While a highly anticipated matchup between the 49ers and Cowboys awaits on Sunday, there is plenty to take in that’s not quite related to the game.
The most prominent development is DeMeco Ryans’ status as he takes on coaching interviews.
DeMeco on handling interviews
Ryans has at least four interviews slated with the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans, respectively.
The only opening he doesn’t have an interview slated for, yet, is the Carolina Panthers job.
All four of those interviews have landed this week before the matchup with the Cowboys.
Ryans confirmed that the first of them would be with the Denver Broncos, in person, on Thursday. He didn’t clarify if he’s flying to Denver on Thursday night or whether they’d interview him locally.
Some of those interviews are in person and some are via Zoom, he said.
It’s a difficult position that many have criticized the NFL for in recent years. Forcing coaches to simultaneously interview for positions while dealing with the most substantial games of the season does not seem like the best way to do things.
Ryans, for his part, has said he learned a bit from last year’s interview cycle and has taken advice from other coaches, like Kyle Shanahan.
He made clear that despite the plethora of interviews — again, there are four of them, all before Sunday — that his focus is on the Cowboys.
“Everything that you do as a coach, you’re trying to crunch a lot of things,” Ryans said. “You’re trying to really dissect a lot of information in a certain amount of time. Time management is a crucial thing to have and I know how to make the main thing the main thing and the main thing this week is the Cowboys.”
He also said he didn’t love what he saw from the 49ers defense at the start of last week’s game.
Ryans mentioned a few things he wants his group — which has looked more susceptible than usual in recent weeks — to do better:
I didn’t like the way we came out last week. That wasn’t representative of who we are so we can come out better to start the game. We can set the tempo better, we can play with better pad leverage on defense. We can get off of blocks better, we can finish better. So there are always things that we’re pushing our guys to be better at. We’re not satisfied.
Foerster on teaching and Shanahan’s genius
Few people wax poetically and as rapidly as 49ers offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Foerster.
He’s in his third stint as 49ers O-line coach, and in his second stint with Kyle Shanahan, after their days in Washington.
On Thursday, Foerster hearkened back to those Washington days. After discussing the well-rounded nature of the 49ers’ offense, and how players consistently perform in roles that demand effort, athleticism and attention to detail, he was asked about teaching.
Foerster discussed the joys of being a coach; and how getting players to see the process and vision of coaches, and buy in to the process, is one of the best parts of the job.
He recalled taking over the role of legendary offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, who had orchestrated run game meetings for nearly a decade in Denver. In 2010, Foerster got his shot at it, and said it was one of the more enjoyable parts of his career once he got the hang of it:
As we learned to do it, it was so enjoyable to say, ‘Hey a receiver didn’t do a good job on this play,’ — instead of just ripping Santana Moss or whoever the receiver might be at that point, it was more of let me show three good clips of Santana doing something during the week or during the week before’s game and then building upon that.
And say now when we do this, how it all ties together. How every single person, from the angle of running back, to how the receivers block, to the linemen, and they can see it, they get a vision for it.
And they all start to buy into their little piece; it’s why we can have success doing stuff. It’s crazy. It’s so much fun to watch the buy-in because it all kind of fits together like a puzzle when it’s right.
Eventually Kyle Shanahan took that meeting over and Foerster said it became more of a gameplan meeting.
That led him into a diatribe about the genius of Kyle Shanahan, and his recall ability. Shanahan has often downplayed that recall, and long credited Mike McDaniel’s recall as being far above his own. A couple of anecdotes from Foerster showed that to be, at least partially, an exercise in humility from the head coach.
Earlier this year, Foerster named a new play… the name, for reasons only due to Shanahan’s memory, did not stick. Said Foerster:
I remember we put in play in this year and it was like, I wanted to name it certain name and I named it that and ran out in practice and he went, ‘You can’t name it this.’
I said, ‘Why?’
‘Well that’s a formation.’
I said, ‘Kyle, I haven’t heard that formation in two years.’
‘But it’s in the book. It’s a formation. We can’t call it that. We’ve got to change the name.’
I’m like okay, this is a formation and we haven’t used it in a while. And that’s the kind of stuff that he has recall that goes back forever. He’s obviously very, very smart and has great recall. So there’s just this this whole encyclopedia, whatever you want to call it, just years and years of it, and that’s why he’s able to to mix and match and understand how it all works.
The other anecdote reveals just how skilled Shanahan is at adjusting in game and dialing up plays on the fly. While his situational awareness has been subject to criticism in the past, his ability to dissect and attack defenses has not.
Foerster said that three of the 49ers’ biggest touchdown plays this season — the one to George Kittle in Mexico up the sideline, Kittle’s second TD against Washington and the 75-yard touchdown to Deebo Samuel — were not in the game plan, not on the play sheet.
“Not one of them,” Foerster said.
It belied an aggression from Shanahan that feels like has ticked upwards this year.
“He calls something based on what he sees in the game that isn’t even on the list, and they’re usually big hits and big plays because he just knows what is going to work,” Foerster said. “He’s just looking. Where’s that dagger? Where’s that play that I think will really get them on this one?”
The vignettes from Foerster offer insight that delves deeper than the surface-level assessments of whether someone called a good or bad play; it’s a slight glimpse into how Shanahan views football.
Trent Williams vs. Kyle Juszczyk
Kyle Juszczyk might owe Trent Williams an(other) apology.
Juszczyk put Williams on his back against Seattle. It was noteworthy because, well, it’s Trent F****ing Williams. That is a very large, very athletic man who usually does the pummeling.
But the fullback’s friendly fire de-cleated the future Hall of Famer. Juszczyk said Wednesday he apologized and that they’ve “hugged it out.”
Juszczyk clearly wasn’t all that bashful about it though.
On Thursday, in the midst of a Trent Williams media scrum, Juszczyk played the role of cub reporter, peaking his head in at the back of the scrum, using a comb as a microphone.
He and Williams went back and forth about the hit, with Juszczyk clearly enjoying himself and Williams… well, less so.
It was all in jest, but Juszczyk might do well to avoid another friendly fire incident.
Injury reports
Below are the practice participation reports from Thursday. Nothing really has changed, with the most significant item being that 40-year-old left tackle Jason Peters remained out with a hip injury. In all likelihood, Dallas will end up starting rookie Tyler Smith at left tackle and Connor McGovern — who’s been used as their jumbo fullback recently — at left guard.
For the Cowboys:
| Practice Report | |||
| Did Not Participate in Practice | |||
| Wednesday | T Jason Peters (hip) | ||
| Thursday | T Jason Peters (hip) | ||
| Limited Participation in Practice | |||
| Wednesday | S Jayron Kearse (knee), DE Demarcus Lawrence (foot) | ||
| Thursday | S Jayron Kearse (knee), DE Demarcus Lawrence (foot) | ||
| Full Participation in Practice | |||
| Wednesday | S Israel Mukuamu (hamstring), CB Trayvon Mullen (illness), T Tyron Smith (knee) | ||
| Thursday | DT Quinton Bohanna (knee), S Israel Mukuamu (hamstring), CB Trayvon Mullen (illness), T Tyron Smith (knee) |
And for the 49ers:
| Practice Report | |||
| Did Not Participate in Practice | |||
| Wednesday | QB Jimmy Garoppolo (foot), CB Ambry Thomas (ankle), T Trent Williams (not injury related – resting player) | ||
| Thursday | QB Jimmy Garoppolo (foot), CB Ambry Thomas (ankle) | ||
| Limited Participation in Practice | |||
| Wednesday | DL Samson Ebukam (ankle), WR Jauan Jennings (ankle), DT Javon Kinlaw (knee) | ||
| Thursday | DL Samson Ebukam (ankle), WR Jauan Jennings (ankle), DT Javon Kinlaw (knee) | ||
| Full Participation in Practice | |||
| Thursday | T Trent Williams (not injury related – resting player) |