First, Chip Kelly (courtesy of Ben Bolch, LA Times):
“I thought it was a good team win, I think both sides offensively and defensively really contributed. We generated a pass rush and made it difficult for their offense but that front of ours is difficult to block, so we kept them kind of behind and then offensively I thought we got off to a good start and as walk about all the time, especially in conference games, if you win the turnover battle, you’ve got an opportunity to win the game, so we did not turn it over offensively today, we caused two from them, so those are some of the positives you can take from it.”
WHAT WENT INTO SWITCH AT QB AND WHEN MAKE THAT DECISION?
“At the end of the week. Dante was banged up a little bit at the beginning of the week, so Garbs got the predominant amount of snaps early in the week and then over the course of the week as we looked at, you know you get to the end of the week like we always do, where are we, what’s our depth, who can contribute and so Ethan earned the start this week from a practice standpoint in terms of where we are, but I thought Dante came in and did a really nice job. Dante was really good toward the end of the week himself, so we’re pretty confident in what we have at quarterback right now.”
BANGED UP FROM PRACTICE OR PREVIOUS GAME OR BOTH?
“Everything.”
HE WAS STRUGGLING, HOW MUCH DID THAT GO INTO IT?
“Didn’t.”
WHAT THINK OF ETHAN TONIGHT?
“I thought Ethan played really well tonight. We’ve always felt like we’ve had depth at the quarterback spot. I think Collin Schlee is a really good quarterback and Collin wasn’t available today, but we’ve always felt like we’ve had three kids that can play quality football for us, so really pleased with Ethan today but I don’t think anything that Ethan did surprised any of us on our staff or any of our players because we see that on a daily basis from Ethan.”
ETHAN’S ABILITY TO SCRAMBLE AND RUN WITH BALL, WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO OFFENSE?
“Yeah, the same thing, I thought he kept some drives alive and I think Dante did too when he was in there later, kept a couple of drives alive, but when people are going to play man coverage, if they’re not going to spy the quarterback then your quarterback has to be able to make–it the coverage is tight, you don’t have an opportunity to have an open receiver, then you have to use your feet and I think he extended drives for us because he made some critical decisions to take off and go and that was big for us today.”
HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH ETHAN ABOUT NO MORE REDSHIRTING?
“No, I’ve never had a conversation with him.”
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE THE QUARTERBACK SITUATION GOING FORWARD?
“I think in great shape. We feel really good about our quarterback situation. We’ve got a couple of really, really good quarterbacks, so we’re excited.”
SO WHAT WILL DETERMINE WHO’S YOUR STARTER GOING FORWARD?
“We’ll see who’s healthy and available at the end of every week like we do every week.”
CARSON STEELE HAD A BIG GAME, WHAT THINK OF HIM IN SHORT-YARDAGE SITUATIONS?
“Yeah, just tough, hard-nosed, physical runner, he’s always running behind his pads, has great body lean, he’s got great balance. Very rarely does the first person knock him down and he’s got a great mindset when it comes to running the football, he’s tenacious when he has the ball in his hands, so really productive. We didn’t get as much run with him in the second half but we were trying to get some of those other guys in. I thought Anthony Adkins did a really nice job with his [carries], T.J. had a huge run right at the end of the third quarter there when it looked like Stanford was getting back in the game a little bit and we needed a little bit of momentum back on our side and T.J. hit a big run on a third and long call that popped it for us, so again, I think that’s another position where we have some depth but Carson’s been outstanding all year long and was tough, hard-nosed, physical again today.”
ON GARBERS, PERFORMANCE ON THIRD DOWNS:
“I thought he did a good job overall, there's some decisions he wants back. We'd go on the sideline and talk about kind of what just transpired on the last drive. I'm sure he'd say the same thing. Overall, I thought in every facet he played very well.”
ON THE DEFENSE:
“We've been really pleased with what those guys can do. And I think there's a front, our linebackers are playing at an outstanding level right now. And I think the backend is really doing some good things. We were very conscious of their receiver, he had 294 yards in the second half of the week in the game the week before, so we had to know where he was on every play and I thought our guys did a really nice job. He caught the one slant I thought we did a great job punching the ball out turned into a turnover, but by containing him and continuing their passing game, because that's what got him back in the game against Colorado, was critical to us.
But it starts with the pass rush. And then we got to get close in coverage. And I think for the most part we did a good job throughout the game.”
HOW MANY TIMES IN YOUR COACHING CAREER HAVE YOU HAD MORE FIRST DOWNS THAN THE OTHER TEAM HAD YARDS RUSHING?
“Not very often. We had a barnburner with Hofstra once….
“Just sad we’re not going to play here again. This is a special place, keep going down memory road when we’re here. And I’ve been the other side of it here, it’s good to win here. It’s tough to win here.”
“I thought it was a good team win, I think both sides offensively and defensively really contributed. We generated a pass rush and made it difficult for their offense but that front of ours is difficult to block, so we kept them kind of behind and then offensively I thought we got off to a good start and as walk about all the time, especially in conference games, if you win the turnover battle, you’ve got an opportunity to win the game, so we did not turn it over offensively today, we caused two from them, so those are some of the positives you can take from it.”
WHAT WENT INTO SWITCH AT QB AND WHEN MAKE THAT DECISION?
“At the end of the week. Dante was banged up a little bit at the beginning of the week, so Garbs got the predominant amount of snaps early in the week and then over the course of the week as we looked at, you know you get to the end of the week like we always do, where are we, what’s our depth, who can contribute and so Ethan earned the start this week from a practice standpoint in terms of where we are, but I thought Dante came in and did a really nice job. Dante was really good toward the end of the week himself, so we’re pretty confident in what we have at quarterback right now.”
BANGED UP FROM PRACTICE OR PREVIOUS GAME OR BOTH?
“Everything.”
HE WAS STRUGGLING, HOW MUCH DID THAT GO INTO IT?
“Didn’t.”
WHAT THINK OF ETHAN TONIGHT?
“I thought Ethan played really well tonight. We’ve always felt like we’ve had depth at the quarterback spot. I think Collin Schlee is a really good quarterback and Collin wasn’t available today, but we’ve always felt like we’ve had three kids that can play quality football for us, so really pleased with Ethan today but I don’t think anything that Ethan did surprised any of us on our staff or any of our players because we see that on a daily basis from Ethan.”
ETHAN’S ABILITY TO SCRAMBLE AND RUN WITH BALL, WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO OFFENSE?
“Yeah, the same thing, I thought he kept some drives alive and I think Dante did too when he was in there later, kept a couple of drives alive, but when people are going to play man coverage, if they’re not going to spy the quarterback then your quarterback has to be able to make–it the coverage is tight, you don’t have an opportunity to have an open receiver, then you have to use your feet and I think he extended drives for us because he made some critical decisions to take off and go and that was big for us today.”
HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH ETHAN ABOUT NO MORE REDSHIRTING?
“No, I’ve never had a conversation with him.”
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE THE QUARTERBACK SITUATION GOING FORWARD?
“I think in great shape. We feel really good about our quarterback situation. We’ve got a couple of really, really good quarterbacks, so we’re excited.”
SO WHAT WILL DETERMINE WHO’S YOUR STARTER GOING FORWARD?
“We’ll see who’s healthy and available at the end of every week like we do every week.”
CARSON STEELE HAD A BIG GAME, WHAT THINK OF HIM IN SHORT-YARDAGE SITUATIONS?
“Yeah, just tough, hard-nosed, physical runner, he’s always running behind his pads, has great body lean, he’s got great balance. Very rarely does the first person knock him down and he’s got a great mindset when it comes to running the football, he’s tenacious when he has the ball in his hands, so really productive. We didn’t get as much run with him in the second half but we were trying to get some of those other guys in. I thought Anthony Adkins did a really nice job with his [carries], T.J. had a huge run right at the end of the third quarter there when it looked like Stanford was getting back in the game a little bit and we needed a little bit of momentum back on our side and T.J. hit a big run on a third and long call that popped it for us, so again, I think that’s another position where we have some depth but Carson’s been outstanding all year long and was tough, hard-nosed, physical again today.”
ON GARBERS, PERFORMANCE ON THIRD DOWNS:
“I thought he did a good job overall, there's some decisions he wants back. We'd go on the sideline and talk about kind of what just transpired on the last drive. I'm sure he'd say the same thing. Overall, I thought in every facet he played very well.”
ON THE DEFENSE:
“We've been really pleased with what those guys can do. And I think there's a front, our linebackers are playing at an outstanding level right now. And I think the backend is really doing some good things. We were very conscious of their receiver, he had 294 yards in the second half of the week in the game the week before, so we had to know where he was on every play and I thought our guys did a really nice job. He caught the one slant I thought we did a great job punching the ball out turned into a turnover, but by containing him and continuing their passing game, because that's what got him back in the game against Colorado, was critical to us.
But it starts with the pass rush. And then we got to get close in coverage. And I think for the most part we did a good job throughout the game.”
HOW MANY TIMES IN YOUR COACHING CAREER HAVE YOU HAD MORE FIRST DOWNS THAN THE OTHER TEAM HAD YARDS RUSHING?
“Not very often. We had a barnburner with Hofstra once….
“Just sad we’re not going to play here again. This is a special place, keep going down memory road when we’re here. And I’ve been the other side of it here, it’s good to win here. It’s tough to win here.”
