Larry Allen: Dallas game no big deal
By Dennis Georgatos
Mercury News
INJURIES PROMPTING SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN DEFENSIVE SCHEME
If 49ers guard Larry Allen feels any lingering emotional attachment to the Dallas Cowboys, he's not showing it.
Allen spent 12 seasons with Dallas, earning 10 trips to the Pro Bowl, but he said his return to play his former team in an exhibition Saturday is nothing special.
``It's just another game, really,'' Allen said Tuesday. ``It is going to be a little strange, but I'm a 49er now.''
He said he hasn't really stayed in touch with anyone from the Cowboys since his departure in late March in a salary-cap move. ``I didn't think it was going to happen,'' Allen said. ``I just think they made a business decision. I counted too much ($7 million) against their cap.''
Allen, 34, said the Cowboys may have thought he was slowing down.
``But I think I'm still Larry and I'm going to go out there and do what I do,'' he said.
The 49ers thought so, too. Within three days of his release, the 49ers signed Allen to a two-year, $8.4 million deal and installed him as the starting left guard. His presence and tackle Jonas Jennings' return from shoulder surgery have solidified the left side of the line.
Allen's intimidating, physical style of play also is setting an example for the 49ers' young linemen.
``I think it's a great situation for us to be playing with a guy like Larry,'' center Eric Heitmann said. ``He's a physical specimen. He's definitely a guy trying to get his guy on the ground on every play.''
• Rookie defensive end Melvin Oliver stepped in for injured outside linebacker Brandon Moore in a move that shifted the base defense to a 4-3 look from a 3-4.
Coach Mike Nolan said he realigned the defense, at least for now, because using Oliver gives the 49ers their best 11 players on the field in the base defense. The 49ers can jump back into a 3-4 scheme with Corey Smith or Bobby Iwuchukwu rotating in for Oliver.
Moore, who suffered a strained right knee Sunday, is the fourth outside linebacker to be injured in recent weeks. He's expected back in about a week. But rookie Parys Haralson remains out indefinitely because of a strained left foot and Renauld Williams is a couple of weeks away from returning from a sprained ankle. Andre Torrey was lost for the season when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in a training-camp collision with a teammate during a punt return.
``Moore is going to get well, and I would hope at some point that we get Parys Haralson back,'' Nolan said. ``Like I've said all along, we have the flexibility in the system to go from one to the other. If that's what we have to do to get the best 11 on the field, that's what we'll do.''
• Linebacker Derek Smith created a stir the last time the 49ers squared off against Terrell Owens, calling the flamboyant wide receiver selfish and a lousy teammate.
``I don't care who you are. Nobody is above the team,'' Smith said in September before facing Owens, then with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Owens caught two long touchdown passes in a 42-3 rout of the 49ers but later in the year was suspended by the Eagles after criticizing quarterback Donovan McNabb and arguing with Coach Andy Reid.
Owens, who has been slowed in training camp by a hamstring problem, could make his Cowboys debut Saturday against the 49ers.
``He's a good player,'' Smith said. ``Everybody deserves a second chance.''
• Guard/tackle Adam Snyder will probably miss his second consecutive game because of a biceps strain, Nolan said.
Mercury News
INJURIES PROMPTING SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN DEFENSIVE SCHEME
If 49ers guard Larry Allen feels any lingering emotional attachment to the Dallas Cowboys, he's not showing it.
Allen spent 12 seasons with Dallas, earning 10 trips to the Pro Bowl, but he said his return to play his former team in an exhibition Saturday is nothing special.
``It's just another game, really,'' Allen said Tuesday. ``It is going to be a little strange, but I'm a 49er now.''
He said he hasn't really stayed in touch with anyone from the Cowboys since his departure in late March in a salary-cap move. ``I didn't think it was going to happen,'' Allen said. ``I just think they made a business decision. I counted too much ($7 million) against their cap.''
Allen, 34, said the Cowboys may have thought he was slowing down.
``But I think I'm still Larry and I'm going to go out there and do what I do,'' he said.
The 49ers thought so, too. Within three days of his release, the 49ers signed Allen to a two-year, $8.4 million deal and installed him as the starting left guard. His presence and tackle Jonas Jennings' return from shoulder surgery have solidified the left side of the line.
Allen's intimidating, physical style of play also is setting an example for the 49ers' young linemen.
``I think it's a great situation for us to be playing with a guy like Larry,'' center Eric Heitmann said. ``He's a physical specimen. He's definitely a guy trying to get his guy on the ground on every play.''
• Rookie defensive end Melvin Oliver stepped in for injured outside linebacker Brandon Moore in a move that shifted the base defense to a 4-3 look from a 3-4.
Coach Mike Nolan said he realigned the defense, at least for now, because using Oliver gives the 49ers their best 11 players on the field in the base defense. The 49ers can jump back into a 3-4 scheme with Corey Smith or Bobby Iwuchukwu rotating in for Oliver.
Moore, who suffered a strained right knee Sunday, is the fourth outside linebacker to be injured in recent weeks. He's expected back in about a week. But rookie Parys Haralson remains out indefinitely because of a strained left foot and Renauld Williams is a couple of weeks away from returning from a sprained ankle. Andre Torrey was lost for the season when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in a training-camp collision with a teammate during a punt return.
``Moore is going to get well, and I would hope at some point that we get Parys Haralson back,'' Nolan said. ``Like I've said all along, we have the flexibility in the system to go from one to the other. If that's what we have to do to get the best 11 on the field, that's what we'll do.''
• Linebacker Derek Smith created a stir the last time the 49ers squared off against Terrell Owens, calling the flamboyant wide receiver selfish and a lousy teammate.
``I don't care who you are. Nobody is above the team,'' Smith said in September before facing Owens, then with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Owens caught two long touchdown passes in a 42-3 rout of the 49ers but later in the year was suspended by the Eagles after criticizing quarterback Donovan McNabb and arguing with Coach Andy Reid.
Owens, who has been slowed in training camp by a hamstring problem, could make his Cowboys debut Saturday against the 49ers.
``He's a good player,'' Smith said. ``Everybody deserves a second chance.''
• Guard/tackle Adam Snyder will probably miss his second consecutive game because of a biceps strain, Nolan said.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:19 AM
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