Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator Chris Foerster Press Conference

Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator Chris Foerster

Press Conference – September 15, 2022

San Francisco 49ers

How do you feel your younger guys did on the line?

“Well, it’s always hard after you lose, because when you lose everything’s tainted by your loss. There’s a lot of things that could have been done better. But overall, I think it was a solid first outing. That’s the best way to say it. If we had have done a little bit better, maybe we could have won the game. But the guys really worked well together, they performed well together in spurts and gave us a chance to have some success. We didn’t quite get it done, but I was not disappointed by any stretch. They played okay.”

What about your rookie, OL Spencer Burford? It didn’t look like he gave up any pressures or sacks. That seemed to be a really strong first outing for him.

“Correct. Yeah, I think you’re right. He did. He went out there, competed and did a nice job. Really happy with the way he played and like I said, it was okay. There’s a lot of little things to clean up for him, but overall, from a production standpoint, you’re correct. It was a good outing for him.”

T Mike McGlinchey did some coaching during the offseason just about getting his mental state correct after he had a bad play. Did you see progress from him after the one sack he gave up, that he played more consistently?

“One hundred percent, yeah. Mike’s really worked hard at that. He’s known that’s a problem that he just has to bounce back from a bad play. Everybody’s going to have a bad play. How you bounce back from it, how you progress through the rest of the game, I think that was real positive for him. He had a negative play early and we talked about it on the sideline and he corrected it and was able to, he had a real similar play, it came up like in the fourth quarter, I think identical protection call and he set it much differently. He approached it much differently and corrected it, which is all you’re asking for. Everybody’s going to have ups and downs in the game, but it’s being able to battle through them and he did a nice job.”

Did you see the play of that sack that he gave up and right after the sack, he just makes a beeline for the sideline. Is he going to talk to you at that point?

“You’ll have to ask Mike about that. That may have to do with the previous question. How is he going to deal with having the bad play, what’s next? We eventually talk. I usually give the guys when they come to the sideline, the last thing they need is a screaming lunatic when they get to the sideline, which I try not to be. So when they get over there, I try to just, you know, let them get a drink of water, sit down we’ll process what exactly happened during the series. Then we can come back to it and correct what happened.”

Are you saying that that’s sort of his process now, is to sort of get off the field and eliminate it from his mind as quickly as possible?

“I’d follow up with him on that. I’m not exactly sure what he’s doing to calm that. My thing is the end result. I’m just looking to say, ‘Hey, Mike, you know, you seem a little worked up’, whatever it is. I think you could ask him, that’d be a good question to see what his process is. If it is to just, ‘Hey, I have to get out of here. I have to get to the bench, have to sit down, have to calm myself and get ready for the next series.’”

The offense rushed for 176 yards, I believe. Were you pleased with the running game? What was your assessment?

“Like everything else, we lost the game, so it always just comes it’s kind of just like, eh. You’d like to take some pride, guys would in the fact that they ran the ball well, but the guys worked really, really hard. We left a lot of yards on the field. There were some things that were really, really good. There were some things that were off and hence, that’s why we came up short. Numbers-wise, it seems like a good number. It’s all tainted by the fact we just didn’t get it done at the end of the day.”

Do like how the rookie runners have responded this week to possibly having an expanded role?

“Well, they’ve been working real hard out there the last couple days. Watching them run, they’ve been really working hard to, to get it and to pick everything up and to do things the right way. And like we’ve talked about with my guys, we’ve had a lot of conversations about the process of getting ready to play and then actually playing in the game and what happens when you play. So with them, there’s always going to be a learning curve with every young player, but boy, they’ve worked really hard this week and they look good.”

Can you tell that QB Trey Lance has an impact on the run game, just from being on the field? Can you see that, like just the threat of him?

“Oh, definitely, because just how the defensive ends have to play. In the last game for example, when you’re in certain formations, pistol formation, shotgun formations, the ends have to, the defense has to make a decision on how they’re going to play and that’s different than they have to play when you’re always under center when you don’t have the threat of a running quarterback. So it does. Now, it’s not a huge deal because they have a call and our defense has as well as to who’s got quarterback, blah, blah, blah. But it is different than just lining up every snap and doing the same thing over. Now all of a sudden you have this other call and then all the complements that can come with it, play-action passes and those things can cause a little more. It adds a layer for them to have to work on, that’s really the best way to say it. And everybody’s got an answer for it and everybody’s seen it enough now, but you can tell that the effects and it lets other plays occur because the threat of the running quarterback, you play off of how they’re going to play your running quarterback when that time comes.”

Did you see that on the WR Deebo Samuel score, that end seemed to take a step inside and that maybe allowed Deebo to get outside?

“Well, that defense has a tendency to, usually the way they play their gaps is to close most things. But with that play, there’s a lot of different ways teams defend it and so that’s part of the read of the play. That’s what’s the beauty of it. If they do one thing, you do the other, if they do the other thing you do that other, it’s that cat and mouse game, but you have an answer ready, available within the play. Not so much. ‘Oh, well, we ran this play. They’re doing that. Let’s come back with the next play and do the other thing.’ Within the play of a zone-read concept you actually have the option within it to read and see what they’re doing. ‘Oh, they’re doing this, let’s do this within the play.’ And that’s kind of the beauty of it. When the end does close on that play, it gives you a chance to send Deebo around the corner. Pretty cool.”

When you turn on the tape of the Seahawks, is it strange not to see their classic eight-man box and not to see the cover-three thing that they’ve been doing?

“You know, for me, I just see really, really big guys. When you look at 97, 90 and 99, I just see big, big guys in the middle. And I see good edge setters that can rush the passer. And whether the eighth guy is down there or not, those big guys in there are still a pain in the rear, man. They are good players. They’re really hard to block. They do a good job at defending and defeating blocks. They’ve been coaching them really well up there for a long time. And even though the scheme has changed slightly, those big suckers are still in there, man. And they do a heck of a job. And it’s always a challenge. When I turn on the film, I keep wishing that they’d be gone somewhere else, but they just take up the whole space on the film and my guys, we have to get out there, guys have to get out there and compete and do a good job against them. They’re an impressive group and they’re always a challenge.”