Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and
Speaker 1: ten podcast, presented by Cisco. Ten minutes of the most
Speaker 1: up to date forty nine Ers news First Thing in
Speaker 1: the morning. I'm your host Brionna McDonald, and joining me
Speaker 1: today is forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay Polares. Both
Speaker 1: us and the team are back in action after a
Speaker 1: weekend away from football, preparing for a Week sixteen contest
Speaker 1: in Miami to face the Dolphins. But before we jump
Speaker 1: into Sunday's game, let's take a look back at Thursday
Speaker 1: Night football. Lindsay, probably the biggest highlight from that game
Speaker 1: was linebacker Dre Greenlaw's return to football. Tell us about
Speaker 1: his journey back to the field in week fifteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it has been I can't believe it, but ten
Speaker 2: months since the faithful, the team, the organization seen Drake
Speaker 2: Greenlaw suit up for a game. He had that season
Speaker 2: ending achilles injury in Super Bowl fifty eight, and he
Speaker 2: has been working tirelessly to get back to his teammates,
Speaker 2: get back to the field, and that recovery went full
Speaker 2: circle in Week fifteen. He was able to suit up
Speaker 2: and start against the Rams. Obviously not the result that
Speaker 2: the team wanted in Week fifteen, but his return really
Speaker 2: was the silver lining of that game. I think one
Speaker 2: of my favorite parts of the whole day was hearing
Speaker 2: his teammates talk about his return postgame, because you had
Speaker 2: guys like Nick Bosa say that Drake Greenlaw is his
Speaker 2: favorite teammate that he's ever played with, and he meant
Speaker 2: college to pros. You know, Nick Bosa's had a really
Speaker 2: long career. I think that's really really high praise. You
Speaker 2: hear Fred Warner, who is his best friend on this
Speaker 2: team and they're kind of that linebacker duo that everyone
Speaker 2: gets excited to see. He called him a freak of nature.
Speaker 2: And then you have George Kittle just talk about how
Speaker 2: amazing of a player he was. He is, called him
Speaker 2: a unicorn of a football player to be exact. So again,
Speaker 2: a really really big day for the organization to get
Speaker 2: Drake Greenlaw back, and he had eight tackles in that
Speaker 2: game against the Rams, really played most of his snaps
Speaker 2: in that first half. He did say he was experiencing
Speaker 2: some fatigue and some soreness in his knee, obviously coming
Speaker 2: back after a long hiatus. So one thing that was
Speaker 2: good to hear as a head coach Kyle Shanahan said
Speaker 2: that his knee checked out just fine. It really was
Speaker 2: just soreness from a long return. So you know, I
Speaker 2: think that's definitely silver lining of Thursday of week fifteen,
Speaker 2: and the forty nine ers are so happy to see
Speaker 2: him back. We'll see what his week looks like when
Speaker 2: we get more info from Shanahan later today. The forty
Speaker 2: nine ers have had that bonus practice on Monday, but
Speaker 2: the practice week really does start later today.
Speaker 1: Not only did I love seeing Dre Greenlaw back on
Speaker 1: the field, I just loved hearing some of the things
Speaker 1: that his teammates had to say about his twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four debut. You could see there's a ton of love
Speaker 1: for Dre, And you know, while we're talking superstars, I
Speaker 1: wanted to highlight this year's Pro Bowl voting. The twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five Pro Bowl games will be in Orlando starting
Speaker 1: on February second. It's a multi day AFC versus NFC
Speaker 1: event with skills competitions and a flag football game. A
Speaker 1: total of eighty eight players will be selected for the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl teams. That's forty four for AFC and forty
Speaker 1: four for NFC, and voting is open right now, all
Speaker 1: the way through December twenty third. So as we take
Speaker 1: a look at the rankings so far, three forty nine
Speaker 1: ers are leading Pro Bowl votes at their position in
Speaker 1: the NFC, Lindsay, would you like to share which Niners
Speaker 1: are at the top?
Speaker 2: Yeah, right now we are looking at George get All,
Speaker 2: the people's tight end, full back Kyle Huschek, and defensive
Speaker 2: lineman Nick Bosa all leading at their positions. But guys,
Speaker 2: we can show a lot more love for your favorite
Speaker 2: forty nine ers because there are so many playmakers on
Speaker 2: this team. I know it hasn't been exactly the season
Speaker 2: that everyone wanted, but there have been standout performances throughout
Speaker 2: the year from this team.
Speaker 1: And Faithful, you've got to keep the voting going through
Speaker 1: December twenty third. The fan vote influences the Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: team heavily, so your vote absolutely matters, Lindsay, while there's
Speaker 1: still time to rack up some votes, who are some
Speaker 1: other players you think deserves some love for their performances
Speaker 1: this season.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw out a couple. Fred Warner is the
Speaker 2: one that I want to highlight, first quarterback of the defense.
Speaker 2: You know, he is an absolute playmaker, I think it's
Speaker 2: amazing what he has done for the team this season,
Speaker 2: playing on an injured ankle for a large part of
Speaker 2: this season. That is someone that is a gritty player
Speaker 2: and has found a way to push through injury to
Speaker 2: be there for his team. He's currently leading the team
Speaker 2: team in total tackles one hundred and six on the year,
Speaker 2: and we've still got three games to go. So this
Speaker 2: is very much your opportunity to show some love for
Speaker 2: Fred Warner. He was a unanimous All Pro in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three and again having a really great season this
Speaker 2: year as well. Another person, Diamador Leonor, a cornerback that
Speaker 2: just got signed to a pretty significant contract extension and
Speaker 2: he's absolutely earned that. You know, he is number three
Speaker 2: on the team in total tackles two interceptions this year.
Speaker 2: I want to call back to one of his plays
Speaker 2: of this season, a scoop and score that was absolutely
Speaker 2: so much fun to watch on special teams. So a
Speaker 2: huge shout out to Demo as well and Faithful you
Speaker 2: know what to do. And then also one cool thing
Speaker 2: to note is that if you want to vote on
Speaker 2: social on X your votes count double from the twenty
Speaker 2: second to the twenty third and all the info on
Speaker 2: how to cast your social vote is on forty nine
Speaker 2: ers dot com. We published an article on it, so
Speaker 2: please use that as your guide to support your forty
Speaker 2: nine ers during this Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: Voting awesome, faithful, keep those votes going. And yesterday the
Speaker 1: players had their one day off from practice, but a
Speaker 1: lot of the team used that time to give back
Speaker 1: to the community with the team's annual Hope for the
Speaker 1: Holidays event presented by US Bank to spread holiday cheer
Speaker 1: and support underserved families this holiday season. It was such
Speaker 1: a fun time. Both Lindsay and I were there to
Speaker 1: watch it all happen. It's a drive through distribution in
Speaker 1: the Levi Stadium parking lot for one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: five families in need who will receive numerous resources including food, glasses, toys,
Speaker 1: and shoes. Lindsay, what were some of the special things
Speaker 1: you saw yesterday and what did you hear from some
Speaker 1: of the players.
Speaker 2: I just love how this team interacts with the fan base. Obviously,
Speaker 2: this was, like you mentioned, to serve people in our
Speaker 2: community that need it the most, specially during the holidays.
Speaker 2: But these players care so much about these families who
Speaker 2: are fans huge fans. You saw people driving up in Jerseys.
Speaker 2: I saw kittle fist bumping a little girl that was
Speaker 2: coming out of the sun roof of the car. It
Speaker 2: was really really cool. They're directing traffic, they are loading
Speaker 2: some of the goodies that were being donated yesterday. I
Speaker 2: saw lightsaber battles happening with the traffic conductor things which
Speaker 2: were really fun. You know, so many autograph signings. It
Speaker 2: was such a good time, and I think it's important
Speaker 2: to note that this is not a team that just
Speaker 2: shows up during the holidays. This is part of a
Speaker 2: larger community Tuesdays thing that goes on throughout the regular season.
Speaker 2: The forty nine ers really do love to pour into
Speaker 2: the Bay Area community. But this is definitely one of
Speaker 2: my favorite events of every year and I look forward
Speaker 2: to it, and I've gotten to witness it for three
Speaker 2: seasons now and help capture content for it.
Speaker 1: What was your favorite part of the brief. My favorite
Speaker 1: part of the night was seeing the players direct traffic.
Speaker 1: It's pretty funny how with the Christmas music they were
Speaker 1: directing traffic on beat with a little rhythm, showing off
Speaker 1: their dance moves. I love the little dance battles that
Speaker 1: were happening between station to station. It was so funny.
Speaker 1: And then just seeing the fans drive through with such
Speaker 1: big smiles on their face, excited to see the players
Speaker 1: sharing their love. It was just an atmosphere full of
Speaker 1: love and support for the team and just holiday cheer.
Speaker 1: It was such a unique way to celebrate the holiday
Speaker 1: season with giving back and spreading love. It was really
Speaker 1: awesome and I look forward to it every year. But
Speaker 1: as we get back into the rhythm of practice, lindsay,
Speaker 1: what are some things you're looking to see in today's practice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so today, like I mentioned earlier, is the start
Speaker 2: of the practice week. You know, the forty nine ers
Speaker 2: have had quite a few injuries this season. I think,
Speaker 2: you know, just taking a look at who is going
Speaker 2: to be available for Week sixteen, or at least trending
Speaker 2: to be available in Week sixteen, it sounds like no
Speaker 2: major injuries coming out of Week fifteen. Also, having ten
Speaker 2: days rest between these two games is going to be
Speaker 2: really really important for guys that are fighting to get back.
Speaker 2: There was a bonus practice on Monday, but really looking
Speaker 2: to see statuses for Wednesday today. It will happen later today,
Speaker 2: we'll hear from head coach Kyle Shanahan and just kind
Speaker 2: of get a barometer of where the team is headed
Speaker 2: into another longer road trip, headed to Miami this weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're looking forward to Niners Dolphins this Sunday, But
Speaker 1: that will do it for today's podcast. Subscribe to First
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Speaker 1: ers updates, and turn on the notifications for any breaking news.
Speaker 1: Lindsay thanks for sharing with us, and Faithful, thanks for
Speaker 1: touing me.
Speaker 2: In eight