Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for February 1st, 2024
Saloon font and Bermuda grass: 10 details about 49ers’ Super Bowl week in Vegas (paywall)
“While the Chiefs will set up at the Raiders facility in Henderson, the 49ers will practice at UNLV, which is 16 miles away from their team hotel. The Rebels have a pair of artificial surface practice fields, but Nick Bosa, George Kittle and the team’s other grass devotees should have no fear — the league began rolling natural grass over those fields last week.
The 49ers will work out of the school’s state-of-the-art Fertitta Football Complex, which opened in 2019 and which boasts, among other amenities, a 9,000-square-foot weight room and a barber shop.”
49ers’ Christian McCaffrey has made the spectacular appear routine (paywall)
“Lost amid linebacker Dre Greenlaw’s interceptions, Purdy’s late-game recoveries and Aiyuk’s circus catch in the 49ers’ riveting first two playoff wins is this: The 49ers likely would have been eliminated if McCaffrey had slowed after a regular season that made him one of five finalists for the NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year awards.
In the postseason, McCaffrey has 260 yards from scrimmage, 140 more than any teammate; has accounted for four of the 49ers’ seven touchdowns, and has a team-high 11 catches.”
“I knew when we played them that time they were a great team and would probably get back,” Mahomes added. “You never know that you’ll get back. The fact we’re both back in the Super Bowl and playing each other again, it’ll be a great challenge for us.
“I know they’ll want to win because they didn’t win the last one, so they’re going to be fired up, and it’ll be a great opportunity. They’ve won a lot of games for a reason: They have great players and a great coached team.”
“This guy sees the field as good as anybody in this whole business. His runs, he was channeling Steve Young the other day. I don’t think we knew he could do that, on that stage, against that [Detroit Lions] defense, with the speed that they have. His movement is just elite. And probably the best part about him is he plays with no fear.
“Yeah, he threw an interception in the first quarter, it stopped a drive that they had going. It never sits in his mind that he’s going to play with [more] fear than that. So, I think he’s the perfect quarterback for Kyle [Shanahan] right now in that he can program him, he can coach him hard, if he [Purdy] makes a mistake, he can get on him like he does during the week in practice, yet he [Purdy] can take all of that and still go play without any sort of fear about making a mistake.”
“The 49ers will have to find a way to stop Pacheco without loading the box with eight defenders. Because if the 49ers load the box, Patrick Mahomes will take deep shots and complete them.
So defensive coordinator Steve Wilks needs to have a secondary defensive front he can call if the Wide 9. Perhaps a five-man front with less space between the defensive linemen would do the trick.”
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