I’m linking to my pop’s column on Gregg Williams’s pre-Niners-playoff-game rant, which I posted earlier. Some of my readers argued that it wasn’t so different from other defensive coordinator speeches – that it was business as usual in football. My dad, who’s been covering the sport for over 30 years, vehemently disagrees. To read his column, click here.
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L.Cohn is on point. Especially calling Williams a Coward!
And that’s the Whole Irony of this “Bounty Gate” isn’t it?
Here’s a DC talking Tough Talk to his Unit but the Reality is GW is nothing more than a Little Weasel because that’s all I can think of when I saw him on the sidelines on the last 49er drive to beat the Saints. His supposed furocious defense couldn’t stop the 49ers from beating his team. Alot of good that Tough Talk did eh?
GW IS a Coward!
Grant: It is not often that i agree with your father,but on this one he got it right. I hope Goodell comes down hard on this team. There is no place for coaches like this in the NFL.
Thanks Grant, please tell your dad that at least 1 of your followers loved it. I would have posted a comment but I don’t do Faceplace.
BTW: I don’t care if he helped you get your job, I’m glad you’re here.
On another note, the GW issue was great because it was the first time that my wife actually showed an interest in discussing any of the topics on a football blog.
Grant, please note I did not intend for my comment to come across as a slight on you. I am really glad that you have the job.
My intended point was I wouldn’t care if you & your family owned the SRPD. If I thought that you were handed the job and they fired Eric Branch in order for you to have the job of your dreams, it might skew my view on you until you proved yourself.
I have 4 49ers blog sites loaded on my Android phone web browser, I read each one everyday, but yours is set to my homepage. I reload more times than my wife would want me to because i know that something will be posted that I find interesting.
It Irks me when I read (or used to read) about how Lucky $&erm Jed got his job. Well LS Jed is proving to be the right man for the job. Just as I think you’re proving.
I wish that those that seem to hate you (or make hateful comments towards you). Would just go and find a sight that doesn’t compel them to slam you.
If you are a poster that doesn’t like Grant because he works at the same paper as his dad and you feel that it just isn’t fair, let me share one of the best lessons that I taught my children when they were young…Life IS NOT fair. If anyone that told you that it should fair they were lying to you.
Keep up the good work, you have tougher skin than I do.
Grant, please note I did not intend for my comment to come across as a slight on you.
My intended point was I wouldn’t care if you & your family owned the SRPD. If I thought that you were handed the job and they fired Eric Branch in order for you to have the job of your dreams, it might skew my view on you until you proved yourself.
I have 4 49ers blog sites loaded on my Android phone web browser, I read each one everyday, but yours is set to my homepage. I reload more times than my wife would want me to because i know that something will be posted that I find interesting.
It Irks me when I read (or used to read) about how Lucky $&erm Jed got his job. Well LS Jed is proving to be the right man for the job. Just as I think you’re proving.
I wish that those that seem to hate you (or make hateful comments towards you). Would just go and find a sight that doesn’t compel them to slam you.
If you are a poster that doesn’t like Grant because he works at the same paper as his dad and you feel that it just isn’t fair, let me share one of the best lessons that I taught my children when they were young…Life IS NOT fair. If anyone that told you that it should fair they were lying to you.
Keep up the good work, you have tougher skin than I do.
@MCofSaC, you can comment on Lowell’s blog. You don’t need to be on Facebook to comment anymore.
Dan, THANK YOU for that bit of info. I couldn’t understand why that was an earlier requirement.
I’m surprised that his own son didn’t provide me with it though.
Pamphilon says: ““We make no apologies for the way we play the game,” Williams said in a tone which suggested that he actually had the balls to put on a uniform and do the very things he was ordering his players to do, much less be on the receiving end of the blows he was ordering up.
I don’t have those balls.
You don’t have those balls.
And Gregg Williams most definitely does not have those balls.”
It seems like Lowell would agree with these words. Good column.
I agree with everything that your dad said in his article except for his comparison of Williams to Dracula. I’d say he compares to a combination of Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers.
Good point. Dracula did not look like Billy Jean King the way Williams does.
Grant, Thank you for the link. I grew up watching Bill Walsh coach the 49ers and was a young man when he went back to coach at Stanford. The glimpses into Walsh that your father provides are fantastic to read and listen to.
Have you read Rough Magic?
I have not heard of that before. Please explain.
Sorry, looked it up. That would be an awesome read. Where can I buy a copy?
On Amazon, used, for about a penny I believe.
Really… you should have provided more detail. I googled “Rough Magic” and now my wife is really pissed at me.
I was NOT searching for porn!
Thanks for the heads up Grant. Just ordered a copy, can’t wait to check it out.
With Payton’s appealing the suspension, can Goodell make the penalty tougher or is there something within league rules that would not allow that?
@msc
“I was NOT searching for porn!”
Come on now.
You are not a young pup. You should know that with a name like “Rough Magic” that is going to get some porn links to appear from your search results.
Bought Rough Magic when it first came out, even though I’m a Cal alum, because I am a 49er and Walsh fan. Great insight into Walsh, although, as I recall, Walsh wasn’t happy with it. Still have my copy, along with other books about the 49ers and Walsh.
Great read, especially good contrast with those bad boy Raiders!
But I think to Randy Cross twitter comment. Why does Randy think everyone is over-reacting? Well remember the Niner offensive linemen being notorious for their chop blocks? Everyone doing them knew they could injure defensive linemen easily with that blocking technique. And you have to believe that they knew the threat of injury clouded the defensive players minds, and helped the OL be more effective.
And if it did injure a player? Well that’s the price you pay to play the game. And so you have to believe that this was all part of Randy’s game during those days, and so now he scoffs at all the publicity because that’s how they played the game.
I think Randy Cross and Lowell are actually saying the same thing but from a different angle or point of view. And Cross hasn’t had a chance to extend on what he said, from what I can tell.
The point is that coaches are tough (or they try to act tough anyway,) they’re trying to instill a sense of toughness and discipline. Some things in this rant are fairly boilerplate that you’d find anywhere, I used to call it “coach smoke.” I think that’s Cross’s point in the Tweet and he’ll get a chance to extend and clarify those remarks, I’m sure. But he’s saying that a lot of that stuff is said all over.
Where it goes beyond (and stuff I never heard as a young man playing organized sports) is advocating cheating essentially. There’s sort of an unwritten rule about going after a guy’s knees, for example, even in the lower levels of football. Kind of like being a pitcher on a baseball team – you’re not coached to drill a hitter.
I agree 100% with Lowell. Toughness and discipline are part of the game. The physical violence is part of the game. Unfortunately injuries happening is also a part of it. But the second you have some clown turning in into what Williams turned it in to? It’s just wrong.
Victory is only sweet in sports if it’s an honorable one. That’s why you have players that want to play against Brees and the Manning brothers, etc. In order to be the best, you have to beat the best in a fair fight.
My guess is a very small percentage of the players out there are dirty enough to actually contemplate what Williams is asking them to do. It goes against the idea of self-preservation as a player. If you go out and try to do that stuff you lose all respect and you’ll have guys gunning for you in the same way for payback. It happens.
I sure would like to hear from some of these players though. They need to man up and reject this kind of crap.
That was a great article Lowell wrote. Hit the differences in motivational tactics and intent to injure perfectly.
The minute you single out a player and refer to an area of the body you want your players to “take out”, you’ve crossed the line of competition and moved on to thuggery. This guy should never be able to Coach this game again at any level.
Actually, I don’t believe that opposing defensive linemen were ticked off because of chop blocks, it was the leg whips that got ‘em pissed…..
Spot on article…good job by your dad, Grant
The Niners-Saints game was epic even before we heard Williams’ vile speech; now that we’ve heard Williams’ rant, the game must be considered one of the greatest of all time, all things considered. Chalk one up for the Good Guys.
Good guys?! Are you people insane?! Only one player was knocked out of that game and his name is Pierre Thomas. Would love to have heard what was talked about in the 49er locker room before that game. You’re all a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites!
Marlin Perkins says: “Here we see an angry Saints fan in his native habitat. I’ll sit here on shore while Jim tackles this internet troll”
The 49ers D was looking for the hard hits while the Saints D was looking for ACLs and concussions. Your logic on who the good guys were during that game is severely flawed Tim.
Marlin Perkins says: “Here we see an angry Saints fan in his native habitat. I’ll sit here on shore while Jim tackles this internet troll”
Hahahahaha. Oh man!! I use old Perkins all the time in the same way. Hilarious.
Poor Jim. “Jim is on a boom seat attached to the Rover. He’ll attempt to wrestle the angry rhino as it charges toward him.”
Ha! Good stuff. A man after my own heart.
“Only one player was knocked out of that game and his name is Pierre Thomas.”
From… a legal hit. It was brutal (and I even questioned it at the time) but it was legal.
I agree Tim, fans want it both ways, all the violence all the big hits, but nobody wants to deal with the result or the stories about it. Fans are total hypocrites myself included.
It was a legal hit. I’ll tell you what they were talking about, it was all the cheap blitzs the Aints threw at the 49ers in preaseason game number 1. For further cheapness go back and watch the Saints v. Vikings Championship game, then count how many cheap shots the saints put on Favrew. All of this would make you sir an ignorant hypocrite.
Last I checked, the guys that your dear buddy Gregg wanted to injure were doing good works this offseason for others (see, e.g., Alex and Vernon). Your hero coaches were lying to the league trying to save their hides. That game couldn’t have ended better. The good guys did win. Go home and cry, but YOU LOSE.
Get over it Tim… had Brett Favre’s career ended because of the hits put on him during the playoff game, and if some of the things GW spoke of in his rant come to pass vs the ’9er’s and serious injuries occured as a result, and this information comes out after the fact…..what happens then? Fortunately, those things didn’t happen….but for a coach to pay a cash reward out to a player for a debilitating, and targeted hit, goes beyond the parameters of tough hard nosed defensive football……the Saints fans are pushed out of shape because they got caught…not once, but three times. How stupid are Payton and Loomis? Caught by the NFL, told to stop. Caught again, lied to the Commish, saying it wasn’t going on, when in truth it was…caught for the THIRD time, and now they’re trying to make nice with the league. If you wanna be pissed at somebody, look no further than the ‘leadership’ of the Saints…they let the fans down, not Rodger Goodell.
I have no remorse for that man. what he said has now come to light and he an his family will have to face this sadly (for his family NOT FOR HIM) !
ONE QUESTION? HOW can the nfl disapline a whole defensive team ? You could fine them but is that not just a slap on the wrist.
Why not ban the team from post season for ths year, i mean is was essentially an organization known bounty program being led for 3 seasons !
The sad part is so many of the players are young and have no real maturity of mind to uderstand the situation, its almost like brain washing a child. which makes me cringe when williams brought out the father card :/
I find that the most interesting part is how many retiredveteran players are coming out and are openly stating their disgust for williams verbage and openly malicious intent!
(1) coaches have been dealt with as for williams never to coach in nfl again and gluck finding a job
(2)take a page from the mlb -slight twist-and remove saints owner and sell the team to a legit owner ! is that possible ?
(3)since u cant really punish some defensive player-how to tell ?they were all in on meetings and pre game “hurahs” were they not ?ban the team is season from post season regardless of record
For the first time in a long time. I completely agree with your dad. Thanks for the link.
…Is this a 49er blog or the Cohns family blog?…..I would think the 49ers travelling to Denver to face Manning and the Broncos in their third exhibition game (or the preseason schedule released) is news enough that deserves a post……..are “we” still mad at the gut thinking about Manning or are “we” just too lazy to write something not Alex….
You should try English when you post.
Morse Code is a form of English.
…Nah …it is overrated…..idiomatic expressions are much thought driven…..something you should give a try.
are much thought driven?
LMAO!!! You got told onesie!! hahaha!!
This is a 49er blog and when another team acts with criminal intention to injure our players and damage the integrity of the game it should be a national and local focus of discussion.
Maybe you’re too lazy to write something worthwhile or with proper structure.
oneniner – Tell me what you and Gregg Williams are drinking tonight?
The Cohn family gets it, what’s your deal?
Did DS capture your keyboard from you?
When you do all the ellipses in your sentences I translate it to William Shatner’s voice in my head. You know the exaggerated pauses in between words?
Or maybe it’s how Jim Carey mimics Shatner. I’m not sure.
We… must… find… a… solution… quickly.
Oh hell Adam, now I will read all of oneniner’s posts in William Shatner voice.
I will not soon forgive you for this.
@msc
jg does it as well.
I’ve been listening to some public domain audio books (the librivox stuff) up at archive.org and there’s this one guy that reads books that has the exaggerated pauses down to perfection.
“…and then… she turned… and… swiftly… left the room…”
Kind of drives me nuts.
LOL
@Adam
““…and then… she turned… and… swiftly… left the room…”
Kind of drives me nuts.”
Perhaps the audio tape was meant for somebody who was learning English and needs that extra split second (or 100 in the case of THE CAPTAIN KIRK) to process the spoken word.
Just a thought.
It’s just this one guy’s speech pattern. Don’t want to write his name and out him as he’s a volunteer with Librivox so that’s pretty cool and all.
But damn… he out-Shats the Shat. :P
2008 draft class
Rd 1 DE Kentwan Balmer
Rd 2 G Chilo Rachal
Rd 3 S Reggie Smith
Rd 4 C Cody Wallace
Rd 5 pick forfeited for tampering
Rd 6 WR Joshua Morgan
Rd 7 LB Larry Grant
We really F-d this draft up, the one pick that would have been positive was Morgan, unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of the ROI last year ……
Almost as bad as the 2005 draft
Did you forget about the 2003 draft? That was much worse Msclemon. Kwame Harris, Ken Dorsey, etc.
I have blocked 2003 from my memory. That year never happened.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Goodnight.
Only…player…left…is…Larry…Grant…
Would that be possible for the nfl to ban a team from post season regardless of record ? Or would that cause a huge controversy ?
Regarding the Greg Williams and Saints scandal, they should suspend the whole damn New Orleans team for a year. Look everyone knows that pro football is a violent game but to dial it up like this and no one on offense in the locker room or on the coaching staff doesn’t know what’s going on. I’m sorry, but it makes me want to wretch! Send a clear message! These men who play this sport get paid well – that is not in dispute but they should not be subject to hit contracts as part of their compensation. I wouldn’t let Greg Williams work in a sports store let alone coach anything resembling football. The man is a sociopath. Maybe he could get a job in Australia coach rugby.
Rugby (whether you are referring to League or Union) is no dirtier than the NFL, and any coach that preached the same rubbish as Greg Williams wouldn’t be tolerated. He has no place in any sport.
I suspect you felt the same way when they told you Santa Claus was not real, that the Easter Bunny was a way to generate revenue in the second quarter, or that wrestling was fake.
A majority of the people who have heard this feel the way you do. It is because the game they love doesn’t fit their moral compass. This is the NFL today.
I think we should be encouraged that this outrages so many people because maybe we aren’t so morally inept afterall.
..Alex looks hungry and ready for the season, modeling the 49ers’ new Nike uniforms…….check it out at 49erswebzone.
No doubt oneniner …he looks freekin’ tough!!! I hope he comes out playing as tough as he looks in that picture!!
Onelame is going camping. And he’s got his tent pitched up already after looking at the doctored photo of smith. It goes to
Show that your previous two posts were so ridiculous you have to go back to what you know and love. Your pathetic onelame and everyone knows you….. Should …. Stick…. To….. Smith….. Your not a 9er fan……king smither. Wheew
I … am … so… excited … about…. Alex … this … season… hopefully… he… will………………kick some …..GO NINERS
Chi….LMAO
I like how Brodie sports a tan and got ripped.
#12 never looked so good. :P
Man, it’s getting all King’s Speech up in here.
The Greg Williams threads are ready for life support. Time for some 49er talk.
Ya lets talk about drinking pepsi in India, that’s a hotter current topic!
Gregg Williams threatened VD, MC, KW, AS and Frank Gore’s careers!
Get your breakfast muffin and STFU!…………STFU!
You can do better than that, I used to be a boxer, I boxed oranges.
Nepotism much?
Man, you have no idea what these evil Cohns are up to.
Truly sinister.
Hmmm. I’m a little stuck on the whole head shot quotes. Is this quote being taken out of context? Williams states, “If you kill the head, the body will die”. Then he goes on to say, “take out the head, take out the head” (or something to that effect). So, is this something along the lines of, “If you cut off the snakes head, the body will die” To me that could mean, stop Gore and or VD and Smith (the head) the body (the 9ers) will die? And not literally going after Smith’s head.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, Williams is a slimey peice of $#*! and I pray he gets banned for life, but some of this stuff shouldn’t be taken out of context or blown out of proportion. It was just somethin that caught my attention after hearing the audio then reading Pops’ take on G.Williams suggesting the saints D do a little head hunting. Honestly, the only things that grinded my S*** about this whole rant was Williams suggesting that they test out Kyle’s concussed head and gun for Crabs’ ACL. No cool, man. Not cool at all.
how about hit the player, coaches and spectators on the sideline!
They were the visiting team of course they want the crowd out of the game. It brings credibility back to the head shots were out of context. He certainly wasn’t telling his players to run into the stands and take a fan out…
I agree the head is being taken out of context and is why I believe the release would have helped the Saints appeal. The reporter who leaked in the tape had no right to do so, so none of it will be admissible.
Sort of reminds me of the Zimmerman scandal. Splice the tape so that it looks like Zimmerman was saying something racially charged when in fact all he was doing was answering the operators questions.
The guy releases the audio with all sorts of inflammatories and igniters while emphasizing cheap shots that are clearly out of context.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I will… here is an interesting article on where one NFL.com writer ranks the NFL qb’s http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8281b796/article/quarterback-rankings-eli-manning-tops-list-heading-into-2012?module=HP11_content_stream
Alex is rated 25th out of 32 according to this outsider.
Shoup,
Looks accurate to me. I’d certainly take all those other QB’s before I would Smith. I can’t see why any other G.M. wouldn’t
Your dad was 100% correct Grant. What really bugs me was his specific statement with intention to hurt people! such as rolling VDs ankle with a bullrush! or traget Frank Gores head or Alex Smiths chin although it is illegal to do so in the NFL! How about hitting the specific player, coaches and spectators on the side line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so this guys was actually promoting his defense to hit other people that were not even playing in the GAME! what an A*****. I wonder how he would feel if another coach put a bounty on him while he was standing on the sideline or any of his family if they were visiting and just standing on the sideline with his team! Send this guy to the Jail and he must never be able to come back to the NFL. Sorry but my blood is boiling after hearing the audio tape. GO NINERS
Yeah man. That crap about taking shots on the sideline was a bit much, especially considering how Payton got injured earlier in the season on what probably wasn’t an intentional play.
Lowell’s point about the apology was kinda right, but I don’t see how Williams could not have offered up an apology. Invoking fatherhood certainly seemed hypocritical though. The comparison/contrast with the Raiders was a point worth making.
Darren Woodsen, a fellow with some NFL credibility, said he was OK with 95% of what Williams said, yet he said he never in his career heard coaches talk like that other 5%. He pointed out that Crabs didn’t have a knee injury or history of one, but here’s a DC targeting his ACL. There have been some Hellacious tough defenses over the years; Ravens, Bears, Steelers, 49ers that hit hard and often but didn’t resort to cheap shots. Anyone ever accuse Butkis? Single tray or Dent? Joe Greene or Lambert? Ray Lewis? Ronnie Lott? Matt Millen? Any of those guys cheap shotters? Nah.
WHY?
I don’t read Lowell column. I quit reading his whiny drivel 20 years ago.
Please write your own column. MM and EB write there own.
You seem kinda jumpy, little fella.
I’ve been considering how much this whole bountygate activity might be going on in the NFL. I would not have believed it is prevalent but after considering a few things I think there might be some teams who do engage in this type of activity. Apparently, Gregg Williams had a history of instituting bounty programs at previous teams. Williams was the Titans DC for 3 years under Fisher. Jeff Fisher hired his close friend and longtime associate to coach the Rams defense after the 2011 season. There’s no way Fisher was not aware of Williams bounty approach on other teams. Look at the Titans under Fisher. I watched them several times a year and they were easily the dirtiest team in the league. Cortland Finnegan and Kyle Vanden Bosch always hit late, went after heads, and took out knees. Did Fisher have a bounty program? Jim Schwartz with the Lions was a longtime coach under Fisher. Ndamakung Suh is turning into a dirty player. There have been multiple accusations that the Lions have tried to intentionally injure opposing players. Is Schwartz running a bounty program?
I really think the league needs to investigate Fisher and Schwartz and take appropriate action if they continued the bounty program Williams may have started in Tennessee. If they find anything, then the punishment for them should be just as severe as it was for the Saints.
I’d like to think it’s not typical around the league, but DC’s are people. You have good ones and you have bad ones. I think it would be a great line of questions for the players to see if they think its common lingo around the league.
Also, can we please stop adding “-gate” as a suffix for scandals. It’s unoriginal and not very clever. Most people probably don’t even know where the “-gate” came from in the first place.
I say if you want to do something clever to label a scandal then find some mystery movie or tv show and rename it. Like “Gregg the Bounty Maker” or “Mutiny on the Saints Bounty”. See there its easy, go do that.
The saints are basically Ivan Drago
Most of the articles in the national press seem to minimize what happened by leaving out specifics.
- The coach specifically named the 49ers with concussions and urged post whistle head shots on those very same players.
- The coach told the players to injure Crabtree’s ACL (usually a career ending injury for a receiver)
- The coach made dollar signs and also indicated he would pay player fines during his tirade.
- All these urgings were emphatic and profanity laced. The coach was challenging his players to injure specific 49ers post whistle.
- All this occurred after the Saints were informed there was a bounty investigation.
If Goodell didn’t know about this most recent bounty against 49er players, additional penalties and sanctions MUST be implemented.
At least… Suspend head coach Peyton for an extra season (or longer), and forfeit a future draft pick to the the 49ers.
I agree the Saints should be more harshly punished, but I believe it should be in terms of salary cap restrictions. Dock them $10 million or so off the salary cap for a few seasons. That will speed up the process of cleaning out and getting rid of players that have bought into Williams’ thuggery, while also sufficiently impacting their capability of winning for a few seasons.
Also, why should the 49ers get a draft pick from the Saints? This goes further than one game – you can’t give extra picks to every team the Saints played against where bounties were offered.
The problem with the article is that former players are coming out on the nfl website and saying just the opposite. Clearly reporters only see the facade that the team wants them to see. Occassionally there might be a slip up, but ultimately, reporters do not get behind the facade unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
Having been a part of a high school team, a college team, and a semi-pro team, I can say that these speeches aren’t that far off from what I have heard first hand when it was team and coach in the room.
I think there are ugly truths behind every job that no one wants out in the public eye. If you think your emergency room doctor has your best interests in mind, just show up with an 80 year old medicare patient who isn’t ever leaving his respirator.
If you think you police department has your best interest in mind, ask for an officer to investigate a vandalism.
If you think your fire department has your best interest in mind, call tell them there is a slow drip coming from the fire hydrant at the end of your street.
We all have bosses and we all have to do things we might not morally subscribe to.
Carlos Rogers sticking up for Williams: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AjFBW4mGwXC5PVr6khXqmzxDubYF?slug=nfp-20120406_carlos_rogers_comes_to_defense_of_gregg_williams
I am glad williams was not the same tool as the recent years but his speech should promote NFL to take every action possible to prevent any team from targeting players with specific focus to hurt them such as going for their heads, ACL or chin! What happen to the good old physical game of football. If you want to stop the other team then you play as a team with a great game plan as well as out playing the other players! GO NINERS
agree with Rogers. Every team is trying to out physical, out intimidate and win the psychological battle out there. EVERY team, including our Niners. Just play back the games where Goldson lays the wood on folks…. Same thing.
Williams just got carried away with his language and certain details. It’s a violent sport folks. Williams will however be made an example of.
Williams is a criminal and should go to Jail
I think he’d have been fine if he’d said something like, “Crabs has a history of foot injuries, test him out and see if he can run.”
When it gets to the point where the guy is basically advocating taking the guy’s knee out though? That’s not good.
What Rogers is missing though when he says the players started this for things like interceptions, etc., is that the coach warped this in to pay-for-injury and that they let at least one clown off the street drop money in to this thing.
Coach smoke is normal, but the idea that you’re setting up mercenaries to potentially ruin a guy’s career is something else.
Completely agree with you Adam
OK this is boring now, how about Mock 2.0
I second that motion.
The entire Gregg Williams thing is a joke. Williams is just nuts. Move on. I did, however, put my life savings into Gregg’s paypal account with the message 86-11. Guess 6 bucks didn’t do the trick. My heart was in the right place, though.
And in other news of the world that makes Niner blogs sing, the evil one, number 11, was just ranked by the NFL Network as better than J Russell, but worse than Colt McCoy, which really isn’t fair to the potential that J Russell had. I mean where are all the J Russell excuses? Alex sure gets a ton of them, but nobody was making excuses for J Russell. Why? Because he’s black. I mean, J Russell could at least throw a football without Ducks Unlimited dying of dehydration from the loss of so much drool.
J Russell and Alex Smith – another reason why it pays to be white.
Sorry, but CR is missing the concept of ‘gun for hire.’
I have no issues with coaches firing their players and telling them to hit them hard. Telling them where to hit them (inflicting certain injury) is where GW crossed the line.
Alex Smith and J Russell are essentially the same quarterback, but one got an entire fan base behind him making a myriad of different Alexcuses because he’s a white boy with character …. and the other got Art Shell. You put J Russell on the 49ers right now, and give J Russell a Stair Master, a DVD on Sweetin’ to the Oldies with Simmons, and a hypnotist who keeps J Russell off the cough syrup, and we’re hoisting number six in SF, baby. “Alex drops back to pass…. wait, was that a punt? That baby went end over end….”
Yeah, you said that already. Got it.
J Russell = Alex Smith. Just makin’ sure.
i appreciate the senior Mr Cohn’s perspective, with me not having been in a locker room for about 30 yrs.
i’d like to think there are more Walsh’s than Williams out there, but am going to guess there are other Williams’ in the league.
yes football is not war, it is a business, but its about the most violent business anyone could ask to be part of. and we tune in and enjoy some elements of that violence every sunday. one wonders what goes thru the conscious minds of fans as we watch, not to mention the unconscious. I for one was both dismayed and exhilarated when Whitner leveled Pierre Thomas. Dismayed that a fellow human may have been seriously hurt…and exhilarated that a member of “the opposition” may have been hurt.
if we think this is the worst that lies in the hearts of men – and women – then we are kidding ourselves. this is a ritualized conflict, and its played by rules that – even at their worst – look like a little girl’s tea party compared to the real thing.
this doofus, williams, told his guys to go after Gore (smart, at least from a tactical standpoint), Alex, and Crabs (really? Crabs is worth singling out? glad to hear it!). so he’s been unveiled as the doofus coach who will urge his players to play dirty to win a game. lets not overreact to it. we’re not talking about Srebrenica here.
…but it does give us all a chance to get back on our soapboxes ;-)
Here is another take on the Williams tape.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2012/04/05/the-gregg-williams-tape-inciting-the-saints-targeting-the-49ers-exposing-a-games-inherent-brutality/
There is a big difference between how offensive and defensive coaches approach the game, and while I agree wholeheartedly that Williams crossed the line, the way he was addressing the team is not that much different than in many other defensive meetings across the NFL or college landscape.
What I’d like to know is what week will Josh Johnson actually takes over as the starting qb for the SF Niners? I mean, Alex Smith couldn’t even beat out Troy Smith, and Troy Smith is out of the NFL now. Josh Johnson has one of the quickest releases in football, and is far more mobile than Alex. Harbaugh called Johnson, “The most athletic quarterback I’ve ever coached.” And I’m pretty sure Josh Johnson can throw a deep ball better than Alex, which is right up Randy Moss’ alley. You don’t bring in Moss to have Smith throw up wounded ducks. I don’t know that JJ can connect better with Moss because I haven’t seen his deep ball, but anything is better than Alex’s deep ball. So JJ has a faster release, is more mobile, more capable of throwing the deep ball and let’s just throw in there more accurate while we’re listing the things JJ is better at. Why? Because Alex Smith isn’t accurate on anything outside the numbers or beyond ten yards. I’ll give Smith one thing, though – Smith can complete the wheel route. Trouble is, the NFL will be onto that next year. I’m betting JJ takes over by week 6.
Probably around week 24 or so.
Maybe week 28.
I would put the odds 60/40 that Alex Smith responds, improving the offense and thereby leading this team to its 6th World Championship.
Well, the odds makers in Vegas don’t agree with your optimism – with Smith at the helm it’s 20-1 odds. With Manning they were 4-1, or something like that.
Smith isn’t going to improve on last year’s performance. Smith has tapped-out his talent level under Harbaugh. The league knows Smith can’t throw deep, and that linebackers and safeties can let the deep receiver not run completely free, but free enough to where they target the dump offs underneath to Vernon and Frank. That’s Smith game. But the dump off underneath doesn’t work in the redzone because there isn’t as much room to work underneath . This is why David Akers just set a Niner record for points in a season.
For Smith to improve in 2012, he’ll need to throw for 4,000 yards and 25-30 touchdowns. In comparison, the best qbs in the league last year threw for 5,000 yards and 35-50 touchdowns. Asking Smith to throw for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns isn’t asking too much, but when you put pressure on Smith, he’ll force things and instead of his touchdowns increasing, his INTs will increase.
All the Alexcuses are gone. The coordinator is the same, the receivers are much better, and the O line is wiser. Smith can’t just “kinda” improve on his 2011 numbers, there needs to be a considerable spike for him to keep Josh Johnson off the field. Smith’s redzone and 3rd down efficiency is terrible. Always has been.
Happy Friday Faithful and Cohn Family. And Heck Ill even throw in a Happy Easter to you all also. CHEERS!!!!!
Thanks MD, back at ya!
Ray Ratto kills me sometimes:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/football-san-francisco-niners/niners-talk/Recording-dooms-Saints-appeals-?blockID=683366&feedID=2800
Snarky, but I like it! :)