Kyle Shanahan on C.J. Beathard, veterans vs. young players, 49ers close losses

On the offensive pass interference :

“I saw a slant route on a flat route and the guy guarding the flat route run into a guy.”

On if the pass interference can be a pick play if the player is the intended receiver:

“No, absolutely not. It’s a slant on a flat route.”

On if QB C.J. Beathard showed enough to take the starting job from QB Brian Hoyer:

“Yes, he did.”

On what made him feel like this is the right time to replace Hoyer:

“Just watching it, especially early. I don’t think we helped Brian. I thought there were a lot of drops early. C.J.’s had a good week of practice. He’s put two good weeks together. I had a feeling going in that if it went like that, I had to make the move to give us a chance to win.”

On QB C.J. Beathard’s performance:

“I thought he came in and competed. By no means were things perfect but the game is not too big for the guy and he comes in and doesn’t hesitate. He’s extremely tough. [He] came in there and gave us a little bit of spark – gave us a few off-schedule plays which was nice, and the main thing is we’ll watch the film. It wasn’t perfect but when you’ve got a tough guy who makes it in there, I think he’ll learn from that.”

On if he told Beathard that he would play:

“I haven’t told him. I mean, I tell him each week to be ready and to prepare that way. That’s how you have to think as a backup. You’re only one play away from an injury, so I try to keep the same temperament and mentality with those guys.”

On the team’s response to putting Beathard in the game:

“It’s hard to say. I mean, obviously we started playing better and we made a couple plays, but did the guys try harder? Did they get a spark? I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. But you get a few explosives and it takes a little bit of pressure off of people and kind of gives them more confidence as it goes.”

On what he’d like to see from Beathard moving forward:

“I’d like to see him get better – to go look at this film hard. Anytime you get those valuable reps, especially a rookie, you’re going to have some good plays and you’re going to have some bad plays. It’s how you respond to those that makes you a quarterback and gives you a career. So really he should be looking at himself hard and figure out how he felt during the time, how it looks on tape and how he can make those adjustments going into next week.”

On finding the balance between playing veterans and young players:

“I think each situation is different. I think everyone puts too much into trying to win. You’re trying to build with younger guys. I don’t totally look at it that way. I think you do everything you can to give yourself the best chance to win now without sacrificing the future. I take it all into account. There’s not just an easy answer that veterans give you the best chance to win, but you’re not recruiting the younger guys. Guys compete. They compete every day in practice. They compete on the field and you try to do what’s best for your team that gives you a chance to win every week.”

On the 49ers losing the last five games by close margins:

“It’s challenging, but it’s better than not being close. So I think our guys – they’re doing some good things. I was real proud of how the guys competed, especially the start we got off to and to sit there and make it that close at the end. But I think we need to do it right and when we get in a lot of those close games, you can only worry about things you can control and you can’t control all of that. What you can control is catching the ball, making those plays earlier in the game and trying to avoid some of those situations where you come in late where sometimes it’s in other people’s hands. I was proud of how they fought, but again, we’ve got to keep getting better.”

On DB Jimmie Ward:

“From what I saw, and again I’m not seeing it all, but from what I saw Jimmie is a guy that flies around and hits people. I love the way he plays. He’s fun to watch. If I was a fan, he’s the type of guy I’d love to watch and I loved coaching him all summer.”

On possibly trying a 58-yard field goal late in the game:

“Yeah, we would have tried it. We definitely would have tried it. But I think we had another down too, so I think if we didn’t get that penalty, I felt pretty confident that we would have had a blitz man coverage. I think there was a great chance we would have gotten the next one. If it was just an incompletion, I was pretty confident we were going to get it on the next play.”

On the play of Redskins QB Kirk Cousins today:

“I didn’t really watch much of Kirk.”

On if the rotation between CB Ahkello Witherspoon and CB Rashard Robinson was the plan coming into the game today:

“Yes. We had the same plan last week also. Ahkello just went down early in the game.”

On if he can confirm reports of trade rumors involving RB Carlos Hyde:

“No. That’s absolutely, absolutely 100 percent false. There is nothing true about that.”

On how the two-minute offense seems to give the offense a spark:

“I’m not sure. Sometimes it depends on the coverages they are playing. I mean, guys made a couple of plays there. I don’t think it’s been like that every time. But today guys got into a little bit of rhythm – made a couple of explosives on the off-schedule plays. Today looked good for the guys.”