Opening comments:
"Good morning. Well, coming off of Sunday's game, I thought our guys, I thought they played hard. I thought they, I feel bad for them because I thought they put themselves in position. We've just got to find a way offensively to make another play when it counts and to do what it takes to get over this hump. There's a lot of different areas, but until we do that, then we'll get a different result. But, I think our guys worked their tails off and we've got a good group. They've come in today and it's been the same. They've been good in meetings. They deserve to go out and put it together and have a good week of preparation and go make the plays that it takes to win a ball game. That's how we're going to approach it. Anybody have anything?"
How do you approach it this week in practice not knowing who your left tackle, your left guard or your center is going to be?
"Well, the guys that [49ers vice president of football operations Jeff Ferguson] Ferg says are going today, that's who we go out there with and that's how we do it. That's all we can do as coaches. Whoever is available, that's who we go with. Today we'll see who's available and those guys will give us everything they have. It's next man up and whoever that is, that's who we roll with."
You talk about how you want guys to step up and make a play when it counts. Why haven't they done that in the second half and what are you seeing from guys? Are they just expecting somebody else to do it instead of them?
"No. I don't know if there's a direct answer to it. I just think in the course of games and seasons, it just takes a guy here or there to make a great catch or a great throw or a great run or a great block. Not even greatness necessarily, just make the play that's there. I don't think there's any specific reason why maybe we didn't, but we just all, and it may be a better placed design, there's a lot of things involved. But, we've just got to find a way to be in the right situation, put ourselves in the right situation and make that play when it counts to put us over the hump because we're probably really close to making a play to help us win the game."
Your running game obviously was very effective against the Jets as it has been at different points this year. Why isn't it having an effect on the passing game? Why can't you use the running game, use the play-action game to create something through the air?
"Yeah, we have been able to run the football. I think we started off, I think we really ran the ball well in that game. There were some points in the second where it's the NFL and every run's not going to be a 10-yarder like it seemed like it was. At the end he popped another one. And that goes back to the execution. There's some things in the second half that was off the run that we end up not being able to connect. The first play of the second half we didn't get a connection there, which we had a chance and that was off the run. We've just got to, those are some of the things that I'm talking about. We've got to just make the plays that are there. Sometimes it's maybe drop back and sometimes it might be play-action, wherever it is, but we've got to make that play and we've got to take advantage of those situations."
You claimed a center yesterday. Is that a, I guess, a safe assumption that C Daniel Kilgore might miss at least one game?
"I'm not sure. I don't know what his status is going to be. I think we've got to have somebody in to get us through practice and we'll see where Danny's health is and all those guys as we move forward."
Was there a connection there of why you claimed that particular guy? Did you know him from the past?
"No. You'd have to ask [49ers general manager] Trent [Baalke] that."
Head coach Chip Kelly was talking a lot on the radio about scripting plays. He does it for the redzone, he does it for certain situations. Have you guys thought about scripting more plays for the third quarter to get things going more in the second half?
"We come in and we do kind of talk about how we're going to play out the, what plays were going to go with in the second half. But, it doesn't matter if we don't execute the plays. We came out and we felt like we had some good ideas, some good thoughts on where we're going to go and we end up having a couple of drops and a couple of penalties to start off our second half. Things kind of get you behind the eight ball. All of a sudden you're in a third-and-long and you have to punt. I think we do that. We talk about it at halftime. We've just got to go out and be able to execute it."
Did QB Colin Kaepernick play well enough to win in that second half?
"Yeah, I thought Kap gave us a chance to win. It's not all on him. It's the entire offense. I think everybody obviously has to play better for us to win and that's including him. We've got to coach better. We've got to do it all better to win the game."
Who goes in for TE Vance McDonald now that he's out and take on his role?
"Well, we've played a number of tight ends this year. [TE] Garrett Celek will play and [TE] Blake [Bell] will play and we'll see what happens with [TE Je'Ron] Hamm. I don't know. It'll depend on how the week goes. Our offense is diverse enough where we can use different people to do different things and we'll just see where that goes."
With so much chatter surrounding Colin, whether it be his social stances or his future with the team or where he's buying or selling property, things like that, how tough has this year been for him from your perspective? Do you see any of that stuff--?
"All I really see of Colin is he comes into work every day and he's professional and he works his tail off and he's trying very hard to help out team. I'm not really aware of any of the social things that go on or anything that you might be talking about. I just know he comes in, he goes to work."
Have you seen anything that would indicate that he wants to come back here next year?
"I haven't seen anything to indicate that he didn't. I mean, like I said, he comes in and he works his tail off. He does all he can on Sundays to help us win. I don't think that's Colin's focus. I don't think that's where he's at. That's another discussion with different people. He's been great with us and great around me and he's trying his best to do the best he can for our team."
* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers
