Q. What was your view of the final drive there and what happened with the final couple of plays?
COACH WALDRON: I think the connection that Geno and DK made was a great chance to put us in position to get down there to the final play there. Had a chance to maybe pop a run. Unfortunately, they played it well. Didn't quite work out.
Would love to get a little bit more field position right there for Jason. But they played it well. And then end up clocking it and having an opportunity.
But execution really comes down to earlier in the game, not putting ourselves in that position. But we've had those opportunities at the end of games, and several times this season we've come out on the right end of those, and this one it just didn't work out at the end.
Q. Was Geno able to hear you? He made it sound like there was some miscommunication there.
COACH WALDRON: I think he got right to the right thing there in terms of getting to a good RPO there where he has an option and right on the ball quickly, trying to gain five, six, seven more yards there, trying to get in a more manageable situation there but it didn't work out.
Q. Did he hear the play call?
COACH WALDRON: I don't think he did, with the headset going, sometimes those chaos situations. But the great thing is it's situations we practice all the time. Got to one of our toolbox plays in that exact scenario. So it was a good job of him and those guys. And really being able to execute that many plays and that quick of a tempo to give us an opportunity at the end.
Q. Geno made reference earlier in the day you are a team that likes to get up on the ball and go instead of clock it. Why do you like to get up on the ball in those situations?
COACH WALDRON: I think just philosophically the way we look at it, there's lots of different approaches when to kill the ball, when not to kill the ball. For us getting more plays, more opportunities has provided to be more successful over the long run, but each one of those situations is different. I think every time those come into play, you've got to take into consideration where the other players are at on the field in terms of when to kill the ball, when not to. Guys way down the field or guys in closer proximity. Like in DK's situation, he's able to make that catch right around the hashes so quickly get the ball spotted so quickly, the offense everyone's set real clean operation there. So I think there's time restraints we have around it that we've built that we've predetermined, but all of those are going to have a little bit of wiggle room depending on the live action of the game and the room for error in those seconds.
Q. What did you think of Drew Lock and sort of when he had to play on Sunday and how that all went?
COACH WALDRON: Drew came in in another tough situation there coming into a road environment there, did the best to his ability. Tried to execute some plays, got a couple of pressures. Some things didn't work out in his favor. Gave us opportunity on some third down throws, but didn't work out obviously in terms of getting some point production out of those drives. But he's still ready to go.
Been doing a good job this week like he does every week of preparing like he's going to be the starter if those opportunities present themselves.
Q. First drive, 14 plays, 88 yards. I assume that was a scripted set. And 4-for-4 to start the game on third down then you go 1-for-11 after. What was the difference? Was it the offscript, and how the Rams adjusted or what was the dynamics for the first drive?
COACH WALDRON: I think the scripting, there's a little bit of gray area in there, but I'll roll with that part of it. Once we get down to those next couple of drives in terms of some of the penalties that knocked us off course, I think some of the negative plays, and so for us on offense, we know really coming down to good, clean execution in those scenarios.
For me, putting our players in the best position we can with the play calls along the course of the four quarters of the game. And I think just executing as we get into the second half, starting with that first drive, coming out of the locker room right there trying to eliminate those 3-and-outs or those quick possessions so we can have a successful second half.
Q. How many plays do you script?
COACH WALDRON: There's no exact number on that.
Q. With the 49ers defense, seems like they present challenges at all three levels. Where does it start when it comes to dealing with their defense?
COACH WALDRON: I think it really starts up front. They've got a great defensive line. They've got multiple players they can roll throughout their front right there. And Fred Warner controlling everything from the middle linebacker position. He's special. He can play at all three levels, play patient to the run, still make the play at the line of scrimmage. He can get in all the passing lanes and he's really just a tremendous player that we always have to have our eye on.
Q. Was the number of interceptions they've had, is that just a matter of their aggressiveness, or is there other factors that are contributing to that?
COACH WALDRON: I think they tie all three levels in really well. They know their pass rush is going to get home in a certain amount of time. The linebackers stayed nice and patient in those second-level windows. So they're able to get all lot of tips and overthrows.
The DBs are really in sync with the timing and rhythm of each play. They're playing well as a unit like they have for multiple years now where all three levels of their defense are really well connected.
Q. How much better equipped is the offense to face the 49ers than it was in January?
COACH WALDRON: I think it really goes back looking at that game similar to some of the things we need to overcome. The game in January, where we have a solid first half and then falter a little bit in the second half, I think we need to learn from those mistakes, learn from this past week and keep growing each week. So as we head into this game against the 49ers, we have more experience. Guys starting to get healthy, getting back in the mix right now, and I think we can go ahead and have a successful four quarters, play consistent football, which is going to be our game plan every single week, whether it's the 49ers or the Rams, last week, and we have those four quarter performances tend to come out on the right side of the scoreboard there.
Q. How did it impact things when you didn't have Kenneth Walker anymore on Sunday?
COACH WALDRON: I think Zach did a nice job stepping in right there. Anytime you lose a player like Ken, other players will have to step into that role. And with Zach and DeeJay Dallas stepping in I thought those guys did a nice job carrying the workload at running back and doing a nice job especially on some of the third down and in some of the passing game situations.
Q. (Indiscernible) Kenny McIntosh ends up playing this week. What does he bring?
COACH WALDRON: Kenny has done a great job staying into it. Kind of in that injured reserve role and getting on the practice field when his window opened and brings a little electric attitude to the day. Always having fun, great energy.
And then it shows up with his play style where he's got great quickness, great speed, and for him he's done a great job, Chad Morton, working with him through the course of the year staying up to date, staying in the meetings, staying mentally prepared, so if this moment does present itself this weekend he's ready to be in role.
Q. You can't hear the quarterback in your headset but when the connection is lost like that, do you know that it's lost or do you just know like the quarterback is throwing his hands up?
COACH WALDRON: In that situation right there, when you've got crowd noise and everything else going and Geno's got control over it, especially in those two-minute situations, you feel good about him getting into a play in our toolbox. Sometimes you get times where the button will go and it will give you the beeping noise.
Other times you don't necessarily know and the quarterback might give you a, hey, I need it again right there.
But in those situations we've worked and prepared through those so many times we're ready to get to the ball. The quarterback has all the tools at his disposal to execute at a high level if those things happen during the course of the game.
Q. You said it was an RPO. So he did have an option to pass out of that particular play or whatever?
COACH WALDRON: Yep.
Q. What makes the Niners so good at limited yards after the catch?
COACH WALDRON: After the catch, their ability to chase the football. They do such a good job of really, all 11, the first guy in on the tackle. You put it on the tape, you've got the backside defensive end to the backside corner chasing the football every single snap. They do a good job of swarming, populating the football and getting guys down.
Q. Is that more an effort thing or scheme?
COACH WALDRON: It's an effort -- chasing the football part is an effort thing. They do a great job with it. Just like going against our defense every day presents a great challenge for us on offense. You see our guys flying around chasing the ball at practice through training camp. It's the style of play that shows up, and you see it clearly with our guys out on the field and you see it clearly on San Francisco when you put the tape on.
Q. Flipside, you guys have been better with your guys out there this season?
COACH WALDRON: Something you talk about stuff, you emphasize offseason, whether it be screen game, yards after catch, some of those things, bursting the block, guys working for each other downfield. I think those are all things that Sanjay has done a great job really bringing to our offense, really preaching about day in, day out, and I think we're just seeing the fruits of the labor in terms of working at it, talking about it, the players buying into it. It's been a good part of our offense the last few weeks.
Q. How has Jaxon Smith-Njigba's familiarity with Geno Smith help your offense as an extra option, how has that enlarged it?
COACH WALDRON: I think he's done a nice job. He had a couple of those excellent third down catches this past week. I think the more and more that those guys get reps together accumulating reps in terms of the style of routes or especially against different man looks or different zone looks, all the different things defenses present themselves, just getting on the same page, which comes from accumulating as many reps as possible.
So we're seeing two guys that are just getting more and more familiar with each other, getting better and better and improving throughout the season, which is what you want to see from a young player in Jaxon like he's doing.
Q. How physical is he? He's like Tyler as well, physical receiver, but they are very physical.
COACH WALDRON: One thing Jaxon's consistently put on tape has been his physicality in the run game, his physicality finishing on some bubble screens he's had and finishing on some shallow crosses. He's had several chances where he's been able to finish the run with that physical mindset. Set the tempo. One down the left sideline in the Washington game comes to mind right now. But he brings it and I think he wants to have that element to his game.
Q. How did Geno Smith look out there today?
COACH WALDRON: He looked good. He's working his way back in. And he's limited and we'll see where we are at come game time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports