To call the San Francisco 49ers' Week 1 victory over the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field a fun watch would be to poorly categorize the quality of the game.
By most accounts, the Niners won the game, but outside of their first scoring drive, the offense worked in fits and starts, as quarterback Brock Purdy lost two of his top pass-catching options, but leaned on running back Christian McCaffrey and a few unlikely heroes to get the job done.
And this is the game the Niner Noise Podcast, with hosts Robert Morrison and Akshaj Dwivedula, got to discuss yesterday, a discussion that certainly felt better because of the whole "the 49ers won a hard game in which they played poorly," something that often went the other direction during last season's 6-11 campaign.
That's why the podcast may sound both excited (because the team won, and because last year's team likely would have folded under the same circumstances) and measured, as the analysis has to take a lot of elements into account.
You can listen to the full episode here:
For starters, there's the fact that Week 1 in the NFL is weird for pretty much every team, and, as Akshaj points out, there's very little to gleam from the performance in terms of the long term for several weeks. That's especially true of the Niners, who are missing key figures, especially in the passing game, who are likely to feature heavily as the season moves along.
But yet, your most excellent podcast hosts take on the task of analyzing the game nonetheless, focusing specifically on the resurgence of the 49ers' defense under returning defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as well as the players who stepped up on offense once key cogs George Kittle and Jauan Jennings went down.
(Note: at the time of recording, the status of Kittle, Jennings, and the surprise injuries for Purdy were not known).
As always, the podcasts focuses its analysis using ups and downs from the game, and there are plenty to be dissected on both sides, including the state of the special teams and how the rookies played in their first real NFL action.
All this, and more, can be heard on the podcast, which you can find on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or anywhere you get your favorite podcasts. You can also check out the pod's website to listen to this episode and anything else in our archives. And please rate, review, subscribe, and share the podcast with everyone you know.