Postgame Quotes: 49ers v Rams

POSTGAME QUOTES: Rams vs. 49ers
Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher

(Opening Statement)
“Well obviously I’m very disappointed. Disappointing for our players, after a fast start. They dealt with the emotions of the game early. We got up, and got some points and then obviously the chain of events that happened before half were pretty much hard for us to overcome. One was the offensive pass interference call on (TE) Jared (Cook). That’s a points swing. We’re in field goal range, we have a pretty good kicker, might even be seven (points). And then we come back and give up the long touchdown pass, so it’s a big swing there. But it started with the OPI call. You know we…14-10, we came in, rallied, needed a stop, didn’t get the stop. We just kind of stalled offensively in the second half. Tried to get ahead of the sticks and couldn’t, then obviously we gave up the big plays. We made the decision to go ahead and start a couple rookies this week. I’ll have to look at the tape, but they’re both deserving of it. I know that they’ll both continue to improve, obviously (DT) Aaron’s (Donald) that much ahead of (OT) Greg (Robinson). And then of course I’m pleased with what Austin’s (Davis) doing. Obviously as I said he’s our guy, he’s going to learn from this and I know he will. Played a pretty good defense today, got off to a fast start. Fast start we just couldn’t hang on.”

(On the explanation he got on the offensive pass interference)
“I didn’t get much of an explanation. I was a little confused as to what he was trying to say, so I just let it go. I saw it on the tape and a receiver has the right to run his route, disappointed in that.”

(On it looking like illegal contact by the defense)
“Yeah if anything it was a defensive foul, if anything. But again, I’ll have to look at it. I just saw it once.”

(On how much the long touchdown pass hurt before halftime)
“Yeah, well it was a double move and he (CB Janoris Jenkins) should stay on top. In retrospect we should probably not put him in that position. They were stalling a little bit, letting the clock run down. I even pondered using a timeout there to try to get the ball back, but it looked as if they were just going to take a shot. We have to get better than that as coaches and as players.”

(On the 49ers defense)
“It’s a good defense. It’s a steady, collapsing the pocket type of power-rushing defense. They fit routes together and they are good open field tacklers. That’s what they do, that’s why they’ve been so successful over the years. But still, we had some plays, we had some opportunities that we just didn’t take advantage of.”

(On the onside kick)
“I was working the field position. I made the decision actually when we punted the ball and were backed up, 4th and 7 inside the 10, I made that decision. I felt like…I talked with (Offensive Coordinator Brian) Schotty (Schottenheimer) during the drive and said if we get within the 2 minutes here and we don’t get in the end zone we have to take the field goal and then we have to onside. But they helped us by throwing the ball incomplete, saved us a timeout.”

Rams QB Austin Davis

(On how he would @#$%& the game)
“I think we just didn’t play well enough to win. I felt like we got off to a quick start and couldn’t do enough in the second half. It’s a tough one.”

(On if he felt under siege after the 49ers gained the lead)
“I think they did some things a little differently and brought a little pressure. I’ve got to look at this film and see what I could do better. I thought there were times when I could have stayed in the pocket and done a better job. I’m obviously not looking forward to seeing the film, but I need to learn from it.”

(On if this game had any similarities to the loss against Dallas)
“Sure, there was a similar outcome and a similar start. I knew when we were up 14-0 that we needed to play a 60-minute football game, so I tried to stay calm and just keep playing. They made more plays than we did.”

(On the trend of dominating a quarter of recent games)
“Yeah, it’s interesting. We’ve had the ball in every game with a chance to either win or tie and that’s where hopefully my experience will help, the more opportunities that I get. I’ll learn from it and you’ve got to be able to win games at the end. It’s going to be tough. I feel like this one’s really on me. I didn’t play very well, and I’ve got to find a way to lead this team.”

(On the team’s 1-4 start)
“We’ve got a short week and we’ve got the world champions coming to play, so we can’t really focus on the record. We’ve got to get back to work and keep building on the positive things we’re doing. That’s all we can do.”

(On what the 49ers did to limit WR Brian Quick’s production)
“I don’t know of anything specific. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I had my best game, so it’s probably some of what they did and some was the inability of me to get him the ball. We’ll keep building on what we’re doing and we’ll try to do a better job next week.”

(On if he knows of anything specific that was different in the second half)
“I thought they had us covered pretty tightly at times, but there were throws to be made and I know there were check-downs, probably. I probably flushed the pocket a little too soon at times. I’m looking forward to seeing that and seeing what I can learn from it.”

Rams LB James Laurinaitis

(On the defense allowing big plays)
“We have to play the defenses that are called. I sound like a broken record but we have to play what we call. We have to execute the defense. It’s definitely not the scheme. We just have to execute. That’s all I can really say. We have the guys in here and the guys know it, but for some reason we aren’t putting together full games and until we do that we are going to keep getting the same results. Teams are too good to not do what you need to do every single time. We just have to execute.”

(On what happened on the long touchdown just before halftime)
“We’re just in zone coverage. I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus. We had this coverage in specifically for this team and we just have to execute it.”

(On what giving up the big play before halftime did for the psyche of the team)
“It’s way different. It’s just a way different feel. We talked about it. We just have to put it behind us and go and go and go. We have to start second halves better. The end of first halves and the start of second halves we have been poor in my judgment. It’s really frustrating trying to figure out what we have to do to change things. We’re practicing well. That’s what I was talking to (Jo-Lonn) Dunbar about. I’m dumbfounded. We practiced great for the Dallas week. We practiced great for the Philly week. We practiced well this week. We just aren’t playing complete games and we aren’t young anymore in my opinion. We have guys that have played a long time so why aren’t we playing complete games. That goes for everybody. That’s myself included. We just have to figure it out fast because nobody is going to feel sorry for you in this league. I promise you that Seattle isn’t going to feel bad. We have a short week and we have to prepare our rear-ends off for the world champs.”

Rams DE Robert Quinn

(On what the team can build off of from this game)
“Both sides made good plays. We played the heck out of the run. Our guys were selling out trying to give us a chance to come back and give ourselves an opportunity to win at the end. Just a play here and there seems to always get us. So, I think we just need to eliminate those little mistakes and we’ll be alright.”

(On if the team is still adjusting to Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams’ style of playcalling)
“No, like I said, for the most part we played great ball. They just had a few couple plays that hurt us in the end. Nothing against them…Gregg called a great game. Like I said, San Fran made a few good plays to give them the victory.”

(On if he can pinpoint a reason why the defense is giving up big plays)
“Not really but we’ve just got to keep working our craft and eliminate those and I think we can get on a little roll.”

Rams G Rodger Saffold

(On San Francisco’s touchdown before halftime)
“It hurt but it wasn’t deflating, because you have to look at it because we’re still in the lead… after everything that happen we were still in the lead, you’re still managing it. It just comes down to execution, we made some mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot again in a couple spots. We want to win, we play to win, we’re playing hard to give ourselves a chance to put ourselves in position to tie the game at the end. It’s just tough situations when the defense is allowed to pin the ears back and just rush and not even really rush but doing a bunch of games and different types of twists.”

(On giving up the 14 point lead)
“Of course you don’t want to do that, and we should have scored points in the second have so it’s not just on the defense. It’s tough situations, tough things that happened but bad plays always happen in a game no matter what team. I bet they wish they had that fumble back so it’s just how you overcome that adversity.”

(On the two rookies in the game Greg Robinson and Tre Mason)
“I have to watch the film and see. But Greg is definitely working and that’s another thing why they probably threw a couple of exotic things at us but I think he carried himself well. We could have done better in the running game but we did ok. It just basically comes to make sure we execute.”

Rams TE Lance Kendricks

(On going out early and getting involved)
“I thought we started fast, that’s one thing we really wanted to emphasize is to start fast. I think we’re not finishing. We really have to put an emphasis on that, start being able to close out these games.”

(On putting together a complete game)
“Just keep everybody in it. Like you said we start fast when we want. Then we start slow when we don’t. When we’re ahead we can’t settle. We’ve got to push on the accelerator and keep going. I think this coming week is going to be about finishing and being disciplined enough to stay focused and stay in the game if we’re up or down.”

(On having a short week helpful after a loss)
“Either or, I think you just take it as it is and move forward. I think everybody wants to get back on the field and prove that we’re a good team.”

49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh

(On if at the end of the first half he was content with letting the time run out)
“No. As it was getting into the third down, they still had three time outs so we were a little concerned. We really wanted to come out of that with points, either a field goal or a touchdown. We took our shot and (Qcool smiley Colin Kaepernick made a perfect throw, a really good play call and Brandon Lloyd on the double move, ran an excellent route. Made great separation and finished it.”

(On the game)
“This was just a really tough, hard win on the road, division opponent, they really came after us. We had some mistakes early, some adversity early, but our guys really showed championship character. I am proud of the way they stepped up. We needed some different guys to step up because we have some guys banged up. The guys who did (step up) did a heck of a job. (Lcool smiley Chris Borland, (WR) Stevie Johnson did a great job. This really was a hard, hard working win. I thought our guys really set their jaws and got it done.”

(On this being the third straight win where the team won with a great comeback fashion)
“I think there was just hard tough play. There were so many examples of it. The slant to Johnson in traffic, and Colin stepping up in the pocket and making the throws to extend the drives. Defensively, I thought( NT) Ian Williams really flashed, (Lcool smiley Michael Wilhoite stepped it up. I thought (DT) Ray McDonald played a heck of a game, he played well. (DT) Justin Smith, (Lcool smiley Dan Skuta, a lot of guys. It was just a hard working tough fighting unit tonight.”

(On the Rams defense)
“They were committing to zero coverage and fog the gaps and they did a really nice job of it. Running through gaps. Making it tough, tough to run, we had to work for all of our yards. Fortunately we were able to crack a few and then pass and gain.”

(On WR Brandon Lloyd’s 80 – yard catch and the effect on locker room moral)
“It gave us momentum; we talked about just coming back and keeping the momentum. We knew we had the ball back offensively and we thought that was going to be an important drive to keep the momentum going.”

(On more defensive pressure after touchdowns)
“We were bringing the blitzes and the pressure was good, the best it has been all year and we needed it. (Ccool smiley Perrish Cox made some great plays on the ball tonight.”

(On LB Chris Borland stepping in)
“Chris did a good job, every tackle he was his blitz tempo was good and he was good in coverage. On at least two occasions he got a PBU. I thought he stepped up good.”

(On if this was QB Colin Kaepernick’s best performance)
“I always think Colin plays well. He just keeps doing it and doing it. No turn overs from the quarterback position, he is really good at running the team and getting us in the right play and throwing the ball really well. He had some pin point throws where he laid it in there perfectly. He got the step up and the check down and kept the chains moving.”
49ers QB Colin Kaepernick

(On his touchdown pass to 49ers WR Brandon Lloyd before the end of the first half)
“Big momentum boost for us.”

(On if he felt they needed a big play like that to get the team going)
“At that point we did.”

(On if the Rams were highly committed to the run and resulted in having to pass more)
“We just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities early in the game. We did later in the game.”

(On if there is a particular reason he rises to the occasion in primetime games)
“I don’t know, just fortunate, I guess.”

(On if he felt he had more time in the pocket than he had expected)
“I wouldn’t say more than I expected. Our offensive line does a great job. They work very hard during the week to make sure they’re on top of things, and they went out and showed it tonight. They did a great job.”

(On if he saw 49ers WR Anquan Boldin during the entire play on his touchdown pass)
“No, he came back and made a great play. He was supposed to be running the other way, saw me scramble.”

(On if his eyes were primarily on T Joe Staley)
“Originally.”

(On what he saw as the play developed)
“He got tackled.”

(On if he thought it was a free play since there was a penalty flag on the field)
“I saw him get held. I didn’t know if it was a free play, but I’ll give Anquan a shot any day of the week.”

(On at which point he saw Boldin)
“Some time rolling out left.”

(On the touch he put on the pass to get it over Rams CB Janoris Jenkins and to Boldin in the back of the end zone)
“Like I said, it’s (No.) 81 (Boldin) back there. He’s going to make a lot of plays, so you’ve got to give him a shot.”

(On if he ever impresses himself)
“Not very often.”

(On if the touchdown pass was one time he impressed himself)
“I felt good about it, but there’s still a lot more to do, more to be better at.”

(On the team’s resiliency and ability to come back from a deficit in three straight games)
“We just want to win, whatever it takes. If we’re up early, if we have to come back from behind, at the end of the game we just want to have more points.”

(On if his touchdown pass to Lloyd lightened the mood in the locker room)
“It was a momentum swing for us. It gave us the opportunity to have a go-ahead drive coming out at half.”

49ers LB Dan Skuta

(On how the San Francisco defense performed)
“I’ve been saying for the past couple of weeks that our defense is getting used to playing with each other. We have a lot of new guys and I think we’re finally getting to the point where we know each other and it’s been huge to have everybody on the same page.”

(On how the defense has played dealing with injuries and other adversities)
“It’s something we always talk about, having one of the best linebacker corps in the country. So, no matter who is out there, we’re going to keep playing great. We’ve got a lot of good guys that can take care of business.”

(On what changed that caused the Rams be a different team in the second half)
“We always see different looks during the game than we see on film. They (Rams) had not previously done some of the things that they did early in the game tonight and we adjusted and we kept playing. I think that’s something we do really well with (Defensive Line) Coach (Jim) Tomsula and (Secondary) Coach (Ed) Donatell and all the coaches on the sidelines. They talk to us about what’s going, they fit it and we go on.”

(On San Francisco’s first half penalties that extended St. Louis drives)
“Penalties will kill you, but a little adversity is alright. We came back and played good in the second half and that’s something we weren’t doing earlier in the year.”

(More on the adjustments San Francisco’s defense made to slow the Rams)
“I think most of our adjustments came in the run game. But changing up a few things to confuse (Austin) Davis was good too. For instance, getting an extra rusher in different places, (Defensive Coordinator) Coach Vic (Fangio) is always good about calling those at the right time. But, I thought most of our good adjustments came in the run game.”