San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly joined the Murph & Mac show on KNBR 680 this morning. Below are some of the team topics, with the questions paraphrased, that the 49ers coach discussed.
The group started by discussing high school football in Hawaii. Kelly's former quarterback at Oregon, Marcus Mariota, is from Hawaii. He now plays for the Tennessee Titans. 49ers rookie DeForest Buckner is also from Hawaii and was a high school rival of Mariota.
Kelly was also asked about his opinion regarding playing football outside of the United States. The Houston Texans and the Oakland Raiders play tonight at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Kelly didn't have much of an opinion about it. "Tell us where to play, we'll go play," said Kelly.
It was homecoming weekend for Eddie DeBartolo Jr. Did that impact you in the pregame? Did you go talk to the guys that were there?
CK: "No. I think all of that was done at halftime so we really didn't get to see any of those guys. Mr. D was on our sideline for the opening coin flip with Jerry Rice and that was really the only ones. I saw Roger Craig on our way back into the locker room, but it didn't affect us. They did it all at halftime."
No pregame speech by a player or anything like that?
"No. A few of those guys came to practice on Saturday. Fred Dean and Russ Francis. There was about a handful of guys. Jesse Sapolu, Bryant Young. There was about six or seven guys that came over on Saturday. But I think the dinner was up in San Francisco so it was tough for a lot of those guys to get over here and then get back up there."
Did any of them talk to the team?
"No. They talked to the players individually."
What were you guys thinking on the sidelines when the Patriots fans were making a lot of noise?
"I don't think it was very loud, to be honest with you, so I don't think we even noticed it."
Did the presence of more Patriots fans than 49ers fans make anything feel different?
"No. We're pretty locked into the game and not what's going on behind us."
The Brady chants didn't have an impact?
"I did not hear any Brady chants."
What do you say to the fans who have lost hope after nine straight losses?
"We're all disappointed in the outcome. When you play someone as talented as the Patriots, you've got to be close to perfect when you're playing them. As I told the guys after the game, we have to finish. There was three or four times where we're a step away from getting Brady down, but he stays alive in the pocket and turns into huge plays for him. Two of their touchdowns were examples of that. The one where he is falling down to [Danny] Amendola. But he does a great job and that speaks volumes to the type of player that he is. And then the other one to [Malcolm] Mitchell. Just a tenth of a second later, we get the hit and he doesn't get the pass off. When you play someone like Tom [Brady], who is certainly a Hall of Fame quarterback, as talented as he is, you almost have to be perfect and we weren't."
You have been outscored 58-16 in the third quarter during your nine-game losing streak. Is that on the coaching staff for not making halftime adjustments?
"I think this was a different game just because of the weather so that third quarter was different than even the first, second, or even the fourth quarter because of the rain. We went in at halftime. You could do some things offensively. I think both teams moved the ball offensively in the first half and then when you came out in the third quarter, it was real tough sliding on both sides of the ball. It was 13-10 at the half and it was 13-10 almost to the end of the third just because of the weather. So that was a different thing that we hadn't had any experience in. It really doesn't rain here in California, but it did and it affected both offenses in the third quarter."
Is the score difference all on adjustments? Are you guys not adjusting?
"No. I think it's on everything. There's not one thing to pin it on. If it was, you'd fix it very quickly. But I think it's a -- you've go to look at the individual things. I don't think you can look at it overall, globally and say, 'It's this.'"
Whose idea was it to stay in Florida all week as you travel to play the Dolphins?
"i think they've done that here in the past and then mentioned it when we were planning our season. If the league is fortunate enough to give you back-to-back East Coast games, a lot of teams do it. I know the Raiders did it this year. I think they played Tampa Bay and maybe Jacksonville, so they stayed. A lot of teams that come out west from the east do the same thing. If they get back-to-back West Coast games, they don't go back. So that's kind of commonplace in the NFL."
Is that something Trent suggested?
"No, Jed and John York talked to me about it. They had done it before here."
How did the absence of Torrey Smith affect your offense?
"Any time you don't have a starter, it affects you, but it's not an excuse. You just got to go with the next guy up and continue to go play."
You mentioned that your offense was not built to pass every down. Some took that as a knock on Trent Baalke's ability to provide a roster.
"That's ludicrous. You can look at our team. We're not built to throw the ball 50 times a game. That's not an indictment of anybody in personnel. We're not built to throw the ball 50 times a game. We're a run/play action football team and we have a quarterback. We have a talented running back. I think we're good up front in the run game and that's part of it. When you get into a game where you're going to throw it every single down, we don't have that type of lineup."
Everyone's looking for clues of friction between yourself and Baalke.
"No. Do you think that we're a 'throw the ball every down' team? That's just kind of basic common knowledge, don't you think?
Your leading wideout was Chris Harper, a guy that was on the practice squad. People are saying that indicates a lack of depth at the position.
"I think Harp had a really good game. Harp's a good football player."
Is the defense playing better?
"I think they have played better. We're obviously disappointed in yesterday in terms of getting Brady on the ground, but I think they have played better. I think they have a better understanding of what we're trying to do. Guys are making plays and that's what this deal is all about in this league. You've got to make plays."
Colin Kaepernick has not been able to have a complete game. When you sit down with him, what are you going to emphasize?
"Just go through the reads and the progressions in terms of what we're trying to get accomplished. When those incompletions came up, it's more of a throw game at that point in time and the Patriots had taken a lead and we're behind I think by two scores so you obviously have to try and get back into it a little bit more quickly. You can't be as methodical. We had a seven and a half minute or eight-minute drive in the first half, but if you're going to go out and use that same M.O. in the second half, then obviously you're doing to run out of time to try to get back into this thing. So it turns into you've got to throw it a little bit quicker and a little bit deeper because you've got to score a little bit quicker. That's just kind of where we were and we'll go through it, coach them off the tape, and, hopefully, we're better next week."
Was there a discussion with Daniel Kilgore regarding some of those snaps off the shin?
"No. I think a lot of the byproducts of what happened yesterday was because of the weather."
You have tied a franchise record for consecutive losses. This can't be what you signed up for.
"No. But it's all part of the deal. You've got to take the good with the bad and the bad with the good. You've got to come to work with a positive attitude and try to get better and let's continue to work with these guys. Our players have been fantastic through this whole thing. That's the fun part about getting here every day. You've got a bunch of good guys that you really want to work with and we'll continue to work at it."
How do you beat back the media rumors of potential college jobs for you?
"I don't really care and I don't care about a media game. I guess that gives you guys good things to talk about. Tell them I'm going to get into baseball."
You can listen to the entire interview on KNBR 680.