/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67752437/1283437879.0.jpg)
There weren’t too many bright spots on the field for the San Francisco 49ers Thursday night against the Packers. As is the case with most weeks, Fred Warner was one of them. The star linebacker made his presence felt in the run game. Six of his nine tackles resulted in stops. He was everywhere, but that’s nothing new. Warner allowed one yard in coverage on three targets. He sniffed out a screen that was a thing of beauty.
His peers are starting to recognize what Niners fans have been saying for a while now. Watch this interaction between Warner and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers below:
Very cool for Rodgers to recognize Fred Warner as the stud that he is! pic.twitter.com/poSyqf7yma
— Matt Nahigian (@mattnahigian) November 7, 2020
“I’m happy for you, man. I really mean that. Unfortunately, name recognition means too much, ain’t nobody better. There really isn’t. You’re the best. And everybody knows it. The film don’t lie. You should be All-Pro.”
Even as the game was out of hand, Warner continued to make plays and celebrate. That may bother some people, but that’s the type of player Warner is. When he makes a play, he’s going to let you know. He spoke about that after the game: “That’s just me. I’m going to be me every single time I’m out there between the white. That’s my job as the one everybody is looking at to bring the energy to the group.”
Warner isn’t giving up hope on the season. Every player is going to say they believe their team can win. It’ll be difficult for the 49ers with all of their injuries, but Warner didn’t make any excuses:
“I don’t care what the situation is I told the guys after the game that we got to look ourselves in the mirror. It doesn’t matter who’s down, who’s on COVID. It’s a wild year, obviously there are a lot of injuries across the entire NFL. But with the guys that we have, I think that we still got a lot of great football players on this team, and I think we just got to get back to work. We’ll make sure that we’re competing at a high level come next game.”
The 49ers should be competitive during their remaining games assuming there aren’t any last-minute positive COVID tests that sideline three vital starters.
Here is my question for you. Will the 49ers finishing 6-10 or 7-9 keep Warner off the first-team All-Pro team?