Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – December 16, 2022

San Francisco 49ers

Opening Comments:

“Alright guys, from the game, [CB Charvarius Ward] Mooney is going to be in the protocol and [CB] Ambry Thomas, ankle, he’ll be day-to-day and [WR] Danny Gray with his hamstring, the MRIs were good, so he’ll be day-to-day also. And that was it.”

How did QB Brock Purdy come out of the game with his injury?

“He came out well, I haven’t seen him today, but I just talked to our trainer and he said he came in feeling good and he’s feeling better today actually than he was earlier in the week. So, it was good, he got out healthy and should be a lot better going to next game.”

With the plan for the guys, what’s your schedule like for the rest of this week?
“We’re off all weekend. Because of the short week with us playing Saturday, we’re going to all do zoom meetings with the players on Sunday and just kind of put last night to bed and watch that as positions. Then the coaches, we’ll start up on Monday and that’ll be the players normal off day and we’ll treat Tuesday like a Wednesday and get started with our schedule then, playing Christmas Eve on Saturday.”

You mentioned the other day that your hope was to get DL Javon Kinlaw at practice this week. Have you guys decided anything on that yet?

“Yes, as long as the rehab keeps going well, we expect to start his window up this week of practice.”

After looking at the film of QB Brock Purdy last night, how do you feel he handled all the pressure and especially through his injury?

“Just like I said last night, I mean he was great in all aspects of it, made really good decisions. He really only had one bad one, which was a pretty good play by [Seattle Seahawks S Quandre] Diggs coming from the backside. I was so impressed with how he managed it in that noise, that was his first time in that situation with all our motions and stuff and having to do the silent count and things like that, getting in and out of the huddle. I think we only had to use one timeout throughout the whole game, and he did a really impressive job.”

How important is this rest period right now for guys like RB Christian McCaffrey who had like 32 touches and DL Nick Bosa was coming off a hamstring strain and played a lot, DL Arik Armstead played kind of a lot for missing all that time, but those three guys to get rest time right now?

“Oh, I think it’s huge. I mean, it’s imperative for anybody when you have to play that Thursday game. I mean, that’s one of the biggest challenges, I don’t think anyone can understand unless you had to go through it. But for those players to play Sunday like they did and then turn around and play with the energy and aggressiveness that they did last night, it takes a lot on the body. So just getting these rest days is huge and we’re definitely going to take advantage of it.”

RB Christian McCaffrey said he calls RB Jordan Mason former New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, like he’s the closer. Is there something he needs to do to earn more carries earlier in the game or is Christian just too good to take off the field?

“No, we can give him more carries earlier in the game. We’ve mixed him in for a few in the weeks before. It was just tough in this game with how much we like Christian in the pass game also and just the threat that he is on the field, but no, his time will come. We usually use everybody.”

By clinching with three games to go, how do you plan to approach these next few games just in terms of resting guys or pushing hard to win as many as you can to get as many home playoff games as you can?

“I think you have to be smart. I mean, you never just want to stop. You can’t lose your edge. It’s not something you can turn on and off. At the same time, you do need to be smart. It’s very important to get home games. So, we’ll do everything we can to do that, but by no means at the expense of risking someone that we shouldn’t be doing.”

Did CB Charvarius Ward come in with concussion symptoms today?

“Yes, he’s in the protocol, so that’s what they told me.”

Just speaking of CB Charvarius Ward there, you guys have been battling injuries at cornerback somewhat consistently, but he’s been out there all year for you guys. We talk about the stars at every level from DL Nick Bosa to LB Fred Warner, but how has Charvarius changed your defense this year?

“He’s been huge. The way he came out and played at the beginning of this year then he battled his, I think it was his groin injury which slowed him down a little bit, but he fought through it and was able to play and now I think he’s back to playing at the top of his game again. And he was really impressive last night.”

As far as QB Brock Purdy and his composure, you guys got the ball in the fourth quarter on the one-yard line. I think that’s the loudest part of that stadium. I thought a lot of people were probably expecting a quarterback sneak or something on first down, but you called a pass play. Were you trying to catch them off guard? Does that sort of speak to the confidence that you had in Brock at that point in of the game?

“My confidence in Brock just allows me to call what I think is right. You trust him to make the right play. And so, you call things that you think are right at the time. In that situation, every play to me is risky. It’s when you’re on the half-yard line running the ball is risky, sometimes more risky than throwing it. You can get rid of it at least when you throw it. But sometimes when you run it’s just one guy has to take one wrong step, one little stunt and a three technique meets the back in the back field and there’s not much you can do about it. So that is why people sneak it a lot in that situation just to avoid that. But with Brock’s situation and his health going into that game sneak wasn’t much of an option.”

How well has DB Jimmie Ward been playing at nickelback the last few weeks?

“Oh, Jimmie’s been huge for us. To be able to, everyone knows how good of a safety he is, that’s why he more than deserved to be one of the top 100 players in the league last year and now to be able to use his versatility at nickel when we really needed it. And I personally think it puts him in position to have more opportunities to make plays. He’s the best down there. I thought his best game of the year was versus Tampa. He was all over the place and he continues to do it. I can’t say enough good things about Jimmie. He’s been one of our best players this year.”

When DL Nick Bosa got called for the roughing penalty, I think a lot of people looked at it and said, I don’t know, maybe, maybe not, but Bosa said afterwards, alright, you know, considering the way they call it now, that’s on me. What does that say about the way he sort of approaches things?

“I mean, Bosa is a smart dude, he’s realistic and he’s right. Once we saw it on the scoreboard, you could see that. We watch that stuff almost every Friday and go over all the clips on why people get penalties, why they’re doing it and you definitely have to, you can’t land on guys. And he knew that, he had an opportunity not to, and he realized that right away. So, it’s nice when you have guys like that who can keep it real in the moment because it makes them a lot easier to coach.”