San Francisco 49ers Left Tackle Joe Staley Circled the Giants on His Calendar When the Schedule Was Released

San Francisco 49ers Left Tackle Joe Staley Circled the Giants on His Calendar When the Schedule Was Released

A tough and surprising loss to the Minnesota Vikings served as the ultimate wake-up call for the San Francisco 49ers, who have outscored their last two opponents by the ridiculous total of 79-3. Alex Smith is playing the best football of his career and the Niners are averaging an insane 6.1 yards per carry on the ground. Naturally, left tackle Joe Staley is pumped. Joe Staley joined The Wheelhouse on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco to discuss the recent offensive explosion from the team, the slow start and strong finish against the Bills, the perks (or lack thereof) his linemen are enjoying for their strong start and the team’s big rematch with the Giants in Week 6.

On the offense’s big performance against Buffalo:

“Main objective is to get the W and walk out of there with a victory, but we were executing. Everybody was on the same page all day — it was very fun just to see everybody executing and doing what their job called for. I thought it was a solid day all around, our receivers played amazing, play-calling was terrific, quarterback play terrific.”

On stumbling a bit early before dominating:

“We shot ourselves in the foot early on with those penalties, especially a couple of those were on some big plays. But we kept on saying on the sidelines, ‘Those plays are there. We’re going to be able to move the ball on these guys all day, we just have to stop holding ourselves back, and just stay with the plan. Keep executing; don’t change anything.’ It wasn’t as far as they were beating us physically or with scheme, it was just we were stopping ourselves. … Once we started getting on a roll and started making some big plays down field, I felt like it was going to be a fun day for us.”

On if the line is benefiting from any steak dinners and watches as gifts for their stellar start to the season:

“No, not yet. We’ll save those things for after the season when we win a Super Bowl.”

On a big rematch with the Giants Sunday:

“It’s going to be a big game. I circled it on my calendar when the schedules came out. And we’re excited for this opportunity to play at home in front of our fans against a great opponent. It’s gonna be a game like last year. We split those two. Obviously the last one hurts, and we’re trying to get a little revenge. But it’s a week, and beating them next week is not going to make up for last year.”

On the Giants’ defensive front:

“They’re as good as it gets in the NFL, as far as man to man.”