Forty Niners Forever

So many games, so many memories. Yes his birthday was yesterday. I’m sure we all have stories about seeing Joe play. I’ll tell you the first time I saw him in action. It was late in the 1980 season, and the Niners were using both Steve (he plays just well enough to lose the game) DeBerg and Joe Montana. Walsh was giving Joe spots in the game to succeed, and pretty much letting DeBerg play through the rest of the game. A quick 3-0 start was followed by a brutal 8 game losing streak (one that Bill Walsh said almost led him to quit coaching).  Through this, Montana was getting more and more playing time, and putting up decent numbers, although he was 2-5 in his starts.

Turns out December 7th , 1980 was the date that should be forever etched in 49er history, not in infamy, but as the beginning of the Joe Montana era in San Francisco. Back then, tickets were cheap, and attendance was spotty at best. So, as usual, we bought our end zone seats, and proceeded to move up to the upper reserved seats right behind the upper boxes. This was the battle of the bottom-dwellers. New Orleans came into the game 0-13. The Niners were on a little roll, winning their 2 previous games, and were 5-8.

Archie Manning came out hot, and the notoriously bad 49er defensive backfield was giving little resistance to NOs passing game as they got up quickly, 21-0. The Niners got on the board in the 2nd quarter with a Freddie Solomon punt return, but the offense was ineffective all the first half. 2 more TDs by NO  put the score at 35-7. Manning had already thrown fior over 300 yards nad had led 5 touchdown drives. Now, up to this point in the season, DeBerg and Montana had split time at QB in just about every game (except the first 2). THIS game however, Walsh decided to stick with Montana. I assume he wanted to see how Joe would deal with adversity.

It was at this point that Lon Simmons, right before the 2nd half kickoff, said this will either be the worst loss in 49er history, or the greatest comeback in NFL history. Me myself having been on the losing end of so many close calls, playoff frustrations, and the crumbling Morabito ownership that defined the wretched 1970s, I held out little hope that this would be nothing more than a slow trudge to defeat, and once again saying “wait til next year.”

The 2nd half started with the Niners getting the ball, and Montana leading a long drive for a TD. In the drive, Montana hit Clark on a 50 yard pass. After a quick 3 and out by the Saints, Montana hits Clark on a short crossing route that he takes all the way to the house for a 70 yard TD. Just like that, the Niners are back in the game at 35-21 to close the 3rd quarter. NO then drives the ball downfield, but their RB (Jimmy Rogers?) fumbles deep in Niner territory. Another lengthy drive ensues, capped by a TD to Freddie Solomon to cut the score to 35-28. Again, NO drives deep into Niner territory. Again, NO fumbles the ball away (no idea who). And again, the Niners drive down the field, this time running the ball effectively (in a precursor to the NFC Championship game the next year) with Lenvil Elliott. He scores the tying TD with less than 2 minutes left.  35-35 at the end of regulation.

OT starts with NO winning the coin toss, and promptly turning the ball over on a deep pick by Dwight Hicks. After trading 2 or 3 punts each, Montana leads the Niners to the 20 yard line  where and Fat Ray kicks the game-winning 36 yard field goal. I don’t remember the exact stats, but I know the 49ers gained more than 400 yards in the 2nd half alone while controlling the ball most of the 2nd half. As flat as the team was in the 1st half, they were even more brilliant in the 2nd half, and it was the first inkling that Joe Montana was maybe something other than a 3rd round flier pick in the 1979 draft.

At the time, I really thought the team was going to be decent soon, if they could only play defense and stop teams from passing at will on us. It was also then that I thought they had something in Joe Montana. I had seen and heard a little about his comebacks in college, but I didn’t know that much about him. After than game, I paid much more attention to him. One of the best quotes about the game came from Bill Walsh himself:

“There were only two games that produced absolute euphoria—this one and the 1987 game at Cincinnati, when we scored on the very last play.”

Not the Super Bowls, or even the NFC Championship game the next year. The New Orleans game.

You guys have any  Joe Montana stories?

In a surprising development (at least to me) the 49ers are giving the starting right guard position to Alex Boone. At least at the start of training camp. On the face of things, it’s a reward for all the hard work Boone has put in as a 3rd team guy who came in soft and directionless. He dedicated himself to getting in shape, and he impressed the new regime with his fitness and attitude coming into the abbreviated camp last year. To me, though, he is nowhere near the prototypical RG. Right guards are usually road-grader types. Usually in the 320-330 lb range. Boone is 6’8, 300 lb. Not your typical RG. Chilly Rachal may not have been the answer, but his size is what is the norm for the position (6’5″, 325 lb).

The Walsh/McKittrick model of smaller, faster linemen had its time and place, and there are still teams implementing that strategy, but 6’8″? I’d think he needs to be extremely strong to be able to handle the position. O line is all about leverage, and as a taller guy, it would seem kinda easy to get leverage on him. It’s all about getting low and either driving forward for the run or holding the point in pass pro. Curious at best. Joe Looney looks to be the starter at some point soon, but he’s not cleared to work yet due to offseason foot surgery. Kilgore is working at C in Goodwin’s absence, so as of now Boone is the right guard. With all the talk in camp of Harbaugh looking to give guys different jobs for flexibility’s sake (Tukafu as backup FB, Staley/Soap/Dobbs at TE, ) one would think the 6’8″ guy would be a BIG target at WR. Red zone target? Sure, why not . . . ?

Play nice, or don’t play at all. Not a hell of a lot going on anyway, but I’m on the road the next few days. See ya on Sunday . . .

Well, we’re getting closer to something resembling actual players in pads, but as it is, we have Week III of the OTAs! Talk abounds, but little in the way of news. The Jim Harbaugh/Alex Smith talkfest has run its course. Ledgergate was a quick blip on the radar. And now we have Niner guys talking about being Supwer Bowl favorites. Scary. And also fertile stomping grounds for one Frederick P. Soft. I’m sure Jim Harbaugh is keeping a lid on that. Or is at least using that to his advantage.

In a funny note, Seattle was fined the ability to HAVE 2 days of OTAs for having actual contact in yesterday’s OTA. Ooooops.

Coaches have different ways of firing up their teams I guess.

Or should that be moron Alex Smith? Anyhow, Jim Harbaugh, unsolicited and unprovoked, unleashed a furious and all-encompassing tirade supporting his QB of the near future, Alex Smith. In a nutshell (and yeah, I’m a nut with shells), Harbaugh said he was merely ‘evaluating’ Peyton Manning in an effort to see what he looked like. He supposedly told Alex about this, and he didn’t have a problem. The front office was aware of all this, and no one had any hurt feelings or problems with the evaluation.

When asked for details of these conversations, Harbaugh was a little less forthcoming. He did say this, “There was nothing said to Alex that wasn’t said to Peyton Manning or in house here.” Take that for what it’s worth. Or take it as a huge smokescreen to cover up the Niners intentions to sign the injured and fragile Peyton. Frankly, I don’t care very much. It was BSPN fodder for a couple weeks, and provided blog frenzies here and all over the internets.

Either way, the money was a pretty big obstacle to deal with. Sign Manning, and you really limit what you can do going forward. Is it worth one possible Super Bowl season to mortgage the future of the team suddenly weakened by an onerous salary, and a guy who has about a 3% chance to fullfill his deal? Smith said he would have stayed had Manning signed, but that sounds like another load of what Harbaugh was selling.

Still and all, they made the right choice.

Dashon Goldson, the mercurial free safety, is making noise like he isn’t going to sign his $6.2 million franchise tender. The 2 sides are apparently nowhere near being close on a contract extension, and he already scoffed at the 5/$25 mill offer he got last year. I’m sure, coning off his pro bowl year, that he wants more in the order of 5 years and $40 million.

Good luck with that, Hawk. Goldson, who is the definition of inconsistent, will not get that kind of coin from the Niners. Safeties are easier to find than CBs, and besides, the Niners scored big time last year, getting Donte Whitner and Carlos Rogers off the 2nd tier free agent pile, and drafting Chris Culliver last year. This year they also have Trenton Robinson from Mich St, and Michael Thomas from Stanford, who are both up and coming guys. Beyond that, Goldson’s play, to me has been so hot and cold as to be infuriating. He had a great year last year, but his play in the NFC Championship game was indicative of the problems he causes. He broke up 2 ints by teammates, and nearly killed Tremaine Brown on the 2nd one. That one was maddening because the play was in front of him, and he should have backed off and let Brown make the play. Instead, he went for the highlight reel hit and ended up injuring his teammate.

That is his style though. He makes big plays, but follows that with missed breakups, bad angles, and missed tackles. He has had long stretches of not playing very well surrounded by a hot 5 game stretch in 2009, and last season’s breakout year. Yes, he made the pro bowl. Yes, he had 6 picks. But, he was helped in no short measure by the immensely improved pass rush, and the retooled secondary around him. Do I think he’s a good player?  Sure. Do I think they should drop a 5/40 deal on him? By all means no. He tried the hardball route last year, and came back with his tail between his legs and signed for $2 mill. He’ll end up like dear old Aubrayo Franklin did. Off the team, a free agent, and scrambling for half the coin he thought he was worth.

They have other options in-house right now, and would not miss him too terribly if he decides to sit out this year. They have other players to sign to long-term deals (hello, NaVorro). i mean, the Saints without Brees are in much more a world of hurt than the Niners without Goldson.

Due to the new CBA, the byzantine OTA rules are as clear as the Mississippi mud. I don’t think players can hit each other yet, but they can LOOK pissed as they pretend. I think they can wear helmets, but no pads. Not much news out of those. But apparently LaMichael James and AJ Jenkins struck up a friendship at the NFLPA rookie premiere camp, whatever that is. 

Other than that, Kyle Williams is trying his damnedest to stick with the team. If he can stay, fine. I just don’t want to see him fielding punts. The guy IS fast, but had trouble getting separation for long stretches of time last year. The WR field is now crowded, but he could stick as the 4th WR behind Randy, Mario, and Crabs. Jenkins? Well, he’s going to find his way into the mix. How much remains to be seen. The Niners likely keep 5 WRs so, he’ll probbably stick. If anything, he’s not shying away from his disastrous NFC Championship game. I like the kid, but shit, what coulda been is almost too hard to think about, even now.

Other than that, hopefully no one gets hurt in these non-contact sessions.

In a bit of very bad news, Darius Fleming, the 5th round LB from Notre Dame tore his ACL in his first pro minicamp  last Friday. This wasn’t the nutcracker, or even a hitting drill, but a non-contact drill in which he came down awkwardly on it. He tried to keep going, but it was obvious there was a problem. It is just the ACL, and nothing else that was damaged, so that’s a little bit of good news. However, he’s pretty much gone for the year. He had signed a 4 year deal worth $2.3 million the day before. Fleming was likely going to be a special teamer and back up, but this is a set-back in his development. Hopefully this is a blip in the future of his career.

In other news, Alex Smith’s mechanics are being given a thorough workover, and supposedly he is looking to stop sailing shit high and to the right. Smith had a great year last year, but there were times he was a little off on some throws. He has been working with Tom House, renowned pitcher and pitching guru for the Atlanta Braves, among others (Nolan Ryan ring a bell?). He has a doctorate degree in sports  psychology, and had been working with QBs for the past 10 years. Apparently he found a problem with Smith’s delivery where he was compensating for losing a little shoulder strength (due to the surgeries) by moving his head to the left. He rebuilt Smith’s delivery to get a better release point, saying Smith had a perfect delivery before the injuries, so it’s a matter of getting back to that point. He also developed an excersize plan to rebuild strength in that surgically repaired shoulder.

What does it mean? Well diddly-squat. Or it means a break out year. We’ll see when we get there, but with a vastly improved WR corps, and a motivated Crabtree, we should see a better passing game this year. The RG spot remains a concern for me since they are likely to be throwing more, so protection to allow these deep patterns to develop is key. They seem to be fine though with the undersized guys they have in Kilgore Trout, David ‘missing’ Person, and erstwhile backup Alex Boone.

. . . the 49ers filled out their roster with 17 undrafted invitees to be cannon fodder for the rest of the team to beat up on. There may be a few diamonds in the rough. Chris Owusu, the Stanford WR, could bump Michael Crabtree off the roster. Kidding, but you never know. Harbaugh’s all about competition, and he pulled a lot of beef out of the chaff. Garrett Celek could push his way onto the team if Walker walks. I won’t bore you with the details of their excellent pedigree, because likely there are only one or two that make the taxi squad, and one or two who make the team. But here they are in all their glory . . .

Know them now, and forget them later . . .

The draft is over, and the UDFAs are in camp, and soon the competition begins. The brain trust of Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke have done some fairly unconventional things these last few weeks. Topping the list is the ‘rewarding’ of Alex Smith, coming off his best year by far as a pro, with a make-good deal, and the interetsing move of bringing in Harbaugh’s old protege Josh Johnson. He of the USD Torereros in that fierce Pioneer League (1-AA), and more recently the TB Bucs.

One thing Harbaugh has stressed in his short time as the Niners coach is competition. He said every spot is up for grabs. However true this may be, one thing is sure. The defense is pretty well set for the foreseeable future. There won’t be too much competition there. Perrish Cox and Chrsi Culliver may be fighting for a CB spot, but not much more than that. This of course is predicated on Dashon Goldson signing his franshise tender some time soon. If he doesn’t, then there will be a little shuffling. Culliver played a lot of safety in college, so I don’t see much of a problem if Hawk pouts his way off the team.

Offense is a much different story. At QB you have the four-headed group of Alex, Cappy, Tolzie, and now JJ. As secure as Alex feels going in to camp, it has to be juuust a little unsettling that Harbaugh brought his young mentee into camp. That being said, I don’t really think that this move was directed at Alex. It was more a fire lit under Cappy’s ass. Granted, Cappy hasn’t gotten much chance to show what he’s got, but it makes the battle for the backup job all the more interesting. Shades of Nate Davis coming into camp and basking in the fun of being on an NFL roster. Cappy had his year of incognito-ness. Now he needs to bring it. Tolzein looks to be the odd man out, and he’ll likely get tossed on to the taxi squad. 

RB is interesting as well with the addition of Brandon Jacobs and LaMichael James.  These 2 additions cut in to the shelf life of at the least Anthony Dixon, and possibly Bruce Miller. If they keep the usual 5 backs, you have Gore, Hunter, Jacobs, James, and STer Rockfish. That leaves Dixon and Miller out in the cold. Harbaugh has said he may keep 6 backs, so that would likely be rookie surprise Miller.

WR is also a bunch of fun. Lone holdover Michael Crabtree all of a sudden isn’t the nominal #1 coming into camp. A camp that I think he actually attends. Crabs was obviously hedging his bet last year by not participating in the mini-Alex-happy-camps and calling it a foot injury due to his new shoes. It conveniently lasted all through the pre-empted preseason and camp. Shoe-gate was a joke, as was his bullshit treatment of Alex Smith before those camps started.  With the addition of Randy Moss, Mario Manningham, and the speedster AJ Jenkins, Crabs had better find some dedication to his craft, or get left behind in the dust. If he somehow pulls up lame for training camp, look for him to be traded halfway through the preseason games. Swett Brain and the soon-to-be-departed Kyle Williams don’t appear to be even a blip on the radar at this point, though Swain might stick around for ST duties.

The O line looks to have some changes happening to it. Chilly Chilo is out in the cold. The replacement there will be an ongoing fight amongst the undersized guys we have and a couple newcomers in the draft. The rest of the positions are fairly set and the competition there is the shuffling for backup spots.

Looks to be a very fun training camp this year.