The 49ers beat the Buccaneers 27-14 on Sunday as Brock Purdy and the passing offense ran roughshod over Tampa Bay.
Purdy threw for 333 yards on 21-of-25 passing with three touchdowns. Brandon Aiyuk had five receptions for 156 yards, including a 76-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. Christian McCaffrey led all rushers with 78 yards on 21 attempts.
The 49ers lost All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga to a third-quarter knee injury, though. His replacement Ji’Ayir Brown made an endzone interception that helped seal the win.
Here’s what coach Kyle Shanahan and some key 49ers said as they move into a short week with Thanksgiving plans in Seattle looming Thursday night:
Kyle Shanahan
On Hufanga’s injury:
Real concern. We don’t know for sure. Most likely it’s ACL but can’t confirm it, so we’ll find out later.
On Purdy’s game:
I thought he played real well. There was very few that he missed, protected the ball extremely well. When there wasn’t anything there, we didn’t have any intentional groundings and did a good job moving the chains also, especially at the end there on the keeper. I thought he had a hell of a game.
On Purdy’s approach:
I think Brock has been great because he has been consistent through it all. I mean, we’ve never felt anything different with Brock during those three losses. I think he’s pretty realistic so he doesn’t get into stuff that’s not that accurate.
On risk of looking ahead:
I wasn’t concerned with guys looking ahead. I don’t feel that at all. … We had won one here in the last month and it was a big one for us, Jacksonville. I know our guys were extremely focused on this.
On quick turnaround:
As soon as we get out of here, we got to get ready for this quick turnaround, which is always a challenge and tough, but really glad we’re gonna get three days off after for this stretch.
On Ji’Ayir Brown:
He did a hell of a job. I mean, to lose a player like Huf from the game and for him to come in and step it up big, make two huge plays, I mean the pick was huge. And thenon the fourth down, you know where you got an all-out blitz and they just throw it up and sometimes your biggest fear with they just throw it up, it’s like what happened to Buffalo on that Monday night, when it’s underthrown, it’s so hard not to get a PI, and for him to not PI the guy and to get back, and from what I saw it looked like he knocked it down, that was a hell of a play.
On the fourth quarter:
I thought our defense was awesome to me. They kept getting us back. I wish we would have finished it once you get the turnover on the first one. I want to go down there and score. I think we went three-and-out. The next time, we should have run the clock out, two first downs. We got out of bounds twice so I wasn’t happy with that but so pumped with the defense.
On Brandon Aiyuk:
He’s been great. A lot was made out of it because everyone talked doghouse in training camp. I was a little confused, just coaching. He was never in anyone’s doghouse. We’re just coaching him and BA, going back to those years, he was, I thought, one of our best players halfway through that year and one of the main reasons we went to the NFC Championship, and got better last year and he’s been better this offseason. When you’re getting better doesn’t always show for a receiver because stats and all those results are dependent on a lot of out people. BA’s been playing some good football for a while and it’rs really cool when he gets rewarded with those numbers.
On 49ers’ knack for improving through season:
I think we got a lot of players who really enjoy football. We work at it in terms of, we like to coach, we like to point things out. I think our guys, if you stay healthy, you practice more, you play more and when that happens you get better as the year goes on. So I always expect us to look better as it goes than we do at the beginning.
On Purdy bouncing back from three losses:
You never know until people go through that, but I mean, the film was so good. I mean, the guy was playing unbelievable in those three losses. So there was nothing to really worry about. You just got to make sure he doesn’t make up stuff that other people are making up. So you just try to get him to stick with practice, stick with the film and keep doing what you’re doing.
On whether there’s anything Purdy can’t do:
Brock’s a solid, really good quarterback, so he can do… I don’t know if he can run a 4.3 (40-yard dash), doing a lot of Wildcat stuff, but everything we’ve asked him to do, I think he’s done at a real high level.
Arik Armstead
On the key to the win:
Every game’s important. The most important game of the season is the one you’re playing.
On whether the losing streak was a reminder of the tough NFL:
Not a harsh reminder. Started off good and, you know it’s tough in the NFL, so we got reminded of that. But we can’t achieve our goals or win a Super Bowl in October and we want to be playing our best foot btball in November and December and January.
On Brown:
That was great, him stepping in halfway down and him stepping in, getting that huge pick to seal the game. I know that felt good for him.
Fred Warner
On comms with Brown:
There wasn’t much said, honestly. It’s always next-man-up mentality.
Oh Hufanga’s injury.
My heart goes out to Huff. Not exactly share what’s going on there, but obviously they’re fearing the worst for him right now.
On Brown’s play:
The way Ji’Ayir played today and being ready for his moment, can’t say enough about it. That’s huge, even though we were up in the game like to be down there in the red zone and make the plays that he made to help us get out of there speak to the way that he’s worked and been ready for this opportunity.
On the cornerbacks:
They’ve been big. Can’t say enough about it. I think the rush and the coverage was obviously somewhat that was talked about going into the bye, how we had to work together as a unit and that’s been a point of emphasis. Guys have stepped up into big roles.
On the quick turnaround:
Thursday night is all about how fast can you recover to be able to play another game on such a quick turnaround. Gameplan-wise, it’s going to be a smaller gameplan in terms of what we’re putting in and preparing.
George Kittle
On Ji’Ayir Brown:
I do cook him weekly, yes. … When you’re a rookie, you’re like kind of just trying to figure it out because the NFL is significantly different than college ball
On Brown:
I think Ji’Aiyr’s a guy who listens to that: Absorb a bunch of information. e does the things that really good ballplayers do, whether it’s taking car of your body, the mental side of it, the extra film, talking to your coaches about stuff and then taking every day seriously in practice to try to get better. And that why he was set up for his opportunity today. I’m very proud of him.
On the Seahawks:
Very excited about Thursday Night Football and the Seattle Seahawks. Short week. Shoutout to the Rams. Good job, guys. Good job Mike LaFleur. So thankful for them but all that means is Seattle’s gonna be a little angry and it’s gonna be a great game up there. It’s one of my favorite atmospheres, one of my favorite places to play. They absolutely hate us and I just want a great fan base to absolutely hate us. It’s really fun.
On Mayfield’s block of Bosa:
I bet Nick was just trying to not get a penalty or fine for hitting a quarterback. … And yes, if it was my choice, I would probably not hit Nick Bosa, just for your own health and safety.
On Mayfield:
He’s an absolute competitor and you can just tell by the way he plays, especially like this year with the Bucs. He’s having so much fun.
On the team’s play:
We’re taking steps in the right direction, but there’s parts of our game that we need to execute a lot better, getting penalties on first down – that’s what I always say dislike if you turn the ball over or have penalties on first and second down, it’s hard to be a good football team. Or defense has played at a very high level right now and that’s allowing us to maybe cover up those mistakes.
On getting more red-zone opportunities:
We just have a lot of opportunities because of the way that Brock takes care of the football and the way that he is able to extend plays with his feet. He just does a great job keeping his eyes up and I feel like we’re staying on the field for a long time.
Brock Purdy
On perfect passer rating:
What an honor, but at the same time I feel like there’s still some plays and stuff that I wish I had back, so not completely content with just that. It was a great game with the guys around me, the coaching and the playcalling and all of it, so that’s a testament to the team, really.
On having two sides to his personality:
I don’t know if I have two sides, but yeah, when I get on the field and we’re making plays and stuff, like I try to do whatever it takes, get the guys around me going, celebrating with them on some bit plays and stuff. So I guess more of the personality comes out in those moments.
On the long TD to Aiyuk:
Just man coverage. He had to go out and just let him know, you know really just give him some time to beat his guy and then just put the ball up for him and try to lead him. He did a great job winning in man-to-man coverage. Right when we saw his guy fall down and BA caught it, I was like ‘Man, that’s sweet’. You don’t know get that many plays like that in a game, so it felt good for all of us and BA deserves it, man. We’ve been wanting to get a deep one for him for a while.
On Brown:
I remember the first day, like in summer, we’re working out and stuff and he came up to me and was talking to me and I was like, just from talking from him, I could tell like how mature he was. Sometimes with rookies and stuff, ar excited to be there and can be a little bit all over the place and whatnot. But he was very mature. I could tell this guy handles his business and he’s going to have a great career.
On changing mentality after losses:
I was more upset with not even like that we were complacent or anything, but almost like we’re just going to walk into the game and it’s going to be given to us in a sense. I had to get back to (the mentality of) man, we gotta go take it, we gotta go earn it every single game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it’s the NFL.
On the game Thursday in Seattle:
We’re at that point of the season where obviously every single game is crucial. It’s huge, and so going into a hostile environment. And Seattle, the great team that they have, it’s going to be a great challenge for us and we’re excited about it.
Nick Bosa
On Baker Mayfield’s block against him on Trey Palmer’s end-around:
That was not him, that was the speed of No. 10, but I’ll let him have that.
On his words to Mayfield after the QB’s game-sealing interception:
No, he was (complaining) to the ref and I told him there’s no horsecollar in the pocket. He thought he got roughed.
Source: www.mercurynews.com