Yesterday I asked Jim Harbaugh about the percentages of coach involvement in the offensive game planning on a weekly basis, and surprisingly, Harbaugh said it’s primarily a Greg Roman production.
If the 49ers offense has a bad game, that means Roman missed or misread something when analyzing his opponent during his game planning.
Bill Walsh was the sole game planner in his first tenure at Stanford and for the Niners, and when he had an “off week,” the offense was brutal, and he would admit it.
Later, Bill began to modify his thought process and was more open to contributions from his assistants, especially if they had been with him for a while and his “trust” of them grew.
If you were a head coach, would you want a one-man game plan or collaboration?
I would want collaboration. No one coach, even Bill Walsh or Mike Holmgren, has the market cornered on ideas of how to attack a defense or how to best design a play for a matchup against a cornerback.
You cannot see and think of everything all the time, and each coach has a different thought process that needs to be tapped and cultivated.
Secondly, when the other offensive assistant coaches do not contribute to the game plan, you are stifling their creativity as well as motivation for delving deeply into the opponent.
Also, the majority of assistant coaches have come from other teams, and by asking them to assist in game planning and contributing ideas, you are drawing not only on their wealth of ideas but also the ideas that their fellow associates had when they were with other teams. Your circle of knowledge, so to speak, grows geometrically, not arithmetically, not only about attacking a particular defense and its coordinator but also about their personnel, because each team has scouts who write weekly reports on the strengths and weaknesses of each opposing team member.
The position coaches always know best the strengths and weaknesses of the players who they coach and with whom they meet every day. Why not draw on those assets?
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Grant,
Vernon Post was a play designed by Chryst according to Harbaugh. Of course all the assistants have a say, but the final offensive plan is the responsibility of Roman, and approved by Harbaugh. You are kidding yourself if you think Roman is doing this in a vacuum without contributions from the other assistants.
Jack,
I agree with you.
That’s one play. I’ve never heard that tight ends coach Reggie Davis has contributed a play to the game plan, and I specifically asked Harbaugh that yesterday..
Grant,
Roman is the Coordinator. Of course it is his production as Harbaugh called it, but do you really think he sits in the room and doesn’t take input from the other assistants, players or Harbaugh himself?
You keep bringing up that they never targeted Davis, and now that you have been able to watch the film you realize that those routes you questioned him on where in the plan.
It all comes down to the QB on where to go with it once it is snapped. Roman should realize the 49er offense is at it’s best when he limits the number of times he puts the ball in Smith’s hands. The 2nd half was a perfect example of this.
That’s true, but Vernon is the most talented player on the offense. They have to brainstorm new plays for him. He should not be the third-leading receiver on the team.
Davis has the 2nd most targets on the team, and he doesn’t go out on every pass play.
Davis plays more snaps than the wide receivers.
Go back and watch the first play of their 2nd possession. Smith has Davis open with no one within 5 yards of him, and he never even looks at him.
The calls are there, they are open, and the ball doesn’t go there.
Grant,
Davis also stays in to block on more pass plays than any wide receiver. Even with only 1 WR last year he was second on the team in receptions. Now they upgraded that position, did you expect his opportunities to increase?
WRs are rotated in and out every play….of course VD has more snaps. The plays are not the problem. I see VD open on a handful of plays nearly every game. The question is why doesn’t the QB? The play design is not the culprit in regards to VD’s production.
Vernon says defenses are taking away his explosive plays. Roman has to draw up new ones.
Grant,
No he doesn’t. If they take Davis away it opens up others, and it is up to Smith to hit them.
Jack, yes he does. The Seahawks were taking away the wide receivers. It should have been easier to get Davis the ball.
Grant Cohn is Alex Smith hurt/finger?
Even when Smith had Davis open he did not throw it to him. Do you blame Roman for that?
No, but Davis will be open most of the time on a stick route. That’s easy. Where is the Stick Nod? Where are the option routes? When will Roman motion Davis outside the flanker? Roman can do more with Davis.
Ultimately with help or not, it is up to GR to get the playmakers involved. Some of those things are true, but they still need to keep going back to the most dynamic player on offens,e and that is up to GR to call his number. VD should not be the 3rd leading receiver on the team. If the NYG and Seahawk devise ways to take VD out of the offense, then GR needs to make adjustments at half and each week. We haven’t see those adjustments yet.
Well put, Hofer.
Hofer,
The adjustment this week was to get the ball underneath to the RB’s, and then Walker.
As for getting the ball to certain players Roman is at the mercy of Smith to get it to them. This isn’t a Roman problem, it is a Smith problem.
Also, you say Davis shouldn’t have the 3rd most catches. Did you expect his numbers to increase with the additions of MM and RM?
Jack Hammer, if teams are lining up their defenses to take away Davis, as VD himself admitted, what is Alex suppose to do, force the throw?
There is only a certain amount of routes a TE can run. Unless they start spliting him out, or in the back field, how many different routes can a TE run from the lone of scrimmage.
If anything Alex needs to continue to take what the defense gives him. No need to force throws, just make the ones that are open.
Jack, just rating their play as a playmaker, who is more dynamic between MM, MC, and VD? Who has the most touchdowns the last three years? Who has the best chemistry with the starting QB? It is GR’s job to get those two connected early and often. One drop or miss isn’t the end of the world, but you have to keep going back to VD during the game. Are you telling me that bringing in the QB shuffle is more imaginative then utilizing your best offensive weapon?
Axel,
Smith had Davis open a few times on Thursday and didn’t throw him the ball. There was no forcing needed.
Hofer,
You answer my question first. Did you expect Davis’ numbers to increase with the additions they made at WR?
Jack, I don’t think the WRs make a difference when discussing the number one playmaker on offense. If MM comes on board, then MC numbers go down. VD should be a staple of the offense similar to FG. If both are getting the ball, in most instances, the 9ers win.
You are probably right and is there a QB in the league besides Alex who wishes he could have certain plays back? Of course.
The over analyzing of plays should be left up to professional coaches. Its sounds like you guys are argueing hindsight situations.
If Roman and Harbaugh are seeing their QB miss obvious open receievers, then why is he still playing?
There are probably many reasons, ones that none of us can truly determine as the reason unless you are in the meeting rooms.
Hofer,
They won without Davis even being targeted.
Jack, they also won with AS missing KW deep and by missing RM in the endzone yet that hasn’t stopped anyone from critiquing his play.
If someone was to ask you what offensive system does GR run, what would you say?
Good question Hof. Its suppose to be the WCO and when they applied the WCO in its true form the walked down the field and got the TD. But these new fans dont like the checkdowns, but thats what the WCO is about checkdowns and running the ball.
Hofer,
The run game is a great mix of power and zone concepts and a passing game that uses play action and west coast concepts.
The topic of this post is does Roman need help coming up with ways to get the ball to Davis, to which I say no.
Simple yes/no question for you and Grant. Did you expect Davis’ numbers to go up with the additions at WR?
“Simple yes/no question for you and Grant. Did you expect Davis’ numbers to go up with the additions at WR?”
Jack, VD’s numbers should not come down. It’s about productivity. I said earlier that VD is the most dynamic player on offense. If he catches a pass or one of the WRs, based on history and performance, who can be more productive with that pass?
Hofer,
Just as I disagreed with you on some of the play calling after the Minnesota game, I disagree here. As you will see in my film session blog later this week, he had Davis open, but either missed him or chose to go elsewhere. This is a Smith issue, not a Roman issue.
Couldn’t agree with you more. I highly doubt Roman calls and designs every single play run by the offense. He may be the primary play caller but its unlikely that his voice is the only voice that matters when putting the game plan together. This is a real stretch, but I guess Grant has to write a story about something.
Actually, from what I recall of last season, Harbaugh had Roman assemble each gameplan off of information gained from (both) ffensive-staff related assistants, AND players. -Everybody had a contribution (which grew into everybody on all sides of the ball wanting to get involved in the offense).
Grant,
Another terrible post. I only dignify with a response because I dont want 49ers fans who are less informed contemplating nonsense such as this about their and my team. “Should he ask for help?”… No. He locks himself in a room at his house and brings the gameplan out on Sunday. Harbaugh and Chryst never seet it. Of course there is input from everyone. You ask a question looking for percentages of contributions; How would Harbaugh quantify that, and if he did, he certainly wouldn’t tell you.
Didn’t Roman say that he always collaborates with his position coaches? I think he made reference to it when they were in Youngstown/NY they were up all hours of the night game planning.
I believe you misinterpreted “Greg Roman production” as him doing it by himself which I don’t think is the case.
I think Harbaugh’s meaning is more that Roman is in charge of the offensive gameplan and not Harbaugh himself but his intentions weren’t to imply all the coaches didn’t have say or influence on what Roman did.
First of all Grant is just writing a story to entertain us so relax you snotty Niner fans. Second, please realize that it doesnt matter what the game plan is when the qb cant make the throws. #11 had two wide open td’s that we all saw him miss. He was something like 7-15 for 57 yards at the half and his throws over 10 yards were a horrible. UNDERSTAND SOMETHING!!! NFL teams are only as good as their qb. #11 is a great backup qb but he will never be a Superbowl qb. Enjoy the coaching wins and the beers until the playoffs come and then you can watch the real qb’s play.
Sincerely
A Niner Fan
Joe your an idiot. No.11 is just fine, dont need clueless fans like you to bring up old nonsense yr after yr. Seahawks made Tom Brady look like a backup not to long ago
Grant, I’m trying not to hate on you but you speak as If you were around bill Walsh in his hey day. Your source is your dad, so you should indicate as such.
Kuni
Settle down there, Last week D.Walker was Wide F***n open on a wheel route and Smith threw him the ball………and it was intercepted. He also threw a 55 yard bomb to Moss, was that downfield enough for you?
Ur about 3 weeks too late for the “AS doesn’t throw enough downfield” focus group and if u choose to track back check out one of claude balls post where he breaks it down quite nicely
Yep….and on the same play, Mario Manningham was open 10-15 yards over the middle on a seam route that would have gone for more. However, it’s way too easy for the us to comment or criticize when we’re watching the play on the tube….makes me wonder if the passing lanes at the line of scrimmage are there and if so, how long are they there. If the lanes are there and pressure isn’t a big threat and Alex chooses to check down rather than throw to an open receiver downfield, then it’s up to JH and staff to rectify that problem. If they don’t, shame on them.
well said
Absurd for one to even write that Roman somehow attempted this on.bb his own. Everyone contributes, its Romans job however to organize the flow or order that those packages are inserted throughout the game. This was routine at Stanford as well. Thats all Harbaugh meant by his comments, it was not a shot at Roman nor an excuse of himself.
Grant.
No. No more so than any other other OC. To me, that means “No”.
I don’t think Roman is going into a cave when he forms the gameplan. If so, then why bother with meetings? Roman is the guy that decides what to do with all the input others give him. That doesn’t mean he is a dictator.
Grant,
Harbaugh gives credit to his coordinators. But Roman may be the primary but there has always been input with the other coaches. As for Bill Walsh, were you around to witness Walsh and his coordinators develop a game plan for an up coming opponent?
Walsh was a mastermind and would ask defensive coaches how they would counter a certain play, but I have never read anywhere that other coaches have had as much input in the offensive game plan. Look at his disciples Holmgren, Reid, Gruden they all are control freaks bet they learned that from Walsh or someone whom learned under Walsh.
First, Grant is posting this to get a rise out of the readers – and it’s working!
Next, the buck stops w/ Roman. It is ridiculous to even remotely think he’ll formulate a game plan w/out in-depth discussion with his other coaches.
Finally, if you all think JH is going to tell the media anything that would give an inch of info of inner-team workings then PLEASE rethink it. If you haven’t been paying attention to his performance with the Media – the Peyton Thing, Alex Should be an All-Star, Crabs Best hands I’ve ever seen should be a reference point to start with
At some point you will all finally realize that the offensive passing games problems lead back to the guy who makes the decisions about where to throw the football. Alex Smiths vision of the field is atrocious. The offensive coordinator needs nothing but a new quarterback. Alex Smith has been overlooking open receivers for years. The receiving corps should be disgusted with him. The players respect the team first motto enough not to complain. Roman is fine. His quarterback is his problem.
Looks like the head coach and you are seeing two different QB’s wearing #11. Who do you think is right?
Axel,
Another Smith cult member with nothing to cheer about. Luckily we have a defense. They will carry Smith again this year until JH gets tired of this crap and benches him. JH doesn’t have time to babysit any more. We’re trying to win a Super Bowl here.
With a record of 5-2 and room to get better, that cat is one helluva baby sitter wouldn’t you say?
Its not a cult, its just actual fans that think like me, not sure what or how to classify you? Maybe a little, er, left handed?
I am a troll who cares if Im rigt
Jordan,
That’s the best post you’ve written since the one where you promised to leave the blog if Smith continued at QB! Good work!
Jordy…
Blah, Blah, Blah….same rant, different day. You disappoint me….after my witty post about taking your disdain for the 49er QB to the team HQ, I was taken aback by the lack of response from you. Surely, you read it, and you must admit that my suggestion was entertaining…with that said, I wanna pass along another idea as to how you can be heard by the powers that be. When you go 49er’s HQ, don’t be silent and rely solely on banners and posters, follow the example set by the OCCUPY movement… bring a bullhorn and chant, in unison with the minions….. ‘WHAT DO WE WANT?…. A NEW QUARTERBACK…WHEN DO WE WANT IT?… NOW!’ That, coupled with the banners flying high above the new stadium, tents and signs on the lawn in front of the 9er offices, should get the attention of Jim Harbaugh, Trent Baalke and Jed York…if not, you’ll just have to deal with the status quo….. Sorry I can’t be of any more help.
55,
The clock is ticking…………Have you been reading about the Niners nationally? The gig is up. Alex Smith is officially on the HOT SEAT!! You ramble so no, I don’t read your posts. I’m just campaigning for us a new QB. Trying to get us a Super Bowl! Whew!
No, don’t read the national media regarding the 9ers’s…don’t much care what the pundits think, care about their opinions…..the gig may be up, and if Alex is on the hot seat, so be it. As long as they keep on winning, I’m good with it….Oh, and I don’t consider my posts ‘rambling’….no more than you consider your posts ‘rambling’….touche’
Once kap gets his chance roman wont have to put up with this scrutiny.
Roman SHOULD be scrutinized. We abandoned the Run game(17 touches) against the Smurfs. Forced Smith to throw more Passes when we weren’t that far behind in the 2nd Half.
That was the same game plan they used for the Visqueen game.
This team could have a better record right now only we’ll never know because it was his bright idea to call predominately Pass plays against those two teams.
If he does that again I want his head. There was no reason to do that when you have the best Run game in the NFL.
I love it when people say we need to stop making excuses for the QB like they don’t make excuses for the OC, the OLine and the Receivers. Seems to me that any excuse I make for Smith in his defense no matter how legitimate they come back with with an excuse as to why Smith is the problem. What ever happened to DO YOUR DAMNED JOB and everything else will fix itself or be replaced? The excuse ratio is 4:1 in favor of his teammates with these clowns. “It’s okay for the Receivers to drop the Pass because Smith is the guy throwing them the ball, that would never happen if Kappy was the Starter. It’s okay to give up clean hits on the QB cause Smith holds the ball too long… It’s okay for Roman to call a bad game because Smith doesn’t understand the playbook… It’s okay for Kappy to take a Sack and leave the team in 3rd and Long instead of throwing it away cause he’s 100x better than Smith even when he’s only running a designed play…” Did I leave anybody out? Did I leave any inferred excuses out?
Smith threw 3 picks against the Smurfs. So what Manning threw 4 picks in one game. Brady threw a multiple Picks game this season too. Don’t even look at Rodgers cause he can’t bail you out of this argument either. How about Vick? The man is a turnover machine. He’s a double agent this year. They’re talking about replacing him because of it and for good Reason. Andy Reid’s job is on the line. Smith is 5-2 and has been 19-6 since the last game of the 2010 season. You really cannot blame 2010 on him. Singletary mailed in the game plan with the Smith/Smith carousel.
But yep let’s replace Smith cause he’s the problem. O.o
Ceadderman
I agree with much you wrote. Roman deserves criticism, just like JH.
But we are 5-2. And that means he’s made more right calls than bad ones.
I agree with your take on abandoning the run when it was working twice in a row against the Giants. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
We could have done to the Giants what we did against the Jets and Buffalo. We can run the ball. We shouldn’t stop until somebody stops us. Not because the WR’s are crying for more balls or some dorky reason (Ned to see AS prove himself).
If we play like we can, and the opponent plays to their best, we’ll win. We will only lose when we don’t stay true to what we are:
A team that believes in one another. A team that doesn’t care about individual performance. We only care about the team. We run the ball, then AS will pick you apart. Our D won’t miss tackles and won’t be caught out of position.
Add that all up, and we’ll win.
Ceadder,
Where do you find the time or the energy? You defend Dmith on every blog in the entire Bay Area. Then you still have the energy to go on ESPN and bleacher report. You are officially the president of the Smith Protection Team. It’s called the TSPT!! Congratulations. Your defense of him will be useless when he gets benched. So will your new job. How are you on bandwidth??? Bwahahahahahahaha!
BLAH BLAH BLAH, IM A TROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ill trade Alex Smith and a 4th rounder for Blaine Gabbeet!
I think you already traded your sanity, thank god you cant make decision for this team or it would be the same as the matt millen lions
The Niners had every opportuntity to draft him, they passed because they had Alex.
Now that we know that we made a mistake, we should call Jacksonville up and make a move. Lol.
Gabbert does not have a brain, he is all athlete, no sense of reading a defense and making good decisions. He just wants to wing it around. that will not work under Jim Harbaugh.
I’m still taking Gabbeet over Mr. Sore Finger.
You are not taking anyone cause you dont get to make those executive decisions. Your just a nobody like the rest of. The difference is, the rest of us know that Harbaugh makes very good decions. You dont agree with those decisions and that must be hard for a fan of the team when its head coach thinks completetly opposite of you. Trying times I would think.
Axel,
Thank you. You just put me in my place. You’re a genius. Axel can you play QB. I’d rather have you than Smith. Can you throw the deep ball? You sure are one smart fella. Open Try outs for the new Niners QB on Tuesday. Can you make it Axel? We need you!
No need to get angry 23Jordan/ We Need a QB! Im just saying Harbaugh has been pretty clear publicly and the field with indicating Alex Smith is the QB for the forseeable future. If that bothers you Im sorry, if you dont agree with it, you should take it up with hi. You will not find answers here with people who trust in the head coach.
Axel,
I’m not angry. I’m thankful. You just figured it all out. You’re the guy. Axels the man. Thanks Axel. You kids! Lol
Im glad we straightened that all out. You can change your screen name now, glad I could help.
Axel…. Harbaugh being clear that smith is the man? What other starting qb gets to play musical chairs? Just sayin.
They could of had Drew Brees too but they just drafted AS, and we didnot know at the time, he would be limited.
After 8 years, there is no defending Smith. Pull the plug Harbaugh and salvage the season!! Bench this bum!
That would be a bad idea. The only way Smith gets benched is if the turnovers come in waves and the defense starts getting soft, and or we start losing multiple games. Is this what your hoping for? Cause for Smith to get benched, a lot of bad things need to happen. Don think any fan would want that. Are you lefthanded?
You’d think that that crackhead thinks that we’re 2-5.
“Pull the plug and salvage the season!!!!, Ahhhhhhhhhhh the sky is falling the sky is falling, Calgon take me awaaaaaaay!!!”
I do have to say that the nice thing about Jordo’s insane rantings is that it’s good for a couple of laughs when I’m feeling blue. >.< lol
Ceadder,
Alex Smiths brother are you? Nice of you to look out for your big rother. Unfortunately, while you defend him on every blog in America, he’s being trashed on another one. Tell me, is his widdle fingar bwoken? He’s a bum and I can’t wait until your brother is on a bench with a clip board.
“Wha wha, wha wha-wha wha.”
No ma’am I didn’t catch that.
“Wha wha, WHA WHA-WHA WHA”
OOOOOOhhhh yes ma’am I think you’re right, that kid is on crack.
“Wha-wha…”
Yes ma’am.
Jordo, the lady said You’re Smoking Crack and to Stop it.
Can anyone tell me of one play or one completion that Alex Smith made that you don’t believe Kap couldn’t have made in the last 2 games?
The touch passes to the backs, Colin K has no soft touch.
Not to mention that Kappy hasn’t once Free Styled when he has had snaps. He runs Designed plays. ;)
The Niners will not pay their starting QB $8 mil to throw checkdowns to Frank Gore. Alex Smiths days are numbered. Dead man walking!
Roman did say yesterday that Smith has a problem finger. He says it will be better by next Monday Night against Arizona. I think it’s his feelings and confidence that are hurt, not his Finger!
Jordan welcher = broken record
oneniner=primetime
Oneniner = Prime Time = BS= Ceadderman.
Oneniner=annoying guy that won’t leave the party.
I don’t care if the 49ers have 4 Jerry Rice clones-Smith simply can’t get them the ball consistently. Moss wide open in the back of the end zone for the game ending touchdown and instead Smith gets happy feet and throws a pick. The 49ers offense will be what it is until they find a real franchise QB. I’ve accepted the fact and many of you need to come to terms with it.
Smith was rolling to his Left when Moss was open by the time he planted his feet to throw the ball to his weak side the window closed. Maybe next time he’ll do his best transformers impersonation and fire that thing so hard that it blows through the chest of the DB and ends up right on target into Moss’s hands. >.>
Another Smither with a Alex excuse.
I don’t know what play you were watching but I’ve watched that play over 10 times and Moss was wide open for over 3 seconds. He started on the right side of the formation and was wide open all the way across the end zone. Smith decided to release the ball once Moss was almost to the back left corner. Gore pointed Moss the whole play.
Don’t know what you guys were watching because Smith was running for his Life. Funny how when someone points out the truth it’s considered an excuse but when they point out anything about one of the other players, it’s okay cause it’s Smith throwing them the ball
WE WON! We’re 5-2. Get the hell over it. Smith is the Starter, that’s not changing unless one of you buys the team and fires him y’all damned selves.
Ceadder,
Head of the smith protection unit. Alex the Bust never saw Moss. He alergic to any windows letr alone tight ones. He’s afraid of windows period. I heard he has none in his house! Bwahahahahahaha
@5-2. 1st in the nfc west. Time to rest and heal before facing AZ. I feel good!!!
Grant,
Asking JH a question is a waste of time, he is condenscending, arrogant and looks at the media as bottomfeeder’s and ofcourse some are. I would rather win a Superbowl than for him to take the media seriously, but during this dead time, I don’t believe for a second Roman calls 100% of the plays.
I don’t know why anyone argues with Jack. He’s an Expert on how a QB should play, what he sees and when he says that Alex Smith isn’t the guy, you damned well better listen. >.>
Your right Ceadderman, along with every GM that was looking for a QB in the free agent market last season.
Oh like Seattle and Miami?
Dude, when you know a girl is taken (commonly well known that she is in your community) do you court her? Or do you look for someone else to satisfy your needs?
Everyone knew Smith was taken. Harbaugh made it well known that Smith was their guy. You can say what you want about Manning but that was NEVER in a million years going to happen so long as 5 Defensive players needed to be re-signed or 5 FA players picked up in their stead. We only had just signed Moss and that was about all we had going for us. What’s the Broncos record again?
Shut up about Smith. We have more important things to worry about than Smith. Like the stupid Carousel QB game plan.
Kappy is running Designed plays and has failed more than he’s succeeded. You don’t turn that guy into the Starter unless you’re out of options and your season is about to be tanked.
Starting to wonder how old many of these whiny fans are?
“OMG Alex Sucks we didn’t win by 2 scores, my Fantasy team is in a death spiral get rid of Smith”
I used to like Fantasy Football. It can be pretty fun. But it’s farking up the common sense of most fans around the league through the garbage “Throw him open” rhetoric, to the canned logic being fed to the KoolAid drinkers.
Steve Young
Terry Bradshaw
Jim Plunkett
and many more players would all have been booted off this team if these fools had any say in the matter early in their careers. Bradshaw wouldn’t have 4 rings. NOBODY would have traded for Steve Young and Plunkett would have been out of the League after his second team.
Y’all people must have smoked too much of that medicinal herb out of your mamas stash. >.>
So are you calling AS a girl, keep drinking the kool aid.
I love it. I give you a reasonable scenario as to why Smith was not “courted” very much during the Offseason…
an all you come away with is that I’m calling Smith a girl. How can I drink tha KoolAid when you’ve chugged it all. Good think I relieved myself in it before you got there. Was it lemony tasting? Gotta cut back on the sugar. My doc told me that I need to but I can’t help myself sometimes, I really love Oreos and I ate a whole bag last night in one sitting. >.<
Ceadderman,
I never said Smith isn’t the guy. What I said was, Smith had Davis open on Thursday but went elsewhere with the ball. Saying that Roman needs to be creative to get him the ball is wrong. Roman needs to get Smith to see the field better, and have better pocket presence.
Sorry Jack, I’m just fed up with the BS about Smith. We’re 5-2 and in 1st place. You’re right that Davis might of been open but we don’t know what Smith saw or didn’t see. Was the Safety dragging behind playing possum waiting for Smith to throw there? I know there were quite a few tipped Passes by our own Receivers. I counted 3 of them and possibly a 4th. No call for tips. Either catch the damned thing and do something with it or don’t put your hands up. I don’t know what is worse our own Receivers tipping Passes or not fighting for the ball.
Personally I think it’s more due to the short week and two tough games in a row and knowing you’re not gonna get the calls that you SHOULD get because the Officials are enjoying their field level seating. Blaming Smith doesn’t change the outcome of the game, and I’ve now seen 3 poorly called games this season from Roman. Yeah the players have to play better but it’s the OC’s job to give them the best play available in the book for that scenario. Not the QB. The QB doesn’t have the playbook strapped to his back so he can flip through it and pick one. The OC and his staff are supposed to have plays ready to go that don’t disrupt momentum. This Kappy crap is disruptive. It works against the weaker teams but against the tougher teams you don’t make that substitution when your Start got you in the Red Zone. Smith was a better option on 2nd down than Kappy was. I don’t get how that’s hard to figure out for Greg Roman. This is my issue with the guy. He doesn’t suck but, I would have to give him a D on the season based on the Vikings, Smurfs and now the $#!7gulls games. Only reason I won’t give him an F is cause he at least made the adjustment at Halftime and it paid off. They shoulda been running it down their throats for the first two Quarters when they saw that the Officials weren’t going to call PI or Holding or any of the base rules in the book. Instead we start off playing their game and very well could have lost if Roman didn’t go back to our bread and butter plays. >.>
Ceadder,
The GIRL won’t be claimed or taken next year. Maybe you can claim the GIRL. Your girl!
It’s ecause he’s not. Thank God this 8 year experiment is almost over. The coach killer Smith is finally going to be holding a clip board like he should be. Let him go hold some other franchise back. Let him go play for the Cowboys! That would be nice!
Maybe we should bring back jimmy raye because he focus the offense on V Davis and Gore. Of course harbaugh gives credit to roman and of course roman gets input from coaches. Thats how coaching works. This is a weak article based on one game (which we won) plus an interview (in which harbaugh is always candid) that you added a number of your own assumtions too. Roman is a head coaching candidate (college) so harbaugh will give tremendous credit but if you interview Roman I guarantee that he says he works colaberatively with his positional coaches. He said it last year as well as the beginning of this year.
Michael Silver asked Crabtree about the QB draw play on 3rd and 7 play late in the game, about whether the coaching staff trusts Smith to throw in that situation. Here was Cratree’s response.
Wideout Michael Crabtree (four catches, 31 yards) shook his head when I asked the same question.
“I don’t want to talk about it, bro,” he said. “Cause I know if I say something. … We won – you know what I mean? I can’t say anything, because we won.”
You don’t think these wideouts are growing frustrated with the “Game Mananger”?
23J – Roman was asked same question by Silver and Roman said:
“You can interpret it as you will,” Roman said of his quarterback-draw call long after having left the stadium Thursday night. “Alex is still working his way back into form [from a sprained middle finger on his throwing hand suffered in a 45-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills 11 days earlier], so we have to manufacture things in the meantime.”
That horebleep draw call was on Roman.
I can’t believe his pathetic (Alex Smith sprained finger excuse).
Manufacture things in the meantime? What the?
Ross Tucker said it perfectly the other day on the ESPN Football Today podcast. “Alex Smith may be better then a game manager, but the problem is he isn’t a game changer.”
Well said! That is my concern for quite awhile! CK is very green but hope he becomes the game changer. Love how he flicks the ball and it goes a mile!
It is a little simplistic to argue about a single source of failure the past couple games / the passing game this season. Suffice it to say, Greg Roman is not Bill Walsh, and Alex Smith is not Joe…Both of them need to find another gear. With the horses that management has put in the stable if we are not able to get them utilized more effectively, this will not be a Super Bowl team.
ya u asked the coaches some questions but tell me…how do you know on every single play of every single game of every year that greg roman is the only one calling plays. you dont, no one does because the only people who know that are greg an the others he is working with on calling those plays. coaches can say whatever they want but dont let their 1 or 2 comments automatically lead you to an article of conclusions. harbaugh said one thing its not like it means this this this an that.
Maybe Harbaugh was answering knowing that Roman would be listening. Maybe he exaggerated a bit on the input ratio to toss Roman a bone. Is that impossible?
So let me ask you something, if a game goes by and Patrick Willis doesn’t make a tackle are you going to start questioning whether Fangio knows what he’s doing?
How about not having a knee-jerk reaction to ONE bad game from Davis??
Coffee,
Davis had a good game, but it doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
Good game bad game, either way these conversations regarding and questioning Romans use of VD are asinine.
Jack, the question isn’t if VD had a good overall game. The question is if GR needs help getting VD included into the pass plays. The last couple of games VD hasn’t been productive catching the ball. If AS is missing him, that’s why they have headphones on the sideline – don’t be shy let AS know. If he is as open as you suggest, it is GRs role to get the word to AS to look for him because he’s been open multiple times during the game.
The previous 3 games before being blanked on thursday : 10 catches 171 yards. If 17 yards a catch isn’t being productive by your standards then good luck finding someone who is.
Two games ago VD had 105 yards and yet now we’re considering that the OC has suddenly forgotten how to use him. Ludicrous.
Coffee, if VD is open as often as Jack suggested in the Seattle game, wouldn’t it be GR’s job to tell AS to look for that read first? He suggests he missed him 5-6 times! Not acceptable if true and should be pointed out during the game and not when watching video of the game.
“If the 49ers offense has a bad game, that means Roman missed or misread something when analyzing his opponent during his game planning.”
Really? Its that cut and dry…. niners have a bad game…. Roman missed something?
What is this short bus version of football journalism?