San Francisco 49ers WR Torrey Smith joined Murph & Mac on KNBR 680 this morning and shared some thoughts following the presidential election.
Murph & Mac's questions have been paraphrased.
Murph & Mac: How are you feeling following the presidential election that saw Donald Trump win?
TS: "I'm feeling very disappointed in our country right now."
I guess we have to respect how the majority voted.
"You definitely have to respect it, but I'm disappointed. I feel like a lot of people didn't understand how serious this election was. I mean, I can more so speak specifically to...I know how the African American community came out when Obama was president and I don't think people, because they are excited about the opportunity to have another African American president, but I didn't sense the same excitement about the other. And maybe that's just me talking to people I know, but I know a lot of people who flat out didn't get out and vote. And I think when you look at things like that, it impacts the election. I was joking about what I said last night about voting for the third party people, but the reality of it is, if you don't vote, or if you do vote for a third party member who we all know isn't going to win, then you're taking away a vote from...in my opinion, you're giving Donald Trump a vote. I just feel like a person that's clearly not qualified to be president first and foremost. I understand that it's more so about how much people hated Hillary versus how good Donald Trump is. His whole campaign was fueled on hate from my perspective. If I was Hispanic or if I was homosexual, if I was Muslim, I would be very afraid that this many people supported this guy to be the leader of our country."
How do you feel about Colin Kaepernick saying that he did not vote?
"I feel like any and everyone, whether it is Kap or whoever chose not to vote, then don't complain about Donald Trump because you helped him get his seat. I just hope now, obviously, that we know that he will be there in a few months, he has a great team around him and not so much looking at Donald Trump the President and his power and what he is individually going to do because I still don't think he has a clue. I hope he has a strong team of people around him who are very educated and help guide him in the right direction."
Trump lost the popular vote, but that's the system that we live in.
"You have to trust that when it goes that way, I mean, the same thing happened back with Bush and Gore. Again, that's the system that was established and a few states are going to control everything."
How is your injury? Are you going to play on Sunday?
"I've never missed a game. I don't plan on missing one. Our training staff is doing a great job and I'm feeling way better than I did on Sunday so I just need to continue the process and hopefully I'll be ready to roll."
How come you guys haven't been a better second half team?
"If I knew, we wouldn't be doing it. I think you see a lot of mistakes. People kind of lose sight of the fact...it's not making excuses at all because we're professionals and you expect to win and you expect to not make the mistakes that we're making, but our team is super young. And you have some guys that haven't really been in that position and they're trying to understand how everything is going. When games are tight, those are the mistakes that add up in the end. That goes for all of us. We're not a team that's built to play from behind or a team that's built to be one dimensional. That's just not how we are so we have to execute when we get a chance, stay the course and limit our mistakes. You can't give the ball away. You're definitely going to lose. You can't put yourself in tough situations because of penalties because your odds of winning are going to go down. Some teams might be able to deal with chasing from behind all of the time, but we're not that team. We have to win a certain way and we're not executing the way we should."
How do you view how Chip Kelly is handling the message going forward?
"I think he's handling it the best he can. To be honest, there is only so much he can say. It's like a tape recorder. You can probably take the same thing I say to you all every single week and repeat it the way it's been. With him, everyone still practices hard, no one turns their back on anyone in the process. We literally just have to play better and play smarter and he understands that. I know that's even more frustrating because it's like, 'Man, we keep doing these things and we keep losing because of it, but we're the only people that can change it.' I don't think it's a coaching thing. I think it's players. At the end of the day, we have to play better. The coaches have some effect, but they're not out there tackling or blocking of catching passes or throwing picks. Whatever it may be. They're not doing that. We're in position, we have to make it count. We have to make the smart plays and sometimes just take what's there. We'll win. Until we do that, nothing is going to change."
What do you have to do to beat Arizona?
"First of all, we expect to win. We expect to play the way that we've been coached. We expect to make plays and limit our mistakes. If we do that, we'll win. If we don't stay the course and we're making mistakes or we shoot ourselves in the foot or we're not making the plays that are there to be made, then we're not going to win. It's honestly that simple. Until we do that, nothing's going to change. We might be able to squeak one out. But in order to play the way we need to play, we need to be consistent and we haven't done that yet."
How disappointed is Arik Armstead with his situation?
"He's very disappointed. His health has been an issue since the offseason. I think it was probably time, in my opinion, for him to get it fixed because he's going to keep lingering with that pain. The longer you go the more it can jeopardize his health for next season. Not that we're throwing in the towel or don't believe that we have a chance for the playoffs, because mathematically we still do. I think his health is more important than just trying to wing it out there right now."
What do you think of WR Chris Harper, who was recently promoted to the active roster?
"It's been awesome to watch him, the way he's been practicing for the past few weeks even though he hasn't been up. He's been practicing like a guy who's upset that he isn't on the roster or a guy that deserves to be on the roster. I think it's a testament to hard work and a lot of the guys on the team see him and how hard he is working. I'm excited that he got brought up because, again, it's proof that hard work pays off. If he gets an opportunity to get in a game, I'm confident that he'll make plays and he'll be ready."
So you think you're playing on Sunday?
"I always think I'm playing until I'm not. I didn't think Donald Trump was going to win President until he did."
You can listen to the entire interview on KNBR 680.
