Blogs

Morning Tailgate: Feb. 7

It’s time to pack up the camera bags and golf bags as 49ers.com heads off to Pebble Beach to cover this year’s Charity Golf Shoot-Out between the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants.

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk: Jan. 23

He’s been as a player and now as a head coach. And in both cases, it ended in defeat.

Even still, Jim Harbaugh comes back with plans to compete for the game’s ultimate prize: The Vince Lombardi Trophy.

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk: Dec. 26

Frank Gore chilled at the Warriors game Christmas night. Jim Harbaugh spent the day with his family, including his wife, four children and father Jack.

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk: Nov. 21

Against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Kyle Williams set career highs in catches and yards.

But despite the career day, the second-year wideout was humble in speaking to reporters on Monday. Really, Williams just hopes capitalizing on the opportunity against the Cardinals will result in more chances to make plays going forward.

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk: Nov. 22

In his Monday press conference, Mike Singletary repeatedly took the blame for his team’s 3-7 record with six games remaining. After opening his remarks with the injuries from Sunday’s 21-0 loss to Tampa Bay, Singletary took full responsibility for the team’s performance Sunday too.

“As you look at our team, in particular as we talk about the game yesterday, why we lost the game? That would be on me.”

“Anything that happened in the game is on me because it all ultimately comes back to me. I understand that.”

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Monday’s Locker Room Talk

Mike Singletary’s Monday postgame press conference kept getting bumped back and now we know why. (Hint: it probably had something to do with the signing of Brian Westbrook to a one-year contract).

But once Singletary addressed the media with Westbrook at his side, the 49ers head coach had plenty of positive reviews from his team’s 37-17 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

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Willis Returns to Defensive Huddle

You will never hear Patrick Willis question the importance of practice. Not in mid-June, or in any month for that matter.

The 49ers three-time Pro Bowl linebacker and unquestioned defensive leader has been eager to return to the practice fields ever since he underwent a minor knee surgery this offseason.

In recent weeks, Willis has been slowly working over 49ers head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson for permission to practice, asking him what he’s allowed to do each and every day he’s been around 49ers headquarters. And while Ferguson has limited Willis to individual work in last week’s organized team activities, this week was a different story.

Willis’ self-described gnat-like behavior must have paid off as Ferguson gave him the clearance to join 11-on-11 periods during Monday’s OTA session.

The wait was difficult for Willis, but he understood Ferguson’s reasoning and respected it.

“He’s one of the best trainers in the league and with my injuries before he’s done a great job of getting me ready, preparing me,” Willis said while standing in front of his locker. “I was just going to listen to him and let him tell me what to do, but at the same time, I had to bug him a little bit to let me get back out there. He gave me the ‘OK’ to participate in some of the drills and it felt good to get my feet wet and get back on the field with the boys.”

The feeling was beyond mutual.

Once Willis stepped into the huddle, outside linebacker Parys Haralson remarked, “The X-Factor is back!” Others chimed in, “Welcome back 52!”

Willis wasted no time validating the opinions of his teammates. He instantly got involved in the action by perfectly timing a delayed blitz for a would-be sack of quarterback Alex Smith.

Several plays later, he read an inside handoff to running back Glen Coffee and was in perfect position to make a play on the second-year back.

Not bad, considering Willis told reporters how he felt slower with his eyes than his feet after Monday’s practice.

With Willis back in the fold for the remainder of the offseason, the leader of the defense only sees a better performance for the entire unit in 2010.

“I think our defense can be exceptionally good. It’s going to take a lot of hard work. It’s going to take guys continuing to grow and be hungry and want to be stronger than we were before. We want to be No. 1, but if we can get in the top-3, I feel like that’s putting us in a great spot as an overall defense.”

Notes and Quotes

With Willis amongst his teammates for team periods, safety Taylor Mays took the opportunity to stand beside head coach Mike Singletary and secondary coach Johnnie Lynn deep in the 49ers defensive backfield. That location, some 40 yards behind the play, was Willis’ destination for most of the offseason. But on Monday, Mays took mental reps and asked questions in between the plays he participated in during the team period.

The first and only turnover of the day took place in the first team period, when safety Michael Lewis intercepted Smith’s pass intended for tight end Joe Jon Finley. The deep crossing route was first deflected high in the air by cornerback Kary Paymah, which allowed Lewis time to catch the ball and run it down the right sideline for a nice return.

The best offensive play took place later in practice as third-string signal caller Nate Davis found rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams 35 yards down the field on a go route over the coverage of undrafted cornerback Tramaine Brock.

Rookies Weigh in on NBA Finals

With the NBA Finals tipping off tonight, why not get some predictions out of some of the players in the locker room? There’s always basketball talk going on in the locker room anyway, so I figured I’d get some of our guys on record with their NBA Finals picks.

Last year, Takeo Spikes went around during OTAs for his debut episode of “Spikes TV” and asked teammates about their picks between the Lakers and the Orlando Magic.

The Lakers received most of the votes in 2009, but this time around, the opinions were much more divided.

Rookie safety Taylor Mays is picking the Lakers to win.

“I know the work that Kobe puts in because I’ve seen him put it in. He works with a trainer that’s from my school,” Mays said. “I don’t know how many games it’ll go. Those Celtics are physical. We’ll see.”

Nate Byham, the tight end the 49ers selected in the sixth-round, appreciates Boston’s toughness, but can’t see them dethroning the defending champions.

“I’ll take the Lakers and I’ll say six games. Boston is tough, but I think it’ll go six.”

Other rookies seemed to be swayed by the physical style of defense that the Celtics play, a key to helping them defeat the Lakers two years ago in the Finals. (I think Coach Singletary would approve of the defensive thought process behind this).

“I like the Celtics, because they have the experience and they’ve brought it all together in the playoffs, offensively and especially defensively,” rookie cornerback Phillip Adams said.

Sixth-round pick Kyle Williams is pretty blunt about his reasoning for seeing the Celtics hoist another title.

“Celtics in six. I can’t stand the Lakers. My whole family is Lakers fans. I can’t stand them. Can’t do it. Can’t go with them.”