Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Sunday, August 1, 2021
Jordan will have a recap from the defense later this morning after the 49ers‘ fourth practice. Fred Warner? Still good. Like, really, really good. He had an interception, a sack, and one play where the offense had numbers on a draw, but Warner beat the block and the play went for three yards instead of 23 yards.
“It’s about 25 pounds heavier than last year,” McGlinchey said on Saturday. “COVID was tough on me, tough on the resources, tough on getting into gyms, it was tough on making sure that [weight] stays up. It’s something that has given me more mental confidence. Definitely feeling good, my body is feeling it after the first week.”
“The most frustrating part of my season last year was how I handled it mentally,” McGlinchey said. “I don’t think I did my job in that regard. I didn’t let myself overcome mistakes, the trials of tribulations as a team. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself and it got in the way of me being able to do my job at a high level.
“It was a big focal point this offseason. I had to get my head right. I feel as though I did that, and I’m excited to continue to grow in that regard and challenge myself to get better and not let myself slip back into old habits.”
He completed seven of 12 pass attempts. But what stood out the most was the 49ers’ obvious emphasis on him running the ball. Lance had three scrambles and three keepers on read options among his 24 reps of 11-on-11 work.
Even the 49ers’ defense benefited from Lance’s unique abilities. First-year coordinator DeMeco Ryans will have to prepare down the road for NFC West quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray. Lance’s running ability is already in that class.
THE GOOD
1. Linebacker Fred Warner.
There he was, hanging out in the flat minding his own business when Jimmy Garoppolo threw the ball at him. Rude. So Warner intercepted it and returned it for a touchdown. Quite generous of Garoppolo to make his teammate look good.
2. Cornerback Jason Verrett.
He broke up one of Garoppolo’s passes and intecepted another. On the intercepition, Verrett had gotten beat deep by Deebo Samuel, but Garoppolo’s pass was so badly underthrown that Verrett picked it off easily. You simply cannot put a price on Garoppolo’s genorosity. It’s infectious.
JIMMY GAROPPOLO
He started out sharp and confident, and then completely fell apart. After his first interception, he became Indecisive Jimmy, the guy who stands in the pocket, seems confused, goes through his progressions too slowly and telegraphs his passes. That’s who he is and always will be. Enough with the narrative that Garoppolo has turned a corner and become a brand new quarterback. He hasn’t. He’s the same guy who lost the Super Bowl.
Saturday featured the absolute worst of Garoppolo and the best (at least, thus far, because he’s clearly just scratching the surface) of Lance. That’s not to say Garoppolo was just horrendous the entire time. He wasn’t.
He connected with Raheem Mostert nicely along the right sideline against Azeez Al-Shaair. That was a theme on Saturday without Dre Greenlaw practicing (foot blister), as Al-Shaair — who’s been impressive so far and broke up a Garoppolo pass on a blitz — had his lunch money taken by Mostert as a receiver on three separate occasions.
Garoppolo also had a dime to Brandon Aiyuk — who was only stopped on one occasion on a diving breakup by Jason Verrett, on a ball Garoppolo overthrew — over the middle and drew Arik Armstead offsides once with a hard count.