Joe Staley is the longest-tenured player on the San Francisco 49ers and has protected a number of quarterbacks during his time with the team. He now has the job of protecting yet another. Rookie C.J. Beathard will get his first NFL start on Sunday when the 49ers host the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium.
Beathard replaced former starter Brian Hoyer during Sunday's loss to the Washington Redskins and nearly mounted a comeback in what could have been the 49ers' first win of the season. The third-round selection in April finished Sunday's game having completed 19 of his 36 pass attempts for 245 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Staley joined the "Murph & Mac" show on Wednesday morning and shared his thoughts on the rookie quarterback and the officiating late in the game.
"I thought he did well," Staley said. "I thought he came in and moved the chains and I thought we were right back in it. The moment wasn't too big for him. I don't think he came in with big doe-eyes and was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm in the NFL now. Here we go. It's not practice.' He came in and did a good job and called plays slinging the ball around a little bit and we were able to score some points and had a chance right there at the end again.
"I thought it was going to happen but kind of a bogus call there at the end with the pass interference that kind of took us out of field goal range for a shot to kick the game-winner."
Staley continued to discuss the call on wide receiver Pierre Garçon that could have impacted the outcome of the game.
"We've got to get into a situation where we're not sitting here talking about calls at the end of a game to decide a four-quarter game. We've got to do a better job in the beginning of the game. Obviously, you can't go down 17-0 like we did last week early and then kind of play catch up the whole game."
"Yeah, we've had a couple of calls at the end of the game. We had the one against the Rams that was offensive pass interference. Watching back on film, it was just a really good route. The guy got tricked so it probably looked like it was offensive pass interference. And then this last game, the defender actually put his hand in the middle of Pierre's chest and they called it on Pierre for some reason.
"It's just one of those things that you kind of deal with. They've got a job to do. It's all fast motion. We have the opportunity to look at it on film and slow it down with a clicker. It's probably a lot more difficult for them in the moment. Like I said, we've just got to do a better job of not having the calls decide the game at the end. We have to kind of put it away before that."
Staley went on to discuss still being winless, the departure of NaVorro Bowman, the story that two 49ers linebackers had a gun pulled on them, his views on the socioeconomic issues surrounding the NFL, and the team's upcoming matchup with Dallas.
You can listen to the entire interview with Staley below.
