What makes it about this organization and John Lynch - you guys have found a lot of diamonds in the rough, guys that weren't on the team to start the season or just joined before. What makes it, they can just come in and help out right away.
"Um, I think when new guys first step in the door of this building, they kind of see the standard that we have set. Whether it's [49ers LB] Fred [Warner], whether it's [49ers DL Nick] Bosa, me, [49ers RB] Christian [McCaffrey], [49ers QB Brock] Purdy, [49ers T] Trent Williams, and [49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] does a really good job of showing the highlights of the players that have set the standard and then if you don't match that standard, or at least like try to match it, you kind of stick out like a sore thumb and it's not really fun to stick out like a sore thumb in a football building because then you're not in the building very long. So it just kind of forces guys to have to play like this otherwise you're just not going to be here very long. And I think that's really on Kyle and John for bringing in guys who are high character guys, who want to work really hard and they want to be good football players."
The confidence that you spoke about earlier, does it mask what you guys have lost this season as far as two leaders on the defense and having you being out for a good bit of the season? Does it of help you now that you're on a four game win streak?
"That's kind of your mindset at all times. That was our mindset last year. We just couldn't finish those games and when you're missing a lot of guys, whether it's me, whether it's Purdy, Fred, Bosa, whatever it is, you expect guys to step up and go out there and play regardless of circumstance. The reason we have a lot of confidence right now is because [49ers QB] Mac Jones won four or five games early in the season that allows us to be at 10 wins. And when he's out there balling [49ers WR] Kendrick Bourne had two games back to back 150 yards. Kendrick went from two games of 150 to like zero targets for the last three weeks and hey, it is what it is. He's just out there having a great time and encouraging the wide receivers to go make big plays. And that's what this team is like. Try not to be selfish. Go out there, play your best ball and we'll see what happens."
How hard was it to treat this game like a track game and have that mentality, despite their record?
"We're fighting for a playoff spot. So if anybody goes out there and is sleepy or not thinking that we're going to get a challenge, I don't need them around me. Every game from this moment on is a huge game for us. Whether it's trying to make it into the playoffs, whatever it is, I want to play games in January and the only way to do that is to beat every single team. So I think we were pretty hyper focused, everyone was feeling good after a bye."
