Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Press Conference – October 17, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

You guys had a pretty dominant performance on defense in Seattle. How do you build on that against a more high-powered offense when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs coming here this weekend?

“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t perfect. We were happy with a lot of the things we did as far as how we wanted to play against them. And the guys really stepped up. A lot of guys played and even the young guys stepped up. So, you always want to progress and keep building. Tough opponent, obviously, really good players, really good coaching and just our next step. Hopefully we can piggyback off last week.”

Kansas City might have the best interior offensive line in the league. How do you feel about that matchup?

“You’re right. Really good. Center, both guards really, really tough. There’s always going to be tough matchups. They have really good receivers. Even though a few are down, they just have tons of weapons everywhere. So it’s tough and we’ve got to step up and we’ve had guys get banged up and I feel like our guys have met that challenge of the classic next-man-up mentality. And it’s good to see young guys step up, whether they’re rookies or second year, third year, or just new guys to our system. It’s been fun to see guys challenge and step up.”

What makes Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid so difficult to face, particularly off of a Bye Week? Is he presenting things that he hasn’t shown on film yet or does he get a feel for what you’re doing?

“Yeah, I think whenever you have more time, it’s always a race every week, and I think when you have more time, you can look at more stuff. Sometimes that can hurt people. I think he’s really good about deciphering how he wants to utilize this extra time and the information that he gets. Plus he’s been around the league so long, I think he knows how to do that and he knows how to attack schemes and he is one of the best ever.”

DL Nick Bosa and DL Leonard Floyd have each faced Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes a few times. How can that experience benefit them going into this one?

“I mean, however many times you’ve gone against Mahomes, it’s going to be hard. I think it helps a little bit because you understand the preparation for him. But he’s so difficult because he doesn’t always do the same thing. The arm angle’s never the same, he doesn’t have to set his feet, sometimes he does. He’s really good at reading the defense and kind of throwing it to where he needs to. So, it helps you understand who he is, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re just going to automatically have success because he’s so good.”

Mahomes has been a little bit more prone to throwing interceptions this year? How can you guys capitalize on that?

“Just if we get an op, catch it. If it touches your hands or you have a chance to go take your shot, you’ve got to make the most of it, regardless of who it is. He is elite, one of the best. But he’ll take some chances here and we’ve just got to make it happen when we get it.”

How does a guy like Kansas City Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy with his speed change the offense from what you saw last year?

“They have guys that can run, but he is an elite speed guy. I feel like they’ve always had guys that have that top-end speed that can take the top off and run all those routes. I know they use him in different ways as well, but speed’s always tough. You always want fast guys in football, you want guys that can play as well. Anyone that can threaten you down the field, you have to be aware.”

You guys were in pads today so you can thud up guys. One guy that’s not in the no-contact jersey is WR Ricky Pearsall. What do you tell your guys in terms of how you make contact with Ricky to kind of reintroduce him to football?

“If he needed a blue jersey, [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] and the medical staff would do that. I trust those guys and I don’t think we treat him any different. I don’t think he would want to. I’m just excited to see him out there. Just really cool.”

I think there’s been 42 missed tackles in the last three weeks and LB De’Vondre Campbell Sr. has missed I think eight or nine of them. Obviously you’re going with him. Why is he a better option than LB Dee Winters or LB Jalen Graham?

“We like both of them. I mean, they’ve both been getting snaps, talking about Dee and De’Vondre. He’s got so much experience. He brings a calmness. He understands the scheme and he’s been doing a really good job. And we’ve also been rotating Dee in there as well, so just like both of them.”

How much has CB Renardo Green improved since training camp and how much has your confidence in him grown?

“It’s continued to grow. I think with him it was, he always felt like he could do it and then when he goes out and does do it, it just keeps growing and it’s kind of grown from the offseason on because we’ve kind of progressed him as far as immediately teaching him nickel and he’s gotten better at that. Then going back to corner and then being able to do both. I know he hasn’t played nickel, but he’s trained and then going out and performing in the game because we’ve kind of been rotating again, much like with Campbell and Dee, him and Ike [CB Isaac Yiadom]. Getting those snaps in and to see him step in when Mooney [CB Charvarius Ward] couldn’t go was awesome because all those guys were, all three of our corners, Demo [DB Deommodore Lenoir] and Ike and R.G. were just fired up to go play and just compete regardless of who they went against. And I think they all stepped up.”

What have you seen from S Malik Mustapha?

“Oh, same thing. Competitive kid that, they both love football so they love to compete. They like to learn and then they apply that. So I think with him, it stunk he only had a certain amount of snaps last week because he got banged up, but he’s just a tough kid who cuts it loose and then getting the pick on that first drive was huge. So, having the playmaking ability, not just when you see him be physical in the run game, to go make a play on a pick was awesome.”

I was talking to DL Evan Anderson yesterday, he’s telling me he could dunk, which is pretty amazing. What do you think of him because he’s getting an opportunity that he didn’t expect to get and he seems to be playing pretty well.

“He’s been great. I’m not surprised. He is explosive, like the way he gets out of his stance and stuff. Again, he’s one of those guys that’s really progressed. I mean, even from training camp, but just seeing him jump the last couple weeks, he got an opportunity to play and he stepped in and did a nice job and then progressed and got better the next week. So just, how far could he take it? We’re excited.”

Mahomes over these last couple years, has been a lot more willing to just take what’s there, whether it’s short throws down the field. What are the challenges of sustained drives that are from short plays?

“How violent you finish and how well you tackle. I think that’s the most important thing. If they’re going to check it down, are they checking it down at five? So what’s happening after that? Is he getting hit? Are we punching it out? Are we hitting him with two, three guys on a compression tackle? What’s the stack monster? How are our D-Line coming out? Are they hitting him too? So what do those look like when they’re throwing it is what matters. Whether it’s an RPO or perimeter screen, if they’re going to catch it at five and get eight or nine, that’s not good.”

So many guys are, and you got a couple of them on your team that have been really good at punching the ball out. How do you balance the going for the punch out with making the tackle?

“I’ve always been a huge advocate of, I think you can punch pretty much every time you tackle. There’s sometimes you can’t, but you’ve got to set your mind on being able to punch and tackle. Never sacrifice the tackle for the punch. But I think you can almost every time bring a punch with a tackle. A lot of people punch and they don’t bring their feet or they don’t bring their body. So, I think the key with that is don’t let your feet die and keep bringing your body with the punch and wrap with the other hand. But, the ball is everything and everyone knows the turnover margin is so important and why not go for it every single time you can.”

Assistant head coach/defense Brandon Staley has been running the turnover meetings that you used to run. How’s he been doing?

“He’s been great. He’s doing a great job. Yeah, he had it today. It was good.”

Does he put any special twist to it?

“Yeah, he makes it fun too. He’s done a really good job. He put some basketball clips in there, I think today he showed [former NBA player] Kobe Bryant covering [Los Angeles Lakers F] LeBron [James] in the All-Star game. It was cool.”