First-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft out of Central Michigan, tackle Joe Staley will share his experiences as a 49ers rookie, on and off the field. In this latest installment, he talks about the Rams game and shares a few events from the St. Louis trip.
Going back to St. Louis, it was a good win. It was also good for me to play in my first regular season road game. It was definitely loud in there and that was my first time really going through that. The game went well because we got the win. It was frustrating not getting Frank his yards. We want to give him 100-150 yards every game so that was kind of frustrating, but we did what we had to do win and now we are 2-0.
It was also a good challenge for me personally going against a guy like Leonard Little. He's a Pro Bowler and one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. I was happy about not giving him any sacks and I have to keep building on that and keep that up every week.
One thing that kind of sucks is that twice they've called me out for the illegal formation penalty and they single me out on television I guess too as the guy who got the flag. I'm the last guy on the line so if I'm not covered by a tight end or a receiver, they just call it on me which sucks because it's not really my penalty. But, so it goes.
When Frank scored the long run I continued with my college tradition and sprinted down there to the end zone to celebrate. It's kind of different in the NFL though because guys kind of do their own thing. I got down there and Frank was just sort of doing his own thing and I wasn't sure it was something I could get involved with, so I just kind of stood there and it was real awkward. The fans down there were probably making fun of me but whatever.
I think I tried to hug him still like a good job hug and I realized one other time in the game when I did that to someone that I kind of missed and ended up just hitting them in the head. I popped whoever it was pretty good, so I realized I might need to not do that because I could knock someone out.
I had some family from my mom's side come to the game so it was good to see them.
I almost forgot, but because of my griping in my earlier diary entry, I received a letter from Popeye's. They apologized for not giving me good service, so I did place an order from them on Friday for Jonas and Larry and it went very smooth. Most of the guys did go with Giovanni's. I ordered everything the day before and Giovanni's delivered it, while my girlfriend went to Popeye's and picked it up for me. She got there at 2PM, everything was ready and it was a very smooth process.
On Saturday we had our walk thru and our meetings and then all the linemen went to this steak restaurant for dinner that was excellent. Justin Smiley picked up the tab which was really nice for once not to have to foot the bill. We watched Central Florida vs Texas which turned out to be a really good game.
As we were leaving, these guys walked in and decided they would be funny with asking if we had saved them any food in there. I didn't miss a beat. I just popped up right in one of the guy's face and did my best sarcastic laugh to let him know I didn't think it was funny. I wasn't letting them get away with calling us fat. That was just not to be tolerated. Kwame was close to crying because he was laughing so hard. The sad thing is that it's actually my normal laugh, but it's a terrible pitch that hurts your ears.
On the plane ride back I watched Gangs of New York, which is a movie I had never seen before which was kind of surprising to me because I'm usually on top of the good movies. I was really into my movie so I don't know what most guys did but it seemed lively. I can imagine that it probably sucks flying home after a loss.
On Monday we came in and worked out and I watched tape by myself because we had a win Monday which means Coach gives us off for the most part. I didn't do a whole lot that day, although my girlfriend and me had a great dinner Forbes Mill in Los Gatos.
Tuesday is our off day during the season, and I had a bunch of errands to run. I thought about looking for furniture but I got tired and that never happened. I can't shop for more than an hour without tiring out.
The best part about the day was going with some of the offensive linemen over to this school in Santa Clara.. I had a really good time. My mom is a teacher so I'd go to her school a bunch of times, and it's something I enjoy. If you told me to get up and speak, I wouldn't like that or do well but I do enjoy hanging out or taking part in activities which is what we did. I was in the 5th grade classroom, and I was the official stapler for the kids who were building different types of Native American houses. I had a pretty big task and I think I handled it well. Baas quit on his teepee which disappointed me because I didn't think he was a quitter. Snyder, I don't think he even did much. I was definitely the busiest, helping everyone out if I do say so myself.
We came back in for practice today. Trent Dilfer had to wear an Oregon jersey and I'm not sure where he got it but he's wearing a Nolan jersey. It kind of fits Trent, being in the same era and all. Adam Snyder has done well on his bets. Last week Baas had to wear Snyder's jersey when Oregon took it to Michigan. I'm not taking any bets which is a good thing since Central is going through a rough time right now. MAC schools always have to play the Big 10 and Big 12 schools, and so they lost to Kansas pretty bad and also to Purdue. We are 1-0 in the conference though.
No, I have not gone to play my horse game at Dave & Busters, and I miss it terribly. I also miss my horse racing buddy Zac Herold, aka Big Country, who was cut after a week of being on the practice squad. With him being gone, I really don't have anyone to go with and I just can't go myself because then I'd really feel like a pathetic loser.
I don't have any television shows to watch anymore either now that Entourage and Flight of the Concords are both over. Harvey Dahl is trying to get me into this show – something about it always rains or is always sunny or something like that. I don't know - it's on FX. Danny DeVito is in it. I haven't tried it yet. We'll see. I'm a big supporter of Family Feud. Yes, it is still on and the guy from Seinfeld is the host now. They've gone thru a slew of hosts in recent years. The old ones, that guy was a real pervert kissing everyone and that made me a little nervous. I like the host much more now, and I think it's the greatest game show ever. The fast money at the end, you can't beat that.
I'm really, really excited about our Pittsburgh game because I grew up a huge Steelers fan. My dad is from there so the whole side of his family will be there at the game. I'm getting a lot of tickets and there will be a lot of people watching me play. In college I had a poster of Heinz Field in my room, so I'm just pumped. They run the same kind of defense we do so I'm pretty familiar with it and I think it will be a good game. I think for us, it's just a matter of capitalizing. We went over the tape today and the plays are there, it's just a matter of all 11 doing the right thing.
