The Richard Sherman Podcast - 49ers Survive Commanders to Go 6-0! Richard Sherman Reacts to Mike Evans Injury & Jalen Hurts Debate

0:05 Welcome back to the Richard Sherman Podcast and what a game we had on Monday night. The San Francisco 49ers look to be in control of this game in the first half 20-3 and Jaden Daniel and the Commanders come back in the second half scoring two touchdowns and made this a game. Made this a game. Mike Evans goes out with an apparent Achilles injury that was bothering him earlier in the week, then the offense just goes stagnant.

0:40 The offense just goes stagnant. Christian McCaffrey, 14 carries, 59 yards, but had a critical fumble in this game. His first fumble and over 500-something carries, uncharacteristic of him. You know, it was a great play by Frankie Lou Vu. You got to give him credit. He caught an angle while Christian had the ball out, took advantage of it. The 11 penalties for 88 yards is something that is uncharacteristic of the San Francisco 49ers and something I know Kyle Shanahan is going to want to get corrected. They had four first downs. They gave up four first downs by penalties and some critical ones late in the game that wiped away a potential drive-ending sack by Romello Height. And that was a What was it, an illegal contact? A

1:33 play that you just can't have in that game. This game was a tale of two halves. It looked like the San Francisco 49ers were the dominant team. We expected them to be in the first half, and then in the second half, three straight three and outs to end the game. Gave the Washington Commanders a chance, but the defense showed up and showed out. Big stop after big stop after big stop after giving up a little bit of yards in this game. Give Jaden Daniels a lot of credit. He was 29 of 40 for 300 yards, two touchdowns. He was sacked four times, and everybody got a piece. Mike L. Williams had a sack. Grayson Haughton had a sack. Osa Adigizua had a sack. Romello Height and White, they shared a sack. Romello Height could have

2:23 had two sacks in a game, but one of them was wiped out by illegal contact penalty. But again, Malik. Malik Mustafa is a guy that keeps showing up. Showed up in the Seattle Seahawks game. Showed up big time in this game. And it was great to see. It's great for this defense. These safeties continue to play really fast.

2:43 Renardo Green is playing some good football. The commanders obviously aren't the best unit. Next week, they get Dre Greenlaw back. That's going to be a big addition back. Jaden Duggar. Played well in his day. Played well. You know, made some plays. A young guy, still learning the position. Very versatile in this defense. Fred Warner continues to play good football.

3:07 Didn't have a ton of big impact plays in this game. But a great game. A win is a win. And I'm sure Kyle Shanahan is going to accept that. He's going to be frustrated with how this offense became so stagnant in the second half. Only three points in the second half. What happened? The loss of Mike Evans happened.

3:26 Mike Evans was dominant in the first half, and obviously I've dealt with an Achilles injury, and it's tough. It's tough. It's frustrating. I don't think his is ruptured, but when that posterior tib and that Achilles area gets irritated, you can barely walk. You can't push on. It's a sharp pain. It just feels like every time you take a step There's a knife going in and out of your Achilles, in and out. And that's when it's not ruptured. You're almost hoping for a rupture at that point because the pain is so intense on a day in, day out basis.

4:00 Sometimes you can get a cortisone shot kind of around your Achilles because you can't get a cortisone into your Achilles because it'll start to eat away at the tendon and that's a guaranteed rupture. So you need to get the inflammation down. You need to get it to calm down. And obviously this staff, uh, has a lot of experience with that because they did a good job of mine.

4:22 You know, in 2019, we were able to, to get it calmed down enough for me to, to have a great season. And I'm thinking they're going to be able to get Mike's calm down, but it is one of those injuries. That's kind of day to day. It's, it's temperamental. It'll feel good for a couple of days. And then, you know, you wake up, there's a little inflammation. It's a very small area behind your ankle. And when it gets irritated, it shuts down a lot of things. So, uh, I feel bad for Mike. He was having a fantastic game.

4:51 He was setting himself up for a big day. But you could tell it was bothering him early, and he was trying to tough it through and soldier it through. But you're not able to soldier through this injury. You're not always able to tough out this injury, and that's the hard part. His Achilles is intact, so that's the positive thing. We're hoping for a quick recovery from him. Obviously, this IR list is getting long. I think they're supposed to be getting some guys, Christian Kirk, potentially back soon.

5:23 A couple other guys, Bosa and a number of other guys that have the potential to return really soon. So hopefully that helps the reinforcements. But I think Brock Purdy still had a solid game, 21-29, 264 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked twice. He did some cool things with his legs early in the first half. Got some first downs with his legs. Kept himself out of harm's way.

5:50 But this is a huge win. 6-0. 6-0. In the National Football League, the number one in the power rankings. I still think this is the best team in football right now. The defense continues to get better. When Bosa comes back, when Dre Greenlaw comes back, when this defense is 100% in whole, they're going to be a lot to deal with for teams. They got the Atlanta Falcons next week. Michael Penix struggled a little bit last game.

6:17 He's a little banged up. Will they play him? Will they play Tua Tunga-Vailoa? We shall see. But John Robinson is a tough guy to deal with, but I think this is going to be a good game. Raheem Morris, revenge game in some ways. We'll see how this defense performs for him. George Kittle had a really good game this week. I expect him to have a great game next week. Let's talk about this Jalen Hurts situation. He's going on IR for the rest of the season per his, his representation, his agent and the team and everybody. Well, there's kind of mixed reports coming out, but it looks like he's going on IR for the rest of the season because of this blood caught. It started when he got kicked in his calf. Then it seemed like it

7:02 moved up. You know, I think there's some ambiguity about who knew first and when did they know? And if he was informed and if he was educated and, Did they let him go play knowing it and not educating him? Or did he know? Or should they have stopped him from playing? Look, these are grown men. I really, I think I could understand people's outrage with the training staff if these were kids. If this was high school, even college, you know, these are kids. They got to make, you know, they're being influenced and pushed to make decisions from the team.

7:43 And they can't do side for themselves and they feel pressured to play because their own scholarship, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, be outraged because that's wrong. But in this situation, I'm not sure that's what happened. From what I understand, and I've talked to many insiders and people that are around the situation about it, they told him what was going on.

8:06 He was informed. They had already done the imaging on it. He knew what it was. They explained it. and he wanted to play. I think that happens sometimes. He's a pro. He's a professional. These are professionals. Guys play with things all the time, and doctors tell them, hey, you could do something to make this a lot worse, and these are the ways you can make it worse, and guys say, okay, I hear you. Like, give me my pads, give me my helmet, and I'm going to go out there and play.

8:38 Is that the right decision? Is that the wrong decision? That's up to that guy, but I think For people thinking somebody forced Jalen Hurts to do this, I don't think that's the case. I think Jalen Hurts is an incredibly tough player, a smart player, a smart person. I think he understood the risks and he was willing to take the risks. And he wanted to help his team win.

9:05 And that speaks to the toughness of Jalen Hurts, the teammate that Jalen Hurts is, the guy and everything. He was willing to risk it all. For his team. And I think. Philadelphia Eagles fans. Philadelphia Eagles. The National Football League. All the fans. Can appreciate that. About him. Now. Would we want. Jalen Hurts going out there. Risking his life.

9:25 In this way. No. I don't think. I don't think. We would think it's worth it. I think that's what. People were outraged. About. Because they. Like man. Why. If it could have got this bad. Why didn't they tell him. Or why didn't they. You have to understand. That. Sometimes football players. Like. The thing. That makes us. that makes this game special and that makes us special is, is our ability to say, to put our body in harm's way and to be willing to sacrifice for the guy next to us. And obviously this isn't war. This isn't life or death. This isn't anything. And I don't, ever like to compare it to soldiers or anything like that, but there are some similarities about, Hey, you know, you're in a foxhole with a guy like you got to

10:08 be willing to put it on the line for that guy. If you really, if you're really that caliber of guy and that's what he's saying, he is now I'm, I'm, I'm hoping that, you know, they're saying the blood clot moved to his lungs and it's a very dangerous touch and go situation. And we're hoping Jalen Hurts makes it through and these blood thinners work and everything works out fine.

10:28 You know, regardless of football, you just want the human being to be fine. But I think sometimes the outside world gets, you know, it's like everybody wants to be outraged about everything. And I'm not sure I agree with that. I think sometimes in a situation people can be educated and make the decision that they think is right. And I'm sure one day we'll hear from Jalen hurts and on whether he was educated and whether he knew or, or, or what the case, what, what went into his decision making.

10:59 But from what I hear, you know, this guy just made a decision because he wanted to help his team win. And I, I got a ton of respect for him for doing that. Um, And is there something that should be said to a staff where they say, hey, we should hold guys out and we should be able to stop guys from themselves? And I think you'd be– in sports, you would miss some of the greatest moments and greatest, like, stories and greatest– Special moments that have happened in the history of these games, if the doctor said, hey, you're done.

11:46 In every situation, a guy could seriously harm himself further playing in the game. And I think that's just the nature of this beast. Situations like this happen, and you're happy that he's going to be okay and that he can work through this. The doctors cleared him to play. as best you can clear somebody to play. Now, if they don't clear him to play, then what's the conversation?

12:15 You know, I think there's so many different ways you could go and so many different speculations, so many different avenues you can go about this. I think this is a situation where, you know, you're thankful that he made it through fine and that he's healthy and that nothing truly tragic happened in that moment, in that long trip from London. But, I don't think this is a situation they've kind of pushed him out there and they pushed him into harm's way and he was uneducated and uninformed and he just didn't know what was going on. I think this might be a situation where a guy is a football player and he's a tough football player who says, hey, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to go give it a shot. And that's what it is, whether you

12:56 agree or not. You know, it says a lot about the football player that he is. I respect it. I respect the decision. I would have respected the decision if he didn't play. Players make decisions. Players get separate opinions, second opinions, and do what's best for them. They're expecting a full recovery from Jalen Hurts, and I hope he does.

13:21 But this is one of those unique situations about the National Football League. But as always... This was an incredible Monday night game. I appreciate you guys joining me. You could be anywhere in the world, but you're here with me. Congratulations, Niners faithful, on a huge win, 6-0. I know they're feeling good about this team. Kyle Shanahan, enjoy your victory Tuesday, I guess it is, and we'll see you next time.