NFC Notes: Kyler Murray, 49ers, Cardinals, Seahawks

49ers

The 49ers have a star-studded group along their defensive line. As a result, the players often have trouble figuring out who’s getting the credit for sacks.

“It’s funny, after the game nobody has any idea what their stats are,” DE Nick Bosa said, via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “That’s a good problem to have.”

San Francisco’s defense relies on the pass rush getting home in order to make things easier in coverage for the back end of the defense. So far, they’ve been able to accomplish that.

“I think how much we’re rushing as a group has changed,” HC Kyle Shanahan said. “After we came back from the bye week, we’ve moved a little bit better. Obviously having Chase (Young) helps the group, just the depth of it. When we weren’t getting all the sacks, I still felt we were getting to the quarterback and hitting him. … I think our coverage has gotten better, too.”

49ers DC Steve Wilks explained the team has worked on disguising their fronts and keeping opposing offenses on their toes.

“What we tried to be able to do is just work on our disguise a little bit more and try to create some confusion to where maybe he thought we were coming where we’re not coming, and then vice versa, we’re sitting back and all of a sudden we bring pressure,” Wilks said.

Cardinals

Cardinals QB Kyler Murray knew after the first time that he took off and ran that he was mentally ready to return.

“To do it for the first time when I took off that third down, I felt kind of slow, but it was kind of an eye-opener, like, ‘OK, we’re good,‘” Murray said, via ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. “Then it was just feeling aches and soreness after the game but other than that, I prepared myself hard for that moment.”

Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon emphasized the importance of being mentally prepared to play after suffering an injury.

“They get in car crashes for their job, for their livelihood,” Gannon said of NFL players. “So, I always think that even if your body is healthy to play, I think your brain has to be healthy to play and there’s a certain aspect of players that you have to be confident in what your body is allowing you to do. I’ve seen guys that have come back and they don’t look like they’re normal selves. It’s typically not because of the physical, it’s the mental.”

Murray admitted that he didn’t know what everyone meant about the mental hurdles until he finally had to go through them.

“Once you’re in that moment, or you feel down or whatever it is, then you’re in that zone and it’s not a good feeling,” Murray said. “Everybody in here has probably felt some type of way about themselves or about the situation that they’re in, or you never know why you’re feeling the way you’re feeling. You’ve just got to pray about it and try to be happy and choose to be happy. For me, I definitely was persistent and just tried to stay strong throughout the whole thing. Tried to stay positive and optimistic about getting better faster than they said [I would].”

Seahawks

• Seahawks OT Stone Forsythe was fined $5,454 for unnecessary roughness.