The following are the post-game transcripts of the three San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks who played in the 24-21 preseason win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
Jimmy Garoppolo
You played nine snaps tonight. Is there anything you can take away from a nine-snap game?
"Yeah, I mean, obviously there's always things that we can improve on. It's good seeing different looks from a different defense than our own, seeing how plays play out against them versus what we're used to seeing. So yeah, there's always stuff to learn."
How would you diagnose what happened with RB Jerick McKinnon and his inability to get him in space?
"It's hard to see. I'm keeping the keeper's fake and everything like that, so I don't really get a clear look at the runs or whatever like that. Like I said, we'll look at the film, check out what happened and assess everything else."
You had the ball sail on you a couple times. Were you not wanting to put them in a spot where they'd be in danger? What happened on a couple of those?
"Yeah, just different things that we're not used to throwing. Just kind of try some new things. That's what preseason is for, see what works and see what doesn't and move on from there."
You weren't out there for all of them, but what are you thinking when guys keep going down with injuries, the thing you want the least in the preseason?
"It was crazy. I don't even know how many it was in total, but it's never good to see. It's football, those things happen. You just try to minimize it as much as possible. But yeah, it's tough to see that in preseason."
What stands out to you about WR Richie James Jr.?
"His athletic ability for such a young guy, it's impressive. You know, once you put the mental part of it with the physical part it'll be something good."
Has his toughness stood out to you guys? It seems like that's been there on the practice field. Tonight, during the touchdown he took a big shot and still held on to it.
"I think not only Richie, our whole receiver corps as a group, that's a unique position because you're asked to do a lot of finesse things, but at the same time our receivers block better than any in the league. They make it a point of emphasis, really. It's pretty cool when those guys take pride in that like that."
After you came out, we saw you on the sidelines still kind of engaged in the game and plugged in. What were you trying to take away from kind of following along after you're done?
"Well, it's preseason. You try to treat it like a real game, how you would assess things on the sideline, how you look at defenses. We haven't been in that situation in over a year, so just trying to get back in the routine of everything and get things rolling."
Fun to watch QB Nick Mullens do his thing?
"Yeah. That was awesome. It was an exciting way to end it."
C.J. Beathard
You seemed to rebound from maybe what was considered not a great start. Was it just a matter of getting your rhythm at the beginning?
"Yeah, I think it was a matter of just a lot of things. Found a rhythm, guys slipping. Once I found a rhythm, it kind of fell into place a little bit."
That deep ball to WR Dante Pettis, looks like he got fairly open. Was there anything to that play beyond him…
"It was kind of a corner post and it was like a play-action rollout thing. We were pretty much going to take a shot and he beat the safety. It was a good play."
What stands out to you about WR Richie James Jr. so early on?
"He's doing a great job. He's had a great few weeks of camp. He's made some great catches, and it showed out there today on the field. He's a real good player and has a lot of upside to him. He's a good target."
What do you think when you see so many of your teammates go down so quickly in a row?
"Yeah, it's not what you want to see, obviously, in the first preseason game. Hopefully nothing is too serious of an injury for any of those guys. But hopefully they'll get the treatments and get back on the field as soon as possible."
Nick Mullens
Everybody was excited in the locker room for you. What did that mean to you?
"It was an awesome moment, and an awesome moment for our team. The threes, we work together every day in practice. It was cool to just see us take advantage of our opportunities out there today. It was a lot of fun. Everybody was locked in and we finished strong."
Looked pretty comfortable in the two-minute drill there.
"Yeah, it's fun man. You know you're going to pass it and I like to pass, of course. The receivers did a great job. Guys that we work with every day, the guys up front, we were just very in-tune, very locked in. We walked through that every single day of camp and it was cool to see it translate to the field."
QB C.J. Beathard mentioned that just the quarterbacks room and how you were just gelling and learning from QB Jimmy Garoppolo. What's that room been like? What have you learned being under him?
"Yeah, it's been awesome. You know, [Quarterbacks coach] Rich [Scangarello] does a great job of having all of us on the same page. Then, you know us four guys, we've got a good brotherhood in there. We all learn from Jimmy. He obviously is the most experienced and plays very well as a quarterback. So, we learn as much as we can from him. Me and C.J. have been buddies for a while now and we welcomed [QB] Jack [Heneghan] into the room. So, it's a lot of fun. It makes camp a lot more fun when you're around guys that you like. We have a great room and it's a lot of fun."
What's it like to finally have someone else across the field from you and not your own teammates?
"Yeah, no doubt. It's close to 10 straight practices going against the same guys every day, over and over and over. To finally get out, play under the lights, it's so much fun. For me, it's been since last year, last preseason to get out and play. It's awesome to take advantage of the opportunities and go out and have fun with your brothers doing it."
* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers