FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Saturday, August 15, 2015 POSTGAME QUOTES FROM HOUSTON TEXANS HEAD COACH BILL O BRIEN RB ALFRED BLUE T DUANE BROWN NT CHRISTIAN COVINGTON QB BRIAN HOYER QB RYAN MALLETT QB TOM SAVAGE WR CECIL SHORTS III WR JAELEN STRONG HEAD COACH BILL O BRIEN (Transcribed by Charles Hampton, Ellie Pardee and Hannah Pietsch) (on the play of the quarterbacks) I m not going to into an evaluation of each one. I have to watch the tape, but I thought those guys went out there and operated the offense pretty well. They were consistent. The calls were made properly. We had a few things here and there, but as far as operation of the offense for the first game out, I thought they did a decent job. (on why QB Brian Hoyer only played the first series) That was the plan coming in. It will be a similar plan next week but reversed and we ll see. Brian, in that instance there, if we had gone three-and-out in the first series, he probably would have gone back in and played some more, but because we drove the ball down and scored, that was the plan if we did that. Next week, the plan will be the reverse of that. (Ryan) Mallett will start the game against Denver and then we ll go from there. (on his thoughts on the running game and specifically RB Alfred Blue) I thought that those guys, once they got into the tempo and rhythm of the game, they ran the ball well. I think there is a lot that we need to clean up with those guys up front, just all the way around. I thought the guys played hard, but it was a typical first preseason game and there will be a lot of corrections to be made. I told the guys just now, Good win, but it s a progress league. We ve got to keep getting better. (on how he felt about the second offensive series down on the goal line) Where we had seven shots from inside the two-yard line? Not real good. That s what I m saying. I didn t feel real good about that. I don t think the players did either. The coaches and players, we re in it together. We have seven shots give San Francisco credit there. They stopped us. That s an area where we have to get better. (on RB Chris Polk s performance) I thought Chris played a tough football game from what I saw on the sideline. I think that he had some good catches, like you said. He had some decent runs. Just from what I saw, again, I have to watch the film to really be exact on my evaluation of him. I thought he did some decent things. (on RB Alfred Blue s performance) Again, I think Alfred went in there and he s a smart player. These guys that are in their second year, you re expected them to take a little bit of a jump. Him going in there and having a decent run here and there was a good thing. I think there are some things with all those backs that we just have to continue to improve upon. I think I ve said that from day one. There is some talented running backs in that room and we enjoy working with them. (on his thoughts on OLB Kourtnei Brown tonight after recording two sacks ) He plays hard. He loves the game and he s in there competing. He definitely flashed a couple of times tonight and made some good plays. He just like all those guys at that outside linebacker position, they re coached well. They work hard. They just need to keep improving. (on WR Chandler Worthy returning punts today) I thought that early on he was dancing a little too much, but I thought eventually he kind of caught on and did a couple of nice things. Same thing, we re going to watch the tape and really evaluate how they all did in the return game. For his first time out there, I thought he showed up pretty well.
(on what into the decision to not play DE J.J. Watt and what Watt s reaction was to not playing) I would say that decision was in the best interest of the team. I would say that he s a competitor. He wants to play in every game, but we make decisions that are in the best interest of the team. (on if the preseason is for working on situational football, such as going for two when working on goal line offense) One of the things about these preseason games is it s important to get a lot of things covered when you can. When the opportunity arises, why would you go throughout a whole preseason and not go for two? You have a chance to really practice that type of play or other types of plays going for it on fourth down things like that. I think part of the preseason strategy is that, that you re able to get those types of plays in there on film and practice them. I thought that was part of the plan. (on how involved he was with offensive coordinator George Godsey in calling plays) I don t get too involved. At the end, I m just making sure he knew to keep it on the ground there. I told him to be alert that I was going to go for it on fourth down, certain things like that. I don t make play calls for him. No, I just give him general thoughts of what I want and what I would like to see. (on S Rahim Moore playing a lot tonight and if he s looking from something from Moore) No, I mean, no. He just played. (on how the receivers played tonight) Yeah. Those guys have, that position, has had a decent training camp. Veteran players, younger players, they ve all come back in really good shape. I think they re getting better, it s a good group of guys, they work hard which means they re going to improve just from their work ethic. So again it s just, very, very early, it s one preseason game and we have to keep getting better. (on QB Brian Hoyer only playing one series and what he took away from that series) Yeah, I mean those guys ran good routes. We had good protection. You guys haven t asked me anything about the offensive line. I thought our first team offensive line protected well and did some decent things. I m not saying it was perfect but I do believe that they re an improved unit. They need to keep getting better, so it all kind of worked together. Brian was able to find the open receiver, the guy was able to make the catch, and we ran the ball decently on that drive. So you know we had some good, we got into a rhythm and that s one thing we have to do. You have to, as simple as it sounds with our offense, we have to get that first first down of the drive, then we kind of get into a rhythm. If we re behind schedule, which we were tonight a lot, we ve got to fix that, second-and-12, third-and-nine, we converted some of those third downs but that s not a recipe for success usually. (on the importance of the offensive line being versatile) Very important. Depending on how many offensive linemen you keep on the 53-man roster, I mean, last year we usually only brought seven guys to the game. So on the 46 game day roster, so tackles that can play guard, right tackles that can play left tackle, guards that can play center, centers that can play guard, that s a big key for us on our team and those guys know it and we have some guys up there that have some versatility. You look at Jeff Adams goes in there and plays left guard, played a lot of tackle for us last year. Derek Newton went in at right guard last year against Baltimore, moved over to left tackle tonight, so there is some versatility. (on the red zone offense tonight) You know, we ve worked hard on the red zone offense. I think that our red zone offense is not where it needs to be for the regular season, but I do think it s making progress. What I m disappointed in is the goal-line offense. We had the ball inside the two yard line seven times I believe and didn t come up with any points. That s when we have to get corrected. One of the things I tell the team all the time, if it s a problem now and you don t correct it now, it s going to come up in the regular season. We have to go back and make sure that we correct it this week, or at least attempt to correct it. (on how he handles a goal line situation with multiple scoring attempts) We ll have to look at it. We were in some big people groupings down there, and we were in some smaller groupings. We ll have to look at it. Again, give San Francisco credit. They stopped us there. In the end, we won the game, which was good, but we have to correct that part of what happened tonight, no doubt about it. (on the importance of NT Louis Nix III and DE Jeoffrey Pagan playing well to give him depth at those positions) Very important. Depth is important at every position. The better that your backup players are, the better you re
going to be as a team. There s competition at all of the positions. Like I always say, I ll have to watch the tape on those guys, but their improvement is important for themselves and it s important for our team. (on taking advantage of waiver wire last year and what goes in to the scouting of other teams in the preseason) That s more of a question for Rick Smith, but I know that Rick and his crew, Brian Gaine, those guys are all out right now watching other games. I tell the players in here, you re not just putting your plays on tape for us; you re putting your plays on tape for everybody. We re watching everybody throughout the league. Options are always open for us here in Houston. That s why we have a competitive roster, that s why guys compete. It s a tough business. It s a tough league. We ve got a bunch of great guys in this team meeting room, and they know that they need to compete every day. (on the returner positions) I have to watch the tape from tonight, but I thought that there was some decent returns. I ll have to look at the blocking to see who did well in that regard too. But I thought what I saw from (Keith) Mumphery, (Chandler) Worthy, and (Alan) Bonner, I saw some decent things. And then I saw some things that we need to correct, but from what I saw on the field level there s some things to work with there. No doubt about it. (on if he still expected OLB Jadeveon Clowney to return on Monday) I do. It won t be a full practice, but he ll be out there. (on if he has someone on the roster who can replace RB Arian Foster) Arian Foster s one of the top running backs in the league. You don t look to replace a guy like that; you look at all of the skill sets of the other guys that are there. And we have really done a good job, I think, of putting together a diverse group of guys back there. With Jonathan Grimes, Alfred Blue, Kenny Hilliard, Chris Polk, and even Prosch in there at full back, we re doing a lot of different things with him. We re happy with the progress of that group. They need to keep getting better, but we are not thinking of it as which one of these guys is going to replace Arian Foster. That doesn t even make sense. We think about in much different ways. (on any injuries he doesn t want people to know about) I feel good. My hamstring was bothering me, but I feel better about it. From what I ve seen or heard so far, we came out of it, knock on wood, fairly healthy, which is one of the big goals of preseason to come out healthy. RB ALFRED BLUE (Transcribed by Katie Karsh and Ellie Pardee) (on the collective running game) I mean it s different stuff we ve got to polish up in our run game. Unfortunately, on the goal line, we got to get in. That s the ones you got to have so we got to get better at that and I m pretty sure on Monday, we re going to get after it on the goal line. (on getting into the end zone) Yeah man, it s just one of those things. That goal line man, it s condensed down there. You just got to understand that you don t have enough; you don t have a lot of time. Once you see an opening, you ve got to take it. So, you can t hesitate, you can t rethink it. You just got to put your head in there and go get it. (on playing against the Redskins vs. playing the 49ers tonight) It helps a lot, man, going against the Redskins. It helps a lot going against another team. You see what a lot of guys can do against different players from different teams. Competition rises out there. I think it helps a lot that we came into the game and we played well tonight. (on having some big runs) Yeah, it s always good once you get, as a runner, once you start getting the creases and a couple of good runs in there. You start getting more comfortable running the ball so I would say that one good run got me real comfortable and relaxed right there to see everything happen as a runner. (on the quarterbacks) It s a tough competition. They both played good tonight. All three of them, really. (on being anxious about how the quarterback situation will work out) Yeah, I m real anxious to see who is going to be named the starter come September 13th. (on his communication with other running backs) Yeah, I mean, we help each other out. We watch the defense out there and we come back to the ipads and see man, you could have taken a couple more steps then made the cut. Just critiquing each other out there to make the whole unit as a whole better.
(on working with RB Arian Foster) Obviously, I felt the difference. I worked with Arian (Foster) in OTAs and going into fall camp. Really the patience of it, having patience and letting the blocks develop for you and let it come and don t be too fast out there when you see the first thing and think that s the hole. We call it false daylight in the backfield. You just got to let the play develop and be patient. (on cutting out to the left on one of his runs) It was just an outside zone and the fullback Jay Prosch, he made a good block and I made the cut inside him and from there it was just me and the safety E (Eric) Reid. I felt like I should have got in that one. I thought I was going to out run him but he put a little burst on me. (on boosting people s confidence in the running game tonight) I think we did. I think we flashed and dashed out there a little bit, eased the coaching staff, but that decision is still up to the coaching staff whether we came up today standing or not in the run game tonight. (on the goal line offense being the disappointment tonight) Yeah, I would say it s very frustrating. It happened seven times to get in the end zone man. Goal line you ve got to have it. It s one of those things, like as a runner, you know you ve got to have it when you re number is called you ve got to get in there. There s no, it gets condensed down there so you don t have that much time to cut, cut and wait, you ve got to hit it whatever hole they give you. (on the goal line struggles being a group issue not just running backs) Right, it s a lot of polishing up we ve got to do as a unit. I think each preseason game we re going to get better. So I guess we re going to get better and be ready for the season. (on starting two games last season, if his preparation for tonight was different) I wouldn t say it was any different. I was more calm and relaxed getting that experience last year. I was really embracing the role tonight, just going out there and knowing what I had to do. Just relax, be calm and play the game. (on how much more comfortable he is going into year two) I would say I m real comfortable. I mean, there s still a lot I ve got to get better at as a player and learn as the offense goes on. There s still a lot I ve got to learn, but I feel like I m comfortable with the role they ve given me right now. (on if he feels more instinctive this year) Yeah I would say I m more instinctive, getting that experience last year, getting your feet wet, couple of starts in games, I would feel more relaxed back there and instictinve, reading the blocks better, being more patient and just letting it happen. (on 49ers S Eric Reid and if they exchanged any words) No he didn t say too much, he was just like, good runs man when I went back to the huddle. (on how he thought RB Kenny Hilliard played tonight) Kenny is a great runner, man. He s a downhill guy. When he pushes that foot in the ground he goes down, he s going to fall forward. He had a couple of good runs tonight and like I said there s still a lot he has to learn being a rookie in the league. (on what it is about LSU running backs that leads to success in the NFL) I mean, playing in the SEC I would say, one of the best conferences in college football. Just playing in the SEC and knowing LSU is a dominant running team and pro style, I think that helped a lot. (on having a successful game right off the bat) I would say I think it means a lot. I think it shows the coaching staff that I m ready for the role, and it shows, to me, I was glad I came out tonight and had a pretty decent game. It builds my confidence going into the next game and the next game after that. (on his second NFL season) It made a big difference. Not just going out there in the water blindsided, I mean having that experience from last year did help a lot. I mean, starting a couple games did help, so I was able to go out there and be comfortable back there in the role of being the starting back. (on his 32-yard run) Oh yeah man, it definitely helped. As a runner, once you start gashing the defense, you get more relaxed back there, you get more confident and you get more patient and you just get in that zone as a runner. You just start gashing defense like that.
T DUANE BROWN (Transcribed by Edgar Veliz) (on the play of the first team offense) We ran the ball pretty well and pass protection was really good. That s all you can ask for on the first time out. The effort was there, there s a lot to clean up. It was good for the first group to go out there and get in the end zone. That s big for us. We will look at the film and go from there. (on which quarterback had a better rhythm) I thought they all did a pretty good job. There is a lot that factors into that. I think the receivers did a great job of getting open. When the ball could come out quickly, it did. They did a good job of not taking sacks or taking unnecessary hits. I thought they all did a pretty good job for the most part. (on if he gained more muscle in the offseason) Yeah, I gained about 12 to 15 pounds from last year. It feels better, I feel stronger. That s kind of where I played a couple of years ago, like three years ago. When I thought I was at my best. So I feel that I can get back to that. (on how the offense as a whole played against the 49ers defense) As a whole I thought we did pretty good. We had over 150 yards rushing, I believe or close to it. We threw the ball well, that s traditionally a tough defense. Their defensive coordinator draws up a lot of different looks. We have some negative plays that we want to erase but for the most part I thought we did pretty good. (on the play of RB Alfred Blue) I thought Blue ran the ball well. We kind of expected that from him. He gets the ball downhill and runs behind his pads well. He did a good job of finding the hole, getting to the second level. I thought all running backs did a great job. (Jonathan) Grimes, (Chris) Polk, (Kenny) Hilliard. I thought all of them ran the ball well. (on what he takes away from the first preseason game) It is good to go out there and win. There is a lot to build from. I think individually we all have plays that we want to take back or learn from. As a group, looking at what we can change - different run concepts and how we can work together off the line, different blitzes that caught us off guard. Everyone has something to learn from this game. (on how important it is for the younger players to get playing time) It is big. For us veterans, we ve been in live action and we know what to expect at this level. A lot of these guys, this is their first action ever in the NFL so it is very, very big for them to get those reps and get used to the speed of this level and build from it. (on the significance of scoring on the first drive) We have a couple of plays there that we would like to get back. Having zero-yard runs or negative runs but we popped up a couple of big runs, passed it downfield and Cecil (Shorts III) got open and took it to the house. That s ideal for sure. (on how often the offense will use the two point conversion) I m not sure. If being able to get a couple of yards at the two as opposed to kicking it 15-yards. You have to weigh your options on every touchdown. So we will see. As a line, we will be ready to go either way. NT CHRISTIAN COVINGTON (Transcribed by Ted Parrish) (on how he felt about the win) I felt like it was great day for this team, great win, great overall win for this team. (on the veterans said to him during and after the game) Basically just keep doing what I m doing. I ve heard that I was doing a solid job out there. Just to continue to keep up with the grinding. The one thing that I was being told constantly was just to take deep breaths and calm down. They saw me hyperventilating a little bit in that first quarter (on why he was hyperventilating in the first quarter) Just rookie jitters, first series jitters really. My heart was pounding after that first series so everybody was telling me to take deep breaths, calm down, and play football. That is all I needed. (on if his first experience in the NFL surprised him) It did really. I was expecting to be anxious a little bit and just overall excited about this opportunity to be able to take my first step into playing my first NFL game. After I came back on the sidelines I was just like, you know what this is something else, what is going on? The defensive line just gathered around me and told me to calm down, take deep breaths, and that I was going to be fine.
(on if the defensive line could tell he had jitters) They could see; they could definitely see it. (on if it beat his expectations of playing in an NFL game) It was an unbelievable experience. These are the things that you never forget especially your rookie year. I will never forget my first play; I will never forget my first game. This is something that I just want to continue to be able to take this win as a team and take what I learn from this film and try to get better as training camp progress. As the next three preseason games happen. QB BRIAN HOYER (Transcribed by Ryan Cantrell) (on the touchdown pass to WR Cecil Shorts III) It was a great route by Cecil. He just came through in a certain zone and I hit him between two guys and the rest was all him, breaking a tackle and taking it to the house. It s good to go out there and score on your first drive. (on all three quarterbacks controlling the game well) I think all three of us have had good training camps so that kind of translates over onto the field. There s been some good and some bad so we are learning from our mistakes and will keep doing the things we do well to improve our play. (on if he knew he was only going to play one series) No, I wasn t sure. With Billy (Bill O Brien) you just stay on your toes, you never know what s coming. (on if he wanted to play more than the one series) That s up to coach so you would have to ask him. Playing with new teammates, new team, new system in the new stadium, I was anxious all day so to go out there on the first drive and score, I was really pumped up about that. (on any concerns about playing with the offensive line or wide receivers) No, it was more just a new fresh start for me and you want to go out and put your best foot forward, so I think it was just that for me. Regardless of what it is, that first game back you always want to play well. QB RYAN MALLETT (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) (on being more consistent as a quarterback) I just got to get in the right place, right run place, throw the ball to the right guy when it s called for on different coverages, move the ball, get first downs, not a lot of three and outs, just moving the ball, scoring points. That s what he s talking about. (on his confidence and poise in the pocket tonight) I always feel like that, even if it s chaos in there. I don t ever feel like it s in my head like that. It s just a nice, calm, smooth feeling. (on the quarterback and playing with the starters next week) Yeah, I can t wait. We ve got a week of practice we need to get better at first. Then we ll look ahead to that. I think we started off on the right foot, but now we have to build on it. We can t take a step back and go that way. (on RB Alfred Blue) I love when Blue runs the ball. I love how Kenny (Hilliard) runs the ball. I love how (Chris) Polk runs the ball. All those guys are downhill guys that got a little agility. It helps you out when you re playing quarterback when you can run the ball. What did we have like 160 yards or something like that? That always helps you, helps the offensive line, and helps the quarterbacks. (on RB Alfred Blue getting better on 3 rd down) Yeah, Blue s a student of the game. It s his second year, so he s a year older in this system. He s picking it up really well. I think he ll be all right. (on if he expected to go in on the second drive) I knew I was going in second. I didn t know exactly how many plays Brian (Hoyer) was going to get. I knew I was going in second, so I was ready to go. QB TOM SAVAGE (Transcribed by Laci Theriot) (on if he expected to get as much play time as he did) I mean, I am just going in there prepared to play whenever they call. You never can really tell when you are going to go in. They are not going to tell you when you are going to go in, so you just have to always be ready. (on what he liked about his performance today) We won, and that s what I like.
(on what he personally did and how he handled the game as a player) I think just moving the ball down the field, and getting some of the guys in better plays, and I think just kind of orchestrating it right down the field, was scoring was good for our first try. (on what he thought about his command of the offense) I have to go back and watch the film. I think for the most part it was pretty good with most of my points and getting the guys lined up, but I think there was one penalty where illegal formation - there was one fumbled snap. There are a lot of things you can work on. That s a real time game. It is unacceptable to fumble snap in a game. (on avoiding the rushing scramble for nine yards) It felt like it took me 45 seconds for me to get there. It was probably slowest play in football, so. I guess I should get the first before I celebrate getting the first. I don t know. (on how the offense worked well for all three quarterbacks all night) It was good. Like I said, we won, and that is the main goal, and I think all of us did a good job. There is going to be a lot of good stuff on film to watch, and learn from, and improve. (on if he took a couple of hits) Yeah. I think for the most part, the line did a hell of a job out there blocking, and I ve got to get the ball a lot quicker on some of the ones I am taking a hit on. Like I said, they did a great job. WR CECIL SHORTS III (Transcribed by Edgar Veliz) (on his 58-yard touchdown reception) (Brian) Hoyer did a good job reading the coverage. It is a play where we have to be on the same page and understand where the coverage is. The offensive line did a good job of giving him time and he found me in the hole. (on how the offensive line helps receivers get open) This is a great offense for receivers. We have to do our job of getting open and creating separation. The quarterback and offensive line are going to do their job and make our job easy. (on if he accomplished what he wanted to do in this game) I think so. There are always things you could improve on even with the limited snaps that we did get. I want to show that I am a playmaker and I can make plays and help this offense do good things. (on if the offense accomplished what they wanted to do in this game) Our goal was to come out and score on the first drive. So we definitely accomplished our goal today. There are a lot of things we could do better on as a whole offense and we will. (on the play of the quarterbacks) They all did a good job and I m glad I m not the decision maker. (on if he was nervous before the game) I was pretty calm today. I had a little of nerves but I was pretty calm all day. I was just ready to go. (on what he wants to work on for the next game) I have to watch the film and see what I did wrong or what I can improve on. Continue working on my route running, continue to create separation - whether it is man coverage or against a defense - and probably get more physical on my blocking. WR JAELEN STRONG (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) (on scoring his first touchdown) It felt real good. Just got to keep on taping that rock every day, getting better and better. (on his first NFL game and building on it) Definitely. I just got to show up in practice the same way. I ll probably be way better then, too. (on what he needs to do to take the next step) Just be a student of the game from the coaches, from the vets. We got really good vets in our group and just continue to listen to them. Be coachable. We have a real good coach. Just take it one day at a time. (on if scoring was a dream come true) Not yet. It just built my confidence just a little.
(on if anything surprised him during his first NFL game) The way they disguise the coverages are more intense. The play on the field is much more intense, too. It s a job, it s a real job. People have to feed their families, so going out there you have to play every play like it s your last. (on the throw from QB Tom Savage which led to his touchdown) He just threw it to a spot and I just made the play. It s not really anything to it. He made a great throw and I just caught it. (on the hardest part of adjusting to the NFL game) Just moving at the NFL s pace, not in college anymore. You got to learn like the vets learn. You ve got to be a student of the game, like I said before. You just got to be coachable. (on who he leans on for advice among the receivers) All of them. All of them, even the rookies. We help each other as rookies. Chandler (Worthy), Mumph (Keith Mumphery), but like I said, there s a lot of great guys in our receiving group. We all help each other. (on if he was nervous before the game) Of course, I mean, I get nervous before every game, but that s just how I ve always been. The atmosphere was definitely something different. (on scoring in his first game) I can t fathom it, honestly. It s just a blessing and a dream come true. Now I just got to keep working every day.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Saturday, August 15, 2015 POSTGAME QUOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS HEAD COACH JIM TOMSULA S ANTOINE BETHEA LB AHMAD BROOKS TE GARRETT CELEK RB MIKE DAVIS DL GLENN DORSEY QB BLAINE GABBERT RB JARRYD HAYNE LB J.J. NICK MOODY NT MIKE PURCELL HEAD COACH JIM TOMSULA (Transcribed by Christiana Johns and Stephanie Weaver) (opening comments) Whether exhibition games or it s a preseason game, or whatever, we re putting helmets on to play, we need to win, we need to play to that level. With that being said, saw a lot of things from a lot of people today; we got everybody in there. The only injury we had to report is (Desmond) Bishop. He s got a strain in that lower leg a calf so I don t know how severe that is. I ll find out here tonight and tomorrow. (on if RB Jarryd Hayne got banged up) Not to my knowledge. No, I don t know that at all. (on being impressed by RB Jarryd Hayne s run) Obviously, Jarryd (Hayne) is a professional athlete. So playing in space and things like that, we needed to see things. Again, he did some good things, but it s the first preseason game, and we ve got to grow from here. (on what he saw in the goal line sequence) Obviously, in the preseason to be put in that situation early, on one end you don t to be in that, [but] I m really happy that arose for us to see where we are. So that was team defense down there. Any time they just pull those boxes in there together, you talk about the front, absolutely, you talk about the linebackers but now you re including the secondary. So that was team defense right there and it was good to have the opportunity to see that. (on the elements of RB Jarryd Hayne s game that he s picked up) I ll tell you, just the assignments of the game, the intricacies of the assignment, the technique, and again, you ve got Tom Rathman as our running backs coach. And I think we all know how a terrific of a coach he is. Tom teaches and Tom drills and to watch Jarryd embrace it with no ego, and learn, learn, learn, pass protections, and you can still see he s feeling his way through some of those runs and the tight holes, but just the way he s come in, no ego, and just put his whole self into it. (on being comfortable with RB Jarryd Hayne s kickoff return) Quite honestly, I ve expected him to be very comfortable in space. I ve watched a lot of film of him playing rugby, and I ve watched the physicality of his play in the rugby, and he never missed a beat when he put on the shoulder pads so that was the first hurdle I was concerned about, but he can play in space. He s a premier athlete in the world in space. (on if he was pleased with the play of QB Blaine Gabbert) Yeah, I really was. Again I m not surprised by that, but it s good to see Blaine out there with a nice supporting cast and able to function the way he practices. I thought he showed that today. (on if there was any frustration on the missed pass from QB Colin Kaepernick to WR Torrey Smith) Obviously they wanted to. I mean obviously we all wanted to. We see that. Again, we are taking full advantage of this time to see where we need to and what we need to work on. (on if the first series was scripted) Yeah. Absolutely. We are going to see that play. Yeah, those plays were scripted.
(on if he was pleased with the tempo getting in and out of the huddle) Yeah, I mean again, second half I wasn t happy with at all in a lot of areas. I shouldn t say at all. I wasn t happy with a lot of things in the second half and tempo being one of them. We got off tempo a little bit. But there was a conscious effort to try to stay on time. I m not giving the young people a way out. We ve got to just stay on top of it and get those younger guys on the same page. (on if there were any younger guys besides RB Jarryd Hayne that stood out) Yeah, I mean, there were. I want to reserve the right on that right now. But yeah there were some guys in my mind right now. You get into a danger zone right now talking about, Well you know, I saw this play and that play. But I was looking at that guy for that play to see what he was doing, and I didn t see six other plays that he was in because I was looking at somebody else. So I don t really want to say too much about that right now. (on what happed in the 58-yard touchdown run by the Texans) You ve got to play team defense. You ve got to be in the creases. We didn t have a crease gapped out right there. (on if he is worried about the attention RB Jarryd Hayne is receiving) It seems that everyone is surprised. I am not. He absolutely has to battle to make the roster. I hope I am presenting a very tempered approach to what happened tonight with Jarryd. There were things that went on, and we still have a long way to go. The thing that excites me is the type of person that he is. You get into a situation where you are rooting for guys. You are pulling for guys, but it s got to happen. He is one of those guys. (on if LB NaVorro Bowman will make his start next week) Yeah. When I look at those guys, those were all purely my decision. Purely. I think I talked to a few of you guys the other day. I just want to see where we re at and get it going. S ANTOINE BETHEA (Transcribed by Stefan Nolet) (on playing against an opponent other than his teammates) It felt good. For a couple weeks, we ve been battling the same guys, same colored jerseys, so being able to get some different guys in front of us and work on some things we ve been working on the past couple of weeks felt good. (on his play in the first preseason game) My main thing is I wanted to get some contact with some other guys. I felt I really did well with that. As far as a recognizing some things, I felt pretty good with that. There might be one play I wish I could get back, but other than that, I guess that s what we play preseason for. So we ve got a couple more, and first (regular season) game I think I ll be fine. I ll be ready. (on his thought of the Texans offense) Whatever they were running, they did a pretty good job of running it. The backs were running well, the quarterbacks controlled the offense how they wanted to control it. They did a pretty good job. LB AHMAD BROOKS (Transcribed by Lance Jaramillo) (on 49ers LB Eli Harold) I think Eli is an up-and-coming pass rusher. I think he can make a big impact in his first year; I believe he can do it. We push each other as a unit, as a line backing core. He shows great energy. (on if he looks back at the starting defense for their Super Bowl season compared to now) Yeah, our defense has changed just in one year not having Patrick Willis come back and we lost (Chris) Borland. Borland was a guy you could plug in there and you know about him. It s a different team and we have a different scheme and we have guys here who can get the job done and we have to keep pushing each other every day. It s not playtime; this is serious business. (on stopping the Houston Texans on the goal line) They did a phenomenal job. That was big for us. That was a promise to our team. It shows what type of team you are when you face adversity. (on if the goal line stop was a confidence boost) It s preseason. That s all I m going to say. TE GARRETT CELEK (Transcribed by ReShun Gilmore) (on his touchdown) The backside corner, I saw his back turned and he was running with the receiver, so I knew right away in that situation where the guy would go to. So, I knew I would get the ball and got in, touchdown.
(on how the offense can improve over the preseason) In all areas, we would have to watch film to know exactly what it is, but we definitely need to fix some stuff. I definitely think we can do it before next week. (on if the offense is somewhat ready to compete) I don t think we re ready. No not yet, we re not ready yet. I mean that s what preseason is for. You have to figure out who can play and who can do what. We re still trying to form this team and that s what preseason is here for. (on QB Blaine Gabbert s play this offseason) He s doing He s a really well. He s a very calm, collected guy. He s a smart guy, very positive guy. He communicates a lot with us pre-snap, so it s good to have a guy like that on our side. RB MIKE DAVIS (Transcribed by Stefan Nolet) (on playing in his first game action in the NFL) It felt good to be out here with people I see on TV every day. I m taking it all in. (on what he felt he did well and what he can improve upon) I feel like I can improve as far as running the ball. I didn t have that many pass protections, but I feel like I can improve in every area possible. (on what he saw from the Texans defense) A lot of things movements from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Small things like that. Things we ll have to be aware of. DL GLENN DORSEY (Transcribed by Stefan Nolet) (on getting his first game action of the season) It felt great to get back out there and move around. It felt good to be able to come out and put the pads on and go against somebody other than my teammate. (on his performance against the Texans) I think I did alright. There s always stuff to improve on. It s training camp and the first game, and you go back and watch film and critique yourself. So I ll have to look at the film. (on what he saw from the Texans offense) It s like every offense in the league: everybody is able to make plays. You have to be honed in on your techniques mentally and physically. They have a good offense and I wish them the best. QB BLAINE GABBERT (Transcribed by Rachel Jacob) (on how he feels after this game.) It was good. Wish we would have closed out the game and got the win. We did did some good things on offense but we need to watch the film and look at some things we ve got to clean up. (on having only played one regular season game this year and if he plays this game as if it was a regular season game) While you re in the game, it s a game. When you re out, you re out. The guys that aren t starters and the guys that are trying to make this team, it is extremely vital and important to approach a preseason game like it is a regular season game. (on if he had a different sense of confidence having been with the team for a year) I think the way we have approached this offseason, this training camp, the amount of reps the quarterbacks have gotten, running our core offensive plays has helped tremendously. Like I have always said, the more reps you get the better you are going to play. You are going to see the quarterbacks trending upward throughout the preseason. The more snaps we get in these game situations, so from that standpoint, getting more comfortable is extremely important. (on what Head Coach Jim Tomsula said about him earlier this week, and what it means to have a head coach complement him like that) It is always a good thing. I just try and approach every day with a professional mindset and just get better. Let the plays speak for themselves and that carried over in the game today. How you approach practice is how you are going to play in the game. Practice reps are huge for me, huge for this football team so that is kind of how we have to approach it. (on his view of DT Tank Carradine) I saw him just hit the hole and go. I think it was a run left. o-line did a tremendous job getting all the reaches. Bruce (Miller) threw somebody out of the park, opened up a giant hole for Jarryd (Hayne) and he made the safety miss and open the space and he almost broke it. It was great to see him run in a game setting and kind of show his natural ability to run the football.
(on RB Jarryd Hayne s ability in running the football) Not really. If you watch his rugby highlight tapes, it is football without pads so, and without a helmet. So you knew he was going to bring kind of that mindset to football. He did a great job for his first NFL game, that is a tremendous, a tremendous deal he had. I am happy for him and he is going to keep getting better if he keeps working hard. (on if he has watched Jarryd s highlight film) Yeah I ve seen it on YouTube. It is pretty impressive. (on if Jarryd runs like a rugby player or if he runs like a football player) He ran like a football player tonight and that is what I am going on. He looked really good and he is going to keep getting better the more and more reps he gets in these game situations. It is going to be fun to watch. RB JARRYD HAYNE (Transcribed by ReShun Gilmore) (on his first game playing professional football) Yeah it was good. Obviously, it was a huge step for me and even before the game I was pretty calm. It was in the warmup when I found out I was going to be second string after RB Carlos (Hyde) had his first stint. So, that gave me a bit of a shocker like whoa and put me into a bit of the deep end, but I was fine. (on if he exceeded his own expectations) I just wanted to come out, obviously, and do well and not make any mistakes. That was probably the biggest thing. Just get a couple of good catches and read the punter s kicks. That was the biggest thing. That Houston punter was a good punter, so it was just good to get it under my belt. It s the first preseason trial and we re back on it next week and it s going to be different and the whole experience will be fortunate. (on if his experiences in rugby helped him transition to the NFL) Yeah, I ve been over here for about three or four months now, so it was a lot of preparation and we do a lot of studies. So, I think that has come into account and showed out there. LB J.J. NICK MOODY (Transcribed by Lance Jaramillo) (on stopping the Texans on 4 th and goal.) We were physical and everyone was responsible for their gap. They ran a lead inside. The fullback ran at me, hit the fullback and the running back was still behind him and we all got on the running back. (on Texans WR Cecil Shorts III s touchdown) It was a crosser and he got behind the person who was left. Just regular stuff we need to work on in practice. We have a lot of stuff we have to work on still. NT MIKE PURCELL (Transcribed by Francisco Casillas) (on his overall opinion of what transpired in the game and what he needs to work on) What mattered is that we lost, it s never good going out and put the effort that you have and lose the game, that s the biggest thing. One thing that we need to work on is just about everything and any other area we can work on. (on the stoppage at the goal and the confidence boost that comes with that) Most definitely, you know, being backed up and they had already scored once on the long pass so we had to make sure we stopped them and kept them out of the end zone. WR JEROME SIMPSON (Transcribed by Francisco Casillas) (on being back on the field after training camp) It felt great, especially to have some life action and play against some other guys and just be out there having fun. (on his thoughts on the defense performance tonight at the goal line) That was big, they did a great job stopping those guys at the one yard line and that s tough and they did it. (on his thoughts on the rookie play) It was good, he played and just got to keep battling and hope he has a good long career. (on his one-on-one matchups) They played coverage tonight to keep everything in front of them and they did a pretty good job on that. Johnathan Joseph, that s one of my longtime friends; we played together in Cincinnati.
He s always a great defensive back. He didn t even play tonight but I know what he s a capable player and he s a good player. If our other guys, the other DBs with him that s the guy I would want to learn from because he s been a sleeper a long time and he s been successful. (on veteran leadership in the locker room helping the Texans with their young cornerbacks) Definitely, that s one thing about having veteran leaders in your locker room like Johnathan Joseph because he can definitely be a good leader for those guys and for a rookie, that s something you should go and pick a guy s brain on everyday you re in there.