NFC Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

• 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan announced TE George Kittle will practice Wednesday on a limited basis. There is optimism that Kittle will be ready to go for Sunday’s game. (Nick Wagoner)
• Shanahan confirmed that QB Trey Lance will not return if the team makes the playoffs. (Cam Inman)

Cardinals

• Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury said CB Trayvon Mullen needs to get a firmer grasp of the team’s playbook and gain comfortability before he plays: “He’s getting closer, at least physically. Mentally he’s got to get in our system, learn the calls and feel comfortable doing that— particularly against a Ram’s offense who is so talented.” (Josh Weinfuss)
• Kingsbury wants LB Isaiah Simmons to continue striving to reach his potential: “We’re going to keep him moving. We see what the ceiling can be, and we want to get him there.” (Weinfuss)

Rams

• Rams HC Sean McVay doesn’t expect WR Van Jefferson to practice this week. (Sarah Barshop)
• Rams OL Alaric Jackson is preparing to start at right guard on Sunday vs. Arizona, with OL Coleman Shelton at center and OL Tremayne Anchrum out for the season. (Jourdan Rodrigue)

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll wants to see his offense create more chunk plays and push the ball downfield.

“We didn’t find our explosions in the game, you know, and I felt like there’s no reason not to go for our stuff. We have all kinds of things that we want to do and I think we can do more of it,” Carroll said, via Fox 13.

Carroll said the team’s conservative philosophy on offense was an effort to protect the team’s two rookie offensive tackles, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. Carroll added QB Geno Smith is in control of the offense and they’ll look to expand the playbook more in coming weeks.

“We didn’t want to open it up and expose the tackles any more than we had to so that all kind of fit together. But they’re holding up. They did a nice job in general,” Carroll. “Geno’s in command of what’s going on and he’s real accurate with his decision-making and all. I think it’s just more freely taking advantage of what’s going on rather than being concerned about our ability to hold up.”

Carroll has been pleased with Lucas and Cross as they’ve faced a host of premier pass rushers and have held their own against them.

“They’re out there doing it. They’re holding up their own,” Carroll said. “They’re really attentive to the things they need to improve on. When we communicate with them, they’re not being hard-headed about it. They’re not being where they can’t handle the criticism and the critique. That means that there’s nothing holding them back now. We just got to keep going and keep playing. They’ve seen some pretty darn good guys already. They’ll continue to see good guys, you know, each week but we’re starting to build a little reservoir of experience. So it’s nothing but positive.”

Smith has exceeded Carroll’s expectations as he’s completed 81% of his passes so far this season.

“Just the things that we work on and all with this thought that I’m not going to wait for 3-4 weeks to figure out what Geno’s looking like,” Carroll said. “I think he looks really good. I’m convinced that what he’s done in practice and what we’ve seen, he’s carried to the games. The game’s not too big. He’s very comfortable in the games. He’s very poised about stuff and is accurate as heck and there’s no reason to be worried about it at all. So we’re just going to just kind of go and see if we get this thing rolling in a better clip than we have.“