49ers 30, Jaguars 10
GEORGE KITTLE: Howdy.
Q. How is it when you were out there for 22 plays?
GEORGE KITTLE: It's awesome. I needed a break. I got two plays off there in the middle, so shout out to Coach Embree for taking me out for two. It's awesome. I didn't even realize how long we were out there, and I looked at the clock and there was 1:50 left. That's wild. We caught a couple of lucky breaks. Got a couple of penalties that helped with some first downs, but then we took advantage of it. I wish we would have scored a touchdown, but getting points after a 22-play drive, that's awesome. It definitely -- like what Josh said, when you are defense and you are on the field for 22 plays, that's tough. It's tough, and then your offense goes through and out, you're winded. That's what we're built for. Those long drives and the fact that we can stay on the field for those long drives means a lot about this team.
Q. Do you already sense them getting tired or fatigued in the second drive?
GEORGE KITTLE: If I'm tired, I know the defense is tired. I feel like I'm in good shape, and if I'm winded, I feel like everyone across from me is winded. D-line, they switch out every once in a while, but those linebackers and DBs they're in there every single play and they're running across and trying to tackle and trying to come downhill, and we're a physical team. When you're a physical team going against -- I think the Jaguars were very physical. I think they did a really good job. I really respect their linebackers and their edge guys, but when you are on the field that long, it's tough to be a defense.
Q. (Indiscernible) -- that Arizona game and then put these two back-to-back. What did you learn about this team or maybe in what ways is it coming together right now?
GEORGE KITTLE: We're not turning the ball over. We sat here after the Arizona game, you know, bearing the building type of stuff. Everyone is trying to solve these problems, and we said we've got to stop turning the ball over and got to get a couple of turnovers on defense or special teams, and that's all we've done the last two weeks. We're converting third downs and not turning the ball over. We're putting our best players in positions to make plays, and they're taking advantage of those opportunities and making those plays.
Deebo is looking great. Aiyuk looked great today. I thought our tight ends blocked our tails off and our O-line looked great, and I think Jimmy is still slicing and dicing. Our offense is clicking right now. Kyle is calling the right plays that he knows that we're going to take advantage of.
Q. This is the kind of game that would be a track game with a short week and going across the country and a body clock game. Do you guys have to kind of warn yourselves against that or talk about it?
GEORGE KITTLE: Yes and no. Is it a 10:00 a.m. game for us? Sure. If you use that as an excuse in the NFL, you're not going to win a lot of games. Kyle said it from the start. He said, "Hey, look, this is a physical team." They won two games in the last four, and I thought they were a good team. We had an early turnover. I think that's what it was, and kind of similar to last week. We just came out with our foot on the gas, and I think we're a really good offense when we don't turn the ball over and we convert third downs, and that's what good offense is, and that's all we've been doing the last few weeks is playing complimentary ball all three phases, playing at a high level. Like you go 22-play drive and then they go three and out and then you have another long drive for a touchdown. It hurts when you are a defensive team like that. We gave our defense plenty of break, and I think Fred owes me a little bit for all those plays he got off.
Q. How badly did you guys want Trent --
GEORGE KITTLE: Three questions, Jennifer. Jeez Louise. How badly did I want Trent to score? I wanted to be triple covered because I was on back side, and I was open. Jimmy said he was going to throw it no matter what, so I'll just stand and block, I guess.
It was awesome. Just the fact that we had it out for Trent. I hope we continue to try to get him a touchdown. I think he said it was the first time he has ever been eligible before in his entire 12-year career, so I thought that was really cool. I would love to get him a touchdown. I think we should put him on fullback on fullback dive.
Q. Every year it seems that Jimmy gets stronger and stronger as the season goes on. Garoppolo, not Ward.
GEORGE KITTLE: Let's go both.
Q. Let's start with Garoppolo. How much confidence do you see from him on the field right now?
GEORGE KITTLE: I think a lot of the confidence that comes from we've been having a lot of really good practices, and I think the guys that Jimmy is throwing the ball to in our run game is we're making it easy on him. We're not putting all the pressure in the world in him. We don't want to throw the ball 40 times. We want to run the ball, going to run play actions and hit those big shots and move the chains consistently and have those long drives.
Jimmy does a fantastic job of that. He gets us in the right play calls. When we have a bunch of options like when he has to change the play at the line of scrimmage, he gets us on the right calls and allows our best players to take advantage of those plays, whether it's a run or pass game.
I think Jimmy's confidence comes from, hey, when Jimmy throws me a ball and it's contested and I catch a touchdown or when Aiyuk is wide open in Red Zone, Deebo is running the ball at a high level, and our offense is blocking, that's what gives Jimmy confidence and our team confidence, and when Jimmy is rolling, I think we're rolling. He is a hell of a leader out there. He really inspires us to play our best ball.
Q. You prefer to be a run-heavy team, and in some ways you just kind of got an elite running back in Deebo back there. You have a very good running back to add to something that you really wanted to do. How big a deal is that obviously the last two games, but just to be able to throw him back there?
GEORGE KITTLE: You can't say enough about Deebo. He hasn't blinked. He hasn't hesitated at all. We're running power with Deebo. I mean, that's one of the positions, I'm, like, hey, George, do you want to run the ball? Not really. There's a lot of big guys in there that hit really hard and they land on you and it hurts. The fact that Deebo does it without blinking, it's awesome, and when he has the mindset of him to run and to score every single time he touches the ball, it really sets the mindset for the entire team, and you just love that and you respect it.
Especially we lost what I think is one of the best running backs in the league, and that's Raheem, second play of the game, and that changes our offense dramatically. I think Elijah has done a great job of coming up, and the fact that he was hurt this game, like, we needed someone to step up, and I thought Jeff Wilson, I was happy to see the steps forward that Trey Sermon took. As a rookie, it's all about just confidence. He has to figure it out, and he had a couple of really good runs and, what was that, in the two-minute drill he had a nice catch. That gave us a field goal. That's huge. I'm excited to see more things from Trey.
When you put Deebo back there and you can be out there at 11 personnel, 21 personnel, 12 personnel and, oh, shoot, it's Deebo Samuel at running back, you don't really know what you are going to get, and that's awesome.
Q. The perspective of the fourth down play where you were on the field and the time-out is called, and then Robbie trots out there. You guys had a 20-play drive.
GEORGE KITTLE: 22.
Q. Actually, it was 20.
GEORGE KITTLE: I had 22 pitches. Did you not count the penalties?
Q. Yeah, we don't count the penalties.
GEORGE KITTLE: You guys are lame. Screw you guys. I'm not going to answer this question. I'm kidding. (Laughing) Let's call it 22.
Q. 22-point drive including --
GEORGE KITTLE: Thank you. That counts. Thank you. Let's just say the time.
Q. What was it like to invest all that in the first drive against the Rams. You come out of it with seven. Was there any sense that -- was there some sense of not being fulfilled by not getting the seven out of this one?
GEORGE KITTLE: Yeah, 22 plays and not scoring a touchdown, it hurts a little bit. The fact that we were out there for -- like I said, I didn't know how long we were out there until I sat on the bench and looked up, and there was 1:50 left on the clock, and I was, like, all right, we scored. It is what it is. We got points on the board. All I knew is that our defense was they were very well-rested, and when you're an offense and sit on the bench for 15 minutes, you come out a little rusty or a little -- not rusty, but you come out cold. I knew that our defense was going to take advantage of that when they go three and out, and we had another long drive, I think we had the defense on its heels a little bit. Yeah, do I wish we would have scored a touchdown? For sure. But the fact that we got points out of it and our defense responded and held them, I loved all of it.
Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports