Greg Olsen will talk to Mike Florio on PFT Live this afternoon

[Dpantherman]

Starts at noon, no idea what time he'll be on...and I'm well aware of Florio's reputation.  I just wonder if he'll be as dismissive/snarky to Olsen as he is in his columns.  (doubt it.)

 

http://stream.nbcsports.com/pft/?pid=4

[thunderraiden]

He's on now. You can always rewind it too.

[Dpantherman]

They played our fight song before he went to commercial and then proceeded to call it lame...no he hasn't changed.

[neverlosethefeeling]

Listening now. Saving this space for a recap

 

What's caused this winning streak? "I feel like we're finally starting to put it all together. At times both earlier this year and in the past either different parts of our offense would play well, or different aspects of the game would go well. Offense would play well, defense wouldn't. Most of the time the defense was playing awesome and the offense kind of let us down. I think we've put it all together. We've been pretty good about keeping track of the ball, not turning the ball over, not putting our defense in bad spots. When we can pin people back and make people go the length of the field with our defense we can usually get the ball back. Use the field position game with a guy like Ted. I think there's a lot of factors that have gone on to us winning some games. For the most part I think it's consistency and playing a little better."

 

Which unit has improved the most? "I'd have to say offense. I think from the jump the defense has been playing pretty consistently, pretty consistently well from the first game on. I think the offense has played well at times but the consistency factor is kinda the biggest difference these last couple weeks. Sustaining drives, then when we get down to the redzone scoring touchdowns not kicking field goals, taking care of the ball. All of those key things come together and the last couple weeks we've done a better job of that."

 

How's Shula done in his first year? "I think he's done a great job. He's put his stamp and his mark on this team. With some of the things we changed in the off season as far as verbiage and the way we call certain personnel groups and plays. Every coordinator has their own feel for the game and their own way of doing things. I think we've done a nice job of being balanced. Crazy enough after 8 games I think we had the same number of runs to pass, I think,  exact. That's hard to do in the NFL. We've stayed patient with the run game and later on in games that's helped us.I think he's done a great job stepping in, keeping the consistency we've had the last couple years as far as the system we've played in but then also building off of it."

 

On this team vs the playoff teams in Chicago Greg played on. "Those years, our defense was playing lights out very similar to how we are now. We were very efficient, holding the ball but at the same time we were putting up points. It reminds me of it a lot. I think in 2010 we got into a 6 game win streak that really propelled us into that number 2 seed. As we enter the second half of the season and really into the meat of our schedule we're gonna have to keep this momentum going and keep playing because as you win, it gets harder and harder to continue to win. When you win 4, winning 5 is that much harder. We have our work cut out for us but I think we have as good a shot as anybody."

 

What's the reaction when people bring up weak schedule? "Well it's the same people, probably, I think, who, at the beginning at the year we had the hardest schedule in the NFL, and we didn't stand a chance and the Panthers were going nowhere. And now all of a sudden we're 5-3 we've gone from the hardest schedule to the easiest. People are always looking for reasons why you can't do things well. We don't get too wrapped up in that. We play whoever is next on our schedule and we don't get too wrapped up in a lot of that outside the building.

 

What concerns you about the 49ers D as a tight end? "They're extremely talented. You look across the board, they have pro bowl caliber players at every position. It starts with their front 7; their LB corps is as good as there is. Getting Aldon Smith back obviously is huge for them. So they present some match ups there in the front 7 that we have to keen in on. And then in the secondary they have some really good guys. The rookie from LSU, the safety, is playing well. They move Patrick Willis on Tight Ends a lot. He seems to be the guy they like most in coverage. We obviously know how good of a player he is. It's going to be a challenge for us--they've been one of the top defenses in the league the last couple years and especially now that they have all their parts back. It's exciting to play in these meaningful games this late in season. That's not something that's been very common around here the last couple years and I think guys are excited in week 10 to play this kind of game with some stuff on the line."

 

Does it make it easier for the 49ers to face the Panthers coming off a bye? "I think this late in the season, more so just the recovery aspect of the bye weeks. We had our bye week in week 4 and with the new rules you have to have 4 days off and can only practice two days. I don't think you get more practice time but the team that have those later byes get the benefit of getting those injured guys back. And guys that might have been dinged up get them back closer to full speed for that late season push. It really helps in the physical aspect of the game.

 

What happened in the Cardinals game? "We went out there and laid an egg. The defense kept us in there and offensively we never got anything going. That's a good defense especially when they play at home. We had a lot of confidence especially form the Giants game before the bye. For whatever reason we didn't play well. They got after us, we had a couple turnovers and then at the end when we had a chance the ball didn't go our way. But that shows what our team is like. To bounce back from a game like that when a lot of teams would go in the tank, we've now been able to string 4 together. That's been the key around here. No matter how bad things seem or how good things seem we've stayed pretty even keel. That's a testament to the guys we have and the job Coach Rivera does.

 

Where is Cam Newton and how has he improved? "Guys who come in with such immense physical talent, people assume that that's enough, that they'll go out there and play and be the best kid on the playground. In his rookie year he came in and that was the case. We were rolling, kinda snuck up on some people offensively and put up some big numbers. What people don't understand is most quarterbacks get to sit on the bench for a couple years, learn the system, learn the game, learn the checks.

 

 

 

 

 

And the video just disappeared. I can't figure out how to get it back. Will finish this off when I can.

 

[Dpantherman]

Summary:

 

- Biggest reason for winning streak:  Everything is coming together on offense and defense. Decreasing turnovers and not putting the D in bad spots (field position

 

- Which side has improved more:  Offense-- we've done better at not settling for field goals

 

- On Mike Shula:  He's put his mark on the team with verbage and bringing in balance on offense (running the football more)

 

- Can we make the playoffs:  Reminds him of his last year with the Bears when they made the playoffs. Defense is really strong, mentioned the Bears 6 game winning streak that year.

 

- On the schedule:  Same people that said the schedule was the hardest and they couldn't win are the same people calling it weak. They play who's next and don't get wrapped into who they are playing

 

- 49ers:  Lots of pro bowlers, talks up their front 7 and secondary. Called them a good challenge

 

- Playing teams coming off a bye:  It gives them a physical advantage by allowing them to get healthy, but he didn't really sound that concerned about it. Florio asked about the Arizona game coming off the bye and Olsen said we just laid an egg.

 

- On Cam's development:  Guys come in with physical talent and assume its enough.  We snuck up on people in 2011, but typically guys have time to sit and learn. Cam was thrust in and people expected too much early on and it wasn't really fair. His knowledge and ability to check in and out of plays and understanding of the game is much better now. He's playing at a high level mentally to match his physical skills.

 

I quit listening during the Miami stuff, because I'm a little tired of hearing about it.

 

Florio did ask about Olsen's son TJ, which was classy of him for a change.

[Dpantherman]

Listening now. Saving this space for a recap

 

Didn't see this until after I did mine. I'm sure you can catch some things I just did a cliff notes version.

[Chaos]

Thanks Dp.  I agree, the Miami discussion is far beyond over the top.  If a soap opera presents itself in the NFL, it will take top billing no matter what.

[Darth Biscuit]

Florio is an ass but I like what Olsen had to say.

[neverlosethefeeling]

Didn't see this until after I did mine. I'm sure you can catch some things I just did a cliff notes version.

 

Good teamwork. I did the full, unabridged version.

[Razeyfingers]

Thanks fellas, and if youre gonna get interviewed by a snarky reporter it does help to have a guy that is capable of being snarky right back if he needs be. Olsen is a very sharp and smart dude. . "a know a lotter" per the interview on This is Gross. I had no idea he was like that when I was watching him in the combine. If memory serves we werent ever in position to get him and I still cant believe he's on our team. Elite TE's that are tough are hard to find and the digs about his lack of YaC havnt showed to be true at all.

 

Nice grab.