SANTA CLARA — Greg Roman spoke in the media tent Thursday afternoon. Here is a transcript courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department. Opening Statement: “Good afternoon. I’d just like on behalf of the offensive staff to send out best wishes to [Houston Texans head] coach [Gary] Kubiak, [Denver Broncos head] coach [Jon] Fox and their families. Our thoughts, prayers are with them and their families and their health. [Offensive…
SANTA CLARA — Colin Kaepernick spoke in the locker room Wednesday afternoon. Here is a transcript courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department. What’s it like having WR Michael Crabtree back on the field and WR Mario Manningham active and some reinforcements coming in? “Always good to have the receivers back out there.” How are they both looking at this point? “Look like themselves.” What did you do…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the media tent Wednesday afternoon. Here is a transcript. Q: What strikes you most about having Aldon Smith back? HARBAUGH: I wouldn’t say one thing strikes me most other than it’s good to have him back, good to be around him again. Q: Patrick Willis and Ahmad Brooks said they got pretty winded in a drill the other day and Aldon wasn’t even…
Wednesday on 95.7 The Game, John Clayton broke down the upcoming 49ers-Panthers game. Here is a transcript. Q: How good is the Carolina team that comes to Candlestick on Sunday? CLAYTON: “They’re good. They have some holes but they’ve started to turn the corner. You could see from the very first week that their front-seven may not be as good on defense as San Francisco’s, but it’s in the same…
I want you to predict how many catches Mario Manningham will make next Sunday against the Panthers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4…), and how many catches he will make the rest of the regular season. Whoever’s guesses are closest without going over Manningham’s actual totals will be the Poster of the Month at the end of the regular season. Here’s the tie-breaker question: How many catches will Michael Crabtree make…
SANTA CLARA — Jim Harbaugh spoke in the defensive meeting room Tuesday afternoon. Here is a transcript courtesy of the 49ers. Are you feeling fresh or are you feeling a little jetlag? “I feel great. I feel great. One of the other bonuses of a long stay away, you get nine days away, is just how fresh your facility feels when you get back and the practice fields, the…
Here is a transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Friday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Did DL Glenn Dorsey practice a little bit today? “Yes.” How did he look? “Did good.” Good enough to play on Sunday? “We’ll make that determination, but it was good.” You’ve got a roster opening, are you going to use it between now and the game or is it kind of up in…
Here is my Friday column on how the 49ers are like Muhammad Ali. Of the 49ers’ remaining opponents, which ones have a defense that can cause problems for a 49ers’ offense with a spotty passing game? That is the key question. If a team can’t stop Frank Gore and Anquan Boldin, that team can’t beat the 49ers. But if a team has a good run defense and at least one…
SANTA CLARA — Greg Roman spoke in the media tent Thursday afternoon. Here is a transcript courtesy of the 49ers. Opening comments: “Good afternoon. Big Division game this week. We kind of treat it as a one-game season so-to-speak against a very good defense. They’re one of the top teams in the NFL against the rush. When we turn on the film it’s pretty obvious why. They got a…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the defensive meeting room Monday afternoon. Here’s what he said. Q: Any word on Ray McDonald’s injured bicep? HARBAUGH: Not yet, no. Q: Did anything strike you on film last night about the way your team played last night? HARBAUGH: There was a lot of good, good overall play. Very disciplined, evidenced by the penalties, three penalties and one was a delay of…
Here is my Tuesday column on the issues the 49ers currently face. The Week 1 win against the Packers masked issues on the 49ers, but the Seahawks just tore off the mask. What do we see? The offense is worse than it was last season. Let’s start there. They’re missing key players: Michael Crabtree, Mario Manningham, Delanie Walker and Frank Gore. Yes, Gore is missing. More on him later. Crabtree…
Here is what Greg Cosell about the upcoming 49ers-Seahawks game on a Sports Illustrated podcast. Q: Last year before the Super Bowl, we talked a lot about the creativity that Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman implemented in the run game. This year, they’ve taken that creativity to trips and bunch, and the way they set Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis up in those multi-receiver formations was a thing of beauty….
SANTA CLARA — The 49ers made 10 roster moves today. They placed Cornellius Carradine, Quinton Dial, Marcus Lattimore, Luke Marquardt and Eric Wright on the Non-Football Injury List. The 49ers placed Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham on the Reserve/PUP List. The 49ers placed Chris Culliver on the Injured Reserve List, and the 49ers cut Lamar Divens and Lawrence Okoye. The 49ers currently carry 74 players on their roster. The Niners…
Here is my Saturday column previewing the 49ers’ Sunday preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings. If you expect the 49ers to treat Sunday’s preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings like a dress rehearsal for the regular season, you may be disappointed. Most NFL teams treat the third exhibition game like a dress rehearsal. The 49ers did that last season – Alex Smith played the entire first half. But, I’ll be…
Here is my Monday column on the A.J. Jenkins-Jonathan Baldwin trade. The 49ers traded A.J. Jenkins to the Chiefs for Jonathan Baldwin Monday morning. Hallelujah for the 49ers. Heaven help the Chiefs. Why on earth would Kansas City trade anything for Jenkins? Why would they want him in the first place? Just this past Friday, they saw firsthand how bad he really is. Jenkins played 38 snaps and caught no…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke in the media tent Sunday morning. Here’s what he said. Q: What is the complexion of practices these final two weeks of the exhibition season? Will you still do some ones against ones, or will it be mostly scout team work? HARBAUGH: It will not change very much. It will still be one versus one, two versus two, one versus two, two versus one,…
Here is my preview of the 49ers-Chiefs preseason game. Five things to watch in the 49ers’ preseason game against the Chiefs Friday night: 1. Colin Kaepernick in the red zone. Kaepernick has something to prove here. As terrific as he’s played in his brief career, he needs to improve his passing in the red zone. Last season, his red zone passer rating was 83.9, nothing special. Compare that to Alex Smith…
Here is my Friday column about what we learned in the 49ers’ first preseason game. It’s almost impossible to evaluate the 49ers’ starters after their first preseason game. We don’t know how much the 49ers game planned for the Broncos – probably not very much. And the starters played just one series. Frank Gore and Justin Smith did not play at all. That should change next week. Gore should get…
Here is my Friday column on the recent rash of NFL offseason and training camp injuries. Have you noticed how many NFL players already have torn ACLs or Achilles’ tendons this offseason? We’re not even two weeks into training camp, and already nine NFL players have torn ACLs and three have ruptured Achilles, and most of these injuries involved no contact. So far, 14 49ers have injured themselves and they…
SANTA CLARA – Vernon Davis spoke with Bay Area reporters in the 49ers’ media tent Sunday morning. Here’s what he said. Q: How is your on-field chemistry with Colin Kaepernick? VERNON DAVIS: We have a great relationship. We’re putting it all out there. We’re working in training camp, and that’s what training camp is all about. It’s about developing that relationship. I think we’ve come a long way since last…
