Foster fights off pain, doles out punishment
Rookie LB has amassed 61 tackles despite ankle, rib and shoulder issues
SANTA CLARA >> Reuben Foster’s surgically repaired right shoulder, which factored into his draft-day slide, had him concerned last game. But a trip to the 49ers’ sideline medical tent quickly alleviated that.
“When I felt all my muscles come back and I strengthened it up and lifted weights in the tent, it was great,” Foster said. “I knew right then and there I didn’t re-mess it up.
“It was just a stinger. I’m just happy I got back on the field and contributed.”
Foster twice needed medical attention for his nerve stinger. It has become such a common sight in games to see Foster temporarily injured that coach Kyle Shanahan joked that he has been “tricked enough” and won’t come out to Foster’s aid anymore, unless it appears more serious.
“I know he throws his body around. You guys can see how violent he plays,” Shanahan said. “But, he definitely has made me nervous many a time, so I try not to worry too much until he’s out longer than a couple plays.”
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said of Foster: “The guy just, I shouldn’t say careless, I mean the guy just wants to kill people. So sometimes he kills himself for a play.”
Seven times in seven games, Foster has required medical attention, the most serious of which was for an ankle sprain in the season opener that kept him out the next five games. A rib injury Oct. 22 at Dallas sidelined him the next game.
But it’s his shoulder that kept him limited through the offseason workouts, and it hasn’t hindered him in what’s become a solid rookie season. His 61 tackles are four shy of the team lead, held by cornerback Dontae Johnson.
Foster faces a major task
NEXT GAME Sunday: Jacksonville at 49ers , 1:05 pm. CBS
Sunday against the Jacksonville Jagaurs’ leagueleading rushing attack and fellow rookie Leonard Fournette, his former SEC rival when Foster was at Alabama and Fournette at LSU.
“I don’t take Leonard Fournette lightly, so of course when I go for Leonard Fournette, I’ve got to go hard,” Foster said.
The Jaguars (10-4) can clinch the AFC South by defeating the 49ers (4-10), and on that momentous note, Jacksonville linebacker Telvin Smith referred to this as a “hat and T-shirt week.”
Foster’s comeback: “Ooh, it’s a hat-and-T-shirt week? Guess we’re going to have to take it off them.”
• Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin is surprised he has played so well despite the recent deaths of his infant son Nov. 12 and father Dec. 11, which he described as more “bumps in the road” in his tumultuous times since childhood.
“Going into the games and dealing with what I’ve gone through, I really didn’t think I had the mental capacity to pull through,” Goodwin said. “But I honestly believed in God and trusted in Him to bring me through the situation.”
Goodwin has caught an NFL-best 24 receptions (319 yards) the past three weeks, in correlation with Jimmy Garoppolo’s first three starts at quarterback. Goodwin said of that connection: “It’s a word that starts with the letter ‘T’ and ends with one: It’s called ‘Trust.’ He trusts me to be in a position to win or be open, and I trust he’ll throw it when I am open.”
• What’s it like hanging out all the time with Garoppolo? No one has done it more lately than one guy: quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello. “It’s been exciting,” Scangarello said with a subtle smile after Thursday’s practice. “So far, it’s been a pleasure to work with him.”
So far, Scangarello has the dream job of every quarterbacks coach.
“The same reasons the players enjoy playing with him, and playing for him, are the same reasons I enjoy coaching him,” Scangarello added. “He’s just a really solid, genuine individual with a real positive attitude, and who wouldn’t want to be around that?”
This isn’t just a quarterback whose rookie contract expires in two more games. He’s a keeper to whom the 49ers likely will shell out
a franchise-record deal in the coming months.
“This is his life right now,” Scangarello said. “He’s all in, and he’s doing everything he can to get the most out of every opportunity.”
• Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner’s swelling in his left ankle subsided so he could practice Friday and is expected to play Sunday. He initially injured that ankle in training camp.
• The Jaguars historically don’t travel well to the West Coast, and they’re waiting to fly out until Saturday. They’re 2-11 all time in West Coast games and have lost their past eight, a streak that began with a Nov. 29, 2009 defeat in their only visit to the 49ers (20-3).
• Garoppolo won the Castrol Edge Clutch Performer of the Week, as voted online by fans at NFL.com.
• Cornerback Greg Mabin (calf) is out, and tight end Garrett Celek (knee, rib) is questionable.
• Wide receivers Marqise Lee (ankle) and Larry Pinkard (concussion) are out and Allen Hurns (ankle) is questionable along with linebacker Lerenetee McCray (neck) on the Jaguars injury report.