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Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Your teammates warned us that you wouldn't use your ankle as an excuse for today's game, but I have to ask, was the ankle affecting your throws or your mobility in that first half?
"No, I felt it. I wouldn't say it affected everything. It's one of those things you've got to deal with. It's tough. It was a tough one today. You just want to be out there with the guys, wanted to get the win today, obviously didn't and it was just a lot of things didn't go well for us."
How challenging is it to not lose your confidence when you are playing on a bum ankle a little bit and when you guys aren't winning the line of scrimmage, maybe like you've been used to in the last couple of years?
In your mind, are you at all a question mark going in next week or could this be a lingering thing after thinking you could be ready this week and having to come out?
"I really haven't thought that far ahead. I guess we'll just take it day by day with the ankle and see how it goes."
How did you feel just going through the week on the ankle and was there any moments this week where you thought you might not play?
"No, there was never a moment I didn't think I was going to play. Since last week, I told myself I was going to be out there. Did everything I could and took care of the ankle. Ankle was feeling fine before the game and so it's just, it was a tough one today."
"I think we just, every offense, every team really, you have to find your identity. It's a process. Every team goes through it every year and it's not one of those things that happens very quickly. It takes time and we need to do it with a little bit of sense of urgency. It really comes down to find out who we are, what we do best and going out there and doing it on the field. There's a million little things that all come together and we've just got to keep working at it."
What was the mood on the sideline and the second half when you weren't on the field and do you sense a fight from the team still?
"Yeah, you could see it after the game. This one hurt. It hurt all of us after the game. It's a tough situation to be in, but we've got some dogs in this locker room. We've got some guys who will come into work the next day with the right mindset, take the 24 hours, watch the film, be hard on ourselves like we always are, but we've got guys in this locker room that know what it takes to win, know how to do it and it's just about going out there and doing it now."
Obviously, everybody wants to play if they're healthy, but they don't want to be a hindrance to the team. You said that you felt good, but did you ever get to the point at halftime when head coach Kyle Shanahan decided to go with QB C.J. Beathard, that you did feel like maybe you were being a hindrance to the team?
I'm curious to know how the Miami Dolphins were playing you guys now that you'd have pretty much a full complement of offensive weapons?
"Just with coverages and things like that, or what do you mean?"
Did they do anything defensively that surprised you, that other teams have in the last few games?
"Yeah, but every week is like that, especially with our offense, all the motions and different things that we do. You do the scouting report, but you kind of anticipate that teams are going to change some things up to stop what we do best and it just kind of is what it is. You've just got to be able to adjust during the game with that stuff."
"No. It was pretty much the same, the whole game."
The second interception, the ball seemed to sail, seemed to drift a little bit. When you're dealing with a right ankle sprain, I would imagine that you're not able to drive off of that plant foot like you usually do. Was that the culprit on that play, on some of the other throws?
"Yeah, that one specifically, I really couldn't. I tried to, like you said, I tried to drive it. I couldn't really pull it down. Came off my hand wrong and as soon as I let it go, I knew it was just too high, but it was just tough. You've just got to learn how to work around it."
We've seen you kind of on the sideline gather guys around at the playoffs last season. TE George Kittle has mentioned the captains several times to us, the offensive captains, up to that leadership. Is this a time for you guys, the captains, to kind of pull everyone aside? Is there a team meeting time? What do you think this team is emotionally involved, what the leader's responsibility is?
