Why didn't the 49ers get the ball to Deebo Samuel earlier in their 34-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday night? What did 49ers players think of the performance of Bills quarterback Josh Allen? And what did Allen think of how his offense played?
Those questions were among several that were discussed by players and coaches following Monday night's game. Here are their answers, as well as a few other notable quotes to come out of the postgame press conferences.
* Shanahan on why Deebo Samuel wasn't more involved early: Wide receiver Deebo Samuel finished with six catches for 73 yards against the Bills, but it took a while for the 49ers to get him the ball. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan talked about why.
"I think it was real tough in the first half with anyone," Shanahan said. "We went on that one long drive which I think we had like two passes on that first drive but all runs. It was really important to us to establish the run to start the game out, to get that going. So we didn't have a ton of passes in the first half, and the ones we called for him, we didn't get those coverages. And they controlled the ball very well, so we didn't have the number of plays either. We tried to but weren't out there long enough. We eventually got it to him. I thought he did a good job on the plays we got to him on. but we didn't score t it kind of ended right there."
* 49ers weigh in on Allen: Josh Allen had one of the best performances of his career against the 49ers, throwing for 375 yards and four touchdowns on 32 of 40 passing. Here's a rundown of what they thought about Allen's showing.
-Shanahan: "No different than what you see on tape. He's been doing it all year. He's big, can run, has a big arm, plays the position well, he's got a good scheme, and he's got some good people around him."
-Linebacker Fred Warner: "He for sure had probably one of his best games. We knew about the arm talent and the escapability to be able to extend plays, and he showed that off today. So hats off to him. We obviously needed to play better on defense to win that game."
-Cornerback Richard Sherman: "He was in good control of the game. He didn't pass up any easy looks. He didn't take any risky throws. The D-Line was doing everything they could and put a lot of pressure on him but he did a great job of evading and extending plays. You extend plays for four or five seconds and the coverage usually breaks down regardless of what you're in. So you've got to give him credit, man. He played a freaking fantastic game."
* Allen on the offensive performance: The Bills had one of their best showings of the season on offense, which Allen overall seems to have enjoyed. But he still found a few errors the team can work on in the days ahead.
"It was a great time," Allen said. "Our guys held their block all night. Our guys got open, made plays for us. Our defense showed up. It was an all-around team win, the numbers don't lie. But again, we still left a bunch of meat on the bone -- the turnover on downs, the fumble when backed up. We've got to find ways to start faster and finish off those drives."
* Cole Beasley weighs in on his career game: One of the main beneficiaries of Allen's performance was wide receiver Cole Beasley, who had a career game with nine catches for 130 yards and one touchdown. Beasley credited Allen with finding him on deep passes to help spur his big performance.
"Anytime I can get a few deep ones, a few big gains, it helps me a lot," Beasley said. "I do a lot of work underneath, so anytime I can get over the top behind the defense from time to time, that definitely helps with that. That's what happened today. Josh did a good job of extending plays and finding me."
* First Monday night win in over 20 years? Meh: The win over the 49ers was the first on Monday Night Football for the Bills since 1999. It was a long time coming for the franchise, which only played on Monday Night Football eight previous times during the 2000s. But the Bills seemed to take the news in stride when it came up after the game.
"It's very great, but the team we have now wasn't a part of that, so we're not really connected to it, but we'll take it," said cornerback Tre'Davious White.
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