49ers tidbits

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49ers Hold Light Practice on Sunday


The San Francisco 49ers finished up their on-the-field game preparations for the Monday Night Football contest against the Denver Broncos with a light practice on the turf field at team headquarters on Sunday. The team will conduct meetings this evening and tomorrow morning prior to the game.

Kickoff from Monster Park is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT.

“We have individual goals and collective goals," said head coach Mike Nolan of the first exhibition game. "The individual goals are, naturally, for certain players to get better at their craft and their techniques. Collectively, obviously, it’ll be the guys coming together with the chemistry and gelling as a team. There’s a lot to look at for this game. The players themselves sometimes go into the early part of the pre-season, and they’re more concerned with just playing well, because they’re trying to make the team still. Guys that know the team, that are experienced veterans, still are working on their own craft, because everybody wants to look good.”

In addition, Nolan said he is interesting in working with his three new coordinators.

“I’m looking at it selfishly, from a coaching standpoint," said Nolan. "We’ve got three new coordinators. I want to see how our game operations go—the communication, on the headset, to the field, and how that gets transferred to the players on the field. I’m excited about that. It’s boring stuff to you, but good for me.”

Nolan said that the starting units would play either the first 15 plays or the first quarter, which ever comes first, Since RB Frank Gore will not play due to his broken hand, a combination of Michael Robinson and Maurice Hicks will fill the role.

T Patrick Estes (ankle), NT Aubrayo Franklin (knee) and DE Bryant Young (back) also will not see action due to injury.

CB Walt Harris will be held out of the game. A veteran of 11 NFL seasons, Harris has been held to one practice a day as designed by the coaching staff. CB Shawntae Spencer will start in his place.

Isaac Sopoaga will start at nose tackle in place of Franklin, and Ron Fields will start at defensive end in place of Young.

WR Marcus Maxwell returned to practice on Sunday after missing a few days with a hamstring injury, and is expected to play in Monday night's game.

Nolan named captains for this week's game. QB Alex Smith will serve as the offensive captain, linebacker Derek Smith will represent the defense, and safety Keith Lewis will serve as the captain on special teams.


Nolan said the 49ers considered drafting Jarvis Moss, the Broncos' first-round draft choice out of Florida. Denver has Moss playing right defensive end. The 49ers, however, likely would have switched him to weak-side linebacker, an area that became less of a need when the team signed free agent Tully Banta-Cain.




Niners' Smith ready for third-year surge

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

You can feel the job starting to click for him, obviously," Nolan said. "He's more confident with his teammates, and he's making good decisions. ... We had confidence that he would get to this point, because he's a hard worker. Good things happen for those types of guys."

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How do there rookies look?

MLB is an easier transition than DL...I don't know what that other guy is talking about.

Willis has looked like everything he was billed to be, he was thought of as a can't miss prospect and it looks like he won't miss.

Staley has looked good for a rookie Tackle....he'll challange Kwame for the starting RT spot. But, chances are it won't be till later in the season unless he really rips the preseason up.

Jason Hill has shown flashes, but rookie WR's don't do much so I don't expect much from him this year.

McDonald is a guy to watch, the knock on him was his knee so if that holds up he should play more like a 1st rounder than a 3rd.

Dashon Goldson, 4th round safety will be the primary backup at FS and has looked like a solid pick. Supposidly a big hitter and can't wait to smash someone in a game. He could develop into a nice player for us.

Jay Moore has been transitioning to OLB and that will take time, but he has shown the athleticism to do it. Probably won't do all that much as a rookie.

Joe Cohen hasn't shown all that much at NT and certainly isn't a lock to make the roster.

Tarell Brown has looked good as a rookie CB and apparantly is a real high character guy who just made a few mistakes. He shouldn't see much playtime as a rookie though as we are pretty deep at CB. He could be the dime back possibly. I feel confident with him as a nickel is omeon goes down.

Thomas Clayton hasn't looked great, they say he dances too much in the backfield and doesn't hit the hole hard

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1. Vernon Davis looks like he's ready to have a monster season. After spending most of his rookie season learning the complexities of the offense, the second-year tight end is playing faster and with more confidence. That newfound confidence allows his natural athleticism to shine. Several players identified Davis as the most improved player during offseason workouts and the coaching staff is hoping that he can become their top weapon in the passing game.

2. It wouldn't surprise me to see first-round pick Joe Staley win the starting right tackle job. His athleticism and abilithy to move are impressive. But it was his competitiveness during team drills that really caught my eye. Veteran Kwame Harris is still a quality player, but it will be hard to keep Staley off the field.

3. Bryant Young, the only holdover from the 49ers' last Super Bowl team, has taken on the challenge of showing his young teammates how to handle the growing hype around this team. He has stressed to his teammates that they should expect to win and not just hope to get into the playoffs. His message comes on the heels of Mike Nolan preaching that high expectations should be the norm at the 49ers' facility.

4. Manny Lawson looks more comfortable at his OLB spot this season. He finished strong last year and is picking up where he left off in training camp. His pass rushing skills are improving, and his athleticism has the coaching staff devising more ways to keep him on the field. He lines up as the "dime" back in the 49ers' dime defense because the coaches think he has the speed and quickness to cover tight ends/slot receivers in spread sets. I was skeptical when they mentioned it, but after watching him move around for two practices the idea made sense.

5. The 49ers'offense doesn't look drastically different from last year's version led by Norv Turner. But one tweak implemented by new offensive coordinator Jim Hostler has been a focus on the intermediate passing game. Though they will still use plenty of seven-step drops with vertical routes, Alex Smith will throw more rhythm passes off five-step drops. Mixing in more underneath routes will up his overall completion percentage and keep the offense on the field more. Hostler is also taking advantage of Smith's athleticism by using more bootlegs and movement passes on early downs. Smith appears to be very comfortable directing the offense Hosteler has created by mixing the most effective elements of former offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy's quick rhythm passing game with Turner's aggressive vertical attack.

5a. Keep an eye on wide receiver Taylor Jacobs. He is having an outstanding camp and is making a serious push for playing time. He repeatedly got behind the defense today and several of the defensive coaches told me that he has been the most difficult receiver to guard during training camp.