Donte Whitner on the Detroit Lions vs the San Francisco 49ers

Two-time NFL Pro Bowler and current football analyst Donte Whitner joins Ryan Ermanni, Braylon Edwards and Tom Mazawey to discuss the Detroit Lions battle with the San Francisco 49ers for the 2024 NFC Championship. Who will come out on top? Like, Subscribe and leave your comment below!

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All right welcome back it is a pleasure now to bring in this next guest uh who needs no introduction a lot of people out here in the state of Michigan remember this guy hell of a player on the field great guy off of it uh he was

The number one pick uh by the Buffalo Bills in 2006 out of the Ohio State University we won’t hold it against him 11 year don’t start Dante Whitner how you doing Dante I’m doing great I’m doing great I have to say congratulations to the University of Michigan for winning the national

Championship this year and for a lot of people that know I uh played under Jim Harbaugh one of the best head coaches that I ever had he just signed on with the Los Angeles Chargers and I’m wishing him the best of luck but congratulations to you guys T I appreciate it’s been a

Long time coming because we suffered a lot of ass whoops at the hands of Ohio State and other teams over the last 20 how you been man it’s been it’s been too long bro how you been I’ve been good man a lot of I think the last time I saw you

Was in Miami or something yeah 100% all boys oh that’s right I think we’re on Collins I think we’re on getting it in partment it’s good to see you too man good to see you transition from from the game to behind and talking you’re very very outspoken I

Love it I’m the same I love what you said about Dak I stood with you and those comments 1,000% so it’s good to see you talking about one of the best safeties of the era that I played in man he was great great at AIO State I knew

He wasn’t coming to Michigan we knew that wasn’t going to happen but he was great you’ve never heard this story uh Tay so when I come back from surgery after my freshman year T AC I mean my rookie year tour my ACL the only preseason game I played in 06 was your

Rookie year and we played Buffalo so I took the knee brace off and I’m coming down to crack you it was a toss sweep by uh to uh Jamal and I’m coming down crack you I hit you with everything I had 63 214 and it was stal made it I’m like

Like he didn’t even see me coming how the hell did we still me and oh by the way he also ran uh 43 so shout out to Cleveland Glenville Dante win let’s get into it you remember that at all Dante I think I remember that um lot of game of

Football from playing in the NFL I really it’s hard to recollect a lot of things out there it’s almost like a blur but yeah that’s what happens you have to really focus on the lower body so all the kids out there that’s listening if you want explosiveness if you want to

Run fast you have to work on that lower body strength and explosiveness and uh you can withstand somebody 63 225 crack blocking you hey Dante before we look ahead I want to look back because I think a lot of us here in Detroit were watching the Packers and

49ers game and it felt like the Packers man they made so many mistakes in that game from uh a dropped pick six uh to a m field goal attempt to a fourth and one or excuse me a fourth in inches where they hurry up to the line and they don’t

Get it cost them points that story to me was the mistakes made by Green Bay how does San Francisco uh take that game survive and kind of move past it into this round what did they have to do better here well the 49ers won that game because of

Red zone defense stopping them and holding up to two field goals early and that big fourth down stop was key to winning that game and you know I don’t want to make any excuses for the 49ers but the inclement weather affected Brock pie and a lot of the balls that slipped

Out of his hands and maybe Darnell Savage dropped that interception because of a slick wet football so that’s the way the game of football goes sometimes and you’re right Green Bay did beat themselves with some mistakes even on that scramble and throw touchdown to George KD they they were in a zero Blitz

They had a young safety backside he was supposed to be on the line of scrimmage blitzing he would have been free and forced the ball out of Brock P’s hands but that’s what championship teams do they take advantage of your mistakes and they hurt you in those big moments this

Week with with um you know pretty good weather being at home knocking the rust off I think the 49ers know that they have to stop the run first and foremost and then get after Jared G and when I say get after Jared G you primarily have

To take away the quick game quick game make him go through his reads and then he’ll either throw the football away or possibly panic and force it into coverage so that’s the game plan on defense on offense you already know what it is get the ball to Christian mcaffrey

Early and often and take advantage of those stiff linebackers of the Detroit Lions having to cover Christian mcaffry underneath brayy you know what stiff look like oh 100% I’ve been saying that for a while it is what it is he’s a big Jack Campbell fan yeah those boys are box linebackers

They’re box linebackers and Christian mcaffrey is going to put them in some binds backside trust me yeah one of the biggest things I don’t want the 49ers do what you do they’re going to get in tight splits and they’re going to work they’re going to go yeah I already know

They’re going to go tight splits and they’re going to have a field day with them but I want to talk about your position the safety position and the Detroit Lions have an elite one and CD du CJ Gardner Johnson he came back he brings that energy much like you did for

The 49ers much like you did for the bills and the Cleveland Browns just talk about what he means to the Lions and talk about what the 49ers are thinking about when it comes to his energy on the field well he means everything to their defense he brings energy L like you said

There he aligns across the board and can play man can play Corner can play The Deep safety but he’s physical at the point of attack and I think that we all can agree that this game is going to boil down to physicality which defense tackles better and he gives them an

Advantage when it comes to disguising things and matching up I also think that Brian branch is going to be huge in this game as well like to use him as a Blitzer in the Run game he’s really good in man coverage Zone coverage disguising things so those are going to be the two

Guys that Kyle Shanahan in your skill position they’re going to have their eye on their eyes on uh shocking uh you talking about physicality talking about Dante hitner on IG hit not you talk about two guys the two guys that I’m watching most in this game for the 49ers

Are is that linebacker Court talking about Fred Warner talking about Green law green law gets the pick in the game last week they’re just amazing out there they sideline the sideline they’re physical and they also play in coverage just talk about how good those two guys

Are what makes them so good in this defense well I play with two of the greatest linebackers in NFL history and nvar Bowman and Patrick Willis I was on that similarly yeah and similarly they’re able to be mobile they can do multiple things they can cover they understand Zone coverage they have

Anticipation when they’re breaking on balls underneath they’re physical and they tackle well um and they play the game a certain way certain linebackers play downhill sideline to sideline maximum effort each and every time uh I think they’re going to have a a tough game matching up with

Uh Gibbs underneath and the key to the 49ers defense versus the uh Detroit Lions offense is really tackling leap pora tackling gids leveraging him not allowing him to get out in the open field and then it’s those internal run gaps they have to play it with lever and

Then Steve WS might have to make some adjustments and go to some run blitzes right some run blitzes move the off move the defensive line because in the last six weeks they’ve gotten pretty stagnant in their alignments on defensive line hey Dante thanks again for coming on

With us Dante Whitner of course he does prehal and post for the 49ers right now former number one pick out of Ohio State I wanted to ask you about this Lions team they come in really with nothing to lose I mean they’ve never been to the

Super Bowl one of the only teams to have never made a Super Bowl only their second appearance in the NFC championship game since the Super Bowl era meanwhile the 49ers we all know their history they haven’t been there in 29 years though they haven’t won the NFC

Championship to get into that Super Bowl again in 29 years who has more pressure on him in this game well we did go to the Super Bowl in 2012 and I was on that team yeah the har bow my bad yeah the har Bowen won won it

In 29 years yeah yeah yeah so it’s it’s incredibly important a lot of the nucleus of this 49ers team has been the three consecutive NFC championships they’ve been the four in the last five years they’re tired of the hats and the t-shirts they want to get to the Super

Bowl and they want to win it and they feel like this is their time they have the players on offense defense and the coaching staff to do it and they have to strike while the iron’s hot like you’re not going to be able to reverse this

Moment so they have to play their best yes so yeah the Detroit Lions is a great story I I’m going to be the first to admit when I heard Dan Campbell say we got to bite their kneecaps off I was like yeah you give this guy three years

And he’s out of there but they bought into his system sometimes you have to be delusional to be successful and that’s worn off on his team and they believe everything he says and they go out there and compete and play hard and physical the way that he wants them to play and I

Did read that he said that he doesn’t care about giving up plays on defense defense in the past game if they play physical and play a certain way I don’t know if that’s really going to uh be the the foundation of how you want to enter

This game this week versus the 49ers off I mean offense that can be so Dynamic but they bought in they’re playing well and they’re they’re really expecting to go into Levon stadium and win this game he said that because it’s true we don’t have the talent to match up against that

49er defense and the 49er offense against this secondary we all know that the 49ers have a big Advantage especially if Debo Samuel is anywhere close to 75% huh what’s the latest on there I mean yeah fill us in on Debo uh oh he’s playing I know he’s playing how much is

He gonna play that magic playing you you did you read his Instagram he said I ain’t spping I ain’t skipping no steps that’s what it means so it means that he’s he’s going to be his full Debo Samuel role running back lined in the slot you know putting the linebackers in

A bind he’s going to be in the swing passes he’s going to be a diversion and a decoy at times Debo Samuel is gonna be full goal on Sunday he’s gonna get hit though he’s gonna get hit but they have to hit him he not easy to hit him it’s

Not easy to hit him it’s not it is not not and when you do hit him Debo samel was 220 pounds he’s not like a little receiver he’s a lot of times delivering the blow so yeah the linebackers they can withstand but can those little DBS

Withand that I don’t know cam Sutton and vildor have been looking shaky all year long so I don’t know Dante let me ask you about Debo because I think and we’ve been saying that Debo Samuel is probably the most important non-quarterback on any team in the league you see the

Numbers 30 Games over 500 with eight and nine without even this year in the 13 games he started and finished um 12- one with a scoring 32 points a game in the games that he was out and I’m counting the Cleveland game because he went out early in that one 0 and

Three scoring 17 points I mean that is half the amount of production offensively by one player for a non-quarterback to have that impact is staggering what makes him so great well it’s like a machine and when you have Debo Samuel that first off came can break tackles you have to have so

Many guys that’s allocated to him it it slows down the backside of the defense and the way that K Shanahan likes to utilize his offense is motion shifts reverse U orbit motions and a lot of times when you bring him to the backside of a defense they have to respect that

They have to play slower a lot of times it allow front side gaps to materialize front side to Christian mcaffrey okay so now you have him in the back field he just broke a eight yard run you play to him now George KD comes open over over

The middle of the field now you put him in the flat and you have a three-level route the guy who’s responsible for the Deep flat route on the on the sideline he has to jump Deo Samuel in the flat now you get Brandon iuk wide open so it’s complimentary football at his

Finest and then underneath brillan you know this if you run a drag from one side and Debo Samuel is so good at breaking tackles and the quarterback is giving the intention and he’s throwing it to Debo that dagger coming from that side is wide open correct 1% so everybody has to

Know where Debo is even when he’s a decoy and it opens it up for everybody else just because he’s so good after the catch and after the run and with the ball in his hands yeah tell you’re not lying about that Deo Samuel is a special

Wi he’s just a special player in this NFL uh last question for us man we’re gonna let you get out here because we know you got a lot going on in sanr for this game uh Kyle Shanahan Kyle Shanahan in playoff moments whether it’s a Super Bowl whether it’s a playoff what it

Talks about he’s had some blunders he’s messed NE necessary not always been on his game we don’t have to talk about the moments but is that a worry of let’s just say the fan base is that a worry or of yourself is K Shanahan gonna get the

Job done do you guys believe I think he’s shown everything that he has to shown he’s learned everything from the bumps and the bruises and he even mentioned it himself yesterday they said uh Kyle you call the game like you’re a Old Coach he said no I call the game

Like I been there before like I have wisdom so he understands and he’s not going to mess it up he understands the type of Playmakers he has he’s been there with the Atlanta Falcons versus the New England Patriots and the Super Bowl that everybody’s going to remember

But I think that this is one of his best coaching years solidifying that number one seed shows it and now he has to go ahead to the Super Bowl and capture the Lombardi trophy to be considered one of the all-time great coaches and I think that he’s ready to do that the greatest

Rid there ever is there ever will be Michigan versus Ohio State and two of the best people ever play in that game my brother is always a player to see we got to get the together more often that’s some me I reach out to you bro absolutely man y’all have a good one

Enjoy the game Sunday Guys