Barrows: 49ers vs. Rams: How Fred Warner became a master in the way of the fist (paywall)
Is the Warner Wallop something the 49ers linebacker worked on this offseason? Well, yes. But it’s really a move he’s been perfecting throughout his career, so much so that he said he no longer thinks about it as it’s happening. Warner called it “muscle memory.”
“It’s kind of like a subconscious thing — when the moment feels right my body knows what to do,” he said this week......His fellow linebackers said that punching the ball free isn’t as simple as it looks because the target is moving so quickly and because it’s easy to botch your primary assignment — making the tackle — while concentrating on striking the ball.