Chilo Rachal knows you’re out there. And he’s got a message for his critics: You’re wrong.
The 49ers right guard, the 39th overall pick in the 2008 draft, was actually more polite today in insisting that he’s steadily improving and his detractors are off base.
“I’m a completely different player than I was last year,” Rachal said. “You guys don’t see that because you just see the TV copy.”
I assume Rachal was referring to the media, which has made a habit of
asking Mike Singletary this season if the 6-foot-5, 323-pounder will
retain his starting job. Singletary has kept Rachal in the starting
lineup while acknowledging some of his shortcomings.
Earlier
this season, he said Rachal had to improve on his technique when pulling
down the line. On Monday, he said Rachal wouldn’t be benched, but his
assessment didn’t quite suggest the former first-team All-American at
USC was recapturing his college glory: “I think Chilo, for the most
part, is playing pretty decent football, but every now and then will
have a breakdown.”
Based on his “TV copy” comment, it sounded as
if Rachal A) was aware of the criticism of his performance this season
and B) thought it was misguided.
I asked him about it.
“To
the average guy looking, something you might see may not be there,”
Rachal said. “We can be doing a scheme or we could be doing something
different. So people might look and say ‘Oh it’s the right guard.’ But
people don’t know. Maybe it was a scheme breakdown or something.”
Does the criticism bother him?
“Not
really because I don’t worry about that,” he said. “I can only control
what I can control and focus on what I can do. As long as I come here, I
do my job well and I work hard, the rest will take care of itself. So I
don’t get caught up in what people have to say about (me).”
Rachal, who said he continues to fine tune his technique, acknowledged he has room for improvement.
How much is clearly up for debate.
•
Barry Sims started at left tackle against Tampa Bay in place of Joe
Staley (fractured fibula), but it’s unclear if the 12-year veteran
earned a second start. Singletary said he thought Sims did a “decent
job,” but didn’t commit to him starting on Monday night at Arizona. Adam
Snyder, who has made two starts at right guard this season, is the
other candidate.
Sims said he settled into a rhythm against the
Buccaneers after playing just one offensive snap in the season’s first
nine games.
“I felt comfortable,” he said. “I was a little rusty.
I kind of expected to be a little rusty, but I felt fine once we got
going. I felt like I hadn’t really missed much.”
• I remember the
turkey, pumpkin pie and family dysfunction, but many of my most vivid
Thanksgiving memories include Eric Hipple, Leon Lett in the snow and
Madden’s turducken.
I hope you have a great holiday filled with Patriots-Lions, Saints-Cowboys and Bengals-Jets.
Happy Thanksgiving.
