San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after Friday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 2 matchup against the Miami Dolphins.
Here's everything he said during the final updates ahead of the game.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Injuries for the game. [WR De'Zhaun] Stribling will be out. [K Eddy] Piñeiro, questionable, and [RB Kaelon] Black, questionable."
Are you going to have to bring a kicker in maybe tomorrow just in case?
"Yes."
Practice squad?
"Yes."
Do you know who it's going to be?
"I don't. There's two guys we're deciding on. I'm not sure which one."
Is it something Eddy's been dealing with all wee k?
"He's missed Wednesday, Thursday, and today. I don't know if it came on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but he's missed the whole week because of it."
There's been a lot of buzz about the pre-snap motion this week. Why do you think it works so well? What was able for you guys to pull it off so well?
"It's something we always do, so I didn't think it was anything unusual last week. Something we've always believed in, and there's lots of different reasons for it. Angles, confusion, hitting things moving. It's just something we've always believed in."
Specifically with that dash motion where he's close to moving forward but has to walk that kind of fine line, how much timing is involved in that? How much do you need to see it on the practice field before you're comfortable?
"A ton. Yeah. It's more the quarterback and the people doing it got to get the timing. He's got to be exact with his cadence. It gets harder on the road. So, there's a lot of things to it. You've got to do a lot of reps over it because it's not like he's looking. He can't see behind him and [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice can't always hear him, so it takes time."
How much does the fact that you have a lot of guys who've been together for a while give you that confidence?
"It helps a lot. We do it with the receivers a lot too. We call it different words, but you guys see a lot of people do that too when they just get moving real fast right before the play. And if the timing's off, they will start going forward before the snap, which is illegal. But, hopefully the timing's always on."
Given all the time you had to think about the trip, all the time you put into the trip, all the work you've done, and maybe worry, I imagine you feel pretty good about the recovery. At least you're 1-0. I don't know if relief is the right word, but is there a sense of satisfaction or that was a section of the season almost all by itself?
"Not really. Any time Week One, whether it's in Australia or whether it's home, that's a game that you think about always because it's the first one on there. So, right when you get the schedule, you always think about Week One. That's what you watch film for when you're messing around over the summer. You're always thinking about that. We had a little more thoughts because of the travel and the unknown, but once that game's over, it's over. It was nice to get a few days to recover and things like that, which made us able to think about it and enjoy the win a little bit longer than usual. The same as how you feel about a Thursday night game. But anything else, once your week starts, which is on a Monday, you're just on to Week Two."
How long has the recovery been from the big trip, getting back into California time and into the rhythm?
"Each person's different. Some guys didn't have a problem at all. A lot of guys did. I know I did. The first three or four days was rough, but by the time you got to Monday, especially Tuesday, then it was all good."
Was it sleeping?
"Yeah, just sleeping. Whatever the description of jet lag is. Sometimes waking up too early, sometimes too late, but just feeling a little bit off, especially those first couple of days which is kind of how we felt when we got out there. It just takes a few days."
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay clearly said that he hoped they don't go back again. Now that you're removed from that situation, do you hope you don't go back again?
"You're really trying to get me in trouble. You don't want it to come off the wrong way in how you word it, just like Sean doesn't want to. Seventeen games are very tough. Every game is so tough and what you put into it for seven days. So, anytime you've got to put more travel on it, it makes it a lot harder. That's something that no teams really wish for, whether it's 16 hours away or five hours away. Obviously the farther, the harder. All international games are like that too, with that being the farthest. That's why you always hope it's timed out to where you can have a Bye week after. That was the challenge of it and the unknown, but I feel good after getting the three extra days off that we did. Players got five. Now you never wish for that stuff, but now that we've been through it, you know you can handle it."
Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley this week said that he was trying to emulate you guys when you came in in 2017, as far as building the Dolphins. What's your relationship been with him since he left? Have you recognized a similar intent at least for him to build the Dolphins that way?
"Yeah. I love Haf. Haf's one of the best coaches I've been around. One of the best people. I got to spend one year with him at Cleveland. That's how I knew him from that so when I came here we were lucky to be able to retain him. Wanted him to be here longer, but he ended up going to I think it was Ohio State where he went to first. And you knew it was a matter of time before Haf would be a coordinator in this league and before he'd be a head coach because he was a stud from the beginning. I talk to Haf a good amount, as much as I talk to anybody, which isn't that much, but he'd be right up there. I know his philosophies. I know how he looks at football and you can really see it in Week One. I know the game didn't go exactly how they want, but watching the standard of how their defense played, the turnovers they caused, how they went for the ball. Even though the game was over on play 67 and they're just running the clock out, you couldn't tell any difference between that and how hard the defense was playing in Week One. That's exactly how Haf is. That's how we try to get our team to be and you can see that his team is following what he wants, at least in one week."
There's been conversation about a lot of missed tackles in other games, maybe some sloppy play, lack of preseason play for starters or practicing not being as intense as it has been in the past. You're known for intense practices. Do you feel like your practice style gets you around that or helps you avoid some of the sloppiness early in the season?
"The more you can practice football the right way, the more you can be prepared to play in those games. It just gets harder and harder for everybody each year. That's how much work we used to put in OTAs and now that's kind of a joke compared to trying to do normal football. Everyone's got to work around that now. Training camp, you get that. It's a shorter amount of time, especially when we had to go a week earlier and lose those extra bonus days that you get. Then when you get guys hurt in camp, yeah you're running a physical camp and trying to get ready for people to play, but in a three-week period, if someone gets hurt they don't totally get ready to play. We always are trying to do that. I'm sure we do it harder than a lot of teams, but I think there's a lot of teams that do it just like us and some that might even go harder. I know there was a number of teams that had 10 practices in 11 days. I know another team that goes seven in a row to start it out. There are lots of different philosophies. But one thing, no matter how you do it, I strongly believe is the more you can practice football truly like it's football, the more you'll be ready for Week One."
The Dolphins have a lot of speed on their weapons on the offensive side. What's the challenge this week for defensive coordinator Raheem Morris' defense?
"They just can't let up. They've got too many playmakers. I know they've got a young group of receivers, but they're all talented. They all can move with the ball well. That's why they've got one of them as a punt returner. And when it comes to their running back, he's as explosive as anyone in the league. Last year, I think 15-percent of his touches were an explosive. That was number one by far. No matter what happens in that game, you can think you're getting after someone and you just give that guy a little bit of space and he's gone. Anytime you have a quarterback with a running element and who has the arm strength that he has, you can't fall asleep. You can keep him contained all game and then you just get schematically off with a zone read or one guy misses a coverage and they're far down the field and he can buy a little bit more time and launch it, things can end pretty quickly."
I understand what questionable means, but do you have a level of optimism regarding Kaelon Black and his availability?
"A questionable amount of optimism."
Is it the same groin injury he dealt with earlier in the season?
"I didn't ask him."
Last year CB Upton Stout was pretty good. Have you seen a jump this year with him? Is he better than he was last year? What have we seen in terms of his growth in year two?
"Just more knowledge. I thought Upton was so impressive the first day he got here. He was one of our stars in OTAs I felt like and training camp as a rookie. He plays so aggressively, so hard. He's got that chip on his shoulder being a smaller guy. He's going to be mad at me for saying that, but he's our bulldog. He's always been so aggressive, and I think where he'd just be better is that he's been in the league for a year. So, a little bit more knowledgeable, a little bit more aware of how people are trying to attack the nickel position. That's where he's excelled the most."
Mentioned in this article: Kaelon Black, Kyle Juszczyk, Upton Stout, De'Zhaun Stribling
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