San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters after Saturday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 6 matchup against the Washington Commanders.
Here's everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Injuries for the game. [WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.] will be out. [LB Garret] Wallow will be out. [DL Nick] Bosa, out. [S Marques] Sigle, out. [WR Mike] Evans, questionable. [DL Gracen] Halton, questionable. [DB Siran] Neal, questionable. [WR Christian] Kirk, questionable. [CB Upton] Stout, questionable. [DL] Mykel Williams, questionable. Go ahead."
Do you plan to activate Kirk on Monday?
"Possibly."
FB Kyle Juszczyk is full-go, right?
"Yes, full go."
How does that surprise you knowing how bad that injury looked?
"Huge. It looked bad at the beginning and then they said they thought it would be three weeks. Juice has always been fast every time he's ever been hurt, but this was real impressive."
Will Evans be a game-time thing or how do you think that's going to go?
"We'll know on Monday I think."
Why is Mykel questionable?
"Why?"
Yeah, just because he played in the game in Seattle and seems to be okay.
"Yeah, but he still has things and if someone has things and they don't play in the game and we don't put questionable down there, then we're in a lot of trouble. So, anybody we have any question about is questionable."
Do you expect RB Kaelon Black to play Monday?
"He's not questionable, so yes. He is having a baby right now though."
With Bosa, he had said last week that maybe he thought he could play this week. For you, is there any concern that he wasn't able to because he was hoping to or is this basically what your guys' plan was?
"No, we would have been pleasantly surprised if he could go this way, so I was pleasantly surprised that he was that optimistic last week, but we still would have been surprised. This is kind of what we were expecting. There was a chance. He wasn't wrong when he said it and I think he felt that way, but we were going to make sure it was fully good and another week will help."
I'm sure before your 2015 experience with the Falcons, you probably guarded against getting too high or too low, but how did starting 5-0 and then going 8-8, how does it shape your perspective when you're 5-0 now?
"I think all life experiences shape your perspective on everything. I've watched the NFL so much and seen examples of that all the time, but you never know until it affects you personally how it feels. I remember how good it felt to be 5-0 in Atlanta and feeling great. I remember hearing a player one day talk about how important like Week Seven was because he didn't want to go to cold weather in the playoffs, which means you're thinking homefield advantage. Not like that was anything wrong, but you hear things like that and then you don't even make the playoffs. So, you learn that it's not talking that way, you don't think that way. It sidetracks you. I was 3-6 in 2012 in Washington, and we had just lost our sixth game right before our Bye Week and the world was falling down. Then we came back and won seven in a row and won the division at 10-6. So, I've been on both sides of it and there's so much emotion each week and everything and that's why you have to make sure when you're in this line of work that you don't get caught up in it either way because it's human nature for it to affect you and when things that don't have anything to do with football affect you, that's really bad for football."
I don't mean to upset you here, but when you were 5-0 you went into a primetime game against a 1-14 team in the Saints and lost. Obviously, 5-0 going into primetime against a similar record. Obviously, that doesn't affect you or haunt you at all.
"Considering I had no idea who we played that sixth game, no, it doesn't. I don't really think in terms of primetime and things like that. I really sometimes don't remember what days they were on. I remember Thursday night games because of how fun the three days are after, but those games are all the same to me."
In 2015, 38-0 against the Panthers. I don't think you've ever been shut out as a coordinator.
"Yeah, that was my birthday too. No, it was the day after my birthday, and the year before on my birthday I was shut out also. And [former NFL QB] Johnny's [Manziel] first start in Cleveland versus Cincinnati. [President of football operations and general manager] Lynch did our game."
Any other memories?
"Yeah, we beat Carolina two weeks later and we were their only loss until the Super Bowl. So, don't get too caught up in the 38-0 shutout so you can come back and beat them two weeks later. We were 1-1 versus them. They were 15-1. What was your question?"
No, that's good. That's a good answer. In all seriousness, did you worry at all about your job security after that year?
"In 2015?"
Yeah.
"Oh, yeah. I was getting fired. I think a lot of guys went to bat for me. Guys like [defensive coordinator] Raheem [Morris] and [Washington Commanders head coach] Dan Quinn, but I think there was pressure on Dan to let me go and I'm very glad that he stuck with me."
Hate to break up this theme, but I have a QB Brock Purdy question for you. A few weeks back you said that your confidence in him was the most you've had since former NFL QB Matt Ryan. Any comps with those two guys? Anything you see similar between Brock and Matt?
"I always just try to answer the questions, and I think someone was asking if I've had this much confidence in a quarterback just running an offense, so that's why I answered it that way. But yeah, I think there's very similarities just in how good they are at executing everything. When I say someone's automatic, it's when you put in a game plan and stuff and you practice certain plays versus certain coverages and you get those coverages, those guys are pretty automatic, even if the pass rush is there. They know how to get rid of the ball. They know how to make plays. Those guys both do that at such a high level. Different styles, built differently. Brock's a little bit more mobile. Matt's a little bit taller, a little bit leaner, but two very good quarterbacks."
Brock is five passes away from qualifying for the NFL's all-time best passer rating. Of all the stats out there, what does that stat reflect to you in terms of his quarterback play?
"I think sometimes that stuff can be a little bit overrated, but I think it shows how consistent Brock is. I've seen a lot of quarterbacks understand over my career, some I've been with randomly and some you see on just how they are, but they know about that rating. You see guys at the end of the game not throw a Hail Mary because it doesn't have a chance anyways and can go out of bounds. Guys, instead of throwing it away on second-and-10, take a sack and make it third-and-11 and try to get completions and stuff. I think the coolest thing about Brock is I don't think he even knows that that stuff goes to passer rating. Brock competes so much when, the only time Brock gets off of running stuff is when we're down and stuff and he thinks he has to make a play and he'll put himself in harm's way and throw picks just to give us a chance to get back in it. Brock is such an unselfish player in that way and I think every way, every week Brock plays to do what it takes to win. And sometimes that's being aggressive. Sometimes it's not. But, he plays to win, which is so amazing that he has a rating like that.
He brought up Washington so I was thinking, in 2019, that was a pretty emotional win for you, your family, going back to Washington. Is all that gone now since it's a new regime?
"Yeah, completely. I don't even think about that at all anymore. That was more personal with those things, but yeah, I love some of the people I know in Washington. Dan Quinn, [Washington Commanders general manager] Adam Peters, it seems like they're doing a really good job with the organization."
Brock's seemingly best plays, flashiest plays are when he goes to his left. Does that surprise you at all that he's as good as he is going to his weak side scrambling in that direction?
"Not really. I know a lot of people talk about that and it's stuff that I don't pay much attention to unless someone looks really bad at something. I think sometimes when people scramble to their left, you actually throw it better because you have to get turned and throw the right way. When you go to the right, you can just be lazy and just use your arm. So, sometimes I think it helps people. But when you're under duress, it's hard to turn and get it off. But, it doesn't surprise me. Brock, to me, seems balanced wherever he goes."
Brock also said yesterday that he's become more aggressive because he's facing Raheem Morris' more aggressive secondary. Have you seen that and how it's working lockstep?
"Yeah, I would agree with that. It was stuff that we were really focused on this offseason and then you become a product throughout training camp of what you're going against. It was the first time going against a different defense here in 10 years and in Brock's five years or whatever it is. There were so many high-lows and things like that and zone defenders than what we were used to. We still got that sometimes, but the majority it wasn't like that. So, we had to work different throws than what we had done normally for three weeks and I think it really helped him a lot."
I was talking to DL Osa Odighizuwa about DL Sebastian Valdez and he said he was disappointed when he didn't make the roster initially, that he felt like he's been playing at a similar level since OTAs. Do you feel like he's improved a lot since then or what went into him not making the roster then eventually getting on?
"I think he played good enough to make the roster. I think we had a number of guys who did though, and then you've got to play that risk. Do you load up on D-Linemen and go under at another position? Do you gamble and try to get one to practice squad? There's a lot of risk and reward and all that stuff and we had that decision with like five players who we thought were good enough to make our team. Then you try to balance out the odds of who's going to make someone else's team if they don't make ours, who's going to take them and put them on their 53. Sebas was someone we really gambled with. It was someone we were very nervous about losing. We feel lucky that we didn't because he was playing at that level before. We just had a number of guys who were and I'm glad it worked out."
More info on: Kaelon Black, Nick Bosa, Mike Evans, Gracen Halton, Kyle Juszczyk, Christian Kirk, Siran Neal, Osa Odighizuwa, Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel, Marques Sigle, Upton Stout, Sebastian Valdez, Garret Wallow, Mykel Williams
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