After WR Kendrick Bourne stepped up and took the blame last week, how nice was it for you guys to get together and have a touchdown this game?
"It was good. KB, he is a guy who comes to work every day. He's a grinder, and I appreciate that. We had a good week of practice. We've been working on that play and he got a good result out of it."
How are you feeling? You took kind of a bit of a beating in that pocket today.
"Yeah. I'm good. Normal bumps and bruises from the game and everything. Just got to work on getting the ball out a little quicker and help those guys out."
Were most of those coverage sacks?
"There was a mix. I've got to get the ball out faster, though. Help those guys out, make it easy, get our offense in to more of a rhythm and just take what they're giving me type of thing. I thought the offensive line played great today. [OL] Mike [Person] stepping up like he did. He didn't practice all week and then he comes out and had a hell of a game for us. Those guys up front are battling and I've got to help them out."
The interception that got called back, at what point did you realize there was a flag?
"After the tackle. I had no idea. Just some miscommunication and had to go down there and thankfully, there was a flag on it."
CB Richard Sherman just said, 'A win is a win,' obviously, but he's coming away from this one feeling like it was a loss just based on the way the team executed. How do you view today's game? What do you take away from it?
"Sherm has a great mindset. It's a good thing. I was just talking to some of the guys. It's a different mindset than last year. Last year if we got a win, we were happy about it. Now, you kind of progress as a team. I think our guys are growing and learning like that. When you have a chance like we had to blow them out and take advantage of that stuff, we didn't. It's just little things like that we need to clean up."
Having a lead like that, is there just a human element of maybe taking your foot off the gas? How do you overcome it?
"I think it just comes down to mental toughness, having all the guys thinking the same way. When you get to the opportunity, you've got to take advantage of it. It's a lot of little things coming together. But yeah, you can't let human nature take over at that point."
What happened on the interception that got called back? Could you just take us through the play at the end?
"Like I said, miscommunication. Thankfully, I heard [TE] George [Kittle] got held pretty good on that, so good thing that that one got called back."
You mentioned you needed to throw the ball quicker. Last week, you threw the ball a lot quicker but you also threw three interceptions. Was there some effort to not throw interceptions this week in your mind at all?
"No. It's always in your mind you don't want to throw interceptions. But, there's a happy medium. It's like everything with being a quarterback. It's about decision making and putting your team in the right spot to be successful. It's a bunch of little things coming together. I think overall, the skill positions stepped up today and the O-Line played great. So, I'm real happy about that."
What were your emotions when you saw the flag?
"Very happy. I didn't see what happened with the flag and everything, but, yeah, very happy."
You were moving quickly to make the tackle there, too.
"Yeah. Going back to my linebacker days I guess."
Can you talk about WR Dante Pettis and how he stepped up for WR Marquise Goodwin?
"Being a rookie, he doesn't really act like one. He has a very calm demeanor on the sideline. He's able to communicate what he saw and what you saw. You kind of move on to the next series when you have a guy like that. It makes my job a lot easier. Even on the first series, he ran a great route, kind of a double move and got wide open. It kind of sparked us. It's nice to see him step up like that."
You mentioned it being a different mindset this year. Being a first-time starter for a full season, are you noticing you are being approached differently by defenses? Does it get more challenging week to week now that you are knowing teams will approach you differently?
"No. Every defense kind of has their own wrinkles. [Detroit head coach Matt Patricia] Matty P I thought had a great plan today. It's a tough scheme to go against. That's the NFL. Every week's a different challenge. Every defense is different in their own way. You just have to throughout the week break it down and learn it to the best of your abilities as quickly as you can."
What does not having Marquise these last two weeks effectively do for the offense? How much does that take away your ability to maybe push the ball downfield like you would want to?
"Well, it puts guys in different positions. I'll say that. Guys are learning different – X, Z, F, Y – whatever it is. We had a couple all-receiver personnel groupings, two running backs, two tight ends, all this different stuff. I think for a young group it's difficult early in the week. But, I think we reacted well to it. Guys learned quickly and they've responded well to it."
You mentioned that you need to get the ball out quicker sometimes. That internal clock that a quarterback has, how much of that is natural? How much of that do you develop on the job as you're going through it?
"I think just over time you learn. That's a hard thing to describe because it's a subconscious thing that goes on. I think I've done pretty well with it. Just got to help the O-Line out. I thought those guys were battling today. Handled their games well up front and picked up the blitzes. It's a mix and match thing. They helped me, so I have to help them."
What were your impressions of WR Pierre Garçon's 20-yard block?
"It was incredible. I was behind him the whole way just trying to catch up to him. They were running really fast, though. I went up to him before I went up to [RB] Matt [Breida] because those are the little things that go unnoticed. I don't even know. He might have had one catch before that point and he's blocking his ass off like that. It's stuff like that. Mike Person coming out and gutting it out today. The guy is a warrior. It's little things like that that you love to see and you love to have guys like that."
Breida got a big explosive play. RB Alfred Morris kind of handled the end of the game there. Do you think those roles are starting to get defined a little bit?
"I think they both do similar things well. At the same time, they're both slashers, they can get the edge, they can run downhill. Even for Matt being a smaller guy, he gets downhill and will deliver a blow. I thought they played tremendous today. I thought the O-Line gave them great lanes. Fullbacks and tight ends were blocking their ass off. It all plays together."
What kind of energy can LB Reuben Foster give this team? I know he's on the other side of the ball, but just on the sideline and being around every day?
"Lot of energy. He's an exciting guy to be around. Always smiling, always having a good time. It'll be good to have him back."
* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers
