On Monday morning, NFL legend Jerry Rice declared that everyone on the San Francisco 49ers roster will need to step up their game now that the team is down to QB3 on the depth chart. Rookie Brock Purdy, the last overall pick in this year's draft, will be the quarterback moving forward after Jimmy Garoppolo went down early in Sunday's 33-17 win over the Miami Dolphins.
"It's going to be up to those guys to elevate their game just a little bit more, make things a little easier for Brock," Rice said on 95.7 The Game. "Get open, so he doesn't have to hold onto the football. And we've still got to continue running the ball, and we've got to rely on that defense to win championships for us."
One member of that top-ranked defense, Fred Warner, doesn't believe much has to change internally, though. The star linebacker believes the 49ers have proven they have a recipe for success, and that recipe remains the same, even with a rookie quarterback at the helm of the offense.
"I feel like, internally, on our side of the ball, we already take a lot of pride in making sure that we hold teams to as few amount of points as possible to try to help the team win games like this," Warner told Rich Eisen when asked if there was added pressure on the defense to carry the team for the remainder of the season. "Because we have a new quarterback in, that doesn't change our standard. That doesn't change the way we play Niner football on our side of the ball.
"I think as long as we keep doing what we're doing, then we're going to be just fine. It's not something that we have to go out of our way to do something completely different.
"The recipe for us winning games as a team has been to protect the football, to play penalty-free football, and continuing to play at the standard that has been developed here. So I think as long as we continue to do that, then we'll get the results that we want."
Does a Super Bowl win still feel realistic without Trey Lance, who went down in Week 2, and without Garoppolo? That's the question everyone was asking on Monday morning. Does the linebacker believe San Francisco can win it all with Purdy under center?
"Yes. Yes, I do," Warner responded.
Purdy will get his first NFL start on Sunday when his 49ers host Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium. That's what the team is focused on right now. While the 49ers have a one-game-at-a-time attitude, the season goal will remain to win a championship.
"In my mind, I aways say, 'Never say never,'" Warner shared. "It's such an unlikely story to have Mr. Irrelevant come in, lead the Niners to a Super Bowl. I think that's what everybody's going to write us off on, and that's fine. If that's what everyone wants the narrative to be, I'm completely fine with that. I'm so completely laser-focused, just like I know the team is, on taking this thing one week at a time.
"Our goal, ultimately, is the Super Bowl. We want to win that Super Bowl so badly. But we understand that this league is all about taking things one week at a time, and that's what we've been doing. That's why we've won five straight. It's not because [we're saying], 'Oh we have the Dolphins in a couple of weeks. We're going to be playing Tom Brady [after that].'
"It's just one, taking one step, one step at a time, and that's how we're going to continue to take this thing. And then we'll see what happens when we look up at the end of this thing."
