The 49ers moved to 3-0 Thursday night by beating the Giants 30-12 in their home opener.
Deebo Samuel paced them with 129 receiving yards and a touchdown in the absence of Brandon Aiyuk, and Christian McCaffrey added 85 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Here’s what those two, coach Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers had to say after the win:
Kyle Shanahan
On the Giants blitzing:
You always gotta be ready for that on every play. They did it on the first play of the game and they did a bunch throughout the game and that makes things hit-or-miss for both sides.
On Purdy against the blitz:
He missed a couple guys today and guys made a couple of real good catches. I thought it was just a huge challenge, one of the biggest ones Brock’s been in. The short week to prepare for a scheme like that, just how much they do with — they have six guys on the line of scrimmage throughout the game. There’s not a comfortable play throughout a game from a playcall standpoint and for the quarterback, just because there’s a lot of plays that don’t work versus that.
On Purdy’s game:
I thought he settled down throughout it as the game went and ended up playing good enough for us to win … It definitely wasn’t perfect, missed a couple throws, also made a couple plays that I didn’t think were there.
On having the weekend off:
There’s not many times in the NFL where you get to enjoy a win more than just that night, so it’s always cool when you win on Thursdays. I told the guys that if they want to win and have a weekend off, we got to earn it and those guys did.
On the defense:
I thought our defense played real well, I thought they stepped it up last week. They started doing that in the second half last week and I thought that continued into today. It was a good job making them one-dimensional in the run game.
On the third downs:
We did very well on third downs on offense today, which allowed us to keep some drives going, but I think we got to improve because I think we could have more points than that.
On the special teams mistakes:
Yeah, that was huge. You know, I felt like we had all the momentum right there. And then those two special teams penalties gave them the chance to get back into it. You know, they got the big one to get us backed up in our defense did an awesome job. I believe it was three-and-out to start — that’s our chance to really take control of the game, and we end up getting the penalty to have us backed up. we had a fumbled snap I believe on first down miscommunication between the quarterback and center. And then when we punted get in that penalty two weeks in a row for the same thing was huge. That gave him a great field position and made it a game there for a second.
On whether Samuel will need x-rays on his ribs:
I don’t know. I’m sure, but it was good that he came back in, which usually means you’re hoping it’s positive. But I know he’s sore right now and we’ll have to check that out.
On the two third-and-long screens:
Both of those were two huge plays because usually third and long you almost surrender but we got some good guys with the ball in their hands and the blockers were all good on those plays.
On scoring 30 three games in a row:
That’s why we try to struggle in the red zone, so we can keep 30 three weeks in a row.
On whether Ronnie Bell proved something:
He already has proven to us. We’ve been real happy with Ronnie. Thought it was a challenge for him, just on a short week and all the game plan together, especially in his first time going through that.
Fred Warner
On the 3-0 start:
That’s exactly how you draw it up, you know, 3-0 start. We talked about trying to get off to a faster start. Nobody’s satisfied, though. I wouldn’t say that. I think there’s so much room for improvement. You can watch the tape and there’s little things all over the place that every single guy can get better at and we got a long ways to go.
On Isaiah Oliver:
His play has been amazing. You see the growth every single week, him getting better. I think that comes from confidence, you know, and just continuing to keep his head down and grind. We signed him for a reason — he’s a heck of a player and he’s continuing to get better.
Deebo Samuel
On Brandon Aiyuk being out:
I was talking to Brandon last night, I was like ‘Bro, this is my first time being in the huddle without you.’ It kind of felt weird during practice but it was good to get the win as a team.
On the apparent injury:
I actually fell on the ball. I thought it was my ribs. I think I got the wind knocked out of me but after going into the tent, everything checked out fine.
On whether the TD was a designed as a back-shoulder throw:
It depends on how the defender plays it, because they was playing a good bit inside on me today, and luckily we got that call at the end, but Brock did an awesome job of putting the ball only where I can get it.
On deep passes:
That’s something we worked on daily in camp, like me, Brandon and all other wideouts, as far as taking shots downfield because that’s kind of where we lack. So it’s kind of good to see a couple. First week, we had Brandon and this week we had me.
On if he’d agree he’s not awful, like he said he was last year:
I would definitely agree I’m in better shape. You know, being able to sustain drives and be out there as long as I can without having to sub out.
On being named captain:
I think the team has seen all the things that I did to come back in better shape and, you know what I’m saying, be able to help this team as much as possible.
Brock Purdy
On the Giants’ heavy blitzing:
That’s their scheme, that’s how they’ve done things. They’re pretty good at it. So going into the game, we had an idea just on pfilm and whatnot, that’s what we’re going to get. And they stuck to it.
On a choppy start:
There were some looks that were there. I was off, inaccurate or some things just didn’t happen right within our scheme, and so yeah, I felt like it was a little choppy at first and then once we got into a rhythm, we sort of saw what they were doing and at one point in the game they’re going to start doing stuff.
On facing the blitz:
That’s the risk that the defense is taking when they’re blitzing. We can capitalize on offense with some big plays, and so we had some stuff dialed up.
I don’t really get wrapped up in the stats and stuff. I feel like there are some throws out there that I missed that could have obviously helped us get the lead earlier.
Christian McCaffrey
On facing a blitzing team:
Anytime you get a team that plays a lot of zero, does a lot of different blitzing, you really have to execute. You got to be on your P’s and Q’s. you got to know when you’re hot, you got to know when you have protection and go from there.
On matching Jerry Rice’s 12-game TD streak:
That’s a huge honor. Obviously scoring touchdowns is a team line. O-line did a great job blocking, I just had to hit the hole.
On being 3-0:
We know what we can do. We expect to win every game, and the fact that we’re 3-0 is awesome. We know it’s a long season and there’s still so much football left. I love the mentality of our team right now because I think we’re 3-0 and we’re happy but we’re still hungry and there’s still a lot that we can get better at. That’s a good place to be.
On hitting 5,000 career rushing yards:
I didn’t know that. That’s cool.
On getting ready for this game:
That’s a tough defense to play, especially on a short week, too. There’s not a lot of time to go over everything, so you kind of have to crunch a lot in three days.
Nick Bosa
On not being blocked on his sack:
That was clutch. I’ll take a gimme all day.
On the defensive line:
I think tonight, all around as a unit was one of the best performances, well, the best performance we’ve had together. Just winning rushes, everybody really fast.
On Purdy:
I’m extremely confident in him and I know when I see him after games, he’s never too high, never too low. So even when there are plays out there that he misses. He’s very, very keen on making those improvements but he still had an amazing day.
On social media:
I’ve done a pretty good job of staying off social media this year. Especially going into the deal getting done, so it’s definitely a healthier way to live your life.
On watching the offense:
Deebo, Christian and George, just the amount of physical runs they have definitely gets us going as a defense.
On determining the side he is rushing from:
I just tell the other end to stay in the middle until they break, and then I go to the other side.
Source: www.mercurynews.com