Chilo Rachal is technically day-to-day as far as a stinger goes, but he did practice in full yesterday. Matt Barrows thinks that means that he'll be starting once again at right guard when the 49ers take on the Denver Broncos this weekend in London. I share the same opinion, I think if Rachal is going full-on in practice while banged up a little bit, then Singletary is seeing if he can handle it because he intends to start him over Adam Snyder. But I'm left with one tiny little question on the matter ... Why?
Why is he starting, at this point? In football, it's common knowledge that the most favorite players on any given team are the backups. Why? Because you don't get to see how bad they are, and assume they're better than the starter, of course. In this case, though, we've witnessed both the abysmal play of Chilo Rachal and the almost schizophrenic out-of-character play of Adam Snyder. Out-of-character in that he's been absolutely manhandling guys out there.
He's far from perfect, of course, after all, he's still the same Snyder that most of you wanted left off the roster coming into this season, but that was, of course, proceeding as if he were the primary backup at right tackle, which isn't necessarily the case at this point. Now he's the primary backup at right guard, and he's out-performed the starter at right guard every time he's played there this season.
I don't get why Chilo Rachal is starting at right guard. To me, it boils down to Mike Singletary wanting to hold on to something. I have not been in agreement with almost anything Mike Singletary has done recently, and this is just another thing. He's stubborn, at least that's how I perceive it from the get-go. Maybe he's seeing something I'm not, or maybe Mike Solari is adamant that he wants Chilo in the lineup. It has nothing to do with cohesion, either, as Snyder has gotten plenty of time with the starting unit.
It just puzzles me sometimes, these decisions. Who do you want at right guard, and why do you think Rachal is still the starter?