TITANS HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on coming out slow in a big game)
(We were) disappointed in that way for sure. I think everything was gearing for us to play a good football game against a good football team. And again, offensively it was hard because again on the first drive we started moving the ball and had a drop on a third and three. We have to convert those things and then, the next drive we were moving the ball again pretty decent with a couple of first downs and get a holding call. The next drive was the same thing. We kind of made things hard for ourselves. We have to see those plays and see what the calls were. Three drives in a row we had a chance to get into the game and kind of change the tempo there for our defense and Jake (Locker) threw an interception on the fourth series. So we barely have 20 plays, whatever we had 24 there in the first half. So that's the first half. Again then whatever it was at halftime, 17-0 because of the turnover and then on their side of the ball they converted third downs on us. We got some third downs and we had been doing a good job most of the season on defense, especially very well on third down. Today we did not. They executed better than we did. On third down, they made plays, they made runs. They did the things you need to do to win games like this. They gave themselves a comfortable lead and that's what happened. So, (I am) disappointed.
(on if it took time for Jake Locker to feel comfortable in the game)
I am sure it did a little bit. He hadn't played for a couple of weeks. But again, I thought he came out and threw the ball pretty good. Again, you can't have what the story of the offense has been, drops and penalties. Early in the game it puts us in bad situations that we did not overcome. We fought back a little bit, made some plays in the second half. Again not enough plays then we have a turnover that pretty much put it away. So we are hurting ourselves way too much in this game. And give them credit, obviously a good football team. They made plays, they made some great catches. They finished drives on third downs when it looked like we had them stopped. The biggest drive was probably the opening drive of the third quarter when they took the opening kickoff and scored on us. That is pretty much what you don't want to have happen. They converted some third downs there and made plays. We couldn't make the stops we needed. And again like I said, if we can score some points maybe it's a different game but we didn't get going until late in the third quarter.
(on if Darius Reynaud's mistakes could cost him a roster spot)
I think with a bye coming up and we've been showing as a team we've been doing that, we're going to look at where changes are necessary and make them. So yeah, that's something that can't happen. It is definitely a concern and what we do, we will wait and see. But again, there's just not his but a few areas where we have to take a good look at and make sure we are doing what is best for this football team to win. We are always doing that. We are 3-4, we have played some good football teams and still have a lot of football to play. This thing can be dramatically different once we have a chance to play some other teams. So you can't panic, but yes, as an organization, always willing to make a change to help us win on Sunday.
(on late turnover on muffed punt killing team's momentum)
We thought we were (getting momentum) even though we won't ever know what would have happened. But yeah, you've got a chance to get the ball back and we had a chance, we were moving the ball well, making plays and that's the beauty of the NFL, 60 minutes, things change dramatically. If that doesn't happen, who knows. I thought we were getting momentum there. We made some big plays before that. We still would have to get the onsides kick which we didn't get at the end anyway at the end. Who knows, but it would have been nice to find out.
(on if playing Jake Locker was worth it today)
Yep I think so, it didn't have (anything) to do with what the result was going to be. He was ready to play. We felt comfortable he was going to protect himself and he showed he could do that. He ran out of the pocket. He made plays with his arm, made plays with his legs. I thought it was good for him. The outcome is not going to be the judgment of whether he should play or not. It was more the fact now of what he thought he can do now. He's not going to have to play for two weeks, so he has that behind him now. It's not another two weeks of not playing football. So, the good thing is he played a lot of football today. He made some plays. He scrambled around quite a bit when he had to. He took some hits. He made some good decisions. He threw the one interception, but I thought it was good for him. He seemed to feel good after the game. I'm sure he will be a little sore as he has not played in a while. So, he was ready, and there was no reason for him not to play.
* (on if he felt that the receivers played with hesitation with Jake Locker back in the lineup)*
No, I don't think so. I think they know each other well. I don't think missing two weeks is a dramatic time span where all of a sudden they don't feel comfortable with each other. I don't think that was a factor at all. We'll wait and see on tape what we did well and not so well. He (Jake Locker) started off throwing the ball pretty well, I thought. Again, we'll never know. If you can't convert on third-and-three because of a drop and you're running the ball good, I don't know what his average was, but I thought he ran the ball well today. We didn't get enough carries because we didn't have the ball because we got behind. I thought he ran the ball well, but we got away from that because we got behind because of penalties. I think it just made things hard. That would have helped the defense dramatically today if we had finished one of those drives the first three times we had the football, but we didn't. That's kind of what happened last year. We couldn't get a drive going, three drives, and all of a sudden, the defense caves in on a series or two. We have to be able to help the defense. You can't expect them to keep people to zero, 10 points and 13 points every weekend. We all understand that. That's what happens, all of a sudden, you're going to get a little break by a defense playing against a good offense. Look around the league, the teams score a lot of points. We just have to score more points on offense. We can't wait until the fourth quarter to decide it's time to make a play or two. We have to make plays earlier in the game and we're not doing that.
(on if the penalty on Akeem Ayers hurt the drive)
I thought the penalties early in the first half killed us. There's no doubt about it. Penalties usually do hurt you. Those hurt the offense. Three of those hurt the offense early with chances to continue drives, waiting to see what the calls were. The one on Akeem (Ayers), he's coming on the edge. I thought he actually came high and then fell low. I don't know what they saw. I'm sure they'll look at that tomorrow. The thing is, it was called and it cost us because that was a third down. It led to a touchdown, that's a huge play. We had too many of those kind of plays that hurt us.
(on starting 3-1 and now being 3-4)
There's no doubt, we're 3-4, and we have to decide how we're going to handle that. We're not even at the halfway point yet. Obviously, our next game will do that. The season is a long journey, and 3-4 is not where we hoped we'd be, without a doubt. Again, we have nine games to play, and things could change dramatically. We get to decide how this thing is going to finish. How the story finishes is up to us, as a staff and as a team, how we handle this adversity right now that we're going through. Unfortunately, we have two weeks to think about it before we have a chance to play again. Look at our schedule, we have a good opportunity to win a lot of football games this year. We have some work ahead of us, and we have to get better than what you saw today, because that's not good enough. We all know that, and we'll see.
(on why the team is unable to avoid costly penalties)
Again, you have to go back and look at them. You can talk about them all you want. In the heat of the battle, it's Akeem Ayers rushing and trying to make a sack. I don't know if he could have hit him in another place or not. I think he's cutting the corner on a guy. I think the guy is blocking him into the quarterback. I don't know if you can blame that on Akeem Ayers or not. When we watch it, we'll see if he had a chance to pull off or what he had. That's hard to tell. Holding calls—you can call holding a lot. I'll guarantee you, I'll watch the tape and it will be a bunch of holding calls that they didn't call on both sides. You have to be smart with your hands and your body language. It's frustrating, I don't know. A lot of it's luck, too. You have to be smart with your hands, you have to be smart as an actor, you have to play the game a little bit out there. We didn't get more calls our way, showing that we're getting held. That's tough. You have to be smarter, more disciplined. It's all those things. Just blame it on me, it's lack of discipline, I guess.
(on if the team reverted to last season's type of play)
I think it's just more of the points. Again, that's a good football team. We didn't play some team that hasn't won a football game this year. They were in the Super Bowl last year, they're pretty good. You know you have to play well to beat them. We didn't play well, and we hurt ourselves. A lot of it was self-inflicted. That's the disappointing part, the part with penalties and the fumble for the touchdown and the interception. We have to work to fix those things. We're not the same team. Every year is different. Half of these guys weren't even on the team last year. That's not something that we even get to. This is a game where we did not play our best, in any phase. This is the first time that I thought we didn't play as well. Every game up until this point, we definitely felt we could have won the football game. This one, obviously, we put ourselves in position for a little while there at the end to maybe get back in it, but we didn't get that done. You have to regroup from it. It's not what we wanted, we're not happy. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
(on how Rob Turner went from starting center to inactive)
He's not really playing a swing position. We think Chris Spencer is a better guy at playing all three spots, playing guard. It's just like when we used to have (David) Stewart, Stewart would play right tackle, and if he wasn't starting, he didn't suit up because he wasn't a swing guy. I think he's capable of doing that, but we just knew Chris has been getting more reps at guard all year. If a guard had gotten hurt today, he'd be a better fit to go play guard.
(on what he tells the team heading into the bye week)
Their profession is very important to them. This is a family in there. Things don't always go the way you hoped. We're going to have the same guys and the same coaches the next nine weeks. With our group, we have to figure out how to go out and fix things, whether it be working how we need to work, who's playing, all those things will be made by us. We need to come back and play. These guys want to play, they're competitive. I'm sure we have many stories here of teams that were worse off than 3-4 and came back and made the playoffs. I was part of many of them here on this team, 1-4 and those situations. There are a lot of things we can do, all is not lost. It's just not a good time, it's not a happy time right now. All is definitely not lost. We feel that we can do a lot of good things this year, and it's up to us. Why can't you win them all? There's no reason you can't do that. That's the mentality you have to have, you come back and win the rest and run the table. We'll see what happens. That's the mentality I think they'll have because they've worked hard, we've worked hard. I think their attitude has been great. This is no doubt a setback, the last couple of weeks have been setbacks. It's like being challenged, this is a challenging time for us in this league, in sports, when things aren't going your way. We have a couple of weeks, and we'll come back and go at it again.
TITANS QB JAKE LOCKER
(on the effect of his injuries during today's game and assessing his performance coming back early)
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[  ](http://www.titansonline.com/media-center/photo-gallery/Week-7-Titans-vs-49ers-at-LP-Field/32f9eb79-3b7f-4152-bfda-c00200d018a3) |
| Jake Locker returned to the lineup for the Titans and threw for 326 yards and two TDs against the San Francisco 49ers. Click here for the slideshow from the game. |
I thought I was able to do everything I needed to. I felt comfortable in the pocket, felt good throwing the ball. Overall, I felt good. I thought I saw things well. Overall, I felt very comfortable.
(on offensive struggles in the first half)
I don't think it was struggling to get going. I think it was just struggling to keep going. I thought we moved the ball. We just had some things to end the drives for us, penalties and other stuff, missing throws, dropped passes, whatever it may be, we found ways to stall drives out. I didn't think that it was really us getting going. It was just sustaining and we've got to find ways to do that.
(on penalties and frustrations as a quarterback)
I think anytime as an offense, when you are beating yourselves, it's very frustrating because you are going out, you're looking at the stuff that you've ran and saying, 'well, this worked. We were successful on it. We were moving the ball, but we're shooting ourselves in the foot and putting ourselves behind the chains, which is tough. I think that's something we've got to get better at.
(on having a shot of winning before the muffed punt)
I mean, it was a last little surge for us so I mean we would have had to have a lot of things go our way still, but it was a tough deal. Guys were playing hard and trying to keep a guy off the returner and that sometimes happens in the course of a game it just bounced the wrong way for us that time and that's unfortunate.
(on when he knew he could play this week and be OK)
I felt kind of the middle of the week that I could protect myself. I knew that I could get outside the pocket if I needed to and that I didn't feel like I was going to further injure myself by playing. I'd say by the middle of the week I felt good about that, confident in that.
(on hits during the game and concerns about being reinjured)
I think that was part of the hurdle for me throughout the week was getting to that point where I, mentally, as much as physically, would be able to go out there and not protect myself from any situation. If I felt that that's what I was going to do, I felt like I'd be putting our team at a disadvantage and that wasn't something I wanted to do. One of my goals through last week was to make sure that when I got in the game Sunday, I didn't have any apprehension. I wasn't worried when I got hit. I wasn't hoping that something didn't happen, a reinjury. I treated it like I always had and that's how I hoped I would going into the game.
(on the team having three-straight losses going into the bye week after a great start)
I think, with the exception of today, outside of today, the other three losses have been really close losses, I think, against good football teams that we had an opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter. You know, you look at our record; we've lost three in a row but I think we're close. There's little things, there's details. We said it last week and we're saying it again. We need to figure out a way to sure up those details so that I'm not standing here after the next game saying the same thing. I think that there's a common feeling that we want to go into the locker room afterwards and say, 'we can't beat ourselves.' I think that's what we need to do as a unit.
TITANS RB CHRIS JOHNSON
(on being frustrated with tonight's loss)
It's really frustrating just looking at it, because the defense came out playing well, and we just kept doing stuff to mess up the drives. We got holding calls, dropped balls, etc. Anytime you're playing a team like that, when you get opportunities, you have to drive down the field and put points on the board.
(on Jake Locker's return providing a lift in spirit)
Basically he's been our leader all year. Jake (Locker) knows the right thing to do, the right person to throw the ball to, and those types of things. Anytime you get your leader, your starting quarterback back, is always a boost.
(on Jake Locker's absence causing the offense's slow start tonight)
Anytime you miss a couple of games, when you come back you might be a little rusty. He got right back into it very quickly. It didn't take him that long.
(on how he is feeling mentally)
I'm alright. We have a week off just to get our minds away from football and all of that. Then we come back next week, work hard, and just try to get the victory.
(on how he is feeling physically)
Cool.
(on the team's current emotion and vision for the future)
We break the season down like quarters. The first quarter we were three-and-one, and then we come back and lose games back-to-back. We just have to go into it with the same mentality. We have to win the third quarter of the season. * *TITANS TE DELANIE WALKER
(on the Titans' offensive performance)
It starts with all of us. We all have to do our jobs. I take some of that blame, too, because I let all of this get to my head. I played out of my character. I had a holding call that they called on me and I had a couple of missed assignments. That's the stuff we talked about that we can't have, and you know we did a lot of that. With a good team like this, you can't do that. They'll put points on the board, and we didn't. We seemed to come back at the end, and then we had more penalties that set us back. That stuff we can't have. We all have to look in the mirror and see our own image and see what we can do better. It's everybody. Not one person. It's the whole team.
(on how penalties and dropped passes plagued the Titans offense)
They didn't stop us. We stopped ourselves. We did everything in our power to make sure we lost that game. And I was dropping passes, penalties, not doing the right assignment. We talked about that all week that we couldn't have that and we came in the game and we did it anyway. It is very disappointing. All of us played out of character. We did not play Titans' football, we dropped passes, and we made a lot of mistakes and had penalties.
(on how Titans QB Jake Locker did returning to the starting lineup)
He played great. We have to help our quarterback. We've got to do everything in our power to make sure he looks good, and we didn't do that. We had dropped balls and penalties, especially when we were moving the ball, and something like that would set us right back.
(on how things got a little heated between the two teams on a few of the fourth quarter plays)
That's one thing you can't have. You can't lose your mind out there because we were losing the game. We were trying to get back in the game and we're out there fighting with them. That's what they wanted us to do. They want to get us out of the game when we are getting the momentum. Just nonsense. That's unprofessional and we don't need to put that on film.
TITANS KR DARIUS REYNAUD
(on muffing a punt in the fourth quarter, which led to 49ers' recovery in the end zone for a TD)
I was trying to jump the ball and at the same time, see where the gunners are and see if the guy was going to catch the ball. By the time I got my eyes back up, the ball was right there in my face. I have to close my elbows and catch that ball in those type situations. The momentum was starting to change, as you had seen and if we had gotten the ball back only down 14 points and possibly scored and only been down by seven. I can't put my team in that situation by making bonehead mistakes like that. I have to have better judgment with the ball.
(on getting in the game as a receiver on several offensive plays) **
We had been practicing it all week. We always practice that. It just so happens that I got a little more looks this week. So I can't drop balls. I have to catch the balls when they come to me because I have this opportunity with the offense, so I have to take advantage whenever I get those types of opportunities. On my dropped pass, I tried to catch it with my chest, and I should have used my hands.
TITANS WR KENDALL WRIGHT
(on the Titans offensive efforts) **
We didn't think we'd have a game like this. We were focused and had a great week of practice, and we were just ready to play. It just didn't go the way we had planned. We had a lot of penalties, and overall, we started slow. We just have to clean everything up. I mean we need to start the way we finished today. We got going late. We have to pick it up and get going early and put together a complete game. Jake (Locker) looked fine to me. We just have to eliminate the penalties, and make the play when our name is called. We started going to a fast-paced offense and keeping the defense on their heels. We did some good stuff late as far as CJ (Chris Johnson) breaking that run. We just have to get our guys in space. When you give CJ some space like that, it's hard to tackle him. So we have to keep making plays when we can. If we eliminate the penalties, and the dropped balls that I had, or whatever we had, we just have to eliminate those things and stay detailed and we'll finish the season off right.
TITANS LB AKEEM AYERS
(on his 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty, which negated a Titans' defensive interception)
There was nothing I could do about it. I'm going all out rushing from the edge. All my momentum is moving forward. I see the quarterback still with the ball in his hands, so I'm just trying to make a play. That's just me playing all-out and playing with a lot of effort. It is what it is. Just me playing all-out and I'm not going to change the way I play. I'm just going to continue to play as hard as I can.
(on the Titans' defensive efforts today) **
We just hurt ourselves today, especially on the third downs. Every third down that we gave up, whether it was the quarterback running or a pass, I believe they ended up scoring on those plays. We had been getting off the field on third downs this year, and giving our offense the ball back. This game, well that's something we didn't do too well.
TITANS DT JURRELL CASEY
(on the 49ers offense's ability to move the ball)
He (QB Colin Kaepernick) was just was able to avoid tacklers and got to the edge and out-ran guys. His speed showed up today. We have to make sure that we set those edges, and not let him get outside of us. That was the toughest thing, because we planned for it (49er's offense) all week long, and we knew it was going to come. In every situation of the game, they out-leveraged us on each play. They made their plays. We had been doing a good job all year stopping the run. Today, we let it slip between our fingers by not stopping the run. And it puts a tough spot on our DB's because they have to worry about the run and not play the game they want to play, trying to cover. It showed up today that we can't stop the run.
(on how the Titans defense corrects issues revealed today) **
We have to make sure we come back out next game, and are ready. We have to stop these quarterbacks from running on us. That's the biggest thing. Everybody has to start growing up and take responsibility for the things that are going on out there. Everyone has to come to the table with their A-game and get ready to play the rest of these eight games out. It's never too late. We still have a lot of games to play and we need to make sure we come out and have the mindset to win. If we've got that going, I know big things can happen for the rest of the season.
49ERS HEAD COACH JIM HARBAUGH
(on the story today)
Right off the bat, special teams were outstanding. They were just playing with fire. Coverage teams gave us good field position in the first half, and the dream play by Darryl Morris and Kassim Osgood is one you just lay awake at night and dream about. It looked like an arrow going through snow. That was 4.3 speed and Kassim Osgood, the veteran that he is, capitalized on a mistake. It was a great play.
(on Darryl Morris playing well)
He's been very good. He started as an understudy on the practice squad and just …he made other plays in this game. I believe he had two tackles before that play so he's really coming into his own. It happened at a great time for us.
(on using the read option)
Sometimes you bring it out. When we put it away, we will bring it back out. It's such a great tool to have. It's such a club in our bag.
(on Colin Kaepernick taking hits)
He's doing a very good job of getting … he took some licks and Kap's (Colin Kaepernick) a tough guy, and you protect him as much as you can. You have to catch him first though.
(on Colin Kaepernick's struggles early and coming along)
He continues to get better every game since he's been playing. I gave him the game ball last week. He was very effective again today, both running and throwing. I can't say enough good things about him.
(on winning today on the road)
This was a big game. We were treating it like it's the biggest game of the season. This was Game 7 for us, and we treated it like Game 7 of the World Series, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. Now the next game, be it Game 8, we will treat it just the same, as the most important game of the season.
(on what pleases him about having Kaepernick at quarterback)
I can tell you a lot of things. The competitor that he is, he has a wonderfully competitive heart. He's very talented both from a physical standpoint and from a mental standpoint. He's extremely smart, quick thinker, reacts to things. He can juggle many concepts in his mind, memorizes things extremely well, so it's a pretty long list.
(on having Patrick Willis back and NaVorro Bowman)
Two of the best in the game. He's a great leader for our football team. Respected by everybody in the organization. That speaks volumes. He was playing like himself again. Last week was good but there was a standard that Patrick (Willis) set and so has NaVorro (Bowman). I thought they were playing at their high level today.
(on Colin Kaepernick thinking it was a fumble)
He thought there was a possibility.
49ERS QB COLIN KAEPERNICK
(on having the read option work effectively this week)
It is just another part of our offense. Week to week it is going to depend what we do with it.
(on if he anticipates using it more moving forward)
It is going to depend on what the defense is doing.
(on what the Titans' defense did to allow the read option to work)
They were just giving us that opportunity with the looks they were giving us.
(on Frank Gore's performance and his block)
Frank (Gore) was huge coming back and getting that block. Everybody had huge blocks on that. They made my job easy.
(on his comfort level at this point of the season)
I am very comfortable, very confident in what we are doing. I feel like I know what the offense is trying to get done and how we are going to get it done.
(on taking numerous hits in the game)
I am a football player. You are going to get hit regardless if you are a quarterback, running back or a linebacker. You are going to get hit.
(on if the second quarter in today's game was the best quarter of his career)
I really don't pay attention to what quarter we are doing what in. I am worried about where we are at in the game and trying to put points on the board.
(on if this team is in mid-season form)
I don't know what you want to define mid-season form as, but we have strung together a few wins and we feel pretty good about what we are doing right now.
(on if the game is fun to him when he played like he did today)
Football is always fun to me. When you feel like you are playing well and doing things well it is more focus than anything.
(on the receivers making impressive catches and the lift it gives the team)
It's huge. When your players go out and make plays for you, you feel like you have to return the favor and make plays for them. When you have an offense that is doing that, normally you have an offense that starts rolling.
(on if he was expecting to run the read option a lot this week)
We have it up every week. It is part of our offense. It is just going to be determined by what the defense is doing. We thought we had that opportunity.
49ERS LB PATRICK WILLIS
(on how pleased he is with the win)
I think for the most part, most of the game we played really well. I think towards the end we got a little bit out of our game and got a little bit uncharacteristic of our defense. One thing we talk about all the time is finishing and I think we allowed them to get in our head at the end. They had a good play there with the screen and they are a good football team so they are going to get some plays, but I think some of them we could have prevented. That's the only thing that I'm not satisfied with is that we allowed them to score some points as at the end.
(on if it's emotional playing back in the state of Tennessee)
Like I said early in the week, each time I go out and am blessed to be on the field and perform, I want to play my best football. Whether that's in California or no matter where it is. Being in Tennessee, I'm blessed to have family and friends being in the home state that I played in, I just want to go out and play the best football that I can play.
(on how many family and friends he had at the game today)
I'm not sure. I know that my brother and sister came up. My foster parents, they are here. I saw my aunt, right at the end and I didn't know that she was here. She happened to be right there on the right side of the sideline as we go into the tunnel. It's always fun to see her here and she is my dad's twin. That was pretty cool. I'm going to see her when I go outside.
(on how special Colin Kaepernick is to this team)
Well he is our quarterback. When you have a good quarterback on your team, your quarterback is your centerpiece of your football team. They are the prima donnas, but Kap, he is a heck of a player. He is a tough player. He didn't start the way he wanted to, but he is certainly getting back there and our football team is climbing and we just have to keep pressing forward and not look back. Just take it one game at a time and just trying to win them.
(on how Colin Kaepernick handles criticism )
I think he handles it really well. It one of those things where he is mentally tough and he has been through a lot from college to getting here to the pros. He has done a tremendous job with that and I know that he is going to continue to be a professional and continue to work as hard as he has been working and continue to get better each week.
(on if there is a natural tendency to let up when you have a 24 point lead)
I don't think so. I think Donte (Whitner)got a little banged up in there and I don't want to make no excuses. No matter who is out there on the field, we have to play a complete game and we have to finish. Knowing Coach Vic (Fangio) the way I know him. We played some good defense early on, but I know that he's nowhere near satisfied the way we let that game end. I feel him on that as a player and as a captain of the defense I feel like we could have finished that game the way we did. The most important thing is that we got the win and now we have the long trip to London and we have to get back to work and get ready for the Jaguars.
(on his matchup with Delanie Walker)
I feel like it went well. I know that Delanie is a heck of an athlete and he is a playmaker. He caught a pass on me. He caught one pass. Its football and it's going to happen and I hate that it did. The rest of the game I feel like I played him pretty well and as far as I know I think he has one catch when I had him in man and I was able to tackle him in the zone coverage. That's over with now and who knows when we will see him in the future, until then he had one catch on me.
*(on being from Tennessee)
It means a lot. I am very thankful for my town and very thankful for people that came up and supported and thankful for the ones that watched on TV and to the ones who tweet me week in and week out. I just want to continue to do all I can to make us all proud and continue to be the best role model that I can be. I just smile and am thankful for where I am today. I wouldn't be where I was if I didn't have a lot of those friends and family back home.
49ERS WR ANQUAN BOLDIN
(on the offense working well today)
I think we did a great job of mixing it up. I think that the best thing we did was not turn it over. Anytime you play on the road, those are things that can kill you. We have been taking care of the ball as of late, and we have been winning.
(on his two big plays)
It was a check that we had. We saw some things on film that we thought we could take advantage of. That was one of the plays that we had when they went man across the board. I was able to get free. Kap (Colin Kaepernick) threw a great ball and I was able to make a play. I came back and it was the same situation where we had two plays called in the huddle. Kap got us in the right situation and made a pretty good throw.
(on if the read option loosens up the defense)
Yes. It makes defenses declare. Are you going to bring eight guys down in the box to stop the run or are you going with seven guys? It definitely clears some things up for us and allows us to throw outside as well.
(on how often they have two plays in the huddle)
I have no idea. It just depends on the situation. Even if we don't have two plays called, Kap has the ability to get us into a different play.
(on Colin Kaepernick)
He just brings a different skill set as a quarterback and does things that most quarterback can't do. I think that he doesn't get enough credit for how good of a quarterback he actually is. He can throw with the best of them and can make any throw on the field and when things break down, that's when you really see how special he is.
(on treating the London trip like just another week)
I think you have to make it as normal as possible. Although you are out of your elements, you have to try to stick to your schedule. You have to continue to do the things that you have done up to this point. It's a task because we are going across seas. For myself and a lot of the guys, I think we will try to stick to our routines as much as possible.
49ERS RB FRANK GORE
(on running tough today)
Yeah it was tough. Tennessee's defense plays hard and plays well. The main thing is we got the win.
(on winning four games in a row)
Well we are taking small steps, but we are taking them in the right direction. We are taking baby steps and we just have to keep doing it and keep finding ways to win.
(on running the read option more today)
I guess it was whatever G-Row (Greg Roman) was feeling. He was feeling mixing it up and showing different things and it was perfect. I am happy that our quarterback got in the end zone like he did last year. It should help us in the future.
(on getting involved in the passing game today)
Whatever it takes. Like I said, we thought that they were going to do a lot of blitzing and I was surprised that they were playing zone and sitting back. I guess it was seeing Vernon (Davis) last week killing Arizona. That kind of helped us and made them stay in the zone. They called the play and I was open. It was a good job by Bruce (Miller) sealing the man off and letting me be free.
(on the block he had on Colin Kaepernick's touchdown run)
It happened in practice, coach (Tom) Rathman said that if you don't get it, if you get the chance go outside and get the safety and that's what happened. He saw the look in practice and it happened in practice the same way and Kap got the touchdown.
(on getting two rushing touchdowns today)
It's great to get touchdowns. As a team, we do whatever it takes to win. If it's me running or Kap (Colin Kaepernick) throwing or Kap running or Anthony Dixon running or Kendall (Hunter) running, as long as we get the W, that's what it's about here. We are not selfish and we just take it one game at a time. One game at a time and take small steps, the right steps. We just have to take small steps and when the time comes and everyone gets back, I'm sure that we will be that explosive offense that we had last year. It's coming. We have a lot of key guys out, but this team is special man. This is the first time seeing the main guys not playing and seeing the other guys step up. We are talking small steps. Once Mario (Manningham) and Crab (Michael Crabtree), our gangsters come back, the guys who are here and have been playing, we are going to be crazy.
49ERS OL JOE STALEY
(on Colin Kaepernick's sense of humor)
He has a great sense of humor. He's is a great dude. He's real fun and I think football means a ton to him. I think his profession means a ton. He's super competitive, and when he steps on the football field it is all business. I just love the way he plays.
(on the road trip, including the upcoming trip to London)
We have done it before. This is our second trip to London, and we also went to Youngstown for that week, too. Everybody here is used to the long trips, and I think it is beneficial. Everybody gets to spend a lot of time together as a team. We are just all excited to get over, and we basically just pack more clothes than usual. But right now we focus on the Jaguars and that London trip. We weren't really thinking about it until after the game.**
49ERS DT JUSTIN SMITH**
(on the victory)
It always works together—the offense putting up points. Pressuring them and getting them in situations they don't want to be in. Having them throw the ball and now you are able to make some plays. It's big to come on the road and get a win against who we felt like was a pretty good team. It's good for us.
(on being on the road for 11 days)
It's no big deal. You hop on the plane. You either fly east or west. We'll make it. You deal with what is in front of you I guess. It shouldn't be a problem.
(on the offense helping the defense control the game)
Starting the game, they controlled the ball for the whole quarter. It was big. It's what our offense can do. It's what we expect them to do, and they did it today. It's big on the road. We are a physical football team stopping the run. Anytime we do that, we win. There is a pretty good reason today why we won.
(on giving up a big touchdown run to Chris Johnson)
It's just one of those things. Going against a guy like that, he's a home run hitter. He hit us. He made a hell of a play, but we don't want to give those up.
49ERS TE VERNON DAVIS
(on the 49ers having a balanced running and passing attack)
I believe it all started in practice for us; that's where it always starts. It's all on how you perform in practice. If you come to practice and you have a sluggish day, then chances are you are going to have a sluggish day on the field Sunday. I think we had a great day of practice. Coach Harbaugh kept harping on it. He said you guys look great on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I believe. It shows. What you do in practice you are able to carry it over and do it in the games on Sunday.
(on Colin Kaepernick being decisive in read-option situations)
Week to week usually is all on the look that we get from watching film and in practice. We had the look in practice. We saw it on film, and we went with it. Fortunately, (Colin) Kaepernick was able to get in the seams and make some plays.
(on the catches made by Anquan Boldin)
I am not surprised because Anquan (Boldin), that's what he is known for. He's always going to make that circus catch. You don't know when, but you have to expect it. He's a great player. His hands are unbelievable. I love going to war with Anquan Boldin because he brings it each and every week.
(on the next step the offense needs to take)
I think the next step is being consistent. We have to develop consistency because that's the key in anything you do. I don't care what it is. If you are consistent, then you will have success. We have to really think about it as we go into the game because if not, it's going to hurt us.
