Kyle Shanahan preparing for Tampa Bay & Dallas ahead of Monday Night Football

Despite not knowing who they’ll play yet next Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers are preparing for both outcomes in the NFC divisional round.

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan relayed Monday that the coaching staff will focus on game film for both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys prior to Monday Night Football. That way they can be ahead of schedule heading into round 2 of the NFL postseason.

“We’ll be watching a lot of film on both Dallas and Tampa. And by the time it gets to [the game], we probably have watched enough on both teams to where now we’re just waiting to the end of that game,” Shanahan said, via conference call Monday.

The extra-preparedness will allow the head coach to ease up closer to kickoff, taking in the game like a “normal person”, according to him.

“So I’ll probably just sit back and relax tonight when that [game] starts and watch just the TV copy like a normal person, and after it probably get to work a little bit before we start on Tuesday,” Kyle Shanahan continued.

#49ers injury report per Kyle Shanahan:
WR Jauan Jennings (ankle): day-to-day
DL Samson Ebukam (ankle): day-to-day

— Lindsey Pallares (@lindseylares) January 16, 2023

Aside from preparing for their next opponent, the 49ers are feeling confident with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy under center.

Purdy was electric in his first playoff game, becoming the first rookie QB to win in the postseason since Russell Wilson in 2012-13. Finishing the day with 332 yards passing, three passing TDs and one rushing score, Purdy is the first rookie gunslinger to have four total TDs in a playoff game.

Saturday wasn’t all peaches and cream however, as the Iowa State alum struggled a bit with his accuracy in the first half. Despite the struggles, Shanahan had full confidence in his rookie that he could bounce back, they just needed to settle him down a bit.

“There was a couple open guys that he just missed,” Kyle Shanahan explained. “I know when that happens, it sticks out as ‘he’s not playing well’ because there were plays that he should have made. But all the other plays, he did play well. So when he does have a couple of misses, you really don’t want to panic. I mean, Brock’s an accurate thrower. He’s been doing that all year and playing well. He missed a few and I don’t think there’s really much of an explanation for it. Just we had to settle down a little bit and give him a few more opportunities and he got those in the second half and was pretty lethal with them.”

The 49ers are also in an interesting spot this week with defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans set to undergo head-coach interviews across the league. Ryans reportedly has four interviews lined up with teams, starting Thursday with the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.

His head coach knows a thing or two about the interview process in the postseason, taking the head job with the 49ers prior to the Atlanta Falcons’ Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots. The main difference this time is that Ryans has to do them while also preparing for the NFC divisional round in the same week. Similar to Mike McDaniel last season, Shanahan’s advice is simple: Carve out a block of time to take care of the future, and then get back to work on the present.

“I think my advice is you got to set [those interviews] aside and specific times that you are going to deal with it,” Shanahan said. “I think he has a couple of times set aside for Thursday and Friday, which he’ll do two interviews I believe with Denver and Houston, and then I think he’ll plan on the other ones after…So we need to set the time aside for that. A lot for DeMeco to prepare for but I think he is prepared for it. And when you’re done with those, you go right back to the most important thing at hand and that’s find a way to win this Sunday.”

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