Stafford on last year’s game against the 49ers: “There were some instances where we kind of beat ourselves.”

SANTA CLARA – Matthew Stafford spoke on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. He talked about the 49ers defense, what the 49ers offense does well, and what he remembers from their game last season. Here’s a transcript.

Q: What jumps out to you about the 49ers’ defense?

STAFFORD: It’s obviously similar group to the one we played last year. Physical up front, good in the back end, two really good linebackers. Doing a good job playing their scheme, playing well.

Q: Do you imagine you’ll see more of the 49ers’ dime defense? 6 DBs and Patrick Willis on the sideline.

STAFFORD:  I imagine we could get some  that. You know, they were just matching personnel with Green Bay so depending on what personnel is in the game for us, but if we do some of our stuff where we go four and five wide kind of stuff, I can see Perrish Cox getting some playing time for sure.

Q: Describe the closing minutes against the Rams last week.

STAFFORD:  We just had to execute. Came out in the first three quarters and really played well, just turned the ball over and – 3 times – obviously, I can’t do that again and expect to win.

Q: How did you bounce back from those INTs?

STAFFORD:  We had about half the game left to play. Two choices: either keep playing or hang them up, obviously decided to keep playing and you got to keep throwing. You got to get yourself out of it. Threw the ball, besides the three picks, pretty well.

Q: The 49ers haven’t turned the ball over in 6 regular season games. How have they done that?

STAFFORD:  That’s what their system is built around: protecting the football, playing good defense, taking what the defense gives you and playing great special teams. That’s what they do. They have a very good running game. Alex is playing really well. Obviously upgraded their receiver position in the offseason.

Q: What happened at the end of your game with the 49ers last year?

STAFFORD:  Didn’t move the ball and didn’t get a chance to score. They did a good job after they scored their touchdown.

It’s kind of tough because there were some instances where we kind of beat ourselves. Had some penalties, had some plays that got down inside the five-yard line then got called for holding here or a chop there. Kind of had two big plays called back and then got inside the redzone and didn’t finish off drives a couple times and that’s what put us in that spot.

Comments are closed.