Do you have any word on QB C.J. Beathard's MRI or exams today?
"Yeah, it was good news. There was nothing serious or long-term. But, he is pretty sore today. I think he's got a knee contusion and a hip strain. Pretty banged up, though. But, a little too sore to see how long it's going to last. So, we'll keep looking into it tomorrow. We'll look more into it tomorrow, get a little more information on when he'll be ready to practice."
Would you go ahead and make the call early in the week and commit to giving QB Jimmy Garoppolo all the reps?
"Yeah, I'll probably have an answer for you guys on Wednesday. I'd like to talk to the staff. I'd like to watch some Chicago first. We just finished up Seattle, just finished up watching the game with the quarterbacks and then came in here. I'll have a decision for you guys by Wednesday."
Is that because the snaps are so limited during the regular season that you have to make a decision by Wednesday anyway in order to give the guy the requisite number of snaps?
"It definitely helps, especially when you're dealing with two guys. One is a rookie quarterback, and the other one basically is also, with him just being here. To give those guys the best chance to be successful, you want to give them all the reps, which still isn't enough reps. Any time you split those evenly, it's kind of a disservice to both. If you need those reps to make a decision, I've done that before in other situations when you have to do it, but that's usually a situation you want to try to avoid."
How close was OL Trent Brown to playing yesterday and where do you see him this week?
"He was close. We were optimistic going into it. We knew it was going to be a game-time decision. That's why you make a game-time decision because you never know how well somebody is going to be on Sunday. He didn't feel well Sunday. His shoulder was bothering him, and he couldn't go. So, we decided to go with [OL Erik] Magnuson."
With it being that close, you would expect that week he would do a little bit more?
"I think it's going to be the same situation. It's going to be day-to-day. You never know how those shoulders are going to react. I know he tried, and he was hoping that he could, but he just couldn't go. I know he's still sore from it today. We'll see how it goes throughout the week."
How did he hurt it?
"He hurt it in one of the last reps of practice on Thursday on just a pass-rush deal. You can't even see it on tape. Just a one-on-one deal where someone was coming at him. He just extended his arm and went back. He felt something in his shoulder."
Were both the knee and the hip area hurt where C.J. happened on that same play? Just the weird angle that he was hit sort of--?
"I guess. You'd have to ask him. I mean, it was pretty violent, right in his knee area. I'm sure that jarred something into his hip that went into his whole body. He hit his head pretty hard at the end of it, too. He fell pretty hard."
Is that one of those hits that's below the strike zone?
"It looked like it to me. You know, definitely looked low."
Had the whistle blown on that? Did Erik think the play was over?
"No, no, it didn't blow. It happened a couple times in the game where they jumped off-sides. It happened on a run and two passes where they ended up getting tackles that they didn't blow the whistle on."
Did you watch film today with both quarterbacks or was C.J. off getting his--?
"No, I watched with all the quarterbacks."
Any impressions how C.J. played up to that play?
"Pretty similar to what I told you guys yesterday. He definitely had a couple that he missed. But, I thought he was under duress a lot of the game. Didn't really waiver. He did a very good job with his eyes trying to move their zone coverages which they played throughout the game. Sometimes he didn't have the time to move the coverage to get people open. But, he never changed. He never got skittish as it went. Still kept hanging in there, trying to do his job. I know there's a couple throws he'd like to have back, but not many more than a couple."
As a quarterback, how did C.J. do in avoiding pressure? Does he hold on to the ball too long sometimes? How is he in his responsibilities and the things that he can control in terms of dealing with pressure?
"I think growth. There's not an absolute answer there. I think C.J. has done a very good job of not watching the rush. He does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield and trying to get the ball to the right places. I think he's gotten better at that each week. I think that's a very hard thing for a lot of people to do. It's hard to sit in that pocket. You can talk about it all week in practice, but rarely when guys get in there can, they do it with the poise that he has. Sometimes that can catch you off guard. You're keeping your eyes down the field. You do have a clock, you know when you're hot, you know when they're bringing more than you can protect, so you think you have a certain amount of time and sometimes guys miss blocks. If you're keeping your eyes downfield, you don't always see that. Sometimes you can get surprised by that. Guys who are good at scrambling, sometimes they're good at scrambling because they watch the rush all day and play on an exit angle on how they are going to get away, which allows them to make some plays. It also makes them miss a lot of open people. There's a balance with both of that."
With Jimmy, are you able to gauge his ability to do those things in practice very much or do you have to see him in game action where you can really get how he--?
"You can definitely get a lot in practice. But, you get the most in the game. You can get it from both. It's always different, too. They know they can't hit you in practice."
When you guys are going over the film, what is Jimmy's involvement in that? Is he in tune with the play?
"Yeah, he watches it. He's learned a lot from watching C.J. and talking. He asks a lot of questions. Those guys are great in there. We don't hold anything back. Stuff C.J. is seeing; it's not like he waits until we're alone to talk about it. He'll say it right there, and Jimmy will ask a question and vice versa. They definitely help each other. We've got a very competitive room, but we've also got a lot of confident people that when we're in there, we're working our hardest to get better."
You mentioned yesterday that Jimmy looked good on the non-schedule stuff that he was involved with on Sunday. How has he done on the scheduled stuff in practice? How has he looked when he does get in there?
"He's gotten better. It's still a work in progress. It will continue to be throughout the year. Hopefully, he'll be a lot more comfortable going into next year. But, things change. It's not automatic. He had a couple things in there, in the game. I believe he got one scramble and two passes. One of them hit a guy perfect in rhythm, the one to [WR] Aldrick [Robinson], I believe it was third down, or the fourth-and-six one. Then he got the off-schedule one, scrambling around and bought some time and got the ball to [WR Louis Murphy] Lou and got us in the end zone."
Do you have an update on RB Raheem Mostert?
"Yeah, MCL. He's going to have to go on IR. Also, Erik Magnuson is going to have to go on IR also."
What's wrong with Magnuson?
"He got a foot sprain in the first half. I think it was early second quarter, which we didn't know about it. He toughed it out, played throughout the whole game. It was a pretty bad foot sprain, so he's going to have to go on IR. I was pretty amazed. Got a lot of respect for that guy for staying out there and battling through that, especially with how short we were at tackles."
On top of that, what did you learn about him this year because he's not a guy that necessarily played a lot of tackle--?
"He's earned our respect a lot. I think everyone in our building. He made this team as an undrafted guard-center, an inside player. He's been thrown in there to play tackle. The game's not too big for him. Our O-Line coaches told him just a couple hours before kickoff that he was going to be starting. I think it surprised him a little bit. But, if you would have saw his face, you would have been pretty confident. The guy was fired up to get an opportunity. Loves going out there and playing. The game is not too big for him. He's not scared to fail. You get an undrafted rookie guard out there starting at right tackle for you going against [Seattle Seahawks DE] Michael Bennett playing with a foot sprain for three quarters to where he's not going to be able to play the rest of the year, he doesn't flinch, doesn't hesitate, just keeps playing, doesn't say anything, that's a guy I'd love to play with."
(Inaudible)
"Yeah, that's what he made our team as, as a rotational backup inside player, someone who hopefully can develop him there. But, he's shown he has the ability to play tackle, which is a big asset for those guys, especially when you're not in the starting five."
To fill that roster spot, are you going to bring in two guys from the outside or from the practice squad?
"We're going to have to do that tomorrow. We've got a couple guys in our practice squad who are options, and then we'll go through the people who are out there. Probably bring in a few guys for workouts tomorrow. I know those guys are working on that now. Just from a numbers standpoint, we're going to have to decide on someone. It will be between whoever we work out and the guys we've got on the practice squad."
What are you expecting from OL Darrell Williams Jr.?
"Darrell has got some ability. That's why we kept him here. He got one play in that game when [T] Joe [Staley] went out for a little bit. He's continued to get better. He's made a lot of progress here over the last month or so. He might get thrown in there a little bit more, which we'll find out when that happens. But regardless, depending on how you handle it, it usually allows guys to get better in the long run."
You talked last week on the radio about Jimmy and what you said it sounded like the franchise tag was something you thought was a likely outcome for the offseason. Is that accurate as far as what you think might happen with him? Is that the logical--?
"I think that's logical too, just being totally honest, when you look into it, even before we got him, how long are you going to have to make a decision on the guy. I think anybody who, when you're making a long-term decision on someone for your organization, to pay him the amount of money that you do long-term for quarterbacks, that's a big deal. Someone who hasn't played in a lot of football games who is coming here in a situation where he hasn't had the fair opportunity to prepare the right way, on both sides I think it would be very hard for Jimmy to go in there and show over whatever timespan that is that he could do that. Also for us, man, that's a lot of pressure to get a guy ready to commit to something that long-term. I think knowing how the franchise tag works and stuff is what made it kind of a no-brainer to make that trade. Like, 'Hey, you have this opportunity to get such a good player. What's the negative?' Well, you don't want to lose him in six weeks or eight weeks. If you have the franchise tag, then you don't have to ever worry about losing him. You can get there; you can do things the right way, really find out what the guy is. I think we understand that. I think Jimmy understands that also."
So, it feels like he has a chance to prove himself with you and vice versa, so you feel like okay this is our guy, let's make a long-term commitment?
"Yeah, and I think that's why it makes it easy for us to talk and easy for us to work through. I think Jimmy has goals and believes in himself that he can be one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Anyone who feels that way I would assume wants to be paid that way or be paid accordingly. It's very tough to do over six games, five games, four games. I think Jimmy wants his best opportunity to prove that to us. I'd like to give that to him. If that happens over a five-game span, a three-game span, then great, let's do it. If it doesn't, no big deal. We can franchise you. Let's go to work. Our goals will be to get you that next year. If that does happen for you, that means it happens for us. I think we'll all be happy about that."
As far as the non-whistled hits, is that something that you'll bring up to the league or flag to them?
"Yeah, we write them down. Our assistant coaches send them in. I'll get them back sometime later this week, whether they say they were right or wrong. Then the ones that are wrong, you hope they do it better next time."
What did you see on that CB Dontae Johnson pass interference call?
"I personally saw offensive pass interference."
DL Tank Carradine probably wishes he could have had that one almost sack back. Outside of that, what did you see from him in his return?
"I thought he played hard. He did a good job. He plays our six-technique. He does a really good job on D-Ends. He was very good in the run game, had a few opportunities in the pass game. I think just like [DL] Ronald Blair, when he came back, they had a solid first game. I think Blair has gotten better each game since. I think Tank did good too for his first game and I expect him to take a step forward next week."
Are you expecting DB Adrian Colbert to practice on Wednesday?
"I'm expecting him to practice. He'll be limited. We'll see how the week goes with him and how it heals and how he feels. There is a chance that he could play this week. Feel definitely better about him the following week versus Houston, but there's a chance."
Blair seemed to drop into coverage a little bit in the second half. Is that something that you want to see from him?
"It's not necessarily from him. It's just whenever you run a zone dog, and you bring four guys to a side, two linebackers, in order to play three deep, three under after that, you have to drop a defensive lineman. You have a choice of dropping an inside guy or an outside guy. More often than not it's going to be the outside guy because they're usually more athletic. It happened to be Blair in that position, but it's been other guys throughout the year."
How is your wife doing with Jimmy not playing so far?
"She hasn't been allowed to talk about it for a while. She's backed off some. She's being more patient, especially now. Thank you for asking, she'll be excited."
Can you also talk about when you watched film, what you had seen from DL Sheldon Day and DL Cassius Marsh yesterday?
"I was excited about some of the things they did. They ran around. I thought they were fresh. They brought a few things to the table that I thought they -- a little bit more speed, a little bit more quickness. You want all good rushers out there, but you also like everybody to be a little bit different. Especially with Marsh and his speed and Sheldon, who is still an inside player, but he has some good foot quickness, they were both able to make some plays."
* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers
