Q: Can you take us through the progression of the week with finding out Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) was not going to play? The decision to go with Chase Griffin…how you thought he played? And also with the guys that were out today, how many of them could potentially come back next week against Arizona?
CHIP KELLY: Ben, you get one question. You can’t throw four to start this off, ya know what I mean? How did Chase Griffin play? I’ll answer that one first. I thought he was outstanding today. He’s a competitor. As I said earlier to Wayne, everybody wants an opportunity, and when you have your opportunity, are you ready? I thought Chase did a heck of a job today. I’m really proud of how he played. When it was final, I think sometime late Wednesday or Thursday, we kinda knew we weren’t going to have those guys. So they’re unavailable, they’re available. We do have a ‘next man up’ mindset here and I’m really proud of the guys that stepped up and played today.
Q: You pretty much had two weeks in a row having to come up with a game plan in about two days with the circumstances. Did you find you had to make a lot of changes and if so, what did you have to tweak for Chase Griffin rather than Dorian?
CHIP KELLY: We really didn’t. Chase is a real student of the game and has always been prepared when his opportunity comes, he can step in so we didn’t. He may have liked one route combination higher on his list of likes than where Dorian was but we really didn’t have to change much with Chase. You saw him run the ball today and I thought he did some really good things with his legs. Obviously, you saw him throw the ball so we didn’t really have to change very much. We try to recruit in that mode of our quarterbacks are similar. The big difference is Chase had never played so no one really knew what you were going to get but I was really proud of what he did today.
Q: What did you think of how Demetric Felton played?
CHIP KELLY: I thought Felton was awesome. We knew we wanted to run the ball coming in here. That’s the part that hurts. I think we tripled their output in the rushing game. If you told me we were going to triple them in rushing and we’d lose, I’d be surprised at that…or close to it. I know we doubled it. I don’t know Felt’s final…what did Felt end up with today? [room answers 167 on 34 carries, about five yards a carry] We were down some other guys. It was just him and Britt toting that for us. You saw Kyle playing a little bit of running back and Ethan Fernea playing a little running back in there. Our depth got hit a little bit but I couldn’t be more proud of Felton in terms of how he played and what he did and his production.
Q: Coach, you said you didn’t really have to make a lot of changes but it looked like, early on, there was a lot more option run from the quarterback position. It looked like there were things Chase is capable of doing that you don’t ask so much of Dorian.
CHIP KELLY: Nah, that was our game plan going in. That’s what we felt what we were going to do. That was our plan so Dorian was executing it. Don’t forget Dorian ran one of 65 against Colorado so I wouldn’t classify Dorian as not a runner himself but we felt like we could exploit the quarterback run and I thought Chase did a good job on it. But that was our plan going in so the plays we ran today were plays we ran on Monday and Tuesday that as a staff, we put in in terms of attacking this defense.
Q: In regards to the COVID stuff, you’ve talked about protecting the ecosystem. The thing about Dorian’s birthday party last week, was that a concern at all?
CHIP KELLY: No.
Q (continued): Were any of these absences due to more disciplinarian stuff rather than just a positive test or contact testing?
CHIP KELLY: No. I think a lot of things get blown out. Dorian’s contact tracing or anybody’s contact tracing had nothing to do with any party. The fact that his mom comes to celebrate his birthday—his mom is also a professor in public health so I think they understand. If there’s one family that I’ve been around that understands COVID, it’s Dorian’s family. His mom is awesome. She’s been a rock star through this whole thing in terms of helping other people and parents understand what it is. She has a really good grasp on it and would never put her son in harm’s way.
Q: Talk a little bit about the defensive effort. You held Oregon to 2.6 yard, 10 more tackles for loss. It seems like a lot of the guys are really thriving in the more attacking style.
CHIP KELLY: They, and that was part of our plan to let those guys pin their ears back and let them play, and capitalize on their athleticism. I was really proud of them. To come up short the way we did, it’s hard. If they continue to play hard, we’re going to have a shot. We just have to get the head coach to stop making bad calls at the end of the first half.
Q: On the last pass that Chase threw, how much confidence does a quarterback have to have to make that throw?
CHIP KELLY: Chase has got a great feel, and I think he was trying to throw it to Kyle (Philips). Everybody knows what type of clutch receive Kyle Philips is for us. They’ve got a good rapport. Dorian and Kyle have a good rapport. It was literally a game of inches. It was close. Felt didn’t feel like he was down on the play before. He thought that he bounced up and never hit the ground. It came down to one play one way or another. As I told the players, when you play a good team, you can’t do that. When all of us have to own this. I own it with a bad call at the end of the first half. But we’re close. But if they continue to play with this effort and this kind of mindset, it’s a really, really good group to be around. They’re special, and they play hard and they’ll continue to play hard.
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