Read the full transcript from OC Bobby Slowik's media availability on September 17, 2026.
The first time we talked to you since the Week 1 game. So after reviewing the tape, what were your thoughts on Malik's game?
Bobby Slowik: Yeah, I thought really what we set out to do in the game was we wanted to make sure we went out, we competed, we fought, and we emphasized the style of play we wanted to have. I thought by and large we accomplished that. We need to clean up the football a lot. I thought the execution for us really wasn't there at the clip we wanted to be at. I mean, we had a lot of mistakes through the course of the game. Now we have a lot of young guys playing, we got a lot of new guys to the scheme and the system and what we're trying to do. I think we're all trying to learn and figure each other out through this process. So there's going to be a process to that early in the year, but we know the urgency we need to have to get better and for our young guys to grow and grow fast. And that's really where we're at right now.
The five sacks, how did you evaluate them? Were there cases where Malik needed to get the ball out?
Bobby Slowik: There's usually a little bit of everything when you exit a game with multiple sacks or a handful of sacks. It's typically a combination of maybe a poor play call on my part, poor protection up front, or the ball should have been gone and it's not, or someone messed up on a route so we can't get the ball out where we need to get it out to. And I would say on all five of those, and even some other situations in the past game where they were close to being sacks, it was multiple factors on all of them. Like consistently through the game for us, run game, pass game, as far as protection, throwing the ball, run IDs, getting connected and doing our assignment in the run game to give De'Von windows, like there was just multiple execution breakdowns that we know we need to clean up. That's the emphasis for us this week.
I think Malik's like average time to throw was comfortably over three seconds. The depth of target was like 13.5 yards. Is that a product of what you guys were trying to do for him to buy time and look for shots downfield? Or I guess what do you attribute those numbers to?
Bobby Slowik: I think again, it's like a combination of a lot of different things. We definitely had some plays where we were trying to push the ball down the field, trying to make sure they weren't squatting on any of our skills and our eligibles and stretch them vertically, which I think is something Malik is talented at and we could do well when we do it right. And we had some plays where we're mixing up – are we attacking vertically, are we attacking horizontally or are we trying to get the ball out fast? And I think particularly the plays that we had called where we're trying to get the ball out fast, we didn't execute those well enough. And it's a little bit of a balancing act. I think through Malik's career, he typically has had one of the higher time to throws, but it's also like his superpower. Like he's good with his legs, he's mobile, he makes good off schedule throws, he scrambles. So me and him working together in that regard on making sure that he still has the freedom and the ability to go use that strength while balancing that out with when the play presents itself and we can get the ball out fast and let's take advantage of that. Let's get the ball in our guys' hands and let them go do stuff. That's something we're working through and we're going to continue to work through early in the year as a whole offense. You know what I mean? But I think that definitely is a work in progress.
When you think about the rookies who played a lot collectively. I saw someone tweeted that it was the most rookie snaps by a team in 20 years. So when you think about the two receivers, the tight end, the fullback, the guard, collectively, how do you think they did in the areas that we always talk about alignment, assignment, execution?
Bobby Slowik: When you watch the film, you get really excited about them as players. They're talented, they're doing what we ask them to do as far as play style, grit, effort, competitiveness, but we just got to be way better in our assignment. First game on the road, crowd noise, like there's a whole lot of stuff that goes into it. I got to coach better, obviously. Like we don't go execute, I always think that's on me as a starting point. But I mean, we got to grow. We got to grow fast. They know that. We know that. That's what we're going to set out to do.
Going back to Malik, he had this comment yesterday I thought was really interesting about like internal clock not really being a thing for a quarterback and I was curious if that's true. Like is the internal clock a myth or is it a myth for somebody with his skill set who's able to keep things alive longer than a normal quarterback would?
Bobby Slowik: I think the longer I'm around the game and offensive football, the more I think there's so many different ways to play the position. Jimmy (Garoppolo) played it different than Brock (Purdy) played it different than when I was with C.J. (Stroud) and Davis Mills and they played different than Malik Willis and last year when I was here with Tua and Quinn. They all have like these little different ways of what fits them. I think the way Malik verbalized that is that's very much how he plays the game. And what he's focusing on right now is like, OK, when the play presents itself the way we want it to present itself, can I take advantage of it? Get the ball out to the guy we want to get the ball out to, and then that will take care of the internal clock on its own. But right now, particularly up front, like our o-line guys know what he can do. And they know how talented he is as a runner and how talented he is off schedule. So we're trying like heck to make sure we're straining to block and block longer. There's been a big emphasis in practice on these pass plays aren't just going to be like two, three second pass plays. Like you guys got to strain the five, six, seven, eight seconds on some of these to make sure that we can go make these plays that he's capable of making, which is a change for them. And there's a lot of change all the way across the field for us. So it's just, again, a lot of moving pieces. We got to get better. We got to get better fast. But I don't want to take away what Malik's good at. I think that's what makes him special.
How similar or different is preparing for Nick Bosa compared to Maxx Crosby?
Bobby Slowik: Kind of similar to the quarterback comment I just made. Both are elite players. Both do like the elite part of their game a little bit different. Nick is one of the best pass rushers we're going to see all year. And based on what he did Week 1 in the run game, like clearly a factor in the run game, especially on the front side of runs, he just didn't stay blocked. So us being aware of that obviously is a big deal. This is a good week for us. For a young team, it's a really good challenge because it's not just Bosa. As good as Bosa is, they have the rest of the d-line that's pretty good. They got Fred (Warner) and (Dre) Greenlaw at the second level. They got a young backer that also shows up and plays well. They got two corners that are really good. They got two safeties that have jet packs on them when they fit in the run game. This is a really good challenge for us to go see what we can do and see if we can execute better longer against a really good team.
Are you going to have to remind yourself or have someone remind you to go to Achane even when the hits aren't coming?
Bobby Slowik: Yeah, it's something we definitely want to do. I mean, like I go into a game with my man's plays highlighted on my call sheet. You know what I mean? Like that's the emphasis. We want the offense to roll through the o-line into 28. Obviously, harder to do when you're down multiple scores, but really the fourth quarter is what got us there. As I reflect on my own play calling, like could I still have mixed in some runs here and there to give them the ball and just let them get some ops as we roll? Which is always like a yes and no. There's some games where it works and you can do it. There's other games where there's 11 minutes left in the game and two scores and as soon as you run the ball, you've just lost three minutes and now all of a sudden you're down on the clock. So me personally, I've definitely looked at that, but we don't want to leave a game with Achane only having 14 touches. We definitely want more than that, without a doubt.
I think first offensive play of the game, Kadyn pulls right and just barrels right into Maxx Crosby, like a hell of a first play for your first regular season game. But did it a couple times Sunday, he put D tackles on their back. We've heard Sully talk about how rare it is for somebody with that size and athleticism. What does it do for this offense, having somebody that size who can move like that pulling?
Bobby Slowik: You just feel the energy, the way he plays. It kind of spreads through the whole team. The first play was a great example. I think it was the third play of the game, he also took an interior lineman, drove them all the way from outside the hash to across the opposite hash. He had like five knockdowns in the game. He plays the game the way we want our left guard to play. Now, again, there's a lot we got to clean up because there's sometimes he's finishing pancakes and he's not pancaking the guy he's supposed to be on. So we got to work through some of that stuff, but the energy and the style he plays with is really exciting for us. We just got to channel it in the right direction.
They say like 80 percent of the game is 'want to,' right?
Bobby Slowik: That's right. That's him. And honestly, that's a lot of our group, especially our young guys. I said this last week and I think it shows, we've got a really hungry group. And the way they play I think shows how hungry they are and it's my job to get that hunger channeled in the right direction to get us all moving forward.
Sticking with rookies, has anything surprised you about how Caleb is able to do this so quickly here?
Bobby Slowik: Yeah, that was pretty cool to see. I think he's had some really awesome moments in practice. You see the talent in practice. I would say in practice, as we kept going through camp, he became more consistent. I think early in camp he flashed, but it was some inconsistency in what he was doing. And as we kept going through camp, preseason, everything, he really was able to kind of lock in, settle in and feel confident and comfortable about what he was doing so that on Sunday when the lights were on, he showed up. He made some really nice plays or even some routes he ran where he was on the backside or away from where we were trying to get the ball to, and he was still winning on backside routes. He did a really good job. And then as important as anything for us and what we want to be this year, he showed up in the run game. He was physical in the run game. You could see the 'want to.' You could see the 'want to' with all our receivers. Chris Bell had a knockdown like 15 yards down the field. Like they are about the right stuff. Got to clean up where we're going.
Will Kacmarek, I believe there's 14 offensive snaps. In a game script where maybe you can stick to the run longer, do you see him playing more?
Bobby Slowik: Yeah, that's something – we want to balance out Will and Greg's snaps a little more than we did. I didn't think I did a good job really keeping that. I wanted it to be closer to even. I think Greg is a really good player that we got to take advantage of, but it got fairly skewed as we went through it again, especially the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter kind of made it a two-minute drill all the way through it. But we want that to be more balanced for sure.
