San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters on Tuesday via a conference call, following the team's overtime loss on Monday to the Seattle Seahawks. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Starting with the injuries: [LB] Azeez [Al-Shaair] is going to be in the concussion protocol. [DL] Ronald Blair III did have a torn ACL, so he'll be having a season-ending surgery, going on IR. [RB Matt] Breida aggravated his ankle again, he's day-to-day. We'll see how he feels going into practice tomorrow. [DL] D.J. Jones, groin, we haven't gotten his scan back yet, but he's expected to miss at least a week. [T Joe] Staley, he got out of the game fine with his leg, but he ended up having a finger fracture/dislocation, so right now he's getting a second opinion on it and we'll have more on that tomorrow, but surgery could be a possibility. And then [WR Emmanuel] Sanders, he had some rib stuff and he'll be day-to-day and probably end up being a game-time decision. The existing injuries: [K Robbie] Gould and [TE George] Kittle are still in the same boat. Hopeful for them this week, but still pretty similar to last week. And then [CB Ahkello] Witherspoon, he's day-to-day, but expecting him to practice tomorrow, so we'll see how he is when he gets in."
You said something about Staley's kind of status with that finger?
"Yeah, I said he's got a finger fracture/dislocation. Right now he's in the process of getting a second opinion. I was talking to him before, that's why we were running a little late. We're not sure of the final decision yet, because he's getting a second opinion, but surgery could be a possibility. But, we won't know that until probably later today."
Would the surgery be a season-ender type of thing?
"No, no, if one is needed, it'll probably be a couple of weeks."
When you talked about Kittle and Robbie being in the same boat in that you're hopeful, has there been any setbacks or just how hopeful are you? What's realistic do you think for this week?
"I think they're very similar to how they were last week. I think Robbie's been dealing with a quad. I don't think it's as big of an injury as Kittle, but because he's a kicker, it's kind of hard to tell with. So, we've got to get him out here and test him on his kicking here this week and we'll see how it goes. But I mean, it's still the same as last week. It's still a maybe. Kittle has a much bigger injury, but Kittle's just a little bit of a different bird. We're never going to decide on Kittle too early in the week. He's always got a chance with some of the stuff he's been able to go through here in these last couple of years."
Why did Kittle watch the game from the suite tower? Why not have him on the sideline with everybody else?
"Because anybody who we think it will help them not to stand for three and a half hours straight, we make that decision with."
You mentioned last week the possibility that WR Jalen Hurd could begin practicing this week. Have you made a decision on that yet?
"Still hoping for him to, but we evaluate that at the end of each week and based off of what I saw from him at the end of last week, I'm not expecting him this week. We'll see how he comes in here tomorrow, but he didn't meet enough requirements last week to start him for practicing. I'm not expecting him now."
Who becomes your third edge rusher with Ronald Blair III out?
"We have lots of guys we can use. We've only got eight up, but our inside guys can go outside, so there's always people who can do that. We might end up having to sign someone else. I know we're having a workout in here tomorrow for depth, but we have [DL] Solomon [Thomas] who's played outside and inside, [DL Arik] Armstead who's done it, [DL Deforest] Buckner who's done it. We've got a pretty good deal with all those guys who can do it. I know we're going to have to get another guy in here to fill that body part, so we'll see how that plays out here over the next 24 hours."
Why not activate DL Kentavius Street from IR?
"That's another one of those decisions. He's not as much of an outside edge rusher, he's more of an inside player. A little bit of a different body part, but he can do all of it. The way his body is isn't exactly compared to Ronald Blair's, but that'll be an option and we'll decide on that based off the other guys coming in here tomorrow."
Is Emmanuel Sanders' injury similar to George's last year with the cartilage in the rib?
"I'm not sure. They said rib cartilage so I'm not exactly sure if it's similar to George from last year."
CB Emmanuel Moseley had another strong game. Is there any question about when CB Ahkello Witherspoon is ready to play--?
"I think that was Matt, your phone's breaking up a ton, but I think you were asking if there's a chance for Moseley to stay the starter when Ahkello comes back?"
Yes that's right, sorry.
"No. Ahkello earned his spot with the way Ahkello was playing when he went out. If Ahkello can come out to practice, gets three good days in, show exactly where he's at, then we'd give him his job back. He's going to have to have a good week of practice to do that. Emmanuel's played at a high level. I agree with everybody else in that. It's been great to see him step up with the injury and how well he's played. I know we've got another guy who's capable of being a starter out there. If Ahkello can get in a full week of practice then it would be his job. It would be very similar to how it's been with our tackles with [T Mike] McGlinchey getting three good days in last week is why he went ahead of [OL Daniel] Brunskill. If he wouldn't of then we would have kept Brunskill out for another week. We'll see how that goes with Ahkello this week, but its' nice with how good E-Man's been playing. It makes us a lot more patient with Ahkello's injury."
What did you see from LB Fred Warner's performance last night when you watched the tape and what kind of growth have you seen in him this year?
"I thought Fred played a hell of a game. He gets us in and out of everything. He has to make a ton of calls. He's definitely our quarterback out there and I think he does it as good as anyone I've seen. Fred made some plays on the ball, made some good tackles and he's had to step it up, especially losing [LB] Kwon [Alexander]. I thought the other guys stepped in and played real nice right next to him. Now he's our veteran out there in his second year and I think he's playing like it too."
When you watched the film and watched all the drops from the receivers, how much of it was on them, how much was on QB Jimmy Garoppolo and what can you do to address that going forward with Sanders possibly missing time?
"The quarterback is always going to look at himself and try to see how much better ball placement he can have. When a ball touches the receiver's hands, the receiver needs to make that play. I know our guys are capable of doing it and we had some big ones last night that really hurt us. It's not something you can avoid, it's not something you hide from. You catch the ball and you move the chains. You catch the ball and you have a better chance to win. If you drop it, it's very hard to. Those guys, they've done it before. They've just got to bounce back. I know last night was a tough game for our group, but we've got three days of practice this week. They have to come back and get their confidence back in their hands. Definitely not going to let it affect me as far as a play caller coming next Sunday."
How much of a factor do you think rust was for Joe and Mike in terms of some of the pressures that they let up?
"Sorry, can you repeat that?"
How much of a factor do you think rust was for Joe and Mike in terms of some of the pressure that they let up?
"How what?"
Was rust a factor for them?
"Oh. Yeah, I think anytime you haven't played football in a while it's always a challenge to get back out there no matter what you do in practice. It's tough to get going. I think they had a big challenge ahead of them. I thought [DE Jadeveon] Clowney played very well. He's done it before, but I thought it was definitely his best game of the year so we've got to take that into account. They weren't at their best. That happens when you have some time off like that. I thought they had their good plays, but definitely had some noticeable bad plays that ended up hurting us a little bit."
After watching the tape, what did you think about the decision to have those three straight passing plays on that last offensive possession you had that only took a few seconds off the clock?
"Yeah, obviously when you only take a few seconds off the clock and give it back, I wish I would've taken three knees instead of doing that. So, you always look at that in hindsight but we were very well aware of the situation, we knew the time on the clock. Both plays we were going two conservative underneath passes. The first one got tipped, the second one was a little more disappointing. I think there's no doubt we need to be able to make that catch, running through that ball, and if we do, then we'll let the clock run down until a minute left before we try our third-and-three, which could have been a big help. Once we get that tip on first down and we get that drop on second down, now it's third-and-10 with 1:42 left, so running the ball there, on third-and-10, best case scenario you're still giving it back to [Seattle Seahawks QB] Russell [Wilson] with a minute left. Russell with a minute, when all he needs is a field goal, isn't much different to me than 1:40. Definitely wasn't expecting to have two incompletions on those first two downs."
In training camp you talked about having a lot of confidence in WR Kendrick Bourne's hands. What is it, he talked a little bit last night about when he's wide open, sometimes that's when the drops happen. Is it a focus issue, is it him turning his head and looking upfield too soon? Is there any one thing you can point to?
"Yeah, I mean when a guy with really good hands drops it, it's not because he has bad hands. So then you look into why it was. It usually comes back to their eyes and their vision and concentration, or someone ripped it out, and that's not what happened. Bourne, I'll always puts him up there. I think Bourne has as good of hands as anyone in this league and sometimes when you do that you don't focus, you don't concentrate on it because you're never scared of dropping it. That's why you see some guys like [Cleveland Browns WR] Odell Beckham [Jr.] at times I know he's had more drops than anyone in the league and that guy's hands are as good as anyone's. Those are things that you've got to account for. It's not OK. Those are two very big drops that Bourne had. That doesn't mean that we're not going to keep going to him. He's a guy who can catch the ball. He's made a lot of big catches for us. He made two big catches in that game leading up to that point, but that was a huge change. The pick that bounced off his hands, that would have been an explosive and then the drop inside the 10 that would have given us a chance at first-and-goal going for the lead. Hopefully he will learn from that. He'll make sure to look it in regardless of the confidence in his hands and make sure that doesn't happen again."
After Emmanuel got hurt there, outside of the drops, were the receivers getting enough separation based on what you saw in film?
"Yeah, once Emmanuel went out, they started out that game playing a lot of man coverage. I thought we had some success with it, but for the most part in the second half it was all zone. When it is zone, guys aren't going against man-to-man very much. We still had a couple drops in some very open zones. But yeah, I didn't think separation was too much of an issue."
What is C/G Weston Richburg's status after his hand injury?
"He was able to come back and finish. Then checking up on him today, they told me he'll be fine and he'll be good to go for the game this week."
WR Dante Pettis, obviously there's been much discussion about him. There have been opportunities, obviously, for him to kind of emerge but it doesn't seem like he's done so, at least certainly not consistently. Where are you with your assessment of him?
"I mean, I agree with what you just said. He's had a number of opportunities. I'm one of the guys that believe in him the most. That's why he's here. He's had his opportunities. The more he doesn't take advantage of his opportunities, the less opportunities he gets. He did get a couple last night because of injury and I didn't think he made them. We'll see how this week goes. Dante has the ability, but we're waiting for him to pick it up and have the consistency and take advantage of some of these opportunities he's gotten."