QB C.J. Beathard Postgame Press Conference
49ers QB C.J. Beathard
Press Conference – October 11, 2020
San Francisco 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins
Obviously, second week in a row you had to kind of come in relief there in a difficult spot. What made it so difficult to get anything going there when you got a chance to go in?
“I feel like all game long, right now we haven’t been playing very good complimentary football, offensively and defensively, whereas last year when our defense would step up big, we’d get the ball and go down and score. Right now, we’re kind of struggling with that. We need to get back to playing complimentary football. When we turned the ball over last year, defense would get a stop and end up holding them to three points, at least. This year it’s just we’re not playing as a good complimentary football and we saw that today. It stuck out.”
Were they being more aggressive? Could you tell that they were really turning up the heat? That defensively, their game plan was just to pressure, pressure, pressure?
“Yeah, they were bringing a good bit of pressure. They brought zero blitz a few times. And then more towards the end of the fourth quarter, they were kind of sitting back until it got to third or fourth down and they would bring it again. Yeah, that’s not something that we didn’t see on tape. We’ve just got to execute better.”
What was head coach Kyle Shanahan’s message to you guys after the game?
“It’s tough. After a game like that, there’s not much to be said other then we need to get back to work. Put that behind us and get back to work. Move on to our next game. We’ve got to look at it, look at it hard, correct ourselves, each and every one of us, and then move onto the next game.”
There are kind of a few new pieces or guys in different spots on the offensive line. I don’t know. There’s some continuity there. Can you pinpoint maybe what’s going on, because it does seem like maybe there’s some communication problems at times?
“Yeah, we’ve just got to get back to the fundamentals, the basics of communicating the protections and getting it to the backs, the tight ends, everyone that’s in protection and then executing it and getting the ball out quick when we know that pressure is coming. That type of thing, we can definitely do a lot better at that all across the board, offensively.”
Kyle Shanahan said that he thought QB Jimmy Garoppolo was affected by his ankle in the first half, that’s why he took him out of the game. Could you see that? Did Jimmy talk about that, that he wasn’t able to kind of step into his throws like he normally does? What was your observation from the sideline during that first half?
“Jimmy’s never one to make excuses, so he never said anything to me or whatever. But, yeah, obviously there’s some throws there that Jimmy makes if he’s healthy, I think for sure. I haven’t talked to Jimmy on whether, how much it was bothering him or not. So, you’re going to have to ask him exactly on that.”
You guys were down so much when you get into the fourth quarter, how much fight do you sense from the team still?
“Oh, yeah. We had some fight going in there. At that point in the game, the score is kind of secondary. You just want to show some fight. Show that you’re not giving up, that you’re trying. I felt that in the huddle and guys who were wanting to go down the field and score. Early in the second half, our first couple of drives, we got down there and got some points. Then, like I said before, just the complimentary football thing. We were playing very good complimentary football. Then they ended up scoring a couple of times there after those drives. So, it was one of those things. It’s tough to get some momentum going, but I definitely felt fight from the guys in the huddle throughout the fourth quarter.”