Shanahan on the mood of the 49ers: It’s a little different. It’s a little unusual



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If you’re wondering how the San Francisco 49ers’ season went, starting right-wing goaltender Tom Compton, some of whom weren’t sure he would make the roster to start the season, suffered a concussion during Thursday’s workout. Here’s Shanahan discussing Compton’s injury and the challenge of training through protocols this season:

Did Tom Compton sustain an injury in training?

“Yeah, it was unfortunate because it was step by step and ended up having a concussion. We didn’t notice him in practice or anything because we were going at half speed, but he pointed it out afterwards. That’s why we didn’t send it to you yesterday, but we found out yesterday after.

Colton McKivitz will be making his first career start against Aaron Donald and a Rams’ defensive line that doesn’t give up second-level yards or allow running backs nothing on the field. As a defense, the Rams are second in adjusted sack rate. McKivitz won’t have to worry about too much of a blitz, as Los Angeles brings in five or more at a below-par pace, but that does mean the fifth-round rookie needs to win his 1-on-1.

How difficult has this week been, just in terms of the practice and management of all the meetings and protocols that you are currently in?

“It has been a challenge. The meetings were the easiest part. I think everyone in the league is getting used to the zoom. We must have done this a lot in the off season so it just added some commute time and a few more minutes into the day, but it wasn’t bad at all. Just the challenges of being on a week off, everyone having a week off. That’s why you usually do a few things, but we couldn’t do it due to COVID. The biggest challenge was getting back, having a week off and figuring out how much work we had to do to be precise and really only Wednesday.

So yesterday, finding out, losing these three players, about 15 minutes before the start of practice, confused us a bit. So the guys wanted to work, but we had to be smart. We were just too low on the guys and if we had been going full speed it would have really hurt a certain group of players. So, we had a solution for everyone, just to help us. We were able to have a full speed period per day of seven out of seven. So that’s the challenge. I think you can watch it because we needed a rest so it makes you a little cooler and all, but you never want to rest too much either. So that’s a fine line. We’re just trying to balance ourselves back and forth with it.

I asked Shanahan what the mood was like in the locker room as the team battled injuries and had to deal with COVID. As Kyle said above, it has been a challenge for field practice.

Shanahan said the mood was “different” and “a little unusual”. He said the team couldn’t go anywhere because they had to get tested every day. Here is his exact quote:

“So I think the atmosphere was kind of, it was difficult for the players who wanted to train and do things, which was very difficult. I keep saying that maybe it will work for us because we need some rest. We’re all excited to come back here and get together, but we’re not here. So we all get together on Zoom calls and stuff, which has been fun. We all get there and we argue for about 10 minutes, almost, before we start a meeting. So you can tell the guys to miss spending time together and everything.

Once we got out on the pitch for a walkthrough the guys were eager to get out, but we got a week off. Everyone has spider webs, trainers included. When you’re not together and you’re talking to the ball and doing it every day, you need some time to get it back. This is what we are talking about today. I just did a great presentation and plan to go out and work again and make sure we’re ready to go on Sunday.

It has been a bizarre season for the NFL and everyone involved. We haven’t mentioned how this disrupts players’ routines, schedules and daily interactions. The team that avoids the most injuries in most seasons is the one that wins at the end. This season is different when you add COVID-19 into the equation. The 49ers haven’t shied away either, and that’s reflected in their record.

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