McGlinchey's recent strides to be tested vs. Raiders' Crosby

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SANTA CLARA — Mike McGlinchey will be facing one of his biggest challenges on Sunday when the 49ers face off against the Raiders in Las Vegas. 

The veteran right tackle will line up across from Raiders star pass rusher Maxx Crosby, who will be doing everything possible to bring 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to the ground. Crosby, a two-time Pro Bowler, already has racked up 11.5 sacks, four pass breakups and three forced fumbles in 15 contests.

Offensive line coach Chris Foerster believes McGlinchey is up for the task and is playing the best football of his five-year NFL career. The Notre Dame product has not allowed a sack in his last seven starts. 

“Mike’s continued to work really hard at getting better,” Foerster said on Thursday. “Mike can be Mike’s worst enemy. And that’s where I’d say the most improvements occurred. There have been some bad plays and usually one doesn’t stack upon another. 

“Sometimes they do, but for the most part, Mike’s been able to reach a level of consistency that even though there are some plays he’s not happy with, I’m not happy with, he has improved greatly from his first year until now.” 

McGlinchey’s PFF grades have shown a marked improvement since being selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. In 2022, the 27-year-old has allowed just 22 pressures in 15 starts -- an average of 1.46 per game, a new career low. 

2021 — 13 pressures in 8 games, 1.62 per game
2020 — 37 pressures in 16 games, 2.31 per game
2019 — 28 pressures in 12 games, 2.33 per game 
2018 — 39 pressures in 16 games, 2.43 per game 

In 2021, the veteran tackle shared that seeing Derin McMains, a sports performance coach, helped his approach to the game. In the past, if McGlinchey struggled on a play it would tend to have a snowball effect, leading to another mistake, and then another.

These days, McGlinchey is letting go of negative plays mentally and moving on. At times a bad play will still catch up with the tackle, like his two false-start penalties in back-to-back drives in Week 16. 

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“No matter how good Mike is, they’re good rushers on the other side,” Foerster said. “They’re going to do good things and last week’s group was a really talented group, so it has you on edge throughout the game. 

“You have to stay calm and understand each rep lives and dies by itself and you learn from it, you build and you go on to the next rep and see how you can improve and get better and not let the bad overwhelm you and that’s where Mike’s really improved, I would say more than anything.”

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