© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The concept of not playing through injury doesn’t exactly match with the code that Mike Person operates on. Not for a guy who started in 35 consecutive games at Montana State, and 30-straight games for the 49ers. Not for the youngest of four siblings from Glendive, Montana (population 5,107), a haven along the Yellowstone River, where Person returns to go flyfishing in the offseason.
Yet, in the final two games of the season, with not just the NFC West Division, but a first-round bye, a week of rest and colossal Super Bowl implications to be decided, there was Person, teeth clenched, “itching,” as he said, having been relegated to spectator status on the 49ers sideline. Person has been dealing with a neck and shoulder issue that he said traces back to even before the 49ers’ Week 12 matchup with the Green Bay Packers, but he doesn’t expect to require offseason surgery.
“It’s frustrating for me, because I always try and be the tough guy,” Person said. “That’s kind of where I was from. So, like growing up, it’s, if you can work you work and that’s always been my mindset, especially when it comes to football. If you’re good to go, then your butt better be out there.”
But Person knew he was far from that, dealing with an injury which he said flares up and needs time to be remedied.
“You know it takes time but we don’t have any time right now,” Person said. “Obviously you want to be out there playing. But I think it would have been a disservice to the team for me to go out there and play with a shoulder and a neck that’s at 50 percent, because when you have a guy like Dan Brunskill right behind you, he’s gonna go out there and compete, so, I think it was definitely for the best that I didn’t play these last two games, and we’ll see what the decisions are in the coming week, but right now it’s no time to be selfish because we got bigger goals.”
Person is expected to return to the 49ers’ starting lineup this week, with head coach Kyle Shanahan saying he’s “good to go,” on December 30, adding that the bye week would help, but that the issue wouldn’t fully resolve itself until the offseason.
But it’s that other guy, Brunskill, who came in for those two games in typically seamless fashion.
Like Person (a seventh-round draft pick by the 49ers in 2011, who was cut by San Francisco and has since played for five other teams) was as unheralded as they come at the start of the year. The 25-year-old San Diego State product spent a couple of years on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad, then excelled with the San Diego Fleet in the American Alliance of Football, and along with Damontre Moore, was signed by the 49ers.
Moore was the last man out for the 49ers (and re-signed later), but Brunskill, as a product of both his stellar preseason in multiple positions and Shon Coleman’s season-ending ACL tear, made the cut as one of the 49ers’ eight offensive lineman, and is pretty clearly the most versatile. He wasn’t expected to play any sort of significant role this season, and the prospect of the 49ers needing that, at least from the outside looking in, would imply a disaster was abound.
In a way, that was true. Both Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey found themselves sidelined for eight and four weeks, respectively, by Week 5. It was rookie tackle Justin Skule on the left and Brunskill on the right, with no one but the 49ers feeling confident (and maybe not as confident as they implied) it would be work.
But it did, and Brunskill outplayed Skule to the point that when Staley had his finger mangled and surgically repaired, missing three weeks, Brunskill took over from Skule at left tackle during the Week 12 game against the Packers, and started the following week in Baltimore, facing the Ravens’ Matthew Judon (9.5 sacks). The 49ers lost 20-17 that week, but ran for 174 yards (1 TD) and allowed just two sacks to Jimmy Garoppolo, neither of which were the fault of Brunskill.
It only made sense that it would be Brunskill called upon again when Person was in need of reprieve. And it remained wholly unsurprising when that worked. Person, asked how he’s aided Brunskill in his transition to right guard (where Brunskill had never played professionally until this season), shepherded praise to his understudy.
“You know, Dan doesn’t need much help,” Person said. “He’s such a smart guy and the amount of work that he puts in not just during meetings but after meetings, getting those extra ones in. I mean, it really is pretty impressive, so I just try and help him with little pointers here and there, or what I’m seeing on game day but he’s such a smart kid that when his number gets called, as he’s proven all year, he’s gonna be ready.”
Brunskill, of course, was equally plaudit-driven when talking about the wisdom of Person and left guard Laken Tomlinson.
“Every play I try to ask them certain things that they do,” Brunskill told KNBR. “I try to watch what they do and see what works for them and then I try to mold it. Because every guy’s different, so we’re not all going to do the same things or do it the same way, but I try to see how they do it and then try that and see if it works for me…
“But what’s nice is they’re always there. They’re helpful, they’re always talking to you, they’re always communicating with you. That makes a huge difference versus a guy that just ignores you or something, so that’s awesome to have those guys that are willing to work with you and then sometimes they’ll ask me something. But it’s mainly just being able to talk with them and get different perspectives and then try to figure out things that will fit your game.”
Of course, a crash course from Aaron Donald in Week 16 interrupted all that flow of praise. Garoppolo was sacked six times, though only one occasion, albeit egregiously, the fault of Brunskill and courtesy of Donald. Neither of Garoppolo’s two sacks in Week 17 were the fault of Brunskill.
The most significant change in the position shift, Brunskill said, is the “tightness” of footwork required. Whereas tackles might have a half-second or two before the rusher reaches them, or they’re needed to make a block, guards are making contact instantly on most occasions. Brunskill said there’s slightly more room for error with tackles, whereas, if guards don’t move their assignment on run plays, there’s no chance for the play to be successful.
Against the Minnesota Vikings, who Brunskill described as having a “sound” and “great defensive front,” the only way to win is by pushing those defensive linemen off their spots. In other words, push the other guy harder than he pushes you. Brutal, but not quite so simple, especially against a line spearheaded by Everson Griffin, Linval Joseph and Danielle Hunter.
Person will welcome his return for that brand of trench warfare thanks to his nearly four-week, unenjoyable sabbatical, which he admits was made a bit more palatable due to the 49ers’ and Brunskill’s success in his stead.