What the 49ers said after losing to the Cardinals in their season finale
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What the 49ers said after losing to the Cardinals in their season finale

The 49ers capped a disappointing, injury-filled season with a disappointing, injury-filled 47-24 loss Sunday to the Cardinals in Arizona.

Josh Dobbs started at quarterback after Brock Purdy’s elbow injury last week. He was 29-of-43 for 326 yards with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two fumbles (one lost).

He was also the 49ers’ second-leading rusher with 17 yards and a score on eight carries. Patrick Taylor Jr., who took over at lead back when Isaac Guerendo went down early with a leg injury, led the 49ers with 96 yards on 15 carries.

Rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall led the 49ers with 69 receiving yards and a touchdown on six catches. Jauan Jennings had seven catches for 52 yards in the first half before being ejected.

The Niners turned over the ball three times and, for the fourth straight game (all losses), did not record a takeaway.

Here’s what the Niners had to say about the loss:

Kyle Shanahan

On Jennings’ ejection:

He was competing. I know Jauan blocks to the whistle every single play and you usually get ejected for throwing a punch or something. I didn’t see one, they didn’t tell me that he threw a punch, so something we’re going to have to find out.

On his chat with Jennings after the scuffle:

I was asking him if he ever threw a punch and he was adamant that he didn’t.

On Guerendo being carted off:

Especially when you go out on a cart, you know, I think that messes with everyone a little bit but we’re still hoping out hope that it’s good news, or good news in comparison to going off on a cart and everything.

On the penalty disparity:

I haven’t been a part of too many games that’s 12-0 and I think they got one there when they had 12 guys on the field at the end. We’ll look at all of them but I didn’t see any common thread.

On Kittle not playing in the second half:

We were going to see how the game went and we knew we weren’t going to play him all of it, and ended up resting so much that we didn’t want to put him there in the second half.

On Dobbs’ game:

I thought Dobbs did a really good job, you know, minus the turnovers. Take out those turnovers and I think he had a hell of a game.

On Pearsall:

He did well this game, but I think Ricky, especially what he went through before the year, started talking before his gunshot, and then getting the gunshot, coming back and just being able to have a rookie season where he did help us out. Got a chance to play almost half the year and got better as it went.

Josh Dobbs

On his goals for the game:

Obviously get a win, but just play, you know. Go out there and execute the offense at a high level, lead the guys around me, enjoy the opportunity to start a game in the NFL.

On the key factors:

Obviously turnovers kind of killed us. Those were the difference in the game, and then third down, converting better in those situations and being table to stay on the field, to stay in a couple more drives, to get in the end zone.

On Jennings’ ejection:

Jauan being Jauan, quite frankly, and if you look back at those two plays, like their guys taking off hishelmet and Jauan gets a flag, no clue how that happens. And then the second play, Jauan is getting stomped out aon the sideline and they throw a flag on him and eject him when he’s just playing football. So it was pretty frustrating, especially knowing how much it meant for Jauan to be out there to play hard, be himself, playing in the game and then obviously get to the milestone of 1,000 yards.

On Jennings nearing the 1,000-yard mark:

I knew he had just caught two passes on that drive, right? He caught a couple passes early. I didn’t know how close we were at all but I knew he was coming up on it. and so as I said going into the week, I was excited to be out there with him, to play with Jauan a long time since college and have the opportunity to get him to that milestone because I know how much it meant to him. So for them to take it out of his hands was frustrating.

On the offense:

I thought moving the ball throughout the day was good. We wer able to execute plays at a high level. I mean, we had a ton of offense. I think we had almost 500 yards of total offense. So we were able to play extremely well especially with various guys in and out … It comes down to turnovers and at the end of the day, that’s something as I go into the offseason to focus on and improve on.

On what he wants in free agency:

I want to go to a spot where I get a chance to compete, whether it’s for the starting job or the two role, whatever it is, to beable to push the room, contribute week-in and week-out and be a guy that the team’s relying on to win on Sundays.

On his future:

The best opportunities that you have to grow and improve are to be standing out on the field in the fire and learning how to win games in the NFL. And I haven’t gotten a ton of opportunities to do that, especially being in the same offense throughout the year.

Nick Bosa

On the season ending with an ugly loss:

Kind of an embarrassment. It doesn’t feel good. It’s hard to look the guys in their faces as a leader on the team and that’s the product that we keep putting out game after game. It’s pretty embarrassing.

On how to fix it:

It’s going to take some time off, and then start from square one. We know how to play good and we know how to play bad, so we gotta figure it out.

On how to fix it:

If I had the answers it might have changed.

On his own season:

I think I’ve grown as a person. Just appreciate the time you have in this league, whether it’s a season like this or a season where we’ve had success.

Fred Warner

On the poor defense this season:

For as long as I’ve been here, I’ve always known playing dominant defense. I cant’ speak to everything else that’s gone on with the team this year, but just hasn’t been good enough. Not even close. And to be a part of that, knowing that I’m out there every game and it still isn’t good enough, it obviously is a gut punch to my own pride.

On failing to create turnovers:

We pride ourselves on taking the ball away and protecting it on offense, and that’s the key to winning games. When you’re not doing that, you don’t give yourself any type of chance of winning.

On his ankle fracture from Week 4:

Every year’s different. You guys know it was a unique situation this year but I’ always going to try my hardest to make sure I’m out there for my guys. It’s not even a question — there’s never a doubt that I’m going to be out there if I can.

On defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen:

The easy thing right now is everybody’s going to put the blame on him for how the defense has played and when you’re the guy at the helm, that’s what happens. You’re going to take the brunt of that, but it’s everybody. Everybody’s got to take a look in the mirror. I’ve got to take a look in the mirror. Everybody’s got to look to see where they could have been better.