Scott sent me some more notes from the afternoon practice from Wednesday 08.09.06

1) The practice was interesting, because the it was slanted somewhat to preparing for the game against the Bears Friday night, and working against the Bears’ “looks”. Bryant Young and Arnaz Battle were held out of the morning practice, and instead practiced at 4 PM so they could be part of preparing for the game. Both looked good, though Battle didn’t really have to test his knee to any great extent, so we’ll see Friday night if he’s limited by it. Larry Allen practiced too – presumably for the same reason – he usually just does conditioning in the afternoon. Mike Nolan said he and the Coaches would decide in a 10 PM meeting tonight if Trent Dilfer would play Friday or if Alex Smith would get his reps to let get Alex more time and to let Dilfer continue to heal. Dilfer didn’t practice (though he was there helping) at 4PM, so it’s reasonable to assume Nolan is leaning toward sitting Trent for this one.

2) Antonio Bryant, Battle, Vernon Davis, and Marcus Maxwell all had nice catches, but the most consistent receiver was Eric Johnson. Nothing thrown to him hit the ground today. (Note to Nolan: EJ’s contract is up after this year – now would be a great time to lock him up for another few years and either create an excellent tight end duo, or (if Delanie Walker continues to develop quickly) be able to get value for him in a trade. If he has another great year and we don’t have him signed – well, we’ve seen how that works…..

3) The afternoon practice was spirited, with coaches often getting on players if they didn’t like what they saw. This included: – Norv Turner getting in Alex’s face a few times to get him to make the right reads – Norv getting on the defense once for not giving enough effort (in giving the Chicago look). I couldn’t tell if he was yelling at one person in particular or the defensive line in

general, but he yelled, “That’s just not good enough!” – Norv having Kevin Barlow run a play a second time with more effort – Nolan jumping in several times to demonstrate a technique to one or two of the young linebackers – Pete Hoener (Tight Ends Coach) yelling instructions to Vernon Davis – Hoener and Norv Turner getting on Delanie Walker to be in the right spot (Walker continues to look great by the way).
These were isolated incidents, and exactly what the coaches should be doing to help the players learn. Great to see!

4) Running Backs coach Bishop Harris was absent for the third time in the last 5 public practices. Hope he’s ok. Pep Hamilton Coaches the running backs when Harris is out.

5) Scot McCloughan, Lal Heneghan, and Parag Marathe from Football Operations all watched a lot of the practice – the first time I’ve seen them at a public practice. The next few weeks are a key time for them to evaluate some of our players and look for upgrades as players are released from other teams.

6) Alex Smith looked good, Jesse Palmer looked ok, and Shaun Hill continued to look surprisingly awkward and inaccurate.

7) The offense ran a lot of two tight end sets, putting four receivers on the field, often with one in motion. Is this sounding a bit more exciting than last year??

8) The defensive backfield looked good, breaking up a number of passes and generally in tight coverage. Parys Haralson also did a great job breaking up a pass. Good to see him having success dropping in coverage – it would help the team if he progressed quickly enough to win the OLB spot opposite Manny Lawson, or at least to be a major part of a rotation at that position.

9) After practice: – Eric Johnson and Vernon Davis went to the juggs machine to catch passes. Davis spent about 5 minutes there, and Johnson about 15 minutes – The younger linebackers (Lawson, Haralson, Smith, Dixon, Maxwell, Williams and maybe one more) worked with OLB Coach Jason Tarver on techniques for 20 minutes – Mike Nolan joined the 6-8 players signing autographs for the crowd. Nolan spent over 20 minutes patiently signing autographs! (Wonder how often Parcells does THAT). – Eric Johnson signed autographs after he finished on the juggs machine.