San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen, offensive line/run game coordinator Chris Foerster, and quarterback Brock Purdy spoke to reporters after Friday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 17 matchup against the Detroit Lions. Here's everything they said.
Transcripts provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen
This offense of the Lions, has it changed much since you guys game planned for them last year?
"Yeah, they're pretty consistent with overall scheme. They obviously do a few different things for each team that they play and they have great talent everywhere. [Detroit Lions offensive coordinator] Ben Johnson's a really good coordinator. He knows exactly what he's doing. He knows how to game plan for you and then he's got his wrinkles that everyone sees and those big highlight plays that are so different and creative. So, it's a tough task because they've got great scheme, great coaching all the way around, top to bottom and really good players on every level."
You talk about those wrinkles, do you think that's part of the plan is just to get opposing defenses wasting time during the week trying to figure out all the scenarios?
"I mean, there's probably some aspect to that, but I think it's just he sees something and has ideas and is creative with it and just thinks of different ways to get guys involved. I think it's about the players that he has, but also something that he sees and might be able to expose."
How much do you have to take into account just the willingness to go for it on fourth down as much as they do? I know last year it worked to your advantage a little bit, but just when you're game planning, thinking it's not just going to be three.
"You definitely have to be mindful of it. Really in any team that you play, you've always got to understand where you are in the field, what's the personality of the head coach, the play caller and how they might set themselves up if they're in that position to go for it? It also depends on what time of the game. With these guys, they have gone for it a lot. They are aggressive. They've been very successful and it's worked for them a lot."
LB Dee Winters had a career high tackles against the Dolphins. Are you happy with how he's developed? Can you kind of talk about what he's done since the beginning of the season when it seemed like he was maybe going real fast and sometimes going beyond plays and things like that?
"With him, it was early on it was he was still young and developing and he had some injuries here and there through camp and early in the season that he's been dealing with. So, with any player they need reps. He gets better every week. I'm just excited to see how he's going do these next couple weeks."
What's unique about Ben Johnson's scheme?
"Unique is he'll change, he'll tweak little things with who he's playing, I think, with some of the blocking. But as far as like the outside zone, the players he has and how he uses them it's just what he does in certain parts of the field. It's fairly simple as far as they're consistent in how they do things, but they have enough wrinkles to where they just execute well. So you know that they're on it, they're well coached. Like I said, from front to back, starting with the line, really good offensive line, probably the best in the league. And then you pair that with, how the quarterback operates in [Detroit Lions QB Jared] Goff and when they can run it and they can play-action pass they're really, really tough."
You guys have gone five straight games without an interception. It's not a new emphasis, but what can you guys do? Do you study more film to try to find extra ways to get to this possible quarterback?
"With getting the ball, first you've got to catch the ones that are thrown to you. If you have ops make them and then if you don't you've got to figure out a way to create them. And a lot of times there's been so many close calls, whether it's around the quarterback and just finishing. I think the process and the mindset of the guys is right. It just hasn't happened. There's been a few drops, there's been a few times that we're really close or the ball has come out, it's been on the ground or you can see if you really look at it, you can see the ball moving. We had some good punches and rips and strips the last couple weeks. It just hasn't come out. Or even on some of the contact fumbles that you'll see and just kind of take for granted when you see those on different games for different people and it just hasn't quite popped out like that for us. So, with the guys I keep emphasizing taking your shots and keep punching and keep being as pinpoint accurate as you can when you're doing it."
CB Renardo Green has somewhat quietly put together a nice season. What would you like to see from him in these next two weeks to kind of propel him into next year?
"Just the improvement and the confidence to keep going up because he is very confident. I love how competitive he was. He had a really good game last week actually in the coverage and the tackling. We believe that's who he is. And just with anybody, first, let's start with Detroit and have a really good game, this one."
What have you learned, if anything, just in the past year? Not that you weren't a coach before, but you weren't a coordinator. Just about this job, anything that you learned like 'I'll tweak this next year' or 'this really worked well?'
"A lot would be the answer. It's not really one thing. I think you're always learning no matter what position you're in, but you think you know going into it and you kind of prepare for it, but I think you have to really be able to roll with the punches and be as flexible as possible and continue learning. I think that's the most important thing that I've learned that I've got to keep learning and keep growing and being on top of situations where you might, always picturing personnel stuff because we had so much of it this year. So it kind of happened a few times early in the year and it really helped me moving forward. I think that's where the special teams side helped too is you always have to kind of be looking at who can go where. And I think we just kept pushing, guys getting reps in different positions more because it happened a lot, whether it was during the week having injuries or in game having injuries and you only have a certain amount of guys up. And I think that was a good growing process for us this year."
For example, having flexibility as far as, 'hey, have this guy maybe take a few steps here in practice,' that type of thing?
"Yeah, which is kind of how we approached it. Even with Renardo coming in, you kind of know like guys have to have that flexibility, but it just happened more often this year, I think. And that was one of many things I learned this year."
Along those lines, how much of your calls during a game are kind of pre-planned 'this down and distance, this part of the field we're going to do this' as opposed to in the moment what your gut tells you?
"I think going into a game, most of it is pretty much you've got your pecking order, how you want to do it. And then you try to think ahead of 'if they're doing this, I'm going to go to this.' There's not a whole lot of big, huge adjustments. We're doing it within each drive. It's not just like halftime, it's like this one time where you have to do something. If there's in between drives, we need to do it. We talk about it, handle it on each drive on the sideline. If we don't, we've pre-planned like, 'hey, if they do this, we'll go to this, this is the next one in this order.' So, a lot of that stuff is pre-planned and sometimes you're like, 'hey, we've got to try something different.' But for the most part, you'd like to feel like you've prepared and pre-planned for a lot of those different adjustments that can happen."
Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Chris Foerster
With all the injuries, has it been a challenge for you, as far as just trying to figure out how the pieces fit?
"Well, it's been a challenge. But last week was the first time, I mean, believe me, I've been in a few games where we finished with a tight end at tackle, so it's happened before, where you lose two or three players in game. Just to lose three players that are pretty much out, out that's the hard part. So three guys that were starting on a team that already had guys down. Right now, if you took the guys that are, and I'm not sure of everybody's status, but you got [T] Trent [Williams], [OL Jon] Feliciano, [OL Spencer] Burford, [OL Jaylon] Moore and [OL Aaron] Banks, that's a starting lineup. Some of you would've been lobbying that being a starting lineup this season. So again, it's a pretty good group of guys and unfortunately they're down. It's a challenge for me, but it's a great opportunity for the guys. The way I look at it is, you've got guys right now, they're going to get in the lineup to have an opportunity to show what they can do. Guys that normally wouldn't get a chance to play, get a chance to play. Guys that get a chance to be exposed to the whole league and show that they can compete at a very high level against a really good football team. Even though the season for us isn't, we're not playing for spots in the playoffs and things like that, but it's still a very, very important game for those players, for all of us to continue to put forward good film and set our best foot forward going forward. So I'm really excited for the guys, and I look at it as a challenge. Obviously, you want to have your best players out there, the best five. I feel really, really badly for the guys that are hurt. I think Banks is going to be okay. I was just so really, really distraught to think that he might have had a long-term knee injury and it seems like it's something that won't be as long-term. We'll keep our fingers crossed on that. So yeah, challenging is a good word but encouraged and excited, really, for the guys to get the opportunity to go out there and compete and see how they can perform against a really good football team."
In all the contingency plans that I'm sure you're going through, is keeping OL Dominick Puni at right guard and OL Jake Brendel at center, are they locked in or is that something where you may have to move those?
"I'm trying to lock them in, yeah, because you're trying to have as consistent play as you can from the two positions. You don't want to make it more inconsistent. You like to move as few pieces as you can. So at least those pieces stay the same. And then we're plugging in three guys around them"
Head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned yesterday that you guys have had your eye on OL Matt Hennessy for a little while. What do you like about him? How long have you been following him?
"Well, the draft, obviously. The one good thing with Coach Shanahan and what we've done here is that we've always been very involved in the draft with [president of football operations/general manager] John [Lynch] and the personnel department. And so you've done, you always have a big list of guys. I don't remember if I did Matt when I was here, or I was somewhere, I don't remember when Matt, I don't remember Matt's year off the top of my head. But I remember talking with [Miami Dolphins head coach Mike] McDaniel about him and talking with Kyle. We all kind of looked at him and said, 'Man, we really like this guy.' It's like when [Minnesota Vikings OL Garrett] Bradbury came out, the kid in Minnesota, same thing, a good fit for our system, a good player for our system. And Matt was that player. We really had high hopes for him. They took him in Atlanta, he was a good fit for them, but then they drafted another good fit, which was [Atlanta Falcons OL Drew] Dalman from Stanford. And then they put him at center, they moved Matt to guard. Matt's more of a center than a guard, so whatever's happened with his crew then. So it's really exciting and because of the putting guys on IR, we're able to claim, you're not necessarily getting guys off waivers that are tryout players, you're getting draft picks. [OL] Charlie Heck was a pick, Matt Hennessy was a pick. You're getting some guys in here that are legitimate. They were drafted players with high stock in the draft. So Matt's been a guy that we've always liked, is a good fit for us. And meeting him, I have not been disappointed at all. He is a good fit."
You may have been asked this before through the years, if TE George Kittle were to have gained weight, probably a substantial amount of weight, could he have been a really good offensive lineman?
"Good question. George has a character trait that doesn't lend to offensive line play sometimes. He's a wild man, he's crazy, he's fighting. I'm not saying offensive lineman, just like D-Lineman do, an O-Lineman, there's just a little bit of a calmer, there's a lot going on. There's a lot, there's a little bit more thinking. And George is a very smart football player, I'm not saying that at all. I think George would be, George could have been a good offensive lineman. You would've had to corral him in a lot though. He loves to block. He's a physical player. Obviously, he would've to put on a lot of weight to do that. But he definitely has the great block skills and a great attitude about being a good blocker. It's really important to him."
When he doesn't play, how big a deal is that to the run game?
"Big, really big. And our, we filled in, obviously, behind him but they're not, I'd say, last year when [Atlanta Falcons TE] Charlie [Woerner] was here, Charlie was much more of a blocking tight end. And we filled in now and our other guys aren't as much of blocking tight ends. So George really holds up his end of the deal on that. The other guys are more move guys and do a nice job with all that. They're more apt to be able to line up in the backfield and do that, where Charlie was less likely to do that, where Charlie was more of an inline and true Y type player if you're gonna categorize him in any certain way. So it makes a big difference if George isn't out there."
The discussion this week is, with the offensive line in flux, how do you protect QB Brock Purdy? How much does Brock have to help your guys out as well? Because they're so new to this, or some of them will be so new.
"Yeah. And obviously this week is, we've got a huge challenge in front of us with the team coming in, a great football team, a good defense. And as I've said before, I think sacks, pressures, hits, it's a team thing. That sounds like the line coach deferring, and I've told the story before that I got chewed out for it by [former NFL coach] Monte Kiffin a long time ago, I'm not deflecting. We have our responsibility, but so does, 'Hey, the ball should have been thrown on the first hitch. The ball should have been thrown as soon as his back foot hit. The first read was open or the first read busted.' So Brock had nowhere to go with the ball, so then he has to try to get to three, four, five and then the pocket breaks down. Well is that the pocket? Is it the first receiver who would've been wide open but busted? Was it the quarterback misses the read? It's a hot throw, he gets sacked. Do you see what I'm saying? It's endless as to what could happen in a play. And then all of a sudden, a ball gets tipped and there's an interception. So all those things fit together to say, whose fault is it? Every play stands alone. It's really hard to say. Obviously, when a guy gets beat one-on-one, we all can see that he gets beat and he sacks the quarterback or hits the quarterback and causes a problem. So it's a team goal always. And I'd say this week it's imperative that everybody else be on point to pick up the slack or we do things to possibly help the guys on the edges if we can, the new guys we have starting throughout the line."
How much discussion do you and Kyle have before that of Kyle asking you what are you guys capable of? What can I call?
"He's very aware, so he rarely comes to me and asks. He knows the situation. The question may be more like can we hold up at all? Are we going to -- no, I'm joking. It's not that. Kyle's very aware of what the situation is and Kyle's very aware of the situation, what we have up front and what we're trying to get done. But I'd say the guys that we have in there are obviously, [OL] Nick Zakelj has been here for a reason, he's a backup and he'll get his chance to start. We have Hennessy in here, who is learning quickly. Charlie Heck, [OL] Austen [Pleasants] at left tackle. We've got some guys in here that have played a little bit of football. And we feel pretty good with [OL Colton] McKivitz and then Puni and Jake's still there. So, it's not easy. We've definitely lost a lot of players. I couldn't have felt better about the group we had coming into the season. I said it before, I think we had nine legitimate starters on our football team, nine guys that were starters in the NFL, in my opinion. And that's really, that was a good depth to have and to think that that depth has been blown out of the water and we now have five guys sitting over there that aren't going to probably play again, although there's still some questions on some of those guys, that's a lot of guys. But that doesn't matter. And nobody, like I say all the time, the film is going to go up, whenever this game's played, Monday Night Football in front of the world, we'll play the game, it'll be what it'll be, win, lose or draw. And then you go up there in a month or so, everybody's going to be evaluating film around the league and everybody's going to look at that film and they're not going to care what is what. They're going to look at each guy individually. They're going to look at his ability, they're going to look at his talent, look if he blocked the guy, who didn't and nobody's going to care about the situation. Nobody's going to care who was healthy, who wasn't, when you got there, what you did, they're just going to evaluate you as the player you are that day. And so it's kind of unforgiving that way. You've got to go out and put your best foot forward and I've got to give them a chance. I've got to give them a chance to, we've all got to piece this thing together to find a way to win a game with less than. I remember we were in Tampa, we could not beat Green Bay for life of us. It was a really good team. And we were a decent playoff team too in Tampa at the time. And we finally played them in Tampa and beat them and it wasn't because it was a hot day, it was a night game or 4:15pm kickoff, something like that. And we had three backups on the offensive line that that day starting. They'd been on our team all year, that's different than guys that showed up this week, but three backups. That was the first time we beat them in like six tries. It was fun, it was unbelievable. And how we got it done, it was crazy how it got done, but it got done. And I'm not predicting anything this week. I'm just saying that I've been on a team before where you played with backups and you somehow managed. Everything clicked right. You got the ball out of your hand, you threw it on time, did what you were supposed to do. And the guys got in the way long enough for us to get it done and be productive enough now. The runners had to make plays, the quarterbacks, receivers had to make plays, but the guys were able to hang in there. And it was, funny story was the one time we beat them and like the first six tries."
QB Brock Purdy
Obviously you're behind a different offensive line right now, so how do you kind of brace for that or help support them to get through the growing pains?
"For me, it's just about doing my job, not doing anything uncharacteristic and trying to do too much. It's go through my reads, get the ball out and help them out and help get them into a rhythm. Obviously in the run game and stuff allow them to get into a rhythm. But when it comes to the pass game, definitely I could do my part in getting the ball out and being on time and help them establish their feet within the game and just continue to build them up."
TE George Kittle was just saying he feels like the Lions feel like they let you guys have one last year, obviously in the NFC Championship Game and want to come in here and probably beat you by 30 points is what they're going to try to do. How do you guys, in the situation you're in, kind of try to match the intensity of a team that may have all those things going for them in a game like this?
"Obviously last year, NFC Championship Game, there's a lot of emotions that go into that, especially when we were able to go the Super Bowl from it and their season was ended. So we obviously know how that feels, for us the year before with Philadelphia and that kind of thing. It's definitely a thing and we have to be ready for it. And more than anything, it's how can we come in and ready to battle these guys for four quarters and do what we can to obviously win and walk out and create some momentum for us, our organization moving forward and play for each other. We've got nothing but real strong love in this locker room. So to go out there and play for each other and do what it takes to win at Levi's, at home, that's everything for us. So, that's our mindset going into it. We know that they're going to come in with a heavy heart from last year and ready to go for this game, but that's what makes this league exciting. Monday Night Football, and it'll be fun."
George also just said that you talked about how you grew up wanting to play Monday Night Football. Can you just take us through what that experience is like and what your first one was like and how you get geared up for that this week?
"Growing up you just hear the chime and stuff. The school week has started and you sit down and watch the primetime game, Monday Night. So I was just telling all the guys our season, it's been tough and just the way, how it's gone, but we've got two games left. We've got a Monday Night game in front of everybody to go out and live a childhood dream. We're all in our twenties and thirties, playing football for our job. So let's go out there, and we've got such a great opportunity in front of us to go and enjoy this game and compete and this is what we do for our job so let's enjoy it together. And so, the little kid in me is always pumped for these kind of games and stuff. I'll never take it for granted. More than anything, I just want Levi's to get rolling and rocking and I want to do my part in helping it get to that point. That's how I'm looking at this game and I know all my teammates are too. So we're excited for it."
Is your throwing arm 100-percent healthy or is it healthy enough?
"It's 100-percent healthy."
What has been your take on the offensive line? Three new guys on the 53-man who weren't even here a week ago. What did you do to kind of welcome those guys in? I'm assuming you didn't give them a truck, but what's it been like to get up to speed with those guys and kind of welcome them into the room?
"It's just always welcome in with open arms and this is who we are, this is what we do, and more than anything, we play together. And so, they all know that, they've come in and they felt it and no one here has had their head down and sorry for themselves about anything. It's like we've got another game on the schedule and we're coming in ready to go. And so, I think those guys have felt that and they know what they have to do for us in order to be successful in doing their job. More than anything, it's just communicating with them, telling them about cadence and timing of plays and just helping them out in that regard and talking to them at lunch and stuff and getting to know them. It's new, it's different, it's a tough situation, but this is the NFL. So we've got to adapt and be ready to go."
There's so many different guys on the defensive front seven as opposed to the NFC Championship Game. Was there film study on that game even? Does it give you some actually feel good vibes kind of knowing that was one of the best wins, if not the best wins you've had?
"Yeah, I've gone back and watched that just to sort of see how they played against us and what they did against our scheme. So we've seen some stuff from last year. But at the same time, the personnel's a little different especially up front and everything. But more than anything we're going to go into it based off of the stuff that they've done this year with the guys that they have currently playing and go from there. But, we definitely respect them. They all play together really well. They've been in the system for a while and more than anything, I just feel like they play together as a team. They're aggressive in what they do both on offense and defense and they do what it takes to win games. They've done it time and time again every week. So for us on offense, it's going to be a good challenge. Obviously we've got some new guys on our side of the ball. So overall it's going to be a good matchup."
Do you seek out the new offensive line at lunch to get to know them as you said?
"Yeah, at all the meals and stuff, just getting to know them and sitting down and talking. We all, quarterbacks, tight ends, linemen, we all sit together when we eat and stuff. Our schedule's all pretty similar. So that, in passing, getting to know them in the locker room, all the moments that we get off just obviously introducing each other and knowing that we've got to step on the field and go to go to war together. So yeah, it's important."
Sounds like OL Charlie Heck, in particular, is familiar with the offense having played under Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik last year. Can you kind of sense that being out there with him?
"Yeah, he definitely has the, just the veteranness to him where he's been through the league and understands what it takes. Getting in and out of huddles, hearing plays, he just, he looks like a professional, for sure. So, excited to have him."
There are countless examples of this, but George seems like an extremely loyal teammate. From your experience, how has that kind of showed through in your relationship?
"Dude, he's been great to me regardless of the circumstances of winning or losing He sees something in me that's pretty good. And he's just been nothing but great encouragement to me. He's real to me about what I can do and where I can get better. He's real and that's why I love him. And more than anything, he's a guy that's going to do anything for you when you step on the field. Off the field he's got your back. And for our team, man, we've been in some tough situations this year and that dude has been one of the dudes that comes to work every single day. All the guys have, but George especially, every Sunday he shows up and he's doing the dirty work, he's blocking, he's making tough plays, he's catching the ball, breaking tackles. George has done it all. And so, we're all extremely blessed to have George as a teammate and look up to him a lot. And to be able to, going through this kind of stuff is tough, but when you have guys like George, [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice, [LB] Fred [Warner], [DL Nick] Bosa, guys that care for this organization, this team, they're brothers. They make it worth coming to work for. And so, very thankful for all of them."
