THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for taking the time.
JONATHAN GANNON: No problem.
THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions.
Q. Jalen Hurts, what impressed you the most about how he played on Sunday? Was it the decision making, running, passing? How do you assess his performance?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think it was a little bit of everything. His calmness and his readiness. The way he prepared throughout the week, I have no doubt he was prepared to play. To go out and see it on Sunday was very impressive.
I think any time you're completing 70 some percent of your passes, you're putting your team in a position to win football games. The way he created plays outside the pocket, scrambling. We saw it in training camp. To see it live on Sunday was very impressive. Hats off to him for his preparation and his execution.
Q. Jalen's average air yards per throw on Sunday were the lowest in the league. Was that the game plan going in on the result of the way the Falcons were playing you guys? Were there any shots you called downfield?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, that's a good question.
We did. We had shots that were called. They took them away. We had to check it down. We're always going to have those, right? If they take it away, we got to check it down. That's the philosophy.
If they're not going to give us the big chunk, check it down to the tailback and he will get 10 and keep completing footballs. That's the philosophy.
Like I said, if you're completing 77% of your passes you have a chance to win a football game. As long as we're completing balls, scoring in the red zone, we're going to put ourselves in position to win games.
Q. You have the youngest coaching staff in the NFL, one of them. It seemed like the team brought a ton of energy on Sunday. How much does that youth play into that energy and the way you play on the field?
SHANE STEICHEN: That's a good question.
Yeah, I think any time you have good energy, positive vibes, right, I like to say feed the positive, weed the negative. When it's positive and you're constantly pushing that energy day in and day out throughout the meetings, practice, the preparation, the team meetings, the offensive unit meetings, you just keep bringing that juice, I think it feeds into the players and everyone's on the same page. You go out and play and you execute at a high level when you're prepared and you got good energy.
Q. DeVonta Smith's blocking, perimeter blocking on runs. What did you see in that when you drafted him, OTAs, up till Sunday?
SHANE STEICHEN: I thought he did a phenomenal job. He's really a tough football player. The way he gets in position to make those blocks and create space for the backs to run was impressive. Coach Moorhead, our receiver coach, he works with him on that every day in practice. Then you can see it showed up in the game. We got to continue to get better every day at blocking. He's doing a nice job so far.
Q. For a guy that size to be able to do that well, when did you really notice he was good?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think it started to go in training camp a little bit. He has great technique and fundamentals. For a guy that's right there, his frame, just to get in position to make plays, he's doing a nice job.
Q. Sticking with the rookies here. Kenny Gainwell, what did you see from him? How did you think he handled the blitz pickups? How important is it to handle those things well to stay the on the field?
SHANE STEICHEN: I thought he did a really nice job. In the two-minute situation, he did some really good things. He had some good pickups. You saw he ran with some good toughness, right? He saw the holes, hit it. That touchdown there when we went fast on the ball, he hit it right there, is a great job by Kelce and Isaac on the double-team. He just knifed it there. You saw the explosiveness from him. It was really good to see him on Sunday. We got to continue to build off that.
Q. Obviously you prepare for all of these plays in practice. How difficult is it on a timing play like the pick play for the touchdown, how hard is it to get all 11 guys on the same page to pull off a play like that with success?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, no, I think obviously like that play that we scored on, that was a play that we repped multiple times this week and gave multiple different looks to that situation. Ertz was a huge part of that play. He made it go. We got the look. He did a nice job setting ha up. DeVonta just had to win at the line of scrimmage. Jalen threw a nice ball over the top, the line had to protect, did a really good job. Well-executed play. It was really the repetition throughout the week that we got in practice on it.
Q. I heard your reference to Jalen's completion percentage. Other offensive coordinators, the number one stat is opinion and turnover differential, do you feel the same way when it comes to the quarterback play as well?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, I think yards per attempt plays in. I look at the completion percentage because if guys are completing balls, like I said, you're moving the sticks, right? It could be a five-yard completion to put you at second-and-five. You could play another ball, you're in first down. When you're completing balls, you're moving the ball.
Q. Could you speak to the 9ers front seven, specifically Bosa and Fred Warner?
SHANE STEICHEN: That's a great question.
Obviously Bosa is a very explosive player. I was with his brother for a while. I've seen the Bosa up front and personal. I know his brother is a really good football player. He's explosive off the line of scrimmage. He plays the run well.
Inside, Warner, he can fly around. He can cover, right? He can cover, make tackles. He can do it all. Two really good football players that we have to know where they're at on the field Sunday at all times.
Q. Miles Sanders said something interesting in the postgame, how every play is a run play. I'm not sure what he meant by that exactly. How much flexibility do you give Jalen at the line to audible or change the play before it starts?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, there's certain things that we do, right? Every game plan we go in with certain checks and stuff. He handled some. We had some of those in on Sunday and he handled them well, executed at a high level with the stuff we gave him. It was good to see.
Q. Completion percentage, you said it's important to you. Is there a benchmark you have for where the quarterback needs to hit or exceed for you to be satisfied?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, we do have that. I'll keep that in-house.
That's something that we look at. Obviously you want to be at a certain -- we have a goal each week that we want to be at. But he definitely exceeded that goal on Sunday.
Q. Short of saying what that goal is, is it fair to say it's a point of emphasis for you guys, completion percentage?
SHANE STEICHEN: Yeah, we do like to have a good completion percentage, no doubt about it.
Q. You spoke about DeVonta's blocking. At one point it looked like he called out a corner blitz. You've been around a lot of good receivers. He's a rookie. What do you think about his football IQ this early into his career?
SHANE STEICHEN: It's impressive. Really impressive. Even when we came in, the way he just talked football, saw football, talked about coverages, was really impressive.
For him to see certain things on the field, just talking to him on the sidelines about certain things, there's guys, right, that have played in this league for a long time. When they see and adjust, something on the field, they come tell you, I think I can get them on this route. There were some conversations on the sideline that we had with him about certain things. He sees the field really well.
Impressed with his football knowledge, where he's at.
Q. How would you assess the way that Miles Sanders played on Sunday against the Falcons, particularly when it came to his vision, how he did in the passing game?
SHANE STEICHEN: I thought he did a nice job in both. Obviously he had the big play around the sideline where Kelce pulled really good, then the screen that we hit him on was really nice. I mean, it was good landmark by him, then he got up inside. It was a great job by Brooks, as well, taking that guy off. He hit it inside down there. Was really good.
Then the pass protection, he had a huge third down pickup, the one we hit to DeVonta when the safety blitzed. He came up and allowed Jalen to step up in the pocket, make that big third down conversion. I believe it was third-and-nine there. It was a big play. He did a nice job all around. It was a good job.
Q. Part of a mobile quarterback or quarterback that can keep plays alive with his feet is decision making on getting out-of-bounds and sliding. Jalen does a better job of that than perhaps some of the other quarterbacks we have seen here with that. Is that a coaching point from you or something he has done before you got here?
SHANE STEICHEN: I think some of those guys have a natural ability. I think it carried over. He did a nice job in college. You can see it in the NFL, he knows when to get down and slide. He knows when he can get out of bounds. I think he has a natural feel for that. Obviously we do talk about it in the quarterback room. But he does have a really good feel for it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports