Transcript: San Francisco 49ers Postgame Quotes | Saints-49ers 2019 Week 14

Get postgame reactions from San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, cornerback Richard Sherman, tight end George Kittle, and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders

Dec 08, 2019 at 07:36 PM

49ERS HEAD COACH KYLE SHANAHAN

(On the emotions of the last drive in fourth and two)
"I'm just trying to call the right play, when you go through a game like that, that was as cool a game as I had been a part of, a lot of emotion. I thought I was going to have to call a number of more plays to get into field goal range, but (George) Kittle took care of it."

(On Jimmy Garappolo)
"He's unbelievable. No matter what happens," Shanahan said of his quarterback. "He's had a lot of good games this year. He has made some times where he's made some mistakes. But he's the same guy every day. Just to be able to deal with that crowd noise and to deal with adversity that went in and out throughout the game, to be able to deal with me, he's the same and a lot of fun to coach."

(On George Kittle)
"When one of your best players has the mentality he has that is everything. Olinemen don't have a choice, they have to be tough, but the mentality of your team and toughness of your offense has to do with your skill positions and I think our skill guys like Deebo, play physical. There isn't a more physical tight end in this league on the run plays and pass plays. It's a pretty tough mentality here."

(On what it means to win a game in this environment)
"Not much. It means we're 11-2, so we'll see what else happens. Everybody wants to talk about that each week, but it would be more fun to talk about it if everybody else had bad records but there are a lot of teams with good records. It's just one week at a time. If you start feeling good about yourself it's going to be over fast and if you get down, you knock yourself out and don't give yourself a chance. It's going to come down to the last week with the teams in the NFC."

(On if he knew he would have to do some innovative things on offense because of the opponent that is the game)
"We knew we would have to do some things on offense just because of how unbelievable they played. They (defense) went against a great offense with a great coach and a great quarterback. We owed it to them, because I think there's a number of games this year where the offense hasn't."

(On handling the noise)
"I thought we handled the noise great. It wasn't perfect. I thought we were able to overcome it."

QB #10 JIMMY GAROPPOLO

(On George Kittle's fourth-down play):
"Everyone was calm. I thought we were in a good state of mind when we went out there. We just executed that's really what it comes down to in those situations. Once he caught it and turned around and squared the guy up, I didn't know what he was going to do. I knew the guy was in a bad situation on the other side. George is a beast with the ball in his hands. It's just about getting him the ball in space and letting him go to work."

(On his fourth down and two options for the play):
"There was a couple of different ones. George was man-to-man. He had a couple of natural picks. He just ran a straight route and killed the guy. It made my job easy. It was awesome."

(On the win):
"It's good for our team. We win different ways every week. That's what a good football team does. They find a way to win tough games like this, whatever it may be. I think our guys are built for anything, handling the environment; it was pretty loud out there. I thought we did well with it."

(On competitiveness):
"It's not just George, it's all the skill guys. Deebo (Samuel), Emmanuel (Sanders), all of the backs, they make it hard on (defensive backs) to tackle them. It's fun to watch that stuff."

(On beating Drew Brees):
"Drew is one of the best ever. I love watching him on film and I love to study him. He's unbelievable. To be in a game like this, we didn't know how it was going to go initially. there was a lot of points. It was good for our team."

LCB # 25 RICHARD SHERMAN

(On Kittle):
"It starts with him. He's the best tight end in football. He's the most physical. He's not just catching the ball for a good play; he's playing the game to be rude and to bully people. That play he was getting his facemask pulled. Most people would go down and complain about the facemask. Regardless of the facemask pull, he was like, 'I'm going to bully you all the way to the end zone or until you stop me. That's his mindset. We're thankful to have him because we don't win the game without that play. Jimmy Garoppolo was clutch down the stretch. This is a big time game and he played big time. He played like the best quarterback in football today. He beat a legend… This credit goes to everybody."

(On Jimmy Garoppolo):
"I think it gives him a ton of confidence. I think he hasn't cared about the naysayers and what the outside world has thought this entire time. I think it's a wake-up call for them as well about the quarterback he can be in the clutch moments and crucial moments of the game. I think there's been a lot of question makes and I think that he answered the questions today."

(On defensive play):
"It's frustrating because of simple plays. It's things we've gone over. Its' not like they beat us with a bunch of trick misdirection plays. These are day-one football plays that we have to execute better. Give credit to them. Drew (Brees) saw them, found the people that were open, and made the plays. Give them credit, they had a good plan coming in, but we have to execute better."

(On handling the environment):
"I think everybody was poised. Everybody played well. We could have played better on defense. Offensively, they deal with the hostility more than we do. So, when you score 50 points in the Dome you deserve a lot of credit."

Photos: Game Action | Saints-49ers Week 14 2019