Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers
won't host fans inside Levi's Stadium when they play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday —
air quality permitting. That could be seen as a negative when it comes to creating energy and a real home-field advantage. It might also be an advantage for aggressive defensive linemen who won't be distracted by the noise of a hostile environment and be able to react to the snap of the football more quickly.
Right tackle
Mike McGlinchey sees some advantages to quieter NFL stadiums, though, correcting any perceived misconceptions that they might benefit some defensive fronts.
"Actually, I think that it plays to our advantage with no crowd noise, especially if you go on the road," McGlinchey explained. "Offensive lineman, it's a tough deal when you don't have a snap count, and you can't hear your quarterback, so you have to go on a steady thing all day so you can keep it uniform so that everybody can get their timing right for the whole play.
"But when you're able to use the snap count, you've got to be able to change it up, do different types of things to make sure the defense is on their heels a little bit. So I think the lack of crowd noise plays to an offensive lineman's advantage if you're disciplined enough to use the cadence."
McGlinchey also noted that Week 1 kind of snuck up on him with everything that has been going on in the world, no offseason practices before training camp, and no preseason games.
"It's a little more unassuming. It's a little more like, 'Holy crap, it's game week!'" McGlinchey said. "It just kind of came up on you, it kind of snuck up on you a little more than normal. Normally, you have things that happen; you have an offseason in April, May, and June to get prepared without necessarily the high pressure of the season coming.
"And then you have training camp and the preseason games, and it's all kind of a gradual build-up to everything that you worked for, which is the regular season.
"I think it just came on a little quicker this year. It's a little more unassuming because there wasn't the build-up to get there. But once we got through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week, it started to feel like a real game week again, and I think everybody's really ready to go."
Mike McGlinchey welcomes criticism of his play, so long as the critic is looking at the entire body of his work instead of picking out a play or two here and there. He acknowledged that he has made mistakes this season. However, McGlinchey feels that his overall performance has been better than many are making it out to be.
The third-year tackle sees the analysis on social media and is fine with it, so long as it is done right.
Said McGlinchey on Wednesday: "Obviously, I don't really appreciate people who are the armchair quarterbacks that take a 30-second clip off of Twitter and think they understand offensive-line play. I don't like that."
Pro Football Focus grades show that McGlinchey's overall play has been improving as the season progresses
Mike McGlinchey had a simple message for his critics after the San Francisco 49ers' 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night.
Still here.— Mike McGlinchey (@mmcglinch68) October 19, 2020
He was indeed.
McGlinchey earned Pro Football Focus' highest offensive grade from the game. According to the analytics site, his 86.1 overall grade was his best of this season and his best
San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke with reporters on Monday, the day after the team's 43-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"All right guys, injuries. [LB] Kwon Alexander, didn't have it last night, but he has a possible high ankle sprain. We don't know the severity of it yet. We'll find out more on that by Wednesday. [DL] D.J. Jones, eye. I expect him back at practice Wednesday. Go ahead."
This question comes in light of a couple of the decisions as far as who to start and who not to start yesterday. I realize players often side or err on the side of wanting to play, but
