SANTA CLARA –
After warm-ups and drills, the real practice started with a 9-on-9 goal line scrimmage.
It was the first team offense against the first team defense, but backup Anthony Dixon lined up at tailback instead of Frank Gore. Alex Smith hiked the ball and handed it off to Dixon, who chose to bounce his run outside to the left. This was a bad move.
Patrick Willis caught him in the backfield and stripped the ball. This was the last carry of the day for Anthony Dixon, as far as I could tell. I asked Harbaugh after practice if Dixon was hurt, and he said no.
The other back up running back, Kendall Hunter, got more reps but didn’t fare much better than Dixon. Hunter rushed for no gain eight times and struggled in pass protection.
It was not a banner day for these backups. Frank Gore got most of the reps at tailback and looked stellar.
Alex Smith got most of the reps at quarterback and looked pretty good. He completed 22 of 35 passes, which is good. He threw two touchdowns, which is also good. One was a 20-yard seam to Vernon Davis in the end zone. The fans went wild on this play, partly because their starting quarterback threw a picture perfect TD, and partly because Vernon Davis ran around the stands giving out high fives.
The other touchdown was a 50-yard pass against the second team defense to a wide-open Ted Ginn streaking down the right sideline. It was a terrific throw with a tight spiral.
But Smith also did some things that were not-so-good, like throw two interceptions. On one, Smith telegraphed a pass to Braylon Edwards, who was running a quick slant. Tramaine Brock jumped the route and picked Smith off. On the other interception, Smith had Vernon Davis open on a seam route down the middle of the field, but he threw it short and Patrick Willis made a diving catch.
Of Smith’s 22 completions, five were longer than 10 yards, while six were check downs to Frank Gore.
Colin Kaepernick’s day was up and down as well. He completed just 13 of 24 passes. On one play, he badly under threw Vernon Davis over the middle and got picked off by reserve linebacker Alex Joseph.
He had some good moments too. He threw a 35-yard strike to Delanie Walker on a deep cross. He also threw a perfect 30-yard pass to Kevin Jurovich, who was tightly covered by Chris Culliver. The pass was right on Jurovich’s back shoulder, and there was nothing Culliver could do to break it up.
Kaepernick ended his day with a 10 yard touchdown pass to Konrad Reuland.
Jeremiah Masoli took almost all of the 3rd team reps at quarterback. After practice, Harbaugh confirmed that Masoli is only a quarterback for the 49ers, not a jack-of-all-trades. Harbaugh also said Masoli “throws the ball like a professional quarterback.”
Masoli’s best moment came during a two-minute drill. Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick each failed in their two-minute drills, moving the ball down the field but not scoring. Masoli did not fail. He threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Beiler on the first play.
Braylon Edwards struggled. He didn’t catch a single pass in 11-on-11s, and he had at least four drops. He doesn’t look like he’s in football shape yet. He only plays sporadically and he gets winded fast.
The players have the day off tomorrow, so the next practice will be Monday at 2:30 p.m.
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Practice makes perfect. Sounds as if the offensive passing scheme has a ways to go.
Grant, Alex Smith doesn’t hike the ball. The ball is hiked to him. A nitpicky point, I know, but hey, might as well get it right.
Does it really matter Ralph, I think we all know exactly what Grant was saying here. Don’t need to be OCD, you just wasted 1 minute of my time.
Actually, John, this mistake may indicate that Cohn’s football knowledge may be suspect, which makes his other observations questionable.
It took you a full minute to read that post?
@Ralph: “Hiked” can be used either way. “Hiked – verb: to move up or rise, out of place of position”.
Seriously though, do we really need to get this picky?
Thanks for all the info, as a fan it’s great to get updates like this!
QB competition…. Masoli and Kaepernick. Smith has the starting gig locked down due to experience, but are one of those two going to be the QBOTF for the niners? Can’t wait to watch. IMO, Last year, Masoli would have been picked before Kaep. The extenuating circumstances led to Masoli not being drafted. I was THRILLED when they picked him up as a UDFA and confused as to making a RB. Is Kaep the next Drew Brees? Is Masoli the next Brady? Is Alex the next Young/Gannon/Brister?
Time will tell… but it’s fun to watch.
I knew this kid [Masoli] can shine in the nfl. All he needed is the right coach and some good offensive lineman to believe in him, and I think he found him–Jim Harbaugh . I would not be surprise if he plays. He’s got QB blood written all over him. look at his college games. The dude is a stud. And I’m glad hes playing for the Niners.
GO NINERS!!!!!
Edwards should be in better shape when reporting to camp.
Ditto, but thats what you get when you bring in players who lack character.
Just watching the player interviews on 49ers.com. Two things: I like Whitner – good pick up there, this guy is smart and can make some plays. The second thing is the jet noise. Being backed up to an airport is a royal pain. If they’re going to put the stadium down there, that’s going to get old real quick. Seriously annoying.
Maiocco is tracking injuries, Dixon went out with a sprain after that Willis collision and fumble. We’re really stacking up the injuries. I was kind of afraid of that with this shortened training camp; they have to cram a ton of stuff in to these sessions. Hope most of these are not too serious.
The other thing that concerns me a little bit is getting Edwards and Smith on the same page. The discussion about Edwards cutting inside and Smith throwing outside is eerily familiar to Smith and Crabs last season early on. Getting the timing and routes down is key here.
Some things (it would seem) that Harbaugh must hammer in to Smith is this rollout and then throw across your body thing, too. That’s a classic Favre blunder that rarely works right. Jeff Garcia used to do that and it drove me crazy. Sprint right option will work most times, it’s hard to defense but he has got to stay on that side of the field and not try to come back across his body. Seems fundamental to me – he can’t do that. Telegraphing a throw also seems like a fundamental mistake (Walsh hammered this in to his QBs, Harbaugh must do the same – head straight down the field, don’t turn it until you’re ready to throw). They’ve really got to get a hold of that with some mechanical detail. Harbaugh has got to grow the good Smith and weed out the bad Smith. Sounds like he has his work cut out for him with CK as well. Got to do tons of reps with little time left.
Wish I could see some video on Masoli in camp, he’s intriguing. I realize they don’t want to give too much away, guess I’ll have to wait until Friday. Sounds like the kid has a good arm and can play some ball. Hope he takes his second chance and makes the most of it.
Ouch. Amukamara out indefinitely with a broken foot. These short camps are brutal.
I grew up a few neighborhoods away from where the facilities and soon-to-be-stadium are located. The jet noise is indeed annoying for a time, but like most things, you just kinda get used to it after a while.
0 catches and 4 drops for Edwards? ouch.
i’m skeptical as to how much Alex can improve given such a short amount of time for Harbaugh to work with him. it’s going to be paramount that his receivers cover for his weaknesses by having great hands and creating separation…
they already have one of the league leaders in dropped passes in Crabtree — Edwards was much better last season, but he has a history with the dropsies as well. even Vernon, while vastly improved, isn’t exactly what i would call sure handed. seems like they haven’t had a guy with plus hands since Brandon Lloyd.
Yeah, what I expect from Alex is more of the same that we’ve seen over the last 6 years – inconsistency.
What I hope for is improvement and consistency. Miracles can happen….
If Braylon wants to be “that guy”. GET IN SHAPE!! You had 132 days to get in shape for camp!!
So mr checkdown is at it again. But maybe its all apart of coaches plan for gore to get into open space n let opposing teams have it. Its going to be a special year for gore
Guess they’re trying to design the offense around Smith’s “strengths” – checkdowns and dumpoffs :-(
There won’t be much open space underneath if we can’t stretch the field on a consistent basis unfortunately…
Alex has padded his weak stats his entire horrible career with those weak dump offs and moving the team late in games against a prevent defense when the team is down 3 touchdowns. I’m just thankful that he only has a 1 year deal. He has been in this situation before and couldn’t get it done. Everyone wants to blame coaching. We all have to face the facts at some point and realized that we made the wrong choice in drafting this cat. He is a bust. Always will be. Always has been. JH has no choice with the work stoppage but to keep Smith.
I know what to expect from smith. He’s the king of the swing pass to Gore and does not do that very well. I am a diehard Niner fan, but I’m a realist as well. I don’t expect much of Smith. I’ll be amazed if he can keep his job through he 1st 6 games. Hope he can stand up to getting the boo job from 50,000 fans after that first 2 interception game.
Funny, guys that are dropping passes don’t realize how few opportunities they may receive with Smith back there. Edwards might want to wake up!