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Robert Saleh has needed to get creative with the 49ers defense in the absence of so many of the team's stars this season.
The defensive coordinator's greatest innovation, however, just might be when he eats a traditional Thanksgiving staple.
Two separate pumpkin pie recipes lined the pages of Amelia Simmons' "American Cookery" in 1796, including one very similar to the form in which it's commonly consumed on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Sure, it's a fixture of Thanksgiving dinners in the United States, but Saleh's own tradition gets to the good stuff much sooner.
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"Pumpkin pie as my appetizer," Saleh told reporters Wednesday when asked what his favorite Thanksgiving foods and traditions were. "I love pumpkin pie. So, that's kind of my little tradition is wake up in the morning and have a little piece of pumpkin pie."
If you've not been doing it like Saleh, you've been wrong this whole time.
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Saleh's not alone in coming to this conclusion. Daniela Galazra, writing for Eater in 2018, noted that eating pie for breakfast is especially common after the holiday.
"But in recent years, Americans seem to need to make an excuse to have pie for breakfast, as if a fruit- or custard-filled pastry is too indulgent for the first meal of the day," Galazra wrote.
Saleh has needed no excuse on Thanksgiving, and I won't either, after writing this blog.
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As much as Saleh enjoys his first bite of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving morning, he truly enjoys being able to spend time with his family.
"[We get] to be thankful for all of the fact that we get to have a good family dinner and just appreciate one another and have a good meal," Saleh said. "So, it's a great day to always remind yourself to be thankful for a lot.”