Following the San Francisco 49ers ugly loss to the Arizona Cardinals, players seemed a little bit shell-shocked as they discussed what had just happened. Running back Carlos Hyde and wide receiver Torrey Smith both had a chance to discuss the poor showing, and discussed issues of execution, and improving on it.
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One of Hyde's comments is getting some play. I caught wind of it after the game, but forgot to get something together. Jennifer Chan was in the locker room and provided some transcription to help provide some context. As you can see in the video above, Hyde was asked about changing the game plan. His response was specific to execution:
I wouldn't say the game plan has to change, just can't throw that, not that you can't throw, just can't make that turnover. there was guys open the ball just dropped down to the other person.
Naturally, that is not exactly the most supportive of his teammate. In reading that and some follow-up comments from Hyde, this was a matter of frustration for Hyde, but not necessarily intentionally trying to throw his teammate under the bus. He was later asked about Kap's demeanor in the huddle toward the end of the game:
He stayed with it. Even though he made those turnovers, he stayed with it. He didn't get down on himself, nobody got down on him, everybody stayed with him and stuck to the plan. We just have to execute.
Even though I don't think Hyde was purposely trying to throw Kap under the bus, frustration will only increase if things do not improve. If the team can't figure things out, this will not be the last time we are discussing player comments regarding performance.
Torrey Smith got plenty of questions about the turnovers, and talked about moving forward and correcting mistakes. There is a lot of work to be done, and not a whole lot of time, with the Packers coming to town on Sunday. However this season finishes up, I am at least a little bit fascinated to see what happens with Kap over the next 13 games. Whether it is awful, great, or something in between, it will make for an interesting ride. Buckle up!
Torrey Smith transcript
Did you say anything to Kaepernick, it being one of his most difficult games?
Mistakes happen and it's all about how you bounce back from them. We weren't able to do that today. Games like this do happen, and good thing it's early. We have some time to recover from it.
On the team playing better offensively in the second half last week and not carrying it over this week.
We just have to be consistent in it and we weren't. We weren't making enough plays and it's on us to get it right. It'll be a long week but we have to get back at it.
The one interception to you was very under thrown. How do you both get back on the same page, what was the miscommunication there?
I just gotta be where the ball is supposed to be an just gotta make the throw. It's on both of us to make that happen. It's about being consistent in that as well.
The momentum you had built last week didn't carry over, why did that happen?
We just didn't make enough plays. That's on us. There is really no magic solution to it. We just have to take care of the ball, make plays and we will be rolling.
Were the Cardinals trying to take away passing in the middle of the field?
No, it's on us to make things happen. They didn't do anything special.
Was the team shell shocked after the two pick sixes?
Yeah, but it happens so early that you feel like you have time to recover, so you don't panic but it was obviously not the way you want to start the game. We put our defense in the hole. You want to keep them off the field as much as possible but they did a good job of trying to fight back and take care of us. We can't do that to them.
You've been on the other side of this before. How does it feel to have two straight blow out losses?
I've been blown out before too. At that point it's all about how you bounce back. Again the good thing about it is that it's only week 3. We have enough time to get things right and we still have a lot of games. It's still only the first quarter. We have one more game to finish this first quarter of the season. At this point we just need to look forward to that. Put this one in the rearview, because this one doesn't do anything. We'll look at the film and get ready for Green Bay.