SANTA CLARA – Thursday’s practice was the last 49ers practice open to the media this season. It was a light practice – the players wore shorts and went about half speed.
Alex Smith mostly played against the scout-team defense, but when he did face the starters he threw two touchdown passes – one to Kyle Williams in the middle of the end zone – right in front of strong safety Donte Whitner – and the other to Vernon Davis deep down the left sideline.
Vernon Davis was the offensive player of the day. He caught six passes – three for touchdowns. On the deep touchdown pass from Alex Smith, Davis was wide open because he completely faked out Patrick Willis – something you rarely see.
Backup quarterback Josh Johnson, who’s fighting for a roster spot, threw four touchdown passes, including one with the scout-team offense against the starting defense. On that play, Johnson tossed a perfect pass to Brian Tyms in the corner of the end zone. Tyms was tightly covered by Tarell Brown, but Johnson threw it up where only Tyms could grab it.
Chris Culliver’s daily highlight play came in a seven-on-seven red zone drill against the offense. Colin Kaepernick tried to fire a pass in the end zone to Randy Moss, but Culliver jumped in front of the wide receiver and knocked the ball to the ground.
Injured Niners Aldon Smith, Perrish Cox and Cam Johnson all made appearances on the practice field, and none of them were limping.
49ers RSS feed
Loading ...
Geez who stays and who goes this year? Crazy how much talent is here hopefully its all well put together
Harbaugh calls AS an expert in this offense!! Is this hyperbole? Dont know but it gets me going lol. All I can say right now is all is good, goood, gooood.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2012/08/16/harbaugh-dubs-alex-smith-an-expert-in-49ers-system/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+49ersHotRead+%2849ers+Hot+Read%29
Ah undercenter, you know you can’t believe Harbaugh. It’s all coach speak, read between the lines : ) LMAO!
As long as they win and make the playoffs, let the blamers be bitter. Enjoy the ride!
I know Jack I know, sounds good tho and I like that, its positive, it not “I want winners”
This is great news! The better Alex gets the offense the better he should play. It sounds like he has been sharp in practice, but I think it will take until week 1 for us to see it. They will be pretty vanilla until it counts.
There are a few things I him improve but I am sure they are working on those everyday.
TOP 7 SUCKA’S. WHEEEEEEEW!!!! Bring on Green Bay. I cant WAIT!!!
Oh c’mon undercenter. I am sure you wore your “I WANT WINNERS!” T-shirt proudly back in the day : )
Hand raised with head down. =-/
Jack – not me I really liked Sing as a player and as a coach, but not as a headcoach. he didnt understand the importance of offense. All I remember is run, run, pass, punt. lol those days were terriable.
Read Sando’s latest article! Sounds to me like AS is there!
Harbaugh: “Alex is an elite, pro-bowl, expert quarte- oh hey, Peyton Manning!”
Msc,
Exactly!!
23J – What up bro? Long time no talk. Hope you’re doin well man! This should be our year to finally get #6.
There’s definitely a sense of urgency coming from Justin Smith.
In Harbaugh I trust.
MSC and Jordan,
What happens if AS does blow up this year? Do you realize you won’t be able to just say, “Whoops, I was wrong,” and all will be forgotten [by the blog posters, in general]? And AS blowing up this year is much more likely than him failing.
@exgolfer I’m not expecting to be “forgiven” by anyone. My opinion on Smith has been based on what he’s done on the field; not faith, puppy dogs, unicorns and excuses.
I drank the kool-aid when Smith was drafted and again when Singletary was hired. I’m not making that mistake again. When Smith actually shows in a real game that he’s improved then I’ll believe it. Until then he is what he has been; just a guy.
“Injured Niners Aldon Smith, Perrish Cox and Cam Johnson all made appearances on the practice field, and none of them were limping.”
Now that’s what I want to hear. The 49ers are a deep team, except at OLB, and they go against the best passing teams this year.
In terms of injury vulnerability by position, I would rank OLB first, followed by Center, then Guard (at least in the first part of the season until Looney develops.)
Overall, I’m loving the depth this year.
Josh,
It’s your weekend to shine. If you can wing it against the Texans, you get a job. If you can’t, you’ll be a backup somewhere else. Get your hardhat and make it happen!
Dear Josh,
Please play well and dont me make me look like a bigger a hole than i already am.
you can do it pal, i believe in you………
your pal,
23welcher
Dont sound so confident as you once did 23 Welcher. Before it was JJ was gonna win the job in training camp and Alex was good as gone. Now it looks like Alex has a very good command of the offense, is more accurate and ready to start week one.
That touchdown pass to Tyms is a TD pass that Smith will never throw. That’s a fact.
Blah…Blah…Blah…
I think even you could throw a touchdown in the endzone against our secondary. One thing I don’t like about these blogs is that they telecast where the weaknesses are.
I’m sure you see some of it in the preseason games, but if I’m reading these all offseason, I come to the conclusion that you complete the deep pass over the middle, down the sideline, and just about everywhere there is a CB covering expecting over the top help from Goldson.
I’m frustrated with our secondary. Is it obvious? Ugh…
undercenter, singletary? W/o the Singletary years we would definitely not be where we are today. W/o the defense that Singletary developed, the Niners would be stuck in lala-land of no defense. You see, Harbaugh didn’t have to do much to the D, just the O; and look at where we are today.