Hi all,

While the woes of the offensive line and the quarterback position have been discussed with every regard to the problems with the 49ers offense in general, I do not think the actual philosophy of the offense has been addressed. No, I am not going to propose that Alex Smith's head be put on a stake or that Jimmy Raye is a lemon. But I am going to try to address something that I feel needs serious attention.

At the start of the 2009-2010 season, we had every reason to believe that the style was Smashmouth. However, despite the talent of Frank Gore that approach proved tough and rigid but equally unproductive. In the second half of the season, there was talk of the "spread offense" (something that is collegiate and not professional, to my understanding), which Alex Smith reportedly ran with great success in college. Then from Mike Singletary himself, we heard that the team was striving for a more Balanced style; part running game and part passing game.

This uncertainty in the offensive philosophy should be addressed as soon as possible. Preferably, we should heed the advice of Steve Young and revert to a West Coast Offense philosophy and a more dynamic passing game. We have the weapons, do we not?

Now regarding the actual problems with the offense, I can say that I am not too keen on football technicalities, but it is my opinion that the actual problems may not have been with the offensive line or the quarterback entirely, but with the offensive coordination. Yes, I know, everybody is saying pretty much the same thing. However, the specific problem with the coordination, I believe, comes in the fact that they have Josh Morgan playing flanker (wide receiver position played by Jerry Rice, for anyone unaware) when he clearly does not possess the kind of speed needed for the position. Instead, they have Vernon Davis, the tight end, running streaks and posts in place of the flanker. In doing this, they are utilizing the flanker as an outside blocker while the tight end runs the streak or post and leaves the offensive line open, usually on the right side. I believe this is why Alex Smith, Shaun Hill or whoever the quarterback has been has been consistently left open and prone to pressure mostly from a 4-3 defense.

I know Vernon Davis is great and all at his position, but typically you are not supposed to use the tight end like a wide receiver. Most of the time, the tight end should be assisting the offensive line and acting as an additional receiver when needed.

To simulate a typical formation:

x       x  x  x  x  x  9       x

                  x

             x        x

9 = Tight End.

When the tight end (9) leaves the offensive line to run a route, the line is left open because it is at least one man short. A defender can easily get through on the right side as (a) the flanker is busy "blocking" a cornerback and (b) the fullback is usually trying to block for the halfback.

I think these are the problems that need addressing. If anyone has anything to add, please feel free.

Hi all,

I recently took the time to research the wide receiver position a bit, and I think I may have stumbled upon some information that might be enlightening to a lot of people here, who I presume are like me and not too sound on the technicalities of football.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_receiver

After reading a bit about the wide receiver position, it has occurred to me that whenever I have said that the 49ers are in need of a wide receiver who can do the "big plays" or make the "long catches", I was unaware I was actually referring to the "flanker" position, which runs the Y patterns in an offensive lineup. By this logic, Jerry Rice was a flanker, as is Randy Moss. I believe that the wide receiver core of the 49ers, as it stands, consists of receivers that are geared toward the split-end position. Michael Crabtree is possibly the best of the wide receiver core not because he is Michael Crabtree, but because he appears to play the split-end position better than any of the other receivers and even seems to do decent as a flanker.

The 49ers are in need of a Jerry Rice/Randy Moss/Larry Fitzgerald (flanker/Y) type of receiver in order to make those big plays and/or long passes happen again.

Does anyone agree? Do you think Michael Crabtree can be the flanker we have needed? Who could the 49ers possibly draft to fill that role?

Hi all,

I know this has probably been discussed a multitude of times, but I strongly believe the 49ers are on the right track and  may very well be the next elite team. I would not be surprised if the 2010-2011 season has the 49ers with a record similar to what the Saints have had this past season.

Aside from all the great coaching and personnel changes that 49ers management seems to be making (e.g.: acquiring Ray Brown as assistant offensive line coach and Curtis Taylor as another tight end), I think the only thing missing on the team is perfection for the uniforms.

Alright, I get it. Singletary, the 49ers management and the majority of us fans want to see the 49ers players' uniforms reminisce the look of the championship teams of the 1980s and the 1990s. The cherry red and red and white stripe as opposed to the red and black, I get it. But am I wrong in my opinion that the 49ers uniform still looks at least a little bit...unsettled?

I think that if the 49ers are to go with the classic look, they can be a lot closer to it than they already are. I am not against the idea of modernizing the classic look while retaining the classic look as much as possible. But I also think some minor appointments can be made.

Moving the jersey number above the shoulder -- that's fine. I think that the jersey would look a bit better if the sleeves were extended just a bit. I also think that the stripe on the 49ers pants look redundant, relative to the stripe on the helmet. I think they ought to desaturate and darken the tint of the pants just a bit, so that they do not appear to be almost yellow as they have under brighter lighting conditions. While they are at it, they should also widen the stripe of the pants to be the width of the stripe of the original uniform. Personally, I think the the 49ers' pants would look best with all of these changes, but with the pants being reverted to metallic gold. Altogether, the 49ers would have a very "anti-Cowboys" look (red where they have blue, gold where they have silver, etc.).

Lastly, I think the shoes should also be white, as the black shoes (residual from the previous uniform) seem to stand out too much.

Does anyone agree or have other ideas? I would very much like some opinions on this.

Hey all,

It's been a little while since I wrote a fanpost or contributed to other fanposts, so I thought I would check in with yet another of my personal opinions.

For the past few seasons, the wide receiver position was not given as much regard, due to the emphasis of the team being placed on the running back position for the purpose of scoring drives. Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could very well be misguided. However, I don't think it's misguided to believe that since Michael Crabtree's arrival and extremely diligent performance despite missing roughly half of the regular season, all of preseason and training camp, there has been a revived focus on the wide receiver position; and more specifically on the wide receiver position opposite of Michael Crabtree, who I believe has assumed the duties of the legendary Jerry Rice.

Alright, so Michael Crabtree is definitely a worthy number one receiver and seems to be a promising go-to man in terms of running the route and making the big plays. So who exactly should play in the number two role?

I believe that if the 49ers do not sign another big-play receiver like Brandon Marshall or look to Terrell Owens (I know many of you scorn at the idea) for the short-term, they should very well consider reassigning Vernon Davis to play wide receiver opposite Michael Crabtree. I say this because regardless of his physical strength (what a beast, no?), he runs routes and simply plays just like a wide receiver, and has already been, arguably, one of the two go-to receivers in the 49ers' passing game. So really, why not reassign him to wide receiver and draft more of a Brent Jones like tight-end who is more of a true blocker?

Regardless of the praise Vernon Davis gets from Singletary and perhaps some experts for his blocking ability, I think he simply outshines himself as a receiver, and possesses the speed and apparently the attributes of a wide receiver -- sure hands (most of the time) and breakaway speed. He also seems to possess the same physical stature to be a really effective "power" receiver at the same time, much like Terrell Owens was during his tenture with the 49ers.

So again, I think if we can't get a true number two, we should consider getting a true blocker and short-pass receiver to play tight-end and recast Vernon Davis as wide receiver.

Does anyone agree? Why or why not?

First of all, happy holidays to everyone. I realize how much contention or even animosity the subject of Alex Smith may draw right now, but for my own reasons I would like to discuss my thoughts about him.

While Alex Smith's tendency to cave into pressure and completely diffuse the rhythm of his own offensive drive remains a concern, in the man's defense I would like to put myself in his position and think about what it is I have to do and how I should go about it. If I were Alex Smith and had all of his qualities as a person, I might surely find it difficult to cope with pressure, and would probably throw interceptions too. Many of the people who have criticized him (however vindictively) have failed to take into account that they themselves have never actually played football and can only perceive Alex Smith's on-field circumstances from a third-person perspective. As fans, what we see on television (or at the game itself) is what we get. But anytime somebody has difficulty dealing with pressure, it is always because they are seeing things differently than we do.

I think that most people forget how hard it is to succeed in the NFL. Even the legendary Joe Montana threw his fair share of interceptions and came up short in some seasons. For the majority of Steve Young's career the 49ers had never even seen another super bowl.

I am not an Alex Smith hater, but I do think some people have been unfair to him and overly critical of everything he has tried his very best to do. The fact that he took a paycut this year just to stay on the team and try to finish what he started says a lot about his character. I don't think anyone can deny that is admirable.

I personally believe Alex Smith has the skill to be an elite quarterback. He has shown great arm strength and profound passing accuracy and judgment at times, but has, in other cases, thrown picks because of his poor handling of pressure. Based on this assessment (regardless of whether or not you agree), it is only fair to say that Alex Smith's problem as a player has nothing to do with his arm strength or skill, but has everything to do with his general approach to dealing with pressure.

As a fan, I have no influence over the decisions that the front office or coaching staff will make. Should they decide to start Alex Smith again, then they will start Alex Smith again with the intention of letting him continue to develop. However, I certainly would not disfavor playing Nate Davis, at least sparingly, over the next two games so that we can all see what exactly he has to offer in a regular season atmosphere. We have seen good ball security but no offensive drive out of Shaun Hill. We have seen good mobility and arm strength from Alex Smith but a bad approach to coping with pressure. It is only fair that we see what we have out of Nate Davis, who has, without doubt, marveled a noticeable following of 49er fans with his incredible passing accuracy and speed, as well as his noticeably good pocket awareness.

Alright. So today, the 49ers team lost a very crucial game to the Eagles. As a result, the 49ers are now officially eliminated from playoff contention. In situations like this, there tends to be a lot of fans who angrily pass the blame onto people they personally believe were at fault. It is understandable that people should feel frustrated, especially since a great franchise like the 49ers, which revolutionized the National Football League in the opinions of many people, can't seem to get it together.

I am writing this fanpost as a reflection, as well as an open discussion regarding this lost season.

I think that the 49ers have come close to the playoffs but have once again fallen short not because of a problem in the head coach's philosophy, but because of certain "ailments" that continue to hamper the team's ability to succeed. For the past few seasons, it had seemed that everytime the 49ers' season was lost, it was always blamed on the current head coach. When that head coach was replaced, similar results were produced under the coach that followed. It would seem, however, that under this current head coach the 49ers have exhibited significant improvement, but have not been able to finish games or execute well enough to win the games that mattered most.

From my observation, the 49ers' have seen significant improvement under Mike Singletary at the helm this year, but have fallen short because of a number of factors that went unaddressed -- not by Singletary, but by the 49ers upper management. The 49ers went into this season very unsettled. While the team knew who the starting quarterback would be, the quarterback position remained very unsettled, due to Shaun Hill's lackluster performance in the pass play. But can it really be blamed on him when Alex Smith, despite having clearly the better arm, has also come up short on long passes and big plays that the current receiving core is clearly more than capable of making? What it comes down to is the offensive coordination, and the mediocrity in Jimmy Raye's apparently very predictable, run-first style offense. Despite the unsettled vibe at the quarterback position, the 49ers have also had a very deficient offensive line that has on too many occasions failed to protect its quarterback or buy him enough time to make a decisive pass to an open receiver. This has been the case regardless of who has lined up behind center, regardless of whether it was Shaun Hill or Alex Smith.

I believe that a hard lesson may have been learned by management this past season regarding the personnel. And it is my personal wish that the current offensive coordinator be released on the basis of irreconcilable differences with the team's will to win versus the philosophy of "hard-nosed football". It is a fact that sometimes you can play and fight hard, and still be the statistical loser.

If the 49ers can address some of these issues in the offseason, I believe the team could very well explode onto the 2010 scene as "the elite" team in the National Football League. It has shown the capacity to do so in its performance against teams such as the Colts, Texans, Packers, Cardinals, Vikings and arguably other teams it has faced in the regular season. Its capacity was clear in the fact that (a) the other teams, despite their "elite" status, had a difficult time and/or (b) the 49ers clearly almost won but fell short.

The game versus Philadelphia today was a game that the 49ers could have afforded to lose, had they won at least one of the games they clearly were supposed to win but fell short on.

My personal suggestion:

Continue to build on the 3-4 defense, but do not rely on it for the purpose of scoring points. The purpose of any defense is, objectively, to slow the other team's offense down and, if possible, force turnovers. Offensively, the 49ers need to get out of the spread offense and move back toward the West Coast offense, which was what had taken the 49ers to the next level in all of its championship years. Also make changes to the offensive line so that the strongest men are put at the front line to buy the quarterback enough time to make good decisions without being afflicted by the pass rush, man coverage or any other form of defensive pressure.

All in all, I am proud of what the 49ers have accomplished this season, despite entering it unsettled in so many areas, spanning from an unsettled quarterback position and a mediocre, get-you-by offensive coordination scheme to an unsigned go-to wide receiver.