SANTA CLARA — Coach Kyle Shanahan was mic’d up in the team’s 20-16 win over the Broncos and it gave a little insight to the wording and complexity of his offense.
There were creative names like Zelda, X-Dragon and chocolate door that Shanahan called out. He explained that they aren’t random names, they all relate to the play in one way or another.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“No, they all mean something,” Shanahan said. “I can’t tell you what those mean, but they relate to the type of plays we’re running. It’s not just totally random words. Chocolate door had to do with Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, which has to do with the play. That would be obvious, but I can’t say it or you’ll know our groupings.”
Shanahan’s playbook has been described as very wordy. He says his nicknames for plays is done to help players remember what their role is more easily.
“Yeah, you just try not to make people memorize too much,” Shanahan said. “They’ve got enough stuff going on. Stuff changes and you give a game plan each week and it’s alright to make them memorize 10 new things.
"But if you have them memorize all of this different stuff, they might get it right there, but in the heat of battle they can hesitate and maybe go the wrong way.”
San Francisco 49ers
“So, you try to get words that sound just like the play that we’re trying to do, so that one word can tell a lot of people stuff.”
Several players agreed with Shanahan’s assessment that it helps simplify the calls on the field, but others did not. Tight ends Garrett Celek and Ross Dwelley were two that agreed whole-heartedly.
[RELATED: Pete Carroll explains what makes 49ers star George Kittle so special]
“Yes, absolutely,” Dwelley said. “They are like code words, so the code word kind of matches up to what the actual play is.”
“When we are going fast-paced,” Celek said, “the quarterback can’t be yelling out a bunch of stuff. They have to condense it and they come up with something like Zelda. One word tells everyone what to do.”
Do the code words change every week?
“We can’t tell you that,” Celek and Dwelley said simultaneously. “That’s classified.”
George Kittle said that while the offense is very difficult to learn as a rookie, once you get it down, the abbreviated calls have changed everything.
“It definitely makes the offense a lot easier,” Kittle said, “especially when you learn them. Once you figure it out and you hear that one word, it clicks. It’s still difficult to learn as a rookie but it makes it easier.”
With the wordy playbook, Kittle would much rather be the one catching the ball than being tasked with calling out the entire names like a 49ers quarterback has to.
“I wouldn’t want to be a quarterback in this offense,” Kittle said. “It’d be very difficult. It’s a lot. I don’t know how they do it honestly.
“Actually I do.” Kittle joked. “Nick practices at home all the time.”
[RELATED: Joe Montana evaluates 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens' decision-making]
Others, like rookie receiver Richie James, doesn’t even take notice of the code words.
“Those words don’t mean anything to me.” James said. “Some of those words might, but a lot of those words mean nothing to me as a receiver at least. I’m just listening to the call, the key word I need to listen to, where to line up, what route, and what block.”
James reiterated that it took a while to get the verbiage down as a rookie.
“It took me a long time actually,” James said. “Most of the guys that got here with me, it took us to the first preseason game to get to where ‘I kinda got it.’ But then after the preseason is over with, you’re like ‘Alright, I know what it is now.’”
What does the rookie wide receiver do when he's having trouble? Just listen to Mr. Mullens.
“I just listen to Nick,” James said. “If you get caught in those words, you’re going to mess up the play.”