San Francisco 49ers 38, Arizona Cardinals 10
Q. Inaudible.
KYLE SHANAHAN: Yeah, I believe so. Got off to a low start there. Had that three-and-out, four-and-out. I felt really good about the guys. They had a great week of practice. They have really been yelling these last three weeks. I feel like it's gotten a little better each week and it was nice to put it together today.
Q. Inaudible.
KYLE SHANAHAN: Today, the first drive, I thought we got our run game going. We had a few big plays. And we scored in the red zone, so I think when you do that, it's a big difference.
Q. 49ers looked like the home team. What is your message for the Mexican fans, and within your international games, do you think the teams lost the advantage --
KYLE SHANAHAN: What was the last part? To be a local team? Man, I love San Francisco but if we couldn't be there, I would love to be here. This place is awesome. No, that was one of the coolest experiences I've been a part of. It was so neat. Last year, playing in L.A. and seeing the whole "Red" stadium and a stadium that wasn't yours, and coming a lot farther than Mexico City and it being just the same, we were told it might be like that but it was even better than we expected. Everywhere I've gone in Mexico, felt the love like that. Here in Mexico City was so cool. I didn't know exactly how it was going to be but when they are doing the other team coming out and cheering for us, I mean, and we are this far away from home, I thought that was pretty special. Coming into the hotel last night, our players felt it. We have been in Colorado getting ready for this altitude and focusing on that. We got here late last night and started it hit us, walking into the hotel, leaving for the game today, seeing the people on the streets and walking in that stadium, it's one of my favorite games to be a part of.
Q. Did you expect all support and cheering? And how did you receive that support?
KYLE SHANAHAN: It was special. It really was. I talk about our Mexican fan base, we know how strong they were with New Orleans, and I saw videos of them on Bourbon Street after we won and things like that. I was a little worried with football not being here a lot that they were going to cheer on third down a lot when we had the ball, which we normally don't like that but they weren't like that. They knew exactly what to do. They achieved at the right times and it was a great football experience.
Q. As a strategic mastermind, how do you feel at this part of the season with the way Jimmy Garoppolo is running your offense?
KYLE SHANAHAN: I think Jimmy is going a great job. I think Jimmy always has. When he's been healthy out there, we've had our guys around him and I think he plays at a very high level. He did that today and we're very fortunate to have him.
Q. Inaudible.
KYLE SHANAHAN: I just remember watching that game. It was a preseason game. I remember each team got honorary player. I remember Marcos (ph) was the receiver, the guy that played with the Broncos, so I always watched that stuff growing up. To be here for a regular season game and to be a part of it, again, I appreciate that they allowed me to do it. It was awesome.
Q. What was the most difficult challenge for you and the team to come here to Mexico City, even though you got the win, and the second one, what with you say to all the youth and all the children like Guttierez and all the Mexicans that one day aspire --
KYLE SHANAHAN: The toughest thing was altitude and once we got here, the hardest thing was our last bus got lost so, we had a bunch of players and coaches show up about 40 minutes later than usual, so once they got here that was good.
Walking down that long tunnel was tough but besides that for the kid out here, I mean, I don't know how much football they play out here but I know you guys play a lot of soccer, what you guys call football. Football is a great sport and we only have people grow up doing it a ton in America and you see everyone doing it everywhere else with baseball, basketball, soccer. The more guys that work, we'll start having a lot more guys in our league.
Q. Did you know that three of the four teams that won in Mexico finished that season playing in the Super Bowl?
KYLE SHANAHAN: I did not know that. Let's keep that going.
Q. Last year, the turning point for the season seemed to be that game November 15 versus the Rams at home Monday night. You were 3-5 and the season turned around completely and you went all the way to the NFC Championship. The last few weeks, you guys seem to be clicking and building momentum. Does it feel like the atmosphere is changing to where you can make a good playoff run?
KYLE SHANAHAN: I feel like we are playing better football each week and that is the goal. You want to get better as the season goes. I feel like we are doing that right now. But I don't compare things much to the year before. You have situations that you always have been through that you go back to but I know when you come down and you have a big win like this, especially with this atmosphere and how exciting it is, some of the biggest challenges, because it's emotional and drains people the next week and that's what we have to be careful for. We have a role tough team coming next week and it's going to be a short week and get back late tomorrow morning, and not to mention Thanksgiving in there, so we are going to have a little bit of fun but not too much because I mean you have good ones like this but if you don't keep winning they don't matter.
Q. You mention you're playing better week-after-week but what is the difference that you notice from before you have Christian McCaffrey, do you notice that your offense has even more possibilities?
KYLE SHANAHAN: Yes, we've had some good running backs, and we have a lot of good running backs, not just Christian. But Christian is a little bit different in the pass game. We've had guys good in the pass game but never a guy like him, just his consistency. When you call plays for other people, trying to go downfield, seeing a back with a check down and how many yards you can get from that, it makes you a lot more efficient and today, the last three weeks have been great.
Q. The offensive line on the right side, you only had one -- one of the things that was really kind of making noise on the offense, it gave you time for more passing offense, and it wouldn't be normal in these conditions. How do you feel about it?
KYLE SHANAHAN: I thought our line played real well today. I think they have been doing a hell of a job. That situation, I didn't see the call, so I'm not exactly sure what happened.
But got us into one bad situation and ended up being a first and 20, and we didn't end up moving the chains there. Defense held us out and we got it right back and score. On the drive the next time. I've been happy with our O-Line.
That's a defense, they attack you. I know the score went that way but I have a lot of respect for their defense. They have always been tough with us. That was our -- we didn't win; they swept us last year and won the year before. They have always been tough for us. They play tough man to coverage. They put six bigs out there a lot which discourages you from running and really challenged our guys. We had to make a lot more plays against these guys than we did in the past and we did.
Last year we came out pretty similar, pretty aggressive throwing the ball and had opportunities but got way behind. We had two drives that were similar to that today but the defense, I think they only scored a field goal -- to get right back into it. Similar to how it started out last year but we were able to flip it and play some good ball.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports