“When we go out there this week, we’re exclusively focused on trying to get this one win”, Julius Peppers said.
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The San Francisco 49ers lost an unusually high number of players to retirement and even more to free agency this offseason, but none of those departures can explain why quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw four interceptions, including a pair of pick-sixes, in the team’s 47-7 loss to the NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Reinforcements appear to be on their way to the San Francisco 49ers, as Jim Tomsula told reporters on Wednesday that Reggie Bush (calf) will return to the practice field this week.
“His development as a pocket passer, in terms of Colin reading and looking at things, and studying, I think he’s doing a nice job there working at it”, Tomsula said. Quite simply, though, Kaepernick was flat-out missing his receivers, and the offense as a whole seemed rather predictable. He’s 3-0 against them as a starter, including playoff wins in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
“He’s a thing of beauty on throwing a football”, Jones said in a radio interview. “It will depend on what they roll out for us on Sunday”.
“I don’t talk about personnel in the media”, the coach said. Now we ask him to do something completely different.
“We re focusing on him and his ability and how he s utilized in their new offense”, McCarthy said.
As for the Honey Badger’s postgame comments about how the Cardinals thrived against the predictable offense, Kaepernick insisted he hadn’t even heard about it. Justin Bethel, in his first play from scrimmage this season, took the first one back 21 yards.
There were no sacks, no drop backs turned into scrambles because of pressure and no epic smash-mouth drive where the 49ers kept ramming it down Arizona’s throat on a few mythical, statement-making show of toughness. “If 26 is available to us, we’re going to use him”. “I should have had the quarterback under center, and I should’ve handed the ball off and we should’ve grinded it up in there for 3 yards”. But this week will serve as an important test for the young gunslinger as he attempts to overcome the adversity that his offensive unit faces, and attempts to assert himself as a leader of this team. And he had exclusively thrown for 33 yards.
With the 49ers down 28-0 late in the second quarter Cardinals punter Drew Butler booted the ball downfield to where the former NRL star was waiting.
Kaepernick got the gold while he could, but unfortunately, it will be hard for him to remove all the tarnish.
The play was created to be a shot play to tight end Vernon Davis.
To help the fifth-year quarterback become more effective, first-year coach Jim Tomsula and offensive coordinator Geep Chryst have pared down the playbook.
No word on the status of Bruce Ellington (ankle).
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Notes: LB NaVorro Bowman, who missed all of last season recovering from left knee surgery, will regularly sit out Wednesday practices to stay healthy. “A lot of people say he’s playing better than he’s ever played“. Of the 156, only 53 were in the air, the biggest issue of the Cardinals defense the first two weeks. That might be overly optimistic, however.
