Forty Niners Forever

As disappointed as I am about the Tomsula hire, some prominent players are fully endorsing him. This includes Anquan Boldin, Alex Boone, and notably, Vernon Davis. While there’s something to the whole inmates/asylum thing, and the additional fact that VD is in his contract year and should endear himself to the coaches, there has to be a certain amount of relief from the players. Boldin said it should be easier to play for Tomula over the notoriously high-strung and volatile St. Jim.

Beyond that, the only coach they are keeping is Tom Rathman. Good news as I think at this point it would be a good idea to keep Gore. He’s the heart and soul of this team, and this is a commodity they need to keep this train on the tracks. If Gore showed anything last year, it’s that he can thrive given some decent blocking. Give him a 2 year deal and let him ride off into the sunset. He can go about 15 plays a game and he, Hyde, and Hunter can all share duties.

Boone is onboard as well. Sure, kumbaya doesn’t equal wins, but a looser atmosphere could be what these guys need. Again though a lot rides on the staff Tomsula brings in. He’s been in the league a long time and hopefully has developed relationships with potential staff members. One can hope, anyway.

The guy I like at this point for OC would be Chud, the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground dweller, Rob Chudzinski. He’s a tight end friendly coach who did wonders with Cam Newton his rookie year. Callahan would be OK I guess. He’s had his moments. Trestman? Ehhhh. He cratered in a big way in Chi-town, and his Canada work? Whoop-dee-fricking-doo.

What in the wide wide world of sports is going in here? This exhaustive search yields Mike Tomsula? I was all ready to see what the Niner offense could become under a young innovative mind like Adam Gase, but it ain’t happening apparently.

How this is supposed to work now defies logic. I can see promoting Dangio for the sake of the defense, and for continuity. Or going and getting a guy like Gase to revamp the offense, but Tomsula? Nothing against the guy, but he’s not the fiery leader who would appear to be the one to lead them to the promised land.

Signing Tomsula guarantees Fangio leaves. So now we need a DC AND an OC. I guess we have to wait and see what the next moves are coordinator-wise, but as of now I ain’t too thrilled.

Well, the waiting remains. I figured by Tuesday we’d have made our move. But no. As the week rolls on, still no head coach to drive the Majic Bus off the cliff to Mediocre-town. Or furthur to Greatness. Whichever the case may be.

As we know the Greg Roman era is officially over as he hooks his wagon to another certified nut-job in Rex (feet-first) Ryan. The blather around the blogospheres is that Roman is getting a bad rap, as this was Harbaugh’s offensive design, and Roman merely ran it. Whatever. Truth be told the offense has been various shades of fair to poor since the Khaki Express rolled into town in 2011. The defense is and was about 3/4ths of the reason for the success of the team. My contention was that Harbaugh should have jettisoned Roman during the 2012 season. His BROTHER did it with Cam Cam, and look at that result. These last 2 seasons were more of the same inept red zone offense, 3rd down conversion rate,  stale plays, and struggles getting plays in.

In lieu of actual news, here’s NFL.com’s latest NFL coaching move tracker, of which I’ve posted the Niner news.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000451073/article/coaching-visits-tracker

Reported interviews:

Adam Gase, Broncos offensive coordinator
Josh McDaniels, Patriots offensive coordinator
Mike Shanahan, former Broncos andRedskins coach
Teryl Austin, Lions defensive coordinator
Dan Quinn, Seahawks defensive coordinator
Todd Bowles, Cardinals defensive coordinator
Vic Fangio, 49ers defensive coordinator

Potential candidates:
Jim Tomsula, 49ers defensive line coach

Notes: The 49ers have significant interest in McDaniels and Gase as potential quarterback tutors. Gase will have a second interview in the near future, per Rapoport. Tomsula was considered a strong internal candidate but has yet to interview for the job. The Niners will interview Gase on Tuesday for the second time, according to Rapoport.

This is my new all-time favorite commercial on so many levels. You have Joe acting like a goofball, you have a dumb premise, you have free pizza, and you have an unintentional look into the souls of 2 hall of fame quarterbacks. What could be better? Peyton Manning places himself in the dustbin of playoff football history with his line, “Isn’t it funny that Joe only shows up for the playoffs?”

Yes, it is funny, Peyton. And it is entirely true as well. Joe shows up and wins in the playoffs. You are left holding a slice . . .

Other than that, the 49er coaching search slogs on with nary a signing. AZ DC Todd Bowles warrants another interview for some reason. What I don’t get is if they were going to give the job to Fangio, they’d have done it already. If they are looking at a DC to fill the spot, there isn’t a better candidate than Fangio. He isn’t interviewing anywhere else for any HC spots either, so the vacancy remains.  My thought is they are taking their time just to see if anything shakes out while they go with Fangio in the end.

Other than that, Dallas was hoisted onto its own petard as a 4th and 2 Romo to Dez Bryant completion to the 6″ line was overturned by replay. Loved the tweet from the Deetroit Lions: #We know how you feel. How much do you want to bet that Jerry screams to the competition committee to revise that rule. As the rule is written, the call was right. But the rule is stupid beyond belief. Dez takes 3 steps with the ball in his possession, and stretches for the goal line on his way to the ground. The ground, which can’t cause a fumble, can apparently cause an incomplete pass, despite said the 3 steps and reach for the end zone. Great game, however, as a hobbled Aaron Rodgers still managed to make killer plays and win in the end.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I like better than seeing the Cowboys losing, especially after the gift they received last week, but the Megatron rule should be changed back to what it was before. Anyone can plainly see what the right call is. Yes, there are bang-bang plays where the ball comes out quickly on a hit, but Dez’s play wasn’t due to a hit. It was due to his action to stretch for the goal line after he caught the ball. Two feet down with control of the ball used to constitute a completion. This talk of commonly perceived motions and football moves after the catch are pretty ridiculous. The NFL seems hell-bent on enforcing rules that make the game entirely more subjective.

Still and all, a great game. The amazing play of the day was Julius Peppers desperate reach to cause a fumble from DeMarco Murray as he turned the corner on a sweep. He had clear sailing for at least 40 yards, but for the strip by Peppers. A game-saving play for GB.

Well that was a couple of decent games that went according to the scrip, albeit it was a little tougher for Tom Terrific of San Mateo to hold up his end of the deal. Carolina played very well until Cam Newton inexplicably misaed on 3 passes to kill a drive and threw a pick 6 on the next one to seal that one.

But Serra boy Tom Brady shredded a fairly pliant Baltimore defense in the 4th quarter after its own defense spotted Carlina 2 separate 14 point leads. Flacco looked golden at times, yet threw into double coverage late to seal that game. A fairly stupid throw to make on 2nd and 5 when you are driving for the winning score late.

Ahhh welll. It sucks to be looking in at this from the outside, but then again, there’s a tiny bit of relief that we don’t have to agonize over the outcome that may or may not be deemed acceptable.

If shit goes according to plan, we’ll have Green Bay beat Dallas, and Denver beat Indy. Then again, who knows what kind of deat Blandino cut with Jerry Jones?

In the words of Jini Hendrix. At this point in the coaching hire process, normally I’d be worried, but seeing as no one has inked a coach yet, we aren’t behind the 8 ball. Yet. I foresee a flurry of signings within the next week, though. And, Jed, if you are reading this, DON’T LOOK BACWARDS!

Holmgren and Shanny are not the answer. Unless the question is, Alex, who are two old 49ers OCs that are happily retired?

Fangio is still the best option for continuity’s sake. The defense is a well oiled machine that he built. Give him a solid OC like Carmichael, or find someone who can get this offense going. It ahouldnt be that hard to improve on 20th in scoring and 22nd in yards. And 31st in passing.

Well, the Niners apparently spent 6 hours the other day talking to their DC Vic Fangio in an attempt to understand what he has in mind if he was named head coach. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind seeing Fangio stick around. he has done a very good job with this defense amid a ton of injuries and an ineffective offense on the other side of the ball. Yeah, we’ve beaten that subject into the ground, but here’s what I’m wondering now. If the Niners do decide to go with Fangio (and in my mind, if they are going to hire a defensive coach, they’d go with Fangio since he’s familiar with everyone, and he’s a top defensive coach and they couldn’t get anyone better), who should they get at their OC?

The names that are there are the always-semi-available Rob Chudzinski, He of a ton of teams and jobs, but his work with Cam Newton and the anemic Panther offense back in 2011 was a big turnaround and you’d think he’d fit right in with Colin Kaepernick. Another name that has popped up is Clyde Christensen, he of Fresno City Junior College fame. He’s been in the Colts system as an OC, QB coach, WR Coach, and TE coach for these past 12 years. Some good players have rolled through there, and hes been exposed to some very good offenses.

From the college ranks, you have to wonder if a guy like Tony Franklin in on their radar. He’s Berkeley’s OC, and a guy that has put together very strong passing offenses in Tennessee under Mike Leach, and now here at Cal. No NFL experience however. Another dark horse candidate from the college ranks is Scott Frost, Oregon’s OC. ‘Nuff said there. He worked under Chip Kelly and is still running one of the most high-powered offenses in any sport. No NFL experience as well, but he’s got to be someone who they look at.

You guys got any names?

The names are flying around like confetti: Rex Ryan, Adam Gase, Josh McDaniels, Don Quinn, Darrell Bevell, Pete Carmichael, Hue Jassolle, Pep Hamilton, even crypt-keepers Mike Shanahan (and his son Kyle) and once and future past OC Mike Holmgren, Not to mention Fangio, Tomsula, and even Greg (urk) Roman as the internal candidates.

If they do go internal, which is a possibility, I’d tap Fangio. His job of holding together a defense riddled by injuries was above reproach. He also did more than his share to keep this team in a lot of games that could have definitely been losses if not for the stellar defense.

Lots of people out there are pooh-poohing the idea that anyone on the outside would even bother to want to get near this front office, but the reality is, this team has a lot of talent, and there are a lot of guys like Gase who would take the shot regardless of what the perception is with the front office. How he would be as a HC? Who knows?

All I know is I want a coach that can develop a cogent and fluid offense that can sustain drives and score in the red zone. I guess asking for a team that doesn’t burn all their time outs 10 minutes into the first quarter might be too much to ask for.

49-22-1. This is what Jim Harbaugh did his 4 years as the Niner head coach. What is his legacy? Well to me, it’s falling short. The standard is was and should be winning the Super Bowl. With Jjmbo here we went from outhouse to penthouse in one strike-shortened preseaon in 2011. In the process he turned Alex Smith from a perennial close-but-not quite guy to a 13-3 QB on a roll. But for 2 fumbles, this team is in the Super Bowl.

Next year, Harbaugh gets the team in position to win the Super Bowl. Until the game starts and they dig themselves an impossible hole to dig out of. But for a delay of game, the Niners win. Last year? Well, close but not quite again. This year started a disaster 2 months before the season started and it never got much better despite better weapons and supposed more continuity.

So, on his last day as the 49er coach, Jimbo wins game 49. Quite a legacy, and Jimbo should be given credit for instilling a winning attitude for a moribund franchise, However, he did inherit a team with a pretty strong roster, One loaded with high draft picks, and talent. For as quickly as things changed, and they were tantalizingly close to reaching their goals those 3 times, they fell short.  The part I didn’t like was how Harbaugh leaned on his defense a lot of the time.  Give him an early lead and he’ll sit on it.  Fall behind, and he’ll grudgingly get aggressive. For all the talent they had, I think they left a lot of points on the field, and many times they were not prepared come game time.

What happens now? I have a pretty good idea that they are going to keep this shit in-house. Which means Mike Tomsula. Which means that other coaches may start defecting. Greg Roman is surely gone. The offensive coaches should be shit-canned. Well, keep Rathman (and Gore for that matter). John Morton? Seeing the ineffectiveness of the WRs for the most part, gone. The line coaches can go as we will more than likely look to change the blocking style.

I wonder if promoting Tomsula over Fangio will mean Fangio leaves. I hope he stays as he did a remarkable job with a defense riddled by injury. Harbaugh never did him many favors, and he is likely in the running as HC. Whatever they do, I hope they find someone to take this offense to a new level. For all the troubles this year, injuries played a big part of the problems, and this team still has a ton of talent. They are not in rebuilding mode,and should be considered a playoff contender when the next traiing camp breaks.