49ERS Garcia to return at QB after missing 3 games

Injuries on the offensive line may hurt San Francisco against Baltimore.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Jeff Garcia found at least one benefit to having a sprained left ankle.
While forced to the sideline for three games, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback saw how Tim Rattay succeeded without scrambling all over the field.
"I think at times that needs to be my game in terms of being more patient," Garcia said Wednesday.
Garcia will get his chance to unveil his new, and more stationary, style Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Coach Dennis Erickson announced that Garcia was healthy enough to start.
Garcia moved around well at practice, skittering around in the pocket and making accurate throws.
When away from drills, he tested the ankle by sprinting, changing directions and moving from side to side.
"He's healthier now than he was at the beginning of the year," Erickson said.
Though Garcia aims to be at a standstill more often against the Ravens, he might find himself on the run anyway.
Injury problems
At practice Wednesday, the 49ers had only two offensive-line starters playing where they did Sunday in a 20-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers: center Jeremy Newberry and right tackle Scott Gragg. Every other spot is in flux because of injury.
Offensive-line coach Pat Morris said that there are at least three scenarios for the Baltimore game.
The most likely strategy has rookie Kwame Harris starting at left tackle (for Derrick Deese), with Deese sliding over to left guard (for Kyle Kosier) and Kosier moving over to right guard (for injured Ron Stone).
That lineup, jumbled as it is, keeps the 49ers' best offensive linemen on the field -- even if it means bumping Deese, a formidable left tackle, out of position.
"Derrick will do whatever he can to help us win," Erickson said. "He has no problem with that."
Morris said: "He has to dust off that skill, but he's the guy that's been in the system the longest so he can move to guard better than anybody."
Stone suffered a left hamstring injury against the Packers and is a long shot to face the Ravens. Eric Heitmann, the opening-day starter at left guard, is trying to return from a right ankle sprain but is listed as questionable on the injury report.
The offensive-line injuries are nothing new for the 49ers, who have started their projected starting five just twice: against the Seattle Seahawks on Oct. 12 and the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 2.
"It's been pretty unusual," Morris said. "But Brian Billick doesn't give a heck about that. Neither does Ray Lewis. Injuries aren't any reason for losing."
Tough test
Billick is the Ravens' defensive-minded head coach and Lewis is team's astonishingly talented linebacker. Those two spearhead a group that will make it tough on any offensive line.
With six sacks against the Seahawks on Sunday, the Ravens lead the NFL with 31 sacks. (The 49ers are second with 30).
With that in mind, it might be tough for Garcia to demonstrate his newfound patience. But he vowed to try.
Garcia studied the three games Rattay played and liked the way he stood up to pressure. In the understudy's first two starts, Rattay endured just two sacks because he got rid of the ball quickly in the face of a pass rush.
"I'm a little bit more frantic in the pocket. I move around. I make things happen on the run," Garcia said. "He's more calm in the pocket. He allows things to develop. In the two games where he had success, he was allowed to do that. He allowed routes to develop and put the ball where he needed to put it.
"That's something I took from watching Tim. That's something I can do at times, and not be so quick to move around."