After a terribly lopsided game for the San Francisco 49ers, quarterback Blaine Gabbert addressed the media and maturely took responsibility for the loss himself, even after being sacked nine times. Three of those sacks were Gabbert running out of bounds for a loss but the remaining six consisted of him being on the grass behind a line that couldn't protect him from the Browns' oncoming pass rush.
At the half, the 49ers had only 2 first downs and 48 yards of total offense. They finished the day with 221 yards on the day, only after a late garbage time drive of 94 yards. Alex Boone went out with a knee injury early in the 3rd quarter which created some shuffling around on the OL, but you can't blame the lack of production in first half on that where the 49ers ran 22 offensive plays to the Browns 42.
Below is the transcript of Gabbert's presser and you can watch the video here.
Is there anything you can put you finger on why this performance happened today?
Yeah, it's a tough one. A tough pill to swallow. I think the biggest thing is, we didn't execute when we needed to. We didn't have 11 guys on the same page enough to win that football game. It starts with me at the quarterback position. I gotta find a way to make a play, to move the football, and score touchdowns. I failed to do so today.
How does this happen? This is a team that has only won 2 games.
You gotta give credit to the Browns. They came ready to play today, and we didn't. You can't really put your finger on one certain thing. We gotta watch the film to really process what happened and just get back to the drawing board. There's no magical cure for this, we just have to go back, have a great week of practice and get ready for next week.
Were you expecting them to drop eight and still get so much pressure on those third downs?
Yeah, They run a complex scheme. They gave us a ton of different looks. First, second and third down, all game long. That wasn't the reason why we didn't have success, we just didn't execute versus those looks. We were prepared extremely well all week, and it's up to the players who go out there and make things right on the football field.
You got sacked nine times.
Yeah, I gotta find a way to get rid of the ball. When you take that many negative plays throughout a football game, it's tough, you're digging yourself a deep, deep hole. I just gotta find answers quick, make sure we're all on the same page communication wise, and just move forward from there.
You took a few running out of bounds.
There were a couple that were screens, and when you throw it away on a screen, there's lineman down field, that would have been a 10-15 yard penalty. I don't know what the rule is, but it was one of those you either try to get to the marker the best I could, but it didn't work out.
You were a little slow to get up after the 9th one, was that physical pain or just frustration?
I couldn't even tell you. I gotta watch it on film, but no, I feel fine.
Really? After 9 sacks you still feel fine physically?
I'm still standing here and breathing so that's a good thing. But, yeah, it starts with me up front. I gotta do a better job, pure and simple.
Did you feel like early on that there was some momentum, with the blocked field goal, fumble recovery...
Yeah, our defense gave us some good field position early with the blocked field goal, Jaquiski had a great interception and we have to capitalize on those opportunities. Those are big momentum plays and when you have short field position like that, you have to come away with three or seven points.