From the recent Sports Illustrated article on the 49ers, "A new take on a classic team."

"What time the players don't spend on the practice field, they spend in recovery. The Niners staff a small army of masseuses, chiropractors and acupuncturists, many of whom travel with the team. 'That might not be rare around the league now,' Staley says, 'but it definitely was when we started it.'

"Overseeing it all is Ben Peterson, former director of sports science for the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and now head of player health and performance for the Niners, a position created out of a need for harmony between the athletic training staff and the strength and conditioning staff. After two injury-plagued seasons that included, according to two team sources, various miscommunications between the two groups, the team fired strength and conditioning coach Ray Wright and athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson last winter.

"Standing adjacent to the practice field, just to the right of the path players take from the locker room, is a 20-plus-foot artificial hill at a steep incline and covered in artificial turf. It was ordered by Wright, and players once ran up and down the hill frequently. Now it stands unused and fenced off, a failed experiment turned monument to accountability."

Maybe S&C has more to do with our injury problems than a front loaded schedule.