In Week 18, there are NFL teams who plan to rest most of their starters. Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Tyler Higbee, Kyren Williams, and that Aaron Donald guy are all unlikely to play on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Rams’ injury report from Wednesday.
Brock Purdy, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, is expected to be sidelined, but head coach Kyle Shanahan gave an explanation for why Purdy is the only starter he will be missing.
“One, if you get two practice squad players up, you can only rest seven guys if nobody is injured. At least six of our players are currently injured. We can only rest one, therefore I decided to go with our starting quarterback.
When you frame the decision that way, it seems like a simple choice.
Aaron Banks, the starting left guard for the 49ers, participated fully in practice on Wednesday despite missing the previous two weeks of action. Given that Jon Feliciano missed practice due to a back issue, his comeback is crucial.
So were Ray-Ray McCloud and Danny Gray, two wide receivers. The 49ers can win a game without having to use Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk for four quarters, which is encouraging.
Shanahan is aware that with the Niners injured, he cannot let everyone to get any rest. He explained the steps he takes to get in touch with each player regarding playing time:
“You make it clear to everyone why it’s not an option and that’s why it’s not an option. When you have to dress 48 people out of a possible five, and more than five of them are injured, it becomes rather clear.
Thus, the injured players are already sitting out games. How many more males can you choose from then? All I can do is select two players from the practice squad. There isn’t anything else we can do other start benching a lot of players. Men must therefore wear uniforms. They must be prepared to leave.
It’s good that Brock can still play quarterback and not be counted due of his ability to wear a uniform. In the event that that occurred, we would determine whether or not to outfit him in a uniform so he could enter and pass it down. However, all you need to do is clarify it to the boys.
Nevertheless, Shanahan wants to guarantee that his group learns something this week:
“In this league, you have to work hard to earn an off week. An off week, in my opinion, is quite beneficial, particularly if it is handled properly and all that. Guys can become a bit fresher and stuff just because it’s this time of year, but you don’t want two off weeks. Nobody is given two weeks off. Next week, we’ll get ours. We simply were unaware that we would be doing it soon. Thus, we must ensure that this week yields some results. We’ve previously earned a bye week in a similar circumstance, which occurred in 2019. But it wasn’t until 8:30 p.m. on the final play of the evening that we realized we had earned that.
We were thus grateful that we had earned it. That week, we received the respite we needed. Yes, we are in that circumstance, but we are aware of it beforehand. For that reason, folks, this week’s thoughts need to be clear. This isn’t a two-bye week since that’s bad for everyone.
I am aware that these are the first questions you consider. I do since I didn’t think I would find out this Sunday night when I was returning by plane. However, when you sit down and consider the situation, you see how a 53-man roster with 48 players can only use two practice squad flexes. You understand that it’s not just not feasible, but also not optimal for the team.
Shanahan added that taking two weeks off wasn’t a good idea, not even for the team’s greatest player:
“No, I don’t think taking a two-week vacation is beneficial for anyone, at all. After taking a month or three weeks off, Trent Williams returned, and you should have seen how [T] he was. It’s not good, but everything will depend on how the game plays out. This week, he needs to be thinking like he’s getting ready to play.
Leave a Reply