49ers’ Warner back at practice. ‘Fred is different from anybody else’ (paywall)
“He appeared to run and jump with an intensity his peers have grown accustomed to mimicking. His presence alone injected energy and fresh stakes for a team beginning to realize it may be one win away from seeing the perennial All-Pro linebacker, who also happens to be the longest active 49ers team captain, call tails at the pregame coin toss.
“I just think the fact that Fred even has a jersey on, less than 100 days after what happened to him,” Trent Williams said, “that just uplifts the team.”
Warner did not take a back seat to anyone in his first practice back, resuming his role as line leader. He took every first rep with his position group. The order of operations served as a reminder, particularly for a run-down 49ers roster in the middle of another short week, how it’s done.
“Guys are like, man, 54 is right there around the corner,” Purdy said. “Obviously, we do our job, handle our business, then we can get him back. … Guys feed off that. He’s the captain here, man. He’s the guy that we all follow.”
As fellow linebackers ran over to join Warner ahead of individual drills, he flipped his dreadlocks back, strapped up his helmet and dapped up the guys. All signs that it was time to go to work. Warner ran ahead of his teammates to demonstrate.
He dug in his cleats, some few steps right of a sled. He shuffled to the left at many paces, preparing to launch. He punched through the bag, which clanked its usual clank. He sprinted to pursue the ball carrier, who in this case was a defenseless 49ers staffer. He leaped past, so as not to injure anyone on his first day back.
Warner then ran by the horde of cameras following his every move, and hollered: “God damn, we look good!”
49ers star Fred Warner instantly brings ‘pure energy’ in return to practice
“It is not likely that Warner will be cleared to play against the Seahawks, coach Kyle Shanahan said. But the 49ers hope Warner could be available if the team advances to the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24.”
49ers’ Ricky Pearsall expects to play Saturday while being more mindful of balky knee
“On that individual play, getting out of bounds is the wiser move,” said Pearsall, who was limited in Wednesday’s practice. “I landed straight on my knee and I just can’t take tackles like that right now. Because I’m just going to have setbacks if I continue to land on the knee. … Being able to adjust a little bit within my game is something I’m kind of learning as I go about it.
“And what I learned after that tackle, actually, on the plays going forward, the catches that I have, just be a little bit smarter. Get as many yards as you can, but don’t take big hits.”
Pearsall said he hasn’t been able to reach top speed since he was hurt in Week 4, but maintained the injury hasn’t impacted his route-running when he’s been able to play. He’s had 16 catches for 201 yards in five games since returning from the six-game absence.
If he returns Saturday, he’ll do so more mindful of his injury while accepting there are limits to what he’ll do to protect his right knee.“
How the 49ers’ approach will change for another short-week game vs. the Seahawks (paywall)
“The 49ers are also likely to practice differently this week than they did in Week 18.
Shanahan noted the regular-season finale against the Seahawks was the 49ers’ third game in 13 days and that the team had no full-speed practice periods beforehand. Two of the three walk-through practices that week were held at night under the lights of Levi’s Stadium to allow players to get extra sleep in the morning.
The team emphasized sleep and recovery on Tuesday as well. The 49ers’ charter flight got back from Philadelphia around 1 a.m. Monday, and Shanahan didn’t have the players come in until 10 a.m. Tuesday. They usually spend seven hours at the facility when they begin their week of practice; on Tuesday, they were in the office for only 3 1/2 hours.
But the rest of the week promises to be more intense. And it’s likely that Wednesday’s and Thursday’s practices will be harder than they were before the last meeting with the Seahawks, one in which the 49ers defense had a season-high 18 missed tackles and the offense scored a season-low three points…..Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, meanwhile, said in hindsight he wished the 49ers had pushed themselves through their end-of-season fatigue, instead of forgoing full-speed practice periods.
“Physiologically, you want to try and touch those top speeds like once every four to five days, even if it’s for one rep,” he said. “You just want to be able to touch it. It reinforces your nervous system to understand what it’s like to get there. It’s counterintuitive in that you think rest is better. But sometimes doing less is not doing more for those types of things.”
Kawakami: The 49ers have a chip on their shoulders and no time for self-pity (paywall)
“The coach was in sandals, most of the morning meetings were waved off, the locker-room mood was positive but murmuring at notably lower decibels than usual, and the practice work and basically the entire day unwound at decidedly less than half-speed.
Yes, it was Casual Tuesday in the 49ers’ previously manic playoff run.
And folks, right now they really need as much serenity as possible. Tuesday is usually a treasured day off, but because the 49ers are playing their huge divisional-round playoff game in Seattle on Saturday, this week’s schedule had to be moved up 24 hours.
Of course, the 49ers couldn’t speed up the healing of their bruised bodies and frayed nerves from their tense victory over the Eagles on Sunday evening and long flight back home that night.
In fact, that probably explains why the locker room seemed fairly empty during the media period — who can give interviews when almost everybody has to queue up for treatment?
So maybe there was a little more sarcasm than usual; better to joke about their massive rest disadvantage against the Seahawks than to sound grumpy and bitter.“
How 49ers’ Eric Kendricks went from nearly calling it quits to calling a playoff defense (paywall)
“Last summer he was working out at UCLA with a group of NFL players. Two months ago, however, Kendricks was training by himself at his alma mater and wondering whether he was toiling for an opportunity that wouldn’t materialize.
“All my friends that were working out with me were back on teams at other places and I was kind of just like, ‘Should I call it? Should I call it in? Should I not work out today?’” Kendricks said. “And then it was just kind of like, nah, stick to the routine. Stick to the grind. I knew something was going to pop up that was good.”
Saleh, Kubiak, Purdy preview 49ers-Seahawks Divisional Round matchup
“Your rookie defensive tackles have made some strides over the last month or so. What do you see from those guys particularly in the run game?
“The biggest thing is they’re learning in terms of the different blocking combinations that they can get. It’s a lot more complex than what they would’ve seen in college. They’re doing a really nice job disengaging faster than when it first started. They’ve gotten better every week. They’re very deliberate in everything they’ve been doing and we’re obviously really excited about their trajectory.”
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