. . . on the injury front. Yes, game one saw the 49ers lose two starters as both Raheem Mostert and Jason Verrett both suffered season-ending knee injuries. Both appeared to be non-contact injuries, as once again, an artificial turf field seems to be the culprit. Needless to say, both players are extremely frustrated as both have fought back from previous injuries. Verret with a torn achilles and a laundry list of injuries over his career, and Mostert with knee, ankle, and arm injuries.
To a man, the team has nothing but respect for Verrett and the battles he has gone through his whole career, and it really did affect the outcome of the Detroit game. The team completely lost its mojo and the defense lost their focus.
Beyond any more screeds by me for the ultimately cheapskate motherfucking owners who continue to force their players to play football on unnatural grass, the league needs to mandate real grass. Indoor stadium or no. Just watching football these last couple years, with shortened practices, less preseason build-up, and now COVID restrictions, I’d say around 25% of the injuries are non-contact ones where the players simply break instead of the field giving way.
We’ve gone past the days of Candlestick Park, and the old Veterans stadium in Philly, among others, in which the fields were basically painted concrete with ankle-breaking seams everywhere. So, let’s move on from the newer version of the same shit. The rubberized shaggy shit is better than the concrete, but it still grabs too hard at players’ ankles and knees, causing these non-contact leg injuries.
Baseball has nearly phased out artificial turf. The NFL should.
Meanwhile, it looks like Trey Sermon will be on the squad this weekend as he and Brandon Aiyuk were both mysteriously unused during the season opener. Sermon was a healthy scratch, for fuck’s sake. Brandon Aiyuk has been dealing with a hamstring issue, and I guess Shanahan felt that Sherfield, who blew past Aiyuk during the preseason, would give the Niners a better chance to win. Strange, as Aiyuk had such a strong season last year. Sermon however, was maybe a victim of the numbers game with Mitchell, Mostert, and Hasty all performing well. Mostert as we all know is done, but it appears that Sermon is now fighting for playing time behind Hasty. Odd.
Definitely weird scenes inside the 49ers gold mine. Don’t know WTF is really going on, but it appears to be some sort of issue with the two guys and the coaching staff. Stay tuned, I guess.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Never heard this version. 1967 at the Matrix in SF. My sister might have been there.
Part 2:
The 49ers added former Lions’ RB, Kerryon Johnson to their practice squad. Johnson isn’t an immediate threat to anyone’s carries, but he’s just another candidate for touches in the RBBC.
Amen Chuck regarding sports turf.
Gone are the Toma’s who replaced turf for the Winter Playoffs , simply for the appeal on HDTV, and surely the profit margin, turf issues are not a farse.
Raiders followed AZ with the retractable field to their credit.
Perhaps there’s a way to remove the rubber pellet substrate to something more favorable?
Curious what the material used for artificial wine cork is all about?
Instead of recycling tires, let’s try wine corks maybe?😁
What I found odd with Raiders’ field was how UNLV opted for the sports turf, making it a dual surface venue.
Between Ram’s and Raiders, I feel embarrassed for Levi’s stadium by comparison.
9er fans seeking shelter from the sun is a grave testimony to the lack of planning that took place in Santa Clara.
Jed & Co need to, at least, follow the move Miami did with a canopy.
Steven Ross deals with hurricane threats there too.
It can, and should, be done at Levi’s too.
Yep. You look at Sofi, Allegiant Field, even the Seahawks venue, and any other new stadium and look at ours, it’s like, WTF? It looks like a temporary structure. Like the carnival has rolled into town for a couple weeks.
Years ago, a good friend of mine was stationed in Philly with USN.
Got to go into the Vet with him prior to the Army/Navy game several times.
That field was literally a carpet on asphalt.
Saw plenty of Phillies/Mets games there too.
A nightmare for player’s knees and ankles, the speed of the ball coming off the carpet too.
Vince Coleman made a living with the chop/slap bunt too.
Technology is always improving.
I think it’s matter of changing the substrate.
No doubt recycling tires is cheap.
All about the greed factor and profit margins.
The Stick was exactly the same. Concrete, 5/8″ of foam padding and the green carpet. Shit would take your skin off if you slid on it. They used to have it all over the Berkeley campus as well. Playing ultimate frisbee on that shit was murder.
You played Ultimate? Did you play for a team back in the day? We’re the same age (b.1961) so we might have played against each other if you did. I was really into it from ’82-’87. Played for a team in the south bay (The Plague). I remember playing on turf once, but can’t remember where the heck it was. I always seemed to end up with bloody forearms and knees pretty much wherever I played. Went to a tourney in Tempe a couple years end of January that was basically on hard pack dirt with brown grass dead on top. Not quite cement, but sure felt like it when you dove.
Brian Billick refused to put his Raven’s players on that turf maybe 20yrs ago to protect them.
Twas the beginning of the end for that garbage.
Not sure but, I think that was a MNF event?
Yeah, saw the recently acquired (1977?) Jim Lash, who the 49ers got from Minnesota) shatter both of his elbows diving for a ball at the Stick. It shortened Paul Hofer’s career as well.
So is Shanahan going to just dick around all year with Running Backs and nobody gets a lead dog role ?after Elijah Mitchell’s outstanding game! Now they just added Ravens RB castoff Trenton Cannon to go along with Kerry on my Wayward Son Johnson,Trey “Doghouse”Sermon,Jamal Hasty, Jeff Wilson eventually,speed dialing Garrison Hearst soon( he was a great RB but his ankle is probably just as shredded as Mostert’s knee..
He’s gonna see who sticks. Sermon is behind Hasty right now, and Mitchell is the lead dog. Hasty did no favors missing a blitz pickup late in the game, but we’ll see how it plays out. This is not a big issue at this point.
Much more concerning is the situation at CB. Hopefully Moseley is ready to come back. We need more bodies there.
Picked up Mitchell and will start him this week while the irons hot.Might also do that with Eagles WR Davonta Smith who could easily blow by this 49ers depleted secondary for huge chunk plays unfortunately..
Yep. That’s what worries me. And I picked up Mitchell as well.
I am still holding onto Serman, He looked to good in the PS. Kinlaw is looking more like a liability than an asset. What good are you if you can’t stay on the field. We should have paid Buckner he was worth every penny.
I agree about DeFo. That’s turning out to be a boneheaded move.
Yeah, looks like another wasted pick. The Aiyuk story is all over the place as well.
We need Aiyuk productive as we may need to win a shootout this weekend.
There’s not much else to say at this point. I know injuries happen league wide, every week, it’s just the nature of football, but it seems like the Niners have more injuries happen to key players than seems reasonable. Again, my impressions, I have no data to back it up, but it’s getting old nonetheless.
I remember that ’70’s Candlestick Park turf. That was as brutal as any field there ever was, IMO. The new stuff is miles better than the original Astroturf, but I agree, Chuck, it’s way too “grabby” and just doesn’t allow the player’s foot to release like grass does. Verrett’s injury appeared to be completely innocuous, but he’s done for the year and probably for good with the Niners.
There should be grass on all the fields, but who knows if that’ll ever happen. With the season now 17 games long, it’s more important than ever.
I don’t think Sermon can be written off just yet. Just a few weeks ago there was nothing but glowing reports coming out of camp about him and he’s clearly talented. With Raheem out, he’s going to get his chance now.
The Aiyuk thing is puzzling too, but Shanahan gives no quarter to guys he feels aren’t giving it their all in practice. The drops and his hamstring are issues too, it sounds like. But he’s way too valuable to not target on a regular basis. If both the and Deebo are doing their thing, they’re going to be near impossible for any defense to stop. Look what Deebo did on his own. Devastating.
Kinlaw’s ongoing issues are concerning as well. Sure would be nice to have DeFo in there.
The Eagles make me nervous, especially given the 49er’s penchant for getting gashed by mobile QB’s. They have to tighten up the run defense, big time. We’ll see what kind of adjustments DeMeco is able to make.
Another starting casualty from game 1. LB Greenlaw having surgery, out 6 to 8 weeks.
1 game, 3 starters, unbelievable.
And the hits keep on coming. Dre Greenlaw to undergo groin surgery. It is ‘not believed’ to be season-ending.
But it ain’t gonna be quick. This team needs to boycott artificial turf.
I can’t believe how cursed this team has become!!
Greenlaw was turning into such a force, all over the field and a beautiful pick 6 to boot this one cuts deep like all they’re injuries!!
Just because it’s the 49ers and u need more bad news, Arik Armstead did not practice with a groin abductor strain, according to are fearless leader Shanahan it’s a probable go but not locked in.Oh OK 👍 I feel much better now..
I swear, they should just forfeit games on fake grass.
Who the hell is this Heinicke guy? Throwing dimes.
Well, till now! Stupid pick.
Unreal. Giants line up offsides on the missed FG!!!
That one has gotta hurt.
I didn’t know that Jeff Ulbrich is the Jets DC. I always liked him he was a true kamikaze like linebacker. He wasn’t as talented as the linebackers we got now but sure had heart.
Ulbrich was a solid player. Loved his game. Didn’t know that either.
New thread is up.