Jake Brendel on the 49ers’ Historic Sack-Free Streak, Brock Purdy & Seahawks Showdown

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Listen to The Sports Leader Anytime, Anywhere. Download KNBR, The Sports Leader App. Murph and Markus continue live from the Casino Matrix Progressive Jackpot Studios. Casino Matrix, Progressive Jackpots are here. Where are you? Just drop in, 1-800-GAMBLER. His helmet is off. Here we go, baby, nine is on three, one, two, three.

And his mic is on.

Jake Brendel (0:27)

That's a saccarone, baby.

SPEAKER_1 (0:29)

Time for our 49ers Player Of The Week with Murph and Markus.

Jake Brendel (0:33)

Sorry I saw your saccarone, buddy.

SPEAKER_1 (0:35)

But hey, there'll be more on The Sports Leader.

Murph (0:39)

All right, what a treat to talk to Jake Brendel, who's protecting Brock Purdy in historic fashion. Let's talk about it. Our 49er Player Of The Week is sponsored by Benjamin Moore Paints. Experience the Benjamin Moore retail difference at our independently owned authorized retailers today or at benjaminmoore.com. He's also sponsored by Bigelow Tea, Grab a Mug and Tea Proudly. We also found out that Dwayne Kuyper is going to call in.

We got a little surprise visit from Dwayne just after 7 a.m. So back to back 49er Player Of The Week and Kuyp, why would you go anywhere? Jake, we want to welcome you to the Murph and Markus show. We had you on last year as a Player Of The Week. It's great to have you back, particularly when you guys are riding so high as an offensive line. So good morning, Jake. How are you?

Markus (1:17)

Hey, what's up, Jake?

Jake Brendel (1:19)

Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for having me.

Murph (1:21)

Yeah, man. Let's talk about the record. I mean, how aware are you guys of the fact that it has been since the Peyton Manning Colts in 5 were the last team to start four straight games without allowing a sack, Jake? How does that sound?

Jake Brendel (1:35)

Yeah, I mean, it's great, right? Like, you know, obviously as an offensive line, we're really proud of that. But also, you know, it comes down to the entire offense, really just working as efficiently as possible on those pass downs, you know, and Brock. I mean, Brock is just gunslinging right now, so that's awesome.

Markus (1:53)

Yeah, Brock is definitely showing off that gunslinger mentality, but he's also showing off some of that mobility, Jake. So how does that affect maybe your pass blocking, how long you have to block for, or having a mobile quarterback like Brock Purdy? How does that help overall with the offensive line, keeping that clean slate?

Jake Brendel (2:08)

Yeah, you know, it's really great. You know, he already makes a lot of plays within the pocket on his feet, just kind of open, you know, his open windows and viewing angles for himself. So, you know, he just kind of extends those things a little bit wider, you know, when the protection kind of breaks down, maybe by one or two blockers. And, you know, he really can't extend the play, you know, doubles the amount of seconds, like five to 10 seconds, which obviously, you know, opens a lot of routes downfield.

Murph (2:39)

Yeah, he's quite nimble, shall we say.

Jake Brendel's the voice you hear on the Uma guest line, our 49er Player Of The Week. So I go back to the 90s, I covered the Niners in the 90s, and Bob McKittrick, the O-line coach, legendary, rest in peace, Bob McKittrick. He used to get mad at Steve Young, sometimes for leaving the pocket. These guys work hard to create a pocket, and Steve would go create something and drive Bob crazy. Is there any element to you guys like, hey man, I'm trying to block a certain way, and Brock's going wherever he wants? How chaotic is it? How much freedom does he have? What's the inside baseball there?

Jake Brendel (3:16)

Yeah, we don't have eyes on the back of our heads, so we kind of expect him to be in the pocket as long as he can be. But if he can extend the play, and if he feels pressure on one side or the other, and are in the middle, it kind of flushes him out, and he can extend the play, and he feels like he can get out of there, and give the wide receivers or the running back just an extra few seconds to get open. I mean, we're all for that.

And it makes us look good, to be honest, because if we slip off the block, or if somebody beats us, which it's going to happen eventually, right? Just make sure that you can turn a bad play into a good play.

Markus (3:59)

Yeah, and we saw Brock Purdy get outside of the pocket a few times this weekend in the win over the Denver Broncos. Jake, we saw you get outside of the pocket as well. Take us through that George Kittle tight end screen touchdown call. What was going through your mind when you get the play call, knowing that you're going to get out of the pocket, you get the open field block, and then you look up field and you see George Kittle sprinting 56 yards into the end zone.