49ers 34, Jaguars 3
Q. Did it feel like 49er football today?
GEORGE KITTLE: When you can sustain longer drives or explosive drives, whatever it is, and you don't have penalties on 1st and 2nd down, you're not turning the ball over, yes, that's Niners football. We usually do a really good job protecting the ball and not getting penalties, and that's what you guys saw today.
The last couple weeks that's all I've been saying is as long as we don't turn the ball over a bunch and we don't have penalties on 1st and 2nd down, we're going to score a lot of points.
You saw that too in the first and second quarter, whenever it was, where we had -- I think we kicked the field goal, then we had to punt because we had the penalties on 1st down. As long as we can eliminate those things, our offense has enough really, really good football players to get yards, stay on the field and sustain long drives.
Q. This was the first time that Brock had got into a game with -- a few games where he had made some turnovers and kind of had his back against the wall a little bit. How do you feel he responded to that challenge?
GEORGE KITTLE: I just go back to this: Brock started like 40 plus games in college. He had highest of highs, he's had the lowest of lows. He's dealt with mistakes. He's had bad games in college.
This was -- his confidence is still there, and that's all I wanted him to continue doing. He knows how to bounce back.
I don't think Brock played poorly the last couple games. Yeah, sure, there's a throw or two he probably wants back, but you look at the tape, he's still playing at a high level those three weeks that we lost. Just this time we were able to not turn the ball over, not have penalties, so we were able to be out there, and you can see the type of quarterback Brock is.
Q. On the long touchdown you're running a route, but did you have a chance to watch how Purdy was able to hang in the pocket?
GEORGE KITTLE: I have not seen it yet, but all I know is that Brock is really good in the pocket. When he has confidence in his skill players, he's going to sit in the pocket and give you an opportunity, which is what he gave me.
Q. Can you talk us through that touchdown?
GEORGE KITTLE: You know what's fun is you come in at halftime, and you sit down as an offense and Kyle brings up like hey, these are the eight to ten plays that I want to get ran this half, and that play was the second play of the half, and that was not on those. That was not up there.
I don't know if Kyle talked about it, but he's like, 2nd and 1, they always go man coverage, and so motion over there, we're in 22 personnel, so two tight ends, two running backs and a wide receiver, and it gives me a one-on-one versus a linebacker, which I'll take that any day of the week versus anybody. It was a great call by Kyle to get us in the right play, and it was exactly what we wanted it to be. It was exactly how we drew it up. I'm just thankful that Kyle called that play.
Q. Are you tired? You walked in the last like 25 yards.
GEORGE KITTLE: It's really difficult to get that open. I saw him fall, and I was like, I knew it was man coverage, too. I was like, well, I knew the safety went the other way because he was covering someone else. Just had a little -- have some fun going into the end zone. I probably won't ever walk in again because I'm going to get yelled at for that. But at least I didn't drop the ball before I got in the end zone.
Q. Is that the most room you've ever had between you and a defender in your career?
GEORGE KITTLE: After he fell, yes. Yeah, that was really fun. We should do that more often.
Q. Talk about the emotional journey of the touchdown pass that went to Brandon over your head.
GEORGE KITTLE: Yeah, kind of talked about this, but I've heard like three times, was that a great decision by Brock. Well, since it worked, it was a great decision. But like every time I see a quarterback rolling out to his left and throwing back to the right, I just think about Brett Favre and the Vikings in the playoffs. It's one of the biggest no-nos except when it works.
It was funny, too, because Brandon is running the corner, I'm running across, and Brock is like nodding his head for us to go back, but he was like -- I was talking to the defense -- I was trying to sell it to the defense. I wanted you guys to keep running. My bad, Brock. Me and Brandon both fell for it, too.
It went over my head a little bit, and I was like hopefully there's someone else there outside of the defensive player. I look around, and Brandon is scoring a touchdown. I'm happy for Brandon to get back in the end zone because he had two against Pittsburgh, and it's been kind of a dry spell for him.
It's a fun day when all the skill positions score. Unfortunately not Christian. But when your tight end and fullback are scoring, that's great football.
Q. How do you think Brock scrambled, like his legs -- he's created a lot of plays for you guys this season. What does that bring to your offense?
GEORGE KITTLE: When you have a quarterback who can run a little bit and he is a threat in the run game and he also believes in his legs and he can outrun guys, it just allows plays to develop a little longer. Not everything has to be a three-step, five-step drop seven, step drop throw. When you can do a little bit extra, it's really hard to play defense and cover guys for five seconds. It really is, especially if there's not a lot of pressure and the quarterback is out on the side. That's where you get all the illegal contact, that's where the get the pass interferences. If you're playing man coverage, it's really hard to guard guys that long.
It just allows our offensive players, our skill guys, like I said, they're very talented, it allows us to work a little bit longer and get open.
Q. Can you explain the impact of having Deebo and Trent back in the lineup?
GEORGE KITTLE: What Deebo brings to the table is a lot. Especially where we line him up. When you can move him and Christian, you interchange them, the defense has to account for a lot of stuff, and then you take in all of our motions and all that stuff, there's a lot going on for the defensive process every single play.
When you have that capability, it just gets the defense kind of on their heels a little bit. Then you can attack them with Deebo, you can throw a route to Christian.
That's huge for our offense, just to have that diversity, whatever you want to call it.
Then you go -- look at Trent Williams, and what Trent does is besides being a first-ballot Hall of Famer left tackle still playing at a very high level, his confidence that he brings into the huddle is fantastic. The way he gets guys hyped before drives, in the middle of drives, he's incredibly encouraging. Just when you have a guy like that who's a very vocal leader, too, in the huddle, it just brings everybody up around him.
Then also he doesn't really need any chips or anything like that. He just manhandles anybody that he goes against, and it's very fun to play with someone that's probably the best to ever do it at his position.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports