Kyle Shanahan
There were a lot of penalties tonight. What do you think about that as a coach? “Yeah, 131 yards in penalties is tough to overcome. That was frustrating throughout the game. I expected a little bit going into the preseason game, but was definitely disappointed with that much. We have had them in practice too so it is just something to talk to the team about and we definitely have to get better at it and clean up on Monday.”
Was this better or worse than you thought? “I didn’t really go into it with exact expectations. I just wanted to see how guys played. I was happy with how the guys battled. To get a win is important. I do not care where it is. I was glad the guys fought through and got a win. I was glad with the way the guys played in the second half. I was frustrated with how we started out, especially the offense. You get that first third down and it is called back because of a penalty and then you are in a non-manageable third down so you end up going three and out. Next time we got it after that turnover where you want to score especially with Rashard (Robinson) getting us close to the red zone. We had a third and five and we came up short just going to (Jeremy) Kerley right there. That was really the rest of their day and the defense just giving up that go route in the very beginning especially in that coverage, we need to stay on top of. I was happy with Rashard. He was able to come back and get a pick, but definitely some stuff we can clean up.”
What is your assessment of Rashard? “I think there was no doubt they came after him early. Rashard had gone against them before. He is aggressive and if you do not back him up he is not going to back up. They went after him early and it was a good thing that they did on their standpoint because he was not backing up. They made him change that and we need to make sure that that does not happen again.”
How did it go for you being in this new role? “It is a work in progress. I enjoyed it. It was the same as usual calling plays doing everything I have done down there, but it was definitely different trying to carry the offense and then having to peak up at the score and having to watch the time and having to watch the defense. I think some series I did it better than others. Also, with so many guys subbing in and out and having to pay attention to how long we are keeping them in and things like that. It was definitely a challenge but I enjoyed it. I am glad we have three more of them and hopefully I will get better at it each week.”
Reuben (Foster) and Solomon (Thomas) both played a lot. Was that planned? “We wanted them to play more than the other starters, but we did not want them to play as much as they did. We had some injuries that happened in the game. I know when (Ronald) Blaire went out, we had to get Solomon back in for a bit. I know the injuries we have had at linebacker too over the last few days with the two new linebackers we brought in have only been here for a couple of practices. They went out a couple times in the game too. We were trying not to have them in for too long so that kept Reuben out there a little bit more. We wanted them to play a lot because they are rookies and we wanted to get them on the field. They had to go a little bit more than we expected because of injuries.”
Solomon was active in the game. Did that catch your attention? “I noticed him big on two plays. There was one I looked up and I thought he just had a little bit of hesitation where I thought he could have hit him. I will see on the tape for those, but I thought he hesitated a little bit. I looked up again later in the next quarter and I thought he had the same look and that is when he had zero hesitation. I thought he just ran right through a guy and took him to the sidelines. The little that I did see of the defense, I was impressed with him. I will be able to tell you a lot more after I get on this plane.”
When you drafted C.J. (Beathard) you talked about his toughness. What did you see from his touchdown knowing he was going to take a hit. “That was really all I watched on that play. We had gone to (Kendrick) Bourne on a couple of routes in a row. We knew the corner was squatting on him. That is why we thought he defended the speed out on the play before that. We thought we could get by him but we were very nervous we could hold up that long. All I watched was C.J.. I thought they got an edge in our protection. He did a good job moving around just to create just enough time to get it off. It was a hell of a route getting open and it was a great job by C.J. finding the time to let it develop.”
On young running backs: “I thought they all did a good job. We never got a chance to get Carlos (Hyde) in a rhythm or the whole first offense, but Joe (Williams), Matt (Breida) and Raheem (Mostert) at the end. I thought all of them ran real hard at the end. They had a couple of good looks that they did not miss. When they had a couple of bad looks, I thought they still got more than was blocked for. The guys ran hard and broke some tackles. I was really impressed with the guys at the end. I do not know how many exact minutes we ran out the clock, but it seemed like seven I think. I thought the guys blocked well and there was a few plays where I thought we were going to get a one yard gain and seeing we got about six. I think Raheem finished strong.”
Why go with Aaron Burbridge as captain? “We are going to switch it up each preseason game before we get to the regular season. I wanted to pick some players that had been here. So I picked the obvious one I think on offense and the obvious one on defense. Our kickers knew and I asked (Tim) Hightower who has been the guy that has been here the most and done the best for us the last few years and he told me Burbridge. I saw that a lot on tape last year. He has done a good job on special teams and he has been known around the league so that is why we went with him.”
Brian Hoyer
How would you evaluate how you guys did? “The one thing Kyle touched on in the locker room was, overall, as a team we did a good job, but penalties, we need to clean that up. For our first drive, that is what stalled us out. We converted and then we had a penalty. We need to eliminate those. We knew coming in we weren’t going to get a lot of plays, so obviously disappointing to only get six or seven plays and not really have any production.”
You play how you practice, in that drill you had a lot of penalties. Do you think there was some carry over? “Well, that is what he talked about. He just said that the team, we have penalties every day, and then we came in the game and we had the penalties. It is something that is going to happen. That is something, going forward, that we need to work on collectively as a whole team. Obviously, the physical penalties, that is going to happen. But the mental errors, that is what we need to eliminate.”
When you see lots of three-and-outs, do you want to say, ‘Hey, put me in?’ “Yeah, you want to, but that really isn’t our decision. You worry about what you can control. You go back and watch the film and make the corrections. But I think the good thing was the second group came in and picked up where we needed to go to. They hit some of the play-action passes and really executed the offense and did a great job.”
What did you see from Matt Barkley and C.J. Beathard? “They did a great job. They went in and executed the plays that were called. Obviously, Matt giving some receivers some big plays. Aldrick (Robinson) catching that one and going for 70 yards was huge and really got things going. They did a good job.”
Matt Barkley
On his performance tonight: “I thought it was pretty solid. We put together a few drives and we could have been much more efficient in the red zone both with making plays and we had some penalties that stalled us. Overall, for the first preseason game, I thought it was a good start.”
On playing against someone other than your teammates: “It was awesome. Our defense knows us so well now and vice-versa. It was good to be able to get different looks, players who don’t know our tendencies or who has never seen our offense up close. I thought that definitely helped open up some windows in the passing and running game. Kyle [Shanahan] is really good at dialing up plays according to what we’re getting on the other side of the ball. They weren’t doing too many things that were complicated, but we had open windows on a lot of plays.”
On watching C.J. Beathard’s first appearance: “It was his first appearance in the NFL. I remember how that was for me and I was excited. So to see him out there and put the ball in the end zone and move the ball down the field was great. He had a little jitters on the first drive or two. It was good to see him calm down and treat the game like a pro.”
Rueben Foster
What was your takeaway from being out on the field for the first time? “It went well. It went great. It went awesome. It’s wonderful to be back in the game mode. Just to go that fast and hit and thump.”
On his pass breakup in the end zone: “I was mad at myself. I thought I could have caught a pick, but it’s best to do what’s best for the team. A pass breakup is always great. … I guess the ball has a thing for me, but I don’t have a thing for the ball.”
How were you on your assignments tonight? “I hope I did great! We’ll find out tomorrow when we watch the film. I hope I did great. Overall as a team, we fought. We overcame some adversities and we did well as a group.”
Kendrick Bourne
How has it been working with wide receivers coaching intern Katie Sowers? “She’s actually pretty awesome. I had two drops and she came over to talk to me. She whispered in my ear was like, ‘you could be a great player. When that ball is in the air, just let everything else be quiet and focus on the catching ball.’ That little motivation she gave me, turned me up a bit. It motivated me real quick. I definitely appreciate her. She’s cool around the locker room.”
On tonight’s offense: “I think things went well. We’ve been preparing really well and that’s what showed tonight. I feel like Kyle Shanahan’s scheme is really awesome. It’s almost unstoppable if you’ve got the right guys on offense. And, we’ve been finding the right guys, guys like Pierre [Garçon], Marquise [Goodwin]. Me learning from guys like that is why I did good tonight. I think we just keep it up. It would be the same result every night.”
On the touchdown: “It was a good ball, good timing. I actually didn’t get a good release. I was fighting with the DB. I just had more body control than him and came down with it.”
You didn’t do anything in the offseason program. How did you feel sitting at home or wherever you were knowing that stuff was going on without you? “I was definitely struggling. I definitely messed up a couple of routes during camp. Mike [LaFleur] was in the position where he was kind of not trusting me. I was not struggling a lot, there was just some stuff I couldn’t remember and I was busting routes. But today, I was just locked in and ready to go. I studied real hard because I knew I was going to be in the game. I didn’t want to make mistakes today. That’s what practice is for, to make mistakes. I was just locked in and successful today.”
C.J. Beathard
On Kendrick Bourne: “He’s a really talented receiver. Obviously, you saw that tonight. He’s really skilled. I’ve been able to work with him in the little time we’ve had. It’s nice having him in there making big catches like that.”
On the touchdown to Bourne, he said he was supposed to go outside and he went inside, or vice versa. Did you notice that? “I almost came off it because he went inside. But, I stepped up and I just saw the corner kind of fall. So, I was like ‘I hope he turns around’ because I just kind of threw it hoping he’d turn around. He ended up turning around.”
You got sacked a couple of times early and that didn’t seem to rattle you: “That’s part of football. It was my first game ever as a rookie and you’ve got to expect that not everything is going to go perfect or as planned. When you get sacked like that, it’s tough. But, you’ve got to bounce back and live to play another down.”
What did it feel like when you guys were making a comeback, the energy and everything? “It was awesome. It was really cool because all of the veteran guys came off the sideline and were cheering us on. When we hit that two point conversion, they were running on the field jumping around and excited for us. So, it was really cool.”