The 49ers started slow Sunday afternoon, but they finished strong to earn a 23-7 win over the Texans to move one step closer to a playoff appearance.
Trey Lance found his footing after halftime and fellow rookie Elijah Mitchell returned strong from injury to lead the Niners on the ground. The San Francisco defense allowed just one scoring drive, which came after Lance’s one big mistake, a second-quarter interception.
Lance finished 16-of-23 for 249 yards, two touchdowns and one interception
Whether Lance or the injured Jimmy Garoppolo plays next week when the 49ers face the Rams in Los Angeles remains to be seen, though coach Kyle Shanahan said Garoppolo will start if he is healthy. The 49ers can clinch a playoff berth with a win in that game.
Here’s what Shanahan, Lance and more 49ers said after their home finale:
KYLE SHANAHAN
On Lance’s performance:
I think he did some real good things. Besides the bad interception, I thought he protected the ball real well. That was a big thing going into this game and he did a good job on all those except for one play. I think he was very efficient, just looking at his numbers and things like that. That big play at the end was huge and for the most part, he made some pretty good decisions running the ball.
On “opening up the playbook” for Lance:
That’s not really how we look at it. There’s a gameplan so there’s a one-week playbook.
On aggression at the end of the half:
We wanted to score before the end of the half, we knew we were getting it to start the third. That situation, we always talk about is that we always want it to be where you try to lap someone and score twice.
On New Orleans’ win that didn’t allow the 49ers to clinch a playoff spot:
I can’t lie, I just watched the last 30 seconds. Wasn’t real fun to watch. So, pretty simple for us.
On whether Garoppolo will throw this week:
I don’t know if he threw to day. I didn’t even ask. Just talking to him yesterday, I had a pretty good idea that we weren’t gonna even push it today. I think he’ll be able to do it this week. That’s just me giving you guys an honest guess, hopefully a better idea by Wednesday.
On who will start next week:
If Jimmy’s 100 percent healthy and can do everything perfect, then I would definitely go with Jimmy. I’m not just going to throw a guy in after one game like this when Jimmy’s been doing it for us all year.
On what he said to Lance at halftime:
Nothing. Just talked to the team and asked the offense if they were ready to play yet.
On Mitchell’s day:
I love all our backs a lot but Elijah has played at another level this year. When he’s in there, I mean, we are just very efficient. We always get at least what is blocked for and you guys just see how good he reads those gaps.
On the forward-progress and pass-interference calls that helped the Niners:
Those are two of the best calls I’ve seen this year.
On finding a rhythm with Lance:
I enjoy it, but I think it’s not just for the individual, it’s for the whole team … Whenever you have different players, it’s not just me — it takes everyone a little bit of a rhythm to feel how we move together.
On the kid who got onto the field:
That scared the hell out of me. It threw me off so bad, I didn’t know what was going on, and I feel bad. I wish I’d pounded the kid ’cause respect. I don’t know how he got down there. I was just looking at my call sheet and I hear a soft voice down there going “Holy cow, Kyle Shanahan.”
NICK BOSA
On playing well to support Lance:
I think it was huge. We knew it was Trey’s second start and we had to play a really good game to help them out and I think we did that.
On the outlook for next week:
We have to win, so every game is a playoff game.
TREY LANCE
On his slow start:
I think I got into a better rhythm… After that two-minute drive, I think is when I started talking to Rich and Kyle and kind of let them know that I felt settled. But yeah, hopefully we can get started faster whenever that next time is.
On his interception:
It was cover 2, so not necessarily where I’m told to go with the ball but if I make a better throw, I think that you know, everyone’s happy in that situation. Just left it short.
On when he knew he’d start:
Really not until probably yesterday, for sure.
On sideline support from Garoppolo:
I know he’s got my. back o nthe sideline, whether good play or bad, you know, he’s the first one talking to me and making sure we’re seeing things the same way.
On his fourth-down missed pass:
I have to go back and watch the tape but from what I felt and after watching the replay on the field, I didn’t think I could have ran.
MARCEL HARRIS
On his interception and apparent fumble:
I knew I caught it when I caught it, but for the most part, you got to hold onto that thing.
On the play:
I thought I was down. I kind of heard that whistle when I was being held up.
On transitioning to LB from safety:
It’s been smooth. Fred, Dre and Azeez and those guys always talking to me, helping me out, you know, understanding the game more from that perspective as a linebacker.
ELIJAH MITCHELL
On rust after being off three weeks:
Definitely was some rust on our first drive but I started clicking and it was good after that.
On breaking the 49ers rookie rushing record:
Some of my teammates told me on the sideline but like I say, I wouldn’t be able to do that without my offensive linemen. All 11, blocking their butts off for me.
On Lance:
He did good, man. He was talking to us, he was calling plays fast. Like I said, I was proud of what he did today.
On his TD catch:
We ran it in practice and I was open every time so we knew that was going to be a touchdown.
DEEBO SAMUEL
On slow start before opening up:
We just had to get back to the offense that … we normally run. We was kind of slacking in the run game and you see that picked up well and that was able to get the play action going and we came up with a good win.
On Lance:
He had a good week of practice. First half was, we kind of started off slow. And as you see, second half he played outstanding.
On comfort with Lance if Garoppolo can’t play next week:
If we gotta roll with Trey, I feel pretty confident in him.
FRED WARNER
On supporting Lance in second start:
We always have three keys to victory for our defense, Demeco does. And this week we had one, it was that we had to have our most dominant performance of the year.
On getting past bad plays:
We just pride ourselves on if something bad happens, we just gotta put it behind us and onto the next. That’s something that I preach to the guys out there is just to be in the moment.
On confidence in Lance:
We know he’s smart, he’s mature and he handled himself well. The moment’s never too big and the supporting cast around him is pretty darn good too.
GEORGE KITTLE
On Lance:
Thought he came out there with great defense. We started a little slow as an offense. Shoutout to our defense and our special teams for picking up the slack and put us in a position to be able to figure our stuff out.
On Lance’s response to interception:
He flushed it and he came back and I thought he played a really good game.
On communicating with Lance:
I didn’t go to Trey and talk about Kyle’s offense, he’s been in it long enough. He’s been in a room with Jimmy and Sudfeld, and you know, I think they’re both really good — they’re both really smart.
On the kid on the field:
All I heard was “Deebo, I love you,” and I was like “What?” And then they’re like “Get that kid off the field. I said “What kid?” and I look over and there’s a kid talking to Kyle.
On the playbook with Lance:
Are there a couple different wrinkles in there for Trey? Yes, but it’s mostly our same offense and a little bit more basic than usual … We had obviously some fun plays in but like, it wasn’t that confusing. And so just allowed Trey to play fast. And I think that allowed him to play, you know, once he got his foot in, he figured it out and let him play at a high level.
Source: www.mercurynews.com