Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – October 8, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for today: [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf, wrist, won’t practice, [LB Demetrius] Flannigan-Fowles, calf, won’t practice, [K] Jake Moody, right ankle, won’t practice, [DL] Jordan Elliott, knee, won’t practice, [CB] Charvarius Ward, knee, will be limited, [WR Chris] Conley, oblique, limited, [TE George] Kittle, ribs, limited, [LB] Fred Warner, ankle, limited, [S] Ji’Ayir [Brown], ankle, limited. That’s it.”

What was the diagnosis on Hufanga?

“Tore some ligaments in his wrist.”

Is that a multi-week?

“Yeah, it will be at least a month, probably longer.”

IR?

“We haven’t, could be, but we haven’t decided whether to do it or not though.”

When did Ward get hurt?

“During the game. Had a bruise on his knee.”

A lot of people make a lot about Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald’s defense and what happened last year on Christmas. What can you tell us about Macdonald’s scheme and what makes it special?

“Does a real good job mixing all the schemes up, fronts, coverages. His players play real hard, they’re coached well, their techniques are good, good tacklers and they mix up the looks.”

What has looked different between that Seahawks squad and a former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll Seahawks squad?

“The schemes have changed. They run different schemes.”

Seems like Seattle Seahawks QB Geno Smith is throwing the ball probably, I think, maybe more than some people. He’s throwing it more than any quarterback in the NFL. How is he doing and how much of their offense maybe revolves more around him than their running game in the past?

“It’s still early, so you never know, but they’ve definitely started out that way. I think Geno is doing a hell of a job. He’s got three big weapons in the pass game, including his tight ends, also. His running back is as good as it gets also. They’ve got some talent over there and they can stretch the field and Geno can get hot.”

Do you have any reaction to former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh’s dismissal and have you guys exchanged texts or anything?

“I haven’t yet, just because of how backed up we’ve been. I sent him a text, but I haven’t gotten to talk to him. And yeah, I was pretty shocked. That stuff throws you off, especially when they’re competing for first in the division this week and I think they’re up there on defense and have got a pretty good team and a chance to have a hell of a year. So that was pretty surprising.”

What has S Malik Mustapha done well so far and how has he been in sort of the communication aspect of his job?

“I think communication is one of the hardest things, especially for a young guy coming in. I think he’s been getting better at that the more he’s been out there. I think, just his lack of not hesitating. I think you guys saw that a little in preseason, just with some of the hits he had. Especially, you saw a couple in that Tennessee game, from what I remember. And when he’s come in, he’s done the same stuff. I think he gets faster each week, just recognizing things and not breaking down and trying to run through his tackles.”

Do you have the same volume of plays and the same size of a playbook on a Thursday game as you do for a Sunday game?

“Yeah, I’d say the same size. We don’t try to put in as much new stuff or things that take a while to get down. Sometimes we overwhelm guys on Wednesday, but you can repeat it on a Thursday and Friday and come back to it and eventually it sticks. So you try not to do that with new stuff, but volume-wise isn’t much different.”

You talked about kind of a do-no-harm approach to special teams, which can be read as, well why don’t you want to make them as great as possible and make a difference. Is that an accurate reading and kind of what is your philosophy as far as, I guess what I’m referring to is, sometimes you’ve said, “We don’t want them to screw it up?”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I always had the right words for that. But what I’m trying to say is, you’d like to build a team to where you don’t feel you have to return a kick, a punt or have a fake kick or a fake punt or you don’t have to rely on something like that to get a win. I like to feel that, you feel like you can do it between the offense and defense of just beating someone. I think in this league, one of the best ways to win games is to not lose a game, to not find a way to lose it. A lot of games are given away. When it comes to special teams, with the amount of touchbacks there are and stuff, just extra points, getting a punt off, those are opportunities to lose it if any of those are blocked. There are only so many special teams plays that go into a game and so you don’t want to be overly risky on trying to win it there when you’re only going to have 10 to 15 plays. You take out all the touchbacks and stuff, it’s even less than that. So you don’t want to go out of your way to be risky to try to get your stuff there. You’d rather do it with people who are out there for 70 straight plays.”

Can this be a galvanizing moment for your team? I understand it’s really early, but you have a short week at Seattle and then kind of that mini-Bye to just get yourselves right before the two home games before the Bye, just like where you’re at in the schedule.

“Yeah, in so many situations. Losing our last two divisional games, having one this week is huge, playing against Seattle is always huge, going up there is always huge. And then always in the NFL, it’s tough to get ready for a Thursday night game, but I think everyone enjoys them because it’s very rare that you get to sit back and kind of enjoy that for three days and watch the rest of the league. They’re a lot more fun when you win. When you get to sit back and be pissed off for three days, it’s not nearly as much fun.”

It seems like we’ve asked these questions with Robert and with Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans early in their tenures as defensive coordinator. But with defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, is it kind of a similar thing, just kind of figuring things out? How would you evaluate just the early part of his tenure as defensive coordinator?

“I think Nick’s doing a real good job. I’ve been impressed with him since the beginning. Each week, I like how he handles the defensive staff. I like how they set up the practices and I’ve liked his game plans and I liked how he’s called it. So I’ve been real happy with Nick so far.”

The redzone, creating space in the redzone, is it more about your personnel or is it play design? Is it quickness? What’s the key to get that space in that tight area?

“Everything. Wish I could give you guys a theme for the redzone, but you get three tries when you’re inside the 10 and depending on what you do, when we run the ball there, I think we need to be much more effective running it. When you run the ball twice, you’d like to get in and not just put one pressure third down on the pass game. And when you do throw it more, then you’ve got to make sure you come through with those, especially not having a negative play with those. Running the ball better takes a lot of pressure off, also gives some better passing looks. We’ve tried both and haven’t been good enough with both of those. So it’s all aspects of offense.”

WR Deebo Samuel Sr. had a couple really productive games against Seattle last year. How would you assess how he’s performing, specifically as a receiver so far?

“I think Deebo’s doing a good job. I think he had his best game, at least statistically, right before he got hurt. Missed a week and a half and thought it was tough for him to come back for the New England game, but he was able to get out there and play. Didn’t get involved a ton last week but it’s usually a matter of time with that stuff. That stuff comes full circle and Deebo is too good to not eventually have a big one.”

Do you have a timeline on Moody? Is IR a possibility for him?

“It’s a high ankle sprain, so usually with those, I usually say about a month. Sometimes they can surprise you and go quicker, sometimes they can go longer. So we’re not exactly sure yet.”

So IR is–?

“IR is an option, yeah. Just with the how quick this has happened, having Huf in that situation where we’ve got to decide, Moody could be a possible decision. We have a number of guys already on it, so we’re just trying to weigh in all that stuff.”

You talked a lot about QB Brock Purdy’s ability to create with his feet, scramble and buy time. Does the fact that he’s doing it so much mean that you need to be doing a better job on offense to get the ball out of his hand?

“Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. It goes both ways. Most of the ones that we’re doing that are deeper plays. When they’re deeper plays and they get deep people and it’s a three-man rush, they usually cover your checkdowns, plays we’ve been pretty effective with. And when they don’t do it, I think that’s where you see us hit some big crossers. But yeah, there are times that you want to get rid of it quick, but people have got to be open quick too, which usually has to do with blitzers. If people blitz and you get rid of it quick, you will get rid of it quick, you have to. But when they don’t, there’s, sometimes your checkdowns are covered and when your checkdowns are covered I’m glad we have another option.”