49ers stay perfect despite late scare in 23-17 win over Commanders

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2:00Derrik Klassen: Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Dave Hellman, and I hope you didn't go to sleep at halftime. A sleepy start to Commanders 49ers turns into a thrilling finish as San Francisco outlasts Washington. Did not think I was going to have as much fun recapping this one with Derek Klassen, but what a blast. A great game. Let's get to it right now.

2:31Derrik Klassen: Let that serve as a reminder, Derek Klassen. If you needed one, don't turn it off. Never turn it off because for my money, this was about as let's wrap it up a game as we've had so far in the NFL, or at least it was on the short list. The San Francisco 49ers controlled this game to a disgusting degree. And after the clock fiasco the commanders had last week, it looked like more of the same right up until it didn't. And from the midpoint of the third quarter onward, this was a thrill ride. The Niners escape with a 23-17 win over Washington. I am so excited to do this show compared to how I thought we were going to be talking about it an hour ago.

3:18Dave Helman: I mean, the first show didn't look like two NFL teams. The first half of this football game looked like the Niners were far and away the best team in football and that they were playing like Alabama. That's what this game looked like. Jaden Daniels, I thought, was all out of sorts. The Washington run game was nonexistent in the fact that it was not that good. And also, like, they refused to go to it for a lot of the first half, which is kind of a bizarre thing to me. a lot of teams against the Niners have just chosen to do, even though I think the part of this team that you can get after is running the ball at them a little bit.

3:52Dave Helman: And so I thought everything that they did there was bizarre. And then you flip to the other end of the ball, could not cover Mike Evans or George Kittle for the entire first half. And really, if not for like a Christian McCaffrey fumble, the Niners probably would have scored even more, obviously. And so this really, for a lot of this game, felt like they were just throttling them. And then the Mike Evans injury happens and it feels like everything after that for the Niners kind of starts to sputter away and then Jaden Daniels and Washington on the other side like start to find

4:21Derrik Klassen: some things in the passing game we were gonna get into all of that but the note I wrote down was at halftime the Washington Commanders had run 17 plays and the San Francisco 49ers had 17 first downs like that's the sort of that was bears jets territory that's the that's the guy the game we were in for and to be honest with you i said it in our discord chat i love hanging out with the discord folks during primetime games it's a hell of a lot of fun i encourage you to go find our discord and join us if you haven't before i don't i didn't mean this as a joke but with what the commanders looked like in the first half and then combine that with another game management disaster there on the fourth down sequence where like the one good drive the commanders did have they hit an explosive to chigo conco to get down into that end of the field and they go for it on fourth down jaden daniels throws the ball away and i know there was a flag i don't care you can't throw the ball away on fourth down and then after the fact we see dan quinn looking confused and looking like he might have wanted to go for a field goal there only he didn't realize it was fourth down so combine the performance with another very high profile fiasco where it doesn't look like you know how to manage a game I I thought we might be watching Dan Quinn's final game as commander's head coach at halftime of this game and the commanders lose I get it they're one four and one it's not like the season's going well but everything that happened from the midpoint of the third quarter restored my faith that they're going to give Dan Quinn time to try to right this ship for at least a little while longer.

6:05Derrik Klassen: And it felt like it was curtains when these teams went into halftime, man.

6:11Dave Helman: Well, and even so like that fourth down decision, like every single person involved was insane. Like Dan Quinn, not seeming like he knew whether it was fourth down or not, was obviously a big issue. Jan Daniels throwing away. But earlier on that play, like the spot route to I think Antonio Williams is like wide ass open and he just turns it down and bails which for the first three quarters of this game he was doing a lot where he just did not want to play from the pocket he was bailing not like making as many throws obviously the third and fourth quarter he really like strung it together but then if we want to talk about Dan Quinn and like everybody just making bizarre bizarre decisions again the end of game scenario where they're driving it down a little bit there's 30 seconds to go I think it's third down and they call this like on the play that Jaden Daniels gets the intentional grounding.

6:56Dave Helman: And you can blame Daniels there, obviously, for some amount of like, we got to know that like things are going to happen faster. We got to be more nimble. We can't get hit there. We got to be ready to go if things are going to break down. And it was a little bit later into the play. But they're running like a Hail Mary, basically, with 30 seconds to go. I'm like, you can get 20 yards here and go kill the clock and have like a real 20-yard shot at the end zone instead of having to take these 40-yard shots. And so even the decision making there was like, why are you making the play as hard as possible on yourself?

7:26Dave Helman: Like, it just didn't make any sense to me.

7:27Derrik Klassen: It's a very valid point. The fact that the commanders rebounded does not absolve them of some stupidity at the end of this game. I mainly meant they looked hapless, like you said. I mean, this looked like Alabama State playing Alabama, like for a good chunk of this. But it's worth bringing up. Not only did what you just said, is that true? And like the, you know, for Jaden Daniels to start that last gasp drive with a check down to the middle and then they clock it like I hated that. And I know they had a snafu last week. Maybe they just wanted to play it safe. But surely in year three in the NFL, we can call two plays and not have to waste time lining up to clock and let nine extra seconds bleed off the clock.

8:14Derrik Klassen: And then the big thing, too, on the turnover on downs, the just the phenomenal sequence by Malik Mustafa. Oh, my God, Derek, I feel like you've been talking about. I feel like you've been talking about Malik Mustafa for three weeks. And then he's a one man wrecking crew to save the day for the Niners, just barreling in from the roof to just lay the hammer on Jeremy McNichols on third down and then breaking up the throat of the end zone on fourth down. but mind you the commanders would have had an extra time out if they can just get that play call in in a timely fashion and not burn a dead clock time out in a gotta have it situation that affected their in-game strategy so i think it's a great point on your part that this is still not a very buttoned up team but like at least they were wearing clothes by the end of this game because it didn't look like it early on yeah and that's why it's more frustrating because in so many ways they

9:10Dave Helman: played a game that like if they had the timeout they wanted and they didn't make some of these snafus at the end like they really could and should have won this game because the Niners were pretty out of sorts of uh in this game for pretty much the entire second half they were struggling to cover guys especially over that intermediate area of the field and then offensively like I know for the Niners a big part of that is you lose a very critical piece in the passing game like Mike Evans, especially your vertical passing game. You know, you don't have him for the second half of this game and that hurts.

9:39Dave Helman: But I also do think that like Durante Jones and what the Washington defense was doing in terms of their pressure stuff in the second half, I thought was super impressive. Like when there was, let's see, when there was eight and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, San Francisco gets into empty and they bring Sonny Stiles to like rush at Colton McKivitts on the right hand side and he's like oh man I gotta squeeze down and block Sonny Styles and I think Owe on the edge is just like completely free he's a free runner he goes and gets Purdy and then on the uh sorry that was second down and then on the following down on third down they bring like a six-man mug Purdy feels the heat and immediately overthrows Christian McCaffrey and so like they were finding stuff that was working and it was just the details game management guys knowing how to manage situational awareness that they just completely flubbed.

10:29Dave Helman: And I think if this was, if Jane Daniels was a rookie and this was a first time head coach in their first year, I can live with that sort of stuff. This is year three for Jane Daniels. And for Dan Quinn, he's done this song and dance before. It just, it doesn't make sense to have as many of these mistakes as they do.

10:46Derrik Klassen: The pressure was getting to the 49ers. I mean, how much did we talk about, you know it took him five weeks to give up a sack this season and not only did Brock Purdy take two sacks in this game and he took the blame for those right afterward with with Lisa Salters but still with the the comfortability that he's had in the pocket throughout this season even the amount of pressure that he was dealing with and you're absolutely right the 49ers just looked completely out of sorts dealing you know with their protection rules figuring out who's got what the the mckivitz play you highlighted is the perfect example and they finished this game with three consecutive three and outs after looking like a complete machine and i think it would be easy to say well mike evans left right around halftime and it kind of falls off without that but isn't that the fear with this team man and we've talked about it so much is i mean they're six and oh for the first time since 2019 credit to them for hanging on I thought it was a really gutsy performance by so many of their young players talked about Malik Mustafa Romello height looked freaking awesome in the in the and like down the home stretch of this game I mean by the way he like called game in this thing I mean obviously on the final fourth down but on the play before that so not to take any credit away from them but that's the whole thing is like okay well, if you need Mike Evans to hum and Mike Evans is 33 and he's got a sore Achilles and fractured ribs and he looks physically pained every time he gets up.

12:25Derrik Klassen: I mean, the 54 yarder he had in the first half was sick, but he started jogging, I assume because he was worried about doing more damage to his Achilles if he tried to open up. And that's just the reality of where things are with the 49ers they can be so good and so impressive but at least until they hopefully start to get a little bit healthier at pass catcher this kind of feels a little bit fragile and that's maybe that's harsh to say about a team that just improved to 6-0 but it looked dicey after the first drive of the second half and like I don't think it's crazy to say that and I think

13:03Dave Helman: fragile in terms of like them being far and away the best offense in the league right like I still think we both believe without Mike Evans they're what the fifth best offense in the league at worst like if Kyle's Colin plays Brock Purdy's playing this way Christian McCaffrey's out there they'll

13:17Derrik Klassen: be good but I think are but like that's the thing are they not the best team in the NFL yeah exactly

13:23Dave Helman: they're not firmly the best team in the NFL without the thing Mike Evans has been their best receiver but also their only vertical receiver so it's like now what like I remember

13:33Derrik Klassen: Jordan Watkins had the nice play on like the comeback where and like he you know shook a tackler but after Evans went out you're talking about Jordan Watkins whatever you can get from Brandon Cooks and I mean George Kittle is a big equalizer himself but I mean you're talking about an older player with George Kittle who is it's phenomenal how well he's recovered from that Achilles injury but a lot of the same stuff that applies to Mike Evans I would suggest applies to George Kittle as well. So it looks so, so good when Mike is out there and everything's humming, but this second half was disconcerting and, and like, not, not for the immediate future.

14:13Derrik Klassen: Again, they're six and Oh, but this is a marathon, right? And we are a long way from where a team like San Francisco is trying to go. And it's, it's hard to keep that out of the back of your mind after a half like that.

14:24Dave Helman: And yeah, especially now that like, we're really at a point in the season where we feel like they are the best team in the NFL. Like, do you think that? Like, I think they have been the best team in the NFL through, through five weeks. Like the chiefs are great, but like I, they're to me, the best team in the NFL right now.

14:38Derrik Klassen: I would agree. And, and the display they put on in the first half, it was, it was unreal. Yeah. And so yes, at, at their best. Absolutely. Yeah.

14:47Dave Helman: And so now if you're not going to have Mike Evans, like I just, and like when Debo comes back, I'm sure that that will help them a little bit and they can really just like stretch teams horizontally and do some really cool stuff. And I think when they go into games, knowing that they don't have Mike Evans, Kyle Shanahan's going to do what he does and find answers and find ways for this thing to work. But it really is troubling that we, it's not even just troubling. It's really like disheartening and disappointing as like a football fan where we came into this season being like, we've seen this 49ers offense be so good and so cool before.

15:21Dave Helman: What does it look like if they have a real vertical X wide receiver. And we got insane proof of concept of that for five weeks. And they were probably the best that we've ever seen a Shanahan offense. And that's crazy to say, given that he what the 23 season was, and obviously what he did in 2016 with the Falcons. And for it to be, you know, we don't know exactly how severe this Mike Evans issue is. But it's not even really about that, because he's been banged up all year, like, even when he was insane in those first five games, he's going in and out of the starting lineup, because he's got to take four plays off because every time he makes a big catch over the middle, they have to peel him off the dirt.

15:57Dave Helman: And I just, it is a flimsy in terms of them being the best team in football. It is a little bit flimsy and we knew that, but now that we have to face that reality, it's, it's a little bit tougher.

16:08Derrik Klassen: It's always tricky talking about stuff like this. When we go live right after the game ends, we don't know the severity of Mike Evans injury. I assume Kyle Shanahan's not going to say anything particularly illuminating about it anyway even if he talks about it after the game but I wonder let's let's just assume that this is a little bit more of the same and you know Mike Evans he just he got to a breaking point where he was like all right I did what I could I'm sitting on 94 yards at halftime let's be smart here but I wonder if Mike Evans is available ish you just you pulled that one back from the brink and you are six and oh maybe you just sit mike down for a few weeks even if he technically could go and try to get him to a place of reasonable health and not to mention christian kirk is a guy you're waiting on i mean uh stripling i assume is going to be a much longer wait than that but you've bought yourself some leeway and i know like that That is that is the antithesis of life in the NFL, like purposefully punting on a guy who could potentially be available.

17:17Derrik Klassen: But for what he does for the Niners when he's healthy and where the Niners sit now, where they are six and oh, even in a competitive division. I mean, the Seahawks are three and three. The Rams are obviously a massive disappointment. You don't really have anybody breathing down your neck the way you thought you might. I know that that could be dangerous, but I wouldn't mind seeing Mike Evans get a week or two to just chill and try to get a little bit more consistently healthy.

17:47Dave Helman: I don't think it's crazy either. And like lucky for them, they play, you know, they play the Falcons next week, which is not necessarily a rollover and die opponent. But then the week after that, they get their bye week. And so it's like they they will hopefully get a little like if they want to just give him a little bit of time and like they get their bye week and hopefully things look good, then they can get some of this stuff back. But like, even then, I don't know.

18:07Derrik Klassen: Look at you bringing up the schedule for me. That's yeah, that is getting ahead of it. If you can like, so if you roll into the bye week, if Mike can sit this week and so he gets two weeks off and you only miss one game, that sounds ideal to me. And again, hopefully he is OK. And this is a situation where he can continue to manage it. But I think it would be smart to not ask him to do that, at least for two or three weeks and see what it looks like. And I also, you know, I think, you know, we've maybe joked about this, but like if they really want to bring it back like Juwan Jennings, like they should probably do that.

18:42Dave Helman: You are the best team in the NFL. You know what he can be inside of your building. All of the get the band back together guys have already worked this season with Debo and Dre Greenlaw when they've been on the field. And Juwan Jennings is absolutely nothing for the Minnesota Vikings right now. And like, I, I kind of assume that that will continue because I think Jennings is a, is a good player, but I think some of the special sauce was how Kyle Shanahan knew exactly how to use him and weaponize him. And the type of quarterback that Brock Purdy is being a little bit more willing to just throw him the ball.

19:12Dave Helman: Whereas I think sometimes like that's not really how Kyler Murray plays, especially over the middle, which I think is where Juwan Jennings does his stuff. And I think Juwan Jennings wants to be more part of a offense where you can get them a little bit in like tight to the formation. We're going to run the ball a little bit more. We're going to use him that way as like a blocker and as a kind of like a war hammer. That's not really what the Vikings offense is. It's what they want it to be. But I think we are probably going to realize that's not what they're going to be with Kyler Murray. So if they want to bring the ninth receiver into their team again, I don't think it would be crazy, especially if we're really trying to make sure that we can get Mike Evans to a good spot come December.

19:50Derrik Klassen: That's the type of trade I could really get behind just because you're mitigating risk. Like, like you don't have to ask yourself how Juwan Jennings is going to fit into the scheme or the locker room. I can't imagine it would be a very expensive trade. Like you're probably doing a day three pick swap or something like that just to buy yourself some insurance. And I like the sound of that way more than trying to do some blockbuster deal. Like I just I that doesn't feel necessary to me, but like ensuring yourself in a low cost way. I like the sound of that for sure.

20:28Dave Helman: Yeah, they don't need a star. They need to hold the fort down until their stars come back, which is really all their only issue.

20:34Derrik Klassen: As long as we're talking about injuries to receivers, this feels like it happened a lifetime ago. I'm just I'm scrolling through my notes and very early in this game. Terry McLaurin, unfortunately, was carted off in. it looked like he was wearing an air cast. I mean, I never heard anything about the severity of the injury, but it certainly didn't look good. And that just added to the whole malaise in the first half where I was like, great. So you're, you're most consistently good player of the last decade is getting carted off. You look completely listless and shout out, obviously shout out to Jaden Daniels, the way he looked in the calmness with which he was able to navigate the rush on some of those throws, but Stefan digs had some big moments in this game.

21:17Derrik Klassen: Antonio Williams continues to impress me. Like the, the commanders haven't played very many of these Island sorts of games. Like they played Philly in the three 30 window all the way back in week one. But for the most part, you're just stealing glimpses of Antonio Williams. This was a great moment for him. Chigo Conquo, like kind of cobbling this thing together without Terry McLaurin made it that much more impressive to me.

21:44Dave Helman: Williams can really play. I like him. And he's funny too, because I think we came into the offseason, they were one of the three or four teams that was like, that was like, no, we swear, we're going to be more under center and we're going to run the ball and 12 personnel and all that stuff. And I was looking at the receiver roster and I was like, well, one of the only major additions you made was drafting Antonio Williams. And if you're going to be this 12 personnel under center offense, it doesn't make sense to me. It makes more sense to be like a gun spread, throw it around offense. And they have reverted to that.

22:11Dave Helman: and you're seeing Antonio Williams be like a pretty good player for them in that role. And so I like what he's given to them. I like that Stefan Diggs is, I think, still playing at a high level. I mean, the one-handed snag on the little speed out or choice route that Stefan Diggs made, like that catch was huge for them. And I think right after that, Antonio Williams caught like a deep stop route. So I think missing their best receiver is going to hurt, but like Diggs can still play. Williams, I think is going to continue to grow in this role. Chico Conco is what he is in terms of the overall limitations but he can give you some explosives like he did in this game and Trelon Burks if he's your wide receiver three at this stage it's not bad the problem is that the other guys are wide receiver twos and threes as well but they're not in a terrible spot thankfully for them I think the issue continues to be that the offensive line is a mess and and they were just lucky that Jaden Daniels like you said was able to stand pat after again in the first half didn't really want to do that in the second half was more willing to be like you know what I got to hang in here and make some throws and he did the drama at the end of this thing kind of off like it it pushed it to the back of my mind but my god was the commander's offensive line

23:21Derrik Klassen: frustrating in this game I mean like very early on Jaden had a scramble that would have set up like a third and short and a Josh Connerly holding the gates it he gets sacked one one play after that and they punt and San Francisco goes down and scores. You had that ridiculous play where Sam Cosby kind of slingshotted, uh, Michael Williams into Jaden Daniels on a, I think, yeah, on a big, I think that was on a third down where Cosby, I mean, he was looking for work and tried to bash Michael Williams and didn't realize Jaden Daniels was bailing, but kind of helped sack his own quarterback Chris Paul had a huge face mask on what would have been a 31 yard touchdown run it very much felt like they couldn't get out of their own way and it was it was maddening

24:10Dave Helman: to watch like from the beginning to the end yeah I and that like if the receiving core can look the way that they can and Jaden Daniels is going to be able to hang in there like I still think that they can make some good plays on offense but I think it's going to be hard for them to be like a well-balanced offense if the offensive line is going to play that way they don't want to commit to the run game they don't have their best back right now and they clearly don't want to run jayden daniels because i think it's kind of just an injury risk at this point and so nor should they

24:37Derrik Klassen: like yes let jayden daniels settle into a few weeks of consistent play before we worry about that like i i'm i'm fine with that and i agree with what you're saying but it was and it sucks that this is where we are. Don't get me wrong. It's not what you want for a young quarterback, but Jaden Daniels is just gifted enough to make that shit work. Like he is like he is at his best. He's unpressurable for the most part. I know that sounds ironic because the Niners finally got after him at the end of this thing, but the way that he can extend plays and the way that no play feels dead because of just how athletic he is that goes a long way to negating injuries at receiver or problems with the offensive line and it sucks to ask that of him but at his best he's up to it I mean that's what he was doing up until the end of this thing and really it was some mismanagement on the final drive where the Niners knew that they had to throw and nothing else was going to work where that kind of torpedoed that thing.

25:43Derrik Klassen: But it was fun to see him look like the Jaden I remember from 2024 in fits and starts in the second half. All right, before we wrap this one up, let's take a quick break.

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29:44Dave Helman: I want to give one more young Washington commander shout out. Sonny styles in this game. Oh, no, no. Don't even. That's crazy.

29:54Derrik Klassen: Let's just talk about the linebackers in this game. Yes. Like Fred Warner was out for for violence. Like Fred Warner wanted to hurt somebody. He definitely he got away with that flag, by the way. Like he absolutely he.

30:08Dave Helman: You know how like sometimes like Tom Brady would get a roughing call that he probably didn't deserve. This was like the opposite of that, where Fred Warner got away with a call that he absolutely deserved because they threw the flag and he like lobbied for them to take it away. And they were like, ah, you're Fred Warner. OK, why not?

30:24Derrik Klassen: You're so right. He was like wagging at the refs. He was like, that's not a flag. And they're like, okay, Fred, you're probably right. You're the smartest linebacker in the world. And then they showed the replay. And I was like, that is the crown of Fred's helmet going into that guy's face mask. Like, that is absolutely a flag. I think the illegal contact flag was absolutely a makeup call, which is totally fine with me, by the way. Like, he got away with one. But Fred was everywhere. And, yeah, dude, Sonny Stiles, man. in the first half of this game i was charting all of them they none of them amounted to anything but sunny styles made so many plays where he like rallied to the ball and stopped the guy short of the sticks you know like where you know second and seven he stops it setting up a third and one and then the niners got it later on in the game uh they throw on the on the fourth down sequence that the Niners had down near the goal line.

31:20Derrik Klassen: He hits Kittle on a shallow slant. Styles stood him up and like stopped him in his tracks. And, you know, maybe Kyle Shanahan, not always the most aggressive guy. Like maybe that forces a field goal in a lot of situations, but the Niners wind up going for it. There were so many plays where Styles like almost made the difference and it wasn't quite enough. And then obviously the punch out on Mike Evans was just freaking incredible, dude. Like he was so fun tonight.

31:50Dave Helman: That play in particular was like, that was the dream when you drafted him was that if we're going to take this linebacker in the top 10, he better be like an insane coverage player or like a pass rush guy. And that's not really what styles is. He was going to be a coverage guy. And the fact that he can run up the pole with Mike Evans and punch the ball out. It was like that. That's what exactly what you want when you take a linebacker like that in the top five. And then I'm so glad you mentioned all the tackles that he's making short of the sticks. We're like, yeah, they don't amount to anything because the Niners end up like moving the ball because they're an insane team.

32:20Dave Helman: But that's one of those things that if the team was good and the defense was good, you would feel it. Like when you watch Fred Warner, he does that all the time. When you watch like Carson Swessinger, he does that all the time because those guys, they're big and they're always in the right spot. And so they're stopping power as a tackler. They just don't really let guys get that extra two or three yards. especially in styles's case i mean he's 6 '5 243 with like massive arms it's if he if he gets you and he meets you in the right spot you're just not going to let you get any more yards and so didn't amount to anything today i would bet over the course of a 10-year career there we're going to have a lot of moments where it's like man sunny styles made that crazy stop on third down into fourth to fourth down and then the team got off the field and so uh he's just for a player that I want it to be like so good because the tools are just unbelievable.

33:10Dave Helman: He has been a revelation so far.

33:13Derrik Klassen: Remember when they were dogging him in the preseason for a preseason play?

33:17Dave Helman: That wasn't his fault. That wasn't his fault.

33:18Derrik Klassen: Like he, that's not even his guy. And everybody's mad about the explosive run that the safety gave up. I remember, I remember, and we already mentioned it, but, and you're right. Like pass rushing is not why you drafted him, but Durante Jones sent him at Colton McKivitts to free up a dafe away for a sack so just uh like if I was a commander's like even in the first half I was like okay everything's bad and I'm sorry and the coach might get fired tomorrow but Sonny Styles is a dog commander's fans so you got that going for you so you got that in addition to getting glimpses of old Jaden and I don't know like I'm not telling a commander's fan to feel good about this game but it feels a hell of a lot better than I thought it was going to feel at halftime.

34:05Derrik Klassen: That's for damn sure.

34:06Dave Helman: They're they're at least a regular sort of disappointing and bad. They're not the Chargers. And that's you can live with that.

34:13Derrik Klassen: Jaden Duggar also like Jaden Duggar led the Niners with tackles like this game.

34:17Dave Helman: Yeah,

34:18Derrik Klassen: this was a throwback game. Oh, my goodness. Oh, also, I want to say our wonderful producer, Katie, letting me know. So it's Achilles tendonitis for Mike Evans. It's the same thing that he's been dealing with. Katie says that, you know, somebody said afterward that he could play against Atlanta. And I'm telling you Niners, let's not do it. Don't do it, man. Like give, give the guy a week off. And then you're into the bi-week. Even if you lose in Atlanta, like being six and one and giving Mike Evans time to get healthy. I think, I think that's okay. And I also do, I do think, Like, even with how rough it looked at times in this game, and by the way, Jeff Ulbrich is somebody who can take advantage of a lot of the same stuff and create a lot of chaos.

35:04Derrik Klassen: I understand that, but I don't know. I think you got enough to get over the finish line with Mike Evans. This kind of disappeared in the second half, mainly just because the Niners only had one sustained drive in the entire second half. But I keep being impressed by the way the Niners can grind out yards in some of these situations. Like late in the third quarter, after they kicked that field goal to go up 23, three, 16 of their 22 running back rush attempts at that point had gone between the tackles and they were generating a 64 % rushing success rate. Like, and by the way, with zero explosives.

35:44Derrik Klassen: So it wasn't super exciting, but CMC and Kalen black were just kind of mashing the commanders and getting like four, five, six yards at a time. And maybe last year just weighs heavily on my mind, but that's encouraging to me to think that the Niners might be able to do that in tight games is just like, like run right at you and get what they want. I mean, uh, CMC had two touchdowns on the goal line, which is something that felt hopeless at times last year. So I do think that's worth mentioning too.

36:16Dave Helman: It is. And like that, that'll be the last thing I say. I think for as much panic as we've just done about Mike Evans and some of the other injuries on the offense, this Niners offensive line is playing like arguably the best in football. That is an incredible spot to be when we came into the season being like, who's playing at left guard? Like, do you really want to do this at center again? And they're playing like the best offensive line in football, which I think because of the scheme, we know that like Kyle can get them to a certain level. but they have been arguably the best pass protection unit in the league like them in Denver basically and then in terms of the run game like they are able to you know the explosives I think will will be up and down every week because I think neither black nor CMC are like home run hitting types necessarily but the way that they can just grind teams out I do think is really

37:03Derrik Klassen: impressive right now if you can collapse offensively in the second half and still gut out a win six and oh yeah i even if even if mike evans sits for a little bit or obviously if he doesn't i think they're in a pretty good spot what a what a fun night this turned into i thought we were i don't know i thought this was going to be more of like a post-mortem on the commanders and instead we got a really thrilling second half and did i miss anything else are we good for week

37:32Dave Helman: six what do we think the last thing i almost meant to mention this this is this is kind of about the Commanders. Adam Schefter had tweeted before the game that if the Commanders lose, this is the first time in NFL history that a division has gone winless for two weeks in a row. And obviously the Commanders lost. This, I remind you, the Commanders and the Giants in the same division played each other last week, but neither won because of the insane end of game thing. So this game did make history.

37:58Derrik Klassen: You know, I will, okay. I will say this again, if you're a Commanders fan looking for some shred of optimism i was joking earlier today that you know the the nfc west looks really tough the nfc north obviously everyone is over 500 and i was sitting there saying some poor team is going to be watching the bad cowboys or the bad giants win the nfc east and host a playoff game if the commanders can somewhat regularly channel the version we saw in the second half they're absolutely capable of winning the division that is because the division is bad but hey somebody's gonna get that playoff spot and the second half version of this commanders team could pull that off in this NFC East you get to hang the banner no matter how you do it so that's right and you know what you don't take that for granted if you're a commanders fan and I know that they won't so thrilling way to end week six don't worry we got plenty more coming your way.

38:59Derrik Klassen: Derek and Robert did the hangover. What did y 'all do today in the hangover?

39:03Dave Helman: Usually we do three games, but we only did two because we talked about Chris Ballard being fired and then the Jalen Hurts blood clots out for the season sort of thing. And then we did a couple of games after that, which we did Saints Giants. And then we did. Oh, man, I don't even remember the other one now. My mind. Oh, Panthers Eagles. There we go. I was about to say I knew it was about one of the other newsy things that we were doing.

39:25Derrik Klassen: So all you had to say was Saints Giants because I will be tuning in to listen to you talk about J.J. McCarthy. Don't you worry. Don't you worry about that. We got Building the Beast coming up this week. Obviously, we'll have you ready for week seven as well. Plenty more content coming your way. Until then, we'll talk to you all next time. And as always, we appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard,

39:48Dave Helman: please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.

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40:38Derrik Klassen: No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work, around the work, and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle slash workspace with Gemini. That's G-O-O dot G-L-E slash workspace with Gemini.

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