Garoppolo happy with practices ahead of game
MIAMI >> Jimmy Garoppolo couldn’t single out a highlight yet from Super Bowl week. Perhaps it will come to him Sunday, say about 10:30 p.m. here with a Lombardi Trophy in his hands.
Garoppolo gave rave reviews to Thursday’s workout at the nearby University of Miami.
“It’s been two good days of practice,” Garoppolo said. “I’m sure having two weeks to go over the game plan and get locked in like that, it’s helped guys.
“We know what the moment is.” Running back Tevin Coleman indeed knows. A dislocated shoulder knocked him out of the NFC Championship win, but he said his injury has “definitely” improved and he’s practiced the past two days in limited fashion.
“Everybody is focused and we know what we’ve got to do to get this ring,” Coleman said.
Strong safety Jaquiski Tartt (ribs) and linebacker Kwon Alexander (pectoral) also remained
limited. The Chiefs had full participation.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said this week has felt routine thanks to extended stays earlier this season in Youngstown, Ohio (in September) and Bradenton, Florida (last month) between back-to-back road games.
Shanahan hoped his players could spend Thursday night with their families, many of whom flew into town earlier in the day along with hundreds of 49ers staff members.
“Tomorrow it will be the same routine, doing red zone again and putting that stuff in,” Shanahan said. “We’ll get out earlier, make it an early Friday night, we’ll have our Saturday walk-through (practice). We’ll be ready to go.”
• Former 49ers/Raiders defensive lineman Aldon Smith has turned his life around and hoping to resume his NFL career, according to Jay Glazer.
Glazer, an NFL insider for Fox Sports who trains NFL players in mixed martial arts, claims Smith is sober and working out regularly at a West Hollywood gym. Furthermore, Glazer says Smith is working with military veterans.
“Aldon’s great because Aldon’s been working out with our (veterans) in our MVP program every single Wednesday night,” Glazer told TMZ Sports. “Aldon has been sober for a while and he’s been helping a lot of our vets with their sobriety.”
Smith, now 30 and out of the league for four years, emerged as an All-Pro in his second season with the 49ers. But his battle with substance abuse and a variety of legal issues drew a suspension from the NFL after he had tried to restart his career with the Raiders.
• Kicker Robbie Gould, punter Mitch Wishnowsky and long snapper Kyle Nelson have already visited Hard Rock Stadium, and Gould’s mind is at ease with the field conditions.
“The field is in great shape and the wind was like it will be pregame, and then it will die down,” Gould said. “It was great to get in and have sight lines. Everything held true.”
Gould has already kicked in a Super Bowl on that field, making his only field-goal attempt in the
2006 Chicago Bears’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
• Of all the questions Garoppolo’s been asked over four days of media sessions, how many were about his former New England Patriots teammate Tom Brady? “At least 50% of them. And another one to it,” Garoppolo said.
• What was the best play in the NFL’s 100-year history? George Kittle did not need much time to think of a perfect response.
“Oh, OK, ‘The Catch,’” Kittle said of Dwight Clark’s famous touchdown in the 1981 season’s NFC final that launched the 49ers’ dynasty. “Come on, I can’t not answer it that way, I’d get in trouble. I love that play.
“When I got drafted by the Niners, the first thing my dad told me, ‘I can remember where I was, what I was doing when ‘The Catch’ happened.’ That was a momentous moment in sports.”
When Nick Bosa was asked the same question, he answered with a different catch, the one David Tyree made by pinning an Eli Manning pass to his helmet in the New York Giants’ win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.