[Upchurch/MGoBlog]

News bullets and other items:

• Jeremy Clark suffered an apparent ACL injury and is likely out for the season
• Regarding players raising their fists during the national anthem, Harbaugh said he supports his players’ right to speak their minds, and added that the country is a team and that if something isn’t good for someone we talk about it and fix it as a team.
• Karan Higdon getting in early and often was Tyron Wheatley’s suggestion.

Five running backs scored today; five touchdowns from inside the three; over 300 yards rushing today; you had five runs of over 25 yards; can you just talk about the overall run offense effort today, because it looked highly impressive from our end.

“Yeah, I was really impressed with the running backs. All of them contributed in big ways, starting with De’Veon. Again, heck of a game. Broke loose, got the tough yardage. Ty was good again. Very elusive and good. Chris Evans, he had long gains and Karan on the same play got a touchdown. Khalid was good. Thought our line was blocking well. It was a job well done in the running game.”

Just following up on that, the drive where you got the 37-yard run, kicked the draw out, then an incomplete pass and seven straight runs. Talk about what that does when you can just hand off the ball and have success with it.

“I mean, it’s—moving the chains and breaking some big runs is a good way to move the ball. That’s what we want to do is move the ball and put the ball in the end zone and score points. I thought our offense was very effective in doing that today.”

You went for a lot of fourths instead of the long field goals today. Was that just a feel type of thing or you wanted to set the tone?

“Yeah, just especially the one where we were into the wind, felt like the odds were better going with the fourth downs. Seems to be happening more and more these days, so we got into it, experimented a little bit and it worked out. Worked out once.”

On the sideline interference call, do you normally get a warning on that? Did you get an explanation on why you didn’t?

“Yeah. One of our coaches was in the white and bumped into his arm. That’s the rule. Can’t be out there. It’s really tight over there on our sideline. We don’t have a lot of room to operate, so we’ve just got to do a better job of staying back. But guys get excited, especially when the ball’s being run back for a long punt return and people were…gotta know where they’re at. Just gotta stay out of that white lane.”

[More after THE JUMP]

Can you expand on the element of the running game that you had today over the passing game? How significant is that to you when you have more of a running game in your repertoire?

“Well, thing is we’re not turning the ball over when we’re throwing. We’re not turning the ball over when we’re running it, and feel good. Feel good that it starts there. We need to be effective and get first downs and move the ball and score touchdowns. That’s what you’re striving to do as an offense. Feels good to be able to move the ball and not turn it over and be able to be productive.”

Wilton said you guys ran the same play flopped back and forth to different sides eight or nine times in a row in the second half at some point. I know you were never an offensive lineman, but what does it do in a huddle when a team runs the same thing over and over again and is successful on the ground on the same kind of play?

“I thought our team was prepared and confident, and there was some communication out there, especially from the offensive linemen, of what they thought they could do well in this particular ball game. And we listened to them and repeated the call a few times. It was really simply that.”

You had a handful of players raise their fists during the national anthem assuming some sort of protest. Did you know that was going to happen before kickoff, and what are your thoughts on that?

“No, I didn’t know that. I was told when I came back into the locker room. My thoughts are there is a freedom of expression, and somebody can speak their mind. I can tell you what I believe, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the last four, five, six weeks. Because I’m the football coach, that doesn’t mean that I can dictate to people what they believe.

“I support our guys and I think this is something that, it’s not going away. It’s going to keep happening. But it’s not something that’s going to keep them out of heaven, so I’m not going to really worry about it. It’s something that doesn’t keep somebody out of heaven. They’re speaking their minds, so I support them.”

Your defensive line had 5 sacks by the half, six overall. What was the key to them being so efficient today?

“They were playing good. Good effort. Our guys were running. I thought they were being aggressive. That’s a heck of a good back. Saquon Barkley is a good football player, and he got a couple and he showed that a few times. For the most part, our guys were there and swarming. They were coming two, three, four at a time. I thought that was impressive.”

Sometimes when you assess a team in a season you have to temper that a little bit by who you’re playing, their physical conditions, and so forth. Really, at the 1/3 mark now in the season, how are you measuring success? What are you seeing in terms of specific improvements, things that you like at this juncture?

“Several things. Today was a heck of a good win and there was improvement I thought for a lot of different players. A lot of players on our team, I thought, really played well. I thought our line was good on both sides, offensive and defensive line. Quarterback, the running backs, the secondary. A lot of good football being played. Good to see Jourdan Lewis back. Good to see Taco back. Good to see all of our guys. This would be an A++ day if it weren’t for—sad right now about Jeremy Clark. I don’t think that’s…I don’t think we’re gonna be able to dodge a bullet on that one, so that’s got everybody in the locker room a little sad right now.”

Just to follow up on the anthem, earlier in the year when you were asked about Colin Kaepernick you said you support his motivation but took exception to his method. Had you addressed the idea of guys doing anything prior to today? Had you brought it up with that team [that] if you wanted to do something or anything like that--

“No, no. We haven’t talked about it as a team.”

And in terms of being okay with the method, are you okay with a display on your sidelines?

“I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. As I said, that’s…we’re a team as a country. I believe in—I’ll tell you what I believe in. I believe in God. I believe in country. I believe in family. I believe in rules of law and following rules, and I believe, as a team, the things that we embrace, then we should embrace. The things that we don’t, or if something’s not good for somebody on the team, then we talk about it and we get it fixed together, as a team. Those are the things I believe in.

“That doesn’t mean that just because I’m the football coach I can tell other people what to believe or what to think. I support people speaking their own mind and saying what they believe.”

Wilton said after getting hit last week it kind of got his internal clock [off]. I asked him today about his mobility and just awareness. What did you think of the way he was able to scramble and make decisions on the fly?

“I think he’s been doing a fine job. That’s one part of his game that’s really improving and ascending is that he’s moving, he’s buying time, he’s finding receivers, he’s making good decisions. You know, he’s not turning the ball over, and I think he’s getting better at not even anything real close to turning the ball over. He’s protecting the ball and doing a good job.”

Can you elaborate on what it means to have Jourdan Lewis back in the secondary and how big that is?

“Lot of talent back. Heck of a good football player, but he’s also a leader. The guys respect him and they know how hard he’s worked the last three or four weeks to get back to being in this position. Yeah, just plus-plus to have him back in there.”

You mentioned Jeremy. What is the injury?

“Yeah, we think it’s a season ender. We think it’s an ACL. We’ll know more tonight.”

Was there anyone else who suffered anything of significance? Jake was on the bike there…

“No, nothing. I don’t think it’s anything that was significant or kept him from playing. He was trying to stay loose. Jeremy…everybody’s dauber’s down a little bit right now.”

Higdon played more than he probably has at all since he’s been here. What has he done the last week or whatever to get in there early?

“You know, really I think that was a Tyrone Wheatley feel. He got Karan in there early and saw some real explosive runs. I think that’s just something that Coach Wheatley had seen and got him in there, and he reeled off some impressive runs early. Physical, hitting the hole fast, explosive type of runs. Same on the touchdown. That was very exciting, a very explosive run. I thought he was just shot out like he was coming out of the starting blocks. Heck of a good run.

“And the other backs were good. I think it’s been good. I think the first three weeks of the season we got a lot of backs in the game and got a lot of our running backs touches and they’ve benefitted from that. They’re all playing at a real high level right now.”