The San Francisco 49ers are off to a 10-1 start for the first time since 1997. The 49ers made a statement on Sunday night with a 37-8 victory over the Green Bay Packers. Here's what both locker rooms had to say following the Week 12 matchup.
Niners Liners
Kyle Shanahan on what George Kittle means to the 49ers:
"He means a ton. You guys all know that. It was hard without him and to have him back tonight, obviously what he did in the pass game, but, what he does in the run game is equally as important. It was great to have him out there.”
Shanahan on what the 49ers did defensively to limit Aaron Rodgers:
“We kept him in the pocket, I think, fairly well. Guys weren’t open in rhythm, from what it seemed like. We did a good job mixing up our plan, where sometimes those four, I know we brought some pressure in the first third down and we got them, just changing the stuff up schematically so they had to change up their protections. Obviously, we have a good front four too, who can rush on their own. From the clips I saw live, it looked like our coverage was very tight also.”
Shanahan on how the team handled the moment on "Sunday Night Football":
“I’ve been very impressed with them. I’ve been very impressed with our guys since we got together in OTAs. We’ve got a really good group of people. We’ve got a smart group. We’ve got guys who love football. Very high character in how much they work and how much they dedicate to football. I think that’s what started us out this year, playing so tough, playing so well together. We got a lot of wins early, which I think a lot of people didn’t expect. And when that does happen, you always worry if it’s going to change people and things like that, but our guys haven’t changed at all. I think they’ve got even more locked in, even more focused. Our guys aren’t just in there pumped about where they’re at, they’re pumped about the possibilities of where we can go and that’s what excites them the most. Hopefully we can keep working and make that happen.”
Shanahan on Fred Warner's development this season:
“Fred has been unbelievable all year. Today, I’ll see it better when I watch the film, but just every time I looked up he was making plays. Going sideline to sideline, being able to make some big hits and not get penalties while doing it. And, what he does just from getting us in the right call standpoint, he’s unbelievable. We’ve got a bunch of checks, mix our scheme up a lot and Fred doesn’t make a mistake all game.”
QB Jimmy Garoppolo on what he said to rally the troops on offense midway through the game:
"The defense got a fast start, we got the touchdown right away and then we kind of just, we were in a little bit of a lull it seemed like. I don’t know, I just thought everyone needed a little 'get the juice going' type of thing. I just kind of brought everyone up and I think it did us well.”
Garoppolo on what Kittle does to help elevate the offense:
“George, he’s awesome. The energy he brings on the sideline, getting guys involved, getting guys talking in the huddle even, it’s little things like that. Obviously, you guys see what he does on the field. I throw him a 2-yard route and he takes it for whatever, 20-30 yards, runs a great route, scores a touchdown. It’s all the little things that he does, though, that goes so unnoticed.”
Garoppolo on the mentality of Deebo Samuel:
“Deebo’s a fighter, man. It’s week after week. This guy, he shows up in big moments, even dealing with what he had last week with the shoulder and all that stuff. He’s unbelievable. For a rookie to be so mature like that, it’s awesome.”
DL Arik Armstead on the defense's performance against Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers offense:
“It is great. Going into this game we knew that it was going to come down to that. To first stop the run and then get after him and put them in bad situations, we were able to do that tonight. I am so proud of my teammates, so proud of everyone especially my D-linemen and the rest of the defense on how we played tonight.”
DL DeForest Buckner on what the defense keyed in on going into the game:
“Yeah, win first and second down, stopping the run early. All so we can play the game we want to play, which is getting after the quarterback. That’s what we did from the start.”
Buckner on the defense's emphasis to try and collapse the pocket and take away escape lanes against Rodgers:
“We knew he was a Houdini in the pocket. You know he’s going to make plays and extend them. He got out of it a little bit. We tried to bring as much pressure as we can. We don’t want to rush reserved. You want to rush to win. When we couldn’t get to him and he got the ball out, we had to make sure that we could, obviously legally, hit him and try to get him on the ground as much as we could and make him pick himself up, so we can wear him out a little bit.”
TE George Kittle on his 61-yard touchdown:
“Oh my, we’ve been running that since Week 1, and I have to run it like two or three times a week. That’s like a 50-yard route every single time. I’m just like, ‘Hey Kyle (Shanahan), relax. I’m a tight end.’ We finally got the call and ran it, so that was pretty fun. It’s just a corner post. Perfect coverage to run it against. Jimmy gave me a perfect ball and I had to unhitch the trailer and outrun a couple guys. It was pretty fun.”
T Mike McGlinchey on what impresses him about the 49ers defense:
“They are just relentless. They play 11 guys so strong, so complementary of one another with the pass rush, the coverage, our linebackers. We are missing one of the best linebackers in football and we have two rookies who are stepping up in Dre Greenlawand Azeez Al-Shaair. It is a testament of what John (Lynch) and Kyle (Shanahan) have done in evaluating talent and people and who they are as people because that is important too. It is incredible to see how smothering all 11 guys can be and that is what they do week in and week out. They just shut down one of the best to ever play football in Aaron Rodgers and that is pretty impressive.”
WR Deebo Samuel on his touchdown:
“It was just an end breaking route. When I see the ball, I take the ball. When I turn the corner all I see is the end zone. I was like, I've got to get there.”
CB Richard Sherman on what the defense did to limit Rodgers' effectiveness:
“We just played our game. We just played disciplined football. Our D-line, they hunted and in the secondary, we just tried to play tight coverage. We played a lot of man-to-man. (Defensive coordinator Robert) Saleh called a lot of man-to-man today and we felt like that was the plan to try and stop the run and stop (Green Bay Packers RB) Aaron Jones. You have to step up in the secondary. Ahkello Witherspoon played a heck of a game. Jimmie Ward played really fast. Jaquiski Tartt played really fast. Obviously, you see the linebackers Fred Warner, Azeez Al-Shaair and Dre Greenlaw all played a good game because you have to when you play man coverage in those situations. They still got some plays that we’re going to have to correct and be better on but whenever you play a Hall of Famer like that, you never know. He can go for 400 at any given time and he can take the game over at any given time, so you’ve got to play as hard as you can, as fast as you can, for as long as you can and you let the chips fall.”
S Jaquiski Tartt on if having a front seven like the 49ers makes his job easier:
“It gives us a lot of confidence. We are all attached to one chain so when one person messes up it affects the whole defense. Our D-line and linebackers have really been doing their jobs and we play a complete team game.”
LB Fred Warner on his forced fumble:
"That was kind of just a crazy play. It was just, we had pressure on. It was effort. I just kept going. I got blocked at first and then I saw him kind of scrambling, so I just kept going, kept going. Finally got to him and kind of just, I saw him holding the ball close to his chest, so I just went after it. Nick Bosa picked it up so I’m thinking we have a chance at a touchdown. Afterwards I saw Nick’s little graphic showing up on the big screen and I’m like ‘So, did I get it or not?’ It was funny.”
Packers Quotes
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur recaps the game:
“First of all, you’ve got to give the 49ers a ton of credit. That’s a pretty darn good football team. I’m disappointed with myself, with how we got outcoached and we got outplayed. Bottom line, it’s unacceptable and we’ve got to look at ourselves and there’s a lot to correct if we want to be the team that we want to be.”
LaFleur on how difficult it was to adjust to the 49ers pressure:
“Yeah, no they got after us pretty good. Again, it definitely hurt us when (T Bryan) Bulaga went out, but even up to that point they were still getting pressure. We just have got to have a better solution for our guys. We knew that was a good defensive line coming into it. I think they were tied for first in the league in sacks and I think they had another five more today. I didn’t feel like, obviously our plan wasn’t good enough and then we didn’t play good enough either.”
QB Aaron Rodgers on how difficult it was to get into a rhythm on offense:
“There wasn’t a whole lot positive tonight. A lot of the stuff we talked about during the week, eliminating negative yardage plays, obviously we didn’t do that. They got after us up front, and the coverage was good on the back end.”
Rodgers on the Packers troubles on third downs:
“We had some of those third and extra longs that we talked about during the week about not wanting to get into. They mixed up their scheme a little bit and played a little more man on early downs, some man on third down. The blitz pattern was something like we expected. They just had good rush patterns.”
DL Kenny Clark on how the Packers defense played against the 49ers:
“I think they got the running game going a little bit. They also got us with the play action and misdirection and they kept making great plays. They got that big play in the first half, first quarter. I think we had three or four good stretches where we got them behind the chains and we were trying to get that momentum back. We were playing really good defense. But we just didn’t do enough and it’s definitely an eye-opener for us. It will help us to see where we are as a team and as a defense. The only thing we can do is just get better from here.”
C Corey Linsley on if facing the 49ers front made the 3rd-and-longs more difficult:
“It obviously makes it difficult on us. Third-and-sevens are obviously created by the first two downs. We have to do better up front. We have to do better overall. I’m a little disappointed in this loss. In our room, I know every single one of those guys is disappointed. We definitely want to come back strong next week.”