This has felt like the longest offseason ever. Partially out of excitement and partially out of frustration. I’m so curious to see how this offense works with such different pieces. Lotta different faces since the last time they played.
Seattle’s defense looks as good as ever. It reinforcedmy predictionthat they’re gonna be such a problem for us if we don’t make a move. The Rams will be tough but at least their linebackers aren’t monsters like Seattle’s. Let’s get this W and make it back in one piece.
Go Niners!!!
Kyle Shanahan, 49ers eye more explosive Christian McCaffrey plays this season
“Shanahan said Black is fully capable of doing all the things McCaffrey is able to execute in the run game. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel also is capable of lining up in the backfield, too.
The problem arises when the 49ers take McCaffrey off the field on passing downs.
“There are things you’re only going to ask Christian to do,” Shanahan said. “And when he’s out, you got to change that stuff up, and the threat of that stuff gets changed, too, for the defense.”
Five 49ers players to watch in Week 1 international game vs. Rams in Australia
“The 49ers are expected to go with Connor Colby, a second-year player who started six games a year ago.
Colby, rookie Carver Willis, and veterans Robert Jones and Austen Pleasants all got their turns at winning the job. Willis also could see action on Friday against the Rams. The 49ers released Jones, and Pleasants begins the season on injured reserve.
While Colby will not face Donald, he still will face stiff challenges from interior defensive linemen Braden Fiske and Poona Ford.”
Walking in faith, slinging f-bombs, Brock Purdy redefines leadership for 49ers (paywall)
“So what are Purdy’s awful sins? He paused and considered the question. He admitted to judgmental thoughts and getting caught up in living comfortably. He sometimes catches himself staring at his phone when he could be helping his wife, Jenna, clean the post-dinner dishes. He wants to do a better job of maximizing his time with their 13-month-old daughter, Millie.
….“He’s the same guy now as he was when we were rookies,” Zakelj said. “None of this has changed him.”….
But Purdy is as intense as he is empathetic. On Aug. 8, Purdy screamed a decidedly unchurchlike word while hollering at Jordan Watkins after the second-year wide receiver failed to come back aggressively for a pass that was intercepted during a training-camp practice. Purdy was apoplectic: “Attack! Attack!”
On Aug. 23, with trash-talking linebacker Fred Warner giving the offense an earful, Purdy bellowed at Warner after floating a completion over him. He barked two words. They weren’t “Bless you.”
Purdy isn’t proud of sporadically sounding like a sailor. But he once struggled to reconcile that language with his faith.
Purdy said he has habitually asked himself: How can I honor God with what He’s given me? He’s often thought about that in terms of his influence and resources. But he’s fully embraced maximizing his gift as one of the world’s best QBs. And part of being great at his job is inspiring men to follow him. Sometimes that requires a four-letter correction to a young wide receiver.
“I think that’s stewarding the job God has given me well,” Purdy said. “Rather than saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to be this perfect, nice guy and not say anything and let things slide by.’ It’s like, ‘No, I’m called to hold my guys accountable and hold myself accountable.’ … When guys saw me do that (to Watkins), I think they had a lot of respect for it. And, honestly, they might want a little bit more of it.”
49ers vs. Rams: The Standard’s 5 fast predictions (paywall)
“Kawakami: 49ers 24, Rams 20. In the middle parts of this game, I expect Matthew Stafford to move the ball and the Rams’ defense to look good. But the 49ers’ Melbourne mojo should allow them to jump out ahead in the first 10 minutes and give them fresh legs to close well in the last 10. Also, the Rams gave themselves an excuse to lose this game by traveling so late (and by keeping Donald home), and if you’ve got an excuse against a good team, you usually end up having to use it afterward.”
49ers work out Australian rugby player Ben Te Kura
“Matt Barrows of The Athletic reports that Te Kura has aspirations of becoming an NFL offensive tackle.”
Weighing on the pros and cons of 49ers’, Rams’ Melbourne travel
“According to Mah, who has worked with NFL teams on their sleep methods and spoke at the player health and safety summit in the spring about how to travel smarter, the Niners will at least be able to recover from travel fatigue and jet lag, even if body clocks aren’t fully calibrated.
“I think it’s helpful that they’ve given themselves a cushion to do that because regardless of the jet lag, there’s also travel fatigue [from] this 16-hour flight that they’re taking,” Mah said. “That’s a long time on a flight. And being able to recover from the travel fatigue is a separate issue than just how the body clock is adjusted and how that can affect your sleep and daytime functioning…..
“They will have had three or four days to shift their time a couple hours forward,” Wright said. “They will have slept; they will have eaten. Will they be totally acclimated? Nope. But they will have had two or three days to get [a] solid eight [to] 10 hours of sleep in.”
Both Wright and Mah noted that another benefit of early arrival is the chance to get and stay hydrated (the Niners gave each player a specific amount of water to consume on the plane ride based on their size and needs) as well as get sunlight at the proper times of the day.
….San Francisco will have a few extra days off upon returning to the West Coast, but it will still take careful planning to get back on Pacific time before returning to practice.
“Their reacclimating coming east may be more difficult,” Wright said. “Afterward, they may need to have a tight schedule of light and dark and on the way back feed the guys as they would be on the West Coast and taking short naps and just trying to reacclimate them.”
…”Every [Rams] player’s going to walk off the plane stiff, every joint’s going to be aching, and it’s going to take the rehab team a lot of work just to get some fluid back in those joints,” Wright said. “But it’s not just a tired leg problem. Less than 24 hours after getting off a plane, you’ve got a whole body timing problem. And both things are happening at once for them.
“The travel fatigue from the journey itself, cramped up, no sleep. And the dehydration is real on a long flight like that. So, you’ve got the physical tiredness and then the time zone, the jet lag, which is the mismatch between body clock and local times.”
