Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Press Conference – September 26, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

When you come out of this game against the Rams and move forward to the Patriots, is there one particular episode of that game or situation or just overall umbrella of something that went wrong that you really have put the focus in on correcting?

“Yeah, I think it was situations more than one thing. I think it’s a culmination. It hasn’t really ever been one thing or one coverage. It’s kind of been a culmination of things and it just hasn’t been good enough overall. It’s not one person or one coverage, like I said, it’s just kind of been, we would be a little better here, a little better there. As always, I look at myself first. And I should, it’s my defense, I’m the coordinator, But I take responsibility of that. I think we just all feel that way. That’s a cool thing. All us coaches, we’ve got to coach better and players feel that challenge as well for themselves.”

Any update on LB Curtis Robinson?

“Oh, I don’t know.”

What does the loss of DL Javon Hargrave do to your defensive line?

“One, he is a great player, but he’s had an awesome camp and an awesome offseason and really that game he was playing really, really good too. So it’s tough because he’s such a good player. This is a time when guys have to step up. I know it’s cliche, but the league is littered with guys that have been backups and get their chance and play really well. It’s just understanding who we’re losing. It’s going to be tough shoes to fill, but guys have to step up.”

Going back and talking about, not one thing, not one player, not one situation. Is it difficult to make all the pieces fit together when there are so many new faces on that defense, a lot of new personnel?

“No, I think it’s a challenge. We’re close. I think we feel it. You could be frustrated at times, but we’ve got to fix it and we will.”

You talk about replacing Hargrave, are you looking at just one person or do you envision that having to be kind of multiple guys?

“Yeah, I think we’re looking at a bunch of guys. [DL] Jordan Elliot’s been rotating in. So does [DL] Kevin [Givens]. So those guys in particular, you think of to step up and then it goes from there. We’ve got guys on practice squad. So, I think it’s just a matter of getting guys trained and that’s why you have practice squads, so that they’re trained up and see who could step in and make plays for us.”

Could that be more DL Yetur Gross-Matos moving inside too or do you maybe not have enough edge depth?

“He’s done that. Certain situations in his history, which we’ve talked about.”

With the third-down defense in particular, why do you feel that’s been an issue with just getting off the field?

“Like I said, it’s not one thing. It’s been tough. It is frustrating at times because sometimes it’s really good. I think stuff’s been kind of inconsistent all around. Sometime the run game, we hit it up really good or we get pressure. I think overall, we have high expectations. We all do. The players, the coaches, myself, we all understand how it’s supposed to look here. And I think it’s not one thing, we’ve just consistently got to get better.”

DL Nick Bosa didn’t come off the field, which I think it’s only happened one other time in his career. Is that a reflection of the edge depth?

“No, I don’t think it’s a reflection of the edge depth. I think, in talking to Nick, we’d like to spell him more. If you really look at the first three games, we really didn’t have a lot of plays and I think he was kind of into the game and felt good because [defensive line coach Kris] Kocurek has always connected with them, and he likes to rotate the guys and take care of Nick. There just haven’t been as many defensive plays, I think, so far in the first few games. And Nick was into it, and I think we’ve just got to protect him and be smart about it so that we keep him as fresh as possible for the longest period of time. But I think he just felt like he was good. If Nick’s good, then he’s going to get a lot of reps.”

When you watch the Patriots offense on film, what stands out to you about them?

“Well, they can really run the ball. They’re aggressive, they’re physical. They have a very good plan. They’re very well coached. Two really good running backs. A line that knows how to block. They have good scheme. And then [New England Patriots QB Jacoby] Brissett really is a good fit in that system in how he performs and how he plays. And he sees the game right. He protects the ball. He can make the throws that he needs to make, and he can move really well. I think they’re just a tough team, reflection of the coach and the coaching. Respect for those guys. They’re really big backs that can cut, they can run. It’s just an overall physical team.”

When you get a rough patch like this, do you do you sit back and think, “man, we’ve got to try some new things and shake things up?” Or you have to guard against that and say, “let’s just do what we do and do it better?”

“I think it just depends. It depends on what you’re doing good. You’ve got to look at yourself. And then also it’s that week who you’re playing. So you’ve got to evaluate, what are we doing? What can we be better at? A lot of times you can pinpoint that. You don’t want to just go off the reservation because you know who you are, you know what you want this defense to be. But then also how does that tie into who we’re playing? The most important thing is how do we win this game? So it’s not so much you’re looking at what you’ve done and what needs to be better and you identify it. I think we talk about it, we identify it, and then, alright, ‘how much does that affect this game? What do we need to do specifically to win this game and beat this team?”

How much New England Patriots QB Drake Maye do you watch just in case they decide to make a quarterback switch?

“Yeah, you watch them both. We’ve seen a lot of tape. There’s only been a few games and those guys did play in the preseason. So, you look at the scheme of what they’ve done in the past, but he’s a talented quarterback too.”

Can you talk about the process of calling defenses in a game when you’re doing it for the first time and how you prepare to do that and the differences? Is it faster?

“I think a lot of the preparation is done now. It’s done during the week. And you kind of prepare for the situations. There are tweaks that you do have to, sometimes you can pre-think, okay, ‘if this happens, we’re ready to go to this’ then you might have some tweaks in-game. That’s why you always hear people talk about halftime adjustments. Sometimes you have those, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you don’t need them necessarily or you decide that you don’t need to have something called that you have on the sheet based on what they’re deciding to do and you’re just kind of figuring each other out and seeing how it’s working within the game. But I think primarily most of the work is done throughout the week.”

Anything that replicates it? Before you get into a game, is there anything that replicates the fury?

“Oh, not really. Preseason games are cool. And then me personally not having done it, my favorite part of training camp was the unscripted move-the-ball periods. I think those are invaluable for someone who hadn’t done it before.”