Day 4, practice 6: Linemen injured
Offensive guard David Baas and defensive lineman Kentwan Balmer sustained injuries that knocked them out of practice this morning.
Balmer's sustained a left knee sprain. He said he was all right, but that it scared him. When he went to the ground with the injury during a run drill, Balmer took his helmet off and slammed it down.
The club did not disclose the severity of the injuries. Tony Wragge replaced Baas with the first team at left guard, while Demetric Evans took over at right defensive end after Balmer went out. (Justin Smith did not practice today, as he was given a rest morning for the second day in a row.)
Also, back Michael Robinson (groin) and Moran Norris (hamstring) missed practice time. Patrick Willis (ankle), Jay Moore (left middle finger cut), Parys Haralson (right hip flexor strain) and Tarell Brown (left big toe sprain) sat out the morning..
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When the position groups split up before the main part of practice, I went over to where the receivers were stationed to check out Jerry Sullivan's group. What struck me was how Isaac Bruce was hanging on every word Sullivan said on how to run a particular route.
After Sullivan explained the route to the entire group, Bruce approached Sullivan and engaged him in conversation, apparently asking questions about the route's intracacies.
Bruce had a very good day of practice. He got past the secondary to haul in a long TD pass from Alex Smith in 11-on-11 drills.
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Vernon Davis, who caught everything is sight the first three days of camp, got some "encouragement" from Singletary after failing to come down with a nicely thrown pass from Smith in 7-on-7. Manny Lawson had a pretty good coverage, but he ball deflected off
Also on 7-on-7,
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In a run drill, linebacker Scott McKillop had quite a collision with pulling right tackle Marvel Smith. Smith seemed to get the worse of it, but the ball-carrier got through the hole past McKillop.
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In 11-on-11 work . . .
--Cornerback Dre' Bly somehow did not get an interception on a Smith pass to Gore. The ball slipped through Bly's grasp, and Gore made the reception.
--There were a couple times where a sack clearly would've been achieved if the defenders were allowed to touch the QB. Fullback Zak Keasey did not come close to blocking Manny Lawson, who forced Hill into an incomplete pass. Ahmad Brooks came free on a play, forcing Hill to pull down the ball and scramble. And Marques Harris got around Marvel Smith, as Singletary instructed Smith to get the ball out of his hands.
--Dashon Goldson made a nice play on Dominique Zeigler crossing route to break up Smith's pass. Later, defensive coordinator Greg Manusky said he had a conversation early in the offseason with Goldson about playing in games as well as he practices. Manusky said Goldson has been guilty of not carrying over his practice success into games.
--Running back Thomas Clayton has not gotten much action. He has fresh legs and it showed when he blasted through the left side on his two rushing attempts.
--The QBs threw mostly underneath passes. Smith connected on passes of more than 20 yards down the field to Bruce and Davis, while Hill tossed a 15-yard pass at the sideline to Brandon Jones, who tip-toed his way inbounds.
--Manny Lawson is being counted on to get some sacks, but he can also be a factor, playing the role of Wilt Chamberlain, Manusky said. Lawson, coming off the left edge, batted down a Hill pass at the line of scrimmage.
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Coming up later today: A look at Bear Pascoe's camp.
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It's impossible to blog during practice, that's why I've been doing some live "tweeting." Check there for the latest updates. You'll read stuff like this: "T-shirt fashioned by QB Shaun Hill: '100-% Steroid-free.' Whew, that clears up that."
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Matt, your tweets are awesome. Keep them going!
Thanks, Matt. Any word on how long Baas, Willis, Haralson, Robinson and Norris are due to be out?
Can't be right about Bruce, we had it on good authority before TC that Bruce had a bad attitude.
:-)
"T-shirt fashioned by QB Shaun Hill: '100-% Steroid-free.' Whew, that clears up that."
Hilarious. Great stuff Matt, thanks!
First off, thank you for answering my question on Roman Matt, Love your work....
Now, you know for the last year and a half i have been blasting this guy cuz i think he sucks!! (thats Roman not matt, Matt is awesome lol) then i decided to maybe cut the guy some slack cuz i really hate Nolan more cuz i think his schemes suck and he puts ppl out of position (both at acctual position and on the playing field) so i was thinking maybe the guy isnt THAT bad it was just he played in a Defense where it was very difficult to be in position to make a play. Now the 9ers D sounds like it is much better off and i, thru six days of this blog and reading many other sites, think i have heard 79 different names but not his. i have read about guys i dont even know who they are having a good day, not a word about Roman even making one nice play. This is making me beileve this guy is so bad that if Goldson goes down, this whole D cld fall apart! God keep him safe!
please weigh in if anyone has heard a word about this guy, b4 matt said anything i almost thought he got traded n i missed it!!
My advice for Hill is to get on the roids cuz no way his noodle arm survives the training camp competition...
i am starting to get tired of David Baas - where is the toughness we thought was drafted...
How inflated do you think the QB completion numbers are due to there being no sacking them?
I think Manny Lawson is going to have his "breakout year" I love the fact that Lawson is batting down passes. DL in general seem to forget to put their hands up at the line of scrimmage which creases me to no end. Hey if you can't get to the QB you can at least get your hands up to bat the ball down, that becomes an incomplete pass & is HUGE PLAY especially on 3rd down pass plays.
The pass protections/blitz pickups bear watching.
Well,oneniner: It sounds like the same old Alex. Sing has to yell at him because he is not getting the ball out of his hands quickly enough (how many YEARS have we been hearing that and Smith still has NOOT learned ?).
And just a day or so ago Sing had to step into Smith's huddle and take over to straighten things out. Sounds like the same old smith to me,he doesn't show leadership in the huddle and he doesn't have a quick enough release and can't decide who to throw to and holds the ball and then as we also heard at the first practice,he just throws it out of bounds.Or as we heared today,throws it into tight coverage ,where it should have been picked off by Bly .
I know it's very early but...
Davis bumbling the ball on a pass brings back bad memories. And it sounds familiar. I know this guy is an excellent blocker, he can get open with his speed, but he has problems holding on to the ball whether open or not. I don't know if MS can take care of his problem or not. I hope so. Or the 49ers need to move Walker into the TE position and use Davis only on certain double TE lineups.
Maybe Pascoe can help the problems. But Walker is by far the better receiver at TE. I keep remembering TO had that problem early in his career. I hope Davis will be the same deal and turn into what the 49ers thought they drafted.
I'm sorry but i just don't understand why Thomas Clayton isn't getting fed the ball more. the man is a good RB and hes proved it 2 years running in the preseason. why does it seem like the niners are just over looking him? They pick up Coffe and sheets. which means some ones gotta go. my guess is clayton will be put back on PS.
Matt is there something we are missing about Clayton? Is he Horrible in practice or something? I just don't see why we had to make all those moves at RB when we have a pretty damn good back in Clayton. Let's release this beast on some defenses and see what the guy has. Im pretty sure we wont be disappointed!
Matt, Are the amount of injuries more/less than what you have seen in the past? Do you think, if it is an increase, that it is due to Singletary's physical style of practice.
Also, do you think this will take a toll on the team in the later part of the season?
"i, thru six days of this blog and reading many other sites, think i have heard 79 different names but not his. "
That's always been his MO. Nolan kept him in there because he was smart, would rarely get caught out of position, and often covered the errors of others. However, he NEVER made the big play. He's just a guy that does his job well, but never really gets mentioned. That's excellent at certain positions, but not for the guy playing center field.
Question: I'm sorry but i just don't understand why Thomas Clayton isn't getting fed the ball more. the man is a good RB and hes proved it 2 years running in the preseason. why does it seem like the niners are just over looking him?
My response: Perhaps, there has been too much emphasis placed on Clayton's performance in games in which third-stringers are on the field. Don't get me wrong. I believe Clayton improved a lot last season. But I definitely do not blame the 49ers for trying hard to upgrade the running backs behind Frank Gore. --Matt M.
Terry: But it seems that all reports out of camp so far have VD catching almost everything that comes his way. He did drop a couple but overall his hands seem much improved. Besides,he didn't drop all THAT many passes before,he was pretty good as a matter of fact. He just dropped some at the worst possible times and the fans were not very forgiving,especially since he was acting like such a hot dog most of the time (before Sing got a hold of him,lol ).
I think this year that VD will pleasantly surprise those who have been thinking he is not top notch.Especially with jimmy Raye calling plays to have the QB (Hill,lol) feed him the ball !
nastysteve:
I think I remember reading last season that Clayton just can't seem to pick up his blocking assignments. Can't have a RB in the backfield that will get the QB killed. They certainly won't let him on the field EVER in a real game if that is still a problem.
And besides,I know he has the numbers in the last 2 preseasons BUT I think that is becauyse they used him so much in preseason.not because he ran all that well. I remember him as being rather ordinary,although I will look forward to seeing if he looks better this preseason after he has matured two more years.
Thanks for the Reply Matt and TOP_CAT.
Matt, thanks again for the insights. Noticing a number of injuries with Singletary's tough training camp. Any idea how this compares to previous 49er training camps (# of injuries)?
Thomas Clayton is tooo slow...all muscle no speed
cmon... small_CAT...wait till you see with ur cat eyes before you judge