On a day when Trey Lance’s high school alma mater’s football team visited the final joint practice between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings, it was the 49ers’ defense that put on a show, with the star of the show being defensive end Nick Bosa.
Trey Lance greets the Marshall Senior High School football team #49ers pic.twitter.com/YVLMd4wTol
— Tracy Sandler (@49ersfangirl) August 18, 2022
“It’s fun to get a look on a different guy, kind of start figuring him out by the end of practice and think tomorrow I’ll have a better idea of how to approach, but for the most part, I thought we came out and tried to bring some energy,” Bosa said after the first joint practice on Wednesday. “…[B]eing out of your element for the whole week is different, but it’s good work.”
On Thursday, it looked as if Bosa did indeed have “a better idea on how to approach,” as he had several would-be sacks, while he was effective in stopping the run. Beyond that, he was deflecting passes with Nick Bosa being very much Nick Bosa.
With CB Charvarius Ward (groin) out and CB Emmanuel Moseley (hamstring) out of team drills, the 49ers young cornerbacks have had their hands full with the Vikings’ receivers and looked outmatched on Wednesday. By Thursday, they also had a better approach, starting with rookie corner Qwuantrezz Knight, who intercepted Kellen Mond.
“Q Knight, he’s done a great job and it was fun to see for him these past two days versus these guys,” said 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans. “We had to move him around a lot because of injuries in our backend, so he’s done a great job of just being a smart player who can move around, play multiple positions and being a guy you can count on…[H]e definitely brings some energy to our defense.”
Rookie Samuel Womack had a nice play when he defended a goal-line pass, and second-year CB Deommodore Lenoir had a PBU on a pass intended for WR Justin Jefferson.
Practice makes perfect, friends.
Over on Offense
Trey Lance was 11-of-17 on Thursday, while being “sacked” three times. He was also the victim of drops, as both Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel had passes go off their hands. Aiyuk was generally unimpressed with the two days of joint practices.
“I thought it was a waste of time, personally,” said Aiyuk. “It was boring for sure.”
Part of that boredom stems from the basic nature of these practices.
“…[I]t was a little bit of like day one stuff, the basic stuff,” Aiyuk said. “I know I was getting a little irritated, having only touched the ball like three times in the past two days, but that’s beside the point. Kyle [Shanahan] and them always got their own agenda on what they’re trying to get done and accomplish here. So you just take it, getting better every single rep, and then figure that out later on.”
In terms of Aiyuk’s own approach to training camp and practice, playing fast tops the list.
“Through the first couple of seasons here, they’ve always said, ‘Just play fast and figure it out later on,” so that’s kind of been my mantra through this camp…,” Aiyuk said. “When you play fast, you can figure stuff out as you go, just kind of adjust because you’ll always be able to figure it out when you’re playing fast. But when you’re going to slow and things don’t go your way, it just looks bad. So just playing fast and good things are going to happen a lot of the time.”
Trey Lance Homecoming
Trey Lance returned home to Minnesota this week. In addition to family and friends attending the practices, Lance’s high school alma mater’s football team came out on Thursday. Lance greeted and spent time with players, while also reuniting with his high school coach, Marshall Senior High School’s Terry Bahlmann.