San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to reporters ahead of Wednesday's practice as the team prepares for its Week 18 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Here's everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Alright, [OL] Spencer Burford, calf, will not practice, [LB Demetrius] Flannigan-Fowles, calf, no practice, [QB Brock] Purdy, elbow, no practice, [DL] Robert Beal [Jr.], ankle, no practice, [DL] Leonard Floyd, shoulder, no practice, [OL Colton] McKivitz, knee, no practice, [DL Nick] Bosa, knee, no practice, [WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.], rib/wrist, no practice, [TE George] Kittle, ankle/hamstring, no practice, [DB Deommodore Lenoir] Dmo, shoulder, no practice, [CB Isaac] Yiadom, pelvis, no practice, [WR] Ricky [Pearsall], illness/chest, limited, [S] Ji'Ayir Brown, ankle, limited. That's it."
Will you be practicing today?
"Yes, I'm ready to go."
Have you made a decision on the starting quarterback for Sunday?
"Yes."
Willing to share that?
"I guess. [QB Joshua] Dobbs."
Is that offensive-line related?
"Yes."
What have you seen from him in practices this season?
"He's been great, him and [QB] Brandon [Allen]. They've been two good guys to have there. I've kind of looked at both of them as our two throughout the year. Kind of a little bit what I said in preseason. But they both have done really good looks on scout team, they split all the reps there. They're always ready. They both prepare like they're going to be a starter every week, so they've been great."
And you kept QB Tanner Mordecai also on practice squad. Was it different having four quarterbacks, carrying that all the way through the season?
"Just because we didn't want to lose Tanner. It's always tough having four, just because of the reps. So I mean, that's kind of, [Minnesota Vikings QB] Nick Mullens his first year, I think he was the fourth and he got scout-team reps at safety until basically his first start. So that does happen. You've got to find ways to get the work in, but he's taken advantage of his time here too."
Is this week sort of an opportunity to get a lot of young players reps with the first-team in practice and in-game?
"Not really. You just, rosters aren't built like that. You get to sit five to seven guys. You can sit seven if you bring up two practice squad guys. You don't just sit there and tell every guy who is a veteran he's going to be the backup and play special teams. Guys are banged up and stuff like that where they've just been barely getting to gameday and things like that. You've got to be smart with those things and that kind of, wouldn't want to play any of those guys or anything like that. But it's not what people think. We don't have rosters like that really anywhere. And you've got to balance it out to make sure you've got 48 guys who can play."
Some of those guys like Deebo and Kittle and Nick, is that more, are you worried about their availability for this week or is it just because of the short turnaround?
"We're only a day removed, so I think that's why there's a lot more on there than usual. But yeah, with it being a short week and where we're at here being the last game of the season, we're not going to ask guys to play through some injuries and stuff like that. None of these are too serious, some are more serious than others. Hopefully these guys feel better as the week goes and can get into practice tomorrow."
Brock mentioned that over the course of the season, him and Ricky stayed after to build that chemistry, run extra routes. Is that something that you encourage your young wide receivers to do with their quarterback or was that entirely self-motivated?
"It's something I encourage everybody to do. Veterans, wide receivers, running backs. If you want to really detail stuff and get really good at your craft, you've got to always put in the extra work. There's not, especially when you don't get an offseason. The offseason is where you hope that you can get one. With the rules, you hope you can get it in OTAs and you hope you get in training camp. That's really where you develop the muscle memory. In the season, you're kind of just running a few reps, trying to get ready for the looks that are on game day. So if you ever want to go over extra stuff, it always has to be after, it has to be extra. It gets harder as the season goes because guys do tire out. But I think that's one of the most important things between a quarterback and everyone he throws to."
Is there any reason you kind of got away from the run in the second half of the game?
"Yeah, because I thought we needed to throw it to win. I think I threw it like 16 times in a row, which I think, I didn't plan on doing that, but also didn't plan on having some of those penalties. Got into some second-and-20s, got into, we had a first-and-15, then a delay of a game that went into a second-and-20, then we had a two-minute drive trying to come back down two scores. So I think that's why it got out of hand. But our plan going into that game was we knew we were going to have to throw it a lot more to win."
Is that at all related to new offensive linemen, that teaching the new guys the run game is a little harder than pass protection?
"To a degree. But it also has to do with how their defense was built. I thought it was easier to get yards throwing the ball than running. And when you're in a game where you feel you've got to score every series, you're not going to be as patient with something that, I mean, they're a real good run defense, the way they commit to it. I think they were fourth in the league. Regardless of their injuries, their style of defense is tough to run the ball against. And when you have some different O-Linemen in there, it's a little tougher to block against. And the combination of that, with what I thought we could do in the pass game, I was going to take the higher percentage plays to attempt to try to score over 40."
I think going into the 2018 finale, you knew that George Kittle was close to that record and you made it a point to get him the ball. Are there any things that you're kind of aware of going into this game? If a guy's close to a milestone, will there be somebody in your ear during the game that says, 'Hey, WR Jauan Jennings eight more yards to reach a thousand' that sort of thing?
"Yeah, 77. I'll keep that down. I'm sure Jauan will tell me too. But yeah, you always want to do that stuff for guys, especially in a situation where you can think about it. It's insulting to think about it just to the situation everyone, if you're competing for a playoff spot or something like that, but always. I would love to help that out for guys. You've got to be somewhat careful of it. I remember last year watching the Rams trying to get [Los Angeles Rams WR] Puka [Nacua] the record, which I know they wanted to get him in and out. So we were doing everything we could to deny him the ball. I remember he came to the sidelines on like a one-yard gain and I told him, I was like, 'yeah, [Los Angeles Rams head coach] Sean's [McVay] going to have to play you to the end of this game because we're not giving you your record. And he just laughed and I laughed at it. We're not playing the next week, so I'd love to help guys do that out."
Will you assess yourself this offseason, how you feel you did compared to other seasons that you've had in the NFL? You've been around so long. Wondering if that's a process that you would do and if that would be tough?
"No, I'm not going to do that this year. Yeah, I do that every day, every year, every play every second."
Running backs coach Robert Turner Jr., he's the oldest position coach in the NFL. I know he's very routine-oriented. Has he changed at all this year as far as his energy, his process or is he just a clock?
"He is definitely like a clock. Bobby had got some surgeries a couple years ago, take care of his knees and stuff like that and now he's got a pep back in his step. He's not limping, he's moving good. I think Bobby seems closer now than how he did when I first started working with him, 15 or 10 years ago. How many ever years ago it was in Washington was the first time I worked with him. I think he's closer to that now than he was two years ago."
What's your favorite Bobby T memory?
"There's a new one every day. I don't have one in particular. Probably listening to him in the office next to me talk to Siri and ask Siri how to get a Peach Pass to avoid the traffic when we lived in Georgia together. And I finally had to go and tell him Siri can't do that. And to listen to him explain it to Siri, 'No the lane with the peaches on the road' and 'I want one of the passes to avoid the traffic.' And so, we had to help him out with that. But that was Bobby with technology, and he's gotten better with it. But little things like that we get a kick out of."
Are you frustrated with your individual performance this season or do you feel like you control the things you could control?
you can figure that out."
On the play that Brock got hurt, the safety blitzes from the slot. I don't think Brock can see him, it's to his blindside. What's the responsibility on a blitz like that?
"You're hot. They brought two to the back. You need to throw it hot. He didn't see it. You need to see it. The O-Line ended up falling into the MIKE blitzing and then hopefully the halfback can save that since O-Line took his guy and they can fall into that. But you're hot on the situation and you need to get rid of it."
Did the halfback do the right thing?
"Yeah, he tried to get to him, but you can't count on it. There's two guys coming and got to get rid of the ball."
