San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, offensive line/run game coordinator Chris Foerster, and quarterback Brock Purdy spoke to reporters after Thursday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 8 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. Here's everything they said.
Transcripts provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen
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."
Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Chris Foerster
What is the thought behind a protection that say protects the same side a quarterback is looking at with their hot read versus one that moves in the other direction?
"Protections are all kind of predicated upon, let's say you have a back going to the right. Let's say everybody's getting out and the back's going to check release. So, patterns are built with like three-man sides, two-man sides. So, if you want your back to go right, if the back's going right, the line's probably going to go left. So that there's balance. And then if there's overload of players to the back, and then you have a way that you can take care, there's a lot of different ways to do it. That's a very simplistic view of it. But truly every now and then you take a back on the left and you release them to the right. But the whole thing is there's three-man and two-man parts because there's five eligibles that can get out. Sometimes you leave more guys in, so you have balance, two by two routes. Sometimes you protect more like what was suggested a week ago when some of the play action passes that all of a sudden there's maybe two or three-man routes and there's more guys in. That's what it is. So then where the line slides, where the hots are, a lot of times it's built in two, four, then you take the two or three-man side. Where's the best look when it is hot to throw the football based on the concept that's called? So we have somebody in the flat or somebody quick. I've been doing this my whole life I focused on something else, but there's just so many layers to it and then that predicates upon the protection. Then that predicate dictates the protection, what you want to do."
What's the timeline for OL Jon Feliciano? Is he after Bye?
"That's up to [President of Football Operations/General Manager] John [Lynch] and [Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan]. It's because there's so many decisions I think based on the total roster. So whether he's ready to practice or not I'm not going to speak on his health and stuff like that. I think he's progressed very well. And I would assume at some point this was about the timeline and somewhere in this area he's going to be ready. It's whether or not to open up the practice window based on how soon you can get him up and into the roster."
How do you view him? He graded really highly last year. Is he a guy that could compete with OL Jake Brendel or OL Dominick Puni for their starting job or is he strictly a backup at this point?
"Well, I think Jon's a luxury right now because [OL] Aaron [Banks], Dom and Jake are playing pretty good football. But doesn't mean that if they stumble or if there's a something the guy needs to be out for a little bit or whatever it is, Jon can step in and play. It gives us a great deal of flexibility and gives us a great deal of confidence in knowing that if we do have somebody that needs to be replaced or something happens, you definitely have somebody that can do it. And then, yeah, it's always open. Shoot, somebody's playing better or somebody's struggling, you're going to say, let's give the other guy a shot."
We've asked you a lot about the benefits of running a ball with a fullback out of 21 personnel. Are there any benefits to running the ball out of 11 personnel?
"Depends. For example, second half of the Saints game, basically from halftime on, it was a what I call a four-minute offense. They were up by so many points against Dallas that there was no sense for them to match nickel to 11 personnel so, they played base. Based on your tendency. So, it's all predicated upon how they're going to play you. 11 becomes a little bit more, the defense can dictate to you a little bit more. 21, 22, 12, you have a little more flexibility, regardless of what the defense does, you can still find a way to run the ball in an effective way. In 11, it's kind of, 'oh, well you can't run there,' so you got to run there, or you got to throw it. I go back to when I was in Indianapolis, we didn't care. It's like, fine, you want to play the run. We'll throw it every snap with those great receivers and the quarterback. Oh, you want to play the run, then you know you're going to play the pass. Well then, we got [Former NFL RB] Edgerrin James and we're going to run against these very clean boxes because you're going to defend the receivers that we had. So, it's Catch 22, right? And then you've been other places where you say you don't want to spend your game at 11 because if they say go ahead and throw it and you're not as good at throwing it. And so whether it be a quarterback, receiver, whatever your situation is in that given team, that given year. So that's the tradeoff. 11 is a little harder. It just depends. Like I said, sometimes it'd be easy because of your quarterback."
Is T Trent Williams still the same Trent in your eyes after missing all of training camp? Some of these services, I know you guys don't necessarily think a lot of Pro Football Focus, but they have him way up every year. Right now, he's not nearly where he was.
"Yes, he's fine. He's been playing as well as he's ever played. There might be some protections, but I thought it was the same as last year. And some things are actually better than a year ago. Who knows what it is? I don't know their scales, at least it's consistent. So, whatever they grade him as and however they do it, I'm not there to discuss theirs. But I know that definitely, from our perspective, to me, he's playing the same as he played a year ago. Is that best? I'm not doing that, but I do know he's playing almost exactly the same as he played a year ago. And it was funny because he missed camp. It kind of bothers me."
You guys around here haven't relied on rookie classes much at all to have to contribute in recent years. This year, obviously for a number of reasons that's changed. Puni was kind of the first one in this class to. I know you've talked a lot about his willingness and readiness coming in. Do you sense in him, like setting an example for some of these other rookies? Some of the other guys have decided 'Hey, Puni showed us immediately, there's no red shirting around here. This is what we can do.' Did you kind of get the sense of he is a guy who sets a tone for that rookie class?
"Well, he just shows that we're not going to play favorites. In other words, it's just because you've been here, if you're the best player, you're going to play. If you play consistently in practice, you're going to get a chance. Preseason, you're going to get a chance. Games, you got a chance. And so, he proved that. Is he like the bell cow for 'here's how I do it, here's what a rookie needs to do to play.' No. But he does show that, 'hey, if I do things and if I perform properly, I'm going to get to play.' I was just talking with Dom this week. Dom's still 24 years old. And I said, what are you doing on Tuesdays? Because it's starting to get halfway through the season. I want to say, 'what are you doing to take care of yourself during the season?' He goes, 'well really coach. I'm a little sore on Monday, but after we lift and I throw the weight around a little bit, I'm fine.' I mean, that's not normal, but that's a 24-year-old rookie that hasn't played a lot of NFL football. And that's why I said, you need to start a routine. Come in here and no more than stretching, no more than hot tub, cold tub, no more than whatever it is on a Tuesday. Get a routine going instead of saying, 'I feel great on Monday. I'm going to go sit around all day Tuesday and play video games and then come back ready for practice on Wednesday.' Get a routine that's going to be sustainable because he is a good player. But as he learned already that good play, those holes that I said last week, they start showing up. Now he's done a nice job of fixing some of the problems that's been starting to surface because he's really good about correcting his mistakes. But there's stuff that's going to come up and if you don't come in, extra film work, eventually it piles up because the great players are going to do it. The great players are going to have a routine and that routine as you do one-year, two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year, all of a sudden you start banking reps above the guy that decides not to do extra work. And I've seen players whose careers I've set up, but they just fall off the end of the podium here because they haven't done the offseason work. So when they hit the wall, it's a hard wall. Whereas opposed to a guy that's taking care of himself every single day, can get the very, very most out of his career. And that's what you try to set that tone now at 24-years old with him. But it's a long answer like I always give to a short question, but the guy definitely does show the rookies. And our rookie class, a lot of guys are contributing and doing a heck of a job."
You mentioned those holes. How is he at kind of self-identifying those things? So when you bring things to him, things that he may already have recognized?
"Well, like I said to you earlier, he's a good football player that I said him, why are you like this Dom? He goes I've been playing football since I was seven. And he recognizes for example, he knows he does something wrong. He's like, 'oh, that was that.' He does. He knows. To fix it, we have to talk about how are you're going to fix it because obviously he knows it's wrong, but he keeps doing it. So how can I help you to fix it a little bit? What can you focus on to fix it? That's a good thing about him. He's diligent about getting those things fixed."
What's the verdict on Puni versus Kansas City Chiefs DL Chris Jones? I know that they didn't get a ton of one-on-ones? Was that by design?
"Yeah, you don't want to leave. I mentioned it last week. The question was asked, where does he rank with [Former DL] Reggie White and [Former DL] Bruce Smith and those guys like that. I am old enough to have coached against. I don't think we had a lot of one-on-ones. Banks had one and he got beat. I don't remember Dom having, he might've on a three step at one point. I don't remember off the top of my head. I don't think he did. I don't know what his stat line was. I would assume they did a pretty good job as far as sack pressures. Yeah, it was by design. Kyle does a really good job at designing that stuff. And the guys executed. We did a good job with it and got to keep working, but yeah not the result we wanted."
You guys have been struggling running it, I saw that RB Jordan Mason's got seven carries for one yard down there. What is the film showing? Are you guys not moving people? Are you getting out quick? Is the running back dancing?
"It's like in anything and then in five more carries we could say it's five touchdowns and averaging four. It can flip like that. It's a sample size. I said before, we haven't good enough down there. It's a little bit everything, sometimes it's a missed block, sometimes it's a missed cut. Sometimes it's a bad defense. Sometimes it's an unscouted look. Sometimes, it is what it is. I looked again, I was watching today. Every week I watch every run in the league from the 10-yard line in. They compile this cut up and I just study 60, 70 plays just to see what other people are doing. How are other people getting involved in the end zone? Are they getting any better success running the ball down there. Just ideas, you just steal from other people or see something that's a good idea. I watched the one against where he got the fumble against Arizona, and he could've easily just stuck that ball inside. Did he have a read to go out? It was probably a bounce read and at the end of the day he's got to hold on the football, but if he went inside, he would've had probably about a five-yard gain. He wouldn't have scored because he's got the free safety. But did he make the right move? You're nitpicking here. You know what I'm saying? So on that sample size, we just have to continue to program or to have on the game plan good calls. We had a good call last week. We ran one that Mase took us down inside the five. It was a nice gain. Wherever the negatives have been, it's got more because it went for about five or six down there and did a heck of a job on it. It was a well blocked play. And it was a well thought out and well executed play. But you win some, you lose some. It's not always good. And we do have to keep working to improve down there. But again, I say we've had a lot of success. So it is that trade off of, 'okay, this is who we are and this is what we do. At what point is it taken away or at what point is it, they really decided to defend it, we need to do other things or at what point is it, we're still not executing.' So we're still feeling through that. We got another half of the season to go. I think we've been improving on it every week. I think we've had a little more production, not maybe running it in, but it's been more productive"
I think it was a third and 11 in the first half, and they had two guys unblocked. What happened on that play? There were two guys on their edge and their DB.
"Oh, yeah. They brought a look that they tied up. We were balanced. They brought a guy over the right guard, a guy over the right tackle. They slide down and two guys off the edge. And we were in a five-man protection, so we weren't sliding right or sliding left. Everybody had a man on. It was an odd front. And they brought two guys outside. When they brought the guy over the guard, we had no chance to get out. If they wouldn't have brought the guy with the guard, we would've picked up one of the two. We would've picked up the end and one more, but there still would've been the widest guy. So when the two came free, that was the design. It was a good blitz, five-man protection, we could only block the five guys. So unless we would've double counted or maybe done something to see what they were bringing, we'll just change the protection and go that way. It would've been really hard to pick up. It was a good design by [Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] Spags and they did a good job on that overall."
QB Brock Purdy
You talked a little bit Sunday. It wasn't your greatest game. When you review it, is there a theme or things you could point to of like this was what's going on?
"There were a couple things and I think more than anything it's just a mindset of going out and when you get an opportunity, defense does their job, you've got to capitalize on those situations and execute. For me at quarterback it just comes down to being aggressive and making the right throws and being accurate with the ball. That's really just what it came down to. And so, it's a four-quarter game of you have to play team football and like I said, when our defense does those kinds of great things and gets stops, you've got to capitalize on it, especially against a good team like the Chiefs. And so, I had to learn the hard way but for me, I go and watch the film and I'm real with myself and don't dwell on it or anything. Got to learn from it, but man, we've got another game Sunday for another opportunity and so it's another shot for me to go and prove to myself that I can grow and get better."
There was one play where they walked an eighth guy into the box and then they added a ninth guy to the box. In that situation and they're giving you that kind of a look, do you have the ability to audible to a pass play and go to something different? What are your limitations at the line?
"Usually, we just have an answer built into the play. And so, if we do have like an all-out blitz or something, we usually have an answer of where I should be hitting or where I should be going. And there's very rare occasions where we walk up to line and we get a look and it's, 'Oh shoot, they got us.' And then I'm supposed to randomly make up an audible. There's nothing like that. We usually always have an answer for pressures, all-out blitz and things like that. So that's on me to get to the right guy."
So much of what you do and had success with it is timing based. When you're cycling through so many different receivers, what kind of challenge is that to get on the same page timing-wise and then a week like this week when you know there are going to probably be some new faces in there, do you do more and stay after practice, anything like that?
"Yeah, I mean it's huge. When you've got some young guys that come in and you're used to throwing to [WR Brandon Aiyuk] B.A., [WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.], [WR Jauan Jennings] J.J. and just you understand how they move in routes and their landmark and depths and just the timing of a concept and route. And then you get new guys coming in that you haven't gotten many reps with, it is tough. And so I think this week at practice, throwing a [WR] Jake Cowing, more with [WR] Ricky [Pearsall], [WR] Chris Conley, those guys, it's been good just to see how they move and they're getting in and out of their breaks and me being on time and leading them. So those are huge things that you've got to build on and rep throughout the week in practice. And so during the game, if you get guys thrown in there randomly, it is tough, but at the same time, you've just got to make it happen. And there's always coaching of, 'Hey, this is the amount of steps, the depth, the landmark.' So you can go off those things, but at the same time everybody runs a little bit differently. So, it's huge for a quarterback and receiver to be on the same page in that regard."
Do you talk to them about what you like on certain looks if they have multiple ways they can run it? Have you talked to those guys about certain plays you like it this way?
"Yeah. This week at practice it's been good just getting into certain situations and reps where we're thinking I'm going to go to this receiver in a certain look and then after practice, running a couple routes or talking to those guys about, 'Hey, this is what I'm expecting and how are you seeing it as a receiver?' And we just get on the same page and I think that's huge. So like I said, we've got some young guys that are stepping into those roles and for me it's huge understanding how they think and then vice versa. So, it's very vital."
As someone who did step into a role and was kind of thrown into a role like that, do you think that you're kind of uniquely qualified to talk to them about that and help them navigate all of that?
"For sure. I think just the two-and-a-half years of playing so far in this system, understanding my timing, my rhythm within this offense with new guys coming in, I can definitely tell them like, 'Hey, this is what B.A. has done really well, J.J., Deebo and this is where I'm expecting you guys to be.' So, they're all ears. They listen real well. They're willing to be coached, which is great. And more than anything, we just want to win. So, we've got the right core group of guys, young guys coming in that are willing to do what it takes and listen. So that's been the blessing with the guys that I'm working with."
How is your process of determining where to throw the ball different against man coverage as opposed to zone coverage?
"I would just say man coverage, it depends. Are they doubling a guy? Are they not? What's the leverage? And then what's our matchup? Is it a linebacker on a tight end or safety on a tight end? There's a lot of things that go into that and what's my best matchup in this situation? Obviously, there's a lot of other things that come into factor with that, with safety leverage and all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, man coverage is trying to find your best matchup and a guy that can create separation versus zone coverage you're just trying to be on time and throw to spots and windows. So, I feel like that's like the biggest difference."
You seem like a guy that's pretty big on his faith. Having had a tough game against Kansas City last week and needing to kind of recalibrate, refocus, having to go up against the Cowboys, but kind of in the same scenario or situation as you just touched on with some of the younger guys as targets, how have you kind of relied on your faith to kind of get your mind back where it needs to be going into this one before the Bye week?
"Yeah, it's huge. Obviously, I know who I am and what my foundation's built on. So for me, you go through some tough games and games that you really want to win for the guys that you're playing with, the fan base, everything, you take pride in that in the position that you're playing. But at the same time, it's all, for me I look at it as this is all about growth and putting my faith in God and understanding that this whole thing is a process. I'm not going to get the result right now and that I've got to work for it and grow. And maybe he's preparing me and our team for something down the road. And so, that's how I'm looking at it, that's the hope that I have. But more than anything, that also pushes me to be on top of my stuff today and push the guys around me, bring up the young guys and continue to chip away every day at our process. We lost last week, we're not where we want to be, but we understand that we have what it takes and we've just go to keep going one day at a time and that's the faith that I have."
A popular topic on sports talk radio is, depending on how you play, will you get a $43 million a year extension or 58 or 62 or whatever? It all sounds pretty good, but does that even get into the back of your mind during the season?
"No. For me, I had to play better against the Chiefs last week. And for me, I'm like, 'Dude, I've got to be better for my team right now, for the Dallas Cowboys coming up.' I'm always trying to find an edge to myself in my game, not thinking about what next year holds. We're trying to win this Sunday and trying to get our record to get going up. And that's where my mindset is at. I'm focused on my team, on this year and that's final. That's it."
Do you have a relationship with Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott where you would text him after he signed a $60 million a year deal or are your interactions limited to just the two times you've faced off?
"Yeah, just playing the game is all I've done interaction-wise and seeing him after. That's it."
Let me ask it this way. Because you've now faced the Cowboys in the regular season and playoffs, so you kind of have a sense of what this rivalry is and everything. Going into those games, did people hit you up to try to fill you in on 49ers-Cowboys? Did former NFL QB Steve Young or somebody try to get you fired up to beat the Cowboys?
"It was more so just our team meetings and stuff. [Head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] showed some games from like the nineties and the playoff game that they had played in 2021 and just what it meant going into our playoff game in 2022. So that sort of filled me in on, oh man, there's a lot of history with these two organizations. And I remember growing up just watching some games with them and it just meant so much every time they played and faced off. So for me, it was the same thing as last year. And then even for this game, Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys as a 49er, it's really special. And so, we all take pride in that and are thankful to be able to play in this game. And yeah, it's a rivalry, so there's nothing better than that."
On the ball to Conley against Kansas City Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie, one-on-one. It looked like you had TE George Kittle open on the out to a flat. It seems like your natural thing is to be aggressive. Do you have to fight aggressiveness, attacking downfield with conservative check it down? How do you balance that?
"I think it's situational football. What's the matchup? Where are we at in the game? Trying to move the chains, are we trying to get a chunk here on a matchup that we like? It's handling all those kinds of things. And for me, I like the press matchup against McDuffie with Chris. Chris and I have, we've hit a lot of plays like that at practice and we just didn't connect on it. Looking back on it on film, we had George in the flat to maybe move the chains and get us in third-and-manageable. Those are all decisions and factors that you've got to watch the film and be like, 'Alright, how can I be better next time?' And so for me, I look at it not going I should have done this or that? But looking at it like, alright, the next time I'm in this situation let's think about it and am I going to be aggressive or am I going to take this checkdown here and manage it a little bit better? So those are the things that I watch on film."
