San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed reporters ahead of Thursday’s practice as the team gears up for its Week 12 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Here’s everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
“Injuries for practice today: [DL] Robert Beal [Jr.] in the protocol, won’t practice, [LB] Tatum Bethune, ankle, won’t practice, [K] Eddy Piñeiro, right hamstring, won’t practice, [LB] Luke Gifford, hip/neck, will be limited. That’s it. Go ahead.”
With QB Brock Purdy being a full-go for practice, obviously he came out of the game fine. What are you expecting out of him?
“Expecting a full-go guy who gets better each week.”
How’s LB Fred Warner‘s recovery going? Is there still an outside chance that he could possibly come back for the playoffs?
“I haven’t asked that. I don’t think so, but I haven’t asked that. I’m sure it’s going awesome. Fred works as hard as anyone on the planet, so it’s going great.”
The Carolina Panthers used WR Tetairoa McMillan more in the slot last week. What kind of challenges is that? What are your impressions of him on film?
“I think he’s a stud. He’s going to be one of the best receivers in this League sooner than later. He’s got all the skill sets to do it and I think he’s just getting started.”
Did he catch your eye in the Draft?
“Yes, big time.”
Was that somebody you thought might make it to you guys at 11?
“We thought he was going to go before that, but you’ve got to cover all those guys.”
You guys brought in K Matt Gay as the new kicker. What did you like about him to bring him in? Obviously, Eddy Piñeiro has been great for you guys, but needing to fill that void.
“His experience. He’s had a lot of success in this League and looked real good during our workout.”
What does Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s defense look like? What stands out?
“Just going against it over the years, they do so many different things with fronts, personnel groupings and everything, yet they’re extremely sound. Very rarely make mistakes, hard to get big plays on them and does a real good job.”
What do you see from Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young when you watch the tape? What kind of challenges does he pose?
“Just has the ability to play at a high level. He was drafted for that reason. All you’ve got to do is watch last week to see what he’s capable of. I mean, throwing for that many yards, being able to bring them back and win that game was huge. And he’s getting more and more consistent as he goes. You see a guy who’s got a future in this League.”
He’s not a prototype for a number one pick when you look at his height and all this stuff. What do you think caught everybody’s eye to make him number one?
“Just how he played in college, how good he was at distributing the ball, how good he is at getting out of certain situations in the pocket, changing his arm angle, things like that. Has all the tools to make all the plays that a top guy would make. And just really the level he played at in college.”
You guys finally hit that 40-point threshold against the Cardinals last week. Offensively, what are you expecting going up against a defense that’s kind of ranking in the same area in the run game and in the pass game in the Carolina Panthers?
“Tough game. Tough game.”
What are the biggest challenges having to swap out middle linebackers again? Now you’re on the third one. Is LB Curtis Robinson going to be the starter at that spot?
“Yes. It’s been good that Curtis has been here, always been practicing for this moment and stuff, but it’s just like when you’re missing a quarterback or center, it’s not just the ability of the guy, but everything runs through that position. The MIKE by far on the defense, getting everyone lined up, getting the adjustments with all the motions, it’s a huge deal, schematically, mentally the challenge of it, but Curtis is the right dude for that.”
Do you intend to rotate OL Ben Bartch and OL Spencer Burford?
“Yeah, I think so. We’ll see how practice looks this week.”
You’ve like the way it’s looked these last few weeks?
“We’ve liked the last two weeks of it. We think it’s done well for both of them which means it does well for our team. But, we’ll always evaluate week-to-week and see if we continue that.”
What’s your assessment of where the pass rush is right now and how do you kind get it going a little more?
“I thought we did get it going more last week. Didn’t have the production of it, but I thought we hit [Arizona Cardinals QB] Jacoby [Brissett] a number of times. I thought three of his biggest plays were our closest to sacks. I thought he did a good job hanging in there throwing some good go-routes when we did get to him. But, I have seen that improve in weeks. It doesn’t always mean that you get the sacks of it, but it’s not going to be what it has been in the past. Trying to get the most out of it.”
The season has been win, loss, win, loss. Does that have to be addressed at all this week just in terms of coming off a win and keeping that focus?
“I don’t think we address really a narrative of win-losses like that, but you address how important this game is, which you do every week, but you find a different way to word it and whatever pertains to that week. It gets more important the later you get in the year, especially playing against a team right now who’s in the playoff hunt, fighting for first place in their division. So, I think we fully understand how important it is to get a back-to-back win. We also understand how important it is to get a win every week too.”
With RB Christian McCaffrey facing Carolina, has he exceeded your expectations as you look back to the trade that you made? And if so, how?
“Yeah, I mean we knew trading for him that we were getting an extremely special player. But, I still would say he exceeded expectations. You know how good he is off of film, but once you get to work with someone and really see what makes him so good, you realize that he’s even better than you thought.”
You mentioned you hadn’t asked if Fred could be back for the playoffs, but you didn’t think that was going to be the case. Have you been told kind of a general timeline by the medical staff?
“Yeah, it was like four months ago or whenever he got hurt, and I think I told you guys then generally. But, I don’t keep updated on injuries that don’t pertain to this week every single second. So that’s just why I don’t have that question answered. But, I can find out for you guys.”
Where do you see CB Upton Stout in his development from Week 1 to now? What are his strengths?
“I love how Stout plays. I think he plays exactly the way that we look for a 49er to play. Going back to his turnover on the goal line, the second effort he did there. He hit him with all he’s got and then he came back for another one getting his hand there to pull the ball out. The way he swarms to the ball would probably be the number one on our defense right now. I love how hard he competes and how fearless he is.”
Christian has said that this team has gotten a little too high after wins, said it a couple of weeks ago. Is that something you’ve noticed as the mark of a young team and do you feel like they’re getting better at that?
“I don’t know. I think that’s what you say when we haven’t strung together a couple wins in a row since we opened up this year. But, I wouldn’t say we get too high. I think after losses you’re always naturally more desperate and that’s just human nature. It’s finding a way to be that desperate no matter what has happened the week before or that day that you just stay desperate. It’s hard to do that 17 weeks in a row for seven months in a row, but that’s usually what the best teams do.”
You were pretty adamant that WR Ricky Pearsall was not going to play until he was hitting all the GPS stuff that you wanted him to hit and showing in practice he could do those things. Did he have those same things in the game? He wasn’t targeted much, but did you see what you wanted to see in terms of how he looked?
“Yeah, of course. It wasn’t that I was adamant about that. You guys just asked a more detailed question and I think Grant [Cohn] said he was healthy because he saw him shooting hoops. What’s wrong with him because he is shooting hoops in there, even though you can shoot hoops in a wheelchair also. So I just answered why he wasn’t healthy. I mean, guys who can hit over 20 miles per hour all the time and then can’t hit 18 without feeling pain in their knee, that’s a sign that they’re not healthy. So that’s all I was saying there, so wasn’t overdone on that, but what was your question?”
Did you see what you wanted to see from him?
“We saw what we wanted to see for him last Wednesday. He looked like a healthy Ricky which is why he probably didn’t have pain hitting those GPS numbers and why I thought he looked real good in the game. I think it’s unfair to these guys, to me, to agree that they’re judged off of targets. We try to get quarterbacks who don’t throw to people covered. And covered doesn’t mean a man-to-man all the time. It means that there’s two zoning defenders on you. And so, if a zoning defender’s on one guy, then you move to the next guy and there’s no one under and you get completions. I can’t remember a time in that game where we went to Ricky and he was covered by the guy guarding him. It was someone underneath. So, I thought Ricky was awesome last week and expect him to be the same, if not better, this week.”
What’d you think of LB Nick Martin? He got his first extended run. What’d you think?
“I thought he did a real good job. I thought he ran and tackled very well. Really had just one mistake in the pass game, giving up just a seven cut behind him. I think he had 14 plays, but 13 of them were real good.”
Your name has come up in Coach of the Year conversations again. Would that recognition mean anything to you?
“No, but I appreciate it. I’m not trying to insult anybody by that.”
FB Kyle Juszczyk just played his 200th career game. Obviously, he’s not like a 1970’s sledgehammer fullback, but it’s still quite a bit for a fullback. In your mind, how would you explain his longevity?
“I think if Juice needed to be that way, he would train his body to be that way and still be able to be that type of fullback. I think the game’s a little bit different and how you use people and the angles that’s created now compared to just ISO every play in the fifties. But, I do think that stuff helps his longevity to a degree, especially at that position because it becomes more than just an offensive guard in the backfield. But Juice, just from how he takes care of his body, to how he lives his life is really unique. He is an extremely thought-out guy from what he’s putting in his body the first day after the season to the middle of the season. How much hours he sleeps, all that stuff. So, guys like him, guys like Christian, guys like Fred, to me are the perfect guys that all young players should watch in this League because they really know how to take care of their health.”
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed reporters ahead of Wednesday’s practice as the team gears up for its Week 11 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Here’s everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening…
The San Francisco 49ers will hold three full practices this week as they prepare for their Week 12 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. The schedule is slightly different than a typical preparation week due to the game being played on Monday night.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan,…
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters following Friday’s practice, providing final updates ahead of the team’s Week 11 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Here’s everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications…
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