Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Press Conference – October 24, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott today said, he described his start of the season as average. Knowing that he’s going to want to try to raise his game up a notch after the Bye week, what are you expecting out of Dak and what kind of damage could he do?

“Well, I think he’s a great player. He’s obviously had tons of production. I wouldn’t evaluate him as average. He’s probably trying to be hard on himself. But he can bring so much to the table. He’s got so much experience and so much success over these years that he is always tough to play against.”

You guys, I think, have four opponents this year coming off their Bye.

“Really?”

Does that offer a different challenge? Do you see teams doing a little bit more, doing things differently, when they’ve got an extra week to think about?

“No, I don’t think anything more than they’ve just got an extra week to rest. That’s good for your body. I obviously didn’t look that far ahead of our schedule, but it’s, everyone likes to have a Bye week. You always need it. You like it in the middle of the year, like we’re going to have it. I don’t think it’s anything extra they’re doing. A lot of times during that week, you just want to rest your bodies, evaluate yourself and then it gives you a head start on your next opponent. But as far as anything extreme, I generally don’t notice that.”

S Malik Mustapha had a pretty standout game last week. What have you seen from his just ascension?

“We’re happy with Malik. He gets better every week. He gets better every game. He gets more command and comfort back there, communicating with guys and you just see him continue to cut it loose. But also, he is making plays for us, whether it’s in tackling or taking the ball. So, happy with what he’s doing.”

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said that he’s a sprint-tackler and that he doesn’t shorten his stride. How rare is that?

“He really flashes with it. We try and coach sprint-tackling. That’s how we want to tackle damn near every time. But it’s tough when guys can do it as consistent as he does. You see it with [LB] Fred [Warner] and [LB Dre Greenlaw] Law and guys, but he jumped out on tape doing a lot of that too in college. So that was one of the things that I loved about him in college too. And now he continues to bring it to the league. So that’s what you’re seeing and it’s awesome.”

Why do most tacklers reduce their stride? What’s going on?

“Where you sit in a chair and you stop, I think everyone thinks that’s how you need to tackle. I think there are different styles of tackling. It’s something that’s come up, I think in here, talking about it a little bit too. But it’s just a different mentality, it’s a different way of tackling. It’s a different style when you want to bring multiple guys running at full speed. You have to trust yourself, you have to trust your teammate. You never want to miss, but we want to bring violence and force to the ballcarrier every time. And we feel the same way with our big guys as stack-monsters coming out of the stack to go get that hit as well. So everything, sprint-tackle, speed and violence.”

On the broadcast, former NFL QB Tom Brady made a point of showing the defensive linemen rushing past Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and opening up scramble lanes. What’s the key to containing a mobile quarterback?

“Yeah, that’s tough. They’re all a little bit different. Mahomes has his own style. He can almost go anywhere. Some people, some quarterbacks have a rhythm and tendencies, most of them. You never want to just rush past them. You want to, you’d like to get to the level of the quarterback and then you need to, sometimes, just power rush and go into him. It’s not going to be 100-percent of the time and there are some guys that like to escape high, but he’s got a unique ability. And that 33-yarder, it was classic him pumping down the field, getting the extra yards, skirting the sideline. Could we have been better on that? Yeah, there were little things that we could have done better and he made a heck of a play. That’s Mahomes. I think we were talking about it last week, someone asked me how you simulate it. It’s really hard because it’s kind of something a little bit different every time because he is a ball player and makes plays and he made one there.”

Is there some hesitation with your players when a quarterback is tiptoeing the sideline? Like, do we hit him? Is it a penalty?

“I think there’s, you have to make that judgment all the time with quarterbacks or anyone near the sideline. You don’t want, we don’t ever want hesitation. We always, the long-stride, short-stride. And then at the end, Kyle talks about a lot, we talk about a lot in the building as far as how you’ve got to approach these quarterbacks. Some are sliders, some are side hip-sliders, some will do both. Some will only duck a shoulder when it’s a got to have it or a third down. So we talk about all that stuff and know who you’re going against. But you have to make split-second judgment. Just like, that’s how the league is now. You can’t slam them to the ground, you’ve got to put the hands out. There’s so many of these things that when they first started making these changes, I was like, ‘There’s no way you can do that. As a defensive player, how can we get that done?’ And they find ways to get it done. Some are really hard, harder than others, but it’s just, those are the snap-judgements. Even with strike-zone hitting with guys and having to get the head out of the game. It’s just the evolution and we have to change based on the rules and we make those split decisions. I don’t think our guys, our guys weren’t hesitating on the sideline on that. We just, he made a play and we just had to finish.”

Could you describe, the Cowboys have, they don’t have former Cleveland Browns RB Jim Brown or anything, but they’ve kind of given up on their running game a little bit earlier in some of their games. Would you suspect they’re at least going to try to establish something on the ground to have some balance?

“I think some of those games were early out of hand. I think they do like to have balance. Teams always historically like to have balance. I’d expect, just like when we played New England, making an emphasis of it. Or really any team, I think most people want balance in that it’s going to help your quarterback. The run game opens up a lot and it’s something they’ve always done. They were ranked really high last year. Just this year, it’s just, hasn’t worked for them so far. But that doesn’t mean they can’t block really well and open up holes. So we have to stay on it. We want to take care of the run game first, just like every other week.”

Obviously, DL Javon Hargrave, the one that you lost long-term, but you’ve had some injuries at the D-tackle spot. What’s your comfort level on the defensive line right now? I know you guys usually like to run kind of waves. Has it made it more difficult to call the defense not having–?

“It doesn’t really change a lot. We, it’s truly next man up. It did stink losing Hargrave early. And then we’ve been banged up here and there with guys, with [DL] Yetur [Gross-Matos] and [DL] Kevin [Givens] has been banged up. I’ve been pleased with how the guys that have stepped in have played. And then [DL] Jordan [Elliott] we missed for a game. Some guys are new coming to us like Jordan Elliott and [DL] Maliek Collins has really stepped up and Kevin was doing nice things. And now [DL] Evan Anderson has just continued to improve over the last month. I feel like he’s gotten better every day, every week. Every game he’s played, he’s gotten better. So, the confidence is there because when our guys get called upon, they’ve been stepping up and playing well for us and getting better. So, we’ve just got to keep getting better and put ourselves in a better chance to win the game.”

They haven’t been shy about upgrading. Even last year at the trade deadline, obviously a couple defensive ends. Is that something, I know it’s not your job specifically, but do they come and ask you like, “Hey, what are things–?”

“That’s not my job. Yeah. If there’s questions I’ll answer, but they take care of that. They do a good job with that.”

How did CB Renardo Green grade out in that Kansas City game?

“Renardo’s done well. He graded out well. He’s been consistently staying on guys and being sticky. There was one early that got out on him, but other than that, he played well.”

How would you evaluate your two linebackers behind Fred Warner, LB De’Vondre Campbell and LB Dee Winters?

“Still growing, still getting better. You’re talking about Dee, specifically?”

De’Vondre Campbell and Dee Winters.

“Okay. They’ve both been doing good for us. They’ve both been getting playing time. I think De’Vondre’s brought a ton of experience for us and Dee is continuing to grow. So we’ve been rotating both those guys. They’re getting good snaps, both of them.”

Like WR Brandon Aiyuk, Dallas Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb missed a lot of time because of a holdout. Can you see that in his game or does he look as explosive?

“He still gets the targets, he still gets explosions, he’s still getting big plays down the field. They throw it to him, he gets open. So we’ve got to make sure we cover him. And [Dallas Cowboys WR KaVontae] Turpin is explosive as well. They have enough weapons on their team to make plays.”