SAN FRANCISCO –
Here are more in-game quotes courtesy of the 49ers.
HARALSON
On how the defense performed tonight:
“I think we came out and did some things well and there are some things we need to work on. They broke a couple of runs on us and we want to go back to the chalkboard and see what happened so we can correct it.”
On the challenge that the Raiders offense presented:
“The Raiders always have athletic guys, big offensive line. They like to run the ball. They have a quarterback in Jason Campbell that can throw the ball so you always need to mind your P’s and Q’s. They can kind of beat you either way, running or throwing. I think we went out there and we had a good plan for tonight, but we’ll see what we need to work on and see what we need to improve on.”
On the goal-line stand and his sack on fourth down:
“That’s kind of what we pride ourselves on. You have [DT] Justin [Smith] and the big guys that are stopping it in the middle and once you’re going for fourth and something, you’re just coming off the ball and playing football.”
On how much the long drives help him:
“It helps a lot. The offense had the ball a lot. They had the ball the whole first quarter almost. As a defense, you can go out there fresh and ready to play and that can wear down on the opposing offense. When you’re out there fresh and they get a three-and-out and then our offense is back on the field, so I think we made a bunch of plays.”
WILLIS
On the defensive performance tonight:
“The defense, we had some good drives out there, still there were some plays that we let get out of the bag. Every day is work in progress and each day we have to continue to get better and not hold on to the things we’ve done well, but really find those things that we did wrong and get those better.”
On the goal-line stand and how big it was to get that stop on 4th down:
“It was really big. I once heard a guy say all the time, ‘It doesn’t matter where they get the ball as long as they kick the ball or get no points, then that’s all that matters.’ They can drive the ball all the way from the one yard line on their side all the way to the one yard line on our side and if they don’t get in or only kick a field goal, then that’s a win. But it was big, it was big for us, it helps our defense build confidence. There were some things certainly that we can build on here, but there are things that we need to get corrected.”
On how much it helps the defense when the offense has long drives:
“It’s really big. As a defensive player, you don’t want it to get too cold but when the offense is out there taking time off the clock that’s a good thing because it means you’re going to be more rested when it’s time for you to go out there and get a turnover because you rested real well. That puts their defense back on the field again and keeps them tired. So it’s good to see the offense to run the clock down like that.”
On what the team needs to work on going forward:
“Really, just the little things. We had some missed tackles out there today and we can’t allow that to happen. There were some little technique things that we know that we can get better on, but that’s every game. That’s if you know a defense or if you don’t, you’re still going to have the little things that you can always get better on and that’s where we are. We have to continue to learn the defense that [defensive coordinator] Coach [Vic] Fangio is putting in place and really starting to fine tune them and just take it one day at a time and get ready for September 11th.”
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