Every so often I roll out Nolan quotes, post-game quotes and similar whatnot. I thought I'd make the post-game quotes a more regular feature as I receive them. Even with all the coach-speak and athlete cliches, we can probably get a little context. Also, I'll throw in my thoughts if anything jumps out. I'll make sure and set it off as my own opinion.
HEAD COACH MIKE NOLAN
On the game as a whole: “Okay, defensively we’ve got to get off the field better, obviously. (We) didn’t do a good job there. And offensively, we definitely have to stay on the field. We’ve got to convert on third down. Special teams was uneventful. There wasn’t much to report there. But that’s what led to the loss: gave them another big pass, uncharacteristic of our secondary. But two weeks in a row, I’m not going to say it is becoming characteristic, but we got the quarterback on a blitz and he just unloads it deep and beats us.”
The cliche of the day: “I know we brought pressure. It’s a good example of getting five sacks. (I know) how excited people get about sacks and how they think they’re directly related to winning. That should give you a great example that it really isn’t. To win is all about having more points than the other team. It gets down to staying on the field offensively on third down and getting off on defense, and a lot of other things but it’s never one area.”
Fooch: Oh Coach Nolan...I've joked about coach/athlete cliches including scoring more points than the other team but I've never seen somebody use the phrase "having more points than the other team." Really bringing his A-game.
On deactiving Roderick Green and activating Marcus Hudson: “With Rod I thought that I’d just let Tully (Banta-Cain) have the opportunity. I thought that it was important to get (Marcus Hudson) up for the special teams as well. So, Hudson did the special teams. He’s a good special teams player. I felt we’d need him for the game. And Tully had a good week. I thought we’d inspire him and see if he would do something. But I’ll look at the film, but he…again from a pass rush standpoint, I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t say it before I know. We were okay in that area, like I said, five sacks, but we didn’t win the game.
FRANK GORE
On the offenses performance: “We just went out today flat. We went out flat as a team. We just have to go out there and stick together and play hard. We can’t give up. We just have to keep playing hard.”
Fooch: I realize a 16-game, 4-month long season can be grueling and I certainly don't know enough as a fan to get what players go through. However, I still find it amazing when players talk about how their team came out flat. In baseball I can see that happening because we're talking about 162 games where a single loss usually won't sink your season. But when you're playing 16 games and each one is so important, it's a little tough to swallow.
J.T. O'Sullivan, Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements and Tully Banta-Cain after the jump...
J.T. O'SULLIVAN
On the offensive inconsistency: “We had too many three and outs. Three and outs just aren’t good enough for any offense. I feel that there were a lot of reasons (why the 49ers had troubles getting first downs). They were playing coverages sometimes and bringing pressure sometimes. But I didn’t worry about any of that. I only worry about what we’re trying to do.”
“I’m not going to make any excuses about having rhythm or not having rhythm. The point is we didn’t capitalize on enough of our opportunities. It’s something we’re going to have to work on.”
On the defensive looks: “They do give you a lot of looks. I expected it. They’re a veteran defense. They’re very good at what they do. But nothing they did today surprised me.”
Fooch: He definitely doesn't give a crap about the media. If we didn't know of this pattern he might come across as not caring enough. But I think in reality, JTO just doesn't want to deal with the media when the team is struggling.
TAKEO SPIKES
On the interception: “I dropped into a zone. I think he was trying to throw deep but Aubrayo (Franklin) hit him and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Being on the field for so long: “They had the ball for far too long. It’s disappointing and frustrating. We have to give our offense more opportunities. You’ve got to give them credit; they just played better than us. They made the plays, that’s the difference.”
On third down struggles: “They were able to convert a lot of third downs. It’s not like they surprised us or anything, they just executed better than we did in those situations. We can’t afford to give up big plays like we did today. We knew what they were going to do, but we couldn’t stop them.”
TULLY BANTA-CAIN
On playing against his old team: “It was a great experience for me just to get a chance to play against them. I have been inactive for four weeks so for the fact that I’m active for my old team, I couldn’t write it out better. It would have been nice to get the win, but at the same time, it was nice to get to play.”
On having something to prove after being inactive the first four weeks: “I always feel like I have something to prove every time I step out on the field. But it was a little more intense this week being (that) I hadn’t played in a while. The reason I feel that I’m here is to play and to make plays. So hopefully, regardless of the loss, they will see that I’m capable of playing well.”
On the time of possession: “That’s not good. As a defense, you want to get off the field. We just didn’t play consistent enough on defense. That’s something we need to improve on if we want to be special.”
NATE CLEMENTS
On the lack of third down conversions: “That’s the one key down we had to play tight coverage on. You have to over-emphasize everything because it is third down and we have the opportunity to get off the field.”
On the Moss touchdown: “Good throw. Good catch. I thought I had it covered. It happens.”
Fooch: Simplicity is the spice of life.
On losing momentum: “They were faced with an adverse situation and they responded. They switched around and changed the momentum of the game themselves. There are going to be situations like that during the course of the season. We have to learn to weather the storm and continue to press.”