San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after Saturday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 1 matchup against the New York Jets. Here's everything he shared.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Injuries for Monday, [DL] Yetur [Gross-Matos] will be out. [LB] Dee Winters will be out. [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf is doubtful. [OL] Aaron Banks, questionable. [RB] Christian [McCaffrey], questionable. Go ahead."
Does that mean questionable, game-time decision questionable for Christian?
"Just questionable."
Have you made a corresponding move for T Trent Williams yet?
"No, we haven't."
How did Trent get through the week and just what do you expect in terms of his workload?
"I thought he did good. It was nice to get the extra practice on Monday, that I think was Tuesday, to the rest of the world. Then he's had these three days, each day he's gotten more comfortable. He was obviously in shape and stuff, but it was good just to get back into hearing the cadence, coming off the ball, moving with other guys. It got better for him each day."
Do you expect him to just be able to play the whole game like he normally would?
"We'll see. I'd like him to, but it's, you've got to watch it. We've got to talk to him. It's always, I haven't done this too much with a tackle, those are a little, O-Linemen are different with rotating and stuff, like skill positions and everything. But it also seems weird to just watch Trent sitting on the sideline next to us. But that's something we'll be on top of throughout the game. He'll be honest with us in how he feels. I know [run game coordinator/offensive line] Chris [Foerster] will be watching that a ton."
WR Brandon Aiyuk's workload, do you think he could, how much do you think he'll play?
"Don't know yet. I think he plays most of the game, usually, and I'd probably be surprised with that same amount. But he's in good shape. He's had a really good week. His soreness hasn't been too big after each practice. He's pushed it real hard, done some stuff extra after. He looks good and he is ready to go."
As far as Christian is concerned, he pulled his calf Week 17 in Washington. Is this injury related to that one?
"I don't know if they're related, but I think it's similar, yeah."
You were asked in the training camp about the kickoff rule, and I think it was suggested that you could actually kick the ball into the endzone, and you feigned surprised at that notion. Are you surprised at all, through the first two games, of how the kickoff return hasn't been a factor?
"Not really. I think we were kind of expecting that. I think like you guys were too. It's looked that way so far and I'd probably be surprised if it changed."
What do you think of the Jets corners? They don't travel their corners. Does it make it easier as a play-caller when you know what side they're going to be on?
"It would, if one of them wasn't very good, but they're both really good players. They've got a real good nickel. So it's not much of a difference."
When you look at what New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh is doing schematically, is it pretty similar to what he was doing here? Has it evolved at all?
"Everyone evolves a little bit, but it's very similar. Very similar foundation and it's really the same front, same coverages. So, it's pretty much the same."
What did QB Brock Purdy and B.A. do to try to rebuild their chemistry this week?
"Well, him and [QB] Brandon Allen have been around each other all camp [laughter]. We call him B.A. also a lot, too. They've been great. They started throwing together, Saturday was their first time they came up here alone and just did it. And they've had, I think they did it Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and today. So they haven't missed a beat. He'll get back in the flow of things. Putting a lot on a guy, just to expect him to be exactly same way. But he does look that way in practice and he'll get better each week."
How did Talanoa kind of get through the week? Is it just too soon for him to get back in there?
"I don't think it's necessarily too soon. I think he's looked great. We're just trying to be as safe as we can be with him, be smart with him. We haven't ruled him out, just in case of an emergency or anything. Which means that if we needed, if he needed to, he would be available. But we're just trying to play it smart with him."
What went into your backup quarterback decision?
"You've got to make a decision. I thought it was as hard as any, usually I don't want to have to make it, usually I want it to be that obvious and just let it play out. But it was, Brandon had the head start, just being here and stuff. I thought he did some better things in practice. I thought [QB] Josh [Dobbs] really closed the gap in the games. Honestly would've loved to have another week with them to have to decide. But you've got to definitely list it one way since the third one only comes in case of emergency. Brandon has a little more similarities to Brock and stuff, which I think made us lean that way. But it wasn't anything against Josh. It was really a tough decision and we just had to make one."
You said the other day, for now. I guess everything is kind of for now, nothing is in stone. But could Josh play his way into the number two?
"Yeah, I think he, I wouldn't say no he can't. It's not like we're going to have him compete too hard on scout team and things like that. You hope it's something that we never have to find out. But Brandon would get the first shot, but I think when you say it that way and what I've made clear with those guys is it's not set in stone. What I'm saying is exactly how it was when it's that neck-and-neck. You've got to pick a two and if the one goes down, then you're going with the next guy. But that other guy has a chance to pass him."
How good is it to have Josh around on weeks when you're playing a quarterback that can really get out and move?
"I think that helps a ton. Josh does have a different asset than the other two guys. Brandon and Brock both can make plays with their legs, but Josh does it at a higher level, which helps us for the scout team on certain weeks and definitely adds an element to our offense, with the spark and things like that. And some different game-plan stuff that if he ever did get a shot, it would bring a different element."
Foerster said yesterday talking about OL Dominick Puni and just his understanding of football and how immediate it was clear that he knew what he was doing. He compared T Trent Williams, good company. If you kind of agree with that notion, how does that show itself?
"I think it shows itself when you get thrown in there right away because of injuries. I think a lot of guys, not a lot, but just because you have success the first couple days doesn't mean it's going to stick. Kind of the more defense that goes in, the more offense. That's why coaches say a lot, you don't want to crown a guy too early because they can look great in the first couple days and once more situations come in, they get a little bit overwhelmed and they have to settle down a little bit. That's why I always like OTAs for O-Linemen because O-Linemen, in the old OTAs when we used to practice football, fully they would really struggle and then they'd get away for 40 days and they'd come back, and you'd go through the exact same stuff and it would stick a little bit more. When he got in, he looked really good at first and didn't look overwhelmed and you're just kind of waiting for it to happen and it never did happen. The practice has stayed that way and then it carried over to the preseason game. He's been very consistent so far, but this is the first real game coming up and we've got a lot of confidence in him. I don't see why
anything would change."
Without revealing your opening script, what was it like doing this game plan, knowing that you're going against Saleh and just kind of bouncing that through your head of anticipating what he's anticipating? What you're anticipating?
"Not as much as usual. Saleh is very sound in what he does. He's not going to overthink it. So I'm not going to overthink it. I just hope our stadium people don't let him run the stairs, won't let him get any workout in and hopefully that'll rattle him a little bit. I know [defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich] Brich so well too. Brich's a great coach and a good friend also that I have a history with. So, got a lot of guys on their staff that I've had a history with, friends too, which has a different element. Just makes it more fun to talk to each other after and before a little bit. But I don't see really much relevance once the game starts."
It seems like a lot of your play calling is predicated on what defensive call you expect from them. So, the fact that you know Robert so well and he knows you so well, does that whole, 'I know that you know that you know thing,' how do you guess along with somebody you know so well?
"I think that's why I like Saleh's scheme. That's why I like our scheme. There's not a lot of guessing to it. It's a very sound scheme that there's not a lot of holes in it. And if you have good players and you have a scheme that doesn't have a lot of holes, it's tough to expose it on offense. When you don't have very good players and you have a sound scheme, it's hard to stop people. So eventually you've got to take risk, you've got to do more things that make you vulnerable on defense, that also are a problem for an offense, but it gives them a chance for big plays. That's why I've always liked this type of scheme because it's harder to go against because they aren't as vulnerable because they aren't as risky. That doesn't mean that they're scared to do it by any means, just like us. But the goal is you don't want to have to be reckless on defense and give the offense a lot of opportunities for easy gashes. Make them work for everything and then you can coach fundamentals. You can coach coming off the ball as a D-Line. You can coach running and hitting, tackling and make offenses work for every little thing they do. When you feel you don't have that type of scheme or you don't have the players to run that scheme, you've got to get over aggressive as a play-caller. You've got to time it out perfectly and there's a lot of risk, but there are also reward and that's when the call's affected a lot. When it's like this, you try to keep it as simple as possible and take care of the football and hope that the better football players take over."