http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13798600p-14640151c.html
Pickett is 49ers' last man standing
Former backup looks like the starter with Dorsey and Smith hurt.
By Matthew Barrows -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Tuesday, November 1, 2005
SANTA CLARA - Two months ago, the 49ers were one of only two teams to start the season with four quarterbacks on the roster. On Monday, two of them were moving around the locker room with the dexterity of Captain Ahab while a third was 3,000 miles away playing for another team.
That left only one - Cody Pickett, who so far this season has spent more time as a practice-squad receiver and a special teams gunner than he has taking snaps from center.
"I would expect that, yeah," coach Mike Nolan said when asked if Pickett, once the team's fourth option at quarterback, would become the team's fourth starter this season. "Based on what I saw yesterday with (Ken Dorsey) walking out to the parking lot with the boot on, I would say so."
The last time Pickett was solely a passer? That would be in the week leading up to the 49ers' second preseason game against Denver on Aug. 20. The last time he received the lion's share of practice snaps?
"My senior year at Washington," Pickett said.
Still, he said he's not complaining about the grunt work he's performed the past two and half months. Playing on kick and punt coverage units not only kept him busy during the first half of the season - "It was a lot more interesting than being the fourth QB," he said - it also earned him a spot on the 53-man roster.
Nolan said he debated this summer whether the team could afford to keep four quarterbacks when most teams have three.
"I can't have four quarterbacks because you just don't in this league," Nolan remembers thinking. "But then I decided that I can't let any of them go."
Eventually he did let one go when he traded Tim Rattay to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two and half weeks ago. Rattay was watching from the Buccaneers' sideline Sunday when Dorsey was hit by 280-pound defensive end Ellis Wyms and hobbled off with a sprained left ankle.
"It looks like I have a nice little golf ball in there," said Dorsey, who is questionable to play Sunday. "It's swollen. But the good news is that the swelling has already gone down."
A few feet away, the team's regular starter, Alex Smith, was describing the swelling in his right knee, which was injured during a loss to Washington on Oct. 23. Smith, also listed as questionable, has not been given permission to bend the joint and looks like a long shot to play Sunday.
That means the 49ers likely will go shopping today for a No. 2 passer. One candidate is former UC Davis quarterback J.T. O' Sullivan, who is currently on the Bears' practice squad and who is familiar with offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy from their time in New Orleans. Other names include Quincy Carter and Tim Couch.
Dorsey said he would try to get back on his feet by Wednesday when the team begins preparing for the Giants, but Nolan seemed more interested to see what Pickett could do in a starting role.
Entering Sunday's game when the momentum seemed to be shifting toward the Buccaneers, Pickett won over the crowd on his second drive, when he completed his only pass attempt - a 10-yarder to Brandon Lloyd - and then bootlegged around the left side of the line for eight yards and a first down. It was the sort of gutsy performance teammates have come to expect from the ex-rodeo roper.
"Cody has been here," Nolan said. "The guys know him. They like him. They know what he stands for. He has strengths that are different from the other guys."
About the writer: The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.
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Quincy Carter or Tim Couch? God, just shoot me now.
