take them? That's been the big thing all season is that they have a domineering defense, especially when Boza is in there. It all kind of flows off of him and Eric Armstead, the pass rush, their ability to get upfield. They have some other pieces that are good and make plays. Carrie Hyder made a big play on that interception, but it really does flow off of them. And then the linebackers and ODRAKE. Green Law got banged up with a back injury and Aaron Banks, they fear, had an MCL sprain. It doesn't seem like it's as bad as they thought it was going to be, but it's still not great and they need him in there. The left side is the strong side for the 49 ers and they're going to need that. And then they're just going to need to be able to play a little bit better in coverage than they did today. They struggled in some ways that they don't typically. Fred Warner kind of struggled and really just the defense overall struggled with Darren Waller and of course, Devante Adams, but Darren Waller up the seam and then working that corner route, there was a bunch of good routes that I liked from him that really gave the defense problems. He drew the past interference as well that got them to the 1 YD line and got them to touch down that tied it up. And then, of course, Devante Adams is really hard to COVID so I can't really fault them on that end. He's just going to get some and get his, I guess, when he's out there. So while I don't think the secondary is impenetrable at all, when you pair them with a pass rush led by Nick Bosa, it can be very effective and it's going to be hard to beat in the playoffs, especially when the linebackers and the rest of the coverage is better on most days. So it is a testament to the Las Vegas Raiders that we're going to switch over to now that they were able to play as well as they were able to play, switching quarterbacks and playing this defense. Part of the reason that I watched this game is I wanted to see how well Jared Stidham played and I have to say I liked the way that Brock Purdy played, but I was impressed by Jared Stidham as well. I know in the end the game is about wins and losses, but I was impressed and I thought that Jared did a good job at a couple of different things that allowed them to be more successful than they had been in previous iterations of the offense under Derek Carr. To be clear, I don't think that Jared Sitham is a top elite level quarterback and should be considered necessarily to be the quarterback of the future for the Las Vegas Raiders. I think that's putting the cart before the horse a little bit. If you're going to go there after one game, as I mentioned earlier, you want to have six games worth of film to really tell what somebody wants to do and what they like to do. So throwing him out there for this game, there's really no game tape and you really didn't know what Las Vegas was going to be able to do with him. You have some idea, you know, what they've done in the past, so you have game tape to watch on that part of it, but still you kind of have the element of surprise a bit there when it comes to bringing him in. So that does give you a little bit of edge. Like I said, they've seen your offense before, but it's not the same when you switch quarterbacks. And then the other advantage that they had on that end is that Jared spent a lot of time with Josh McDaniels with the New England Patriots and was brought in for that reason, right? So this is him at probably peak level when it comes to knowing the offense without having stepped on the field and run it a whole ton. He's had games he's played, but we're talking about 185 snaps, and that's including the 85 that he played this season. So not a lot of experience, you know, running it on the field, but a lot of practice time. And he's been to back up all of this season. So he's gotten to, I imagine, some work in there in addition to his years, kind of getting familiar with the offense in New England there. So he actually has a lot more experience running the offense coming into this game than Derek Carr had going into his season. So there may or may not be a ton of improvement on that part of him knowing the playbook and knowing where to go and all that. But that's extremely important and you saw it play out on the field that he was able to do a lot of things and the playbook didn't seem at all limited with him out there. As a matter of fact, just like with Brock Purdy, jarrett Stidham had a lot more mobility than what Derek Carr was able to offer and was able to move around a lot more. Which, once again, allows you to. Put him on the move, which gives you a little bit more escapability and a little bit more time to workplace down the field because he can create extra time with his legs and with his movement. So that was really additive to the Raiders offense and gave them some extra life. And then the other thing, he was creating extra time because he was willing to take hits that Derek Carr hadn't been taking during the season. Quarterbacks get hit. Don't get me wrong, derek took some lumps because the offensive line is kind of average overall, maybe a little bit below average just because they only have one really true plus guy in Colton. But even still, they held their own against a really solid defensive line and they made some plays. Carrie Hyder tipped that ball. There was a lot of pressure, and Nick Bosa ultimately pushed Colton into Jared Stidham and kind of got that throw off Kilter that got them the win. But even still, time after time, you see Jared Stidham stand in the pocket, not be intimidated by it being cloudy and being muddied around him. There was lots of guys, like I said, he was moving around, but he was also willing to take the hits and he did get the ball just off in time to either throw it away or to hit guys with accurate passes. He did both and it was really impressive and it was something that they had lacked and that's something that you can do. It doesn't always have to be that you're super fast and are able to move to the point where you're ducking guys and you're moving around them and you're able to juke them. He has that and he did that in this day, but he was also willing to let somebody bear down on him get the play off and take the lumps and sometimes that has a finite window and you might not be able to do that for a whole season. It might not be sustainable. But he played like a guy that wasn't intimidated by the moment at all and it took a lot of guts to take the hits that he took. One of the Devonte touchdowns, not the toe tap one. That was beautiful and that was in the spot that only Devonte could catch it, which I really loved as far as this performance. But there was the play where he rolls out and he takes a big lump and just kind of gets this ball off off his back foot and Devante has found himself wide open and trots it on in for the touchdown. There's five or six of maybe not that level play that's the pinnacle of those plays, obviously. But there was a five or six plays where he takes a hit or there's a guy bearing down on him and he makes that throw and a couple of them are just to throw it away but a couple of them are big plays too and those are plays that they hadn't been making. The other big difference there were three really big differences for me in his performance versus what they've been getting from Derek Carr. And it's more commentary on Derek Carr than it is Cinem himself. Sinham made some throws down the field that weren't to Devante Adams as well. That took a lot of courage not only to stand in there and make the throw but also to make that read and to give his guy a chance to go up and get it. And it resulted in pass interference penalties and it also resulted in the touchdown to Darren Waller and a couple of other things that I just don't think those are throws that Derek Carr was making this season. One of my beefs with Derek Carr and to be clear, he made a bunch of big throws to Devante Adams and the big time receivers even when they had Antonio Brown for that brief time or Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper at those times. He's willing to throw it up to those guys. He's willing to really throw deep throws to those guys for sure. That's not debatable. He does that. But outside of that, the intermediate part of the field, the 15 to 25 yards those throws are really hard and really take a lot of anticipation. Smarts and know how. He never really was able to threaten teams without it being devante, without it being that number one guy in a significant way. There was a lot more check downs than there should be and it really was an epidemic with him that it never really seemed to get over to the degree that the offense needed to. And it leaves a lot of field that you don't have to COVID as much. You really just have to key in on Devante, and Devonte can still get his, no doubt, no matter who's the quarterback is. I think he showed that with this season and with these two guys, but ultimately, it just leaves you with an incomplete quarterback when he doesn't seem to have it seems to be like a courage thing. He's not willing to challenge guys unless it's Devante, unless it's that one guy that he's willing to go ahead and throw it up for a 50 50 ball. Yeah, that's great, but that doesn't take as much courage as it does to fit it into the windows that I'm talking about. They have those throw charts. I believe it's next gen stats, and it would be all clumped up at the line of scrimmage, and then there'd be like a couple of throws over the top, whereas a healthy quarterback diet has throws all over the field. So you're mixing up the defense and not allowing them to key in on one thing. And I think Josh McDaniels and the offense has been crafted to the point that it made Car and it made Jared sitting on this day look a little better than they actually are. It's a plus to have Josh McDaniels calling the plays for you and mapping out the offense. He just needs a guy that will stand in there, like we talked about, that's willing to take the offense wherever it needs to go. And Jarrett Stidham was not afraid to make any of those throws on this day. It was impressive. And it's just one game, so I don't think that we should overreact. Let's not sign him to a $20 million deal because of this one game by any means. But at the same time, it does give you some proof of concept that it's probably time to move on from Derek Carr. And you only have really, this one shot to do so. I know it's been really tough for Raiders fans to see Derek benched and to see him scapegoated because of it. I'm not saying that at all by any means. This was not his fault this whole season, and because they have top flight talent on the very top end of the team. But outside of that, it's not a very deep team. The drafting of the previous regime was not good by most metrics. They have some hits. Max Crosby, big hit, the left tackle, Josh Jacobs, we think he's good, but they declined the fifth year option on him. So he's a free agent. Jared SIM is a free agent. So you don't know what you're going to have to sign him for if you sign him. Anyway, the point being, this wasn't Derek Carr. This was a talent issue on this team, and you saw it. When people get hurt, there's this next guy up for a lot of teams, and they'll have guys that are capable of stepping in there and giving them reasonably good play, but Raiders don't have those guys. When there's an injury, there's a big time drop off, especially with the top end talent today. They had a lot more of their guys. They had Renfro out there, they had Waller. That makes them a lot more complete when Waller is out there running strong. There is some question for me. Is he going to be able to stay healthy, to be able to take advantage of this? But it was really good to see him way more involved and see somebody take advantage of his speed and his ability to work guys up the seams and work the guys in the middle. And those are all things that kind of lead me to where I was with Derek Carr throughout all this, that he's just not that guy. He's a mid tier quarterback. He's not going to raise the level of a team. He's going to be able to drive a bus to a certain degree and I would be wary of trading for him at this point if I was another team. He's going to be able to kind of call his own shot. He has a no trade clause even though the team, they can kind of get out without a big scar here from a financial standpoint, they also may not get anything because he can kind of force the issue whichever way he wants with that no trade clause. And I got to think that he's going to call his shot to the best of his ability on where he lands. The thing is for him, he can protect some of that money by getting traded to another team and he wouldn't have to necessarily renegotiate everything if he did that. Now that might be a condition of the team that trades for him if he wants that spot, right? Like if there's a team that really has a chance to contend if they get somebody that's competent. I think he's competent. Okay? I'm not saying he's not and I'm not saying that he couldn't lead a team to a Super Bowl. There's been worse quarterbacks that have done so. It's just going to take a team to elevate him, not him elevated team. And there's a difference in those two things. I don't think that Jared Stenham is going to elevate the team either. I think it takes Devante Adams to really lift him up to the level that he played because trust me, he knew where his bread was buttered on this day. It wasn't him working it all over the field all the time. A lot of it was making sure he got the ball to Devante Adams and it was Devonte getting open and doing his thing as he has done all season, that's smart quarterback play. But it was more than that, too, and it was more than what Derek Carr had been delivering mainly. Like I said, there's a big part of it that. Was just based on him standing in there and gritting his teeth and making those throws. It was awesome. It was somebody fighting for their quarterback life and knowing that this is their shot. This is it right here. And at the very least, it gave the Raiders kind of more of the permission they needed to do what they needed to do here, because the coach knows that you're only as good as your quarterback. Like a coach is only as good as his quarterback. That's a big part of the NFL that's kind of not talked about enough, and it goes both ways. Like like I said, Josh McDaniels calling your plays is a big plus for how you're going to look on a field. There's a big reason that James Winston went to Sean Payton to win. He didn't get the deals that he wanted. He wanted to get himself with a coach that could kind of make him look like he thought he could look. And it didn't work out as well because of injuries and because Sean Payton left and various other things with James. But the point being, it was fun to watch a guy fight for his quarterback life and get something out of it and look good. While I don't know that the physical tools are at the top tier or that I think that this guy is going to be an elite starter in the league, he definitely showed us something. And I want to see more. I want to see what it looks like when a team is able to take away the things that he likes to do the most. Once they figure that out, once we've got the six games before, I annoyed him here, but he got into my good graces here. I'm impressed, and I want to see what he does next week versus the Chiefs. We're going to get a good look at them. Despite not having a ton to play for here, I think this team is fighting for something. And the benching of Derek Carr, even though it's just a business decision, and Josh McDaniels doesn't seem to have lost the team at all, per the reporting that I've seen, they're not happy about it, but Derek Carr would have gotten injured, the money becomes guaranteed, and then the Raiders are locked into him at that point. And it's not that they don't like him or they think that he's a good guy, but they just don't see that as the direction of the team going forward. And as I said, I think this game gave them a little bit more permission than they had before to do so even without winning. Playing him close and playing the way that you played, that's what gets you credit as a coach and as a quarterback who, like I said, are locked at the hip at this .2 quarterbacks who I don't think anybody at the beginning of the season even would have thought about in the slightest. How many times did they get drafted in bestball? Where the things go deep, I'm going to go none, likely, unless it was somebody that knew them. So to see them go out there and show us some functional quarterback play for teams that important to the league and important to watch, that have two of the most important offensive minds, in my opinion. I respect both of them and I want to see them tied to good quarterback play and into offenses that are exciting. If you've gotten to this point and haven't done so, download the podcast. Let me know that you're here and listening. Look for videos on this. Definitely going to have a devante out there. Maybe do the pick that gets them to win. I don't know. We'll see what we come up with on the 49 er side, so look forward to that. Look for more videos on all the platforms, by the way, not just YouTube. We've been putting them out to all the different platforms. So follow us on all your various social medias and have a great rest of your day.