Kyle Shanahan discusses preseason loss to Broncos

Last week, sloppy, a lot of penalties this week. A lot of penalties, turnovers. At what point, do you start to get a little bit concerned about the direction things are going?

"That whole game was concerning. You start out the first half with four turnovers. The penalties, again, I have to go in and look at. It seemed like there were a bunch on both sides. I know that we get a lot called in the preseason. I've got to go find out about all of them. The ones that were disappointing were the pre-snap penalties. Those are ones that I know we can for sure do something about. But, five turnovers in a game, four turnovers in the first half. Struggling to run the ball there too, just looking throughout the game. It's really tough to win when you put your team in that situation."

How do you find a cure for the continuous lack of discipline?

"What do you mean by that?"

Penalties were an issue. About 13 to 14 flags thrown against your team in this game, 17 last game.

"Yeah, you just keep working at it."

Why did LB Eli Harold start and not LB Ahmad Brooks?

"They're competing to start at the SAM linebacker. We gave Ahmad the first game and Eli got this game."

Did you talk to QB Brian Hoyer about that fumble there? Did the ball just slip out of his hand?

"Yeah, I didn't need to talk to him. I saw it. It slipped. He went back to throw and it just slipped out of his hands. So, unfortunate for him."

Has he had that issue at all? Have you ever seen that happen to him before?

"I'm sure it's happened to him in his life. He's played quarterback for a long time. But, it doesn't happen very much. That's the first time that I've seen it that I can remember."

Considering CB Rashard Robinson continues to struggle a little bit and S Lorenzo Jerome is playing so well, is there any scenario where you would consider moving DB Jimmie Ward back to corner?

"We're just trying to get Jimmie back healthy to see if he can play safety right now. I know Rashard came out, he missed a tackle on 'Cloud' on that first third down and then he had a pass interference on the goal line, but by no means does that mean we're gonna say that he's playing bad. A couple of bad plays early in a game and we're still sticking with him."

What did you think about QB C.J. Beathard's play? He certainly had a touchdown pass there.

"He did a solid job. It was tough to get anyone in rhythm. We didn't stay on the field very long. It was nice that he was able to hit [TE George] Kittle on the flat on that keeper on the first series and it seemed like Kittle made a hell of a play down the sidelines. I lost at the end so I didn't see exactly how he finished it. From what I saw of Beathard, he did a solid job. There's a couple third downs I thought he missed, but it was hard to get anyone in a rhythm that game. I think under the circumstances, he did solid."

We saw a lot less of RB Matt Breida this game. Was that just getting other guys snaps?

"Yeah, that was the plan going in. [RB Tim] Hightower and [RB Kapri] Bibbs didn't play in the first game, so we're going to make sure we got them more carries in this game. I think [RB] Joe [Williams] got in there a little at the end of the game. We didn't expect Matt to get in there this game."

Obviously, the turnovers frustrating anyway, but how much did it throw off your plan for when you're hoping to get guys in and the amount of snaps you were trying to divvy up?

"It effected it for a little bit. You try to count everybody's reps and get them the amount of plays you wanted to keep them in for. We had those four turnovers in the first half. It was frustrating. We ended up not getting as many plays, which makes guys stay in longer based off time. Usually, in a quarter and a half you're hoping to get through about 20 plays and we didn't, so we had to stay out there a little longer."

Do you know which guys you anticipate getting back from injury at the start of practice next week?

"No, I'm not sure."

No injuries to report from the game?

"Not that I've got so far. There's a couple guys, I know [TE] Vance [McDonald] left at some time in the game. I don't think it's going to be anything serious but I gotta get more information on that from [vice president of medical services/head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson] Ferg."

LB Pita Taumoepenu?

"Yeah, Pita left but he did return. I know he finished the last two series."

You said it was your plan, why did you want the veteran running backs in this game and keep the rookies on the sideline?

"Because we're trying to give them a chance to compete. We see it in practice each day, but in games you want to see what guys do breaking through those arm tackles and see how they perform. We have a tough competition at back. If you rotate them every series, you don't really give anyone a chance to show what they are. We try to do it that way. I've really tried to do it that way my entire career. You try to select which games you're going to try to give guys a number of carries, so you have enough when it's all said and done after four to try to make a decision."

Joint practices with the Broncos, held your own. Was this, given that, was this particularly surprising as far as the offensive performance?

"Anytime you have four turnovers in a half, it's not surprising at all. Actually, I would have predicted if we had five turnovers in a game and got zero, I would have predicted the score to be a lot worse. It's no need to panic. That's what happens in this sport, at any level, when you turn the ball over and you don't get turnovers."

Considering the turnovers, how would you evaluate your first impression of your first team defense played today?

"I thought the defense did a pretty good job considering that we had 27 points off turnovers. So, we put them in some very tough situations. I thought they did a real good job on the first drive. I thought we were going to go three and out. Missed that tackle, but there was roughing the passer anyway, which kept them on the field. Then, they ended up stopping them, then we got that turnover on the special teams where I think it balanced off. I want to say it was [S Jaquiski] Tartt, I believe it was. So, they got stopped and I want to say they started inside the 10. I wish they could hold them to a field goal. That's what we expect. We gave up that touchdown there, but considering the situation we put them in, I'm not upset with the defense right now."

Lorenzo Jerome seems to, I think he played the whole first half, he seems to have really made a move up the depth chart here. Is he getting comfortable with NFL speed, would you say?

"Looks like it. He's had a solid camp. We've been banged up a lot at safety, so we've had to play a lot of guys and Jerome has taken advantage of his opportunity."

The new system that you've implemented with you coming in, how far along do you feel the players have been based on what you expected from the beginning of the season?

"It's a lot of what I expected. It takes time and I've been happy with our guys. I think we're continuing to get better. Definitely didn't show that tonight, but looking forward to getting out here next week."

The fumble by Hoyer was kind of, I guess, the defining play, but you look at his numbers and the interception was kind of a bad luck deal. How did you think he played overall?

"From what I saw on the reads, there weren't any reads on his 11 attempts that I was upset with. Obviously, the ball slipped from him. That's unfortunate. It's not like you can tell him to grip it harder. It just slipped out of it and you have to deal with that. His pick, Marquise has to catch that ball. He threw it to him and I believe it was a third down, maybe it was a second down, but that keeps the drive alive. Just didn't catch it clean and the DB made a good play. I wish Brian could have played longer, give him a chance to get into some type of rhythm to where we could evaluate a little bit more, but we kept him out there long enough and that's what we have to live with."

* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers