On what jumped out about the San Francisco 49ers when he reviewed their game film: “What jumps out is the one who’s not there and that’s (Nick) Bosa, which we know is going to be back. I think (49ers Defensive Coordinator) DeMeco Ryans is putting his own kind of spin or flavor on this defense. There are a lot of similarities, yet, I think there are things that he’s wanting to be more aggressive with. We won’t know that entirely until we get into the game against him, but I know we have to prepare for everything. It’s an attacking-style defense and they’ve got certainly some pieces up front. They’ve got a damn good middle linebacker and a pretty good secondary. That’s just on the defensive front. Obviously, offensively, I think that there are very few that do a better job than (49ers Head Coach Kyle) Shanahan offensively. He’s got weapons, starts with (George) Kittle. The things they’re able to do, mix up the run game, play pass, and a lot of eye candy to try to get your defense on its heels, this is a huge test for us. This is a good team and it’s a well-coached team.” On if he was concerned about potential positive COVID-19 tests following the weekend off: “No. No worries. We came out fine. We came out good. We’re happy about that for sure.” On if he has to prepare for both 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo and QB Trey Lance: “Yeah, I think you’ve got to prepare for both. You have to assume that they may try to mix him in there and use him a little bit. We’ll make sure that we’ve taken care of some of that. We’ve been working that style of offense a little bit in camp just in general against our own offense. Our defense has seen it, but certainly you have to prepare for it. It’s something that kid can do and does pretty well and he’s got good athletic ability and so you have to at least present it to your players for sure.” On if his concerns about RB D’Andre Swift’s injury have been alleviated: “To be honest with you, I don’t know if I’ll ever be completely – feel completely great about everything because there’s always work to be done and you always feel like you can be better no matter how good you are. Certainly, I feel like we’re in a better place than we were a week ago when we talked, but now at least we can start honing in on the opponent and what they do and how we want to attack that opponent. We still – there are things in flux. We’ve got a couple new receivers in the building and getting them up to speed, which both of them are smart players, but it’s, ‘How fast can we get them up to speed, ready to go?’ There again, just putting our pieces together and putting our playmakers in position to help us win, that’s kind of the next piece to this. We’ll do a little bit today, just kind of an introduction to it, but then certainly Wednesday, they’ll get the bulk of the game plan.” On his memories of his former teammate and WR David Patten who recently passed away: “That was tough. David was one – David was actually one of the first guys that – he was a veteran receiver when I got there and I just remember he really didn’t have a bad day. He was always in good spirits, always up-beat, always worked his tail off, gave everything he had, a family man. He was just one of those guys that lived life to the fullest and it’s – I got wind of it two days ago and I couldn’t believe it. But I appreciate that. He was a great teammate.” On how much the coaching staff can close the gap on opponents with a young roster: “Let me start with this, I know this, if you don’t have talent, it doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are. In this League, you’ll get beat. So, you’ve got to have talent and I do like the young talent here and I think certainly – I do think you can close the gap. If you have guys that can teach them just the fundamentals of it, the fundamentals of what you’re trying to do scheme-wise, what the offense or defense is doing to you, and you can learn and grow quickly, and I made that comment last week about, ‘The important thing is that you don’t make the same mistake twice because if you can do that and not lose confidence, I think you can grow quickly.’ I think a lot of guys can. We won’t entirely know right now, but I do think the young guys that we’ve kept and that we want to give a chance here and help us, I think they’re cut the right way. I think these are guys that if some bad stuff happens, they’re going to come back stronger for it and they’re not going to get down in the dumps. They’re not going to get beat down. They’re not going to let it affect them. I think that in itself is huge because that’s how you just keep coming back the next week, come back better than you were the week before. As a team, we get that way. I do think coaching plays into that.” On what part of 49ers WR Deebo Samuel’s game makes him unique: “I remember when he was coming out I loved the player, too. I know we did when I was at New Orleans. But I think what makes him unique is his ability to carry the football. Not just run after catch, but his ability to – his turbo, these fly sweeps, he can do some things out of the backfield as a runner and a route runner, and I just think there’s a ton of versatility with him. When you can use a guy like that as a – shoot man, call it – he’s like a punt returner, but on your offense. You can get him in space, you can throw him bubbles, you can give him the fly sweeps, you can put him in the backfield, you can hand him the ball a little bit if you want to, but you can also let him run the routes. I think that it brings another dimension to your offense, and I think maybe that’s – I know for me, that’s what makes it hard from a defensive perspective watching him is there are so many different things you can do to him and when he gets on the perimeter and he’s into it and he’s got his speed built up, he’s dangerous. I think that’s what it is. It’s his versatility.” On how he prepares a roster for the wrinkles 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan brings to a game: “I think there’s a lot of it you have to just give them a base rule on a number of these things. I mentioned eye candy, they’re going to give you some eye candy. They’ll do the fake sweeps, the fake jet sweep motion, try to pull your eyes or see if you’re undisciplined, ‘Are your eyes going to follow him instead of following your run key or your description is in the pass?’ I think they do that and then they know how to cut the defense. They can get you moving one way and then they bring the fullback back, they bring (Kyle Juszczyk) 44 back and they’ll slice you on the backside of some of these runs, they’ll bring that turbo motion, get your eyes moving this way and they’ll toss the ball to the ball carrier moving the same way with the casper motion and then he puts his foot in the ground, brings it back, and here comes the fullback back and he’s cutting the defense. So, your backers are running, your secondary’s running and next thing you know, they’ve got an open lane. I think they are as good as anybody with some of this downhill run, but then they’ll stretch, stretch, stretch, and then they’ll stretch and bring misdirection, whether it’s with toss or some of the other things they do. Then on top of all of that, they build their play-action pass game, their run-action pass game off of all of the same stuff. It’s easy to say, if you can stop the run game, then it’s going to make your life a lot easier. It’ll make it a lot easier, but that’s easier said than done. These guys on defense, our guys, they’re going to have to be very disciplined with what their keys are and what we’re asking them to do because theses guys will get on you, they will, and then if you let them get some explosive runs on you, we’re going to be in trouble.” On the matchup between TE T.J. Hockenson and 49ers TE George Kittle: “It will be good. I’m hoping that our guy has a lot better game then his guy does, I know that. I’ve had a lot of respect for Kittle just from afar. Watching him, I think he’s one of the rare tight ends that can do everything and does it well. He does the dirty work, he’s not afraid to block, he can do all of that stuff on the perimeter pass block, but yet he’s a dynamic receiver. He’s big, strong, physical. Our guy’s pretty dang good, too. He can do a lot of the things that Kittle does and I think that for us, he can – we’ve got to find ways to get him the football and let him do what he does because I know this, he can help us win.” On how he handles the motivation aspect of coaching: “I think the focus has got to be – look, the motivation is one thing. It’s got to be about just taking a swing one more time. Like, ‘What is right in front of you? Just worry about what’s right in front of you right now.’ For instance, we’ve got practice in 15 minutes. ‘All you need to worry about is what this practice is. Worry about getting out to practice. Worry about the fact that we’re going to have a walkthrough at 12:30. Then, you’re going to warm-up 20 minutes later and do the best job you can at that warm-up and then we get into practice.’ Everything has got to be about, ‘You have to do what’s right in front of you. What is the next rep that you have?’ If I’m on offense, we might have 60 plays. We can’t call 60 plays on one play. We can only call one at a time. So, ‘Just focus on that call and what your job is for that look and then take it to the next week. ‘Who’s the next opponent? That’s the next one. Don’t worry about what’s beyond that. Yeah, we’ve got Green Bay in two weeks after that. Don’t worry about Green Bay. We’ve got to worry about San Francisco.’ I think if we can just stay focused and centered on what the job is at hand right in front of us and giving it our sole focus and energy, I think that will go a long way for us.” On if he plays the ‘prove people wrong’ card: “You’re asking me, ‘Do I play the’ – I think that’s part of our DNA, no matter what. That is our DNA. I don’t think it’s any secret that nobody expects us to do much. So, yeah, that’s part of us, but that’s just lip service. What the hell does that mean? It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t go out and do our job. If I don’t do my job, it doesn’t matter that you think that we’re better than somebody else or we should be thought of as better than that. Yeah, we know that and that drives you a little bit, but man, the focus has got to be on doing your freakin’ job, every one of us. Coaches, players, ‘You’ve got a job to do and let’s go do it, man.’ And you focus on that and give it your full attention and don’t worry about anything else. I think that’s got to be what we’re focused on.” On how the tight end position has evolved from when he played tight end: “It’s unbelievable how much it has changed because it really has become, in a sense, really bonafide big receivers. There again, I call it ‘big skill.’ It’s a big skill position is what it is. Sometimes more than an actual tight end – like when I think of tight end, I think of somebody that still blocks the perimeter like (Rob Gronkowski) Gronk and (George) Kittle and those guys versus big skill. Big skill is a guy who, he can do some of that, but really he’s a mismatch. He’s a big basketball player that can run and he can get open and create separation. I know this, both players are somewhat rare. I would say it’s probably even rarer to find a guy who can create separation and still block like a tackle. I think those guys are very rare, but it certainly has evolved. As far as – I could do none of those things. I was basically a tackle. There is no comparison. The athletes now are – I’ll tell you what, I feel like every year they get bigger, faster, stronger, more explosive. That’s kind of just the nature of where this League’s gone really. On if he was ‘big skill’ when he was playing tight end: “No. I was ‘slow slug’ is what I was.” |
