SANTA CLARA – The New Orleans Saints' dearth of pass receivers might be balanced Sunday by the 49ers' shortage of defensive backs.
Six members of the 49ers' secondary either were out or limited during practice Wednesday. The most serious injuries appear to be to strong safety Michael Lewis, who suffered an elbow injury Sunday, and his backup, Keith Lewis, who hyperextended his knee in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks and aggravated it against the Detroit Lions.
If neither can play, the 49ers will look to Dashon Goldson. The second-year player is a big part of the team's nickel package, but he mostly has practiced behind free safety Mark Roman. Goldson was limited Wednesday with a shoulder injury.
Cornerback Donald Strickland also was limited with a knee injury that has kept him out of the past two games, while cornerback Walt Harris, at 34 the oldest member of the defense, was held out by coaches. Another cornerback, Shawntae Spencer, had surgery to repair a torn ACL and will be placed on injured reserve.
The Saints will be without wide receiver Marques Colston (thumb) and tight end Jeremy Shockey (sports hernia) Sunday. Another wide receiver, David Patten, did not practice Wednesday because of a groin injury.
School ties – The 49ers and team partners will donate $35,000 to Warren Easton High School in New Orleans and take part in a locker-painting ceremony at the school Saturday.
Warren Easton, the oldest public school in New Orleans, took on eight feet of water from Hurricane Katrina and was closed for one school year.
Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.