49ers' Defense Plans On Tackling This Year

On the afternoon the veterans of the San Francisco 49ers reported to camp, the overriding theme was the practice schedule that Head Coach Mike Singletary greeted them with.

The most common adjectives those speaking to us ink-stained wretches used to describe it were "rough," "brutal," and "intense."

The adjectives they were thinking, however, would probably not be suitable for a family web site.

The most telling example I can provide that this won't be Club Med comes from ILB Takeo Spikes. He went on and on (albeit, with our gentle prodding) about the grueling training regimen he put himself through the past five weeks in Atlanta along with teammate Parys Haralson and other noted NFLers such as Osi Umeniyora and Hines Ward.

Spikes explained that he and the others worked out twice a day for all five weeks, and that the training involved open-hand boxing incorporated with specific football drills.

He said that this is the most prepared he's been for a training camp his whole career.

Yet when I told him that Singletary said in his press conference the day before that he plans on the team putting on pads and hitting for both morning and afternoon practices the first two weeks, you should have seen how this proud rough-and-tumble NFL gladiator's face dropped.

"That's tough," Spikes began, before cautioning that, "all that impact opens you up to injuries."

Perhaps realizing how that sounded, Spikes backtracked a bit saying, "Don't get me wrong, we need the work, but..."

But what?

"But you've got to be smart about it."

Most of the vets expressed similar concerns, but for now, since the hitting hasn't actually begun yet, they're trying to have a positive attitude about it.

Or as right end Justin Smith put it, "If it won't kill you, it'll make you stronger...I guess."

Of course every team has that one guy who simply won't ever tone down the bravado, lest anyone perceive them as "soft," and on the 49ers that guy is tight end Vernon Davis.

"In my mind I don't think anything is rough," Davis said of Camp Singletary.

Speaking of the mercurial Davis, he gave us a typically enigmatic answer when asked if this will be the season when he finally quits getting into training camp fights—something he's notorious for.

"It's behind me," Davis assured, before quickly adding, "But I can't stop being competitive. If my teammate across from me doesn't like it, he's going to have to deal with it."

So apparently as long as whoever's guarding Davis lets himself get pancaked on all running plays, and lets Vernon get wide open on all passing plays, there won't be any problems.

Unless Davis drops the ball, of course.

We'll have a chance to watch Davis and the rest of the 49ers practice for real starting this Saturday, and one treat the media will have (besides the free food) is that Singletary will have the defense go through tackling drills, which is surprisingly uncommon in the NFL.

Smith, for one, confessed that in all his years in the league he's never done a tackling drill.

When asked what constitutes said drill, Smith replied, without missing a beat, "You tackle each other, I guess."

Finally, from the Tell Us How You Really Feel About Us Department: Singletary was spotted walking out of the locker room on to the field and was asked if he wanted to talk to us.

"No," he laughed and breezed right on by.