Geep Chryst described today's climate in America as a "more condensed, 140-character culture," in regards to the attention span among the country's youth.
The San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator explained that the team is combatting that generational shift with shorter meetings and by simplified play calls in the huddle.
"You try to take advantage of some of that (by) using one syllable words, things like that so that the length of the call you can count the syllables up," Chryst explained on Wednesday. "Since we started this playbook from scratch, we feel like the learning curve has been great.
"That's an easy way to get out of the huddle - to have shorter calls."
The 49ers new offensive scheme may be original for this team, but it's not so out of the ordinary for Chryst or his quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Concise play calls, being quicker to the line and having more time to diagnose a defense are all aspects of the offense designed to enhance the quarterback's options at the line of scrimmage.
When the 49ers signal-caller addressed the media on Wednesday, he told reporters that he's beginning to feel really comfortable in Chryst's scheme.
"They were things that we talked about coming into this year," Kaepernick said. "'How can we operate faster? How can we get a jump?' Those were things that he was excited to implement.
"It took a little bit of time in the spring to get used to it. At this point, I think everyone is comfortable with it. We've had a lot of time at it. It's something Geep talked to me about prior to. It's something I've done in the past, and he's done in the past. I think it helps simplify our offense."
With everyone comfortable in the system, the team now gets to tinker with the pieces on the roster to turn the offense into a well-oiled machine. That process heats up Saturday when the team opens its preseason schedule against the Houston Texans.
"You always want to make sure you're on the right track and doing the right things to get you prepared for the season," Kaepernick said. "The biggest thing is being able to go out there, have continuity and just play good offense."
One of the biggest challenges that has faced San Francisco's offense is having to face Eric Mangini's defense on a daily basis.
It's just another welcomed challenge for Kaepernick and company.
"It's great work for us," said the quarterback. "To me, you always want practice to be harder than anything you'll face in a game. It allows us to solve those problems in practice and get practice at where our quick answers are, how we want to adjust protections. Things like that. So come game time, it's not something we're not used to seeing."
On a personal level, Kaepernick said he's seen progress in his own game through all his offseason work. As he enters his third campaign as the 49ers franchise signal-caller and fifth NFL season in all, Kap has perspective on what needs to be done before Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.
"I think I've made strides in a lot of different areas," he said. "It's really trying to put the complete package together: getting comfortable with the offense, getting comfortable with new weapons and getting comfortable with new language. All those things played a factor in what we're working towards getting ready for the season."
Kaepernick touched on a few of those weapons he's been getting comfortable with, starting with free-agent addition Jerome Simpson. The quarterback paralleled the wide receiver's skillset to that of Torrey Smith.
"Jerome has similar attributes to Torrey in terms of his speed and ability to stretch the field," said the quarterback. "I think I have a good relationship with Jerome as far as how he's going to run routes, the speed he's going to run them and ultimately being able to get the ball into his hands."
And then Kaepernick discussed third-year receiver Quinton Patton, who has done well so far to take advantage of his training-camp opportunity.
"He's been doing a lot of things well," Kaepernick said. "The biggest thing is that he's playing fast. He's playing with speed, which I love to see. He's someone that's grown over the last few years as far as his understanding of the game, his ability to get open and ultimately just go out and make plays."
Finally, Kaepernick described his growing chemistry with Reggie Bush, as seen on Tuesday when the two connected downfield for a long completion.
"I've had quite a bit of work with Reggie before that so we had a pretty good feel for each other as far as how he was going to run routes, his body language and things like that," Kap said. "It's great to have him on the field. I think everyone saw the affects he can have on a defense and the things he can open up for us as an offense."
