ON 49ERS TEAM: “We are still building this football team. We are at different stages in our development. They have had that offense and those weapons together for a while and they have rebuilt the defense with draft choices and free agents galore. They are a little more veteran than we are at this point. I know all about this Rams – 49ers rivalry, I use to coach with the Rams for a year. I got a taste of it way back then. We are happy with where we are right now we have a long ways to go still in our development in building this football team. We are still very young and up and coming. I love the energy we have and the enthusiasm this team has and the direction we are headed.

“The first thing that I mentioned to the team in training camp was that I am not going to place any self imposed limitations on us because of our salary cap situation or because of our youth or any of those reasons will not be discussed further. We have always had this motto around here: “The time is now." We try not to think to far into the future, but think about what we can do today and where we are right now. It has been difficult to preach that over the last couple of years, but we needed to keep this ship in the right direction. I really like the players character and willingness to work and that sort of thing. That is what has helped us win close games. This team has had some tough losses and some close wins. We have played four overtime games now and they keep fighting and I am proud of them that way.”

ON RB GARRISON HEARST: “It has been uphill for him since then. We didn’t know what type of season he was capable of having after having five surgeries on that ankle, so we didn’t know if he was going to hold up. He was determined, and he is really playing well. We are really proud of him. We are surprised at how well he is playing, he is so tough and so fun to be around. He has so much of the chemistry of this team in the locker room. He is the life of the party.”

ON QB JEFF GARCIA: “I really love the two stories behind Jeff Garcia and QB Kurt Warner. Let’s face it, we will be playing the biggest game of the week. John Madden is coming in with Pat Summerall and you are talking about two great quarterbacks playing against each other. The way that they got there is so unusual. They weren’t the number one pick in the draft, they were not traded for three number ones and all that sort of things. They snuck up on everybody and became success stories. From guys that were not necessarily recruited out of high school, to guys that weren’t given a chance in the draft and not even invited to the combine in Indianapolis, and all of a sudden they are dominating the position in the NFL. It is quite special.”

ON SIMILARITIES OF THE TWO OFFENSES: “The quarterbacks are very capable. If I am going to build a football teams whether college, high school, Pop Warner, or pro it starts with the quarterback in my mind. You have terrific tailbacks in Marshall Faulk and Garrison Hearst you have a stable of receivers on both teams. You have unsung heroes on the offensive line who don’t get as much credit as they deserve and they really need to.”

“There were a lot of things going on, it was just not the quarterback. We were 3-1 early in the season in 1999 and then we proceeded to lose the next 19 out of 22 games. We hit a tailspin. For two years we were without 30 players from our previous roster and that certainly chips away at it. When you start naming QB Steve Young, and a lot of your veterans on defense, when I first came here we were the best defense in the league in 1997 in nine different categories, and then we lost all of those players in the next two years. There were a lot of new faces, a lot of musical chairs in our starting unit. There were a lot of injuries. We lost something, mainly personnel and confidence, but we gradually worked towards getting it back. Players became mature. We had eight rookies on defense last year. While it was painful to go through it, it was beneficial for this year. We had to go through those growing pains and we are still going through them. We have not arrived yet, we are a work in progress. I love the way this team approaches their craft. We work hard at it and they have fun doing it. We are very determined in getting back to being a contender.”

ON WR TERRELL OWENS: “He has been playing very well for us. He has 13 touchdowns and has been very productive, even when teams are playing him just like teams played Jerry Rice. We have been really pleased with his production, he is doing a heck of a job. The last couple of weeks he has played hurt, he has worked through it and played very well.” ---