San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, and offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster spoke with reporters after Friday's practice, as the team prepares for its Week 7 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. Here is everything they had to say.
Transcripts provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
QB Brock Purdy
After the game the other night you were talking about how when you had some guys out, that it was up to you to get people in the right place and sort of take charge of the situation, and WR Deebo Samuel was out, and the guys that you were missing. Now that they've been out for practice all week and you've had these guys practicing in these spots, do you expect things to go smooth?
"Yeah, I think on their part, those guys will be ready just with the reps that they've gotten going in with the operational stuff. And yeah, simple as that. They'll be ready. And even if, Deebo and [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] are going and stuff, you know, great for us, that'll be awesome. But if they're not, all the other guys have been preparing great. [RB Jordan Mason] JP, [WR] Ray-Ray [McCloud], [WR] Ronnie Bell, all those guys, they look great. So we'll be ready to roll for whatever comes."
In Week 3 with the New York Giants, you saw plenty of blitzes from that team, this team even more so. What are your impressions of maybe some of the stuff that they run and the ways that they can challenge you?
"Obviously, they love to bring the whole house and all the zero looks that they've got and then being able to bluff out of that and stuff. So, they do a really good job with it. On film it may look like, 'oh man, there's some space and stuff,' but they do a good job with bracketing stuff and sort of just anticipating what teams are going to try to do. And so, they're really well coached. They do it well, and then I think all of their players are really smart and they know what they're trying to do within the scheme. So, for us, it's like, man, we've got to be ready for obviously having answers with zero and pressure and stuff. But you know, at the same time, we've just got to be smart. For myself, we've got to be smart with the ball. That's what they're trying to do is pressure the quarterback, get the quarterback to make some mistakes and stuff. So, and they've done that within the games that they've played in. They've done that to a lot of the quarterbacks, getting them to, you know, some strip-sacks and all that kind of stuff. So, it's a good challenge."
How similar is it to Miami, what you saw from the Miami Dolphins last year, how similar is what Minnesota is doing?
"Yeah, a similar scheme for sure. It's slightly different but comes from the [Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian] Flores thought process and stuff. And so, we just, last year going into that game, it's like, 'alright, got to be ready for zero, but they probably won't do it as much.' And then once I got thrown in, they did it a lot. So, I think it was good experience for myself and then for all the other guys to be ready for those kinds of looks and looking for the ball quick and getting the ball out of my hands. But at the same time, this is all a different game, different players and stuff that we're going against. And like I said, these players, they know the system and they look comfortable in it, and so they're smart. Not to say Miami wasn't, Miami was, but it's a little different, just different players."
What's this week been like for you as far as how much that loss lingers, how much you just turn the page and move forward and just your excitement level as far as just getting back out there?
"I mean, yeah, it sucks initially for the first couple of days, especially when we had an extra day off. It's like you could feel the guys in the locker room wanted to go and practice and get ready to move on. And so, our first day of practice yesterday guys were moving. It's like, man, it feels good. Let's go. Let's move on. Get ready for this next game. So, it felt good in that regard. It's not like college where you lose a game and, you know, every game in college is so huge and crucial and it is in the NFL, but one game can determine your season in college, it feels like. With this, it's like, alright, we lost, but man, we have a lot to look forward to. We've got to move on quickly, we've got a good team ahead of us, so spirit's been good and we just got to keep it going."
When it comes to you processing pre and post-snap, what's the different challenge between facing zone coverage and man-to-man coverage?
"Yeah, I'd say man-to-man coverage as a quarterback, I think it's a little nicer just because you know where your answers are supposed to be. Zone coverage, it could be a little bit more of a tricky area just because you've got a progression, you've got to move on from guys and guys could be dropping underneath guys. In man, it's like, alright, you know one guy is covering this guy and I have a chance when he breaks, knowing that no one is going to undercut it or whatever. So that's the biggest difference. But like, this team is good because they'll show a whole, everyone coming and then they bluff out and it's like, man, I've got to know what side of the field I have to be on and be right. Whereas any other game, it's almost like you go through a whole progression. This game, it's like, you've got to be on the right side. So that's where we're at with it."
Do they play more zone than you would expect for a team that blitzes as much as they do?
"Yeah, I feel like their base defense for sure. But man, do they love playing in that realm of bringing pressure and then hoping we get the quarterback or get guys to mess up and then force the ball to be turned over. So, I feel like that's more of what they like to do, but at the same time, we can't just go into a game saying they're going to do this, this, or that. You know, they've had a week to prepare and switch things up, so you never know."
Last year you went to TE George Kittle a lot, you had a lot of success going to Kittle. This year, he hasn't gotten as much action. Is it more a product of what defenses are doing or the array of weapons that you guys have to choose from? Is there a reason that George is not as involved in your mind?
"Man, I think just the scheme of things, you know, that's sort of just how we've drawn things up. That's how really the games have gone where other guys have popped open and stuff, and George has had to help out with protection, and he's done such a good job of doing that role, being in protection and checking out on the flat and stuff like that. And then when his opportunities come, we take advantage of it. But man, that's just sort of how it's gone so far. We still have a whole basically second half of the season coming up where it's like, man, George can definitely get involved. He can get involved at any point in the game. So, that's just sort of how it's gone. It's not like we go into the game going, 'George, you're not going to get the ball, it's going to be this, this, and this guy,' it's just how it's gone, you know? But obviously, he's a threat. Everyone does like to scheme him up and try to stop George as best as possible, but it's how it's been."
It's been a year since you traded for RB Christian McCaffrey today. In what ways has he changed the team dynamic, made you feel even more confident, especially for you at quarterback?
"Yeah, it's been huge for us, just having a running back that can go out of the backfield and do all the things that a receiver can do. Run routes from the backfield, line up as a receiver in the slot, and do stuff on the outside. He's a Swiss Army knife, man. He does everything for us that we ask, and he does it really well, and he's smart. So, obviously it's really nice to have him since we got him and stuff, being able to start to utilize the back out of the backfield and things like that. It's just another guy that the defense has to account for in the pass game. So that's huge. And then obviously when he runs the ball and his toughness and everything, it's on another level, so very thankful to have him."
When you went to Minnesota last year for the joint practices, you've come a long way since then. So what was your mindset going in there to prove to the coaches that you deserved a roster spot just to start with?
"Yeah, it was still more of a camp mindset, you know, yes, we're competing against the Vikings and all that, but man, I was just trying to do the little things right, make the right decisions, be consistent. Trying to earn the coaches and my teammates trust. That's where I was at with that, it was a good experience to go out there and play against some really good players on the Vikings. But you know, a year now later it's like, alright, this is the regular season, this is a real football game, not just practices and whatnot. So, they've got some good players I remember going against a couple of them in practice and whatnot, but this is different. So, I think I'm at another point in obviously my career being a starter and all that, and not the camp mode kind of mindset. So that's where we're at when we're trying to win."
Before you became a starter last year, you would be in offensive meetings and you would note like kind of the body language of guys who maybe didn't get much action in the previous game. And you noted that no one was acting ticked off, or that suggests like, 'hey, why didn't I get the ball?' I mean, I guess hopefully I've got the story straight, but, if so, was that just something you did naturally? Was it just something you were curious about or could you just talk about that a little bit?
"Yeah, I mean, I was just curious, as a rookie I got all these guys in a room with, just some stardom really. George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, [WR] Brandon [Aiyuk], just these, you know, you go into a game and it's almost like, alright, George got a lot of receptions and touchdowns this game, how's Deebo going to act or how's B.A. going to act? So, I would just sort of be like, this is crazy, it's fascinating to me. So, I sort of just looked at guys, saw their body language, how they come into meetings, how they leave, and how they were acting at practice and all that kind of stuff. But like I said before, this team's on a mission, man, they don't, you know, B.A. gets so happy when Deebo has a great game. Deebo has such great energy and attitude when B.A. goes crazy. And same with George and all the other guys and Christian. So, like, man it's a special group. Obviously, we're trying to do the whole thing and not just try to rack up fantasy points or anything like that. Like, guys are wanting the best for other guys and to win. So that's all we care about."
Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks
Opening comments:
"Good week of practice, bouncing back from that disappointing loss this past week. I like where the guys are. They're focused, they're locked in, and we're looking forward to a great performance this week. In regards to last week, quickly, we felt defensively we had a chance to win the game on defense several times, and we didn't take advantage of it. We got to do a much better job in stopping the run, number one. It was slow bleeding as I call. The longest run was like 20 yards, but they had just too much in between. This was probably one of our worst games as far as missed tackles, and that's something that we got to correct and get better at, as well."
In regards to the run defense, DL Nick Bosa said yesterday that there was an issue setting edges. What did you see there?
"It's always something that we emphasize and talk about because we know that's where teams are going to try to attack us. Just with our perimeter, we got to do a much better job, as you just mentioned, with the defensive end, the nickel, linebacker scraping over the top and the safety running the alley. So that was the issue. That's been a point of emphasis this week."
You guys have been so good at tackling this year. What did you see in terms of what may have led to missing so many?
"It's nothing in particular. I just think, once again, as coaches, it reminded us as a staff, that we can't get away from the fundamentals and technique. We talked about that Week One against Pittsburgh. We wanted to be the best tackling team that particular week because that's how I know teams lose games, busting coverages and missing tackles. That mindset, Week One can't change. That's what we got back to this week."
How would you assess LB/DL Randy Gregory's performance on Sunday, and how have you seen him progress throughout the week?
"Short period of time, just coming in, trying to learn the defense and really the culture and how we operate. I thought he did a pretty good job. He pressured the quarterback, TFL, got a sack, so that was phenomenal. I wish we had a pressure on, he came a little too wide one time, and I think he had a strip sack fumble. So just cleaning that up and letting him understand a little bit more details of the defense, which I think he has this week. I think he's going to continue to progress."
I thought that hit that S Tashaun Gipson Sr. had was textbook. What was your reaction in real time to that call?
"I can't say that right now [laughs]. But no, in all seriousness right here, I know the league is definitely all about the safety of players and so are we. We teach our guys how to lower their target. Personally, I thought it was clean. They called the flag. That's part of the game. And again, going back to how it initially opened up, we had several times after that defensively, to finish the game, and we didn't."
It's so hard to make in such a bang, bang situation. Do you feel that should be something that maybe they could do quick reviews on?
"If you can get that to the league office and see if that can pass that this spring, that'd be great. Didn't baseball do that? So yeah, I think you need to do that."
Tashaun said that if he were to do it all over again, he probably would do the exact same thing. Is there anything he could have done that it would be a coaching point to avoid that kind of penalty?
"No, not in how we teach him. I felt like once again, he did everything he could for us trying to lower his target right there in the moment. You're talking about, I don't want to say human error, but humans are trying to determine whether or not it's a foul or a good hit. They called the flag on it and we got to live with it."
How do you how do you assess the Minnesota Vikings without WR Justin Jefferson and RB Dalvin Cook or WR Adam Thielen from last year?
"They're still a good football team, a real good football team. You talk about [Minnesota Vikings WR Brandon] Powell and [Minnesota Vikings WR Jordan] Addison, receivers. I think everything starts with [Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk] Cousins. Kirk's still playing at a high level. He's a seasoned vet, can make every throw, smart, understands the looks that you're giving him and he's going to know exactly where to go with the ball. So we got to do a great job in stopping the run. I think [Minnesota Vikings RB Alexander] Mattison to me is at times you blink he looks like Cook, the way he runs the ball. So they're going to do a great job in really trying to establish the run and then quickly do what they do best, which is putting the ball in the air."
When you have a game that you talked about last week where there were some things that showed up on film, and obviously the Vikings are going through that, how do you work that balance of cleaning stuff up that showed up last week, knowing the Vikings are going to attack that, while also not leaving yourself vulnerable in other spots by overcorrecting?
"I think this is a copycat league, like I told you before, earlier. I don't think it's not too much that's original. So anything that we put on tape, we understand and know going all the way back to preseason when it was a zone read that we didn't do well. We knew we had to emphasize and work on that. We're going to eventually see it and we saw it throughout the year. It's not going to be any different. They're going to attack us on the perimeter this week. We know that. We got to make sure that we set edges and we got guys over the top, let's run it to the football. We know we're going to get screens. That's what they do. So that's all been a point of emphasis, just really guys making plays when given the opportunity."
The Cleveland Browns seemed to run the same play three times. That pitch left to RB Jerome Ford when they brought TE Harrison Bryant in motion, WR Donovan Peoples-Jones had a down block. It looked like they just blocked it very well. Defensively when you look at that, what should have happened?
"Well, number one, we play a wide-nine, so it's certain runs that we know that we're not going to get right. And then it's certain ways that teams are going to attack us, which is really trying to pin the nine and get outside on the edge. So we got to do a better job, there as far as getting vertical and trying to knock someone off. Then we can't have guys running to the sideline. It's about trying to get downhill. Once we emphasized and talked about that in trying to clean things up, so therefore the backers and the safeties can run the alley. That's what it's all about. I think guys are just running too parallel when they got to get vertical."
There were a lot of missed tackles in this game, you've been doing this a while. What's the coaching point, or what's your process in trying to just talk about it more, you yell, you plead, how do you emphasize so you don't see it again?
"Well, I don't think yelling is the key which sometimes you want to yell, particularly during the game. It's all about teaching and that's the point of emphasis that we did today. We had pads on today, so it was tackling every day for us, just guys running and tracking in near hip, D-linemen coming out of the stack. So again, it's just getting back to the fundamentals and technique and everything that has made us good up to this point. I think that's what happens with everyone throughout the year, that you start thinking about reps, you start thinking about this and you get away from the fundamentals. So we hit the reset button, that's where we went this week."
I know it's kind of bounced around, but is CB Isaiah Oliver kind of a permanent slot guy?
"For us, right now, yes. I think we have the numbers and particularly the guys that we brought in, [CB] Anthony Brown and those guys that can give us flexibility on the outside as well as he can play inside as well. But I think Oliver has definitely positioned himself inside at the nickel position."
Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Chris Foerster
When you install the game plan this week with uncertainty at running back, does it make any difference as far as how you approach the week when RB Christian McCaffrey is questionable?
"I don't think it does. I think that you still have to attack schematically first and foremost. You look at what's good schematically and you say, okay, these things are good schematically, then who best suits it. Some things could be good schematically that aren't great, and are maybe better suited for Christian, but at the end of the day, you're still going to try and attack the defenses best you see and try and take advantage of the scheme they present and what's the best runs against the best defenses."
If T Trent Williams is not ready to go, I don't think OL Jaylon Moore started since last year when he played Carolina and Atlanta. How can you tell how much he's progressed since then and if he's ready?
"Well, there's things, every single player through the course of the season and the offseason, there's things that you focus to work on and you see whether that guy's working on improving on those things in practice. The good thing for Jaylon is he has had a lot of work when Trent had his vet days during camp and doesn't play in the preseason. So, Jaylon does get to play and you do get to see if he's progressed and we think Jaylon has progressed. I mean, you've heard me say in here a lot, that you don't know until you play in the games exactly how far, but he has improved on some things. It's been good to watch him do that and hope that. If he does get pressed into duty again on Monday night, then we'll be able to see some improvement."
Did the Browns react differently to what you thought you were going to get with their safeties to some of the motions that you got? And, if so, what was the adjustment?
"Well, there's always what they show on tape and then they showed a little bit of all of it. And then all of a sudden, they decide they're going to do something in our game and then they do that something. So, maybe it's a little bit different. At the end of the day, you just roll with it and what it is because you've seen it before. It's just, you don't know. For example, we could practice a little bit of all of it because you think, oh, they could do this, they might do this, they've usually done this. But with us, it's always a guessing game. So when you get in there, it's something we've seen before. Something we did work on and something that turned the game was not a huge adjustment, but just something we had to inform everybody, hey guys, we practiced this all week. We thought it would be more of this. And it ended up being something else."
Trent Williams said the other night that he stayed in the game because he didn't want to put that pressure on Jaylon Moore to go against Cleveland DE Myles Garrett. What is that fine line of doing what's best for the team and also saving Trent from himself?
"I just think it comes back to, you check with the training staff and they determine whether the injury – they can do testing and things to see if the injury is such that you can play. Then you put it back on the player, say, hey, it's, it appears that you're strong enough, the ankle's in good enough condition. He's like, okay. And then you say to the player, okay, go out and do it. He goes out there and you keep an eye on him and you say, eh, it doesn't look good, or it does look good or it looks okay and you check with the player, say, how you doing? I'm doing fine. You know, it's getting a little like this. Yeah, I'm okay. I think I can do it. Then as the coach, eventually you may have to make the decision, say he's doing well enough to stay in the game or he is not. It's a group decision and ultimately it comes back to the player on the field. Trent was very conscious of it because if you go back to, I don't remember when we played the Rams in the championship game, what year that was, and he played on the high ankle sprain, post-game he said that I probably should have let [OL] Colton [McKivitz] play that game. And so, he was aware of that, understanding that he could do what he could do. But I've been with plenty of players before, that same thing, they've had an injury, they felt a certain way, not a hundred percent, but not so much that they would stay out of a game. They've played a lot of games in that condition and so, they know whether they can do it or not. You have to trust them. And then the more you have a relationship with the player, the more you can then say, yeah, I got you, but you need to come stand on the sideline with me."
How did the offense change when Christian McCaffrey wasn't on the field in terms of the coverages you guys faced?
"I think they stayed pretty much the same. I think they had a plan for us and what they decided to do with Christian was just fine to keep doing going forward. I don't think it was something they would've had to change too much with because they had a good plan and it wasn't like it gave away much else. So, it's kind of a coverage they always play and then whether they can help with Christian or not. That's a very general and broad statement because there's a lot of different things that they can do. But it didn't change, I don't think a whole lot. Again, coverages, and how they were handling Christian at that point, we weren't far enough into it for me to really be able to tell. But it didn't change much."
If he's not available, how much of it will be a two back approach or riding the hot hand? How do you balance that?
"I think it still just goes back to, we knew who the next back in the game was. [RB Jordan Mason] J.P. was going to be the next guy in the game, and then [RB] Elijah [Mitchell] was going to play some. And then it is just a matter of as you get a feel of how they're rolling, what we're doing, what we're trying to get done. They both have strengths and weaknesses, probably one a little bit towards the run, another a little bit towards the pass. And so, you want to be able to balance that out, if it's becoming a throw game, it's becoming a run game, who's going to be on a third down since Christian's not going to be? Who's going to be in on first and second? So that's more of it than the hot hand thing. Obviously, if a guy's feeling it and pounding up in there, that hot hand lasts. You give them about three carries in a row and you're like, yeah, he needs to get out for a bit here and put somebody else in. So, it can go either way. But both guys, you kind of play to their strengths."
You guys had OL Nick Zakelj up this last game. What prompted that?
"Well, [OL Aaron] Banks had the shoulder at the end of the last game and was questionable. I mean, he was fine last week, he went through practice and seemed to be great, but I was concerned. All of a sudden when you end up with [OL Jon] Feliciano in the game, your backup center's playing, which means your backup center could then get hurt and then your third center's more of an emergency plan. So, this way, we have three centers up and maybe going forward as the season wears on and guys are dinged up, unless we're a hundred percent healthy that may be the way to go. But again, it depends on the tackle health, and when your tackle health is down, maybe we need four tackles. So every week you have to evaluate it. And I think once there's an injury to one of the two spots, you have to lean heavier on that."
When you watch the film, the defenses want to stop the run game. Based on what you've seen from Minnesota on film, what do you expect to see? How will they be the same? Will they be different?
"Yeah. The thing about the defenses today, a lot of defenses and even Cleveland who tends to be a pretty – you kind of know what they're going to be in changed up a little bit. These guys can do a lot of different things. The six on the line to five on the line, five on the line, on a nickel four, four down nickel still get five on the line. Four down pressure, I mean, deep to short where they line up deep and then they come down late in the coverage so you're not sure whether it's going to be a hard eight-man front or seven-man front or not. So these guys today, there's just a lot of different variations. And so however they've decided to stack up and try and stop your running game, that's what you have to see as the game progresses because they have a lot of different ways to do it. Do I see them being a heavy six-man line? I don't know. That's not what they've been to this point, but it doesn't mean they won't. When [Browns defensive coordinator] Jim Schwartz played us when he was there as a consultant in Tennessee when we played them a couple years back, in the second half of that game they played us nickel to our 21 personnel almost the whole game. And that is about what they did in this past game to us as well. For whatever the reasons they decided to do it. And you would think that wouldn't be as good a way to stop the run, but they had other reasons they felt to choose to get nickel to do it and they did a nice job. So, there's just, you don't know what it's going to be. And that's always the challenge every week and with us, it is. We do a lot of different things that challenge defenses to be on point – not to be on point, they have to be on point every week, but there's just a lot they have to cover with the motions and where we align the fullbacks and so how they're going to do that, how they decide within their scheme and package, it's really difficult always to see. So, you have to get in the game and start rolling with it. And anymore, it's not that I don't think [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] is ever like, oh, well, that's shocking, or I said, that's what they're going to do to try to stop us. Here are the things that we go to. And that's been the good thing over time. Shoot, in 2019, I remember we had 99 snaps of nickel to 21 personnel. That was unheard of. I don't think we probably had nine snaps of nickel in the 10 years before 2019. And then all of a sudden that became a way to play us, for whatever the reasons defenses decided to do it. And so then you have to start saying, okay, well shoot, we have to adjust to this and start working on how we play nickel to 21. And that didn't used to be the way it was. And now it's become nickel's a huge piece of everything, 21, 12. You see it all over the place."
Why is it an effective counter?
"Effective or not, I think it's from a defensive perspective, it becomes things like you know what coverages can you play? I think it's coverage based as much as anything else. I don't think it has to do with formations. All of a sudden, when you're going to take fullbacks and halfbacks and line them outside and play them as receivers, some of your coverage adjustments may involve linebackers breaking the box. What are we doing with that? Why not put a nickel back in a game? And it fits more with these guys are more Xs out there, spots on the field, as opposed to a fullback, a tight end and then the linebackers having to adjust. I'm not a defensive coach, but I think there's a whole lot that goes into it. And that's where I think the nickel becomes a little bit, I don't want to say easier, but it does. And in those nickel guys and those safeties have to be going to be good in the run game because that's what you would think, oh, they're going to give up a little bit in the run game, but shoot, if they're shooting their guns and in the gaps and playing hard, it's hard to block them as well."
One trend is that defenses are rushing quarterbacks with smaller guys more and more, and the Minnesota Vikings use S Josh Matellus quite a bit off the nickel as a blitzer. How challenging is that for your guys to block smaller bodied guys, nickels, corners, that kind of thing?
"Well, they are faster. So, it does create an issue that if there's too much space, sometimes it's hard to get your hands on them. And then other times it becomes a matter of just if you do get your hands on them, they're easier to block because they don't have an array of pass rush moves usually. One of the best pass rushers ever was [former NFL DB] Charles Woodson. Not only was he a good rusher, I mean, you're talking about these elusive fast guys, but he had moves. If you were a tackle, don't think you're just going to go out there and get your hands on this guy. He's going to beat you with a pass rush move, an arm over, a swim, a rip or something like that. It's not going to get as much of that, but it is a space thing. A guard's out there and it would normally be a linebacker coming at you, you're judging of when you come off a block to pick him up. It's a little bit different because the guy's faster. So it's a little bit of a challenge, a little less of a challenge than if you get your hands on him. It is, but I think the littler guys blitzing or coming from different directions becomes a little bit more of a you know, a disguise you're not expecting it type of thing. And that might be what's happening."
