What the 49ers are saying after losing to the Seahawks
The 49ers’ three-game winning streak came crashing down Sunday in Seattle as penalties doomed them to a 30-23 loss to the Seahawks.
A fumble recovery at their own 2-yard line with just over four minutes remaining gave the Niners a chance at a tying the game or attempting to win it, but after marching more than 90 yards, Jimmy Garoppolo’s fourth-and-goal pass attempt was batted down with 15 seconds left to seal the game.
Here’s what the 49ers had to say after the loss:
Kyle Shanahan
On Trenton Cannon’s head injury:
“Concussions are very concerning, but all the stuff you’re really worried about, he’s cleared.”
On his team’s performance:
“We’re all very disappointed, very frustrated, you know. We felt we had a lot of self-inflicted stuff that I always see as caused by their team so I’m not taking anything away from them. But we we had that opportunity at the beginning of the game to kind of … just really felt like we were ready to go and, you know, giving them that punt return gave them a lot of life.”
On Garoppolo’s play:
“He did some good things. Those two picks, though, weren’t good plays. He’s gotta be better with the ball.”
On special teams:
“Not good enough today at all. We gave up a fake punt or whatever it was, 70 yards. We had a turnover at the kick returner. I thought it obviously hurt losing Trenton but Travis gotta hold onto that ball when he comes in. We also gave up a big kick return at the end of the second quarter that led to a touchdown. And we missed an extra point. So we gotta play a hell of a lot better.”
On Josh Norman:
“I think he needs more help on that third-and-14 on that go route, and we gotta be better at safety getting over there and things like that. I think it we just off a little on a couple zone coverages and second half, we wanted to have a vet in there who we felt comfortable with.”
On penalties:
“They were a big deal. I’ll have a different opinion probably tomorrow, or more of an opinion once I get to watch them all. But the two personal fouls on the quarterback I thought were huge. That led to a touchdown drive, I believe one was on third down. And those can’t happen and usually you can control it. Seemed like they called it because we landed on him. I think that was Charles (Omenihu) who did that. We gotta not do that.”
On the number of run plays (27):
“We knew it’d be tough. They don’t make it easy to run the ball but I would like to get a lot more play calls in, especially the runs. But you know, we only had 48 total plays, so it was going to be really hard to get that many runs.”
Jimmy Garoppolo
On summary:
“Sore. It was a dogfight. We knew that going into the game, though. Whatever the records are between the teams, it’s going to be a 60-minute game. It was a battle. There were sore guys out there. At the end of the day, we have to finish that drive.”
On the final two throws:
“I’ve been hearing Trent got down on the third-down play. He was back-side read; they took everything away on the front-side. I tried to give him a ball to catch. It was a tough, contested one. The next one, we had Trent again, George got double-teammed, took the coverage with him. It was a tough one.”
Any question when you threw the final pass that it wouldn’t be a touchdown?
“No. I knew it was. We’ve done it before on themn. We knew it right there. That’s football though. You can do all the good stuff in the world, make plays, get yourself down in position. At the end of the day, it comes down to that one play. Did you make it or not? That’s the way the chips fall.”
On his interceptions:
“Just tough situations. The second one, I got greedy and should have been smarter and taken the checkdown.”
On the first interception by Wagner:
“He made a nice play on it. He kind of got lost. There was a big crowd of people with play action and he popped out of it last second. Tip your hat to him. He made a nice play.”
On if Kittle wanted the ball and coverage dictated it go elsewhere:
“Yeah, everyone wanted the ball. B.A. (Brandon Aiyuk), I could see it in his eyes. We had a couple meant for him. George, the same way. Defenses are going to take away your No. 1 guy in situations like that. But I’m confident in all the skill guys.”
On last-drive mindset:
“That we’ve been here before. Very similar to the situation last week, being backed up and having to string a long drive. That was a great drive, up until the end. You do all this good, bad, indifferent and that whole football game comes down to one play at the end. It’s just kind of crazy.”
On Kittle being No. 1 in progression and changing:
“You have an idea pre-snap but you’re always reacting post-snap. On the third-down play, they took it away immediately. They were sitting on it, waiting for it. The second one, he made his move, the linebacker stayed with him, the safety closed on him, so I knew I had one-on-one outside and that’s all you can ask in the red zone. Trent won the route. Tough situation though.”
The timing to Trent was perfect?
“Yeah, it was in rhythm. It is what it is.”
On playoff picture
“I just heard it put us down in the seventh seed. It’s one of those losses you can’t let stick with you for too long. Watch the film, be hard on yourself like we always are. We’re very critical of all the little thngs. Cincy’s coming up real quick, we have to get our mind right for long travel. The train ain’t stopping and we have to be ready for it.”
On the Seahawks’ mettle:
“I’m sure the environment is part of it. This is as electric as it gets. In the end, you couldn’t hear much in the huddle and guys were reading lips. They’ve been (games) like this for years now. It starts with Russ and coach Carroll. It’s similar to us and why it’s always such a dogfight. We knew what we were getting inot but have to be more ready.”
On what happened on the zone-read, fourth-down snap and there was an Alex Mack penalty to negate it?
“Something happened with the ball. Alex kind of moved it. I think they blew the whistle and it was a broken play there. It was supposed to be a zone read. Some (stuff) happened. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
D.J. Jones
On penalties:
“As far as talking about it, I’ll leave it to spectators and stuff. We got to leave it out of the referees’ hands, not even give them a chance to throw the flag. That’s where we can be better.”
On responding after Cannon’s injury:
“To be honest it’s pretty tough. But for me it was a motivating factor. To see him laying there nearly lifeless, that motivated me. I just wanted to dominate the game for him.”
Nick Bosa
On the emotions in locker room:
“Not too good.
On letting the game get away:
“We definitely blew it but we knew it’d be this type of game whenever we play them. We have to do a much better job of not giving the game away. But we’re still in the mix and have confidence in our game.”
On the officiating:
“It was a rough day with the refs. I’m kind of used to it.”
On late defense:
“It was a lot of plays. We were holding tough there. Azeez came up with a huge play, got the ball out and it was what we needed.”
On Aziz Al-Shaair leading the defense:
“He was really good. He was making the calls quick, getting everyone set. I was impressed.”
Trent Williams
On offensive mistakes:
Nobody wants to turn the ball over, nobody wants to have penalties. But Seattle’s a good defense. They made it sloppy for us.
On penalties:
It’s tough, I mean, especially when you can look on the replay and then kind of see how bad the call is and, they continue to happen. So yeah, I mean we’re growing though. We understand that the refs are not perfect. They’re human, they’re gonna make mistakes. So you know, I think the team did a good job continuing to fight, just continuing. We understood that those penalties kind of made some people upset, but we continue to fight, went on a (95-yard) drive, just came up short at the goal line.
On not underestimating Seattle:
Anytime you’re playing Russell Wilson, I mean, 99 percent of the time it’s going to be a 60-minute game. I mean, he’s always going to keep his team in a game and their defense is going to keep the team in the game.
Azeez Al-Shaair
When a team’s goals are met, I think all your personal things will come and it just sucks because obviously we didn’t meet our goal of winning the game. So I feel like if anything, I make that play — I thought I caught that pick — I make that interception, offense doesn’t have to drive so long down the field. So it’s constantly little things I know myself, I can be a lot cleaner on and I know as a team we could have played a lot better.
On calling the defense for a full game:
It was different, like I said. Obviously just having to say all the things initially, getting the call in, obviously Fred usually always does that. And then we’re not playing with Fred out there, as well.
On playing the Seahawks:
Seattle could be literally 0-16 going into Week 17 and I think it’s always going to be like this every week, every time you play Seattle, every time they play us, we know it’s going to be a fight to the very, very last play.
George Kittle
On the loss:
Had all the opportunities. Turnovers, fake punts for touchdowns, and then when you give Russell Wilson a chance, he’s going to take advantage of that opportunity. But no, we weren’t clean enough on offense and their defense played a hell of a game.
On the officiating:
Refs make calls, they don’t make calls. It is what it is, you. gotta live with it. It’s frustrating when they’re drive- stoppers.
On his second touchdown:
Jauan gave me an opportunity. I was able to get underneath everybody to go on a high angle and then Jauan came through and just cleaned the corner’s clock, gave me the opportunity to show off my speed and athleticism. Felt good to get some YAC again.
On not doing enough to win:
I thought our defense, they gave us every opportunity to win that game and we just couldn’t get it done on offense. At least two of your three teams have to play well, and I think our offense and our special teams didn’t play our best games.