TRANSCRIPT: Rams-49ers Postgame Quotes (12-24-16)
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TRANSCRIPT: Rams-49ers Postgame Quotes (12-24-16)
Rams Interim Head Coach John Fassel Postgame Quotes vs. San Francisco 49ers 12/24/16
(Opening remarks)
“Clearly a tough loss. Seemed like it’s a little bit more of the same and I feel bad for our players that really work hard during the week and commit to each other to keep the season going and to fight hard. It’s tough to know what to say after the game when you’ve got a two-score lead when it’s six minutes left in the game. Kind of a replica of the Miami game where we just couldn’t convert third downs into first downs on offense and then just couldn’t get off the field in critical situations on defense. We started decent, how we wanted, and then obviously in the third quarter we just couldn’t get anything going on offense, I think our defense got tired and I think that caught up to us at the end of the game. Much respect to our players for hanging in there. We’ve got one more week and I’m sure they’ll bounce back and be resilient, but it’s sure tough to know what to say because it seems like it’s kind of the same thing that’s happened.”
(On what he thinks is the reason for today’s loss)
“We couldn’t get enough first downs on offense in the third quarter and then we got the ball with a one-score lead with four minutes left in the game. Then we go three-and-out, so we just can’t get enough first downs on offense and I think that catches up to your defense in the last six minutes of the game, which I think is almost just like the situation against Miami. About six minutes left in the game, we got the ball inside the 50, we had a two-score lead, we couldn’t make a first down, and then they start making chunks they converted to touchdowns. Let’s face it, it comes down to a two-point conversion. We stop them, we’re at hands team, we get the ball and it’s over. They get a two-point conversion, take a one-score lead and return the kick to the 40-yardline, twenty-five or so seconds left in the game, we’ve got three timeouts, we only needed 15 yards-minimum and then we throw the interception.”
(On the feeling he had after QB Jared Goff threw the touchdown pass to TE Tyler Higbee)
“I even looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘we got a two-score lead, our defense is playing good, got a little momentum scoring a touchdown, let’s finish it.’ We kept life in them at the end of the game by not getting a couple extra first downs and burning more minutes or burning their timeouts. They scored two touchdowns. It flips quick.”
(On P Johnny Hekker’s record-breaking performance today)
“As hard as it is, there are positives that come out of the game. (P Johnny Hekker) Johnny’s had a historic season punting the football with his inside-the-20 numbers, his net average, which is a reflection of his punt-cover team. (WR) Kenny Britt goes over 1,000 yards for the first time since 2007 as a Ram. But I’m proud of Johnny. He comes every day, he’s a leader, he’s tough, he’s good and the guys respect him. I love him and I’m proud of him. I wish we could’ve got a W to make it a little bit sweeter for Christmas tomorrow.”
(On the difficulties with containing 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s athleticism)
“He’s tough especially when he’s running in space and he’s pumping the football. You don’t know whether to jump and deflect it or run through and tackle, or maybe you have to leave coverage to go tackle him and then he throws the pass to an open guy, so he’s tough. We’ve played him now, in our era as coaches, ten times and he’s tough to tackle in space especially when he gets outside of the pocket. What do you do? Do you abort cover and tackle him, sit in cover and let him run, or when you go make a tackle he’s tough to get down. He made a great play and he beat us to the goal line by a yard and that’s a game of inches. We lost.”
(On the matchup between the Rams offense vs the 49ers defense)
“That’s a good question. You look at San Francisco and they’ve been struggling on defense. We’ve been struggling on offense. So a struggling defense was better than a struggling offense today. I’ll also look at the tape to know exactly why, but (R
Todd (Gurley) made a big emphasis on running the football and I think he averaged 2.9 a carry. Just not good enough. We tried to tinker a little bit with the lineup just to get a spark, try to find something and it just wasn’t there.”
(On being in this head coach position)
“I love it. It’s unique just based on the situation, but it’s tough to know what to say at this point in the season after the game. How do you send a message to the guys that either inspires them or pisses them off? The last week-and-a-half or whatever it’s been has been a great experience for me. I hope someday to get the opportunity to do it. From a special teams coach’s perspective, it’s a long route. I wish we’d have won today because that was an opportunity as an interim coach to win your first game and we lost it. It’s not about me, but it’s a great experience being a head coach. It’s tough to stand up here and say, ‘we should’ve won the game, but we didn’t.’”
(On the decision to make T Greg Robinson inactive)
“We talked on Monday about making a little bit of a change to our offensive line just to try to get something going in the run game and to shore up some protection. We weren’t using (T) Greg (Robinson) as a scapegoat for any of the problems on the offensive line, but we felt getting (G) Jamon Brown into the game. We knew we could bump (G Roger) Saffold to tackle. We got (T) Pace (Murphy) number 72, a rookie, some reps at right tackle just to see some guys perform that haven’t played a lot of football that going forward we know they’re going to be part of the Rams, hopefully.”
(On motivating his players to play well in their final game after a loss like this)
“I have an idea. I’ll share it with you maybe next week, but it’s something I’ve used before with special teams and I think it’ll be something they can really think about. Whether it motivates them or not, it gives them something to think about for the rest of their lives. Maybe you ask me the question next week, Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll tell you what it was. I don’t want the guys to know before I talk to them about it. There’s always something there that you can get to the guys with and they’ll listen. Like we talked about yesterday, when the going gets tough what type of men are we? What type of players are we? We’re being evaluated and our performance matters, and the players and coaches know that, so I’ll hit them with something. I’m not going to let my last week as an interim head coach just kind of fizzle and die out, be done in a week and call it an offseason. I’m going to do my best to get this team a win and say, ‘one day I won the game as a head coach in the Coliseum.’”
(On the toll that the changes this season have taken on the team’s performance)
“It’s taken a mental toll for sure. We’ll all look back on it I think as a very unique experience. I think there will be a lot of good memories that have come from the players and coaches perspectives, just being a part of history with the whole change and the transition from St. Louis in 2016 to Oxnard, to Irvine, to some monster road trips, so when it’s all done, right now it’s a horrible feeling to be where we’re at. We’ve lost 10 out of the last 11, but I hope in a month or two, when we look back the players will be like, ‘that was crazy. I formed some good bonds. There were moments of really cool fellowship.’ They probably won’t remember the games that we lost, although we’ll remember losing a lot of games. Hopefully with really good guys in the locker room, they’ll look back and there will be some good memories. Hopefully the last game of the season next week is a good memory.”
Rams QB Jared Goff
(On if he felt confident after his touchdown pass to TE Tyler Higbee in the fourth quarter)
“I felt real good, I felt real confident in where we were. I felt good about where we were, but at the end of the day, we have got to score more points than they do. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that again today – it’s tough and it’s hard. I’m really trying to hope that these days and these games will be, ultimately, really good for us in the future. And I think they will, I really think they will – I’m optimistic about it, I’m not losing confidence in myself and my team. I understand I need to be better, we all need to be better – especially offensively if we want to win games.”
(On how he feels he played)
“Ups and downs. I thought there were some good things we did, I thought there were some, obviously, bad things I did. An interception early doesn’t help, fortunately, our defense got one back, so that kind of helped there, we were able to score off theirs. But at the end, just trying to make a play late, trying to get a chunk play and unfortunately, they made a good play. Again, like I said, we need to be better, I need to be better, I need to be better for us to win.”
(On why he thinks the team lost today)
“A lot of reasons. It’s a collective effort, but ultimately, offensively, it’s been the story all year, we need to play better. Our defense is pretty damn good when they’re off the field, and get some time and we’re not going three-and-out every time. Ultimately, the offense needs to play better – it starts with the quarterback, it starts with me. As the leader of the team, the leader of the offense, I need to be better – better than I was today, for sure.”
(On playing against the team he grew up rooting for)
“It was good. Obviously, I grew up a fan of theirs, but when the whistle blew, it was another team that we had to go out there and try to beat.”
(On the hardest part about teams adjusting to him)
“I don’t know if they’re doing anything too crazy to mess with me – at least today they weren’t. It’s kind of hard to explain, it’s not like they’re mixing crazy stuff up. But they do do stuff differently than they do on tape at times – I don’t know if that’s just for a rookie quarterback or that’s in general in the league. Again, I’m still new and still learning, but I think most teams have done a pretty good job defensively against us. Again, we have to be better offensively.
I’ll say this, to all the fans and everybody that came out today, we’re appreciative and understand where we are. We know that they understand where we are. It’s just hard, I know they see it – it’s hard in the locker room, it’s hard for all of us. But I promise you guys it will get fixed – everything in my heart and soul to get it all fixed.”
(On what it will take to get it fixed)
“We’re obviously going to have some sort of a change this offseason, that’s kind of inevitable. Hopefully, with that, it brings a lot of different stuff that can help change and can fix the issues we have. Again, I don’t think we have bad players, I don’t think we have bad coaches, I just think we need to put it all together. And, ultimately, it’s on us – and it’s on me, it comes back to the quarterback every time, it’s on me. I need to be better. Every day in practice I need to be better and every day on Sundays I need to be better. I promise everyone out there, all of the Rams fans, that I’m going to do everything I can, everything in me, to make that happen and get this thing fixed.”
(On how much easier it is on the passing game when RB Todd Gurley is able to get going and they have a stable running game)
“It’s huge, it helps a lot, for sure. You see any good team in the league, any good offense in the league, they’re probably running the ball pretty well. That’ll set up the pass, as well as setting up other runs, setting up screens and stuff like that. When we get him (Gurley) going, it obviously helps and it did early when we had him running the ball. I thought Todd did a good job today and I thought our O-line blocked pretty well.”
(On the motivation with one game left)
“It’s about pride at this point. I think today was about pride, as well. It’s about who you are a as man, what’s your character like. Everybody in the locker room, I believe, has good character. I believe in them and don’t expect to see anyone quit. We know the situation we’re in – it’s not easy, it’s not fun, but at the end of the day, it’s about character and it’s about caring for the guy next to you.”
Rams WR Kenny Britt
(On what it means to him to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark this season)
“It means everything to me. After eight years in the NFL, I finally get my first 1,000-yard season. It’s special, even though it comes from a season that we weren’t expecting. It’s some good things, and it’s some bad things.”
(On his outlook of today’s game)
“We got to find a way to finish, just period. That’s always been our problem throughout the season, is just finishing. That’s what we got to do.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin
(On his reaction to losing the way the team did)
“Everybody knows how I feel right now. It’s kind of self-explanatory, to be honest. We had the game. We were up by 14 in the fourth (quarter), and we gave it away. That’s where we’re at right now. We got one more game left. So, hopefully we finish strong. I’m going to keep on pushing strong, and hopefully our guys do to.”
(On scoring his first touchdown at home)
“Yeah, it felt good to finally score my first one at home. I had some great blocks. It was a great play at the right time. I saw the lane, and just used it.”
(On the feeling when an opponent completes a come-from-behind win)
“You look at it – we lost two games like that now – a this is our second one at home. I don’t really believe much in luck – I believe in God. That’s the only person I believe in. We got to strap the pads up and come hard.”
(On why the Rams lost today)
“Basically, just making dumb mistakes like we’ve been doing previously. Not making the big play when we need to. Basically, just losing focus. I think we probably gave it up, and thought the game was over. But, it wasn’t.”
Rams RB Todd Gurley
(On if the team felt too comfortable after going up 21-7)
“That’s football. Nothing is in the bag. We done went through this before. We’ve played this game our whole life. We know nothing is ever over until it says ‘0:00’”
(On why the Rams lost today)
“We didn’t do a better job on offense. We should’ve kept the ball, kept the defense off the field, and we didn’t do that.”
(On how the team gets motivated for their last game next week)
“It’s football. It’s another week. It ain’t like we never lost before, and we ain’t never won before. Same game we play every week.”
Rams DT Aaron Donald
(On his frustrations with today’s outcome)
“It’s horrible. I don’t know what else to say. We just keep losing and we just need to keep trying to find ways to win and finish games. Definitely frustrating. I’m tired of going home mad every week.”
(On being on the field a lot as a result of what was happening on the offensive side of the ball and how much that played into the loss)
“It doesn’t matter. They still put points up. We were in the lead. We were still in the game. We were winning in the fourth quarter and we didn’t finish. It’s not the offense, it’s a team game and we lost as a team today.”
(On what he takes from a game like this)
“You’ve just got to finish games. The same thing happened (against) Miami. We’ve just got to finish, play consistent, and just finish. That’s all I can say.”
San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Chip Kelly – Postgame – December 24, 2016
(On how good this win feels)
“I’m just really happy for our guys. They competed, and they’ve competed for a while. I think they’ve done a great job of just focusing on the task at hand. That’s what we’ve asked them to do, to concentrate on what they can control – they control their attitude, they control their efforts. They had a really good week of training this week, and I’m just happy for them that they had a chance to win the football game.”
(On if he always knew he was going for the two-point conversion during their final scoring drive)
“Depending on how much time was left on the clock. That drive started with a while (left), so if we had scored with two minutes (left), we would have probably thought about maybe kicking it, because our defense played really, really well all day long. Their three scoring drives all occurred when we turned the ball over inside our 50 yard-line and then that’s when they scored. I was confident in our defense if they had to go back out on the field, just like when they did after we went for two and they came up with a big play. So, really just watching the clock and seeing how much time was left. When it got down inside of 45 (seconds) then we thought about it because they’ve got to drive the field to kick a field goal. We had an unfortunate…with the penalty there, so we couldn’t get a chance to pin them deep, but our defense still came up with something big there.”
(On 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s ability to improvise and make something happen with his legs on the two-point conversion)
“It was a designed rollout. That’s what we were trying to do with him – try to get him on the edge. He had a run-pass option: if they cover everybody, he’s going to run it. If they came up, then he was going to throw it, so it was a designed play for him.”
(On Kaepernick’s fourth-quarter performance)
“I thought he did a good job. He had a whole new group up front. There were some growing pains for some of the young guys as they’re getting their first snaps in there. When (49ers G Joshua) Garnett when down, (49ers OL) Alex Balducci got his first snaps in there. We knew that going in that we were going to be a little bit of a work in progress with that offensive line group, but they competed and they battled. They gave everything they had. I think as the game wore on and they kind of got a little bit more settled, they gained a little bit of confidence, but I thought that ‘Kap’ did a nice job.”
(On whether or not he ever considered switching to 49ers QB Christian Ponder)
“No, not at all.”
(On if the team’s reaction after 49ers CB Rashard Robinson’s interception to end the game shows that his team is in better spirits than expected)
“No. I’m around them every day and I’ve said all along what I think about these guys in terms of their approach and it’s been great. What you saw today is what we see every day. There’s an energy and a spirit to them in terms of how they practice and how they train. They’ve not come up on the right side of things, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to let that affect them. They’ll come back to work. I’ve asked them every week, when we’re in the locker room when we have post-game, that you’ve got to come back, you’ve got to bring the energy, you’ve got to bring the juice, and they did it again this week. Hopefully we’ve got one more in us because we have an opportunity to play at home.”
(On why he chose to put 49ers T Trent Brown on the left side instead of the right)
“Just because of the matchups. We thought that it was a little bit better to have him over there than (49ers T) John Theus. We wanted to get John the first snaps on the right side. That’s where John practices mostly.”
(On 49ers RB Carlos Hyde’s status and if the tackle that hurt him was clean)
“I’ve got nothing on Carlos. I didn’t see it, to be honest with you. I was trying to see if we were going to hit the over route. That’s what I thought when I first saw the coverage, ‘Were we going to get a chance to hit the over route behind it?’ Then, all of a sudden, I think (QB Colin Kaepernick) got pressured. That’s what I was asking our guys, ‘Did he get pressured?’ because he dumped it down to his pressure outlet, which was Carlos. I really didn’t see it, to be honest with you.”
(On how he feels winning after 13 consecutive losses)
“I’m just really excited for our players, and I think they’ve done everything that, as a coaching staff, we’ve asked them to do. They deserve it. They’ve worked for it and they earned it, so I’m really just happy for those guys.”
(On whether or not something magical changed in his offense to be able to come back and win late in the game)
“No., nothing magically changed. We just executed and made plays when we had to.”
(On who Kaepernick’s go-to receiver was on the run-pass option)
“He had (49ers WR Rod) Streater first and then he had the other two receivers coming, so we had (49ers WR Jeremy) Kerley and then I don’t know if it was ‘Harp’ (49ers WR Chris Harper) in the game or ‘Burb’ (49ers WR Aaron Burbridge) in the game at that point – or (49ers WR DeAndre) Smelter in the game. It was one of those guys. So he had three options: he had a quick one to Streater, because he was the guy who went in motion, and then he had the other two guys.”
(On whether or not his players were encouraging him to go for the two-point conversion)
“They were excited. We have a great group. It’s a great group to be around. They were excited. You can tell with their energy and enthusiasm. They were fired up.”
(On 49ers DT Chris Jones’ effectiveness)
“We’ve picked up a lot of players this season because of injuries, but ‘Jonesy’ is one of those guys that has really stood out right from the jump, and I think shored us up. We didn’t have ‘Dors’ (DL Glenn Dorsey) today, so he’s really helped us. The games when ‘Q-Dial’ (DT Quinton Dial) hasn’t been able to play, I think Jonesy’s really stepped up for us. He’s a strong, physical player. He had a really good background coming in. I think he had been with the Patriots, he had been with the Dolphins, so he kind of understood what we were trying to get done defensively. Almost from the get-go…two days in, we were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to get some valuable reps out of him and I think he could be a good player for us.’ I’m really happy with where he is right now.”
(On 49ers WR DeAndre Smelter’s lack of targets in his first game with the team and if that was the result of his matchups)
“No. He was all over the place, so it wasn’t the matchup. It was just the quarterback taking what they gave us.”
(On Robinson’s interception to end the game)
“Yeah, it was right in front of me. He did a nice job of cutting the receiver off and caught the ball, got both feet in bounds, and stayed right there.”
49ers QB Colin Kaepernick
(On how they managed to win this game)
“We kept fighting, this team kept fighting. Our defense had a great game today, gave us the opportunity to score early, gave us the ball back at the end of the game to give us opportunities to go score. (G) Zane (Beadles) rallied the offensive line on the sidelines saying, before those last two drives, ‘Forget everything that’s happened up until this point. Let’s play football the way we know how, let’s go get this win,’ and I think they responded really well to that. Gave us the time to get the ball out, our receivers made great plays. We were able to go get the win.”
(On how it felt to win this game despite a season of mostly losses)
“It felt amazing. A feeling that this team has been looking for, for a long time now. To be able to come out and get this win today was huge for us and it’s something this team can build on.”
(On the two-point conversion play)
“We had a bootleg or slide coming across with a couple of overs, they jumped the slide, sank off on the overs and I saw an opportunity to get in there and in my head I was just, ‘I have to get in. I have to get in for this team, we need this win.’ I was very excited to be able to do that.”
(On how you build upon this win)
“I think it builds confidence, that regardless of circumstances, we can go out and get wins and do it against a very talented defense, as far as offensively. You know, they have one of the best fronts in the NFL. The fact that we had some offensive line players moving around, some new guys in there and they came out and held their own, I think it’s huge and it’s something we can build on.”
(On how he was able to move around the Rams’ defense during the two-point conversion play)
“You know, it was an opportunity that we saw on film, that we thought we could take advantage of. We really thought that we were going to have the first guy coming out in the flat, they did a good job of covering that, and running with the overs as well, but the run-pass option is always good.”
(On what he learned about his teammates after going through a 13 game losing streak and rallying to win tonight)
“It reveals the character of this team and players. I think the ability to continue to fight, to continue to try and do your job every play, and remain focused in spite of the circumstances that you are in, I think, is huge. It shows the type of character that this team has, that even though we don’t have a playoff opportunity, people say we really aren’t playing for anything, that they take pride in their work and come out here and fight to get a win.”
(On his comment of building a winning culture and if this game was representative of that)
“Yeah it is. This is a step towards building that culture. I think realizing the huge plays that we had in this game that allowed us to win, whether it’s (C T-Brocks (Tramaine Brocks) interception, (C Rashard’s (Rashard Robinson) interception, those are huge plays that we can go on and also being able to have two scoring drives at the end of the fourth quarter to win the game. Those are things, that we have to understand we have to be able to do on a weekly basis in order to win.”
(On if he thinks WR Rod Streater has stepped up and performed during this game)
“Most definitely. He’s someone that is very locked in, very talented. Big, strong receiver, so having opportunities to throw him the ball, contested catches, he does a great job with, which he did on that last play to get us in the end-zone.”
(On if this game feels the best considering their losing streak and other circumstances)
“Right now, yeah, it feels like the best. Definitely something that I really enjoyed today. I enjoyed being out there with my teammates and being able to get this win with them. I think everybody is really excited about it.”
(On where he was and what he was doing during the Rams’ last drive of the game)
“I’m on the sideline cheering for the defense. I thought they did an amazing job, taking advantage of that opportunity, going out making the play and stopping them. There was a situation where they had timeouts, they had an opportunity, again, to get into field goal position and our defense stood up, made a play and ended the game.”
(On G Zane Beadles’s versatility)
“Zane is a true professional, that’s the best way to describe him. It doesn’t matter what position he is put in, what the circumstances are, he is going to step in, he is going to do his job, he is going to know exactly what he is doing. And to move to center and also be able to direct traffic, as far as the offense, and do an amazing job of that, just stepping in, I think really speaks to the type of player that he is and that was huge for this team.”
(On the two-point conversion and if he knew that Head Coach Chip Kelley was going to call that play)
“I had a feeling that we were going to go for two, and I was excited when he said that we were going for it. I think the whole offense was, the whole team was and the play he called was a play everybody on offense knew was going to get called, we had great confidence in, and it worked out great for us.”
49ers CB Rashard Robinson
(On his interception)
“Great play-calling by our defensive coordinator, Coach (Jim) O’Neil. He just put us in the right position. So, he went ahead and gave us a call. I saw how the receiver was lined up. He was tight to the offensive line so I had him covered inside and (49ers C Jimmie (Ward) had him covered outside, so I just went ahead and jumped it.”
(On his teammates’ reaction to his interception play)
“To be honest, I really wanted to get up out there. It was pretty hot. Juices were going. Everybody was so happy. It was a great team win. It was just a great stop as a defense because our defense has been getting criticized so much. We just came together as a staff and as a team and just played great ball.”
(On how much of a relief it is to finally end their losing streak)
“It’s big relief because we had so many games that we just came a play short, a yard short. And finally, to put everything together – even though we had all these injuries and stuff – buy in as a team and just go out there and just execute. It was a lot of stress of everybody’s shoulders. It was stress lifted off everybody’s shoulders. It seemed like we were down, we’ve been facing adversity this whole year and we finally just overcame all that and to come back out and play how we played that second half, that was something major. That’s going to stick with me. Just me alone, I’m never going to forget this game, for sure.”
49ers DL DeForest Buckner
(On what it was like to see Rams QB Jared Goff throw an interception on the last play)
“It was just awesome to see the whole team getting riled up like that. I haven’t seen that in awhile.”
(On how hard they have been training)
“We’ve been working our tails off the whole season, and that ‘W’ was past due. It was just a really good early Christmas present.”
(On how he thought the defense was doing throughout the game)
“On the run game, we just had to stick with the run fits. Everybody’s sticking to their gap, and just trusting in one another. The D-line-making sure they get the drop done, and the guys behind us.“
(On the decision to go for the two-point conversion)
“We all wanted him to go for two, and we were all happy he went for two. We’re 1-and-whatever and we just wanted to win. It was a great call.”
(On if the players stand behind the coaching staff in decisions)
“Yeah, definitely. I mean we would have never got this win today if we all never stood behind the coaching staff.”
(On getting his sixth sack of the season today)
“It’s definitely a great feeling on a personal standpoint. I mean setting out a goal in the beginning of the season and getting that sixth sack.”
(On the game plan against QB Jared Goff)
“We knew what kind of sets we were going to get by the O-line and everything, so we just needed to attack. And the coach did a really good job in the game plan.”
(On what he has learned from all of their losses this season)
“What have I learned? Just being able to flush the negative down the toilet real quick. When something bad happens on the field, you got to just let it, you know, flush it down the toilet and then move on to the next play. Move on to the next play and just learn from there.”
(On if he felt anything different in the second-half of the game)
“Yeah, definitely. Everybody helped. We all knew it was going to be a dog-fight, and it came down to who wanted it more. And I’m really happy for the team.”
(On what the locker room thinks about Head Coach Chip Kelly after today’s win)
“Yeah, like I was saying earlier, everybody’s behind him and all the coaching staff. We’ve been beating ourselves all year - unnecessary turnovers and little things like that. We’re all behind him and we believe in this process.”
WR Rod Streater
(On his touchdown reception)
“It was a two-play design. We came out and had one play, they were in cover-zero, we checked it to the slants. We knew if they were in cover-zero it would be an easy opportunity to, ultimately, get inside and make the play…(inaudible)”
(On the two-point play)
“We knew, pretty much, we were going to go for it. We’d been practicing it all week. They played really good defense, honestly, because I thought I was going to come open on the backside. ‘Kap’ made the read on the throw and made the play.
49ers S Antoine Bethea
(On how it feels to win the game in a dramatic fashion)
“At this point, it feels good. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been a long time that we’ve felt this way. The way we won it – it speaks volume on our team, our character, the pride that we play with, and I’m just happy for the guys.”
(On Chip Kelly keeping his confidence in the team and what that means to the guys)
“We talk about family and that’s what family is. Regardless of the good times, the bad times, the ugly times, you got to stick together. We started this journey together, and we got to end it together. No finger pointing, come to work every day, and try to get better. Like I said, it feels good and it definitely was a team win, a collective win, and we’ll be able to enjoy this flight home.”
(On the importance of defeating division rivals)
“Of course. Like you said, division rivals. So regardless, being able to say we beat the Rams twice this year. That’s one of the positives of the season.”
49ers LB Ahmad Brooks
(On if learning how to win comes from actually winning)
“Yeah, for sure. Like I said, we’ve won first quarter, second quarter, third quarter. We just found ways to lose the game rather than sustain the position of keeping the lead. That’s just pretty much how the season has been going. We’ve been winning, but we just haven’t won the game.”
(On what this win means)
“It means a lot. For us to get a win before the season is over, because I think guys were holding their heads down just saying, ‘Hey, the season is over, but we didn’t approach this game like that.’ We approached this game as if we were going to win. Guys still put in the hard work. We just continued to fight, and I’m proud of the guys we have in here because (49ers CB Tramaine Brock) ‘T-Brock’ set the tone for the game today getting that interception. Then, watching (49ers QB Colin Kaepernick) ‘Kaep’ go out there the last two series. He pretty much put the team on his back, and all the receivers and offensive linemen. We’ve had so many different guys go down and so many new guys step in and do a great job for us, that it’s a good feeling to see those guys go out there and perform well.”
(On if this win means as much as the past championship games)
“Not necessarily (laughter). That’s on a different scale, because you’re playing in the playoffs, obviously, and playing for a bigger stake.”
49ers G Andrew Tiller
(On what’s going through his mind when he feels the comeback happening)
“It’s indescribable. I really can’t describe the feeling. You just get the butterflies going and you just feel like something great is about to happen. We went out there and we finally put it all together, and we came back from 21-7. Not a lot of people can do that, especially in the position that we’re in right now. Well, we were 1-13. You would think, ‘Oh, what do these guys have to play for?’ We play for ourselves, and we went out there and we just put it all on the line and we came out with that W.”
Rams Interim Head Coach John Fassel Postgame Quotes vs. San Francisco 49ers 12/24/16
(Opening remarks)
“Clearly a tough loss. Seemed like it’s a little bit more of the same and I feel bad for our players that really work hard during the week and commit to each other to keep the season going and to fight hard. It’s tough to know what to say after the game when you’ve got a two-score lead when it’s six minutes left in the game. Kind of a replica of the Miami game where we just couldn’t convert third downs into first downs on offense and then just couldn’t get off the field in critical situations on defense. We started decent, how we wanted, and then obviously in the third quarter we just couldn’t get anything going on offense, I think our defense got tired and I think that caught up to us at the end of the game. Much respect to our players for hanging in there. We’ve got one more week and I’m sure they’ll bounce back and be resilient, but it’s sure tough to know what to say because it seems like it’s kind of the same thing that’s happened.”
(On what he thinks is the reason for today’s loss)
“We couldn’t get enough first downs on offense in the third quarter and then we got the ball with a one-score lead with four minutes left in the game. Then we go three-and-out, so we just can’t get enough first downs on offense and I think that catches up to your defense in the last six minutes of the game, which I think is almost just like the situation against Miami. About six minutes left in the game, we got the ball inside the 50, we had a two-score lead, we couldn’t make a first down, and then they start making chunks they converted to touchdowns. Let’s face it, it comes down to a two-point conversion. We stop them, we’re at hands team, we get the ball and it’s over. They get a two-point conversion, take a one-score lead and return the kick to the 40-yardline, twenty-five or so seconds left in the game, we’ve got three timeouts, we only needed 15 yards-minimum and then we throw the interception.”
(On the feeling he had after QB Jared Goff threw the touchdown pass to TE Tyler Higbee)
“I even looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘we got a two-score lead, our defense is playing good, got a little momentum scoring a touchdown, let’s finish it.’ We kept life in them at the end of the game by not getting a couple extra first downs and burning more minutes or burning their timeouts. They scored two touchdowns. It flips quick.”
(On P Johnny Hekker’s record-breaking performance today)
“As hard as it is, there are positives that come out of the game. (P Johnny Hekker) Johnny’s had a historic season punting the football with his inside-the-20 numbers, his net average, which is a reflection of his punt-cover team. (WR) Kenny Britt goes over 1,000 yards for the first time since 2007 as a Ram. But I’m proud of Johnny. He comes every day, he’s a leader, he’s tough, he’s good and the guys respect him. I love him and I’m proud of him. I wish we could’ve got a W to make it a little bit sweeter for Christmas tomorrow.”
(On the difficulties with containing 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s athleticism)
“He’s tough especially when he’s running in space and he’s pumping the football. You don’t know whether to jump and deflect it or run through and tackle, or maybe you have to leave coverage to go tackle him and then he throws the pass to an open guy, so he’s tough. We’ve played him now, in our era as coaches, ten times and he’s tough to tackle in space especially when he gets outside of the pocket. What do you do? Do you abort cover and tackle him, sit in cover and let him run, or when you go make a tackle he’s tough to get down. He made a great play and he beat us to the goal line by a yard and that’s a game of inches. We lost.”
(On the matchup between the Rams offense vs the 49ers defense)
“That’s a good question. You look at San Francisco and they’ve been struggling on defense. We’ve been struggling on offense. So a struggling defense was better than a struggling offense today. I’ll also look at the tape to know exactly why, but (R
Todd (Gurley) made a big emphasis on running the football and I think he averaged 2.9 a carry. Just not good enough. We tried to tinker a little bit with the lineup just to get a spark, try to find something and it just wasn’t there.”(On being in this head coach position)
“I love it. It’s unique just based on the situation, but it’s tough to know what to say at this point in the season after the game. How do you send a message to the guys that either inspires them or pisses them off? The last week-and-a-half or whatever it’s been has been a great experience for me. I hope someday to get the opportunity to do it. From a special teams coach’s perspective, it’s a long route. I wish we’d have won today because that was an opportunity as an interim coach to win your first game and we lost it. It’s not about me, but it’s a great experience being a head coach. It’s tough to stand up here and say, ‘we should’ve won the game, but we didn’t.’”
(On the decision to make T Greg Robinson inactive)
“We talked on Monday about making a little bit of a change to our offensive line just to try to get something going in the run game and to shore up some protection. We weren’t using (T) Greg (Robinson) as a scapegoat for any of the problems on the offensive line, but we felt getting (G) Jamon Brown into the game. We knew we could bump (G Roger) Saffold to tackle. We got (T) Pace (Murphy) number 72, a rookie, some reps at right tackle just to see some guys perform that haven’t played a lot of football that going forward we know they’re going to be part of the Rams, hopefully.”
(On motivating his players to play well in their final game after a loss like this)
“I have an idea. I’ll share it with you maybe next week, but it’s something I’ve used before with special teams and I think it’ll be something they can really think about. Whether it motivates them or not, it gives them something to think about for the rest of their lives. Maybe you ask me the question next week, Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll tell you what it was. I don’t want the guys to know before I talk to them about it. There’s always something there that you can get to the guys with and they’ll listen. Like we talked about yesterday, when the going gets tough what type of men are we? What type of players are we? We’re being evaluated and our performance matters, and the players and coaches know that, so I’ll hit them with something. I’m not going to let my last week as an interim head coach just kind of fizzle and die out, be done in a week and call it an offseason. I’m going to do my best to get this team a win and say, ‘one day I won the game as a head coach in the Coliseum.’”
(On the toll that the changes this season have taken on the team’s performance)
“It’s taken a mental toll for sure. We’ll all look back on it I think as a very unique experience. I think there will be a lot of good memories that have come from the players and coaches perspectives, just being a part of history with the whole change and the transition from St. Louis in 2016 to Oxnard, to Irvine, to some monster road trips, so when it’s all done, right now it’s a horrible feeling to be where we’re at. We’ve lost 10 out of the last 11, but I hope in a month or two, when we look back the players will be like, ‘that was crazy. I formed some good bonds. There were moments of really cool fellowship.’ They probably won’t remember the games that we lost, although we’ll remember losing a lot of games. Hopefully with really good guys in the locker room, they’ll look back and there will be some good memories. Hopefully the last game of the season next week is a good memory.”
Rams QB Jared Goff
(On if he felt confident after his touchdown pass to TE Tyler Higbee in the fourth quarter)
“I felt real good, I felt real confident in where we were. I felt good about where we were, but at the end of the day, we have got to score more points than they do. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that again today – it’s tough and it’s hard. I’m really trying to hope that these days and these games will be, ultimately, really good for us in the future. And I think they will, I really think they will – I’m optimistic about it, I’m not losing confidence in myself and my team. I understand I need to be better, we all need to be better – especially offensively if we want to win games.”
(On how he feels he played)
“Ups and downs. I thought there were some good things we did, I thought there were some, obviously, bad things I did. An interception early doesn’t help, fortunately, our defense got one back, so that kind of helped there, we were able to score off theirs. But at the end, just trying to make a play late, trying to get a chunk play and unfortunately, they made a good play. Again, like I said, we need to be better, I need to be better, I need to be better for us to win.”
(On why he thinks the team lost today)
“A lot of reasons. It’s a collective effort, but ultimately, offensively, it’s been the story all year, we need to play better. Our defense is pretty damn good when they’re off the field, and get some time and we’re not going three-and-out every time. Ultimately, the offense needs to play better – it starts with the quarterback, it starts with me. As the leader of the team, the leader of the offense, I need to be better – better than I was today, for sure.”
(On playing against the team he grew up rooting for)
“It was good. Obviously, I grew up a fan of theirs, but when the whistle blew, it was another team that we had to go out there and try to beat.”
(On the hardest part about teams adjusting to him)
“I don’t know if they’re doing anything too crazy to mess with me – at least today they weren’t. It’s kind of hard to explain, it’s not like they’re mixing crazy stuff up. But they do do stuff differently than they do on tape at times – I don’t know if that’s just for a rookie quarterback or that’s in general in the league. Again, I’m still new and still learning, but I think most teams have done a pretty good job defensively against us. Again, we have to be better offensively.
I’ll say this, to all the fans and everybody that came out today, we’re appreciative and understand where we are. We know that they understand where we are. It’s just hard, I know they see it – it’s hard in the locker room, it’s hard for all of us. But I promise you guys it will get fixed – everything in my heart and soul to get it all fixed.”
(On what it will take to get it fixed)
“We’re obviously going to have some sort of a change this offseason, that’s kind of inevitable. Hopefully, with that, it brings a lot of different stuff that can help change and can fix the issues we have. Again, I don’t think we have bad players, I don’t think we have bad coaches, I just think we need to put it all together. And, ultimately, it’s on us – and it’s on me, it comes back to the quarterback every time, it’s on me. I need to be better. Every day in practice I need to be better and every day on Sundays I need to be better. I promise everyone out there, all of the Rams fans, that I’m going to do everything I can, everything in me, to make that happen and get this thing fixed.”
(On how much easier it is on the passing game when RB Todd Gurley is able to get going and they have a stable running game)
“It’s huge, it helps a lot, for sure. You see any good team in the league, any good offense in the league, they’re probably running the ball pretty well. That’ll set up the pass, as well as setting up other runs, setting up screens and stuff like that. When we get him (Gurley) going, it obviously helps and it did early when we had him running the ball. I thought Todd did a good job today and I thought our O-line blocked pretty well.”
(On the motivation with one game left)
“It’s about pride at this point. I think today was about pride, as well. It’s about who you are a as man, what’s your character like. Everybody in the locker room, I believe, has good character. I believe in them and don’t expect to see anyone quit. We know the situation we’re in – it’s not easy, it’s not fun, but at the end of the day, it’s about character and it’s about caring for the guy next to you.”
Rams WR Kenny Britt
(On what it means to him to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark this season)
“It means everything to me. After eight years in the NFL, I finally get my first 1,000-yard season. It’s special, even though it comes from a season that we weren’t expecting. It’s some good things, and it’s some bad things.”
(On his outlook of today’s game)
“We got to find a way to finish, just period. That’s always been our problem throughout the season, is just finishing. That’s what we got to do.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin
(On his reaction to losing the way the team did)
“Everybody knows how I feel right now. It’s kind of self-explanatory, to be honest. We had the game. We were up by 14 in the fourth (quarter), and we gave it away. That’s where we’re at right now. We got one more game left. So, hopefully we finish strong. I’m going to keep on pushing strong, and hopefully our guys do to.”
(On scoring his first touchdown at home)
“Yeah, it felt good to finally score my first one at home. I had some great blocks. It was a great play at the right time. I saw the lane, and just used it.”
(On the feeling when an opponent completes a come-from-behind win)
“You look at it – we lost two games like that now – a this is our second one at home. I don’t really believe much in luck – I believe in God. That’s the only person I believe in. We got to strap the pads up and come hard.”
(On why the Rams lost today)
“Basically, just making dumb mistakes like we’ve been doing previously. Not making the big play when we need to. Basically, just losing focus. I think we probably gave it up, and thought the game was over. But, it wasn’t.”
Rams RB Todd Gurley
(On if the team felt too comfortable after going up 21-7)
“That’s football. Nothing is in the bag. We done went through this before. We’ve played this game our whole life. We know nothing is ever over until it says ‘0:00’”
(On why the Rams lost today)
“We didn’t do a better job on offense. We should’ve kept the ball, kept the defense off the field, and we didn’t do that.”
(On how the team gets motivated for their last game next week)
“It’s football. It’s another week. It ain’t like we never lost before, and we ain’t never won before. Same game we play every week.”
Rams DT Aaron Donald
(On his frustrations with today’s outcome)
“It’s horrible. I don’t know what else to say. We just keep losing and we just need to keep trying to find ways to win and finish games. Definitely frustrating. I’m tired of going home mad every week.”
(On being on the field a lot as a result of what was happening on the offensive side of the ball and how much that played into the loss)
“It doesn’t matter. They still put points up. We were in the lead. We were still in the game. We were winning in the fourth quarter and we didn’t finish. It’s not the offense, it’s a team game and we lost as a team today.”
(On what he takes from a game like this)
“You’ve just got to finish games. The same thing happened (against) Miami. We’ve just got to finish, play consistent, and just finish. That’s all I can say.”
San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Chip Kelly – Postgame – December 24, 2016
(On how good this win feels)
“I’m just really happy for our guys. They competed, and they’ve competed for a while. I think they’ve done a great job of just focusing on the task at hand. That’s what we’ve asked them to do, to concentrate on what they can control – they control their attitude, they control their efforts. They had a really good week of training this week, and I’m just happy for them that they had a chance to win the football game.”
(On if he always knew he was going for the two-point conversion during their final scoring drive)
“Depending on how much time was left on the clock. That drive started with a while (left), so if we had scored with two minutes (left), we would have probably thought about maybe kicking it, because our defense played really, really well all day long. Their three scoring drives all occurred when we turned the ball over inside our 50 yard-line and then that’s when they scored. I was confident in our defense if they had to go back out on the field, just like when they did after we went for two and they came up with a big play. So, really just watching the clock and seeing how much time was left. When it got down inside of 45 (seconds) then we thought about it because they’ve got to drive the field to kick a field goal. We had an unfortunate…with the penalty there, so we couldn’t get a chance to pin them deep, but our defense still came up with something big there.”
(On 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s ability to improvise and make something happen with his legs on the two-point conversion)
“It was a designed rollout. That’s what we were trying to do with him – try to get him on the edge. He had a run-pass option: if they cover everybody, he’s going to run it. If they came up, then he was going to throw it, so it was a designed play for him.”
(On Kaepernick’s fourth-quarter performance)
“I thought he did a good job. He had a whole new group up front. There were some growing pains for some of the young guys as they’re getting their first snaps in there. When (49ers G Joshua) Garnett when down, (49ers OL) Alex Balducci got his first snaps in there. We knew that going in that we were going to be a little bit of a work in progress with that offensive line group, but they competed and they battled. They gave everything they had. I think as the game wore on and they kind of got a little bit more settled, they gained a little bit of confidence, but I thought that ‘Kap’ did a nice job.”
(On whether or not he ever considered switching to 49ers QB Christian Ponder)
“No, not at all.”
(On if the team’s reaction after 49ers CB Rashard Robinson’s interception to end the game shows that his team is in better spirits than expected)
“No. I’m around them every day and I’ve said all along what I think about these guys in terms of their approach and it’s been great. What you saw today is what we see every day. There’s an energy and a spirit to them in terms of how they practice and how they train. They’ve not come up on the right side of things, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to let that affect them. They’ll come back to work. I’ve asked them every week, when we’re in the locker room when we have post-game, that you’ve got to come back, you’ve got to bring the energy, you’ve got to bring the juice, and they did it again this week. Hopefully we’ve got one more in us because we have an opportunity to play at home.”
(On why he chose to put 49ers T Trent Brown on the left side instead of the right)
“Just because of the matchups. We thought that it was a little bit better to have him over there than (49ers T) John Theus. We wanted to get John the first snaps on the right side. That’s where John practices mostly.”
(On 49ers RB Carlos Hyde’s status and if the tackle that hurt him was clean)
“I’ve got nothing on Carlos. I didn’t see it, to be honest with you. I was trying to see if we were going to hit the over route. That’s what I thought when I first saw the coverage, ‘Were we going to get a chance to hit the over route behind it?’ Then, all of a sudden, I think (QB Colin Kaepernick) got pressured. That’s what I was asking our guys, ‘Did he get pressured?’ because he dumped it down to his pressure outlet, which was Carlos. I really didn’t see it, to be honest with you.”
(On how he feels winning after 13 consecutive losses)
“I’m just really excited for our players, and I think they’ve done everything that, as a coaching staff, we’ve asked them to do. They deserve it. They’ve worked for it and they earned it, so I’m really just happy for those guys.”
(On whether or not something magical changed in his offense to be able to come back and win late in the game)
“No., nothing magically changed. We just executed and made plays when we had to.”
(On who Kaepernick’s go-to receiver was on the run-pass option)
“He had (49ers WR Rod) Streater first and then he had the other two receivers coming, so we had (49ers WR Jeremy) Kerley and then I don’t know if it was ‘Harp’ (49ers WR Chris Harper) in the game or ‘Burb’ (49ers WR Aaron Burbridge) in the game at that point – or (49ers WR DeAndre) Smelter in the game. It was one of those guys. So he had three options: he had a quick one to Streater, because he was the guy who went in motion, and then he had the other two guys.”
(On whether or not his players were encouraging him to go for the two-point conversion)
“They were excited. We have a great group. It’s a great group to be around. They were excited. You can tell with their energy and enthusiasm. They were fired up.”
(On 49ers DT Chris Jones’ effectiveness)
“We’ve picked up a lot of players this season because of injuries, but ‘Jonesy’ is one of those guys that has really stood out right from the jump, and I think shored us up. We didn’t have ‘Dors’ (DL Glenn Dorsey) today, so he’s really helped us. The games when ‘Q-Dial’ (DT Quinton Dial) hasn’t been able to play, I think Jonesy’s really stepped up for us. He’s a strong, physical player. He had a really good background coming in. I think he had been with the Patriots, he had been with the Dolphins, so he kind of understood what we were trying to get done defensively. Almost from the get-go…two days in, we were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to get some valuable reps out of him and I think he could be a good player for us.’ I’m really happy with where he is right now.”
(On 49ers WR DeAndre Smelter’s lack of targets in his first game with the team and if that was the result of his matchups)
“No. He was all over the place, so it wasn’t the matchup. It was just the quarterback taking what they gave us.”
(On Robinson’s interception to end the game)
“Yeah, it was right in front of me. He did a nice job of cutting the receiver off and caught the ball, got both feet in bounds, and stayed right there.”
49ers QB Colin Kaepernick
(On how they managed to win this game)
“We kept fighting, this team kept fighting. Our defense had a great game today, gave us the opportunity to score early, gave us the ball back at the end of the game to give us opportunities to go score. (G) Zane (Beadles) rallied the offensive line on the sidelines saying, before those last two drives, ‘Forget everything that’s happened up until this point. Let’s play football the way we know how, let’s go get this win,’ and I think they responded really well to that. Gave us the time to get the ball out, our receivers made great plays. We were able to go get the win.”
(On how it felt to win this game despite a season of mostly losses)
“It felt amazing. A feeling that this team has been looking for, for a long time now. To be able to come out and get this win today was huge for us and it’s something this team can build on.”
(On the two-point conversion play)
“We had a bootleg or slide coming across with a couple of overs, they jumped the slide, sank off on the overs and I saw an opportunity to get in there and in my head I was just, ‘I have to get in. I have to get in for this team, we need this win.’ I was very excited to be able to do that.”
(On how you build upon this win)
“I think it builds confidence, that regardless of circumstances, we can go out and get wins and do it against a very talented defense, as far as offensively. You know, they have one of the best fronts in the NFL. The fact that we had some offensive line players moving around, some new guys in there and they came out and held their own, I think it’s huge and it’s something we can build on.”
(On how he was able to move around the Rams’ defense during the two-point conversion play)
“You know, it was an opportunity that we saw on film, that we thought we could take advantage of. We really thought that we were going to have the first guy coming out in the flat, they did a good job of covering that, and running with the overs as well, but the run-pass option is always good.”
(On what he learned about his teammates after going through a 13 game losing streak and rallying to win tonight)
“It reveals the character of this team and players. I think the ability to continue to fight, to continue to try and do your job every play, and remain focused in spite of the circumstances that you are in, I think, is huge. It shows the type of character that this team has, that even though we don’t have a playoff opportunity, people say we really aren’t playing for anything, that they take pride in their work and come out here and fight to get a win.”
(On his comment of building a winning culture and if this game was representative of that)
“Yeah it is. This is a step towards building that culture. I think realizing the huge plays that we had in this game that allowed us to win, whether it’s (C
T-Brocks (Tramaine Brocks) interception, (C Rashard’s (Rashard Robinson) interception, those are huge plays that we can go on and also being able to have two scoring drives at the end of the fourth quarter to win the game. Those are things, that we have to understand we have to be able to do on a weekly basis in order to win.”(On if he thinks WR Rod Streater has stepped up and performed during this game)
“Most definitely. He’s someone that is very locked in, very talented. Big, strong receiver, so having opportunities to throw him the ball, contested catches, he does a great job with, which he did on that last play to get us in the end-zone.”
(On if this game feels the best considering their losing streak and other circumstances)
“Right now, yeah, it feels like the best. Definitely something that I really enjoyed today. I enjoyed being out there with my teammates and being able to get this win with them. I think everybody is really excited about it.”
(On where he was and what he was doing during the Rams’ last drive of the game)
“I’m on the sideline cheering for the defense. I thought they did an amazing job, taking advantage of that opportunity, going out making the play and stopping them. There was a situation where they had timeouts, they had an opportunity, again, to get into field goal position and our defense stood up, made a play and ended the game.”
(On G Zane Beadles’s versatility)
“Zane is a true professional, that’s the best way to describe him. It doesn’t matter what position he is put in, what the circumstances are, he is going to step in, he is going to do his job, he is going to know exactly what he is doing. And to move to center and also be able to direct traffic, as far as the offense, and do an amazing job of that, just stepping in, I think really speaks to the type of player that he is and that was huge for this team.”
(On the two-point conversion and if he knew that Head Coach Chip Kelley was going to call that play)
“I had a feeling that we were going to go for two, and I was excited when he said that we were going for it. I think the whole offense was, the whole team was and the play he called was a play everybody on offense knew was going to get called, we had great confidence in, and it worked out great for us.”
49ers CB Rashard Robinson
(On his interception)
“Great play-calling by our defensive coordinator, Coach (Jim) O’Neil. He just put us in the right position. So, he went ahead and gave us a call. I saw how the receiver was lined up. He was tight to the offensive line so I had him covered inside and (49ers C
Jimmie (Ward) had him covered outside, so I just went ahead and jumped it.”(On his teammates’ reaction to his interception play)
“To be honest, I really wanted to get up out there. It was pretty hot. Juices were going. Everybody was so happy. It was a great team win. It was just a great stop as a defense because our defense has been getting criticized so much. We just came together as a staff and as a team and just played great ball.”
(On how much of a relief it is to finally end their losing streak)
“It’s big relief because we had so many games that we just came a play short, a yard short. And finally, to put everything together – even though we had all these injuries and stuff – buy in as a team and just go out there and just execute. It was a lot of stress of everybody’s shoulders. It was stress lifted off everybody’s shoulders. It seemed like we were down, we’ve been facing adversity this whole year and we finally just overcame all that and to come back out and play how we played that second half, that was something major. That’s going to stick with me. Just me alone, I’m never going to forget this game, for sure.”
49ers DL DeForest Buckner
(On what it was like to see Rams QB Jared Goff throw an interception on the last play)
“It was just awesome to see the whole team getting riled up like that. I haven’t seen that in awhile.”
(On how hard they have been training)
“We’ve been working our tails off the whole season, and that ‘W’ was past due. It was just a really good early Christmas present.”
(On how he thought the defense was doing throughout the game)
“On the run game, we just had to stick with the run fits. Everybody’s sticking to their gap, and just trusting in one another. The D-line-making sure they get the drop done, and the guys behind us.“
(On the decision to go for the two-point conversion)
“We all wanted him to go for two, and we were all happy he went for two. We’re 1-and-whatever and we just wanted to win. It was a great call.”
(On if the players stand behind the coaching staff in decisions)
“Yeah, definitely. I mean we would have never got this win today if we all never stood behind the coaching staff.”
(On getting his sixth sack of the season today)
“It’s definitely a great feeling on a personal standpoint. I mean setting out a goal in the beginning of the season and getting that sixth sack.”
(On the game plan against QB Jared Goff)
“We knew what kind of sets we were going to get by the O-line and everything, so we just needed to attack. And the coach did a really good job in the game plan.”
(On what he has learned from all of their losses this season)
“What have I learned? Just being able to flush the negative down the toilet real quick. When something bad happens on the field, you got to just let it, you know, flush it down the toilet and then move on to the next play. Move on to the next play and just learn from there.”
(On if he felt anything different in the second-half of the game)
“Yeah, definitely. Everybody helped. We all knew it was going to be a dog-fight, and it came down to who wanted it more. And I’m really happy for the team.”
(On what the locker room thinks about Head Coach Chip Kelly after today’s win)
“Yeah, like I was saying earlier, everybody’s behind him and all the coaching staff. We’ve been beating ourselves all year - unnecessary turnovers and little things like that. We’re all behind him and we believe in this process.”
WR Rod Streater
(On his touchdown reception)
“It was a two-play design. We came out and had one play, they were in cover-zero, we checked it to the slants. We knew if they were in cover-zero it would be an easy opportunity to, ultimately, get inside and make the play…(inaudible)”
(On the two-point play)
“We knew, pretty much, we were going to go for it. We’d been practicing it all week. They played really good defense, honestly, because I thought I was going to come open on the backside. ‘Kap’ made the read on the throw and made the play.
49ers S Antoine Bethea
(On how it feels to win the game in a dramatic fashion)
“At this point, it feels good. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been a long time that we’ve felt this way. The way we won it – it speaks volume on our team, our character, the pride that we play with, and I’m just happy for the guys.”
(On Chip Kelly keeping his confidence in the team and what that means to the guys)
“We talk about family and that’s what family is. Regardless of the good times, the bad times, the ugly times, you got to stick together. We started this journey together, and we got to end it together. No finger pointing, come to work every day, and try to get better. Like I said, it feels good and it definitely was a team win, a collective win, and we’ll be able to enjoy this flight home.”
(On the importance of defeating division rivals)
“Of course. Like you said, division rivals. So regardless, being able to say we beat the Rams twice this year. That’s one of the positives of the season.”
49ers LB Ahmad Brooks
(On if learning how to win comes from actually winning)
“Yeah, for sure. Like I said, we’ve won first quarter, second quarter, third quarter. We just found ways to lose the game rather than sustain the position of keeping the lead. That’s just pretty much how the season has been going. We’ve been winning, but we just haven’t won the game.”
(On what this win means)
“It means a lot. For us to get a win before the season is over, because I think guys were holding their heads down just saying, ‘Hey, the season is over, but we didn’t approach this game like that.’ We approached this game as if we were going to win. Guys still put in the hard work. We just continued to fight, and I’m proud of the guys we have in here because (49ers CB Tramaine Brock) ‘T-Brock’ set the tone for the game today getting that interception. Then, watching (49ers QB Colin Kaepernick) ‘Kaep’ go out there the last two series. He pretty much put the team on his back, and all the receivers and offensive linemen. We’ve had so many different guys go down and so many new guys step in and do a great job for us, that it’s a good feeling to see those guys go out there and perform well.”
(On if this win means as much as the past championship games)
“Not necessarily (laughter). That’s on a different scale, because you’re playing in the playoffs, obviously, and playing for a bigger stake.”
49ers G Andrew Tiller
(On what’s going through his mind when he feels the comeback happening)
“It’s indescribable. I really can’t describe the feeling. You just get the butterflies going and you just feel like something great is about to happen. We went out there and we finally put it all together, and we came back from 21-7. Not a lot of people can do that, especially in the position that we’re in right now. Well, we were 1-13. You would think, ‘Oh, what do these guys have to play for?’ We play for ourselves, and we went out there and we just put it all on the line and we came out with that W.”
| Subject | Author | Views | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Shaky | 660 | December 24, 2016 06:05PM |
