49ers like what they see from McGlinchey
In Week 4, when 49ers rookie right tackle Mike McGlinchey was facing Chargers Pro Bowl defensive end Melvin Ingram, he recognized a problem: He was thinking a lot about facing Melvin Ingram.
“I could feel in the first two series I was a little anxious,” McGlinchey said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God: Here he is. He’s doing this to me’ and whatever. Midway through the first quarter, the second quarter — whatever it was — I said, ‘You know what? Screw that. I’m just going to play.’ ”
As it turns out, McGlinchey’s ability to get out of his own head has allowed him to get into a groove in what has become a stellar rookie season.
McGlinchey, a two-time All-American at Notre Dame, has been an integral part of a position group that’s one of the few strengths on a 2-8 team. The 49ers rank third in the NFL in rushing yards per game (133.6) and will enter Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay without having allowed a sack in consecutive games for the first time since 2000.
McGlinchey, 6-foot-8 and 315 pounds, has been graded among the NFL’s best run blockers in 2018 by Pro Football Focus and his eye-popping ability was recently on full display when he provided an all-the-way escort on Raheem Mostert’s 52-yard touchdown run in a win against the Raiders.
“Man, his rookie year has been going very well,” left guard Laken Tomlinson said. “Mike
being our first pick in this past draft, there are big expectations and he’s impressed a lot of people. He’s obviously one of the guys we are going to be leaning on for years to come.”
Said general manager John Lynch on Tuesday on 95.7 FM: “He’s a cornerstone. I would call his rookie season better than just strong. I think he’s been phenomenal.”
As a top-10 pick, this is the first impression McGlinchey was hoping to make — but he was too eager to make it early in the season. McGlinchey consumed himself with proving himself. And he lost his focus on the fundamentals of his position in the process.
“It wasn’t a physical thing because I knew I could always do it physically,” McGlinchey said. “But mentally, it’s a matter of bringing yourself into focus and having a mental toughness that nothing can faze you.
“Those first couple of weeks, I think I was worried about playing too well too fast. I was thinking about ‘When is that first sack going to come? Who am I paying against? What the hell is the guy going to do across from me?’ rather than just focusing on what I could control and going out and playing football.”
McGlinchey won’t be playing right tackle indefinitely. He eventually will take the spot assumed by five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley, 34, who is signed through 2019.
McGlinchey has leaned on Staley this season, but the watershed moment of his rookie season came without assistance.
In a 29-27 loss to the Chargers, McGlinchey was beaten badly by Ingram on an inside move on the 49ers’ first series. Ingram didn’t get a sack, but McGlinchey recognized he was getting in his head, which he’d allowed other pass rushers to do in the previous three games.
“I finally just said ‘I’m just going back to what I’ve always done: Where is he on the field? How far do I have to set? Where are my hands going to be?’ ” McGlinchey said. “As simple as you can keep it, the easier it becomes. I’ve always known that, but it’s hard to implement that as you are experiencing something so new.”
Not long after McGlinchey took his focus off playing against Ingram, he ended up piledriving the pass rusher. As Ingram tried to beat him with another inside move, McGlinchey caught him in mid-spin and punctuated the crushing block by driving him to the turf.
On Tuesday, McGlinchey was asked if he remembers that specific block.
“You always remember those,” McGlinchey said. “… That was the game where I felt like ‘OK, I can do this. And I can do this very, very well.’ ”