Braylon Edwards on Twitter just said the 49ers cut him. Said his knee injury got in the way of being able to re-sync with the offense.

That leaves Crabs healthy. And. . . .Brett Swain? THAT's it!

They are going to bring someone in. I can't imagine Kyle Williams will be okay for Sunday. Ted Ginn? But they will have to bring someone in for Edwards. Maybe Delanie Walker as well.

Anyone out there have a feeling who we should bring in that can actually help us in the playoffs?

ZEIGLER maybe???? Who else is out there that could actually become a factor at either WR or TE?????

I'd like to officially propose we rest Gore and Smith more. Neither are used to playing more than 16 games in a season. Why take a risk of injury or fatiguing their bodies when we have a very good chance of beating the teams in our division teams without them?

Arguing in favor of this idea, the Green Bay Packers are going to start using nose tackle B.J. Raji less..

He’s rarely come off the field this season. But today Mike McCarthy acknowledged the team needs to be more careful using him, saving him for the playoff run in January.

"B.J.'s played too much to this point," McCarthy said. "We've got to watch his numbers."

Watch his numbers? What a concept. Like a major league pitcher -- how many pitches has he thrown this game, this season? Saving him for the playoffs. .  .this was not always the way a manager or a team thought about pitcher's arms. But now it's standard procedure.

Why not watch Gore's carries? He's been injury prone and is getting on the older side for a RB. We have a young stud in the wings and Dixon is serviceable at the very least. Maybe just needing more touches to break through.

Same thing with Kaepernick and Smith. Alex would do well to rest his arm for a few series, or even a game or two in the coming weeks.

I think these are the two key players on offense to rest. Maybe on D we should rest Justin Smith for a game or at least a half if we're blowing somebody out. All I'm saying is, a coach who has been to the playoffs maybe sets his sites further out, makes sure everyone is getting stronger and healthier going into the playoffs. .  . .

We might do well to start to think the same way.

And before someone criticizes this post for being too "arrogant" let me tell you I am not speaking just about the Niners, nor am I speaking about the Niners every year. But when teams find themselves in the unique situation that the Packers and Niners do, where the playoffs are pretty much a given, we should consider playing to our situation instead of just playing things out in the standard way.

One contrary view to this idea might be that home field advantage is very important. And that even though we're 2 games up on the Giants and win a tie breaker, the Cowboys are starting to come alive, and the Packers if they lose a few games and we win all the rest of ours would lose home field advantage . . to us!

While that would be great, I just don't think some of the moves Harbaugh could make to rest key players necessarily loses us games. I think the players could rally around the second strong players, -- like Kendall Hunter and Kaepernick. 

Another critique is that the playbook is still unfolding and we need to work things out in games. While I agree with the first part of the sentence, I don't agree with the second part. I don't think you necessarily have to put these plays in games and on film. I think your starters may need time to learn these new plays, but that might happen more if Alex Smith, for instance, is taken aside one week while Kaepernick takes all the first team snaps, and works new plays through and gets his timing down better with his WRs on those new plays, without it being prep for that upcoming game. They could be working on "playoff plays," and getting their timing perfected, and none of those plays would ever even get on film. Now that sounds like a Bill Walsh idea. He was always finding some trick play to use against the toughest opponents to catch them off guard.

Okay, let's have it. I know this discussion has been brought up sporadically in a few previous posts, but with McCarthy making a statement like this today, I think it deserves some detailed opinions. Does anyone think it starts to make sense to rest some of our key players at least for parts of some games? Or not?

And how about trying to support your thinking with facts and logical arguments instead of just criticizing someone's idea out-of-hand? I, for one, am willing to change my mind if the arguments against it are more sensible than mine are for it.

I have to say it! I have not been at all confident that Alex Smith could ever win a playoff game, until after the Giant game on Sunday. I have seen the light.

Alex Smith helped win that game for us. There is no doubt about it. The offense rested on his success or failure and he came through. He has been playing mistake-free football consistently all year -- unlike in any previous years.

And if I wanted to be stubborn about it, I could say that Harbaugh is a genius and could have any mediocre QB playing at this level. But I really don't believe that after Sunday's game. I think Alex Smith has become a better than average NFL QB because he has learned to play within his own abilities, and he's learned to make quicker decisions.

This probably is because 1) he has more than only one or two decisions available to him, since the WCO has multiple choices on every play. And, 2) he's a very smart guy getting comfortable making reads in this system. And 3) He has time to make those decisions because ever since Adam Snyder took over at RG, he has an offensive line that doesn't get him killed in less than 2 seconds. All good!

Now before talking about the 7 different offensive coordinators, let's remember 3 of the 7 coordinators were Norv Turner, Mike McCarthy, and Jim Harbaugh. And he's doing pretty damn great in his first year under Harbaugh. So I think I was right not buying 100% into that argument.

I'm just saying I am ready to bury the hatchet.

And I want to know if the other Alex despisers or undeciders are ready to come over to the other side too? Let go! Forgive and forget, and celebrate the good times! We've certainly had to live through years and years of bad times. Time to come into the present!

Are we all ready to untie around this team and Alex Smith, and even if he has a few bad throws or a bad game here and there not go backwards and start to blame things on him again?(I never thought it was all his fault, but until now I did think he was one of the weaker links. And honestly, I NEVER thought he could be this DECENT. Better than decent! Exciting! Great at moments! Come on, it's TRUE!)

Are we ready to see what the 49ers can do when the assistant coaches and all the position players hit their stride -- all at once? Because let's celebrate in the admission of this -- everyone is in sync right now. This is a great team to watch. They're pulling games out in the 4th quarter -- on the road too. This has been a truly awesome year so far. (Except the %*((^ Dallas game -- but no one can balme Alex for that!)

Regardless of what happens in the playoffs the future looks bright. It would seem logical to assume that Smith and Carlos Rogers will re-sign beyond 2011. I hope that's the case. The money and desire are there on both sides. . . Also, I hope we can re-sign Goldson. He is also better than some Niner fans thought. Those seem to be the key free agents during the off-season. Edwards? Not totally sure yet. But for the right price I'm all in with him as well. He's had moments of totally awesome and he hasn't been healthy for more than a few games.

2012 draft:

WR - re-sign Edwards if we can, hope that Morgan will be okay and will re-sign, but if we could find a young stud . . .

CB - across from Rogers is still iffy. Culliver could be great. I wonder if Spencer can ever regain his old form? Maybe even this year? But still we can't have enough CBs. And I'm not 100% sold on Brown as a starter.

TE - can't get enough of them in this system either -- see New England. Would love 3 TE studs. 

S: If we can't re-sign Goldson. And I still like Reggie Smith at S too.

QB: No way. We have a very good QB if we re-sign Smith (see, I said it AGIAN!) and I love Kaepernick's potential.

And now, you can either whip me for being wrong about Smith, or, commend me for crying Uncle and join me in converting into an Alex Smith fan if you aren't already, or comment on our future needs as a team, early in the year as it may be. . . 

Oh boy! Edggy. If you had to be right once in your life I'm so glad it was about THIS!!!!  :)

Hi Niners Fnas:

I am a dad with three kids and therefore, call me crazy, but my wife and I refuse to hook up the TV or cable for them to surf, or to get mesmerized in front of. We do have a plasma TV but it's only for movies.

So every Sunday during football season I go down to my local sports bar to watch the Niners play. Needless to say, being in Hawaii, and being in such a LONG Niners drought, there are not a lot Niners fans there, so I often sit in a corner alone in front of a soundless TV nursing a drink, and sometimes getting there for a 7 a.m. game!

So I am surrendering to technology. I am willing to pay a fair price for legitimate "streaming" NFL games. I have a new Macbook Pro with all the bells and whistles and I watch movies and YouTube all the time. And we have a super fast connection to hi speed wireless here at my house.

This morning I went on the Internet to purchase a package and to my surprise I couldn't find a legitimate offer I could be sure about. Was it copyright legal? Was it going to have good clarity? Was it going to be laced with ads during the game? Would it have all the Niner games? Would it have  all other NFL games? Could I watch more than one at a time? Also, if they have other sports too, especially playoff baseball, then that's great. But mostly I'm just a Niner fan.

So my question to you very knowdgeable Niner fans out there who are also nerds and geeks and maybe watch online yourselves, is -- what package do you recommend I check out that has all the things I want at a good price?

Also, is this the kind of thing you can hook up to a TV with the right cables?

THANKS!

I am liking the moves we've made so far. But I think we need a FA FB. ANd I hope that happens soon since he'll have to learn the system.

I also think if we're going to do more than win the division we are going to have to see CK replace Alex Smith at some point. He simply diesn't have the physical tools to throw the required passes a great starting QB has to make. I.e. slants, sideline passes, consistent deep throws to keep the defense honest.

But here's how we get to 10-6, and if CK is playing at his potential by the end of the season and has a chance to play for 8-10 games who know what can happen in the play-offs. 

September
Seattle Seahawks	Sunday, September 11 2011	1:15 PM PDT	W
Dallas Cowboys	Sunday, September 18 2011	1:05 PM PDT	L
@ Cincinnati Bengals	Sunday, September 25 2011	10:00 AM PDT	W
October
@ Philadelphia Eagles	Sunday, October 02 2011	10:00 AM PDT	L
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Sunday, October 09 2011	1:05 PM PDT	L
@ Detroit Lions	Sunday, October 16 2011	10:00 AM PDT	W
Cleveland Browns	Sunday, October 30 2011	1:15 PM PDT	W
November
@ Washington Redskins	Sunday, November 06 2011	10:00 AM PST	W
New York Giants	Sunday, November 13 2011	1:15 PM PST	L
Arizona Cardinals	Sunday, November 20 2011	1:05 PM PST	W
@ Baltimore Ravens	Thursday, November 24 2011	5:20 PM PST	L
December
St. Louis Rams	Sunday, December 04 2011	1:15 PM PST	W
@ Arizona Cardinals	Sunday, December 11 2011	1:05 PM PST	W
Pittsburgh Steelers	Monday, December 19 2011	5:30 PM PST	L
@ Seattle Seahawks	Saturday, December 24 2011	1:15 PM PST	W
January
@ St. Louis Rams	Sunday, January 01 2012	10:00 AM PST	W

Maybe the Niners draft after round 2 was all about finding great special teamers, because they are looking to free agency once it starts to pick up some big time starters.

Say YES!  Say Amen, brother.  Because in my fantasy world, they have a secret plan. They are going after a few very specific players to fill in gaps of immediate need rather than relying on a rookie in need of a year's seasoning.

Assuming my fantasy comes true, here's who I would like to see us get / or re-sign:

Asomugha -- I know, I know. Biding war. . . But it would transform the D on the spot.

QB: Donovan McNabb, I know, I know. Harbuagh loves Alex Smith. But I don't. I'm sick of him losing games for us and I want a change that's an actual upgrade from Smith until Kaep is ready.

Or:

Dennis Dixon -- I know, I know. He would only want to be here if we considered him the QBOTF. Me too. But he might be! And he might be better than Kaep for a number of years. Let's say we sign him and he's great! Is that such a bad thing? 

I wonder if we could snare Green Bay's John Kuhn in FA as a FB!

Re-sign:
Franklin
Bass
Spikes

Lawson, I think yes, for the right price.

Same with Clemons, only for the right price.

Then we either re-sign Goldson or try to sign Charlie Peprah from Green Bay. He's solid as a safety.

And last but not least, if we need a kicker, there's the possibility David Akers will be available. Also Prater from Denver.

This would max us out, if there's a cap, but with the draftees from round 3-7 being great special teamers (although I also like Ronald Johnson as a WR) they will not cost us a heck of a lot to sign. So why not spend the rest on great free agents and re-signing solid starters so we don't have to re-invent the wheel?

I know great teams build through the draft, but there have been plenty of free agents that have transformed teams. Reggie White was one! Bill Walsh pleaded with him to become a Niner, I remember. And more recently, Julius Peppers, Drew Brees, I mean, there are dozens of examples. So why not have both great drafts and great free agent signings?

If we do this, might we not be a playoff team by the end of the year, and a team getting better every game? Might we not be the Oklahoma Thunder, or the Memphis Grizzlies of the NFL?

Okay, who would you want to sign that is a free agent who is also most likely not going to re-sign with their team? (I left guys like that off the list.) Make your fantasy "realistic" please!
 

There are only a few more slow days to go before all heck breaks loose discussing our new draft picks so I thought I'd ask this now before it's drowned out.

I travel a lot and, forgive me, but I don't like sports bars much, especially in cities where nobody gives a rats about the Niners. Last year I watched the Niners and some other games on ADNET for free last year but that's been shut down.

So my question to Niners Nation is:

What is the best pay service (or free service, if one exists anymore) to watch the Niners and Giants and other football and baseball games on the Internet? 

The criteria for me would be in this order:

1) Reliability to get the connection without black-outs or bad visual glitches. 

2) Price. 

3) The number of games you can watch simultaneously on the screen before connections start to falter 

4) The numbers of games offered (I would assume all NFL football and major league baseball games being played that day.

I'm not much into college sports or regular TV. Just Niners and Giants and their competition.

Is there one consensus pick for the best site for the value?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to give me some feedback.

We all know the value (or lack of value) of the Wonderlik, having had expereince with the incontrovertible genius of our own Alex Smith. Wonderlik smart, but when it comes to raw football instincts, well, I guess they haven't created a test for that yet, other than the one during the game, with bodies flying around like one ton frisbees.

However, today's post isn't really about my multi-year anti-crush on Alex ("Go to whatever team that will take you, but just go,") Smith. Today's post asks a question I am having a interesing time debating within myself:

In terms of what value a high Wondlerlik score has on a player's ability to play great football? Not much.

But what about getting a low score?

Does a low score indicate that when it comes to the complexities of the NFL and learning all the nuances that must be learned you are going to be a bust, or only an average player at best? Certainly there are positions where low scores matter less. But what about QB, and safety? And what about CB?

CB is a poition that takes most college players a few years to learn in the NFL because it's not just man to man most of the time. In fact, just the opposite, most of the time you're in a scheme, disguising coverage. The Patriots are a good example of that. And the Packers. Certainly that's the direction our new defense is headed.

This brings me to my key topic point: Our favorite CB, the one that we hope is there at 7, scored very low on the Wonderlik.

Patrick Peterson was one of ony four college prospects who recorded a dreaded single-digit score, which most NFL scouts and GMs often equate with getting their name right, or being able to tie their own shoes.

There are advisors out there that help goose the test scores for their clients. For example, Prince Amukamara, who registered the top score for a cornerback (35), improved by 21 points from the 14 test score he recorded last fall. (Teams that have interviewed him have said the 14 score is a closer indicator of his intelligence.)

So right there, it seems to me, the test scores can easily become skewed (kind of like studying for the SATs before you take the test).

But if you can be taught to score higher on the Wonderlik by being coached, is that an indication you can also be taught football by a coach in the NFL? Or is the first score is the true indicator? 

For sure, we know how much value to put on the high scores, right Alex? By the way, for what it's worth, Christian Ponder scored high (35), as did Greg McElroy (45).Both very high.

But what about the low scores? Does that make you shy away from taking a Patrick Peterson at 7? Or an AJ Green who also scored extremely low? WR is a tough mentally challenging position, especially in the WCO.

How much emphasis do you think Balkee should put on low scoring Wonderlik prospects? Do you ignore their apparent learning difficulties even when you know your coaches are going to institute a complex system on both offense and defense? (You can do that at Stanford. But in the NFL, with kids that would fail if they ever went to a class? Or, do the very low scoring draftees drop down, or off your draft board altogether?

And what about those who re-take the test after being tutored and then score much higher? Or those who re-take it after being tutored and don't score higher?

Does that tell you anything about the kind of football potential they have?

Personally, I do think a low score is something to factor in to your draft pick, especially on a cerebral team like ours will be. Whereas a high score is not particularly more impressive to me than a middle score.

But then where does that leave us at number 7? Gabbert if he's there? What was Von Miller's Wonderlik? Or does it matter as much when you're a mad dog pass rusher?

Where does the Wonderlik factor in for you? And does anyone have any stats regarding past years' low scoring players and how they've done as a group vs those who didn't score low?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cbaproposal021011

This is a must read if you want to understand what's going on with both sides in the negotiations. There are specific needs, desires, and solutions that all make sense. All we need to reslove things is . . .sensible people.

Good luck to that. . . and heaven help us.

Please read the article before posting your comments. It will make the discussion a lot more interesting.

PS: if you have to copy and paste the link, sorry, I'm not sure I know how to get it to just take you there by clicking on it. Technical advice is always welcome.

We're all talking about who to draft the the first round in April. And how critical that pick will be.

But let's face it, no one in this draft, even if we had the first pick, is going to turn this team around on his own. No one is going to be the kind of impact player we saw from Sam Bradford last year. Obviously, Andrew Luck isn't in the draft, and we wouldn't have gotten him if he was.

And, speaking of QB, the position with the highest level of impact, that's an especially weak class this year. I don't see anyone who is a QBOTF lurking out there in later rounds. And I don't think Gabbert's the guy either. (It reminds me of Don Nelson's perenial search for a center for like 10 years in a row. He watched great ones get picked ahead of his pick, whiel we sat around trying to win a Championship with kids like Billy Owens as our new rookie savior. Rememebr?)

Without a starting QB, regardless of who we draft, we go nowhere.

And for those of you who still don't get it, the writing is on the wall, Alex Smith is gone. I think Harbuagh is correctly positioning himself by saying Smith "can win in this league." He makes us look less desperate to find a QB, and gives Alex a chance to hook up with another team willing to take a chance on him for big money. Good strategy by Harbaugh. But there's no way Alex Smith comes back here and good riddance. You only get 5 years to become a QBOTF. If you haven't proven yourself by then you have to own up to the fact that you are just another QBOTP.

But that sill leaves us with a huge gaping need. And there's really only one possible answer out there that gets us to the Super Bowl in 2012. One possible savior. It would be a big gamble, without a doubt. A Mike Vick type gamble. But worth it because, really in the end, we have nothing to lose if the experiment fails. THAT's powerful. We don't have to spend a #1 pick, or any pick. And if we structure the contract right we can incentivize him to make as much as a top 5 QB if he performs well or get cut and not leave us on the hook.

What if we found a QB with experience as a winner in the NFL, who is nearly 6'5, 230 lbs, and can run a 4.58 40?

His name, is Vince Young.

Now let's first talk about perceptions and misleading information. I think we can all agree, the media sucks. There are a few good writers here and there but basically you have a bunch of desparate vultures looking for their next injured animal so they can devour him and make fun of him and diminish his abilities. That's what they do. And they all agreed Mike Vick would never amount to anything. Out of football too long. Thug. Criminal. Lay. Stupid. And now: Unlimited potential, MVP, best player on the team. Blah, Blah, Blah. Basically they just magnify whatever the obvious point is at the time and make the labels stick forever, until they are forced to go screaming in the opposite direction.

Let's get serious and logical for one moment, please. Does anyone posting on this site really know Vince Young? Can anyone be 100% sure about what kind of player he could be?

I am stating right here for the record, and of course this is my OPINION, that if he goes to a team like the Vikings he's going to be a star in this league. If Harbaugh met him and liked him and thought he could run the WCO, we would have one of the better QBs in the NFL right on day one of the 2011-2012 season.

So: How could we pass up at least trying him out? Or do you want to believe the media every time they psychoanalyze him and pass up a virtually no-risk opportunity?

I don't trust the media more than I don't trust Vince Young!

I don't trust the media's sanity or social conscience or ability to know the potential of a man. And I can't say the same for Vince Young's sanity or social conscience or his ability to grow and learn, since I don't know him. Neither do any of you guys. How about if we let Harbuagh decide all that?

Again, and this is fresh in all of our minds, the media never gave Mike Vick a chance to be anything after he got out of prison. He was a bad bad man, and washed up as a player in this league. No one on the NIners wanted him or thought he'd be any good. I don't recall anyone in NinersNation fighting to get him here. His days in Atlanta were his apex. It was all downhill from there. He's a thug. A criminal. A diva. He's stupid, can't learn, never did. Bad teammate. A bad influence on the other players. He's lazy, can never be a leader. Blah blah blah. Then Morningweg takes him under his wing for a few months, puts him in the WCO, and WHAM, he's an MVP. He's the media darling. Everyone LOVES Mike Vick. Gotta admire the kid. Worked his ass off. Great natural ability. Blah Blah Blah.

Bottom line: I don't give a rats what the media says. I want to win a damn Super Bowl again. And not in 5 or 10 years.

Think about it. How can we pass up the chance to take someone who took an 0-6 team (does 0-6 sound familiar?) and as soon as he's named the starter almost get them into the playoffs that year? Young won 8 of his 10 starts including a 99 yard drive in the final 3 minutes against Arizona's top ranked D in 2009 that ended with a game winning TD pass with seconds remaining. When is the last time we had a QB o that???

A one year wonder? Nope. He made the pro bowl in 2010. Another fluke? Nope. He made the pro bowl in 2007 too. On a team with no offensive stars!

Want some more stats? Not that you can tell that much looking at the stats of a QB on a bad team with bad WRs. But here are some more stats fo you stat freaks!

He's 30-18 lifetime, including his rookie season, on a bad team, with no decent WRs, with a bad O-line, a coach that hated him from day 1 -- never even wanted to draft him.And don't forget he's one of the best running QBs in the NFL. A Steve Young if not a Mike Vick.

2006 offensive rookie of the year.

2010: 98.6 passer rating. 10:3 TD to INT ratio. And a 5.0 rushing average!  Want to compare that to Alex Smith? Or any other QB?

Imagine what happens to the kid when he goes to a team that gives a damn about him, that does have WRs to match his talents, and a coach that cares for the kid and gives him the tools to get better!

What will happen if he goes to Minnesota and starts throwing to Rice and Percy Harvin? With Peterson in the backfield. Envious? Well, how about if he's throwing to Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree with Gore in the backfield?

If we pass on him we're all going to look like fools. That's my opinion and my prediction. The media will look like fools too, but just like politicians, they'll just change the subject and pretend he's been their darling all along. I can see it now. "The Second Coming Of Michael Vick." Sports Illustrated strikes again. 

I am asking all you cynical NinersNation fans to see the light and jump on the Vince Young bandwagon and beg Harbaugh and York to take a good long look at the kid. Let them know the fans are behind it.

And even Fooch can get on board quietly, without having to take a stand, because he doesn't delete this post and bury it in "QB thread hell" along with the thousands of other comments about cats and Justin Beiber.

Fooch, have mercy, I beg you, no I dare you, to leave this post alone!

All the crap about Gabbert and Ponder and all the others in the draft and up for possible trade makes no sense at all for this team right now.

We need a great QB who can win now, with Vernon and Crabtree in their prime and Gore still left with two healthy hips. The O-line is slowly getting better. Vince Young makes them great.Harbaugh and Vinc Young get us to the Super Bowl THIS COMING YEAR!

Okay, I'm done. Your turn.

SImply put, I think it's totally crazy to force NFL players into an 18 game schedule. There are enough injuries already in the NFL and this is bound to make things worse

The final game of the two game pre-season would also be like a 19th game for the starters, since it would be the final tune-up before the regular season. Plus the draftees and free agents would get only one game to establish themselves. And no games to prove to the coaches that they can improve and grow from watching tape and taking direction. It seems like a no-win situation for anyone, including the fans, who are likely to see weary and beat-up winners stumble into the playoffs. The playoffs would then add another 2-3 games. The Superbowl another. So including the final pre-season game tune-up, it could amount to a 23 game schedule for the better teams! Absolutely illogical if we want to see healthy starters play their best football at the end of the season.

With that said, it appears the owners are considering an 18 game, with a 2 pre-season schedule, to be a fait de compli. So rather than resist it, or have the union resist it and walk away threatening the entire season, I've come up with a compromise -- an intiguing, logical, compromise -- that could make the NFL even more interesting for fans, while helping the players instead of hurting them, while giving the owners their 18 game schedule, but also giving the players no reason to ask for more money! 

Here it is:

1. There would be an 18 game season, hopefully with two byes. But if there's only one bye, so be it. The main rule change would be that each player on the team can only suit up for a maximum of 16 games during the regular 18 game season.

This is going to create a tremendous amount of new strategizing by the coaches -- i.e. when to rest a starter, or starters. Do you gamble on resting all of them in a meaningless game at the end of the year? What if the end of the year turns meaningful for home field advange or making the playoffs altogether -- i.e. New Orleans, Green Bay, Seatlle, this year, and suddenly you have to rest players down the stretch when you can least afford to? Or do you rest them early and risk losing early games and fatigue them later? Or do you rotate a few starters out against weaker teams and never have all your starters out for a given two games, but never have them all in for any one game either?

You can rest one starter a game, for instance, but when do you rest your star QB? (Obvioulsy this has not been a problem for the NIners since the coming of Alex Smith, but that's another story.) Most teams would hate to sit a healthy starting QB. How would the head coach work the system. (And think of the chaos it would cause in the fantasy leagues who would have to adhere to the same rules!)

There is another strategic point that benefits the players. If you are injured, that counts as a game where you didn't suit up. So maybe there's a natural time to rest a starter during the season because he's injured.

But what if your star QB is injured and insists he's okay to play? It happens all the time. He's woozy from a concussion, his shoulder hurts but he says to the HC, "Coach, I'm good to go." The coach can consider the rest that week a strategically good idea and not be forced into playing his best player even though he knows he's hurt. This is also an advantage to players, especially ones who suffer a concussion, by not having to "tough it out," or be seen as bailing out on his teammates. It instead comes down to strategy by the coach, not irrational courage by the player that could ruin his career, or risk his future health after football.

Of course, this also forces the bench to be stronger and more prepared to play, because they're going to. Every 2nd string QB knows he's going to be the starter for at least two games during the season, along with every other second string player. It will give the fans a chance to see the team as a whole team, relying on more than just the 22 starters. Suddenly there are 44 starters! 

Personally, I think this should inlcude the kickers and punters too, as well as the returners. This could be controversial because they are so specialized. But it will add intrigue and strategy to the game, and will force the teams to rest the starters at all positions, including long snappers, for 2 games. It would add such a weird wrinkle!

Now if long snappers and field goal kickers are exempted, I can understand that. But to me I think it would add to the coaching skills of each coach to have to deal with these problems. Who knows, maybe there would be roving kickers that have no team and just get signed for a game or two by random teams. I mean it could really get weird, but part of that weirdnes would be honoring the fact that a starter (or even a roving kicker) can only suit up for 16 games in the regular season!

One last idea: I would then suggest a 3 pre-season schedule where the starters can only play in 4 quarters. So either the full last game, of one quarter in game 2 and 3 quarters in game 3. Etc.

In the end maybe starters play even less quarters of football in that pre-season and the regular schedule than they are now.

Of course, this also takes away the union's insistence on higher salaries because players won't be playing more games. So it seems to me everyone wins -- the owners, the starters, the back-ups, the fans, and the game of football!

What do you think?

If you don't like my idea, what would be your compromise? Assuming the 16 game regular season is a thing of the past, can you come up with a better way to work the system where everybody wins?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=nfp-20110122_new_vikings_qb_coach_talks_about_vince_young

Do NOT comment on this post please until you have read the article above.

Vince Young's Titan's QB coach is now working for Leslie Frazier of the Vikings. And he is pushing hard to get Young in Minnesota. Young's relationship with Jeff fisher is what it is, but Young's relationship with his QB coach, and apparently his teammates, was different, and better. The Titaln's ex-QB coach now is the guy that is fighting to get him on the Vikings, obviously with his own job at risk if he's wrong.

We need CBs, pass rushing OLBs, maybe a better safety, and a better RG. No doubt we need to find them in FA (if there is one) and the draft. And we need to at least re-sign Bass, Spikes, and Lawson. But even if we fill all those needs, we will still SUCK. Even with the new coaches in place, we will still SUCK. Because: We will still need a really good, or hopefully great QB. And I am not impressed at all with this year's QB class. No one stands out as sure-fire NFL material. Potential is what it is. We've been there, done that. (Alex Smith still has "potential," right? Let's stop dreaming and get serious.

If Harbaugh thinks he can work with Young in the WCO, I think we should do whatever we need to do to get him. He will change this team around overnight and we will win the division. But we want more than just winning the division, right? If we're really going to be a great team, we need a great QB leading the way.

Read the article above before you comment, please. Then you can tell me why you think it would be a mistake or the right move, to try our hardest to sign him

Fooch's Note: Thanks to Since79 for posting this FanPost. Rather than create a whole new post I'm going to just use this to provide some details on the 49ers new quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst. I've posted his resume after the jump. He doesn't have a ton of experience with QBs in his career, at least as far as I can tell. After his resume I've posted the commentary the 49ers offered in their press release about Chryst. He spent the last five years coaching tight ends in Carolina, but coached QBs in Arizona in 1998 and from 2001 to 2003. Fooch Clarification: He was also QB coach and OC in San Diego from 1999 to 2000 when Harbaugh was wrapping up his career down there. That explains the connection a bit.

If I were to speculate, I'd guess that Jim Harbaugh will end up doing a decent amount of work with the quarterbacks given his own background. Chryst will have the QB coach title on the coaching staff, but I wonder how involved he will actually be in all of this. Will he possibly just be more of a communicator between Harbaugh and the QBs or will he take on a more active role? While it's an odd higher, I'm convinced it has something to do with Harbaugh wanting to be involved in coaching the quarterbacks to some degree. Throw in the fact that the 49ers will likely have at least one really young QB and I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh takes on a more hands-on role than we would otherwise expect.
_____

Geep Chryst is 49ers New quarterbacks coach. Geep who???

Does anyone know more about this guy than this???

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-49ers-coaches

Kind of a surprise here, don't you think? I was hoping for more of an established name from the Holmgren / Walsh tree. This guy worked mostly for Carolina. A team with failed QBs for many years now.

I trust JH, but I would love to know more about him and how JH and he are connected.

Continue reading this post »

Here is a list of my favorite 2011 unrestricted free agents at this time. I didn't list any restricted free agents.

See http://www.nfltraderumors.co/2011/01/top-50-nfl-free-agents/ for a complete list.

Let's just say we have to live under the same rules as 2010, and free agents will be available before the draft, but the salary cap is still in place. 

Without breaking the cap, which of these free agents would you try to sign (and which could you see wanting to play in SF and not getting a much higher offer elsewhere)?  i.e. Don't come up with just "a wish list." Use some rationale behind your choices: Would they come here, and can we afford all your choices but still be under the cap?

Remember, these are just my favoirte FAs, not the full list of FAs. And it's not including restricted FAs, like Harvey Dahl or our own Troy Smith. And it's not including "soon to be released" players like Vince Young.

Feel free to explain why you're choosing or not choosing players from the list below.

O-Line

Yanda BALT

Chester BALT

Mankins NE (he'll be very expensive!)

Light NE

Faneca ARI

Bass SF

DT

Ngata BALT

Franklin  SF

DE

Seymore  OAK

(Shun) Ellis  NYJ

FB

McClain BALT

CB

Carr BALT

Bailey  Denv

Joeseph  Cinc

SS

Landry  BALT

LB

Woodley  Pitt

(Tamba) Hall KC

Spikes  SF

RB

Spowles  SD

(Sammy Morris) NE

QB
Bulger  BALT

Wallace  CLEV

I've read a lot of fan comments about how all the Niners need to do is plug in a QB and they'll be all set, but I looked over their roster tonight, and sadly I disagree.

I would love your opinion about this.

I am going to make a list of "keeper" players.

An asterisk * will signify players that are true stars in the league, difference makers, not just potentially, but right now, statistically provable.

A parenthsis (will signify that he's a free agent and needs to be re-signed).

What you will see is that precious few of the players we have signed for next year are playoff caliber players. Most are just "warm body" players that fill out the roster. Feel free to disagree.But I think Singletary left this team in a massive mess.

~ You can find the Niners full roster here to compare:  http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/sfo/roster

QB: No one. (Remember him? At least he's better than Alex Smith, because no one doesn't lose games over and over again.) Nate is gone. Watch him in Seattle. This could put Singletary in the Hall of Shame if this kid is a good QB and we're stuck looking for a QB for the next 5 years.

RB

Gore*  frequently injured as he may be, when healthy he can win games for us. Hence, the asterisk.

(Westbrook) Would love to re-sign him. But the way he was treated last year, why not just jump to a team that needs you to play?

Dixon   Has potential. Not sure how much.

FB (No one plays FB too: see QB)

TE

Davis *  A true super star. One of the few on our team.

Walker  I like him a lot

Bynham Keep him for his blocking. Or turn him into our FB

WR

Crabtree

Morgan

Ginn

Zeiglar

K WIlliams

OL

Staley

Iupati

(Bass) Need to sign him.

No starting RG   Rachel aint it.

Davis

Heitman

Boone

DL

Smith *  Pro Bowler

(Franklin) Don't know if we can sign him but I'd like to think we can

RFJ

Sopoaga

LB

Willis * Best ILB in the NFL

(Spikes) Would love to keep him here

(Lawson)  Is he worth the money we'd have to pay him?

Bowman  I like his potential

McKillop   at least for ST

(McDonald)   worth keeping for a fair price.

Brooks  I have a feeling this could be his year

LaBoy

Secondary -- No Clemens. Too expensive for what he does. So:

Spencer

Mays

R Smith

C Taylor at least for ST

P

Lee *

K

Nedney old but good enough if he can stay healthy. His kick-offs are too short but Reed isn't any better

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TELL ME I'M WRONG. BUT I ONLY SEE 29 PLAYERS OUT OF A 53 MAN ROSTER THAT ARE WORTH KEEPING.

6 FREE AGENTS ARE WORTH RE-SIGNING IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT.

WE'LL HAVE OUR DRAFTEES COMING.

BUT MAN, THAT MEANS WE'LL WE HAVE 18-24 HOLES TO FILL (DEPENDING ON OUR ABILITY TO RE-SIGN OUR FREE AGENTS)!!!!!  . . . PLUS POSSIBLY SIGNING OTHER TEAMS' FREE AGENTS. BUT WHO?

AM I WRONG ABOUT THIS? IS THERE ANYONE ELSE ON THE TEAM THAT ISN'T JUST A WARM BODY ON A POTENTIAL PLAYOFF TEAM?

First a caveat: If in order to hire a truly great head coach we needed to let that coach in on the GM decision I would not hesitate to do that. 

With that being said, if the GM is going to be chosen first, it would be . . . . .

NOT Baalke

Nick Caserio -- currently the Patriots director of player personnel. 

In the Patriots' organization he's served as a college scout, pro scout, quality control coach, pro scouting director and receivers coach! He's overseen the last two draft classes, which involved a lot of picks in later rounds, a lot of last minute trades, and in the end were both extremely good drafts for New England, which two years ago, was a team without a lot of solid players. The few that were solid were great players: Brady, Welker, Moss, Seymore, and at the time a few other stallwarts on defense. But lots of holes. I think Caserlo played a big role in filling those holes with extremely good up and coming players with good work ethics. 

If you disagree with this pick, please make sure you disagree not just be putting this pick down but by choosing a pick that's a better alternative. 

Who is YOUR GM choice?  

I just heard Steve Young, yes, OUR Steve Young, one of the greatest QBs in the history of NFL football, say exactly what I've been thinking and saying since I joined Ninersnation a few years ago. I call myself Since79, not because I was born in 1979, but because, in my mind, the 49ers were born in 1979, and I became a fan in 1979 -- the year Bill Walsh took over the team.

Obviously, Bill was brilliant and is one of the few men to truly change the game of football. But when you hear Steve Young talk you can really begin to understand why from an insider's perspective. First of all, his offensive schemes were genius, and constantly evolving. People call it the west coast offense, but what does that mean? Everyone knows there were multiple reads and options and outlet passes. But there were also other factors that don't get mentioned. The first 15 plays were called before the game. Most teams do that now. And then there was the pace of the plays being run. Short breaks in the huddle so that over the course of a drive the defense would get more and more confused and out of sync, if not outright exhausted. We're not talking "no huddle." But plays called in the huddle at a super quick tempo. Get to the line before the defense is out of their huddle and make them start screaming things at each other, rather than the offense screaming things at each other about the defensive formations.

Another thing Steve Young said was that, even though they would never admit it, the best teams in the league with the best QBs -- the Patriots, the Saints, The Colts, Green Bay, the Eagles -- all run offshoots of Bill Walsh schemes. And the bad teams don't! He said he's seen this while watching the games live, and is stunned when he sees, for instance, the Saints line up in the red zone at crunch time -- 3rd and goal in the 4th quarter -- and run the exact play he used to run when he was playing for Bill Walsh decades ago. And at other times see teams run small wrinkles in what would otherwise be known as "49er formations."

His main point -- and mine -- is that there IS a legacy -- a 49er legacy, a Bill Walsh legacy -- that is NOT just some long ago by-gone system that the game has passed by. It's one we should embrace today, looking for a new GM and HC. Someone has to know how Walsh devised his practices, and how he set the character and tone for the team, how he set the pace in the huddle, how he traveled and set the pacing for road games. Every detail that all the great teams to this day follow, according to Steve's interview today with Ted Robinson -- is OUR legacy, not theirs. And it's horrifyingly ironic that we're the ones that have abandoned it while the great teams of today embrace what we've abandoned.

Even in these Ninersnation posts, it's almost like some posters are irked by those of us who say let's get bak to who the Niners truly are -- the legacy Walsh left us. The responses are -- that's not how offesnes are run anymore. Or stop living in the past. Listen to the Steve Young interview. It's not the past, guys, it's NOW. It's still here! And nothing is stopping us, or Jed York, at this moment, from getting back to our leagcy and true character as a team. Great D, yes, but great offensive football at its core.

Finally, Young talks about his discussions with all the great coaches and GMs around the league, and they all say the same thing about how to build a great team from the botom up -- give me a great defense and an average quarterback vs a great quarterback and any defensive team, and I'll take the great QB every time. He sets the tone, he wins games by himself. A defense can run schemes and change things around from game to game to try to stop an offense as best as they can. But it's rare when someone can stop a great QB game after game, or year after year. The odds are they will play their best in the really big games when it counts. And get you to the Super Bowl, or at least within reach of it., even if the rest of the team isn't great.

Same with a truly great head coach. When it counts, you could count on Walsh to do something wild, something crazy at some point in the game. Everyone knew it, including the defense and opposing DC.And it would work more often than not. Sometimes change the game around.

Of course, at draft time, with the possible exception of Jimmy Johnson and Billichick, no one had as many great drafts as Bill Walsh. He could spot greatness somehow with tremendous consistency.

So, here is the question fo you, Ninersnation: Do we embrace our legacy as the 49ers? Do we try to bring back Bill Walsh's overall way of coaching and embrace it?

Jed York says no, we don't need to go back to the days of Bill Walsh to be great!!! He's looking at all sorts of legacies -- Bill Parcells is his latest "confidant." Before that, we tried to be the 1986 Chicago Bears with Singletary. Before that the Ravens under Nolan. Before that, Miami with Erickson. BUT HOW ABOUT REMEMBERING WHY WE BECAME GREAT?

We OBVIOUSLY can't run Walsh's version of the WCO today. But then again, Bill Walsh wouldn't run it either. It's evolved. The Eagles have evolved it. And the Patriots, and Green Bay, and lately the Saints. But why abandon it altogether?

Of course the game has changed in so many ways since then. Salary caps and free agency have changed a lot. But somehow Walsh always seemed to turn the rules into something that worked in his favor. And I have no doubt those who use his methods of coaching in the NFL today find the same advantages. Bellichick lets go of big salary guys not named Brady and collects draft picks like I used to collect baseball cards.

Back then, Walsh stole Fred Dean from San Diego and welcomed QB killers like Charles Haley, like the Eagles took a chance on Vick the dog-killer. It costs them nothing to see what they might have. Then they put Morningwehg on his ass day and night until he learned how to be a true QB. Whereas Seifert let go of Haley for pissing on Seifert's car, and his ego, and the Cowboys then go and pick Haley up for nothing, and he kills us for years and years and keeps us out of the Super Bowl countless times. Walsh would have never let Haley go in his prime, not even for pissing on his car. Walsh respected great players. He would tolerate their character. (Nolan and Singletary -- exactly the opposite.) And look at Bellichick with Randy Moss. Who used whom? Who got the better of that deal? Great coaches are ten times better than "good coaches." What they do isn't luck.

I'm not sure Baalke has the potential of a John McVay (who Walsh chose to be his GM, not visa versa). And I don't know if Harbaugh is a potential Bill Walsh, or a believer in his system of coaching.

But beyond that, rumor has it tonight that Harbaugh is going to Michigan. Not the 49ers! 

And we must assume that Mike Holmgren is staying in Cleveland, either as GM or HC or both. Sadly for us.

If that's all true, then WHERE ARE WE?

If we want a true believer in the 49ers legacy -- not someone who necessarily coached under Walsh, but someone who at least understands how he coached in a general sense -- who would that person be?

Because I think it's now crystal clear we're not going to go anywhere but down the drain trying to emulate the '86 Bears or the Ravens or anyone else, except the progenitor of modern football. The irony is: HE WAS OUR GUY. He was the 49ers. We need to go back to our roots now, not someone else's.

If Harbaugh is not coming, WHO then?

(If you haven't listened to Steve Young's interview, you should do that first. I can't explain any of this as well as he did.)

PS: Young also said he would never want to be a HC or GM for anyone. So that's not a possible answer.

Since everyone is talking about how our GM has to be a great talent evaluator, let's see what Ninersnation thinks of last year's draft picks. After a full season I thinbk some things can be said about the players we chose without being too speculative. So how would you evaluate his draft selections (assuming he was making the call and/or agreeing with the call). And how were the picks when compared with who else we could have chosen in a position of need at the same spot?

I'm thinking moving up for Anthony Davis was not a good call. I like him as a player, but we had a lot of good choices staying where we were, including Buluga and Pouncey.

How about passing on Colt McCoy in a later round?

We also picked up Blount as a free agent but ket him go when he wanted to sign elsewhere. What kind of decision was that? And who made it? If we thought he had talent, why let him go?

Or do you think our draft was great, and therefore Baalke's current evaluation of talent is a perfect fit for us?

Of course, this is assuming he made all the picks, or agreed with them.

What do you think overall about his skills as a talent evaluator?

Alex Smith has just been named Sunday's starter!!!!   AGAIN! 

Can you believe this insanity?

I don't give a F*** about the rest of this year now. I hope we whiff and move up in the draft.

Watch Alex Smith throw a game-ending INT in the 4th quarter and then blame it on being rusty. Just watch. 

Here's to 4-12, and FIRING Singletary's insane A** ASAP.  PLEASE JED. IT'S TIME TO MAN UP. 

Sorry, part of this post actually taken from a response I wrote in another post just a little while ago. But I think it's THE crucial discussion we should be having at the moment.

I'll get right to my main point: We need to sign Troy Smith right now.

Some of you say two games aren’t enough to tell. I say, that’s a loser’s attitude. It's also a dangerous attitude. If we wait too long, if we wait enough time to be 100% sure, then don’t you think every team in the NFL that needs a QB is going to be offering him the moon when the season is over?

You know I never mind controversy. But before you respond, think about Minnesota next year without Farve. Think about the Raiders, Miami, the Redskins, the Bears, the Bills and Panthers, and not least of all, Seattle and Arizona. What would they be willing to offer a kid like this if he’s unsigned?

And why would he sign with us if we wait too long and then offer him a decent but not great contract?

We need to move fast and sign him for decent money now, give him some guaranteed money upfront and a long term deal that we can void if we must in future years. But this is our best shot at filling the biggest hole the Niners have had since Steven Young retired.

I say the Yorks need to move to sign him now. Jed, please, don't disbelieve your eyes. Did you watch these two games? WHAT DID YOUR EYES SEE? Admit it: The kid has the magic that we've all been praying for all these years. We see other QBs have that special something around the NFL and we salivate. What we wouldn't do to get a great kid at QB, a smart and humble kid, who has great arm strength, escapability, and most of all has that special something?

Do you think these two wins were just lucky? Actually, how many times today did he actually win the game? Three! His stats were crazy: 350 yards in under 30 throws! A 116 QB rating. 14 penalties against us for over 100 years. Three TDs called back! How do you win a game like that? But he did. And only in his second game as a Niner. Only his third start as a pro -- less starts than Sam Bradford! What did the Rams pay Bradford just on his potential coming out of school?

We can't wait. And shouldn't wait.

And at the end of this season, we should then get a real HC in here to cut down on the stupid penalties and teach these kids how to play air-tight hard-nosed NFL football. Imagine good old Mike Holmgren!!! Praise be. A real head coach.

When the coaches and the rest of the players match the smarts and savvy that Troy Smith has already shown in just his first two games, then we’ll have a truly great young team.

LET'S SIGN HIM NOW,

PS: For those of you about to tell me not to get carried away after only two games, too bad!

I'm still waiting for you to join the Troy Smith Fan Club, which I offered you to join last week. (That's when you were telling me not to get carried away after one game. But it was obvious to me then that he had that special something. And far more obvious to one and all today.) Last week my only taker for the Troy Smith Fan Club was Big Nerd. Thanks Big. Playoff tix are in the mail.

Bottom line: I think we need to get carried away. It's been too long since we've had a young kid like this. And it's more scary to me to wait too long than it is to get carried away.

Two games: Two thrilling come-from-behind wins. ZERO interceptions. I think Troy Smith is pretty damn special.

How about you? Join the Troy Smith Fan Club today with your post! And tell Jed York we need to sign this kid now, before it's too late.

Nate Davis should be our 3 QB now. Alex our #2 until we say goodbye to him next year. And waive Carr. We'd then be headed in the right direction.

Fooch's Note: This will be our official QB discussion thread so we don't have a bunch of random FanPosts going up

With very little help from the Niners O-line, Troy Smith played another gutty game. He scrambled, threw on the run from both the right and left side, had THREE TDs negated by stupid penalties that wouldn't have affected the plays, and basically looked the way Alex Smith has NEVER looked in six years.

ZERO INTs.  Over 350 yards passing!!!!! A 116 passer rating!!!

Poise under a huge pass rush on almost every play. Chris Long playing out of his mind, eating Anthony Davis alive.

Add to this, fourteen 49er penalties for over 100 negative yards.

We've been looking for the answer at QB since Steve Young. Jeff Garcia had flashes of greatness but didn't have the arm strength Troy Smith has. This kid is the real deal. I think it's time we all get behind him and let him know how much we appreciate what he's done in just two games. (The first game with just 3 days of practice!)

Let's also give credit to Sam Bradford. That kid is also a gutty and physically intense young stud. The Rams are set at QB for years to come.

And Niners Nation, so are we!!!!!!

We need to let Troy Smith know that he's our guy before it's too late. SIGN HIM NOW, JED!! DON'T WAIT!

We saw two Heissman trophy winning QBs today, and they both played like it. If we had drafted Troy Smith last year and this was his second game as a starter, what would we think of him?????? We would be going out of our minds with joy, like they are about Bradford. So . . . how about some joy??? He's young, fast, smart, intense, gritty, and a winner wherever he's played.

Troy Smith is the man. OUR QBOTF!

Am I still rushing to judgment, Niners fans? If you still think so, WHO CARES? I'M SO PSYCHED. I KNEW THE KID WOULD COME BACK TODAY. I COULD FEEL IT.

When is the last time any of us have felt like that?

I hope he'll be starting for the Niners for a long long time to come.

First of all, I want to thank LA49er for posting the Troy Smith Interview. I just listened to it and was so impressed by this young man. He's humble, confident, cool, smart, dedicated, and honest with his thoughts. I would be so proud to have him as our QBOTF.

I am going out on a limb right now and telling you this kid is really something special. Before you respond, good or bad, to my apparent lunacy, please click on the LA49er link and listen for yourself.Go ahead. I'll wait. . . .

We want a leader at QB, yes? Listen to his definition of what a leader is. You want to know why he hasn't been climbing up the depth chart on another team before he got here? Listen to what he had to overcome physically before he got here.

So today I see this Miaocco article about who to sign for next year, and he doesn't even put Troy Smith into the mix! And I can understand why. We don't know how he'll play on Sunday, and all that. Don't open yourself up for ridicule. Stick to the facts. Only commit to what you can prove. BAH HUMBUG! This is SPORTS for God's sake.

Now if I were to actually look forward, and not just look at what has already hit me in the face, I would have to add Troy Smith to the "important to re-sign for next year" list right now. Before it's too late. My instincts tell me this kid is going to be a starting QB somewhere next year, and I hope it's here. 

I know most of you are going to say what you've already said this week --  it's way too early to jump on the Troy Smith bandwagon. But I disagree. One of the best part of sports is to allow your imagination to take a leap of faith -- you find that young kid on your favorite team that your instinct tells you has something special, and you believe in him until he's either a super star or his star burns out in a ball of flames. I felt that way about Mickey Mantle when I was 5 years old. He was my hero and stayed my hero until the end. Then there was skinny little Joe Montana, and more recently the flame throwing hippie skater boi, Tim Lincecum. Were there busts along the way? Of course. I believed in "Billy O" during the Don Nelson era -- but he crashed and burned. And then there was Tommy Tresh. But I date myself.

My point is, I don't feel guilty or afraid of making this post about hope. Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Well then, this post is about imagination. We don't always have to be so serious and talk about the stats of the past on Niners Nation. We need some optimism and fun while we're sitting here at 2-6. Don't you think?

So BEFORE the Rams game, I am officially predicting Troy Smith is going to be great! And by Monday everyone is going to start to jump on the Troy Smith bandwagon. And I will be happy to see most of you jumping on over.

Why do I want this to be true? Because 1) He is our last best hope. I do NOT want to have to waste a high draft choice on some rookie QB. Won't we be just using the same hope and conjecturing on HIM, since you never know how a rookie QB is going to turn out? So why not use the same hope and optimism for Troy?  2) I never felt this way about Alex Smith. I am ecstatic to have a possible new hero emerging at QB and I admit that. 3) The kid deserves my support and optimism. Again, LISTEN to the interview.

Listen to what he says when asked if he needs to be a leader in the huddle after being the third string QB on a new team. Listen to what he said his favorite recent movie was! Or how he goes about practicing when he's not the starter. This is a guy I want on my team. This is a guy I don't mind taking a leap of faith with. He's going to be something special. That's my INSTINCT. My prediction. No stats back it up.

And I think he may just end up being the savior of the franchise (While I'm at it I may as well go all the way) -- IF we let him know soon enough that he's our QBOTF, and commit to SIGNING HIM to a long-term contract! Otherwise, he may be swooped away in the off season. Carolina? Seattle? How about the Vikings? There are plenty of predators out there if we are not smart enough to be pro active. Watch how great he plays in the Rams game Sunday and then you'll see we have a good problem on our hands, but a problem nonetheless: re-signing him. 

Miaocco, listen up -- your re-signing list may have been missing the most important guy.

How about joining the Troy Smith fan club today, BEFORE it becomes obvious to do so. It's so much more fun when you can say "I just had a feeling about the kid!" Take a chance. Leave caution to the wind, and stop throwing stats out there to defend the obvious point that we can't tell yet. Duh! I agree sports is about stats sometimes, but it's also about  instinct and imagination. Even when you're sober! Even if you're going to be a lawyer when you grow up. I forgive you. I believe you still have it in you to dream.

Listen to the Troy Smith interview, and if you too become a fan of this kid, then come on and join this post as an early and visionary member of the Troy Smith fan club. Don't just be an "Eeyore," and complain about all your past hopes that went bust! Like Alex Smith. Like Singletary as a head coach. It's a new day. And besides, you'll hear in this interview, that whether Troy lives up to our hopes and dreams or not, he deserves the best.

This I find unbelievable. I just read a quote from Mike Singletary that said Alex Smith would start against the Rams if he were healthy, and that he is still the starting QB! This is being said to the national press before Troy Smith even steps on the practice field today to prepare for his second game. 

“If Alex were healthy, I think right now he’d still be the quarterback,” Singletary said. “He threw a little bit the other day but we just have to be smart about him as well. Alex is smart enough to know that the worst thing he can do is go out there and play with a hurt shoulder and worsen the injury.”

I cannot believe this man. He has one of the worst starting QBs in the league. Anyone who has watched Alex Smith play knows he's not a winner; has never come through in big moments or in big games; led the league in interceptions before he got injured; and was 1-6 this year as the starter. 

Troy Smith, on the other hand, is at worst an unknown. At best, he DID come through in his only start -- he showed a lot of guts and played pretty damn well. . . and WON the game by actually coming from behind. With no big mistakes.

What would we expect a head coach to say to the press about the kid? How about the same confidence-building encouragement he g ave to Alex Smith this year by telling him he's the man -- keep playing well, keep winning, and you win the job. Is that not he most logical approach?

And tell me your thoughts about this: Do we want Troy Smith to sign with the 49ers next year, or Alex Smith? Because one will be walking away. !!!!!

Troy Smith only signed a one year contract in September. If he plays well against the Rams, don't we need to jump all over a multi-year deal, before Manny or anyone else? Plenty of teams are looking for decent QBs. Add Miami to that long list.

But why would Troy Smith sign a long-term deal if he doesn't have the coach's confidence as the  starting QB? If he plays better than Alex Smith has, then why wouldn't Singletary stick to his promise to "put the best 11 men on the field?" 

In my view, Singletary is not logical, and not honest. In fact, he could be the most stubborn and badly wrong judge of QBs in the league. And if Troy Smith continues to win, and Singletary then starts Alex Smith over a healthy Troy Smith, in my judgment, Singletary should be fired immediately and replaced by ANYONE SANE. 

So here's my question to all of you: if Troy Smith beats the Rams on Sunday and we're back in the playoff hunt, and Singletary wants to start Alex Smith against the Bucs, how would you feel about that? 

Good idea, bad idea, or so bad he should be fired on the spot for ruining any slim chance we might have to win the division this season? 

OMG, I can't believe what I saw today. Something great. Something that finally makes me really happy!!! 

It's been tough being on Niners Nation and being so negative all the time -- calling for the removal of Alex Smith since late last year, then living through this mess of a year. At the same time calling for the firing of Jimmy Raye since last year. And then recently, sadly, concluding that Mike Singletary is not good enough to be our head coach. All negative things. All sad things. And that's really not fun for me, because I'm normally a very happy optimistic guy. I have great memories of the 49er teams in the golden years -- and I want us to be great again. 

And I am happy to say today: I love Troy Smith!  I love the kid. He's fast. He's got a strong accurate arm. He showed a lot of guts today. And a lot of poise. I mean, I could not be prouder of his first game. 

Now of course, he was insanely lucky with that one pass to Walker. It was a Hail Mary in the middle of a close game. But I want to look at the bright side: 1) He had the arm to throw it that far, and accurately get it to Walker. 2) He'd been caged up all day by the game plan. I understand why. But when you're behind in the second half, and you haven't really been able to show the coaches or the team what you've got, then youth, confidence, and inexperience can make you throw a dumb pass like that. And guess who else has thrown dumb passes like that throughout his career? Bret Farve. Right? And he gets "lucky" way too often for it to only be called luck. So while I don't want to see Troy do that again any time soon, nor do I want him to end of with as many interceptions as Farve, I think there was some logic behind the luck : He felt like there needed to be a game changer, for him personally, and in the game. Worst case scenario it gets intercepted on the 1 yard line. Best case scenario we tie the game. On a scale of 0-10 the decision wasn't a zero. 3) But here's the main thing: When Walker caught the ball, I began to laugh. I was laughing so hard I almost spilled my drink. Because, FINALLY, I thought to myself, we have a QB willing to lay it on the line, defy the coaches, defy the odds, and take his shot, and win the bet. When the hell is the last time we had a QB like that? 

So I am really happy with the kid. He made a lot of good throws, and one miracle throw. No interceptions. He can run, escape the pocket, and improvise. He can throw accurately on the run. And early on, with that pass to Crabtree that went over his head (hopefully on purpose with double coverage) the Broncos were put on notice: DUDES, I'm not Alex the Dinker Smith. I've got a cannon and I'll use it when I see daylight out there. Show me 8 in the box and I'm going deep. And I can throw accurately enough to hit my guy. THIS HASN'T HAPPENED FOR US IN A REAL GAME IN A LONG LONG TIME! 

Of course, Nate Davis showed us some great things in pre-season and should now be promoted to 2nd string, in my opinion. We will then have two great young QB with lots of potential instead of praying for Andrew Luck to fall in our laps in next year's draft. We don't need him now. I think we have a gem in Troy Smith. He's a winner. He's fierce. He was obviously showing leadership out there, even in his first game. So GO NINERS!!!

Now for the coaching: 

I'll give Singletary this: He had the guts to make Troy Smith the starter even before the bye week. Smart call. Because now, with game experience in hand, he can learn from that, and watch film, and really take over as our permanent starting QB. Good job, Mike. 

But the play calling was still suspect. I know Troy needed to be protected. I totally get that. But at the end of the first quarter we're at 3rd and inches from the goal line, and we once again run Gore up the middle. I thought that was REALLY stupid. There were 9 Broncos at the line of scrimmage. They keyed in on Gore. The call had to change because of that -- Play fake, and give the kid a shot to throw it in. If he misses, then go for it on 4th down instead of kicking a field goal. Now the defense doesn't know what we're going to call. Instead Gore gets stuffed. We hit the field goal. And all the confidence that the offense had on that drive evaporated, until Troy hit the miracle pass. I just hate play calling like that. And I fault Singletary for that kind of crappy gutless call. I'm sick of it. 

Here's more good news though: Finally we were substituting for Gore during the game and giving him breathers for one play at a time. GREAT! But why Dixon over Westbrook? I still think Westbrook has a lot left. We need to give him a chance to get a rhythm going and let him do his thing too. Gore is our main guy. But it's a long long season. And Gore gets injured late almost every year. We need to get Westbrook more involved. And let Dixon ease in to the roll more. He's done nothing in game situations. I like the kid a lot. But not over Westbrook at this point. 

One other note: The 49ers statistically went into today's game the most penalized team in the entire NFL. Hard to believe given that Oakland and Dallas are also in the NFL, but true. And our takeaway ratio is pathetic. I blame both of those things on bad coaching. 

After the half, once again, the opposing coach adjusted his game plan and come out swinging with flea flickers and other plays that sucked our rookie safety in. Good. Smart. What do we do? We run Frank Gore up the middle on 1st and 10 almost every time, again. I know Troy needs to be protected, but that's just stupid play calling. No excuse for doing that when the other team knows it's coming. Why put a young rookie QB in 2nd and 9 situations all day? Makes no sense. I know at the end of the game Gore was finding lots of holes up the middle. But why call the same damn play on 1st and 10 every time? It wasn't working that well on a percentage basis. It made no sense to put Smith in bad situations like that all day, then expect him to get a first down in essentially 2 plays instead of 3. 

Brandon Lloyd. If one guy can't cover the dude, you have to double cover, or at least make some adjustment at the half so Orton and him aren't out there playing catch while we're just standing around. That adjustment should have been made. It wasn't. That's bad coaching. 

So, all in all, my assessment is this:

Troy Smith could just be our QBOTF!!!  That's great news! And I give Singletary credit for letting him start this game over David Carr Crash.

HOWEVER, I still think we are out-coached almost every game. And this has to be Singletary's last year. 

I think Gruden will go to Dallas. But if Jeff Fisher gets fired from the Titans I think he'd be a great choice. He's defense minded, but has worked with two great mobile QBs for most of his coaching career at Tennessee. He's crafty. He knows his x's and o's. He used to be a Niners defensive coach. He's been to the Super Bowl. He's gutsy and tough, but creative and aggressive. If the Titans let him go I think he'd be a good choice. He has wide receivers here, and a TE that can catch the ball. Our O-line is coming together. He could step right in and be our next truly great HC. 

What do you guys think about Troy Smith today? Does it give you some cause for hope?

What do you think of the coaching and play calling?

And if we do have a new HC next year, which I still think we will, what about Jeff Fisher? Or who else at this point if Gruden goes to Dallas for big bucks? I know Fooch is against college coaches, but Harbaugh might also be an interesting choice as a fallback position. Now that we have a good young QB, the sky's the limit! 

Mike Singletary is going to be fired. Probably soon. Yes, he's been a bad coach with x's and o's. Yes, he hired one of the worst OCs imaginable and anointed him king of smash-mouth. Yes, his game planning and adjustments have been well below par. But the main problem with our coach in my opinion is that he is just too damn stubborn to become a good head coach. Instead of learning to be cunning, open-minded, and flexible, Singletary drinks his own Kool-Aid and starts to believe in irrational and unpractical things. He thinks he can motivate his way to success. But you need a game plan, and you need to make the right personnel decisions, Mike, because guess what? It's not all about you. 

Because of this stubbornness, which some fans mistake for grit, or determination, Singletary has made fatal mistakes that have led this football team to the brink of humiliation. (The brink of elimination is one level of sad. The brink of humiliation takes it to a whole other level.)

I list a few of these stubborn decisions, each of which Fooch certainly knows I've brought up in previous posts, lest you think this is all hindsight. My focus will be on the offense because this is what I've been writing about:

1. Not playing Nate Davis for parts of the the last two games of LAST season to let him get a feel for NFL football, and to be inspired to get cracking on the playbook and feeling like he was actually part of the team. Instead, Singletary insisted the Niners get to 8-8 no matter what it took. He pulled every string he could to beat the pitiful second stringers of the worst two teams in football -- the Rams and Lions -- using an inconsistent Alex Smith to eek out two wins. Those games were torture to watch. In the first half of both games Smith looked like he was playing against the old Chicago Bears defense. It was apparent even then that Smith couldn't throw deep with any consistency, and therefore had no potential as our QBOTF. But Singletary refused to "watch the film." Instead, we go ahead and win those two games, dropping us down in the draft, and he tells Davis, in essence, you're not a part of this team. Alex is our guy. You have no shot. 

2. Just in case Nate didn't get the memo, he then names Alex Smith his starter way before the pre-season even begins. (Thinking that would give a mediocre, inconsistent QB with no accuracy on his deep balls enough confidence to take us to the playoffs in a weak division.) But he's not thinking how that might screw with the mind of a naive young 5th round QB who had had some semblance of hope about his future. Singletary knows what's best though, at least in the mind of Singletary. He's positive Smith can "do the job." He stubbornly sticks with his plan instead of keeping his mind open. Suddenly the QB spot was locked. 

3. Because Smith is now our anointed QBOTF, and maybe because something about the young kid Davis rubs him the wrong way, he gets personal. He's going to show this cocky optimistic kid who's the boss. So instead of taking Nate Davis under his wing, to help him mature mentally and physically, he doesn't even assign him a tutor during the off-season to help him learn the playbook. He doesn't push him to work out with Donovan McNabb during the summer (McNabb publicly invited Davis to do this out of deep respect for his potential). No, Sing leaves Davis high and dry, because Alex Smith is the second coming, no religious pun intended. And our very stubborn head coach, who prides himself on motivating people, completely misreads this kid, thinking Davis needs to motivate himself. And the way to do that is to not play him. And not help him in the off-season. Singletary will later tell us he was shocked at Davis not having learned the playbook on his own. Here's the fight card: A ridiculously stubborn man vs an immature young kid with a learning disability and a pretty big upside if someone can tap it. And, no shock, stubborn wins. 

4. Smith sucked even in the last two games of last year, against two horrible defenses. An open-minded coach assessing things rationally, and actually "watching film" would have realized three things (which most of us already saw): 1) We needed better O-linemen (duh). 2) Our OC sucked. His imagination was equal only to a Daily City architect. Defenses could read his formations as if they were handed the plays a week ahead of time. 3) Our QB didn't have the physical or mental skills to be great even if those problems were fixed. He recognized only one of the three things when all three needed addressing. We needed a pro-level QB and a better offensive scheme urgently. But Singletary actually thought choosing two tanks on the O-line would open up big holes for Gore, and poof, through shear physical force we'd be in the playoffs. Ah yes, smash-mouth football. Mike Sinlgetary's individual will to dominance beats the rest of the NFL. Stubborn. 

How about this idea, Sing: Signing McNabb to lead us for the next year or two, while letting him teach Davis, who McNabb respects and wants to see succeed? No, Sing wails, I'm positive Smith is good enough. And we'll win with our running game.

Oh and by the way, Singletary knew as well as we all did that Gore was too physically fragile to carry the ball 25 times a game and catch 5-10 passes a game for 16 games and then be fresh as a daisy in the playoffs. But, hey, let's not use Westbrook. I mean, SIGN HIM, but don't let him play. Amazing. Now that we're 1-6 will we at least play Westbrook in a mop-up roll? Or do we wait for Frank to go on IR? Odds of Westbrook staying with the 49ers next year if Singletary is still the coach: zero. Can Westbrook still play? No, too old, too injured, just like LT when San Diego let LT go to the Jets. Hmmm. 

5. We all were screaming about how bad the OC was last year, and early this year. Here was a chance to bring in someone McNabb could work with, if we had been smart enough to get Donavan for a mid round draft pick. How about an OC who could get back to 49er football? Lots of odd formations and trick plays -- not just running Gore up the middle . . . But no, Singletary was so hung up on "smash-mouth" football, and having Smith get two straight years in the same system, that he kept a dinosaur as our OC, sealing our fate for this year.

The fact is, if Singletary had actually "watched the film," and had some knowledge about great offenses, he would have realized Smith was not the guy, and neither was Raye. Everyone kept taking about Smith's inconsistency, lack of arm strength, and his haunting ability to shoot himself in the foot right at the key moment in the game. An anti-Montana. And everyone knew Raye was not fooling anyone with his play calling. But Mike was too stubborn to do anything about it until it was way too late and the buliding had already fallen to the ground. After a terrible game against Oakland guess who he started at QB? Yes, our one and only Alex Smith. And when he got hurt, let's try something to really rally the troupes and excite our fans -- David Carr. We knew he sucked. Why didn't Singletary know he sucked? And where the hell was Nate Davis? Still on the practice squad. 

6. Sorry, I just can't get off this Nate Davis thing. Everyone sees he's raw. Not ready. I agree he's not ready to be a permanent starter on a winning team. But now, on this team? To get him the reps he needs? So we can see what we have in him? Why not try?

Remember, Walsh drafted a skinny QB without a lot of arm strength or running speed in the 3rd round because he was a winner. He had that special something that's not created by simply having a better O-Line. Walsh saw magic happen too often to be coincidence. No one else cared about that during the draft. So Montana fell to the third round. But Walsh kept his mind open. (And the kid didn't look real good in his first games as a starter.) But Walsh saw through it. He threw him in there in year 2 after the team began to sputter. He let him have a bad year. They all did. He taught Montana his system and waited for him to catch on. Singletary hasn't given Nate Davis the time of F****** day, and at this point he's not even part of the team. Singletary's stubbornness cannot possibly be helping this team, or Nate Davis. Only a truly stubborn man would think otherwise. 

7. If we had a coach that didn't, apparently, hold some stubborn grudge against Nate Davis, it would have been accepted as common knowledge when we drafted him that he needed help learning, and Singletary would have had someone on the staff take him under their wing. Instead, Singletary is somehow rubbed the wrong way, and instead of helping the kid, sends him off during the summer without anyone to help him learn the playbook. Without anyone even checking in with him. Is that sensible? Then he blames Davis, who everyone knew before the draft has a learning problem, when Davis doesn't learn the playbook without anyone's help. WHAT IS THAT? Who is the learning disabled in this situation? 

As Jackie Chan said in the Karate Kid: "There are no bad students. Only bad teachers."

Stubborn people make very bad teachers. And guys, we have one as our HC, but not for long I hope. 

Not a lot of great HCs to chose from out there at the moment, but of the choices being thrown around I would say Gruden is the best answer. He's never had a great QB to work with. And he won't now. But if Davis were to become that kid, that special kid with that special something, and Gruden actually took the time to teach him a damn playbook, well, who knows what kind of magic might return to the SF 49ers? In my view, both moves are worth the risk. And the sooner the better. 

I don't know if contractually Gruden could come in this year, or if emotionally he would want to. But as I've said in previous posts, to come in now and set the tone, try out Davis and see what he's got, and to slowly get to know the personnel and the personalities on this team so he can assess firsthand before training camp, and have a good working plan for the draft with Balke, would seem to be the best way to go. 

Personally, I don't blame the Yorks for any of this. They are not savvy football men, but they are trying. They're willing to learn. And they're willing to spend. They are willing to give control to the coach. They just have to find the right guy. Singletary and Smith have to go, ASAP. It's becoming clearer and clearer what needs to be done. Let's move on and pray that our Chicago Bear experiment is at an end. I for one am ready to get back to 49er football. Fun, exciting, fast, tricky football, that while we're at it will by no means exclude smashing people in the damn mouth. It never did exclude that. Ask Ronnie Lott. Charles Haley. Etc. We just didn't try to have our offense look like our defense. Thunder on D and lightening on O is what we need! Singletary's stubbornness has just brought us another winter of steady rain. 

Critical as some of you might be, once again, of giving up on Sing and Smith, it really doesn't matter. They're as good as gone. I've dealt with your differences of opinion before with good humor in previous posts. And many of you have made good opposing points. But enough is enough. I think it's time that we focus on with who replaces them, and when. Let's not be stubborn about the changes that need to be made to get this team back in sync with the best of the NFL. 

“My high hopes, they haven’t gone anywhere,” Singletary said. “We’re 0-4 but we have a lot of football games to play. The way our team’s playing, I’m very encouraged by what I see."  -- MIKE SINGLETARY

DID HE SEE THE SEATTLE AND CHIEFS GAMES, AND THE 4TH QUARTERS, OF THE FALCONS AND SAINTS GAMES, OR WAS HE BUSY TRYING TO FIND HIS DRUG DEALER?

How about this one:

“I think everyone knows it’s a long season, it’s a marathon,” he said. “A lot can happen. You have to keep your focus now and we’re going to go over this game, learn from it." -- ALEX SMITH

WOW, YOU MEAN YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO LEARN FROM THIS GAME? BECAUSE IN SIX YEARS YOU HAVEN'T LEARNED:

1. HOW TO BE CONSISTENT

2. HOW TO CONTROL A GAME

3. HOW TO THROW DEEP

4. HOW TO THROW A SIDELINE PASS

5. HOW TO THROW BALLS OVER THE MIDDLE THAT RECEIVERS DON'T HAVE TO LEAP FOR

6. HOW TO TURN 3RD DOWNS IN TO 1ST DOWNS, (HINT: IT'S IN THE RULE BOOK) . . .  OR:

7. HOW TO WIN.

MAYBE ALEX NEEDS TO EXPLORE SOMETHING LIKE MEDITATION, OR LSD, TO FIND HIS INNER GURU? BECAUSE HIS LAST TEACHER (WASN'T THAT MIKE JOHNSON?) GOT HIM NOWHERE FAST.

My question to Niners Nation is, who is on dope (metaphorically speaking):

1. Singletary
2. Smith
3. Both
4. Fans who still support them
5. All of the above
6. Just Me
7. None of the above . . . AND WHY?

This is a Yahoo Sports Headline -- the lead story at this very moment. 

Does anyone want to admit that Alex Smith and Mike Singletary are now a part of the problem?

It's amazing how many of you are still defending these two. 

Here is my proposition. Since the Yorks have proven to me at least they are willing to pay big bucks for the right situation (and the wrong situation), I cannot balme them for their effort. (Not necessarily their wisdom but their effort.)

So help Jed out here. WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MADE NOW or AT THE END OF THE YEAR? WHY WAIT? Or are you happy with the sinking ship we currently find ourselves stranded on, while the rest of the sports world scratches its head? 

 ***

Forgive me for repeating myself but I want you to debate these things with as much initial input as possible. So here is a response I had to some of you STILL defending Alex Smith:

All I’m hearing from you guys is a bunch of excuses why Alex Smith has not become a good QB in this league. But I have to tell you, I think you’re all missing the obvious points. IS ANYONE OUT THERE ACTUALLY WATCHING THE GAMES? I KNOW you are, but good grief!

1. Good NFL QBs can throw bombs accurately. If the guy is open the ball is going to be there. This has NEVER been the case with Alex Smith. His accuracy on deep balls is too inconsistent to ever make him a great QB. Or even a very good QB

2. If you can’t throw deep and put the ball in there consistently then the defense is going to cheat upfront to take away the run and the short passing game. Alex Smith is the kind of QB safeties like Michael Lewis eat for breakfast because they can cheat a step or two and laser in on the short passing game.

3. By cheating upfront that also takes away the running game. Without a running game we can’t set up the passing game.

4. Smith is also not consistent in the short passing game. Some of those tipped interceptions, guys, is Smith throwing the ball too high (which can also get a receiver damn near killed) or too far behind the receiver. If the WR tries to make a tough catch but the ball gets tipped whose fault is that? This happened last year too.

5. He also isn’t accurate with screen passes. It’s amazing but if you watch him he’s constantly passing the ball too soon to avoid getting hit. His impatience is either resulting in dropped balls or a caught ball thrown too soon to allow the blockers to set up.

6. Out of the shot gun, yes, he’s better. But again, if you’re going to use the shot gun and give up many different kinds of running plays, pass action, etc., then you have to know how to throw a lot of different kinds of passes. Ask yourself why all teams aren’t running shot gun all the time. There are a lot of reasons they don’t. The QB has to be able to roll right AND LEFT. Not just right. And the QB has to be able to dump off quickly if the play breaks down. But half the time when he tries to dump the ball off the pass isn’t accurate enough to give the receiver momentum down field. When he does have momentum (when Smith actually does throw he ball where it should be thrown) Gore and Westbrook and Davis eat defenses alive. Problem is, again, inconsistency. You can’t count on Smith to throw the ball with precision. And when short passes and dump off passes aren’t precise a lot of dangerous things can and do happen.

7. He throws sideline passes about as badly as any starter in the league. Our receivers know how to keep two fee in bounds and make highlight reel catches on the sidelines. Problem is, Smith almost always throws the ball too far out of bounds for our own team to make the damn catch. Morgan’s almost TD catch against Seattle was NOT bad luck or bad footwork. It was Alex throwing the ball too far out of bounds again. Close is not good enough in this game. Alex can’t get as precise as an NFL QB needs to be.

8. He’s even inconsistent in his inconsistency! Against NO in the first half we saw our Alex, screwing up as usual. Then in the second half WHO WAS THAT? That is how Alex can be SOMETIMES, but never all the time. We can’t even rely on him to get to the next level and stay there. He always falls back down to his flatline.

There are plenty more examples of why Smith can’t be a more than a mediocre starter in the league at his very best. YOU GUYS HAVE TO KNOW ALL THESE THINGS DEEP IN YOUR GUT. YOU WATCH THE GAMES.

 We have some great players now. We all agree with that. We need to quickly get ourselves a good QB, or spend the rest of the season seeing if we can develop Nate Davis and find out for sure if he has something special or not.

The longer we defend Alex Smith, the longer the other teams will be happy to defend Alex Smith, if you get my meaning. The D coordinators have to know that his inconsistencies will eventually kill drives, give them an interception at a critical time. He’s the opposite of Manning and Brees and Rivers and Rogers and so many other CONSISTENT dangerous QBs in this league.

I am asking you all to take a seriously honest assessment of what I’m saying. TELL ME you think he is getting more consistent over time, and tell me WHY you think that’s true.

Tell me his deep balls are now a weapon instead of an empty threat. Tell me his accuracy on short passes and screen passes are getting better over time.

If you can’t, then can we please stop defending this guy and let’s find our QBOTF and get the F*** on with it. Because Sundays are not all that much fun for ANYONE when your QB can’t be trusted. When every time he throws the ball you start to cross your fingers. No wonder Singletary insisted on run first. He probably feels the same way!!!!

He’s NOT the guy who is going to lead us to a Super Bowl. And I’m not willing to settle some day to getting back to 8-8.

And as far as Singletary goes, let's not forget:

1. He chose Alex Smith as our QBOTF. That was his assessment and his choice. We could have gone after McNabb for pretty good value and let the rest of the team gel around him. Maybe not the perfect answer, but better than what we have? Or should we at least take a look at Nate Davis? 

2. He chose Jimmy Raye. And he told him what he wanted: smash-mouth no matter what. 

3. He chose to imitate the Steelers and Ravens instead of trying to imitate the Colts and Pats, as New Orleans did. He chose to make us into the 1960's Green Bay Packers. 

4. He's admitted he's not an X and O guy on offense, but what about some of his on the field decisions? 

5. The communications issues in game 1 -- was that forgivable, or completely inept> Can you live with that kind of oversight? Or is that just one more thing that sys to you he's not ready to be  a HC and may not ever be ready? 

6. If after we are 0-5, ANYONE out there wants us to take a look at Nate Davis in game situations, at least in spots, a few series a game, we will probably have to fire Singletary first. Because Davis is in his dog house. Just like Smith was in Nolan's dog house.

Would it be better to let Davis have a shot this year with an interim coach in the same system and at least se if there's anything to work with and get him some game experience? 

Do we hold SIngletary and Smith accountable for anything? Or let them continue on? 

Help Jed out! Tell him what we should do from here! Please!!! 

Guys, I'm really sorry to have to be the one to start this conversation. I'm not trying to make this into a witch hunt. I'm trying to see who is available out there that would make sense as a head coach for this team. Because, first of all, Mike Singletary has had his shot and he's just not cutting it. I like him, but his view is too narrow and he's not the kind of guy to learn and grow. He simply is who he is: a very inspiring guy who will soon be 0-5, and will then probably be fired. 

As far as understanding modern football strategy, I have my doubts about Sing, I really do. How many times have we seen things go unfixed? Like communications problems that happened during the pre-season actually going unfixed right into the start of the season. Say what? That's just inexcusable. That's junior high football. 

For that matter, it's inexcusable for Alex Smith not to have insisted in private that these things get fixed. He not not a leader. And he's not consistent with his passes. He is out of excuses. His lack of accuracy is obvious. And to some degree I think it forced Jimmy Raye to think more conservatively than he is capable of. I am NOT defending Raye, I'm just saying, if Sing told him to devise an offense like the Steelers and Ravens did a few years ago-- run first, pass second, then those were the parameters Raye was working under. (By the way, Mike, Charlie Batch looked like Dan Marino yesterday. The Ravens paid a truck load for Boldin. These are different times.) And, Sing, you were the one who said Alex was your guy. Now he's going to help get you fired with a great deal of help from Jimmy Raye, who was also hand picked by you. 

Back to my point. I think delaying the obvious makes no sense, and we as fans shouldn't bury our heads in the sand any longer. We need a new head coach to come in and make serious changes and modernize this ball club which has a lot of crazy good talent.

The D is obviously our strength. But someone needs to teach them how to defend against the flippin' screen pass, which is not exactly new to the league! And how to defend on 3rd down, since it's been a problem for about 5 years now. These things should have been fixed long ago with the oversight of the head coach, who after all, has to be the point person on things like this. 

The offense has its talent. I think Crabtree is also still a great talent. But ya know, Alex has to throw a catchable ball. How many balls can you throw behind a crossing route, or too high, or too short on a bomb, or just out of bounds? Hundreds of bad throws a year is just not excusable no matter who the coordinator is. And tipped balls that get intercepted are not always the receiver's fault. A lot of those tipped interceptions were bad throws, pure and simple. I saw a bunch of them in the first quarter in the KC game.

And even with a better O-line, which I think is fair to say we now have (better, and potentially great) Alex is still so inconsistent he's getting OC's fired because the pass plays that are called fail too often. Even Norv Turner could only make him mediocre. 

Anyway, here is my question for those of you willing to admit that the writing is on the wall, because it is:

Who should be our next head coach of the candidates out there that are presently available, and WHY? 

Niner Fans. There are very dark days. Troubling days for the future of our football team. Fooch is right when he says someone will likely have to go after today. It's not THE answer, but it's one answer. 

I have been searching for THE answers since the first loss against Seattle. Before that game I was drinking Sing's Kool Aid. After that game I started to think about the fact that all the problems from last year were showing up AGAIN.

After the Saints game I thought -- this is typical, they come close against good teams and then implode against mediocre teams. I saw this KC game as the most critical test of the season, and maybe even of the last two years. A good win with Alex Smith having a really good game against a bad passing defense would get us back on track.

We all saw the game. Smith looked lost. Not just bad. Lost, invisible. Defeated.

Here are my thoughts. I welcome your comments, critiques, and additions. But please do try to be constructive and offer solutions, because obviously status quo won't do. Solutions are desperately needed at this point:

First of all, Alex Smith: 
Personally, many of you might already know, I have not been a Smith supporter  -- not since after the Eagles game last year. I saw him totally fall apart against a good team in a critical game, and again against Seattle last year, proving clearly that he lacked the consistency it takes to be a great QB on a good team. The magical times he does offer up -- I think the Saints game is a good example -- are, sadly, few and far between. 
However, I have also agreed with the Smith supporters who reminded us over the summer that having a bad O-Line, a handful of OCs, and bad OCs, haven't helped his cause.
But I also think he's got a lot of offensive weapons now. He's just not finding them often enough. And most importantly, on 3rd downs, or important downs, and in important games, he seems to fail and shrug his shoulders as if to say, "That wasn't my fault." His body language is terrible for a leader of the team. 
My conclusion is he is NOT totally to blame by any means. But he is also not our QOTF. Put him on the Steelers and I think he could win as a starter. But I think more realistically he would make some team a very excellent back-up QB. Maybe the Packers net year! How ironic would that be? Rogers and Smith . . .You think that's impossible? He's not signed next year. The Packers aren't about top waste a high draft pick on a rookie QB. But Smith can't stay here as our QB next year. . . .He just can't. We both need a fresh start. 
My fear for this year is that as soon as we are totally out of the playoff hunt he will put together a great game or two and fool some of us again. Because in the end, I just don't think he's the guy. Not here. Not ever. 
Here is something else to consider: We were all down on Shaun Hill this time last year. He couldn't throw deep. He was like cement in the pocket. His delivery was too slow. He couldn't run. . . .Guys, I've watched this guy the last two weeks play for the Detroit "Awful for a Decade" Lions. And he looks like a very good quarterback. He CAN throw deep. He can release the ball quickly, make good decisions, and find open receivers, even against the Eagles and Vikings.
So what are we to make of THAT? 
My main conclusion is this: Singletary is an okay coach. He's got a very good DC in Manuski. I think Manuski might not be here next year. Someone's might make him an offer. But if he is here, Sing and Manuski and Solari are not in my mind going to be deficits on their own. The culprit without a doubt is Jimmy Raye. 
I cannot believe what I saw today. First of all, I watched the game at a sports bar with half a dozen Niner fans. When we got the ball for the first time everyone was screaming at the screen, begging Raye not to run Gore up the middle on the first play.
Someone said to throw a bomb to Crabtree where only he can get it, or no one. Show KC we're going to open it up. They are 30th in pass defense. Let's put them back on their heels from play 1. Someone else said, play action. Someone else said, how about angling it out to Vernon and if that's not there turn it into a screen play for the first play of the game. Someone else said, how about a sweep to Gore.  
So what happened? Raye ran Gore up the middle. No gain. The next play, everyone at the table was silent. Tougher to call a 2nd and 10 when you just got stuffed on a play everyone hated. Raye called the SAME PLAY! Stuffed again. Welcome to 3rd and 8.
Guys -- what the hell was the thinking?????  He had all week to come up with the first series. That's what he thought would fool them? What crap!!!! 
I was also watching the Chief's play calling. Here's what I saw: A delayed run from the shot gun on 3rd and 20 that went for a first down. Sweeps. Screen passes. A flee flicker off of a sweep, after the previous sweeps in the first half forced the Niner D to react by having the pass rushers turn in pursuit -- leaving the QB open in the backfield. Brilliant half time adjustment.  
Need I say more? The Chief's were completely prepared for Jimmy Raye's vanilla play calling and made adjustments to our D at half time. Did Jimmy Raye make adjustments at the half? None. At least none that worked. 
He tried Westbrook for all of two plays. Westbrook ran Gore's plays. He failed like Gore did. Then they yanked him! They brought Gore back in and ran a play to Gore. Sorry, 4th down. 
My conclusion: Raye has to go. And I mean RIGHT NOW. Someone can run his system until the end of the year if necessary but the play calling has to change radically. 
Next year:
We MUST find a creative young OC. We will need a new QB and a fresh start for the offense. We can't afford to have Alex Smith look "better" for a while only to blow it in a big game. I don't have faith in his consistency. CONSISTENCY from a QB is critical. He will never have that. That's my fear. And moreover, I don't think we can afford to wait and find out if he Smith doubters are wrong any more. 
Will they fire Sing too? I think it's fair to say after today's game that he has to be fighting for his job now. Firing him will certainly get us a new OC, and one would assume a new coach would want his own QB as well, and not borrow Alex again, like Sing did. 
But first things first. Jimmy Raye, dear Niner fans, is abysmal. He has lost us Lord knows how many games by absolutely putrid play calling. I have no trust is his ability to change. He's gotta go. JED, come on, dude, enough is enough. 
And YOU? Speak up Niner fans. Don't abandon the team now, when it needs your creative thinking the most. What do you think we need to do to right the ship? 

It was just reported that Ted Ginn will be out at least two weeks due to an injury suffered in the Seattle game. That's why we signed Hill. 

Who will return kick offs and punts now?

What a circus this will be, to add to the circus going on with Raye and Sing and Alex Smith. 

Maybe The Saints  will laugh so hard at what's going on here they'll forget to take the field and we'll win that way. After three and a half quarters of playing against no one, it's 0-0, until Smith bootlegs it to the Saints' 30, where he trips over Norris whose trying to throw a block in open space.

Then Nedney kicks an uncontested field goal after Smith can't complete a 3rd down pass again. (Even with no one playing defense he throws a 5 yard pass over the middle just a tad too high for Crabs, who deflects it into the hands of Bass, who drops it like a hot potato.)

Final score: 3-0. 

So who do we use on kick offs and punts with KW and Ginn out? P Adams for both? Zig?