Blogs

Greetings from Hawaii

HONOLULU – After a long flight from San Jose and a quick stop at the rental car center, 49ers.com has made it to Hawaii for a week of exclusive coverage of the 2012 Pro Bowl.

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Lee Earns Weekly NFC Award

Punter Andy Lee has been named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after a stellar contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football.

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk: Dec. 12

Alex Boone joked earlier in the year about replacing Joe Staley as the face of TV49. On Sunday, Boone literally replaced Staley in the 49ers lineup as Alex Smith’s blindside protector.

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Gameday Story: The Specialists

Typically, kickers, punters and long snappers don’t get a ton of media attention. But when you’re David Akers, Andy Lee and Brian Jennings, a trio of specialists with eight Pro Bowl appearances combined, you certainly deserve recognition.

All three remain at the top of their respective games, and graced the latest 49ers Gameday Magazine in a cover story called “The Specialists.” Graphic designer Ben Mayberry designed the cover shoot, which was set up and photographed by team photographer Terrell Lloyd.

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Pro Bowl Update: Final Day to Vote

Today is the last day to vote your San Francisco 49ers into the 2011 Pro Bowl which will be played Jan. 30, 2011, in Hawaii. Here’s a look at five members of the team who have stood out in particular this season and deserve your vote:

CLICK HERE TO VOTE YOUR FAVORITE 49ERS INTO THE PRO BOWL.

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Pro Bowl Update: Week 14

No matter how many times you’ve been to the Pro Bowl, it never gets old. Just ask Patrick Willis, who has gone to the NFL’s annual All-Star game every season in his three-year career.

“It’s a great honor to make the Pro Bowl, to know the players, coaches and fans think you’re the best at what you do,” the 49ers inside linebacker said. “And even though I’ve been a few times now, I’ll never take it for granted.

“Whether you’ve been 10 times or zero times in your career, you have to approach every season the same. You go out and play the best you can, and everything else will take care of itself.”

And while all of the 49ers have that mindset, six in particular have stood out the most in 2010. Now they need you, the 49ers Faithful, to vote for them to make it to the 2011 Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

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49ers Sign K Jeff Reed

According to 49ers Vice President of Player Personnel Trent Baalke, kicker Joe Nedney will have his injured knee reevaluated this Monday. In the mean time, the 49ers announced the signing of veteran kicker Jeff Reed to a one-year contract.

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From the Field: Aug. 18 PM Practice

It’s a pad-less afternoon practice for the 49ers on Wednesday. Special teams work is taking place at the moment, interior blocking, punt returning and form tackling by the gunners are all happening across the practice fields.

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Pro Bowl Practice Week Wraps Up

The NFC and AFC squads wrapped up their week of practice on Saturday.  The practices were held at Lockhart stadium in Ft. Lauderdale and were open to the public.

Take a look at our photo gallery from Saturday’s practice.  It was a lighter, abbreviated session that featured the NFL cheerleaders.  NFC coach Wade Phillips was also miked up during practice and that sound was played over the stadium’s speakers so that all the fans could hear the interaction between Philips and the players.

Patrick Willis was replaced on the NFC roster by Panthers linebackers Jon Beason after he decided not to play because of a minor injury.

With the week of practice concluding, players will get the rest of the day off and resume preparation on Sunday for the 7:20 ET kickoff of the NFL’s all-star game.

There hasn’t been much adjustment for players like Jason Witten.  The Cowboys tight end didn’t have to learn anything new this week since the Cowboys coaching staff is heading the NFC squad.

“I think there are going to be some good plays,” Witten said.  “I know this offense pretty well so I’m excited about it and I look forward to playing tomorrow.”

49ers punter Andy Lee looks around at the rest of teammates and can only feel optimistic about his team in tomorrow’s game.

“The only thing I can say is I like our chances,” Lee said.  “We’ve been practicing well so we’ll see how it all goes tomorrow.”

This will be Lee’s second Pro Bowl.  He was selected to the team in 2007, but the only time he was on the field in that game was to hold on field goal kicks.

“I didn’t punt the last time, so I don’t know if I really learned anything from that game that will help me tomorrow,” Lee joked.  “I just have to go out there, do my job and show why I was chosen.”

Lee ranked 1st in the NFC in 2009 with a 47.6 gross punt average so he’ll definitely be an asset for his team if called upon on Sunday.  However, Lee laughed and said that he wants to be even more involved.

“I don’t think we have a fake in, who knows,” Lee said.  “We could throw something in, but we’ll see if I’ll have to actually punt this time around.”

It’s been an enjoyable week for Lee who was able to bring his wife Rachel as well as some of his family out to South Florida along with him.

“Yesterday was great,” said Lee.  “I went out to eat with the family and hung out by the pool.  The place we went to eat was called Truluck’s.  I got this big Alaskan crab from Dutch Harbor.  That what they have on the show Deadliest Catch.  It was great.”

For all of our coverage of the Pro Bowl, visit our Pro Bowl Central page.

Blog: Pro Bowl Practice Kicks Off

The AFC and NFC squads hit the field at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in South Florida on Wednesday for their first practices of the 2010 Pro Bowl.  The Cowboys and Chargers coaching staffs ran the drills for their respective conferences.

The NFC’s practice was a little longer than what I expected for a Pro Bowl session.  Players don’t go full speed during the drills, focusing more on mental reps and learning the offensive and defensive schemes.  The schemes are usually pretty basic so all of the players can pick things up during the week. (Click here to view a 49ers.com photo gallery of Wednesday’s practice).

Donovan McNabb was easily the most vocal player on the field, laughing and joking with teammates.  Every time McNabb would throw a pass to Cowboys receiver Miles Austin, Austin would bat it down, refusing to catch anything from McNabb.  The two kept laughing at each other for most of the morning.

He also joked with Vernon Davis.  McNabb seemed shocked to see Davis’ short hair.

“He told me he was glad I shaved of my six dreads,” Davis told reporters after practice.

Justin Smith was the only 49ers Pro Bowler not present at practice.  He learned that he would replace the Vikings’ Kevin Williams yesterday so he should be arriving by tomorrow.

It’s an especially meaningful week for running back Frank Gore, who hasn’t played in his hometown of Miami since his days at “The U.”

“It’s a great opportunity to play in front of my family,” Gore said.  “That’s the best part about this.  My family hasn’t been able to see me play since I’ve been in the NFL so that makes this week really special.  I wasn’t able to play last year when we came out to play the Dolphins so this is great!”

One of the family members Gore is most excited to play in front of is his son, Frank Jr., who is becoming quite a good football player himself.

“He’s really excited to see me play,” Gore said.  “He’s taking after his dad so far.  I’m proud of him because he’s continued working really hard.”

Gore grew up in Coral Gables and attended Coral Gables High School so it seemed weird to him to be practicing on the field of his former rival school, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Some of the high school students were allowed to take some time away from class to come out and watch the practice.  It also made the practices more lively the students would cheer after good plays and yell encouragement for their favorite players.

“It’s a good opportunity for them to see a lot of NFL guys, especially players who made the Pro Bowl who are supposed to be the best at their position,” Gore said.

Gore said he’s really looking forward to see how his teammate and good friend Vernon Davis plays with the best players in the business.

“I want to see how Vernon does.  I think he’s going to play fast like he always does and turn some heads.”

Gore admitted he probably wasn’t playing as fast as he normally does during the first session of the practice.  During special teams drills, Gore lined up on kickoff coverage and proceeded to sprint down the field and get into tackling position on the return man.

“That was crazy,” Gore said with a grin.  “I had no idea what I was doing.”

I caught up with some of our guys after the NFC practice.  Watch the video below:

The AFC players had some interesting things to say following their practice as well.  Here’s my report following their practice:

For all of our coverage of the Pro Bowl, visit our Pro Bowl Central page. And for more videos like the ones above, check out our new YouTube page.