San Francisco 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens spoke with reporters after Thursday's 34-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Can you talk a little bit about the preparation that you had this week? It was a very up and down week. You lost some guys to the COVID list. Tell us what it was like.
"Yeah, the last 48 hours, I guess you could say a little bit different. You wake up and see the news and you're a thrown off a little bit. Then coming off the short week definitely threw us for a loop. I didn't think I mean, at the end of the day, you've got to focus on the job at hand and that's playing the football game and executing as a unit to the best of our abilities. So, it was different, but thought we did a good job of focusing on what mattered."
How tough was it out there for you throughout the game?
"You only say it's tough because we didn't execute. I thought we actually, I felt like we could have played a lot better than we did. Felt like we had a lot of really good plays called that gave us a lot of opportunities and for whatever reason, we didn't connect. I'm excited to go back and watch that film because I really do, I feel like we could have got after those guys and done some good things. That's on the players and you just hope to go out there and do your best and we didn't do that tonight."
What was it that allowed WR Richie James to take advantage of his opportunity?
"Yeah, Richie's just a great football player. I've thought he's a really good football player since he's been here and he got his opportunities tonight. He's been pretty steady since he's been here, just always making plays when he has the ball in his hands. He proved that once again tonight. I think he's a great target and he always does a good job."
What's the level of optimism? We have a few days off to heal up and head to New Orleans. What's the level of optimism in that locker room right now?
"Yeah, that's the most frustrating part, we know that we can be so much better. Even with the guys that we had on the field, myself included. We really feel like we can be a lot better and so with these couple of days away, just regroup, reset, and just foot on the gas for these upcoming weeks."
Along with the other challenges this week, you had different guys in front of you on the offensive line. How did that feel tonight?
"I love those guys. You ride with the guys that you have and everybody just did what they could and fought like hell. So, it was good. Our chemistry, just as a unit, we work really well together and you just keep going and make the plays that you can."