Goodwin on the O-line: “We’ve been pretty confident throughout the last couple weeks.”

SANTA CLARA — Here’s what center Jonathan Goodwin said in the locker room today.

Q: Do you appreciate that your coach gives you the opportunity to really go for the jugular there in the fourth quarter?
JG: Yeah, I mean, coach Harbaugh, obviously he’s aggressive and that’s all you can ask for in a coach. For your coach to be on you and things like that, but to see he’s aggressive gives you confidence.

Q: When the Cowboys came in you said Jay Ratliff was probably the best nose tackle you’ve faced, but the Lions have Ndamukong Suh …
JG: This will be my first time playing against him, but from what I’ve seen he’s definitely up-and-coming. He’s definitely a great talent. He probably even has a chance to be one the best to ever play the game.

Q: Did you circle that game when you saw the Lions were the schedule.
JG: No I’m a one-at-a-time guy. This league has a lot of great players and when you get to a week when you’re going to face a great player, you tackle it that week. You can’t look ahead. So we’ll get to look at him a little bit this week, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us as a line.

Q: Scout him tonight?
JG: I’ll definitely be watching tonight. It’s helpful. Even though there’s only so much you can get from a TV copy of the game, but it’s still a little advance film watching for me.

Q: You said he could be one of the best ever to play the game. What makes him so special?
JG: He’s really explosive. Strong. That’s a deadly combination when a guy is explosive and strong. He has a lot of quickness. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for us, but hopefully one we can get done.

Q: Anyone come to mind as far as his style and ability?
JG: Off the top of my head, no.

Q: He’s one-of-a-kind?
JG: Yeah, he might be one-of-a-kind.

Q: For a young guy, being that strong, is that unique?
JG: Some guys are naturally strong. Some guys can be weak in the weight room, but for whatever reason play strong on the field.

Q: Which one are you?
JG: Probably weak in the weight room (laughter). But some guys are just gifted like that. I’ve always heard good things about him. Like I said, whatever our game plan is, hopefully we can find a way to execute it.

Q: Staley said he had a premonition a game like Sunday’s was coming for the offensive line. Did you have a similar feeling?
JG: We’ve been pretty confident throughout the last couple weeks. To actually in the second half have some success in Philly, it made us even more confident. Now it’s great to put together a whole game. The next thing is to try and put together two games. It’s definitely a confidence booster and hopefully we can keep improving this offense.

Q: You’ve talked about the changing culture here. How have you been able to translate that to performance on the field?
JG: Working hard. Like I said, I wasn’t here in the past. I didn’t know how things were. From my experience here, since I got here, guys are working hard and are upbeat. And, so far, it’s paying off or us.

Q: Did you get a sense that some of the guys who have been around here for a while, guys like Frank and Vernon, were pretty happy in the locker room after that win?
JG: Guys were pretty excited. Sunday, after the game, you can take in the win. Now, we’ve got to move on to Detroit. Hopefully it’s the first of many and we can continue to keep changing the culture around.

Q: Joe Staley had said earlier that the offensive line didn’t suck. In retrospect, he said he was pretty angry. Were all of you guys feeling pretty ticked off?
JG: As a lineman, you can always improve and you want to play better. You want to have the offense light up the scoreboard and put up plenty of rushing yards and things like that. We could have done some things better, but we were still a confident group and we felt like, just some things here and there, if we could get them fixed, we’d improve. Fortunately for the past two weeks we have been able to that. Now, the key is to keep continuing to do that. I’m confident in this group and I think that’s something we can do throughout the rest of the year.

Q: What have those little things been? Technique?
JG: Technique and I just think understanding the offense better. Just knowing what other guys are doing and just getting used to playing with other guys. As a lineman, the more experience you get playing with other guys, it really helps.

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