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00:00So check this out. Two things. Fresh Shanahan from today.
00:04First of all, was asked if this game against the Titans coming off of a bye could be a trap game.
00:11I don't really look at it that way. I mean, I think there's no difference in this game than the next three games, personally.
00:15I think when you come off a bye, it's always a challenge as a coach because your goal is that everyone gets fresher by resting,
00:20which is the best thing, but you also get extremely rusty by not practicing.
00:24So I felt that way early in the week, but getting to work in on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday of all full speed.
00:30Again, walk through and base there has to be today. I think he knocked the rust off,
00:33and then I look at it as a full advantage going into bye week.
00:35That's kind of an interesting answer when you think about what happens in the playoffs.
00:39The best team in each conference gets a whole week off, and there's all these records,
00:45coaches who do really well coming off of a bye. Kyle made it sound like it's actually hard.
00:50It's because you can get rusty or out of sync.
00:53Yep, and he's never had a bye this late, and so I do think that this one, for me anyway,
00:58it makes it so you're less likely to be rusty because you've already put 13 games out there on tape,
01:03and so it's much more of a rest for me than it is rust, but I don't really look at this as a trap game
01:10because they're coming off the bye.
01:12The one that I'm looking at this weekend that is kind of trappy is Chicago hosting Cleveland
01:17because Chicago then has Green Bay at home at the Niners and then Detroit,
01:23so if you're looking at a spot where Chicago might be in a look-ahead situation,
01:28Chicago hosting Cleveland might be the one?
01:31Maybe. I don't think the Bears have been good long enough to be looking over people.
01:36I bet that they are, I mean, at 9-4, they have not clinched a damn thing yet,
01:41so they're probably still pretty thirsty, but check this one out.
01:46He was asked, do you kind of talk to players when maybe they're going through something
01:53that could feel frustrating to them?
01:54The example here is Pearsall, who's not getting the ball very much right now.
02:00I don't need to talk to people when they're not getting the ball,
02:02when I know how much you guys are hounding them for not getting the ball.
02:04Those are the things that I don't need to tell a guy that if I go up to a guy and say,
02:08hey, don't worry, I still have confidence in you.
02:10So when someone comes and says that to me, I'd be like, I wasn't worried you didn't.
02:13What the hell happened?
02:14I hope my wife never tells me that for no reason.
02:16I think she genuinely likes me.
02:19So, no, I don't do that at all, but I do feel for guys big time in this day and age
02:23and just how that stuff goes that they've got to answer to a lot of stuff
02:27and all about stats and everything, and this is a different sport.
02:30There's 22 people on the field, and stats get a lot of people's attention in a good way,
02:35and they also give people the attention in a bad way.
02:37But when it comes to our world, the football world,
02:39and what we do in these rooms and watching film,
02:41there's no need for me to explain anything.
02:43He understands it.
02:44I dig that answer, and I also think that, you know,
02:47especially since we're talking about coaching people up
02:50and who's to blame and what do you say to guys in these situations,
02:56you've got to remember, this is a company, like,
02:59what's the active roster number on a given week for a game?
03:04It's 53, but you dress 45.
03:07Right.
03:07Okay.
03:07But then there's all the practice squad and blah, blah, blah.
03:11We're talking about when you add in all the assistants,
03:15the equipment managers, and everything that goes in it,
03:17we're talking about well over 100 people.
03:20And I think you've got a game plan.
03:22And by the way, sometimes that game is four days after your most recent game.
03:27Sometimes it's seven days.
03:28In this particular case, it's 14 days, but you get what I'm talking about.
03:32There's a lot to do.
03:35I don't think these guys are all talking to each other about every little thing
03:39as much as we probably think.
03:43This is not youth sports.
03:45Kyle Shanahan does not have office hours so that everybody who didn't get seven
03:51catches last week can come to his office and talk this out.
03:56And, again, this is part of my larger point today.
04:01If you want to be a professional athlete, you've got to have a really thick skin.
04:07You've got to be able to deal with this stuff.
04:09You've got to be able to deal with not getting good stats.
04:11You've got to be able to deal with social media calling you out after every single game.
04:15And you've got to deal with a coach who might speak freely to the world about you.
04:22That's just part of the deal, I think.
04:24Especially when you're on this team and you're a wide receiver, you know going in that you're
04:29going to have to block more than you're going to get the rock.
04:31And that's just the way it goes.
04:33And you look at this year, and I was just looking at the receptions.
04:37There have been 187 receptions on this team not to wide receivers.
04:42There have been 120 to wide receivers.
04:44So if you want to, like, start to parse that out from Jawan to Kendrick to Ricky to DeMarcus to Sky to MVS to Jordan Watkins to Malik Turner, who actually has a target no-catch, you don't get the ball when you're the wide receiver.
04:59McCaffrey gets it, and I think that he has about half the touches on the year of the whole team.
05:04So, yeah, McCaffrey, you're going to be the high-usage guy, and then it's going to be Kittle, and then it'll be Jawan.
05:11And beyond that, all the rest of you, you get crumbs.
05:14So that's just the way this goes.
05:16And, you know, Ayuk hasn't played a snap, and Ricky missed a handful of games.
05:21And even when he's come back, he's not getting a lot of touches, let alone Robinson and, you know, Jordan Watkins, who we've all been saying, all right, let's see Watkins.
05:30Even though he plays a little bit here and there, he has three targets this year and two catches.
05:35Well, and I'd also point out some things that are going on around the league, like when people don't get touches, because I think this is related to the conversation we've largely been having today.
05:44All right, when someone's not getting touches, where do you look?
05:49Where do you look?
05:50And, yes, there are definitely wide receivers who will either look at their quarterback or they will look at their coach for not, you know, quote, scheming them up or whatever.
05:59But I sort of, I live by this mantra just as a fan.
06:05I think if you're incredible as a professional athlete, if you're incredible, you can't hide that.
06:12You cannot hide that.
06:13You will get on the field.
06:15So that's part of why I've always felt the way that I do whenever, like, if someone is not getting in and you want them to be in more, that can be Kaminga, it could be Ayuk, it could be Trey Lance, it could be whatever.
06:31If you want that person in and they're not in as much as you sort of want them to be, and we go, man, that coach, that coach has got to put them in there.
06:41The coach, in practice or wherever, has a reason for not putting them in there.
06:49It doesn't mean that the coach is automatically right, but my belief is if you're incredible, they can't keep you out.
06:57But, and that's on you.
06:59That is on you.
07:00Yes, there are systems.
07:02Yes, there are challenges in life.
07:05But this is so high leverage and everybody wants to win so bad.
07:09Like, the number of great athletes out there who just aren't being given a chance, but they're actually incredible, I think that's a very, very small number.
07:20It just depends on the situation, and I think about Brian Robinson Jr. a lot, because he's a really good running back, but he happens to be playing behind a guy who gets all the touches and he gets all the snaps.
07:31And if you look at it, McCaffrey's played 83% of the snaps this year, and you don't ever play the two of them together.
07:38I think they've played together one or two snaps all year.
07:41Yeah, barely.
07:41So, Robinson Jr. has 17.5% of the snaps, and McCaffrey gets 83.
07:46So, if you're Brian Robinson, you're a really good running back, but you're not as good as the guy who's been the best running back in football, maybe outside Jonathan Taylor, maybe ahead of Jonathan Taylor.
07:57So, that's just kind of a tough spot for Brian Robinson Jr. in that.
08:02And also, if you're a tight end, and, you know, Tonjes, he was good when Kittle was out, and since Kittle's come back, you never see Jake Tonjes, maybe a little bit.
08:11You see Luke Farrell in two tight end sets, same thing.
08:14And so, part of it is the system and the scheme and the health of the guy in front of you.
08:20And so, you've got guys in front of you who are Hall of Famers, and so they're going to play.
08:25I don't push back on your point about Brian Robinson, but I think Brian Robinson is exactly where he's supposed to be.
08:31I do not believe that, and I'm sure Brian would hate this at age 26, and I'm sorry to say it into a microphone, which I guess maybe, you know, triggers some people.
08:41But, I don't think Brian Robinson is ever going to get a bell cow job in the NFL.
08:46Well, it's not about a bell cow job.
08:48I don't think he'll be a starter.
08:50Let's just say he was a Ram, and I don't have the exact numbers, but Blake Corum plays more than Brian Robinson Jr.
08:56because they don't lean on Kyron Williams the way that the Niners lean on McCaffrey.
09:01And they lean on McCaffrey because they want to win.
09:03Right, yeah, McCaffrey's way better than Kyron Williams, but also, yeah, systematically those guys both fit.
09:10That's the way they're doing it.
09:11A lot of teams do that.
09:13I think sometimes it's circumstantial.
09:14If you have somebody who can handle that, you do it.
09:16If you don't, you do kind of a rotation thing.
09:20But, like, Brian Robinson's good.
09:22He's never rushed for 800 yards in this league.
09:24He's never even rushed for 800 yards.
09:26That's not a lot.
09:27I mean, that's 50 a game.
09:28He's never done it.
09:29And he's been a part of a committee.
09:31And, again, this is not about Brian Robinson and me, you know, singing his praises and just looking at it.
09:36Blake Corum has played in 28%, and Kyron Williams is at 69%.
09:41So that's not a classic share.
09:43But it's changing.
09:44It is.
09:45Kyron was the bell cow, and somehow about a month ago that changed.
09:50If you looked at the usage over the last three or four games, it's more 50-50.
09:53Well, it's because Corum now has much better ball security.
09:56And even if you look at the Lions, and they were kind of setting up for more of a share,
10:01but Jameer Gibbs has been so bananas that David Montgomery plays less than he even did last year.
10:07So a lot of it is circumstantial, and it's also scheme.
10:10And so the Niners are going to use McCaffrey until they can't use him anymore.
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