The San Francisco 49ers are 4-0 to open the season. The team returned home to Levi's® Stadium after the bye week and made a statement on "Monday Night Football" with a decisive, 31-3, victory over the Cleveland Browns. Here's what both locker rooms had to say following the matchup.
Niners Liners
Kyle Shanahan on how effective the 49ers rushing attack was on Monday night:
"It helps when you get explosives. The first play to start that out, to get 80 (yards) right there is obviously a big lift and helps your stats when you get that. But, having the lead. The defense playing that well, being able to run that much. Some of the looks we did, I thought we blocked hard. We played very physical and it seems like the backs all hit the right hole."
Shanahan on Nick Bosa's performance:
"Well, he got to play a lot more. So, I think he had more opportunities. He hasn't been playing a ton. He's been playing situationally, and tonight, I think he got to play a lot more. I'm not sure what his stats were or how many sacks he had, but every time I looked up he was there. That's how it was in practice for us in training camp for the times he was healthy. Obviously, I think he's getting a lot more healthy so it's good to see."
Shanahan on Emmanuel Moseley's first start:
"From what I saw, he played a lot like we expected. The game is not too big for E-Man. He's very competitive out there. He started out with us just how physical he plays and how hard he goes on special teams and he came over and got a lot of playing time on defense and it looked like the same guy. He's always going to play physically, not turn anything down. And when I did see them challenge him, especially on that go route by our sidelines, there's no hesitation and he tried to get after it."
Shanahan on Robert Saleh's game plan against the Browns:
"To win. That's always the objective. They did a great job keeping them out of the end zone though, getting the turnovers, allowing our D-linemen to try to stop the run and the pass where you can tee off, send four, not have to send too many blitzes. So, you've got seven guys in coverage. Saleh has done a hell of a job since he's been here and our whole defensive coaching staff. They had a great plan today. I think they've had a great plan all year and the guys have been staying healthy and we've added a few new guys, which have really helped a lot and I think we've gotten better as coaches. We've gotten better as players and hopefully that will continue."
QB Jimmy Garoppolo on setting the tone with the first offensive play of the game:
"Yeah, we talked about throwing the first punch before the game. When the O-line makes a hole like that and [RB Matt] Breida hits it, he was just flying. Makes everything a lot easier."
Garoppolo on the touchdown pass to Matt Breida:
"Breida made a great move. He had a linebacker on him, made him miss and then made a great catch after it, laying out for it and everything. It's things like that, throwing the first punch, not dipping your foot in the water, just jumping right in. It puts us at ease and kind of puts the pressure on them."
DL Nick Bosa on his Monday night performance:
"I was doing the same thing that I have been doing, just rushing my butt off. The fact that all the things came together for me to get a couple of sacks. A sack is a number of things; it is not just somebody winning a rush. My job is to win the rush and do my job. The DBs job is to cover and make him hold it a couple extra seconds and the rest of the guys stay in their rush lanes to keep him contained in the pocket. So there is a lot that goes into those sacks."
RB Matt Breida on what he saw on his 83-yard touchdown run:
"A big hole. I saw a big hole. The offensive line and the receivers did a great job of blocking. The play worked out how it was supposed to."
DL DeForest Buckner on the 49ers defensive game plan against the Browns:
"Yeah, they got a lot of talent, you know what I mean. They've got a lot of weapons of the offensive side, but coming into this game we weren't really thinking about all the talent they got, all that kind of stuff. We have been playing really good, like [CB Richard] Sherman has been saying, championship defense. We just had to come in, we knew it was coming off a bye and we knew in the past we've been coming out on byes a little lackadaisical and stuff. So, we just had to come in with that same energy and focus on ourselves and what we can do better on defense and it came to light on Monday night."
TE George Kittle on the benefits of establishing the run early:
"When you establish the run early it kind of just opens up other opportunities for the play action. I mean, when we can run the ball our play action and our pass thrives off of it and then you saw that throughout the game. I know fourth quarter we've definitely got to clean up, that was not a lot of pretty football, but I think the first three quarters we put together a lot of good football. You know, we just got to learn how to finish that game and not let a team hang around."
CB Richard Sherman on his interception:
"I knew the route, I ran it, the receiver took an extra step. Baker [Mayfield] took an extra hitch because he was getting hit. He took too long to get the ball out. He's got to throw the ball on time and it would have been a much easier interception. He tried to put some air under it because he was throwing later then he should have. I was still able to get it."
Browns Quotes
Head coach Freddie Kitchens on the Browns loss to the 49ers:
"Definitely wasn't the result we wanted. You've got to give all the credit in the world to San Francisco. They beat us in every facet of the game."
Kitchens on the 49ers defensive front:
"Well, I mean, you saw the game. So, they were physical. They were fast. They're long. They're athletic and they played with tremendous effort."
QB Baker Mayfield on dealing with the 49ers pressure and trying to get into a rhythm:
"It was like one step forward and two back. There was no rhythm for the offense to get into. When we did, we got down to the redzone and didn't finish."
Mayfield on his performance:
"Not great. When you look at it, there were a lot of things wrong. We'll go back to the drawing board."
WR Odell Beckham Jr. on trying to take momentum early:
"I don't know. We had a good plan. They just beat us. I had an opportunity, seeing [Browns WR Jarvis Landry]. We made eye contact, and I couldn't not throw it to him. There might have been an opportunity to throw it deep, and it could have changed the whole momentum of the game. They came out, they popped a run early for [83 yards] and from then on, it just keep going. It just felt like we were trying to catch our stride or whatever it was. There was a point where we were still in the game, and it just kept going and kept going. They outplayed us, they beat us. Hats off to a great team."
