49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan (Post-Game Transcript)
Opening statement:
“Alright, guys, the injuries. [49ers DL Arik] Armstead had a foot, didn’t return. [49ers TE Ross] Dwelley had an ankle, didn’t return. Go ahead.”
On the changes after the first quarter:
“No changes. We just — I think the first play of the game, [WR Brandon Aiyuk] did an awesome job crossing the guy’s face. He would’ve had a pretty big play there, got tipped. I forget what happened on the second play, but we got into a third-and-long, which just wasn’t good. Next time, I think we had a five-yard loss on first down, which gets you into second-and-15. Think we had a false start. So, we just made some pretty bad decisions and mistakes on first and second down, and after those two were over, the coolest part was they were moving the ball, doing a lot, we only had six plays, didn’t roll with any of them. And, when it was all said and done, it was only 6-0, so we were able to weather the storm and get our rhythm back.”
On the redzone defense:
“It was huge. Just for us to not really feel like we were getting going and some of the mistakes that we made and to watch them get going with some of the explosives they made and just moving the ball pretty well. But it was huge to hold up to two field goals and despite all that, the third possession we got the ball, they scored twice, but we were only down six. We just got one drive together and got the lead back, so it was a huge deal and a very good feeling.”
On 49ers QB Brock Purdy’s performance:
“I mean, I thought the first play just was hard. When something gets tipped – I’ll see the play and, you know, the penalty wasn’t him, the loss of run wasn’t. But, we had some tough third downs there. I know we had a chance on [49ers RB] Christian [McCaffery], but I think he had to get rid of it a little bit too early, so that ball sailed on that third-and-nine, I think it was, or third-and-11. But, when our whole offense, everybody settled down, which included Brock, too, myself, and I thought he played a [heck] of a game.”
On whether 49ers WR Deebo Samuel had something a little extra to play for today:
“I think he’s had that for a few weeks now. Deebo was banged up for a little bit and missed some games. He is getting back into his rhythm. He’s been really close here for a couple of weeks now. He got the ball in some good situations and when he does – when I say good situations, I mean to get six to eight yards and he turns it into what you guys see. He is as good as there is when that ball is in his hands. People don’t like to tackle him.”
On the 49ers LB Dre Greenlaw ejection:
“Oh yeah. That is why I tried my hardest not to lose my mind. I hope I didn’t embarrass myself too bad. I didn’t get to see it all from where I’m at but when I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff, I just can’t believe someone uninvolved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guy’s face. From what I was told, Dre did it back to him and I was told that he mashed him in the face a little bit, so he got ejected. It was a very frustrating play. I have to watch it to have a true opinion on it. I love how we rallied after.”
On whether Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni said something to him on the way out:
“Yeah, he was awesome. He wasn’t a fan on what happened on the play either. He handled it with total class. It was real cool.”
On whether it was an emotional game for 49ers QB Brock Purdy:
“I don’t think the emotions were there that you think. I think if we would have opened up in week one here, then that would have been a real big deal. Going through this season, he has played a lot of football. His arm has felt great, so I think coming back here, with the emotions on going against such a good team and playing in such a hard place to play. You can ask him when he gets in here, but I don’t think it was real consumed with the injury that he got.”
On what he saw out of the offensive line:
“We were able to stick with the run and get it going there in the second half especially. I mean that’s as big of a challenge, that group, I mean they have some really good players rushing. I was hoping [Eagles DT] Fletcher [Cox] wasn’t going to play today but he surprised us a little bit there in pregame, finding out he went. So, they had a huge challenge today and will feel better on the plane, but when you run the ball like that and you’re able to throw the ball I know they must have had a [heck] of a game.”
On the Eagles defensive line being dominant in the beginning and how they were able to respond:
“There wasn’t much. There are plays and sometimes when a guy gets a tip, a play doesn’t work. Sometimes when we don’t throw a bubble [screen] and hand it off and backers unblocked. Mistake on targeting, you get a loss of five. And then when we get in third-and-long, we can’t hold on for that because their [defensive] line ended up getting to Brock and he couldn’t wait for it. So, there wasn’t any big difference, it was just our defense keeping us in the game and allowing us to just be patient and continue to do what we planned and play good football. We didn’t do that for two drives, but we like to say if we’re in the game it’s a matter of time and we got it going there on the third drive.”
On the discipline for their defensive line and staying in rush lanes:
“A ton. It goes against everything in those guys’ DNA and their coaches’ DNA. Everything. Those guys want to tee off and go rush the quarterback every play, and they did at times, but you have to know who you’re playing and the style of how that team beats people. And I thought our guys were very disciplined today. As disciplined as we have been, that I can remember, going against a mobile quarterback. He still made a ton of plays like we knew he would, but our guys kept rallying and I know they covered a lot of ground out there. I was glad we got some extra guys up to rotate. Again, I’ll watch on the plane, but I was really proud of those guys.”
On whether having 49ers WR Deebo Samuel returning kickoffs opened the game up for them and if it was something that was planned for this week:
“Not really. It’s really cool when [49ers Special Teams Coordinator Brian] Schneider and [49ers WR] Deebo [Samuel] talked about it. We had a good feeling. We had a good feeling just how the week went that [49ers WR] Ray-Ray [McCloud III] wasn’t going to be able to make it. Once we found that out, Schneider and Deebo had been talking about it all week which when players are talking about it and you don’t have to go ask them, then that’s usually the way I want it. So I was very happy that he wanted to do it.”
On whether tonight was the best-case scenario after last year’s NFC Championship matchup:
“Yeah, I don’t want to envision anything going into it. You just envision playing as hard as you can, and you hope you play what you’re capable of. Usually, you hope that’s enough. There wasn’t much to last year with this. We were just excited to come out here and play a really good team and play well and get a win.”
On what the game tonight shows him about their team:
“I just loved how excited and ready our team was for this game. When you are that amped up and ready to go and I mean, all the games are the same. But we understand how good that team is. We understand their record. So that makes it always a little bit bigger. Our guys were really excited for the challenge. When you come out with that much energy and are ready to go and things don’t go well for a quarter. That was the thing I was most proud of. Our guys were able to weather the storm. I know it seems like there’s panic, but you never felt it when they came to the sidelines. Usually when you carry yourself that way, if you can just stick in it, then usually good things happen after, and they did.”
On if he feels like his team is getting where they need to be:
“I think we’re going in the right direction. I think after our skid we’ve taken a step each week and got a little bit better. I thought we were a little bit better today than we were last week, and by no means do I think we are doing our best. There were a lot of things in that game that didn’t go right, but I thought our intent was good. Obviously, our talent’s good, we just have to make sure we keep improving.”
On 49ers DT Arik Armstead playing through injury:
“Yeah, he had to gut it out. I think he went out in the second half. He was in and out throughout the game, but I was told he was officially out and done, I want to say, early in the fourth quarter.”
On how he thought 49ers QB Brock Purdy handled the emotion of coming back to Philadelphia:
“I just think Brock did what he does always every week. He just plays the game. He tries to play it the right way and one of the best things he did when we were down, was he didn’t try to make too much stuff up and try to overcompensate when you are down. He just kept with the plan and kept doing his job and did a [heck] of a job with it.”
On if he believes the injury to 49ers DT Arik Armstead could linger:
“I’m not sure.”