The San Francisco 49ers are 7-0 to open the season the first time since 1990. Here's what both locker rooms had to say following San Francisco's 51-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 8.
Niners Liners
Kyle Shanahan on the final score:
"In the NFL, you never expect to just blow someone out like that, especially a good team like that. They're a really good team. They're a team who will be around at the end of the year. They can run the ball. They play really good on defense. Our team was just ready to go. Everything was clicking, got a few turnovers. Defense set us up with some great field position. We were able to capitalize on both of those, all three of them I believe. The turnover that our offense had, they got a field goal. Our whole team played very well and everything was just hitting today."
Shanahan on DL Nick Bosa's performance:
"It was pretty damn impressive. I'm sure when I watch the tape, it'll look even better. The play that he made on the interception was one of the more impressive plays that I've seen from a d-Lineman. Thought he should have scored, but it's always nice when they don't and they let the offense score too. So, it was alright."
Shanahan on CB Emmanuel Moseley's growth as a player:
"A lot. We gave him a chance, we thought he was going to help us out last year when we got him up on the roster and he ended up getting hurt on, I believe it was his first special teams play that he had with us. He was very aggressive last year on the practice squad. Always working and found his way to get up and had that bad injury. But, he was the same in OTAs. Same in training camp. Played his tail off in the preseason. Got his opportunity when CB Ahkello Witherspoon got hurt and he's gone out there, just like a lot of our guys who have got their opportunities because of injury. The game hasn't been too big for them. They've looked the exact same way in practice every day. They don't get too into who they're going against or too nervous under the big lights. He's gotten better each week the more he plays and I think that will continue."
Shanahan on WR Emmanuel Sanders' first week with the team:
"Yeah, he was great all week. Just for a receiver to get here on a Tuesday night and the way he looked in practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It helped give him a head start, just having a little familiarity with the offense, being in Denver. But still, a lot of new stuff and a lot of different words and everything. He was a true pro, he crammed it in right away. Even when guys cram stuff in, you never know in the heat of the battle if they're going to resort to how they used to know it. Emmanuel didn't make any mistakes. It was a helluva first game for him and he'll continue to get better learning our stuff."
QB Jimmy Garoppolo on if having Emmanuel Sanders out on the field made a difference:
"It's always hard out there, but, having a guy like that, a savvy vet like E just makes you comfortable as a quarterback. To have him have a great day today, it'll only get better from here."
Garoppolo on what he learned about Tevin Coleman after his Week 8 performance:
"He can fly, man. We had a trap play and he was one-on-one with the safety and he just burned him with pure speed. He did everything today. Tevin was awesome. All the running backs."
LB Kwon Alexander on what has enabled Nick Bosa to step in and be a force for the 49ers defense:
"I think he was born like that. There are a lot of people that work hard to get where he is. He practices hard. He practices his technique a lot. He goes out there and shows what he can do. He has just been amazing for us."
DL Arik Armstead on the game plan against Carolina Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey:
"He is a super talented player. They love to get the ball to him in various ways so we definitely had to gang tackle and corral him. He got a few plays in on us but for the most part we got the win. It was definitely a challenge, he is an awesome player, he can make guys miss and so it was definitely a challenge for us."
DL Nick Bosa on his interception:
"They had been cutting us a little bit on pass. He got me on a play before, cut me really good. So, just played the cut that time and saw the quarterback's eyes and just jumped. Then, it went right into my hands."
RB Tevin Coleman on if he was surprised at the offense's success against the Panthers defense:
"Oh yeah, definitely because they are a great, great D and they have great players on their D, especially (Carolina Panthers LB) Luke Kuechly and things like that. So, we definitely had to work and get our details down, just to play against him. Shanahan and the other coaches came up with a great scheme to do that."
TE George Kittle on Tevin Coleman's performance:
"From the first time that Tevin came into the building, just watching him run with the ball and how he reads it, how he gets downhill, him taking the edge and then getting vertical is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen and he does it with zero regard for his body, which is pretty amazing for a running back. He gets downhill so fast, so I just love watching him play. For him to get, I think, 110 yards on 11 carries, something like that, and three touchdowns, I'm just happy for him. He deserves that because he grinds every single day and we're just happy we could help him do that."
WR Emmanuel Sanders on if Sunday's game reinforces that joining the 49ers was the right fit for him:
"I knew it. All week the energy has been so positive here. This locker room is just amazing with a great group of players and great personalities around here. I showed up today expecting the same results in personality. I will never forget going out into the tunnel with these guys. Everybody was laughing and smiling, I was like; man this is football, this is fun.' I am blessed to be here."
Sanders on his first touchdown as a member of the 49ers:
"I ran like a five-yard out route. I guess the ball was tipped, but it ended up falling right in my hands. It was probably one of the easiest touchdowns I've had. It was awesome to get on the opening drive to be a newcomer on this team and be able to open up like that is awesome."
CB Richard Sherman on the defense's performance:
"Well, it's great defense. It's great, sound defense. I had a good feel, had a good rhythm for what they are. In this game, as you get older, people kind of lose respect for you. That's the frustrating thing sometimes about this game, is like, people say, 'Oh, he's 31, he can't be the best cornerback in football, so we'll just give it to somebody else.' It's like, 'Oh, you guys don't actually watch the film.' WR Dante Pettis had told me, I guess he's friends with the quarterback, and he was like, 'Hey man, his plan is to just go at you.' I was like, 'You don't understand, I'm not new to this.' I've been playing at a high level for, you know, my 15 minutes started an hour ago. Like, I've been doing this. It's one of those things where you take advantage of the opportunities. Guys are going to sit here and throw 5-yard hitches and gain confidence, like, 'Oh my God, we've got a chance.' As soon as you throw anything substantial, I'm taking it. S Jaquiski Tartt did a great job on that play, too. He was in a great position. The d-line has been hunting all day. That's the great thing about this defense is you just have to play sound. When your d-Line is hunting like that, DL Nick Bosa deserves all the credit in the world. DL Dee Ford, DL DeForest Buckner and DL Arik Armstead. You see DL Ronald Blair III got in there and DL Solomon Thomas. Pressure all day and night on them. DL D.J. Jones came in there, huge, huge sack early on. That's what you need, you know. You had DL Sheldon Day come in there and had great third down stops. It's team defense, and that's what we're playing. CB Emmanuel Moseley, like a few weeks ago, everybody's concerned, everybody's worried. 'Oh my God, we lost CB Ahkello Witherspoon.' Ahkello's a great player, and we can't wait to get him back, but so is E-man. So is Emmanuel. Emmanuel has played at a high level and has had very limited opportunities and finally gave him an opportunity. He was just ready, played well and he got his hands on the ball. That's just sound football. These guys are playing great and I think they deserve all the credit in the world. Obviously, LB Fred Warner and LB Kwon Alexander deserve a ton of credit, but the safeties back there eliminate it. They had some good throws and Tartt and DB Jimmie Ward went out there and eliminated it. When 22 [RB Christian McCaffrey] broke out, he's a good player. He's going to get his runs. Jimmie was able to get him down and keep points off the board. That's what you appreciate about the eraser. He's not going to get enough credit for that. It's not going to show up as a huge stat in the stat sheet, but he's a guy that you appreciate."
Panthers Quotes
Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera on what made the 49ers so successful running the ball:
"Well, we were getting out of our creases and they were blocking us out of our creases and you know, it's just one of those things. I'm going to take a look at the tape and we'll go from there, but I'm not going to sit here and criticize. We'll take the blame. We got beat by a better football team today. It's on me as the head coach to make sure we do things the right way. Whatever happened on that football field will be corrected and that's all we can do. I'm not going to look back and I'm not going to put blame on anybody but myself. It's that simple."
Rivera on if QB Kyle Allen held on to the ball too long on a couple of the sacks:
"I think he tried a little bit more than he needed to. The thing that young players have to understand is there's no 24-point play. You've got to make them one play at a time, and you've got to make them one score at a time and take what they're giving you. If they're giving you five-yard check downs, take the five-yard check down. He's a young quarterback and he's learning. He's done a great job for us. As a starter he's 4-and-1. He's going to learn from this just like we'll learn from this. I'll learn from this. Like I tell you guys, I'll go back, take a look at the tape and make sure we're doing the things that we need to do to give these guys a chance and if not, we've got to correct them."
Rivera on if the team was prepared for what they saw from the 49ers today:
"I thought our preparation was pretty good. They hit us on a couple of plays that we practice, we literally practiced. But sometimes, you've got to give the other team credit as well. I mean, there's a reason why they're 7-and-0."
QB Kyle Allen on how he will deal with adversity following this performance:
"It's football. Stuff's not always going to go your way. As a team we're going to learn from this film. We're going to learn from what we did, starting with me especially, we're going to learn from what we did. We're just going to move on from it and not make the same mistakes twice. We're a really good football team. I know that. Today didn't show that. I didn't play to the ability (and) I didn't put our team in the position to win the game. I guess it starts with me so we're going to go see what we did wrong, figure it out and keep pushing forward."
Allen on what he saw from the 49ers pressure:
"They didn't blitz much. Their defensive line just did a really good job of rushing. I tried to get the ball out of my hand as quick as I could, but the d-line did a really good job. Hats off to them. They're a talented group."
LB Mario Addison on how easy it will be for the team to put this game behind them:
"It's never easy. A game like this, when a team puts 50 on you, every time you think about it, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt to the core. Easier said than done. It's easy to say, 'Let's put it behind us.' We have to go correct everything Monday morning, come back on Wednesday and start fresh."
LB Luke Kuechly on what the 49ers did on the ground that made them so effective:
"I just think that they were able to get a couple of big runs. We have to get our eyes in a better spot and play our gaps. We're going to go back and look at it. Again, they just hit some big runs and we had guys out of position. We just have to get that cleaned up."
DT Gerald McCoy on how they will put this game behind them:
"Yeah, that's bad. It's a tough day at the office. I know how I am. I keep the same energy, win, lose or draw. We just lost. They beat us today. There's not much more you can say about it. Just hold your L, get on tape, fix it and put it behind you. How you put it behind you is you have no choice because Tennessee don't care. They won today. So they are going to try and go on the run, going on the road. We're going to try and keep winning. We can't allow one loss to turn into two. After we watch this tape, we've got to put it behind us."
McCoy on what made the 49ers so difficult to deal with offensively:
"Just us not being where we were supposed to be, making mistakes. We just got beat, top to bottom, in every facet of the game. I've been playing this game a long time, and I've played enough days for games like that to happen to everybody. It happens. You can't allow yourself to be that way and stay that way. You take the loss and move on."
