SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the media tent Friday afternoon. Here’s what he said.
Q: How did practice go this week?
HARBAUGH: Good. Good practice this week. Solid week of practice.
Q: Did you like this day because it might mirror what you might see in Seattle?
HARBAUGH: It was good for us. A little wind.
Q: Have you filled the last spot on the 53-man roster?
HARBAUGH: I believe we’ll bring Cam Johnson up.
Q: How’s he doing physically?
HARBAUGH: A lot of improvement.
Q: Would he play on special teams?
HARBAUGH: That’s possible, yeah.
Q: What is Justin Smith’s status?
HARBAUGH: He’ll be questionable for the game.
Q: Did he do anything today?
HARBAUGH: He’s done quite a bit.
Q: In what areas?
HARBAUGH: Rehab. Strengthening. Conditioning.
Q: How do you feel about Ricky Jean Francois?
HARBAUGH: Feel good. We all feel good about Ricky Jean or anybody who goes in there. Next guy up.
Q: When Justin wasn’t in the Patriots game, did there seem to be a little more attention paid to Aldon?
HARBAUGH: No. I watched it a few times. Did not see that.
Q: How does you defense change without Justin?
HARBAUGH: I don’t know what really changes. He’s a great football player.
Q: Could you talk about the toughness it takes for a defensive lineman to start 185 games in a row?
HARBAUGH: Yeah. He’s amazing man. Amazing football player. Amazing accomplishment.
Q: Is it particularly amazing because of the position he plays?
HARBAUGH: Yeah, it’s very physical in there. I haven’t played the position though.
Q: You were close to it.
HARBAUGH: Yeah, close enough to observe. Real football going on in there.
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Huge loss. Rest him until the playoffs. RJF has looked pretty good in his limited time. Let him gain experience going into the playoffs.
Coffee’s for closers says:
December 20, 2012 at 12:49 pm
“With the depth they’ve had at OLB Johnson should have been brought up already if he was anywhere close and clearly he isn’t. ”
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Clearly he is…
He probably should have been promoted last week.
C4C,
Harbaugh must have been following our discussion : )
/chuckle That was my first thought when I saw the headline.
Any thoughts/guesses as to why he wasn’t promoted last week?
Guess…It was probably because he wasn’t going to play.
I’d like to see what Cam Johnson can do. The Niners will certainly evaluate him. The team needs someone to spill Aldon. Bakhtiari is service able, but long term, it will be good know what you have with Johnson. Let’s not forget rookie OLB Fleming who is on IR for next year.
I think they were holding the open position for a kicker if needed to replace Akers. As to Cam Johnson with Haggans questionable and both Brooks & Aldon with shoulder problems I think it makes sense to have more depth there or the game especially if Haggans isn’t available, to me he is better than Bakhtiari on defense.
Great to hear Cam Johnson is on the 53. Anything to give Aldon rest. Even if Cam perfects only a few rush moves, he could still spell starting OLBs in long yardage packages.
The biggest thing the Pats ‘almost comeback’ proved (reinforced more precisely) is just how valuable the “Cowboy” is to the ‘Niner defense… No disrespect to Brady, et al., but no way in hell they score 28 that quickly if Justin was playing….
Not entirely true. What the comeback reinforced was the Niners lack of depth on D – especially at OLB. The Niners typically rotate about 13 players on D the entire game. With the up tempo style NE ran, the Niners simply got tired. That’s why is important to see what Can Johnson can do. Next year, we’ll see what Fleming can do (rookie OLB who’s currently on IR).
Justim Smith loses his Job if Ricky gets 3 sacks.