© Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Ahh, just as we all expected Week 15 would line up. The Dallas Cowboys are titans of the NFC East Division, en route to a likely division title, while the 49ers are a win from securing a playoff berth, and more realistically fighting a playoff seeding battle. It is your perfect primetime game of old rivals; the ideal Sunday Night Football contest.
Sorry, what’s that? Yeah, ok, uh uh, got it, got it… folks, I’m being told there’s been a slight change of plans.
These two teams, with a combined 9-17 record, will actually be fighting over a burning pile of garbage at 10 a.m. in the silver lot outside of AT&T stadium. I’m am hearing, however, that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made sure there will still be 30,000 fans in attendance. The more people you can pack into one small space the better, they say.
This might be a good time to sleep in folks, maybe catch this one at the start of the second half.
Stuck in the desert
As was to be expected, the 49ers will extend their stay at their temporary home in Glendale, Arizona through the end of the season. It will mean they’ll have played four of their five final games in Arizona, with next week’s contest technically an away game against the Cardinals.
This is a result of Santa Clara County’s order being extended, meaning contact sports are still prohibited.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said that some players would be bringing their families in to get tested before Sunday’s day-after-Christmas game so they could spend time together over the holiday. He had promised players that they’d see their families (if they wanted to or felt comfortable doing so). Shanahan said his family will arrive on Saturday.
“We knew it was inevitable,” Shanahan said. “So, we’ve been planning on getting our families down and I know not everyone can do it, but anyone who can get it, we’re getting our families down. I know mine’s coming tomorrow and they’ll go through a testing service. So, as long as that goes well, I know I, personally, will be able to see them Sunday night. And, I think a lot of people are in the same boat.”
Changing of the guard
We’re at the stage of the year when the starting right guard who is now the starting center has to play through a shoulder sprain and the backup swing tackle is starting at right guard because the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th-string centers are all either injured, retired or opted out of the season, one of the backup guards is likely out for the season due to a pair of concussions, and the other one is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
The offensive line coach, John Benton, will be out again Sunday because he, too, tested positive for COVID-19.
So it’s Justin Skule up at right guard, and behind him… Tony Bergstrom, a 34-year-old former tackle turned guard turned center, and maybe Dakoda Shepley, a 25-year-old guard who stood out in the Canadian Football League last year.
The 49ers also signed a pair of players to the practice squad in Aaron Neary and Isaiah Williams. Kyle Shanahan said, not so jokingly, that they’d be quizzing those players to see who will be up on game day (teams were allowed an extra gameday roster spot for offensive lineman starting this season).
“We’ll decide on which eight to get up,” Shanahan said. “We’ve got two new guys in this week from practice squad and that’ll be more about just quizzing them and stuff all the way up until Saturday night to see which one we have as our eighth emergency guy.”
To be clear, Shanahan said “it’s not like a game show.” Coaches need to know—and in this type of emergency situation it seems to be a pretty low bar—who they can trust, or at least, who they closer to trusting. He’s left that up to his O-line staff, which, without Benton, is assistant offensive line coaches Chris Foerster and Zach Yenser.
“You want to know who can go in there and function if you get into that type of scenario,” Shanahan said. “And who’s got the best understanding of who could go in and line up and do better than one of our tight ends would have to do going in at that position.”
Again, if the standard is being a better guard than Charlie Woerner, Ross Dwelley and Jordan Reed would be… not the highest bar.
Shanahan at least feigned confidence in Skule, who has only had the last three days of practice to get used to right guard outside of some training camp reps.
“I know that’s the spot he hasn’t had a lot of time at, probably just that week in training camp, but getting in some reps there this week,” Shanahan said. “It was a walkthrough on Wednesday, full speed on Thursday and we had more of a walkthrough today, but the moment’s not too big for him. He knows what to do and feel fortunate to have a guy who will hop in anywhere we ask him to go.”
The origins of Jeff Wilson Jr.’s ‘dark place’ and sneaky fantasy value
Jeff Wilson Jr. runs mad. You’re not often, if ever, going to see him get tossed around or punked. He runs with ferocious intent, like a bull.
After Wilson’s breakout performance against the New England Patriots, when he went for 112 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, Kyle Shanahan recalled how he can’t even talk to Wilson during games because of a “dark place” George Kittle said he goes to.
“Jeff Wilson goes to a dark place before every single game. It’s different than it is in practice,” Kittle said. “You can tell he’s angry. He packs it. He wants contact, he deals contact, he delivers pain. It’s awesome. You can just see it in his eyes, he’s a totally different person. The way he runs the thing, it’s crazy. So, I love being on the field with Jeff Wilson. The way he carries the football, the way he makes people like look at him after he’s tackled.”
Just one piece of evidence:
Jeff Wilson Jr. just ran over Devin McCourty. #49ers pic.twitter.com/vYXRrkwe01
— Cameron Salerno (@cameronsalerno1) October 25, 2020
Wilson explained what it’s like to be in that headspace on Friday.
“I just feel almost unstoppable,” Wilson said. “I fear no one. I don’t look at size. I don’t look at any of that. It’s just me and the ball. It’s just me and a playing field. It just brings me a lot of joy. I just turn into a different person and just be locked in.”
The East Texas native said he’ll have his immediately family on hand for Sunday’s game and that this season has been, like his backfield partner Raheem Mostert has said, extremely challenging, with both being away from his young child.
He said that “dark place” mentality stems from the tribulations of his life.
“I’ve been through a lot,” Wilson said. “I’ve endured a lot. So it’s just all that kind of kind of comes out. All the things that ever happened to me, all the things that I couldn’t do nothing about or I can’t speak on, I just kind of let it all out out there.”
If you’re still in your fantasy playoffs, first of all, congratulations. Second, take a look at Wilson. Mostert is playing this week, after missing one practice and being limited in another, but has acknowledged his ankle isn’t close to 100 percent.
Over the last two weeks, he’s shared touches evenly with Wilson, who if nothing else, seems destined to find the end zone again. Mostert had 40 snaps to Wilson’s 39 last week against Washington and Wilson had 28 snaps to Mostert’s 27 against Buffalo two weeks prior.
Wilson is by far the NFL’s most efficient touchdown scorer over this and last season. This is a stat from back at the end of October against the prolific Aaron Jones, before Wilson went on injured reserve:
Since 19', #49ers' Jeff Wilson ~2X as efficient at scoring TD as Aaron Jones (leads NFL in TD):
Jones:
30 TD (24 rush, 6 rec)
984 snaps, 417 touches
31.6 snaps per TD, 13.9 touches per TDWilson:
10 TD (8 rush, 2 rec)
151 snaps, 75 touches
15.1 snaps per TD, 7.5 touches per TD— Jake Hutchinson (@hutchdiesel) October 26, 2020
Wilson has five rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown this season, and 11 total in his career, all over the last two seasons. This season, on 178 snaps, he’s averaging a touchdown once every 29.7 snaps, and one every 12.8 touches.
Mostert, for comparison (not a dig at Mostert, just more evidence of Wilson’s efficiency), has two rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns this year. That’s not a totally fair comparison, because Wilson gets the bulk of the goal line carries at this stage, but on 212 snaps, Mostert is averaging a touchdown once every 42.4 snaps and one every 21.2 touches.
Against a Dallas defense which was allowed a shocking, NFL-worst 162.7 yards per game and is tied for fourth-most rushing touchdowns, with 17, and as the back who the 49ers tend to turn to in the red zone, this has the makings of a potentially huge day for Wilson. Mostert could still be relevant too, averaging 5.0 rushing yards on the year, compared to Wilson’s 4.0. As he showed early in the year, he only needs one play.
Game status report
Offensive line coach John Benton, who tested positive for COVID-19 before last Sunday’s game, and run game specialist and outside linebackers coach Johnny Holland, who was absent for personal reasons, will both be out. George Kittle will not play.
OUT
- C Hroniss Grasu (knee)
- WR Deebo Samuel (hamstring)
QUESTIONABLE
- CB Emmanuel Moseley (hamstring)
- CB K’Waun Williams (ankle)
- LB Fred Warner (stinger)