Tyreek Hill – December 7, 2022
Download PDF version
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
WR Tyreek Hill
(Can you describe the energy today getting back on the practice field on a college campus?) – “The energy was great. The team was moving around good. Everything looks usual. Me, I still feel sleepy though. I’m tired.”
(What have you said, or what would you like to say, to QB Tua Tagovailoa in regards to how the last game didn’t go as well as expected and what you expect from him moving forward?) – “I mean, I pretty much can’t say too much. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to play with one of the best quarterbacks in this league. We all have bad games. We’re all human. We all go through certain stuff. My message to him is just come out refocused and a lot of people forget about what you did last game when you go out here and throw for six touchdowns or something crazy, and it all be forgotten. I’ve dropped a crazy amount of passes in my career, but my whole focus and the way that my parents raised me is you can’t be great and dwell on the past or whatever. You got to be able to move on. Tua has been great about that. He’s definitely a hard worker.”
(People say that you’re the reason for QB Tua Tagovailoa’s success. What do you say that?) – “Nah. I don’t say nothing to that, bro. I’m not the reason for his success. The head coach…”
(How so?) – “I mean, (anyone) who put together a 700-play clip, they got time on their hands. (laughter) They got some time on their hands because I’m not going to do that. I’ll sit here and say you can do this and do that. But I’m not going to just sit here and put a clip of 700 plays in and we’re going to watch it. Tua is already special. This whole organization knew it. But that’s just the inside. You just got to get the outside people to believe in it, and they’re starting to believe in him.”
(What do you think about being reunited with T Eric Fisher?) – “It’s great. As soon as I saw him I was like, ‘bro, do you remember our handshake?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, bro.’ So fun times with him. My son is a huge fan of Eric Fisher. So my son, the first thing he said was like, ‘Hey, Big Fish.’ Because when I played in Kansas City, me and ‘Fish’ were neighbors. And my son used to go to his house and hang out and stuff with ‘Big Fish.’ So I love having ‘Big Fish,’ man. He’s like a big brother to me and he’s definitely going to help this team in a positive way. So just his character, he was drafted number one overall, so he’s just a locker room guy for this team.”
(I want to take it back to like March when you were first traded here and signed that contract. Coming into this locker room the highest paid guy on the team, essentially a locker room full of strangers, was there something you said to the guys when you got here to help break that tension?) – “I walked into the locker room and I said I’m him. I looked at everybody, I said ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) I’m going at you day one training camp. Day one, I said ‘I’m going at you on day one in training camp.’ That’s me. Nah, I didn’t say that, for real. (laughter) I kind of knew some of the guys on the team already because you know how NFL guys are, they hang out during the offseason and they train together, so there was no tension or nothing like that. I came in, who I am, a fun guy to be around, trying to be the best teammate I can be and just help this team win and grow and show the guys how I got to where I am. Just trying to be big brother for all of them, especially to the younger wide outs, because outside of football, we all have goals that we want to reach. I try to be that mentor for those guys as much as I can.”
(There’s a Sunday Night Football game followed by a Saturday night national TV game. The networks are scrambling to put the Dolphins on TV. Does that create more pressure for you to come up with new celebrations?) – “Oh, no. Not at all. We make sure that we got time to practice those. So whenever we’re in meetings and stuff like that, we just find crazy playtime, ‘ Like hey, bro, I was thinking of this celebration. What do you think of it?’ And we just practice it there in the meeting. We got plenty of time to practice that.”
(Have you seen the waddle celebration in the World Cup?) – “Those things been going crazy, huh? So yeah. We got to get (Jaylen) Waddle in the end zone. Huh? How about that?”
(What’s the tattoo on your right leg?) – “Right here? So my tattoo on my right leg, I got all the fast guys. I got Dash. I got Flash. I got Sonic the Hedgehog. And then I got my favorite character of them all – he’s not fast, but he’s like a bully. His name is King Pin. Do you know who King Pin is? Batman, the big dude. He’s big and he smokes a cigar with a cane. Yeah, him. That’s my favorite character of all time. He’s like a menace.”
(You got a cheetah somewhere?) – “Yeah, I got a cheetah on the back of my leg too.”
(Is there anything that you guys are going to do in your free time in LA? Bond and spend time together?) – “Well, I mean, I flew my whole family out here. I got about 15 people out here. Basically the people that I live with. I told myself I couldn’t go a week without seeing my kids, without seeing my mom, my dad, my stepdad, my sister. I couldn’t go a week without that because my mom, she takes care of me like I’m in middle school. She feeds me, washes my clothes. She does all that for me. So I couldn’t be without that for a week. But as far as spending time with the team, we got a lot of stuff planned as far as like bowling. I believe we got a comedian coming through tonight. So I’m looking forward to that. Get some laughs with the guys and just spending time with each other, having a good time.”
Tua Tagovailoa – December 7, 2022
Download PDF version
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
QB Tua Tagovailoa
(What’s it like being back on like a college campus?) – “Yeah, it’s cool. Just kind of scoping the area a little, it does feel a little weird just because you see there are students that are still in school and are finishing classes late in the afternoon and then also late at night. So it gives some flashbacks of being in college, but I think it’s really, really cool what UCLA has here with the hotel that we’re able to stay in and then the view with their field and their state-of-the-art facility. I think as a team, we’re very fortunate to be staying here.”
(When you reviewed the San Francisco tape, what did you take away as the biggest concern to fix this week?) – “I would say my spot in the pocket. There were many points in the game that I wasn’t in the spot that I told the guys up front I would be in and so therefore, I kind of put myself in bad situations. So doing that and then there were also some plays that were missed that I wish I could get back. I can’t be playing wishful football. This game, we’ll hopefully take everything that the Chargers give us and take advantage of our opportunities.”
(I’m curious, I know this is the second time that you’re facing a team led by QB Justin Herbert at quarterback. I was just curious, what’s the relationship obviously same draft class, fifth and sixth picks. Is there any relationship there?) – “I would say I haven’t communicated with Justin (Herbert). I never really knew him on a personal level. I knew of him in college. I mean, he’s been a baller, and then you also look at his career thus far in the NFL and he continues to do really great things. He’s a great player. You can’t say anything bad about this guy. He’s good. He can run, he can throw, he can throw on the run. I mean, he can do a lot of things and it’s pretty remarkable. I have nothing but respect for him and his game too.”
(I don’t have to tell you that because of where you were drafted and where QB Justin Herbert was drafted, people are always going to compare you two and match up your stats against his. Is that something you accept? Is that something you think is a bogus comparison? How do you feel about it?) – “I feel that I’ve been very blessed to have gotten chosen, regardless of if I got chosen before him or after him. I’m just happy to be where I’m at. I don’t think anything of it. I know everyone else outside of our building and fans want to make speculations about that, but for me, I’m just very fortunate, very blessed to be in this position. I’ll let everyone else handle the talking with that. That’s my stance on it.”
(Is there any difference in how you feel after a game like Sunday’s where plays were there and you guys just missed them and weren’t clicking versus knowing there were no plays there at all?) – “Yes, because there’s a lot of things you can improve on. There’s areas of work that you thought maybe you had down that, ‘Hey, reality check. Here’s what the deal is.’ So it was good for all of us offensively to see the mistakes, to talk about the mistakes. We’re just looking to learn from that and hopefully transition into a really good week of practice this week and prepare for a good Chargers team.”
(You’ve talked about this, so forgive me for asking again, but compared to last year, what’s the biggest single change that you can attribute your great success to?) – “Oh, man. I would say there’s not a single thing. There’s many things. Just starting with the top, the belief our head coach has in as in me, the belief that our organization has in me – not just has but had in me – and continues to have. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain all the things that go on behind the scenes. There’s been a lot of support from when I came here, prior to coaches and anything. But my teammates, the amount of support that they show me.”
(What about the coach?) – “What do you mean?”
(What kind of support?) – “Our coach? Shoot, (I have had) many conversations with our head coach. Like I said before, he ended up making a 700-play tape like a highlight tape of things that he thought I did really, really well of the entire last season. He just continues to be overly positive with how he communicates with me and how he communicates with all of the guys on the team. But it’s not just our coaches, it’s also my teammates, the staff and like I said, the organization.”
(When you were considering which college to go to, did you ever think you’d might end up at one of the LA schools?) – “Yeah, I thought I was going to go to USC. I thought I was going to be a ‘Fight on Trojan,’ but my dad wanted me to go to Alabama. It was always a dream of mine to go to USC, because in Hawaii, we normally get the Pac-12 games. And when I was young growing up, USC was the hot team here on the west coast. So when I ended up getting an offer in high school, it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is crazy.’ I can’t say that I regret going to Alabama, because I know I wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in now if I hadn’t gone there and experienced what I did. But I would have went to USC.”
(What were you feeling when you watched that 700-play tape?) – “I didn’t watch the whole 700-play tape. There’s no way I was going to watch all 700. (laughter) I probably only got to like 90 with him. It was a lot of hours of one play, just 14 minutes on just this one play and just talking about it like, ‘Wow, what did you see on this? Why did you guys do this?’ It was a lot of conversation, and I thought the coolest thing was like nothing that I said within the play or whatever could be wrong. He really just wanted to know how we operated that or got that done. If there were some nuances that he felt could be fixed, he would end up doing that. So that’s all that was. We didn’t watch the whole 700, but he scrolled down and I saw 700-something. It might have been more – I’m just saying 700. (laughter)”
(Did you happen to catch that you’re leading the Pro Bowl voting right now? What would that mean to you?) – “That’s news to me. That’s first time I’m hearing it. You know, that’s awesome. That would mean the world to be recognized for something like that in a league that’s really tough and the competition is really tough and the guys are really good. It’d mean the world. Coming into my third year and experiencing a lot of things that I’ve had to experience and go through, that’d be awesome.”
(What does it say about T Terron Armstead that we saw him today just putting in the work that he can and trying to fight to be out there for you guys?) – “He’s a veteran that he always wants to be out there. It killed him watching from the sideline. Every time we came off and didn’t score, he’d always come to me, ask me what I’m seeing so that he could relay it to the guys. He would relay something from the o-line to me and kind of ask me, ‘Hey, if you could just stay in this spot more than this spot, just because this guy is going to need a little more help.’ So he’s kind of the visionary for the guys up front. He’s the captain for those guys up there, and we all respect him. So just seeing how much this means to him, football and what he’s doing to try to get back out there to play with us, it’s pretty remarkable. I think this is his 10th year or 11th year, and he’s up there in the trenches – that’s hard. That’s hard, so for him to have gone through all the challenges that he’s gone through and continuing to go through, you have to be strong minded.”
(How is the ankle doing?) – “At this point of the season, it’s as good as it’s going to get.”
(The team recently signed T Eric Fisher. I know he’s working with the offensive line, but is there anything in particular you’re doing with him to speed understand?) – “No, not necessarily. I got to meet him when we ended up signing him, just kind of two ships passing in the night going into meetings. But he was in the o-line meeting with our o-line coaches, just trying to get dialed in there. I went and introduced myself. I mean, the dude is a tank. He’s big. He’s big.”
(I’m going to be sitting down with LB Manti Te’o later this week, and I think you guys have a relationship. Just growing up in Hawaii with him, knowing how big of a high school story he was and the stuff he did at Notre Dame, when you were younger looking at him, what did you think about him and just kind of what he meant?) – “When I was little, I think I can recall maybe like in the sixth grade, Manti (Te’o) was the biggest thing coming out of Hawaii. I think there was a – the first game I got to go and watch him play was like mainlanders came to Hawaii to play their best guys from the mainland came to play the best from Hawaii, I guess. Or I don’t even know what bowl that was. I was like in sixth grade. First play, I think the opposing team throws a slant and Manti just smokes this dude. It was the coolest thing to see just, the reaction of the fans, how big he was. (laughter) When you’re young and you’re looking at someone like that, you’re thinking they’re the biggest people in the world. When I would train outside of where I was in high school, I got to see some instances where he was training as well at the same spot. Then you fast forward to me going to Alabama, doing what I did there and him being able to reach out, I thought that was the coolest thing and how like a lot of us people from Hawaii, we all try to stick together. That’s my Uce. That’s my man. I have the utmost respect for him. I love him too.”
(When you look at LB Manti Te’o now, his career is over. You saw the Netflix special and just how much that really did. When you think about him now and everything he’s been through and what he’s become, what are your thoughts on that?) – “I’m proud of him. If you go and ask Manti (Te’o), because every time he talks to me, he always says this. He always tells me, ‘Man, I feel like you’re my real little brother. Every time I see you, I feel like we have this instant connection because of how we were raised from our parents, the journey that we had to go through to get to where we’re at.’ I’m not saying that to make myself feel good, but it’s really cool when someone like me at a young age looked up to someone like him, and to hear those words said to me, that’s freaking cool. But like I said, I have the utmost respect. I’ll probably call him after this and tell him that I was putting trash on his name. (laughter)”
Mike McDaniel – December 7, 2022
Download PDF version
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(On the experience in Los Angeles) – “It’s been awesome. Great facilities here at UCLA. They’ve been awesome in terms of having everything we need. As far as an experience, I’ve been like in one room – my office. And my hotel room. So it’s been pretty normal from that standpoint, but I know guys have been out and about and it’s been very enjoyable for the team.”
(This may be a weird way to look at a loss, but could there be silver linings in terms of recalibrating?) – “Never. (laughter) No, I think, to me, that’s the only way to approach anything. There’s always going to be – in a football season, in life – there’s always going to be things that don’t work out the way that you want them to in the immediate present, so I think that’s our goal any time that we’re not fortunate enough to get a win. If you have a loss, the point is to make it purposeful. So those are all things that, I’ve been reiterating to the coaching staff and the players since the game occurred is that’s the point. If you’re going to have to go through that and if you’re going to put all that effort, that intent, that emotional commitment into a game and then have it all for a loss; then you might as well make it purposeful. So that’s what we hope to do.”
(What are the keys for QB Tua Tagovailoa in practice this week in order for him to get back on track?) – “I think this is such a cool opportunity for each and every player that this is part of the NFL experience, is you can have some hot streaks where you’re doing well more often than not, and then you can have a game that there’s a lot more plays that you’d like to have back. From a football perspective, that’s not – everything that went wrong wasn’t a direct result of the quarterback. It never is exactly like that. However, we all know that he wants to play as well as he can and he thinks that he could have done better in that game. So that is life in the NFL and whether you have seven Super Bowl rings or you haven’t been to a playoff game yet or you’re a rookie, you’re a 10-year vet, you’re a five-year vet; you will always – player, coach, anybody involved – be going through that experience, so that it is not something that, hey, it doesn’t happen to the best ones ever to do it. Every person has to go through that and so your objective is to get better from it, and that’s the that’s the world we live in.”
[Question inaudible] – “No, I think win or loss, like I’ve told you guys before, I really believe in always progressing and trying to find things to do better at so that every win we’ve had, I felt that same way. And when you only have eight rushing attempts, you for sure look back and understand why you made those decisions and then how you’re going to adjust that in the future. I think a lot of it did have to do with game flow in the moment. When we did hand the ball off, we did have some successful gains and we were doing some solid things, but you have to get in a rhythm in the run game and whether that’s the amount of play calls or every place is tied to another so you convert on some of those third downs and we’re probably not talking about as drastic of a ratio as well. So we’ll get better from it. I know guys are hungry and can’t wait for another opportunity to play football.”
(What have you seen from the running backs in response to that? I believe in postgame that RB Jeff Wilson mentioned that he called for extra meeting time among running backs?) – “See that’s a credit to them. It really is unfortunate that in a game that they were – it’s a shame that they didn’t get more opportunities to make plays. So I look at that as 100 percent on me to find more ways to involve them in the game and if that means we’re not running the ball, that’s not an excuse. They’re very good receivers. But one of the themes that you’ll hear from the entire team is they look at it the same way where, ‘Okay, well, I do have (opportunities). On those (opportunities), how can we get better or what can we do to make sure that we get more opportunities?’ So I think that’s the way you want your team to work. Ultimate accountability, it’s infectious, and I think they do an unbelievable job with that in that room and have all year.”
(On T Terron Armstead) – “No, I think bottom line is he’s a big part of our team that is one of the reasons we are where we’re at when he’s playing and what makes him special is even when he’s not. But obviously, that will be awesome for the guys. We’re going to progress – he won’t be doing anything today, but I know he’s working hard at it and it’s one of those things that I expect him to either be out there on the field or be on the sideline for good reason because he would hurt our long-term goals with him. So we shall see. Again, no crystal ball. It doesn’t travel. (laughter)”
(Is T Terron Armstead’s pain threshold for a player you’ve ever seen the highest because it seems like…?) – “It’s up there. It’s up there. He’s a tough dude that he gets himself on game day to places that – he has one of the most stark contrasts personalities of anybody on the team, from practice to there’s just another level of focus and intensity. True competitor and because of that, he does everything he can to stay on the field when things aren’t going his way.”
(Did the Niners do anything I guess specifically or differently than other opponents in terms of taking QB Tua Tagovailoa’s first read away?) – “No, I think they’re a defense that’s been together for a long time. And good defenses, you have smaller windows and I wouldn’t say anything different. I think the way we look at it is you want to be able to do well against good defenses. That’s the objective if you’re trying to be great yourself. And they force you to truly execute and if you’re not on, they make you pay, in which case they did this past game.”
(Is T Eric Fisher out here and is it reasonable to think he can get up to speed to suit up and to be available on Sunday?) – “He is here. I’d be careful to predict anything. On one hand, we haven’t had even one walkthrough and he hasn’t played football in a minute. On the other hand, one of the reasons why we were so fortunate to get him is because we know that clock, he’ll be up to speed fairly fast relative to most players just because of experience, his intelligence and commitment. And so I just don’t know exactly how long that is so we’ll see. We’ve got to get at least one walkthrough under our belt.”
(Did WR Tyreek Hill have anything to say about T Eric Fisher coming here?) – “Only good things. He was fired up. Any time you have somebody that, those are the relationships that we’re chasing each and every day, are those ones that you do something special and win a championship together. That bond is forever and you have a different place in your heart and that experience just you really know you can count on a player and it brings you together in a different way and I’m excited to have a connection from that Super Bowl team on our team this year.”
(It’s kind of a cool return for LB Jaelan Phillips. What have you learned about Jaelan since meeting him?) – “He’s a very talented human being both physically and mentally. There’s cool layers to his personality that he really is talented enough to do a lot of things in life. So I didn’t really have any perspective on that and he’s just coming into his own, really as a football player. He will continue and strive to get better each and every day, week, game and year. And he knows that he has room to grow, too. So I think the sky’s the limit for that guy and he’s really benefiting from a room of great veterans of talented, really well established, good players on our defense between (Bradley) Chubb and ‘Mel’ (Melvin Ingram) and (Andrew) Van Ginkel and (Emmanuel) Ogbah and all these guys. You’re also learning that Jaelan can seize the opportunity when you have a lot of really good players in front of you each and every day in drill work and ‘what can I gain from their game and apply it to mine?’ He’s a sponge for that.”
(What’s the plan for OL Liam Eichenberg? His return today, this week?) – “We’ll get a little action from him today. It will be in a very limited manner. Most of the stuff will be on side, but he’s done an unbelievable job getting himself really to where he’s at from I mean, shoot, injury. It’s to his credit that that type of injury that he’s come back so fast and excited for him because he was playing his best football when he got injured. You hate to see that and get excited for a guy to get back in the swing of things.”
(On LB Trey Flowers) – “Yeah, I don’t foresee seeing him anytime soon, but I’m wishing him as fast of a recovery and he’s doing well in the process.”
Mike McDaniel – December 5, 2022
Download PDF version
Monday, December 5, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(So I wondered if signing T Eric Fisher was in part because of any belief that T Terron Armstead likely is going to miss more time.?) – “No, it’s more – this is something we were working on for it seems a couple of weeks. So it’s more with the idea that our intention is to have our season longer than the regular season and that being both pretty thin on the roster and seeing an opportunity to add a player of high quality with big-time game experience. So it wasn’t necessarily reactionary to Terron (Armstead) as much as it was trying to take advantage of there being a player out there on the market that can make sure that anything unforeseen that we can have high quality play in the most important time of the year.”
(How will you manage QB Tua Tagovailoa and his ankle this week? And are you confident in his ability to go ahead and participate fully in practice and then play on Sunday against the Chargers?) – “We will just be mindful of what he does. Really, you’re looking at Wednesday, just making sure that we don’t do anything to have any setbacks, breaking the pocket and whatnot. But I’m very confident and don’t anticipate any sort of setback that would negate him playing in the upcoming football match.”
(It’s not a good Monday for you all, I guess, but you all are in the perfect opportunity to still control your own destiny. Only having two conference losses, have you expressed the importance of this game to your team when you face the Chargers coming up?) – “Our team is very aware. I think that is something that is pretty obvious in terms of the importance of the conference and it’s the second most-important game next to the division opponents. The biggest thing is that guys really wanted to try to get the victory against a very good opponent this past game and it didn’t happen, but we feel like there’s some definite places where we can get better from it. And the next game can’t come fast enough. So guys are eager to get started on the Chargers and you always try to really bask in the opportunity to play in front of the national audience. So I think the team really relishes the opportunity to play a good football team and get back on track after the one-week hiatus.”
(I know you’re all focused on the Chargers and that’s understandable, but we learned today that the Buffalo game is going to be Saturday night. And I’m wondering how you plan to manage that. If it’s almost like Thursday night road game, given that you’ll be flying across the country getting back probably in the wee hours Monday morning and then having to fly out Friday?) – “You’re right on both fronts. We are very much focused on the Chargers, but there will be an adjustment to the schedule. We’ll be somewhere in between what a normal game is and what a Thursday night game is. That will be a challenge. But that’s something that I think it’s important across the board for when we get to that point that players, coaches; they take it as a challenge that I don’t want anybody spending any time feeling sorry for themselves and I don’t think our team will. The bottom line is we have two opportunities to play in front of a national audience. It’s something we’ve been building towards for the whole season in terms of how we play, but only one of which we can really do anything about in the immediate future. So it’s definitely challenging but not something that anyone’s going to spend any time feeling sorry for themselves about because that’s not our decision to make. We’re happy to have the opportunity to play in front of our peers and a national audience and we’ll do our best to take advantage of that.”
(When you looked at the film of the 49ers game, what jumped out at you in terms of what wasn’t clicking in the passing game? Was it timing? Just accuracy? What were some of the things that you want to correct from that?) – “You want to be hitting on all cylinders all times and the thing about a passing game is it can be very potent when all cylinders are hitting, and I think clearly it wasn’t in terms of our completion percentage, the throwing it to the opposing team as opposed to our own team, and just really being as consistent as we needed to be. And that I think from my estimation, there was, as I told the team, I thought there were times that really guys were pressing. There were some times that we did have time to go ahead and make a play and the eligibles got their depths and were available in the timing of the play and other times that they weren’t, and we kind of let plays linger and really overlap to further existing plays. So these are things that from my vantage point are very, very correctable that I think we needed that stage, that environment – one of those things where, hey, you have a really good team, one of the best units in the league that are trying to defend you in a certain area and really pushing all resources towards it. What you have to do to be able to combat that and the level that you have to play. So I think a lot of guys learned stuff. I think guys did learn various things without losing confidence. They were very accountable today, which is one of the reasons I’m so deeply invested and confident in this team and expect it to look better and take a step forward this this next coming week.”
(I wanted to ask you about Chargers QB Justin Herbert and the unique challenges he I guess presents with that arm and all that. And did you get a chance to visit with him in the pre-Draft process and if so what did you come away with?) – “To answer your question, he does have an arm. I think, I believe two of them. (laughter) And it is strong. I’m not sure how much he can curl, but he can throw the ball far. And I did not meet him that particular year. I didn’t get a chance, but I saw his college tape. And obviously, I’ve seen a lot that he can do on the NFL stage. And it keeps you honest as a defense. In the same realm as Josh Allen, if you don’t have your appropriate rush lanes or you drop a coverage, he can make you pay on any part of the field. And your job is to make him execute within the confines of a traditional timing and you just have to be a little more responsible in your rush lanes because he’ll make you pay or break the pocket to extend. So great challenge because he’s the type of player that you play down the stretch and in elimination games that you don’t have any choice but to do your best to make sure that he doesn’t beat you by himself and make sure that you force the receivers and all the eligibles to get open in the regular timing of the play and you force or you allow coverage to work for the pass rush as well or coverage is tight so that he has to try to extend plays and you’re consistent and your rush lane integrity is strong. So a very, very good player. A challenging player that our guys will be up for and excited for test.”
(Along those same lines, the stats show a drastic difference for the defense in terms of points and yardage allowed home and on the road. What do you think might be the cause of that?) – “I think it has to do with particular opponents. I think it also has to do with the stats don’t account for or offensive turnovers that turned to points have to do with that as well. So I think they’ve gotten kind of unfairly shaped. That’s something that’s been on our mind that the captains have brought up for several weeks and I thought that was a step in the right direction yesterday. But obviously not to where we want to be, and that’s the good thing about this team is they haven’t, during the streak of wins, haven’t lost sight of the ultimate goal, which is to progressively get better every week. I think that’s the hardest thing to do in National Football League with all the different distractions that can occur and different narratives that can happen, and people can get worried about the wrong stuff. Our defense hasn’t. They’re continually trying to progress. I saw that on tape and I think there’s some situations, a couple in particular, that the ultimate score looks a lot different, if there’s one or two plays made on the ball, there’s not a penalty here or there. And ultimately, there’s a couple of third downs that I think were very manageable for us in terms of making the play to get them off the field. There are too many variables. I don’t think it’s just being on the road. I think has to do with the opponent more than anything, and I really am having high expectations for a robust turnaround this coming week.”
(The ball went harmlessly out of bounds, but I’m pretty fascinated by the effort that DT Christian Wilkins displayed to retrace his rush and go force a fumble 20 yards down the field. I’m curious the reaction of you and your staff when you see something like that on tape.) – “It’s something that we’ve been getting better at during the course of the year. It’s something that we point out in all of our team meetings because that’s team defense. Because what happens – that happened a little further down the field than we would like it to happen – but if you get an eligible to stop his feet because you have aggressive tackling down the field or if the offensive player has to stop; really good defenses make them pay and get turnovers in those type of situations. So that’s something that as a captain, we’ve counted on Christian. He’s done it a ton during the season. I think one of the bigger hits of the year came against Buffalo in a similar situation against (Dawson) Knox, I believe. And it’s one of the strengths to his game to have consistent strain and that affects players. They feel it, they hear it. And it’s part of the physicality of our defense that we really, when we’re going at our best; there’s not just him, but the whole d-line is able to get some action chasing the ball.”
(Just to follow up on the initial question where he was mentioned, what’s T Terron Armstead’s outlook this week and the plan for the three practice sessions?) – “I feel pretty good about where he’s at. He was pretty close this past week, relatively to where he just continues to defy normal timelines with injuries that would keep a lesser athlete with the toughness and desire that would keep them out for longer. So I expect him to get some work and practice this week. I don’t know exactly – every day is so important for that healing process. So whether that’s Wednesday, Thursday Friday, we’ll at least let Tuesday happen before we concretely pin that in. But his plan is to get some action this week for sure and I know he’s optimistic to play in this upcoming game.”
Connor Williams – December 4, 2022 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Postgame – San Francisco
OL Connor Williams (Transcribed by San Francisco 49ers)
(What are your thoughts on how you guys protected the pass game?) – “I’m proud of how everybody stepped to the play today. From left to right, I think we did a great job. I mean, obviously they’re a great D-line – that’s a high caliber D-line. To be able to do what we did and hold up the way we did, I’m proud of us. Obviously, it is never perfect, obviously things need to improve. We are going to hit the film room and try to improve on those, but I am proud of everyone.”
(What makes DL Nick Bosa so hard to stop?) – “You know, everybody at this level has about the same talent. I think at the end of the day, it’s that energy. It’s that effort to it. So I think that’s what we’re learning, that in those big games you’ve got to be able to step up into that environment and execute at that high level.”
(What was it like after the first play, the touchdown?) – “Obviously it was electric. Definitely for (No.) 14 (Trent Sherfield) to get that ball. I mean, it says it all right there, but then just being able to put it in the past, being able to move on to the next game.”
Christian Wilkins- December 4, 2022 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Postgame – San Francisco
DT Christian Wilkins (Transcribed by San Francisco 49ers)
(Can you talk about the 49ers performance?) – “They’re a good team and they showed it today. We fought hard as a team and everything like that, but it came up short obviously. But San Fran is a heck of a team, and I just feel like this is a good [experience]. You try to find the positive and everything and this is a learning opportunity for us. We come on the road – this is December football and if we want to be the team we can be and want to be, you have to have experiences like this. So just learn from this one onto the next one, the 24-hour rule. That’s my thing, that’s the rule in the NFL. So we’ll learn from it and get better because we have to play next Sunday, it will be here before we know it.”
(What did you learn from this one today?) – “Obviously, we have to watch the tape to really be able to learn from the little details. There’s obviously things we can clean up, obviously things we could have done better, so definitely have to watch the tape to fully know. I did feel like we competed hard and we competed to the end, regardless of the score, regardless of the outcome, regardless of what happened. I did feel like we did fight hard, so we got that. We just have to clean up some other things.”
(Is there anything they did that you weren’t expecting when QB Jimmy Garoppolo went down?) – “No. I wouldn’t say so. I feel like they pretty much stuck with their offense. They did a little more short passes and quick passes, things like that. Probably just get the quarterback going into the rhythm, but respect to him, he did a good job just stepping up. I told him after the game, ‘Way to step up.’ It was definitely respectable. Like I said, we fought hard, but there’s some things we can get better and things we can clean up.”
(Sometimes a win can disguise some mistakes. So maybe you can look at this as a loss to pick apart some of the mistakes?) – “Yes, absolutely. When things are going good, it’s going great. Sometimes you don’t want to fall into that trap. So that’s what I’m saying. It’s good. This is a humbling loss. Take it as a learning experience, not a loss. That’s how you have to look at it and just learn from it, move on and get better.”
Raheem Mostert – December 4, 2022 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Postgame – San Francisco
RB Raheem Mostert (Transcribed by San Francisco 49ers)
(Can you describe the first play of the game?) – “Yeah, it was definitely an exciting moment, especially being the first play of the game. Then for the emotions to be high, not only for myself, but for the team and for Trent (Sherfield) to go and catch that ball, slash and take it to the house, I was trying to pick up speed to get down there as fast as I could to see if I could try to get a block or two. There was definitely a lot of volume and high emotions on that play for sure.”
(You guys are obviously so familiar with this defense, but actually going up against them in a game situation, did anything surprise you?) – “No, not really. No, I think the biggest thing for us was we weren’t detailed enough. I know specifically me, I left some stuff out there that I knew I could have made a play, I could have been game changing. I wish I could take that stuff back. But yeah, it’s all about our execution and it starts from the play calling on down. We’ll get it right. We’ve got a big, big match up this week against the Chargers. We’ve got to flush this game out. I know it’s going to be a little bit tough for me especially now that I’m done walking out of this stadium and stuff like that. But man, that’s the game that we play and that’s the sport – you have to take all those goods and highs and lows that go with it. It’s all going to be fun, and we can’t wait to get back in LA and spend a little bit of time together. I know I talked to the running backs already and told them that we’re going to do a little bit of extra meeting time to know our opponent, know what the gameplan is, be more detailed, be a family and all that good stuff.”
(What was the story with the running game today? There weren’t a lot of yards, but there weren’t a lot of attempts.) – “It was whatever was being dished out. We had to take it for what it was. The gameplan was for us to be balanced, and we’re in a situation where you want to take advantage of what they had, you know? Unfortunately my boy, ‘Jimmy G’ (Jimmy Garoppolo) went out the game. I’m hoping everything’s alright with him. I’m going to go talk to him and talk to his family. My wife is here and she’s real close with his sister-in-law. I’m going to go talk to his brother and all that stuff. So man, that sucks. I’m going to go ahead and talk to him and see what’s going on.”
Tyreek Hill – December 4, 2022 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, December 4, 2022
Postgame – San Francisco
WR Tyreek Hill (Transcribed by San Francisco 49ers)
(Is there anything you can pinpoint as to why you think the offense was just not necessarily clicking right away?) – “I don’t know, man. I just want to focus on our room, because we’re such a young group. I keep all the guys motivated, the offensive line, even Tua (Tagovailoa). So my message all day to the guys was just stay locked in, it’s going to turn around for the good. And as you saw, we began to move the ball in the second half the way we’ve been doing all season. So we’re just going to build off this, man.”
(Out of most of the players, you’ve had the most success in the playoffs. How much does today’s experience – do you think today’s game will help you in the postseason this year coming up?) – “Well, I feel like my message to all the guys is to just let your passion show. I feel like a lot of people may take it as frustration, man, but I look at it as passion. That’s all this game is about, playing for your brother, playing for one another and making plays. So, when your number is called, we just have make plays.”
(Sometimes when you’re winning games, it can disguise some of the little mistakes you’re making. How much can a loss help you guys dive into the film and really pinpoint maybe some of the little things you can do better?) – “For us each and every week, we do the same thing. On Mondays, we go in, even after a win, we go in and we correct the good with the bad. So that’s always been our mindset, and we’re going to continue doing that as an offensive unit. So we’re going to continue getting better.”
