This is the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.
I did not attend this press conference. I was flying home from Seattle when Harbaugh was speaking.
Did you guys get away with the run game too early yesterday?
“Like we said last night, we didn’t do really enough good things. Only one thing you can do after a battle, win or lose, and that’s reorganize, refit and regroup. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Does a game like that make you consider changes, whether it’s personnel or how plays are called, or who calls plays?
“We’ll reorganize. We’ll refit. We’ll regroup.”
After looking at the film, how did DT Ricky Jean Francois play in DT Justin Smith’s spot yesterday?
“Rather than go position by position, or any one particular phase, I don’t think anybody looks back on this and feels like it was good enough.”
Did it seem as if they were testing him, though? Were they running toward that side to test out the new guy?
“They had success in different areas, multiple areas. They did a good job.”
What is wrong with Justin Smith’s elbow?
“He’s got an issue that he’s working through.”
Has he undergone a procedure, or will he need to undergo a procedure?
“He has not undergone a procedure.”
Why was he upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Friday?
“Because he’s working through some things to get strength back and he hasn’t quite reached it to be able to play in the game yet. It’s a process.”
Did you feel on Friday there was a chance he could play?
“I thought it was questionable.”
Will he need surgery after the season?
“We’ll see.”
How is FB/DT Will Tukuafu? Does his injury further complicate that position?
“Yeah, he’s being evaluated.”
Do you have enough bodies on the D-line right now to go into the playoffs without him and without Justin?
“It’ll be predicated on how both of those guys are doing.”
The injury to WR Mario Manningham, just by the naked eye, looked serious. Do you expect to have him again this season?
“Yeah, he’ll be evaluated today and further tests.”
Is he having an MRI?
“I believe he is getting an MRI, yes.”
Some of the players, at least S Donte Whitner, felt that the mental focus wasn’t there. Did you see that as well?
“I’m sorry. What? Who said?”
The mental focus in some of the players he didn’t think. He said the team wasn’t mentally in tune.
“Who are you talking about?”
Donte had told us that. He said he thought in certain instances the team wasn’t mentally in tune. When you look at the film, do you see more of that than maybe scheme problems or just being outplayed?
“Like I said at the beginning, we’re going to move forward. No explanations. No excuses necessary.”
After the game, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said about your offense, “they are very deliberate. One of the slowest teams in term of that,” getting to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball and they caught them a couple of times. Why are you guys so deliberate? And is that an issue that you see that needs to be corrected?
“Yeah, there were a few incidences when we were slow.”
Is that by design? Not necessarily, obviously the timeouts or the penalties, but do you want to take that play clock up until the last few seconds?
“No.”
What do you do to correct that?
“Fix it.”
There was another report today that some of the Seahawks players said that you were mocking them after the game at Candlestick in the parking lot, with honking and saluting the team bus. Did that incident occur? What do you remember about that?
“No. No, that did not occur. That’s a fabrication.”
Do you take a bus back to the hotel, yourself? Would you have even been in a car?
“After the game?”
Yeah.
“I can’t remember a time where I’ve left a game where the other team’s still been there, this entire season.”
Does anything, just given the amount of injuries at the end of the season this week, does anything change as far as giving more rest than you normally would during the week or anything change in that regard?
“The players are coming in today and they’ll have tomorrow off.”
But nothing unusual that you wouldn’t normally do this week, you just switched the off day?
[shakes head ‘no’]
Do you feel different about your team today than you did on Saturday, before the game yesterday?
“No, no. I feel our team’s leadership, I feel the intellect of the staff, I think the talent of the players, the work ethic of the players will pave the way.”
A lot of people questioning the spark of the team now compared to early on, what do you say to that going into the last week of the season?
“No excuses or justifications. Our team needs to bounce back.”
You said last week that the flight back from New England was a pretty quiet flight. What was the flight back like after a game like that?
“Quiet.”
Can you speak to the fact that the NFL is such a roller coaster? After last week you guys were anointed as the NFL’s best team and now it looks like there are issues. How hard is it to keep an even keel when one week you’re so high and then seemingly you’re so low the next?
“After a battle, whether it’s a win or a loss, you regroup, you refit, you reorganize.”
Third downs seemed to be a big problem yesterday, are there things that you look at changing in the third down? Are there big offensive changes that you foresee in the final weeks or going into the playoffs?
“We’ll always look at that, any area to reorganize and refit and fix if necessary.”
What is the status of TE Vernon Davis? Do you expect him to be able to play?
“We’ll see. Doctors will make that evaluation.”
How much did yesterday maybe catch you by surprise? You know your team, but as Eric Branch said you come off a big win vs. the Patriots, that was an exhausting win I know that. But how much did yesterday’s result maybe catch you off guard?
“It didn’t.”
Why not?
“Wasn’t caught off guard.”
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