Marc Trestman compares Steve Young and Colin Kaepernick

Marc Trestman was interviewed on a conference call Wednesday morning. Here’s a transcript.

Q: How have you gone about pushing your team to turn the page from last week and move on?

TRESTMAN: I think that our guys know, this is the NFL. We had a tough loss. We put it behind us the last couple days. We certainly have a very important game on Sunday Night and we’re focused on the Niners.

Q: When you watched the Niners game against the Cowboys, what jumped out?

TRESTMAN: They got off to such a fast start with the turnovers defensively and were able to capitalize and really control the game. Kaepernick, Colin did a great job. He took care of the football. He threw a couple touchdown passes. He completed a high percentage of his passes. He ran the offense. Defensively, they played solid.

Q: Were you surprised at all by the success DeMarco Murray had against that run defense?

TRESTMAN: I think it’s all relative, game by game. We know the Niners have an excellent run defense, and so we’re not overlooking that certainly as we prepare here.

Q: How has Josh Morgan fit into what you guys are trying to do?

TRESTMAN: He’s picked it up. He had a training camp where he continued to ascend and get better throughout. He had very good games when he played in the preseason games, and we’ve kind of quietly added him to the mix as we move on with Alshon and Brandon and our receiving group. It’s been good.

Q: How important is persistence when facing a good run defense like the 49ers? It seems like a lot of teams tend to give up on the running game early in the game?

TRESTMAN: Well, you kind of wrote your own stuff there. They’re a very, very good defense. They’re physical in their Okie front. They’re very difficult to move. They’re a challenge in terms of formationing them and personneling them to try to soften them up at all. It’s very difficult to do.

Q: You’re playing the Niners, a team you were famously fired from in a press conference very abruptly. I know Eddie feels regret about all that. He said he wrote you a note. In the context of your career, what did that moment mean to you?

TRESTMAN: I look at my time with the 49ers as one of the best times in my life. I certainly don’t think I would have had the opportunity to be here today if I hadn’t spent two years there learning the 49er way and the 49er offense, the West Coast Offense, spending time with Bill and the whole situation. That’s almost a generation ago, almost 20 years ago. When I look back, I look back at it as one of the most important growth spurts in my coaching career. The 49ers gave me that opportunity, and that’s how I look at it.

Q: Did you get that note from Eddie?

TRESTMAN: I did. That was a moment in time that was just what it was, a brief moment. While I was there, Mr. DeBartolo treated me with the utmost respect, he took care of my family, he did a lot for his players and coaches that people don’t see and I certainly was one of those coaches that he took an interest in and made me two-and-a-half years there a great opportunity. And the rest will speak for itself, the time there will speak for itself.

Q: Can you sum up in a few sentences what you learned from Bill Walsh?

TRESTMAN: No.1 is that he was as smart of a man as he was made out to be. He taught me a lot of different things, not only how to see the game of football but how to see organizations, how it all comes together. There were lots of rides on buses. There were lunches. There were quiet times. Bill really never interfered with what we were doing during the time that we were there, although there was a perception that he did. It wasn’t the case. He was very, very supportive, not only during my time there but when I left he was in contact throughout the time after I left and a very supportive mentor during that time.

Q: Do you see any similarities between Colin Kaepernick and Steve Young, who you coached?

TRESTMAN: When I coached Steve Young he was already in his 30s and playing in a really different kind of offense than the one Colin is playing in. Colin is just…his size, his explosiveness, his speed, certainly Steve had all of that, but just in a different type of offense. But certainly the athleticism, the arm strength, the ability to run, there is certainly correlation there. Just different times in their careers.

This article has 5 Comments

  1. Really Grant, It sounded like the entire column was comparing Young and Kaep. Misleading headline for sure, just having a quick sentence and summary.

  2. and the troll does what he does, he trolls :)

    i think the best thing to do is to see this blog as satire, then its all good eheheh. funny stuff grant, as always from you lol.

  3. I thought this was a very interesting article Grant. Especially the second to the last question and answer by Trestman on Walsh’s understanding of the various aspects to being a good GM. I have been somewhat critical of TB’s abilities in certain aspects of the job of GM which has caught me some flax form certain posters. Though they might possess some football knowledge have little understanding of the totality of a GM’s responsibilities and the skill set required. No one is good in everything and I am sure Walsh also made mistakes, however while TB is very good in certain area’s, in others he is dumb as a rock. Example- waiting till after the first game to release LMJ. Harbaugh even admitted that one could be second guessed. Another head scratcher of many.

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