JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Here is what came out of the 49ers’ postgame press conferences following their 34-3 win Sunday over the Jaguars:
HEAD COACH KYLE SHANAHAN
No injuries right now. I’m sure there will be some tomorrow, but there’s nothing right now.
Q: What impressed you the most?
Shanahan: Just how we overcame a bunch of stuff. I didn’t think we played perfect ball by any means, which you never do. I was just happy that the mistakes we did make, we always overcame. I was real disappointed getting those first two turnovers and not scoring on either of them, having to punt. Then when we get the third turnover, we actually score ourselves on defense but we have to call it back, and that was strategic so we could let the offense do it. Finally, we were able to do one, and being able to get that fourth one was cool. It was playing complementary football. Took us a while a little bit back and forth, but I thought once we were playing well on both sides, that’s when the score became what it did.
Q: Would that penalty not have been strategic if you hadn’t been one of the ones on the field?
Shanahan: Was I one? Yeah. No, I would have been mad at whoever did it. I was mad at myself. I thought the play was over. We couldn’t see, and everyone jumped up, so when that happens you’re getting out there to start to congratulate people coming back, and they’re not coming back to congratulate us, they’re running back at us. We know the rules, definitely. We know you can’t go on the field. I personally thought the play was over. They ran right by us, and it was very unfortunate because it was a good learning experience for our team. We do show that stuff. But it was short lived because we ended up scoring. We can live with it, but good learning example for us.
Q: I’m not sure if you went back to it, but that first play was a five-man front on defense. Was that something that you had charted out over the bye?
Shanahan: No, and I think we’ve mixed that in a little bit throughout the year at times. I think we did it versus Pittsburgh on one of the first couple plays, and I know we did it versus Minnesota, I believe, on Mooney’s pick there in the first quarter. It’s something we mixed in, but no, I thought their playing was real good today, and it seemed effective.
Q: What did you think of Nick Bosa today?
Shanahan: I thought he was great. I think Nick has been playing great all year, but for him to get the sack and stuff, cause a turnover, I know how much he loves playing in Florida, too, so it was cool to have a big game for him today. I thought all of them played big.
Q: What was it like having Steve Wilks on the field?
Shanahan: I mean, I ran into him a couple more times. I hear his voice wherever he is. I enjoy him down there. We’ll ask the players how they thought. Excited to talk to Steve on the plane, see what he thought. But that’s nothing against you guys or anything, but I’ve been coaching a long time, and I think that’s one of the most overrated things in the world. I enjoyed him down there today.
Q: What was your thought process on trying to get Christian McCaffrey a touchdown there at the end?
Shanahan: 18 games in a row is a big record. If we had a chance to do it, I was going to try to do it for him. It’s a little nerve-racking. Last thing I want to do is get him hurt, but it was big-time for Elijah [49ers RB Elijah Mitchell] to run the ball like that to get us down there. Brock and I think Ronnie [49ers WR Ronnie Bell] made a huge third down throw, I believe, that gave us a chance, and once we got close, we told him to stay loose because we were going to try. We got close. Wish we could have done it for him, but I think that was a pretty big accomplishment to do it for 17 games straight.
Q: Did you have to explain it to Doug Pederson at all?
Shanahan: Yeah, he said he knew. Right when I saw him, I was like, hey, I hope you know why we were trying to do that, and he was very well aware. He said they were talking about it. Hopefully it didn’t offend him too much.
Q: You know some people here may have freaked out if McCaffrey got hurt. You were ready to assume the risk and take the heat if that happened?
Shanahan: Yeah, I try to make decisions not based off of having to talk to you after the game. I try to make it on what I think is right for the team. Sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong. But I’m not going to think about you until after the game. Then I can just deal with it.
Q: Has Ambry Thomas made strides in practice to give you the confidence to make that move today?
Shanahan: Yeah, Ambry has made a lot of strides even going back to training camp and stuff. It was nothing against anyone in particular. Just wanted to see Demo (Lenoir) in the nickel a little bit. Demo has got kind of a knack for that, and it’ll be fun to go watch him on the plane, see how he did. But for us to make that choice, Ambry was the next man up outside.
Q: What were your initial impressions of Chase Young’s impact?
Shanahan: From what I saw there, it seemed like he had a big impact. I know watching him and Nick there on that same play, I’ll see when I watch the tape, but just having them out there and allowing our rotation to go, and from what it looked to me, I thought we rushed collectively the best that I had seen. I’ll tell you guys tomorrow after I watch it on the plane, but just watching it live on the sidelines, it seemed collectively our group had their best game yet, and that’s the goal.
Q: The sequence at the end of the first half, beginning of the second half, I know you always strive to do that, but could you breathe a little bit easier after basically a 10-point possession?
Shanahan: Yeah, that was our first time this year I felt like we did it right, that we scored on the last play of the second quarter and we started out with it in the third quarter, and then we got that touchdown. That’s what we try to do every week. We were successful this week. It was very nerve-racking watching them ice our kicker, then the TV network ice our kicker. I didn’t know what was going on. That third kick was a little tight, too. But it worked, so I’m glad.
Q: On Brock Purdy’s first touchdown pass, was that like a no-no-yes?
Shanahan: Yeah, that was honestly, I can say this because he played his ass off, he played well, but that was like one of his worst decisions I think he’s made since he’s been here, and it took me a while to get over it. I thanked him for the touchdown, but that was not a good decision. He was fortunate with it, but he made a lot of really good plays, and if you are going to make a bad decision and it’s still a touchdown, in the grand scheme of things, you can tell me it was a real good decision. But he knows that. He knows what he did wrong. But he made them right.
Q: Spinning it into a positive, the fact that — too many picks, too many mistakes by Brock, the fact that that was the first drive but he obviously still wasn’t scared and was still slinging it, does that tell you something that he still wasn’t playing scared despite the adversity?
Shanahan: I think he’s been playing the same way all this time. You don’t feel it from him at all. That’s why I know he’s had some turnovers here on our losses, but you ask anyone who’s watched all those games and stuff, he was one of the best players on the field in those games. You’re always responsible for those turnovers, but there’s sitting there saying he’s taking too many bad decisions. That was one definitely. It’s going to happen with guys. But I love having a guy who isn’t thinking about that. He’s trying to make the right decisions, letting it rip, and he’ll live with the consequences and try and get better when it’s not.
Q: You guys held Jacksonville off a bye without scoring. Is this what you envisioned your defense to look like, and is it as simple as you guys winning early downs?
Shanahan: I think it’s just playing one game at a time and not getting caught up in anything. They had a bunch of big plays. It seemed like it. They got a number of plays going with their screens a number of times. We had some big penalties that hurt us. They had some explosive plays that got down there. Every time it seemed like they got going, our guys just never stopped. You don’t get points until you cross the goal line or kick it through the uprights, and our guys made so many plays when they were getting down there, they just were relentless today, and kept going for that ball, and eventually everything took care of itself.
Q: How close was the decision on Trent Williams, and how do you think he performed?
Shanahan: It was real close. He was adamant that he was going to play. He was able to do enough to, I’d say, whatever the percentage is, 80 or whatever, but it is tough because last thing I want him to do is go out there and reinjure it or make it worse so he can’t play next week. It was tough. We talked about it a lot, all the coaches and him. We were going to keep a hard eye on him as it went, but I thought he performed well under the circumstances, and the biggest thing was just talking to him there on the sideline. He didn’t zing it, got out healthy, and had no setbacks.
Q: What did you see on the touchdown when it looked like Brock was working with zero room with the line in front of him?
Shanahan: Yeah, it was a look we were hoping for, it just takes a while. BA is running the in-route, and George is running out route, and it takes a little bit of time to get down the sidelines with the leverage I believe that 33 had on him, and Brock just tried to wait for it and waited as long as he could. I was so pumped he got it off, but he had to throw with some anticipation and didn’t know if George was going to be able to get to it because he had to bow around a little rub of man coverage, but beautiful touch on the ball. George has the skill set to explode through it, and that was a huge play in the second half for us.
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN ARIK ARMSTEAD
Q: Did you have any conversations with Steve Wilks on the sideline during this game?
Armstead: A little bit. I felt his energy. He came up to us, congratulated us on some plays, and that voice telling us to keep going and don’t let up. So yeah, I definitely felt him on the sideline.
Q: How did you feel that Nick — Nick has played well, but he hasn’t been filling up the stat sheet. Did you feel something different from him today?
Armstead: Nothing different. Nick has just been doing what he has been doing — we finally had a quarterback who held on to the ball for a little bit, and we were able to show up in the stat sheet today. But Nick has been playing great all year. Whatever the criticism that comes with getting a big contract, Nick has been dominant in the pass and run game. He has been all year. It showed up in the stat sheet today, but he’s been doing that all year.
Q: Trevor Lawrence has been one of the quickest this year at getting the ball out. What was working to make him hold the ball?
Armstead: Really tying the front and the coverage. The guys on the back end were — we were disguising things. We were mixing it up. That allowed us — guys being sticky in coverage allowed us the extra hitch, and confusing him, and once we confused him, he was looking to scramble, and our job was to keep him in the pocket and get him down.
Q: Do you see any change in him? You guys got a couple right off the bat on 3rd down. Do you see anything in him where `this is going to be one of those days’ . . .
Armstead: When it starts out early, it could turn into one of those special days for you up front, and we definitely had a good day up front, but got a lot more to go. We can continue to get better, and we weren’t perfect out there, so it’s a great feeling to get a win. Haven’t felt that in a while, and it was great to play well. But turn the page for sure.
Q: On the one play where it looked like you took one in the shin . . .
Armstead: I didn’t take one in the shin. He tripped me, kicked me in my knee and kind of messed up my day.
Q: Did you guys feel that you had something to prove after the criticism you might have been hearing?
Armstead: I mean, we know who we are. We know what we’re capable of. We have an extremely high standard for ourselves, bigger than any people or outside people can put on us. We want to be great. We want to be dominant, and we want to play at a high level. We know our team is going to need us to do that if we want to get to where we want to go. Any outside — you guys need to do this, we already put pressure, and a sense of responsibility on ourselves to go out there and put the team on our back and win games.
DEFENSIVE LINEMAN NICK BOSA
Q: How would you assess your performance today?
Bosa: Really good team win. Just complementary ball all around, and a good kind of reset for us to keep going.
Q: Could you feel that Chase brings a little bit more juice just because of his numbers that it creates for your D-line?
Bosa: Yeah, I mean having him is such a big threat. I think we played off of each other well. Me and him are really excited to keep going.
Q: On that sack early in the second quarter, at that point did you guys feel that you had that game under control?
Bosa: Yeah, I mean, I think it was only a touchdown lead at the time, so definitely didn’t let up at all. Our back end did an unreal job mixing things up and kind of confusing Trevor [Lawrence], and I think we got more ops (opportunities) than we’ve had all year, by far.
Q: Beyond just the opportunity, did you feel like the coverage being tied to the pass rush, was it at a better level than it had been for most of the season?
Bosa: Yeah, I mean, sometimes match-ups work certain ways. Not a lot of teams have done what we just did to them. We just have to keep improving, keep taking it one game at a time because we’ve played really well as a D-line in certain games throughout this year and not so good in other games, but when you have these opportunities, you’ve got to make the most of them.
Q: Kyle said you especially like coming and playing in Florida. Did you feel that?
Bosa: I did. Right when I stepped off the plane, I felt the humidity, and it was just so, so good.
RUNNING BACK CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY
Q: Did you do some lobbying to get back out there?
McCaffrey: Yeah, I suck. Everyone else on the team scored except for me. No, that means a lot to me for them to keep me in at the end of the game there and try to get me that record, but hey, I’ll take a huge win.
Q: How bad did you guys need this win today?
McCaffrey: Just as bad as every other week, but definitely this one coming off of three losses. I think what I liked is it wasn’t perfect, but we just stayed with it. We kept going, kept going, and defense came up huge with a bunch of turnovers, and offensively we’ve got a lot of things that we can still get better at, which is exciting. I think we learned our lesson these last three weeks of just — we have to play good ball every week. We have to execute. We have to minimize mistakes and go out there and do what we know how to do.
Q: What does Deebo Samuel bring to the offense that we can’t quantify?
McCaffrey: Yeah, I really don’t think you can quantify it. It’s a different energy, a different burst. Just having him on the field, I’m not a D-coordinator and go play defense, but he’s somebody you have to focus on, and then what he can do when the ball is in his hands whether it’s in the receiving game or the run game is special.
Q: Did it feel like there were more lanes to run, bigger holes . . .
McCaffrey: I thought the O-line did a great job all day. That’s a really good defense. That’s a good rush defense, too, and they have the numbers to show it. I thought our guys did a great job, and it was good having 71 back out there, but I thought all five of those guys, the tight ends, Juice, they did a hell of a job sticking with it, sticking with the run game, getting some of those gritty yards, and then in the second half start to pop some of them.
Q: What were your impressions of how Brock played?
McCaffrey: Awesome. Brock played awesome. He did what he knows how to do, and that’s play well, play beyond the Xs and Os, and I thought he did great.
Q: You say you learned your lessons the last couple weeks. The bye week, was that well situated for you to do some reflection?
McCaffrey: Definitely. The bye week was huge. I think everybody needed a little mental, emotional and physical rest.
Q: Did you wish Kyle Juszczyk would have gone down at the 1?
McCaffrey: Yeah, Juice really wanted me to score, unless he could score. I’m so happy. Anytime Juice can score, I’m probably the second most excited guy on the field other than him.
WIDE RECEIVER DEEBO SAMUEL
Q: How did it feel for you just to get back out there and help the squad end this losing streak?
Samuel: It felt good. Like being a month away and just not getting those wins that we were supposed to get and just coming back here and just seeing we went out on all phases, just come out with a big win.
Q: Do you feel like this was the team’s most complete game of the season?
Samuel: Looking at it from the sideline, yeah. Defense holding them to three points, four turnovers, special teams played well, and offense put up 30 points.
Q: Discuss your touchdown that you got and how the play went —
Samuel: You know, it was kind of like a reverse. I came around the edge and I didn’t see nothing but white jerseys and two blue jerseys, and I’m like, ain’t no choice but to get in the end zone right now.
Q: Seems like when you guys score, the other person celebrates more than the person that scores. Do you notice that in practice?
Samuel: I didn’t really notice that. I think everybody be excited to see whoever get in the end zone score.
Q: You mentioned this week you felt like Monday’s practice was like day one of training camp. Did you feel that energy kind of carry over to this game, like there was a little extra urgency on this one?
Samuel: I think so. I think everybody was just fresh coming off the bye week. We lost three, and we were just trying to get back on track, and that’s what we did.
LINEBACKER FRED WARNER
Q: Did you notice the defensive coordinator on the sideline?
Warner: I guess that’s the answer right there, huh? It was good. It was good having him down there, and the communication was flawless. Yeah, it was good having him down there.
Q: Were you in his ear at all during the game between series?
Warner: You know, I think it was pretty similar, honestly. I think the thing was just kind of like us being — just going into it, we wanted to make sure the communication was good in terms of the microphone, him getting the calls to me, and I thought he did a great job.
Q: Was that the first time he could directly speak to you?
Warner: Yeah.
Q: Any difference in what that was like?
Warner: There’s always going to be an adjustment period. I don’t know if he’s ever done it because I know he’s always been in the box. I think he did a great job being down there today.
Q: Did you guys come out today feeling like you had something you needed to prove as a unit?
Warner: I mean, I’d say so. Obviously there’s been — we had three games that just wasn’t us. We had to get back to playing 49er football, especially on the defensive side. I’ve spoken on it. We had to take pride in what we were putting on tape, and today I feel like we did that.
Q: Do you feel like the defensive line set the tone in today’s game?
Warner: Yeah, I think as a group, I think we played complementary football. I think obviously up front we got a lot of pressure up front to make his life difficult, and in the back end using our disguises and being sticky in coverage. I think that’s kind of what made it a little difficult for Lawrence.
Q: Could you elaborate on that? Lawrence gets the ball out really quick usually and he was patting it a little bit. What were you doing on the back end to force that?
Warner: I think early on just giving him different looks, not just — we wanted to make sure we gave great disguises in the back end to give those guys up front more time to kind of make him pat that ball and just giving a lot of different looks throughout the game.
Q: You talked about the defensive line and the back end, but the second level, you have some decent players there, too. Dre Greenlaw was banged up the last couple weeks. Did you notice more of a pep in his step today?
Warner: Absolutely. Anytime we got Dre out there early, it completely changes the defense. He’s such a great player, love playing alongside of him. The physicality that he brings, the hunt to the football, playmaking ability, he does it all. It was big having him back out there healthy.
Q: How did you think Chase Young fit in?
Warner: I think he fit in great. I guess that was the missing link right there to playing dominant defense again. It was so good having him out there. He brings such great energy. He’s obviously such a physical and dominant player. I’ll have to watch the tape to see how he truly did, but it felt like his presence was felt.
Q: Toughest interception you ever made?
Warner: Yeah, that was pretty tough. I have to say, Trevor Lawrence, he throws a good ball. It came a nice spiral to me. That’s my bad. I shouldn’t say that.
Q: You could sense it was coming the way the pressure was getting to him?
Warner: Yeah, just kind of the flow of the game. I felt like all game I had been jumping the check down when we were in zone coverage, so later in the game kind of got to have a situation I sunk back a little bit in that dig window, and he just threw it.
Q: What are you seeing from Ambry Thomas in practice throughout the week?
Warner: Man, just confidence. Confidence, and that’s truly the difference right now. I feel like he’s been getting better and better every week, just waiting for his opportunity, and I think he made the most of it today. Obviously made that big play on the sideline, but I think he just competed his tail off all week and then leading into today.
TIGHT END GEORGE KITTLE
Q: Did it feel like 49er football today?
Kittle: When you can sustain longer drives or explosive drives, whatever it is, and you don’t have penalties on 1st and 2nd down, you’re not turning the ball over, yes, that’s Niners football. We usually do a really good job protecting the ball and not getting penalties, and that’s what you guys saw today. The last couple weeks that’s all I’ve been saying is as long as we don’t turn the ball over a bunch and we don’t have penalties on 1st and 2nd down, we’re going to score a lot of points. You saw that too in the first and second quarter, whenever it was, where we had — I think we kicked the field goal, then we had to punt because we had the penalties on 1st down. As long as we can eliminate those things, our offense has enough really good football players to get yards, stay on the field and sustain long drives.
Q: This was the first time that Brock had got into a game with — a few games where he had made some turnovers and kind of had his back against the wall a little bit. How do you feel he responded to that challenge?
Kittle: I just go back to this, Brock started like 40 plus games in college. He had highest of highs, he’s had the lowest of lows. He’s dealt with mistakes. He’s had bad games in college. His confidence is still there, and that’s all I wanted him to continue doing. He knows how to bounce back. I don’t think Brock played poorly the last couple games. Yeah, sure, there’s a throw or two he probably wants back, but you look at the tape, he’s still playing at a high level those three weeks that we lost. Just this time we were able to not turn the ball over, not have penalties, so we were able to be out there, and you can see the type of quarterback Brock is.
Q: On the long touchdown you’re running a route, but did you have a chance to watch how Purdy was able to hang in the pocket?
Kittle: I have not seen it yet, but all I know is that Brock is really good in the pocket. When he has confidence in his skill players, he’s going to sit in the pocket and give you an opportunity, which is what he gave me.
Q: Can you talk us through that touchdown?
Kittle: You know what’s fun is you come in at halftime, and you sit down as an offense and Kyle brings up like hey, these are the eight to 10 plays that I want to get ran this half, and that play was the second play of the half, and that was not on those. That was not up there. I don’t know if Kyle talked about it, but he’s like, 2nd and 1, they always go man coverage, and so motion over there, we’re in 22 personnel, so two tight ends, two running backs and a wide receiver, and it gives me a one-on-one versus a linebacker, which I’ll take that any day of the week versus anybody. It was a great call by Kyle to get us in the right play, and it was exactly what we wanted it to be. It was exactly how we drew it up. I’m just thankful that Kyle called that play.
Q: Are you tired? You walked in the last like 25 yards.
Kittle: It’s really difficult to get that open. I saw him fall, I knew it was man coverage, too. I was like, well, I knew the safety went the other way because he was covering someone else. Just had some fun going into the end zone. I probably won’t ever walk in again because I’m going to get yelled at for that. But at least I didn’t drop the ball before I got in the end zone.
Q: Is that the most room you’ve ever had between you and a defender in your career?
Kittle: After he fell, yes. Yeah, that was really fun. We should do that more often.
Q: Talk about the emotional journey of the touchdown pass that went to Brandon over your head.
GEORGE KITTLE: Yeah, kind of talked about this, but I’ve heard like three times, was that a great decision by Brock. Well, since it worked, it was a great decision. But like every time I see a quarterback rolling out to his left and throwing back to the right, I just think about Brett Favre and the Vikings in the playoffs. It’s one of the biggest no-nos except when it works. It was funny, too, because Brandon is running the corner, I’m running across, and Brock is like nodding his head for us to go back, but he was like — I was talking to the defense — I was trying to sell it to the defense. I wanted you guys to keep running. My bad, Brock. Me and Brandon both fell for it, too. It went over my head a little bit, and I was like hopefully there’s someone else there outside of the defensive player. I look around, and Brandon is scoring a touchdown. I’m happy for Brandon to get back in the end zone because he had two against Pittsburgh, and it’s been kind of a dry spell for him. It’s a fun day when all the skill positions score. Unfortunately not Christian. But when your tight end and fullback are scoring, that’s great football.
Q: How do you think Brock scrambled, like his legs — he’s created a lot of plays for you guys this season. What does that bring to your offense?
Kittle: When you have a quarterback who can run a little bit and he is a threat in the run game and he also believes in his legs and he can outrun guys, it just allows plays to develop a little longer. Not everything has to be a three-step, five-step drop seven, step drop throw. When you can do a little bit extra, it’s really hard to play defense and cover guys for five seconds. It really is, especially if there’s not a lot of pressure and the quarterback is out on the side. That’s where you get all the illegal contact, that’s where the get the pass interferences. If you’re playing man coverage, it’s really hard to guard guys that long. It just allows our offensive players, our skill guys, like I said, they’re very talented, it allows us to work a little bit longer and get open.
Q: Can you explain the impact of having Deebo and Trent back in the lineup?
Kittle: What Deebo brings to the table is a lot. Especially where we line him up. When you can move him and Christian, you interchange them, the defense has to account for a lot of stuff, and then you take in all of our motions and all that stuff, there’s a lot going on for the defensive process every single play. When you have that capability, it just gets the defense kind of on their heels a little bit. Then you can attack them with Deebo, you can throw a route to Christian. That’s huge for our offense, just to have that diversity, whatever you want to call it. Then you go — look at Trent Williams, and what Trent does is besides being a first-ballot Hall of Famer left tackle still playing at a very high level, his confidence that he brings into the huddle is fantastic. The way he gets guys hyped before drives, in the middle of drives, he’s incredibly encouraging. Just when you have a guy like that who’s a very vocal leader, too, in the huddle, it just brings everybody up around him. Then also he doesn’t really need any chips or anything like that. He just manhandles anybody that he goes against, and it’s very fun to play with someone that’s probably the best to ever do it at his position.
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