The hardest part was saying hello again. Jeff Ulbrich played
every home game of his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers in
creaky Candlestick Park. It was his second home. Ulbrich’s playing
days ended here about 14 months ago after he was concussed during
the opening kickoff of an Oct. 4, 2009, meeting with the St. Louis
Rams. Like most 10-year veterans who starred at linebacker and
covered kicks, Ulbrich suffered a fair amount of head injuries.
SAN FRANCISCO
The hardest part was saying hello again.
Jeff Ulbrich played every home game of his NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers in creaky Candlestick Park. It was his second home.
Ulbrich’s playing days ended here about 14 months ago after he was concussed during the opening kickoff of an Oct. 4, 2009, meeting with the St. Louis Rams. Like most 10-year veterans who starred at linebacker and covered kicks, Ulbrich suffered a fair amount of head injuries.
He spent the next two months on injured reserve and decided it was time.
“I didn’t feel like I got hit hard at all,” the Morgan Hill native and Live Oak alumnus said in January. “There was nothing different about it than any other hit on kickoff coverage. It was just my last one.”
Unlike most 10-year veterans, Ulbrich, 33, had the opportunity to end his playing career where it started. For him, the rest of the 2009-10 season played out like a long goodbye, a victory lap of sorts.
It was nothing compared to the feeling Ulbrich had while taking the field before Sunday’s 49ers-Seahawks game. It was his first regular season visit back to Candlestick, and Ulbrich, now a special teams assistant with Seattle, admitted it felt strange.
“It kind of re-emphasized the fact that I’m not playing anymore, which at times has been tough to deal with,” he said after the 49ers’ 41-20 victory before 69,732. “At the same time, I had a great opportunity to be coaching in a pivotal game for us.
“We’re in the midst of a division race that’s pretty murky right now. … Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end of it, but we’re not out of the race.”
If the Seahawks need him to, Ulbrich looks like he could suit up next game. Battle scars have faded from his stout 6-foot, 245-pound frame. Competitive drive has not.
Ulbrich has channeled that passion into coaching, which he has thoroughly enjoyed while working under Pete Carroll and special teams coordinator Brian Schneider.
“Yeah, I still feel like I can play,” said Ulbrich, whose name is enshrined on the Ten-Year Wall inside San Francisco’s headquarters in Santa Clara. “But, at the same time, you have to invest for the future.
“It’s been a great learning experience with coach Carroll; he’s as good as I’ve ever been around. He’s taught me a lot about myself as a coach. I’ve really enjoyed this.”
The homecoming wasn’t all sadness for Ulbrich. There were no you-can-never-go-home-again clouds looming during warm-ups, when Ulbrich cut up with former teammates; or after the game when just about everyone in the 49ers organization said hello to him in the players’ tunnel.
Ulbrich, whose family moved with him from Gilroy to Seattle, received the same warm reception in Week 1 when the Seahawks beat San Francisco 31-6 up north.
“Jeff’s always going to be my homeboy, always going to be a brother to me,” 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis said. “I hate he was on the other side today, but we had to get him back.”
Ulbrich was a mentor to Willis during his rookie season in 2007, when Willis led the league in tackles and earned All-Pro and AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
“He’s always been a consistent friend, always been one of the best of ’em,” Willis said. “I always saw him being a good coach. He understands the game well and knows exactly what it takes to be successful.”
The Seattle players have noticed.
“He has their respect,” Schneider said. “Not only does he have the respect of the players because, a year ago, he was playing, but because they see how hard of a worker he is. He’s just great to be around.
“Hopefully, he stays here for a while.”
If it is any credit to Ulbrich, or discredit to the 49ers (5-8 overall), the Seahawks’ special teams units looked top-notch Sunday, save for Olindo Mare’s missed 43-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.
Seattle covered well on kickoffs and punts, and Leon Washington returned a kick 92 yards for a touchdown in the third period.
The Seahawks had little else to celebrate. Their injury-strapped offense yielded five turnovers by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who threw a pick-six to safety Dashon Goldson, and their defense made Alex Smith look like an All-Pro QB.
The 49ers’ embattled first-overall pick of the 2005 draft completed 17 of 27 for 255 yards and three touchdown passes, good for a career-high passer rating (130.9).
“This was a disappointing day in so many ways,” Carroll said.
The Seahawks rank second in the league in punt return yards (436), fourth in opposing kickoff return yards (875) and have gained the ninth-most yards (1,292) on kickoffs.
At 6-7, Seattle shares the NFC West lead with St. Louis with three weeks left in the regular season.
“Every game means a lot, so it’s still pretty exciting,” Ulbrich said. “We’re still in this.”
Even if the Seahawks were not, you have to believe Ulbrich still would have been in the middle of each huddle before punts and kickoffs Sunday, pumping his players up with that intensity Candlestick Park remembers him best for.
“There isn’t a doubt in my mind with what I want to do the rest of my life,” he said.
