Head coach Kyle Shanahan met with reporters on Monday following the San Francisco 49ers Week 7 win over the Atlanta Falcons. The 49ers improved to 5-2 and now sit second in the conference after a hard-fought "Sunday Night Football" victory at Levi's® Stadium, a complete team win powered by contributions from all three phases.

Injury Updates

The 49ers came out of Sunday's matchup with a few new injuries to monitor:

• CB Renardo Green (toe): Avoided turf toe; will continue to be evaluated throughout the week.
• OL Jake Brendel (hamstring): Expected to miss a couple of weeks.
• DL Bryce Huff (hamstring): Also likely to miss multiple weeks after feeling discomfort late in the game.
• CB Upton Stout (shoulder) and WR Ricky Pearsall (knee) will be evaluated further on Wednesday.
• QB Brock Purdy (toe) remains week-to-week.
• DL Yetur Gross-Matos (knee, hamstring) continuing his rehab.
• OL Spencer Burford could have his practice window opened as he works back from a knee issue.

Young Players Stepping Up

With LB Fred Warner out for the season due to an ankle injury, Shanahan praised LB Tatum Bethune for capitalizing on his starter reps in practice and translating that preparation into Sunday's win. Meanwhile, Warner's leadership was on full display, cheering on teammates from the sideline, player tunnel, and a suite with his family.

"You definitely get reps in the week as a backup, but not like the starter. When it comes to someone like the MIKE position, or a center, or a quarterback, there's just so much that goes into play there that no matter how much you study, you'd like to get live reps and thinking in the heat of battle. Tatum getting all those this week I think helped him a ton. He was good in practice and carried over to the game."

Shanahan also credited OL Matt Hennessy for stepping in seamlessly at center after Brendel's injury in the second quarter.

"He wasn't perfect, but he works really hard at it. We definitely mix him in with reps, and for him to get thrown in in that situation, especially versus a defense that stunts a lot, changes their fronts and definitely pressures at a higher rate, I thought he did very well. I think he'll only do better with more reps this week."

Secondary Showing Growth

The 49ers secondary continued to show growth against Atlanta's offense. Safeties Ji'Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha both took significant steps forward, with Brown playing every defensive snap and Mustapha nearly doubling his workload from the previous week with 45 plays. Jason Pinnock also earned praise for his versatility in the "big nickel" role.

After CB Renardo Green exited with a toe injury in the first half of the contest, Darrell Luter Jr. stepped up and made the most of his opportunity. His presence was felt in the run game, coming off of a strong week of preparation that earned him the 49ers scout team player of the week award.

"I thought Luter played really well. It was cool. We were talking about how good of a week he had in practice with the defense and with the scout team. He was showing up on both. And when he got his opportunity when Renardo went down, I thought he was very active. You could feel him in the run game, just his presence physically, I thought was huge. I thought he had a big impact in that game."

Run Game Returns to Form

The 49ers reestablished their identity in the trenches, rushing 39 times for a total of 174 yards.

"I always love just being able to physically run the ball and control the game like that. I think most people prefer to do it that way, but each team has a different identity, and you got to do whatever you think gives you the best chance to win. And we did think that would give us the best chance to win specifically in this game, but we haven't been able to do that yet this year. So that probably has been our identity more in the past, especially going back a few years ago, maybe four years ago, it was huge with us. It doesn't mean that we can't do it, and it doesn't mean we're going to do it all the time. But it was really cool yesterday because we believed that was the smarter way to do it. We felt that was the way that would give us the best chance to win, and I was glad that the whole team allowed us to pull that off."

Looking Ahead

The 49ers now turn the page to facing the 2-4 Texans led by former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans in Week 8 at NRG Stadium in Houston. The team will rest and rehab for their player off-day on Tuesday and pick practices back up on Wednesday, taking off to Texas on Friday.