The San Francisco 49ers traveled cross country to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. Aided by four turnovers, including two pick-sixes, San Francisco came away with a 31-17 victory. Here's what both locker rooms had to say following the matchup.
Niners Liners
Kyle Shanahan on Jimmy Garoppolo's Week 1 performance:
"I mean, I think the whole offense was shaky. I think he made a couple of good throws but Jimmy and everyone else, including myself, needs to get a lot more consistent. There were some things out there that we missed, which I think made it a much tighter game than it needed to be. Fortunately our defense got us some turnovers. They got four of them, which it's hard to win when you have two turnovers on offense but when you get four on the other side, especially when they scored on two of them, that makes it a little easier to overcome some sloppy play that we had on offense."
Shanahan on Kwon Alexander's ejection:
"So Kwon brought it which you kind of have to do. You want him to do that without leaning with their head, which sometimes is physically impossible, but you want to challenge him hard on that. We'll review the tape and slow it down and figure out how to coach him on that. So I'm sure he did deserve the penalty. It's just very tough when you only have 46 guys up on gameday and you lose a guy in the first quarter. It's not like college where you have 100 people on the field, so that's going to end up being a huge problem for people in this league."
Shanahan on getting Nick Bosa and Dee Ford on the field together at the same time:
"From what I saw it looked good. I know they weren't out there all the time, but I saw them make a few plays. Every time I looked up it seemed like when Bosa was in he got back there. He missed Jameis (Winston) on a couple that I saw but Jameis is pretty good at that too. He's done that to a lot of good players. But I was really happy how they got in the backfield, and not just those two but it seemed like the whole D-line."
Jimmy Garoppolo on his Week 1 performance:
"I think there were some ups and downs, obviously some things to learn from, but it is always great to start the season 1-0."
Garoppolo on Tevin Coleman's injury:
"It put a lot more pressure on the other guys and I think those guys stepped up. (Matt) Breida and Raheem (Mostert) especially down the stretch started running real hard. Towards the end there when we needed a couple yards here and there or a clutch first down, those guys were getting it for us."
Garoppolo on his touchdown pass to Richie James Jr.:
"Rich had a great route, a little wheel route, and just got past the guy and saw he had a step on him and let him run under it. Giving him a lot of credit and the line blocked great so he had all the time in the world."
Garoppolo on starting the season off with a win:
"It feels really good. It feels good to get back, it has been awhile since I have been out here with the guys for a full game and it was fun out there today."
Richard Sherman on his interception:
"Well it was empty, we knew we were pressuring him (Jameis Winston), we had a mismatch in the slot, they had a back to my side. In their offense, their backs only run certain routes. So I knew what the route was, I waited for the quarterback to break, I broke before the back and I got a chance to get my hands on it and the rest is history.
"I'm not gonna lie I was just tired. Today was one of the hottest games I've ever been a part of. That's why you don't have much for celebration because your body is just in survival mode and you're just trying to stay on top and trying to get your job done as best you can. But it felt good, I'm sure I'll enjoy more later on, but I'm just happy for our defense, I'm happy for our team."
Sherman on 49ers improvements heading onto Week 2:
"You know, we played sloppy today, but it's the first game, we've got to knock out some of the wrinkles. They've got a lot of talented players over there and we gotta find a way to play a more mistake-free football game, myself included. I had a couple penalties that I shouldn't have had. Just ticky-tack, I've got to put myself in better position and we've got to hold ourselves to a standard. It was a decent game for us, but we have to get better."
George Kittle on the play of the 49ers defense:
"I mean watching (Nick) Bosa get sacks, and watching the Dee Ford strip and get fumbles, it gets the offense going. When your defense is playing like that, and (Richard) Sherman gets a pick-six, and Akhello (Witherspoon) with the pick-six. It just gets you fired up. It's hard to watch an offense go down, and the defense have a 12-play drive for a touchdown. That kind of drains the offense too, sitting there. When your defense makes those big plays, it just gets everyone excited. It gets the offense moving, it's just good vibes really, it just gets you going."
Kwon Alexander on receiving the game ball:
"I'm really going to give it to my teammates. They worked for it. They played hard today. I'm thankful for the ball for sure."
View game photos from the 49ers Week 1 win over the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
Buccaneers Quotes
Bruce Arians on the biggest coaching obstacle against the 49ers defense:
"Turnovers. We ran the ball extremely well. We had first and goal from the 10 (yard line) a couple of times (and) don't score. One from the 11 (yard line) there at the end. I probably got greedy, should have taken the three points and kept it a three-point game. But, I felt really good about our defense. If we don't make it, we're going to get it back at the 50 (yard line) with a lot of time left. Obviously, we didn't want a field goal in that. We wanted a touchdown and again we were in two-down territory and we get a sack. Overall, I thought our offensive line played really well."
Arians on defending George Kittle:
"We have a couple of double (teams) in there for him, but we wanted to pressure more. Especially in the fourth quarter, we were pressuring. So, somebody's got to cover him or it's a 'fire zone' and we're playing zone defense with a blitz."
Jameis Winston on Richard Sherman's interception"
"I just have to put it on his body. Anytime you've got a running back on a cornerback you've got to be cautions of the throw. So, make a better throw and it's not a pick-six."
Winston on Ahkello Witherspoon's pick-six:
"(Dare Ogunbowale) got held up there and I thought I was making a good throw. He didn't get out and it ended up going right to the guy. I just have to throw it in the dirt or something. That was just a matter of trust of a guy being there and they sniffed it out. So I just have to take care of the ball and throw it into the dirt or something."
Devin White on the performance of the Buccaneers defense:
"I'm really proud of how my guys fought on that side of the ball, because we kept getting in some situations, but we embraced them. We were trying to stand tall because defense wins championships – that's the motto that you always want to have. Even if you've got the best offense in the world, you just want to keep that same mentality – defense wins ball games. People see it out there. If you were watching us, we were trying to stand our ground, but we've got to get better, get more takeaways because we've got goals for us as a defense. Then we've (got to) come together with the offense and play as a team."