Golden Nuggets: 49ers optimistic Armstead and Kinlaw will play against the Eagles

Your daily San Francisco 49ers links for Sunday, September 19, 2021

Dre Greenlaw was fined over $5,000 for doing the “Tyreek Hill peace sign” celebration before Greenlaw scored on his pick-six last week. Doesn’t…..everyone do that now?

I’m fascinated to see Azeez Al-Shaair fill in for Greenlaw. Also, today screams a big game for Brandon Aiyuk. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the 49ers are optimistic that both Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw play today, provided warmups go well.

Shanahan says 49ers WR Aiyuk had better week of practice

“He’ll get there,” Shanahan said. “I have full confidence in Brandon. He wants to get there, and I want him to get there. It’s a matter of time. He had a much better week this week than last week.”

“I’m glad I did it that way,” he said. “I don’t think Aiyuk was totally ready to play the amount he had, and also Trent helps us. He’s a good player. That makes that decision a lot easier.

“If I didn’t have someone playing like Trent had been playing, I would have had to put Aiyuk out there a lot more and it’s my call, and I didn’t think he was quite ready for that. But I know it’s going the right direction.”

49ers writer gives 3 reasons why the Eagles will win in Week 2

3 – CONTAINING MOBILE QUARTERBACKS

The San Francisco defense was constructed with one goal: Getting to the QB. Much like the Eagles, the idea is to achieve that with the defensive line, and it is, by far, the deepest, and most talented group on that side of the ball for the 49ers.

To accentuate that aim, the team converted to a Wide 9 alignment before the 2019 season, which led to phenomenal results, like a Super Bowl appearance. The theory behind the scheme is to, as the name suggests, line your defensive ends out wider than usual.

This starting position gives them a better angle and a few extra yards to build up momentum to create pressure and sacks. However, its greatest benefit has proven to be its Achilles’ Heal when facing mobile signal-callers.

What the 49ers Have to do to Beat the Eagles

2. Expand the Trey Lance Package.

The 49ers need to avoid the Eagles pass rush by running the ball. And right now, the 49ers seem to have only one healthy running back that Shanahan trusts — rookie Elijah Mitchell. Mitchell carried the ball 19 times against the Lions. It’s unrealistic to expect him to shoulder a bigger workload against the Eagles. Which means Shanahan has to find another ball carrier he trusts, and that should be Trey Lance. He should run at least six times, just as Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will. And Lance should throw too, because the Eagles won’t expect to.

John Lynch’s argument against pulling 49ers starters in blowouts

“I think it’s a tough deal,” 49ers general manager John Lynch told KNBR’s “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks. It’s one of the deals when you play really well and get up on someone, human nature says ‘alright let me just get through here now.’ That’s the perfect recipe for getting injured.”

“It’s hard with a 53-man roster, you can’t just make wholesale changes, but you would like to take guys out,” Lynch added. “I think Kyle’s instinct after the game was ‘I’ll never do that again because we let a team back into it.’ You could see it coming because Dan Campbell is a fiery guy and he’s been pushing these guys in camp.”

Report: 49ers LB Greenlaw fined for wave during pick-six

Greenlaw was fined $5,169 for his wave toward Lions defenders as he ran back Jared Goff’s pass, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported Saturday morning citing league sources.

The third-year linebacker will be eligible to return to the lineup after a minimum of three weeks on IR, but his timeline for recovery from the surgery is about four to six weeks.

Greenlaw won’t soon forget his first career NFL touchdown, but he likely will avoid any kind of hand signals toward his opponents, as the league clearly is cracking down on any form of taunting.