SB Nation User Blog: sfgfan

Crabtree Likely To Start Sunday's Game

sfgfan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:25:29 -0000

Crabtree Likely To Start Sunday's Game

According to Josh Morgan, through Matt Maiocco, Crabtree and Isaac Bruce will be starting at WR Sunday.

Marvel Smith to retire?

sfgfan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:52:31 -0000

Marvel Smith to retire?

After a series of tweets from Maiocco, I'm getting the idea that Marvel Smith is considering retirement before setting foot on the football field this year

"49ers RT Marvel Smith is excused for personal reasons and will not make trip to Dallas. Snyder is out."

"49ers RT Marvel Smith has not looked right physically. There's a strong chance he is going to retire after being in NFL for nine seasons."

"I'm getting on flight to Dallas. Maybe I'll have more about Marvel Smith's likely retirement when I get there."

Pisa Tinoisamoa

sfgfan — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:07:24 -0000

The Rams announced that they released Pisa Tinoisamoa today. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I'm wondering if he fits with the current defense? He's relatively young (28 by kickoff this season), so would he be able to fit in at the TED for a few years next to Willis?

Of course, he was cut because his salary cap figure was over $4M, and with Spikes only commanding probably just over $2M, the cost may be a little higher. That alone may not make him fit.

I was wondering if anyone knows if he's more like the slashing playmaker that Willis is, or is he stout enough to take on blockers?

CBSSports/Bleacher Report Search

sfgfan — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:05:42 -0000

CBSSports/Bleacher Report Search

Apparently CBS Sports and Bleacher Report are looking for "correspondents." Kind of interesting but isn't $400/week pretty low when they want a "full-time commitment"?

From Matt Maiocco's twitter.

Matt Maiocco's "Dynasty to Dysfunction" at RealClearSports.com

sfgfan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:59:03 -0000

Matt Maiocco's "Dynasty to Dysfunction" at RealClearSports.com

An interesting read of Matt Maiocco's perspective of how things have gone for the 49ers since the Yorks have taken over. You can almost see how the Yorks have grown as owners, and how they've learned from their previous mistakes. Or maybe it's only me seeing it?

Description from Press Democrat site: "Raider Michael Bush breaks up a pass intended for 49er Josh...

sfgfan — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:56:41 -0000

Description from Press Democrat site: "Raider Michael Bush breaks up a pass intended for 49er Josh Morgan." So... are they trying out Michael Bush at DB?

Complete Madden 2009 49ers

sfgfan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:14:50 -0000

Complete Madden 2009 49ers

I'm not exactly sure what system these ratings are for, but I'm assuming it's at least the PS3/XBox360, as there are some "advanced" attributes there. I don't know if the Wii version this season is going to have those same advanced attributes (finally), but I hope so.

Week 15 (Bengals) Link Dump

sfgfan — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:11:51 -0000

In an effort to get past Sunday's game, I'll slap together this (very bare) link dump for the rest of this week. There should be some news this week on Trent Dilfer's concussion, Alex Smith's shoulder, B.Y.'s possible retirement, and the 49ers possibly bringing in free agent QBs for workouts.

The only link I'll supply (for now) is a link to Matt Maiocco's most recent blog entry. It's a standard summary of Mike Nolan addressing the press. Nothing really new was said about Alex Smith, Trent Dilfer, or Bryant Young.

The interesting tidbit for me was when he asked an official (during the coaches' pregame meeting with officials) if a conspiracy could ever exist:

He went on to relay an anecdote from a recent conversation he had with a game official. Coaches and officials have a meeting 90 minutes prior to kickoff. Nolan asked the official, "Is there any possibility that there could ever be a conspiracy? Just a possibility?"

The official answered, "No way, no chance."

Nolan said he was just "b.s.ing" with the official. But the official asked why Nolan what prompted that question.

"I explained to him that we turn calls in (to the league office) and how many come back and say, 'Bad call.' I gave him our percentages. He said, 'Really? That high?'

"I said, 'Believe me, we send in more than one or two a week.' He kind of smiled and said (jokingly), 'Boy, you've had some bad crews, haven't you?'"

Before anyone goes off and tries to say he's blaming the officiating, he isn't really. The original question posed to him was why he thought the team was struggling. He admits that there are things he sees clearer now than before, and that possibly hints at him knowing how to fix those things. He also went on to mention there are things that happen that you can't explain (or expect). That is where the penalties (and injuries) come in.

It's interesting to see another official concede the 49ers have had it rather rough with officiating.

Feel free to use this space to dump various links you stumble upon during the week that you don't feel like writing the minimum words about.

Week 14 (Vikings) Link Dump

sfgfan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:19:44 -0000

Not that I have a whole lot to dump into this link dump, but I figured I'd start one off for the week (being that it is already Wednesday).

According to Matt Maiocco, the 49ers family is losing yet another member of it's extended family. Greg Manusky's father passed away yesterday. According to Matt, Manusky is expected to be back by Sunday, and Mike Nolan has taken over the defense for the time being.

Sad year for a lot of the 49ers brass, alumni, and players.

Week 13 (Panthers) Link Dump

sfgfan — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:56:16 -0000

Being Tuesday and all, I decided to open up a link dump diary. As usual, my reason for opening it is a Matt Maiocco blog entry (SURPRISE!), but feel free to discuss that and post other links to whatever other news topics you want.

In Matt Maiocco's most recent blog entry, he decided to tackle the "common" Q&A questions he tends to get via e-mail and comments (as there was no practice today for him to cover). The most interesting one to me was not the question about what Matt thought was ailing the team (offense, big surprise there), but actually WHY Matt thinks that is the case:

Q: What about the offense? Where have things gone wrong?

A: It took me a long time to come to this conclusion, but I think the problem is the offensive coordinator. I'm not speaking specifically about Jim Hostler, though. Bear with me. I think Hostler is a good, hard-working coach. But what he lacked as an offensive coordinator was experience. So much of being an offensive coordinator is having a commanding presence and a strong reputation. I think subconsciously the players might have doubted Hostler - Frank Gore said as much more than a month ago. Even if Hostler were doing things exactly like Norv Turner, the players weren't going to be carrying out their assignments with the same conviction because Hostler was a first-time coordinator. Another problem was having two inexperienced coaches, Hostler and Frank Cignetti, in charge of a young QB and the offense. It was a good move by Nolan to bring in Ted Tollner last week. If he were to do it over again, I'll bet Nolan would've tried really hard to hire Tollner to his staff (as O.C. or QBs coach) when Turner left in February.

I think he poses a very interesting (and VERY valid) reason for the offensive struggles. Trust is a huge thing between players and their coaches. This is especially true if the players are being asked to run plays called by someone that has NEVER called plays in a real NFL game before. I'm not saying this is the end-all reason, but it is a very good reason, and one that is really overlooked. Hostler hasn't really helped his cause to that either, though.

In another question, Matt also says that he'd be "surprised" if the 49ers brought in a new GM. That would be right in line with what HTS and I have been saying, in that Nolan and McCloughan together have actually done really well in bringing players in. It's the getting the most out of the offensive players that has been the problem. With a full offseason of potential suitors and interviews, I have little doubt that Nolan WILL find a better offensive coordinator, and one that players will learn to trust before training camp begins.

Again, feel free to use this diary to drop off links to any interesting articles and such that you don't want to start a whole new diary for. You could also use this as a launching point for any thoughts you may have leading into this week's game that you don't want to start a whole new diary for.