Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – December 23, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Alright guys, [OL] Aaron Banks has an MCL, he will be out these next two games. [OL] Jaylon Moore, quad strain, he will also miss our last two games. [OL Spencer] Burford has a calf, dealing with some soreness, we’re still waiting for him to get back from the MRI so don’t have an official thing on that yet. [LB Dre] Greenlaw, the same thing with his calf, looking like soreness but we’ll still evaluate that. [S] Ji’Ayir Brown has an ankle, he will be day-to-day. [LB] Dee Winters, chest, he’ll be day-to-day also. Go ahead.”

Did DL Leonard Floyd check out okay then? I know he went back in the game.

“Yes, he checked out alright.”

Is there a chance that Dre Greenlaw is shut down for the rest of the year or is there a potential that he’ll come back and play?

“My gut is most likely that he’ll end up being shut down. But that’s, I’ve got to wait to talk to Dre on that and we’ll still make sure to see exactly how he is doing, because right now we just have it as just soreness and stuff. But that’ll definitely be a decision that I’ll leave up to Dre depending on what his health is.”

What’s he been like emotionally? I know he is, it’s been quite a journey for him to come back from the Achilles injury.

“Yeah, I think it’s been a huge emotional deal. Hurt it in the Super Bowl like that and how dramatic of an injury that can be, just talking to people who have had it. I think it’s been a battle and a hard deal to get back. I think he was real emotional in his first game or even his first few practices, just being able to make it and I think it’s been a huge success so far just the fact that he’s gone to this point. I knew when he was complaining about the soreness in those first four plays of the game. I know when we told him he wasn’t going to go back in anymore, he was pretty emotional there because I know how bad he wants to go in and how bad he wants to move on from this. But it’s still part of the process and still something he’s working through. He’s been really inspiring to watch him go through all this.”

Who is your next tackle after Burford?

“You look at our roster and fill in any of the choices. We’d have to move, we’ve brought in a couple practice squad guys here recently. Just activated [OL Austen] Pleasants to the roster, I think we did that on Saturday. We also, when you get to these points where you’re down pretty low on it, you’ve got to get five guys out there, so we’d have to make the decision on some possible guards too. So hopefully we’ll get some good news on Burford, but if not, we’ll probably have to add some people from other people’s practice squads, if we haven’t. Sure we’ve been working on that already, but it’s a little too early to say.”

After the game, both LB Fred Warner and DL Nick Bosa said that Dre, sometimes, just has to be saved from himself, that he’s always going to push to get out there even when it’s not in his best interest. Do you feel that way too? Is that why you’re kind of leaning toward shutting him down for the season?

“Yeah, without a doubt. That’s what we did on play four. But it’s also of good interest for Dre to get out there and play for him also, if he is healthy and can do it. So there’s a fine line in that. And I told Dre this just even after that Rams game talking with him, when he was telling me how, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be for sure good the next week.’ And that’s how bad he wants to go because it is a good thing when a player is coming back from an injury to be able to show the league and stuff you got back and you’re good to go. But by no means doing that at the expense of messing up the next year. So that’s something that Dre understands, but his passion and his heart really wants to get out there. But that’s why I say that I’m leaning towards no, but I’ve got to get more information on that to make sure that that’s the right decision for Dre.”

Do you expect RB Isaac Guerendo to practice this week?

“Yeah, we are expecting him back Wednesday. You know, he’ll still be day-to-day with his hamstring, but he’s trending in the right direction and hopefully he’ll be good on Thursday. Sorry, not Wednesday.”

Is there any update on T Trent Williams at all?

“There’s no update. I mean, he won’t be playing in these next two games, so I guess that is an update. I don’t think I’ve said that, but he hasn’t been able to improve enough to get him out there and we don’t see that happening enough in these two weeks, especially with the situation we’re in.”

Last night in your press conference, you mentioned a lack of concentration by the offense. Is there anything you can attribute to that to? Is it is mental fatigue? What are your thoughts on that?

“My thoughts are when two guys are off the ball and not one guy’s on and one guy’s off, that’s just a lack of concentration. When the tight end’s supposed to be off the ball in one play and you’re not, it’s just a concentration issue. I always attribute cadences to focus, things like that. It’s stuff that you do deal with every year, but the way that we dealt with it last night and kind of the timing of when it happened really gave us an extremely small chance to win. And that’s why it was such a big deal yesterday.”

On the broadcast, wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson was seen talking to WR Ricky Pearsall in a strong way. Did you have a talk with him about it? What are your thoughts about how he handled the situation?

“Oh, I thought he, Ricky loves to be coached and he doesn’t take things personal. I think he was just as upset about it. Sometimes when there’s a lot of things that he’s trying to focus on and stuff and he forgets one little thing, which can end up being a big thing, especially the play that happened with it. And I mean, I didn’t see Hank, but I’m sure you saw his frustration, but that’s how we all were and that’s how Ricky was. And sometimes that’s what comes out naturally, which sometimes can get a guy to focus a little bit harder too.”

With your left tackle situation, I guess potentially, I mean I don’t suggest, I’m not saying you wouldn’t play QB Brock Purdy because of that, but does it give you any pause when you have kind of your franchise quarterback and you don’t quite know who might be protecting his blindside?

“I mean, all that stuff does. But I mean, people deal with that throughout the year on other weeks too. I mean, we’ve got a football team. We’ve got to go out and we’ve got two games here and we’ve got to see what guys we can put out there and whatever we do we’re going to put a game plan together to, as best as we can to give us a chance to win. But no, I’m not thinking that way.”

How do you go about motivating guys at this stage when there are this many injuries and you’re at where you’re at in the season? I mean, do you have to try anything different or how do you go about it?

“I mean, motivation is telling people the situation they’re in and hoping they understand the reality. I mean, this is professional sports, you get paid to do this, it’s our job. You get 17 checks which is for 17 games. Whether you’re in the playoffs, out of the playoffs, I mean, people who don’t understand that don’t last long in this league. And if you need me to tell you that I will. But I think guys do understand that. I think our team understands that. You have a standard to play for. You don’t just sit there and play until you’re in something and then shut it down. You play one way. We’ve got two games here left. That’s all that we’ve got and we’re going to, our goal is to find a way to play better. Our goal is to find a way to get a win and that’s what I expect out of anyone involved in this and if they don’t see it that way and you’ve got to convince them too much more than that then they’re probably not the type of guys that you want around here anyways.”

After taking a look at those excessive penalties by the defense at the end of the game, what were your thoughts on those? I know you said yesterday you hadn’t seen them yet.

“We deserved them all. I think [DB Deommodore Lenoir] DMo’s could have gone either way, but when you push someone you can get a call. I always tell those guys this, no matter how close you get to being physical or doing whatever, especially a guy’s talking to him and trying to piss him off and stuff or whatever and he gets someone a little baby shove in the back, it doesn’t always get called. But if it does, then you’re at fault because you’re not allowed to do that and it hurt our team. So that stuff those guys are aware of. [DL] Jordan’s [Elliott] when he’s trying to finish to the ball, by no means do I think he’s doing anything dirty. But when a guy’s down on the ground, you’ve got to dive over him if your body’s already in motion to try to hit him and regardless of how you hit him you can never lead with your head. You’re going to get a penalty for that every time. And [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huff running into that guy at the end of the play. He definitely could have avoided them. That was a stupid mistake that hurt us.”

I know a lot of this is probably game circumstance and score, but you had gone 55 regular season games without giving up a hundred-yard rusher and now it’s four in five games. What is the issue with the run defense?

“I think it has been different each week. I think versus Green Bay and Buffalo, I thought we had some real big injury issues just with missing some guys, which made it extremely tough. And then especially Buffalo getting that big one, I want to say a 64-yarder, which made it that much worse. Last week was that big one at the end that put them over the top. But I don’t think we’ve had the continuity in our defense to play as good as we have in the past just with some of the linebackers that have been in and out, it has not nearly been as consistent. And I think some of our run stoppers that have been big for us on the D-Line hasn’t been as consistent, also. And when you add those things all together and gone against some good backs too that when they’ve got in the right lane, they’ve got the big ones. It also goes to not getting guys off on third down as well at times. You give them three more plays and that stuff happens. But, we have not been as good in the past and we haven’t been able to put out the fire.”