SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh spoke to Bay Area reporters in the 49ers media tent Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what he said about Colin Kaepernick.
Q: Are you ready to name Colin Kaepernick the starting quarterback going forward, or will you still make that announcement on a week-by-week basis?
HARBAUGH: “We’ve got faith and trust in Colin, in the way he’s played. Therefore, another start this week.”
Q: How quickly can he develop and learn as an NFL quarterback in the line of fire? Is that a good way to develop?
HARBAUGH: “I think so. I think that’s the best way.”
Q: In the brief time that he’s started for you, how has he developed? How has he gotten better?
HARBAUGH: “Several things. You don’t know until you actually see him out there in the fire with that mental toughness. After a couple tough plays last week, to come back the way he did – we always knew he had that, but he had a chance to display that. He’s done a great job getting out of trouble and extending plays. He’s been very accurate throwing the football. Done a lot of good things.”
Q: How much of a teachable moment was the fumbled option pitch?
HARBAUGH: “It’s teachable in a lot of ways. Like I said, I take the greatest share of that responsibility. You don’t put your team in that position. That’s the responsibility of the head coach, to put them in the best possible position to be successful and win the game.
“But also, managing a bad play for Colin – that’s something that he’ll learn. The play we called in the huddle was a loser and we didn’t have an audible. But also, when they play is going bad, you try not to make it any worse. Good thing for him to learn.”
Q: I don’t know if the Rams did anything revolutionary, but do you think Kaepernick will see more of the stuff the Rams did this week and going forward?
HARBAUGH: Yeah, I think you definitely have to prepare for that and expect that.
Q: It seems like they were forcing you to go with the short passing game quite a bit. Has he improved his short passes?
HARBAUGH: He’s shown good touch on the short passes and the ability to see the field and see the check downs.
Q: When you’re doing film review with him, what’s he like?
HARBAUGH: The same that you see. Very focused, very concentrated, competitive, even in film study. He wants to learn and get better and improve. He’s on it. He communicates what he saw and what he was thinking.
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Grant next time you talk to Harbaugh please ask him if CK should have taken a TO if the play that was called in the huddle was a “loser” or should he have audibled at the line. Lastly is Kap comfortable audbiling at the line away from either of the plays called
Old Coach,
Harbaugh said there was no audible on that play. So I guess if Kap had a way to call his own number, he could have. He had no 2nd play to call.
HUH? The 25 year old QB in his 3rd start is supposed to call a timeout and openly question his offensive coaches???
wow…. there is no limit to the criticism.
Next time you talk to JH ask him why he has a right handed QB, PITCH a ball to his LEFT!?!?!?
Is that a rookie mistake?
He has said it was a stupid loser play, what else does he need to do.
DePhiant,
BEcause Kap can pitch with both hands. He’s been doing it since he was in college. The left had is just like the right for him. He’s done it that many times.
Greg roman needs to save those crappy cute option tosses when he coaches CAL next year. Ya I said it.
Thank you!
Often times, the team puts themselves in a favorable
Position with a really good play on 1st down, then on 2nd and short, we’ll run the dumbest play on earth instead of just trying to get deep or just getting the short yardage for a 1st down. We end up losing a chunk of yardage and I’m in front of the screen saying WTF? I complained all day Sunday about the play calling.
If any Niner coaches are going to Cal, it’ll be Fangio.
I heard that rumor but am not sure if Fangio would be a good fit for a college HC job.
Fangio is not going anywhere, especially back to college.
I strongly agree with Old Coach. That was the most important play of the game. A first down and the Rams were in a world of hurt. We didn’t need time outs anyway, or at least we didn’t think we would. Perfect time to bleed the clock then call time out with one second left on the play clock. Why didn’t Harbaugh think of that?
It is only important to you turds because it ended in a turnover and a score for the other team. Don’t you know, EVERY Play is an important Play ………. Go Niners!
Bad move JH! You will escape this weekend, but not so much against Carroll and Billy B!
Poor Prime.
No Prime is rich!
Listen to the blogs troll Niner hater, Jim Harbaugh stalker. What’s his name is gone. This article is more evidence. Mike Lombardi on NFL network says we will be able to trade your idol for something next year. He didn’t say what.
maybe a 7th rounder
and a 2$ steak
Wait, what …….. Captain Checkdown won’t be our backup QB next season? Heaven forbid, fire Harbaugh, fire Baalke ……. we want Gruden! we want Gruden!
The Dolphins beat Seattle a few weeks ago. So what are you trying to say Prime?
Im saying you are an idiot!
Did you forget to attend the therapy session this week? How are you adjusting to life post AS benching? Hahaha
Prime, are you predicting 2 team losses in the coming weeks, then? Are you sure you’re on the right blog, man?
I’m sure in saying that losing your job to injury will comeback and bite this team in the ass. It started already in the 2nd half of the Saints game and into the Rams game. Football has a way of paying back unjustified decisions.
Just watch how it unfolds.
Prime – I’m surprised you would say that.
I never was a big Alex fan but I had no desire for Niners to lose.
Do you want Kap to fail?
If RoboKap has 2 great games vs Fins and N.E. with 2 victories, will you be a believer then?
Who said I want them to lose or Kap to fail? I think losing your job to injury causes friction in the room. It’s starting to show and will only get worse. That’s all Im saying.
Ok I get that, but you skipped my other question.
How about this?
If Kap gets to Super Bowl this year, will you admit Harbaugh made the right move? Or is it only the “losing job while injured” thing?
Crab: No matter if We losr the 1st playoff game,it was still the right move.I believe that if we lose along the way in the playoffs,we would have lost with Alex,since I believe Kap gives the team a better chance to win every game over alex now and certainly in the long run.(except with the comedy of errors in that last game,that was on Kap and his couple mistakes. ). But in reality he put Akers in a position to win Both Ram’s games,so if Akers was the Akers who won all those games for Alex last year,we would be 4-0 with Kap so far…and he is still learning and growing.
Crabs anything less than a trip to the SB would be a failure CK or Alex. How many windows of opportunity do you get to compete for a SB?
Of course if CK leads them past the Championship game it would be the right move. I don’t see that happening for a couple reasons.
The first as I explained, losing your job to injury. Bad omen! Second the pressure and expectation of a championship team led by a 2nd year player who will only have 7.5 career starts to his name.
Look CK is the future, just not right now. As you can see when the pressure moments arise in games, he has made some serious mental errors. Costly. People say he will learn from them. Really? Now with must win scenarios coming up on the road against playoff teams? That is not an environment conducive to learning and developing.
Before the year started everyone in Niner land said SB or bust. Now that we have CK that has changed to a development year? That’s BS!
Prime:
“Before the year started everyone in Niner land said SB or bust. Now that we have CK that has changed to a development year? That’s BS!”
Completely agreed!
And if CK gives us the best chance to win, why hasn’t he been the QB since the beginning of the season?
Ed, good question. I think Harbaugh’s ego made this decision to show the football world he could be more explosive, more dynamic and take a big risk with his draft pick.
The problem is they have not been more explosive. He will not be able to coach through the inexperience. He did not realize the backlash from the lockerroom and NFL veteran players. Throw in the fact that not giving an injured player a chance to return to his job after injury is a low ball move that will haunt this season.
chasing that 1%.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8717501/brandon-browner-seattle-seahawks-suspended-four-games
Seadderall Seahawks
nice
I get the feeling that PEDs are more prevalent in the NFL than most of us think. Could injuries to Hunter, KW, and Manningham be also related to PEDs?
Depends on your definition of PED. Adderall is basically legal meth.
Please ask Harbaugh what authority the quarterback has to call his own plays, like in the Bart Starr – John Unitas era, even Peyton Manning. Seems to me, especially offenses, are way to reliant on coaches’ play calls. I know it’s a fine line to run the play called from the bench vs. calling something intuitive but these guys are more than mere robots, aren’t they?
Interesting that there was no audible available for that play. That makes me wonder how often that has happened on offense this season, especially in the games we lost. Harbaugh can’t afford to let that happen going forward.
I guess hindsight is 20/20 but I wish Harbaugh knew the play was a loser before the snap. At any rate, I think CK has some growing to do. It’s obvious he’s the most physically gifted QB on the roster. The question remains if he’s more mentally equipped to handle the rigors of the job. The play at the end where CK ran out of bounds was truly a bad play. A professional QB should have enough game awareness to stay in bounds to let the clock run down in that situation. His decision to run out of bounds raises big red flags about his football IQ. The pitch to Ginn was a bad play but he will learn from that play. The other thing CK did that bothers me is that he kept jawing and laughing between plays. He celebrated too much on his 50 yard run. He needs to forget the previous play as soon as the whistle is blown and get into next play/play call mode much earlier. I’m hoping to see improvement with that in the next game. I thought the move to CK was a good move after 2 games but several red flags were raised after the Rams game. Obviously, CK needs time to grow but this is a Superbowl contending team that can’t wait for him to get over first year starter blues. He must deliver now.
+10000
The only way the switch works is if he delivers now.
Houston,
All good points.
Good points, all, Houston – but I’d not be too concerned about his celebration post-big run. He’s just pumped up after his flub, man. No biggie, imho. I’d be more concerned if he came away down or depressed (see: Newton, Cam).
I wonder what Colin’s option(s) would have been, if any, had he dissected that pre-snap read as a loser as Coach called it.
Auto,
He could have called timeout, or as he said earlier today, just give it to the dive. Remember though, immediately after the game he said that he thought the pitch was wide open.
I think Harbaugh is calling it a loser play more because of the risk involved than anything the Rams did.
I could be wrong, but I got the impression that he didn’t realize that the play would be blown up until after the snap. At that point, he should have held on to the ball as the errant toss was likely due to rushing the pitch when he saw someone bust through the line. But I only watched it the one time so I might have missed something.
Bas72: You are exactly correct sir !
5 big mistakes on that play.
1-Roman calling the bonehead play when we had the game in the bag and didn’t need razzle dazzle,especially in that situation.
2-JH not changing the call to something reasonable
3- low snap that threw off the timing (JH said today they are working on the low snap problem !).
4- Kap tossing the ball to Ginn as if it were a hot potato shot out of a cannon,horrible play !!!
5-Ginn not falling on the ball or knocking it out of bounds but instead trying to pick it up and run with it.
Any one of those 5 don’t happen and we easily win the game (not to mention that if the bonehead ref knew the rules there would have been no intentional grounding on that play and we would have won anyway!!!). And I shouldn’t leave out that we probably win if Kap doesn’t go out of bounds,which every high school QB should have known not to do …but then on the other hand that was another coaching error also,because I know that if I am the HC I make sure everyone in that huddle knows that running out of bounds was a huge no no !!! JH soke to Kap on the sidelines before THAT play and he never mentioned it ??? I bet he never makes that mistake again,ever.
Tim, number 5 on your list is the one that frustrated me the most cause Ginn should know better after being in the league as long as he has. All good points, though…
My Christmas List:
1. Sit on Santa Alex’s lap at the mall
2. Alex Smith comes back to me next year
3. Harbaugh the Grinch has another heart episode
4. Joe Staley and Alex Smith come to my house on Christmas
5. The 49ers lose every remaining game this year
6. Spend Christmas morning with Alex
- DS, Prime, Claude, Coffee
Good one Sycophantick
Sycop,
Add Hofer, FDM, Mark, and Josh to that list.
Tbh, I wouldn’t mind having Joe and Alex over to dinner some time. Just sayin’. ;)
Syco,
Objectionable post. Claude and Coffee are pretty objective posters. Whether you agree with the or not, is up to the individual, but to tag them as myopic AS fans, is completely wrong and shows a deep lack of reading comprehension and critical thinking skills on your part.
In other words, you’re a dope.
Golfer
Your statement would have been true before the Saints game, but they’ve both shown their true colors since then. Thanks for your comment. People often tell me I’m “dope.”
@ exgolfer:
I appreciate the support. Don’t worry; I doubt anyone takes Tick seriously. As you can see, his attack only appealed to other deep thinkers like Nick and jordan.
@ tick:
Your statement would have been true before the Saints game, but they’ve both shown their true colors since then.
Proof or GTFO.
Syco,
I’m not sure how long you have read these forums but you are way off the mark in regards to Claude. I suggest you go back and actually read some of his posts in which case you would understand he is pretty balanced in his assessments and wants whoever gives the team the best chance to win to play.
Don’t mistake calling out people for opinionated comments with no substance with blindly supporting a player. Claude is about as fair as it gets on this forum.
@ tick:
You’ve got nothing, huh? That’s what I thought.
Claude
Why so much anger? Proof? Your staunch support of Alex is completely without rational thinking. That’s all.
Rocket
If Claude was balanced would he write “gtfo” on a public blog that he has absolutely no control over?
@ tick:
No, I’m not angry. I just called you out on your b/s. As expected, you couldn’t back it up. Then again, I can’t recall you backing up any of your b/s since you arrived on the blog.
Syco,
Would prefer sh*t or get off the pot? He’s telling you to provide proof of what you are accusing him of which is quite reasonable wouldn’t you say?
Sycop,
You are correct in your analogy. Coffee is the guy that used to be objective. He seems to have definitely changed since the QB change. The other names you have including the ones I added make an accurate list. Claude has always been a clown who has only given his actual opinion and a great post on 1 occasion. Other than that, he’s a Smither to the core. They are really hurting and it won’t end until we get that 4th- 5th round pick for him next year. Of course I’m being optimistic about the draft pick.
Rocket,
That’s funny. The cut n paster is asking someone to cut n paste!!! Lol.
Rocket / Claude
Claude, your name is Claude. Not Frenchie Spooge Nut. Lets keep it cool.
Reasonable? Reasonable if you want me to go back over days of Grant’s threads, which I’m unwilling to do. If Claude wants to provide proof, Claude, if you want to provide proof, that’s fine, I’ll accept it. But I’m not gonna rehash old threads. No. That is unreasonable.
On the flip side, I recall Claude, with some fury, getting after guys who were backing Kaep rather than Alex. If that memory is pure fallacy, then I recant, and apologize. I’m not in this to dig on reasonable people.
Thanks for the words.
@ tick:
That is unreasonable.
It’s very reasonable. You made the assertion. It’s your responsibility to back it up; it’s not my responsibility to disprove it, particularly when that would require me to prove a negative. If I were to accuse you of molesting farm animals, would it be unreasonable to expect me to support that claim, or can I just insist that you provide proof you don’t.
The fact that you “won’t” provide support for your claim pretty much confirms that it is b/s.
But hey, jordan agrees with you. You’ve got that going for you.
Frenchie Spooge Nuts
You are a Smither, to the core. You want to refute it go ahead. You want to deny it and make an intelligent comment about the Niners, that’ll suffice too.
Lol at sycophantic.
You’re way out of your depth, and obviously haven’t been paying enough attention. Claude’s about as reasoned a commenter on here as there is. You, however, are throwing your lot in with the crazies.
Good luck making yourself look foolish.
Angus
Or perhaps you are throwing yourself in with the losing lot, eh?
You forgot that Alex would bring me my official Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock and the thing that tells time.
I’m not a Smither by the way. I prefer him over Colin but if given my choice I’d choose neither.
The surprise transaction of the offseason will be unloading Staley. This guy is a phony. Not a great lineman, not a team player. You can see his sour grapes in all his recent interviews. The guy is p*ssing in the soup.
Why cause he called out Harbaughs move to sit a guy due to injury. You guys obviously have never played team sports and understand the ramifications between teammates when this happens.
Keep cheering on Fantasy Football. That’s what type of fans you losers are!
Yes and it was Harbaugh’s decision, but he’s never played before either huh? He must not understand the ramifications as well as you.
jsand3030
There’s no point using logic with Monkey Boy. He’s in trauma mode after his hero’s benching.
Just watch clowns!
It is only that Staley is Alex’s best friend on the team and has been for a long time. He feels bad for Alex ,as should we all. It’s not easy to know your best friend has lost his job and will probably be moving out of town soon.
Prime:
What is the old saying? “Laugh clown laugh,even though you are crying on the inside.”
But better yet,why not laugh and smile on the inside and outside and be happy that our QB is doing well and learning from his mistakes to get himself as ready as possible for the playoffs ?
Yeah, I have played team sports and participated in many team activities in the work environment. Part of what “team” means to me, is when the General or Leader makes a call, the team gets behind the decision/strategy and helps implement it successfully. I’ve been around whiners who put their personal agendas and preferences above the team, causing dissent and dysfunction and they end up being put out to pasture (or allowed to pursue “better opportunities” for themselves). For those of you bitter about Jim’s decision, perhaps you need to examine his track record assessing and developing QB talent, as well as his overall success as a coach; and summarily be a team player and get on board with it.
Doing well? How so? Where is the aerial down field attack? Where is Moss and VD, players that would thrive with CK? How about the mental errors costing us points?
What about a defense bailing him against NO and Drew Bree’s playing a horrible game? Then the defense plays its best game against STL, and he chokes under pressure?
Alot of questions. Unnecessary questions that are comin back to haunt us cause JH didn’t do it the right way.
5253, lets not act like JH is an experienced NFL coach. Just like the great coaches before him, they made some stupid mistakes along the way. This is not college football anymore. Skepticism and being critical is the NFL way.
Try to find Staley celebrating a TD since Alex was benched. You won’t find it. Hasn’t happened. Boone? Sure. Iupati, AD? Yep. Moss, MM, Crabs, VD? Check, check, check, check! But no Staley. Not once.
Doesn’t matter what he’s saying to the press, doesn’t matter that he might have had a straight-up conversation with Harbaugh. They’ll look at his pouty attitude, his woe-is-Alex body language, and if he doesn’t shape up, they’ll cut him along with his buddy.
Too bad Grant can’t ship out the pouty, woe-is-Alex losers from the blog when Alex gets traded next year.
Boone would probably play better LT anyway.
Sycop,
Grant won’t have to. They will leave on their own. They’d be gone already except they are hoping Kap gets hurt or plays so bad that JH will ask Smith to save the day.
You moron, the TD run against the Saints, Staley is right there hugging Kap!
I don’t care if he’s bothered about his friend losing his job. That’s fine on personal time. Again. My beef with him is the smile on his face after that td. NO reason to have even a smirk on your face. It’s sickening. And I would love for him to pack his crap up after this year and move to a franchise that never had pride. He is an embarrassment to my beloved 49ers! When they stunk the past years before last. Gore blew up on teammates that were laughing after losing a game. THAT’S HEART. Something that sideshow wanna be comedian staley doesn’t have.
Primordial Ooze
It’s Boone, not Staley. I know it’s only a single number difference on their jerseys, but if you learned to read you wouldn’t have to rely on numbers.
I disagree with pretty much all of what you wrote, Syco. I find Joe to be one of the most straight-forward players/guys I’ve ever watched being interviewed. Whether or not he’s a great linemen is debateable and probably a better arguement for someone else with better knowledge of stats and LT comparisons to have, but the guy is obviously a team player. The analgy of having something negative happen to a coworker rings true to me. He’s sad and disappointed for his nose-bro, Alex (and why shouldn’t he be?), but he’s a professional football player and he’s going to do his best for the team and whomever is behind center. Makes perfect sense to me.
Besides, the 49ers must like what they have in him as the anchor of the OLine – money talks. Look at his contract; the guy’s signed until 2050! :p
Gotcha auto. I agree with you 100% until Alex’s benching. Since then he has been the lone negative. You KNOW Gore hates the move, but he’s been totally professional. Staley seems salty. It’s unbecoming. It’s unprofessional. I completely understand it, but he better come around. And as for being the anchor, those days are long gone. Iupati is the anchor and AD and Boone are both better players with better attitudes.
Btw, here’s a shot of Boone holding up Kaep post-TD, but if you look, you’ll see that’s Staley hugging him from behind. See the elbow brace?
http://www.sacandco.net/images/640/360/2/assetpool/images/120930043841_colin_kaepernick.jpg
You know what, nm… that’s the Jets’ game.
Thx for playing, Auto. Salty Staley since the benching. Maybe when they’re spooning next Saturday night Staley should ask Alex if he minds if Staley cheers for CK’s success against Miami.
(sorry for the triple post!)
It’s an interesting angle, Syco. I can see what you’re saying about the rest of the guys and Gore, in particular (consumate professional). I guess all I can say is I hope you’re wrong about Joe. I’ll definitely keep an eye out now, though.
Auto, it dawned on me last game. I have all three CK games recorded so I went back and had a look, and Staley is missing from the celebrations.
Sycop,
I read about you saying that staley hasn’t celebrated a TD with cap since Smith got benched. Well in actuality, he did celebrate with Boone, Kaepernick and Crabtree on the last touchdown after the half in the bears game. That was the score to give the Niners a 27-0 lead. There is an end zone shot that has all 4 of them hugging at the same time. Mind you, that was the game that Slaley didn’t realize Alex wouldn’t be back. He knew Alex was sitting that one out because he didn’t pass all of the concussion tests.
Prime: You don’t think Kap is doing well ? He had 3 games in a row with over a 70 QBR(way over!),which Alex never did once in 5 years.
Of couse he made a couple mistakes,but so did the refs and so did our coaches. But if you actually watched the game you would see Kap throwing on time and on target and making plays when the called play breaks down and looking like Rothlesberger in the pocket (a much quicker and faster Rothlesberger). His accuracy has shocked me,something Alex never was and was never going to be,along with most everything else Kap does better than Alex,except manage the game,which he is learning.He is certainly as smart as Alex (wonderlic 40 for Alex and 38 for Kap,same thing),but on the football field Kap has a feeling for the game that the robotic Alex will never have.
Kap has been reading defenses and changing the calls at the line to the proper call and leading the team in the huddle and making plays with his rocket arm inside and out of the pocket and using his legs when needed.He has it all !
Be happy that JH found his guy and is grooming him ,so that the QB spot will no longer be the weak spot on a great roster. Hopefully Kap will learn quickly enough to be ready for the playoffs to play his best. Maybe Kap should have started from day one this season,to be sure he would have plenty of experience by playoff time,who knows?
We all knew there would be growing pains,but the fact is the team IS growing with Kap at QB. And I for one don’t mind a few rookie type mistakes when I can finally watch a QB who can make plays and pass straight and has all the tools.
Sure it hurts that we lost trhe game because of a couple of those Kap mistakes (along with the coaching mistakes galore and the referee mistakes that if called correctly we would have won the game,not to mention that akers missed AGAIN ,when Kap got him in position to win the game,for the 2nd straight game against the Rams.
Sure it hurts and I wish Kap had started from day one,so he would be more up to speed by now. But the reason JH benched Alex and went with Kap when he did is because he believes Kap needs the experience of the last 7 games of the season to get that experience. And because he believes Kap is better than Alex right now.
So go argue with JH,not those who believe like JH does.
Tim I will endure the growing pains if it means a Super Bowl. But if the result is not a Super Bowl the decision deserves criticisms. That was the goal to start the year, nothing should change that. That is on JH.
I agree CK is the future and maybe he should have started week 1 if the plan was for him to gain experience. But we are late in the season and CK has not played better with each game. That QBR rating is a joke. It’s how he plays under duress an so far, not good.
Staley will be going nowhere because thankfully the team isn’t run by irrational rumor mongers. You guys are pathetic.
Yea you’re probably right. After giving up a first and a fourth to move into the first round to draft him I can totally see them just getting what they can at this point because he’s got a poopy attitude towards their new QB. Who cares if he’s still a professional that’s considered one of the better players at his position and still doing his job each week and lets get upset because he’s not out there jumping up and down with the guy who stole the job from his best friend.
You’re probably also right that the best thing to have with a young mobile QB is a brand new unproven rookie left tackle that we’ll have to use our first round pick or even package picks to move up and get since we’ll need to draft a tackle we feel can start right away.
Or better yet lets take Boone who’s spent the last year learning right guard and ask him to move back to tackle so we can put our new rookie lineman at right guard instead and sabotage our running game next year.
Screw it, lets just use all of our money in free agency to try and sign an equivalent player instead and forget about solidifying more important things like quality depth for the team.
Good call on the team trading Staley, clearly you’ve thought that one through.
What are you talking about? Staley just said he is 100% behind Kap,as we all should be !
Funny,in JH’s press conference today,not one reporter or JH himself even brought up the Name Alex Smith at any time. Not once.
Find him bring as solid a team player with Kaep as he was with Alex. Words spoken to the press mean nothing.
How will you tell? Staley lets the pass rusher through a bunch every game,always has,so when he keeps doing that when Kap is THE qb,what has changed for Staley,except he feels bad for his best friend losing his job?
As long as he does his job to the best of his ability,then let him feel bad for his friend.
He used to be the first guy in the endzone to congratulate his team on a TD. Not once since the benching. That shows up on film. Time to get in the game, Staley.
Maybe JH said that same thing to Staley today and that is why he came out today in full support of Kap as THE starter?
There are a few members around here who know exactly how Staley feels,and they need to get over their sadness and heart ache too and embrace the fact that Kap is the starter of the SF 49ers for the years to come. Just like Staley just did when he told the media that he is 100% behind Kap as the starter.
Smiling after a defensive td says a lot. It says you could give a *hit about this team. Absolutely NOOOO reason to be smiling after that play. ZERO!!!!
I cant believe you think it really matters if Staley is the first down to celebrate a TD or not. Who cares how he feels. What youre implying is that he doesnt play as hard for Kap which is just absurd. This is a business first and foremost and these guys are professionals.
Any reporter who asks Harbaugh a compound question hasn’t been paying attention for the past year and a half.
Example:
“Q: Are you ready to name Colin Kaepernick the starting quarterback going forward, or will you still make that announcement on a week-by-week basis?”
As expected, he didn’t answer either question. It’s much better to have him not answer one question at a time. ;-}
Gentlemen,
Let’s suppose for the sake of argument and play devils advocate with this QB situation. We’ve heard this from Smith supporters and ex-Qb’s and players.
1. Alex Smith did nothing wrong to lose his job.
2. Alex Smith was (3rd, 4th, 5th ) rated QB in the NFL with a 70% completion percentage.
3. He’s the captain of the team.
4. He led the team to a 19-5 record in the past 2 years.
5 . He was having the best year of his career.
6. he was 25-27 in his last 2 games.
7. He organized Camp Alex and ran it by himself.
8. He’s a real favorite here in the Bay Area.
9. Look what he’s been through his entire career..
10. He took us to the NFCCG last year and if not for Kyle Williams fumble…..
11. It’s a well respected position in the NFL that you can’t lose your starting job because of an injury. When you get healthy, you deserve to have your job back.
12. Harbaugh is gonna lose the locker room and the respect of the veterans in said locker room.
Now lets assume that all this information is absolutely true. What that tells me is this. Colin Kaepernick must be leaps and bounds ahead of Alex Smith! If Jim Harbaugh is going to bench Alex Smith like he has, he and his coaching staff must have determined that Colin Kaepernick is unquestionable miles better than Alex Smith. There is no way Harbaugh makes this decision if he doesn’t feel that way.
So with that being said, I feel better about the decision that Jim Harbaugh made. Having to weigh all these factors and to still give Colin Kaepernick the job? He must have a mountain of information that surpasses all those opinions that I just posted. Now lets go win the Super Bowl!
Ever stop to think that maybe just maybe the decision was a little hasty? Yes JH is a good coach, the QB guru, best signing the 49ers have made in the past 2 years. All true. But it’s a decision that is going to warrant some skepticism if the 49ers do not win the SB.
You said yourself 23 hater, this is a monumental moment in 49er history. It can and probably will go south.
Good post Jordan. Harbaugh knows more about the 49ers, Kaep and Alex than all the posters on this board combined. He understands the Niner situation completely. What benching Alex and starting Colin tells me is that Harbaugh believes that the 49ers will never get to and win the Super Bowl with Alex. Period.
Harbaugh has nothing to really lose by starting Colin now because he believes that Alex is not taking this team to the promised land last year, this year or the next. Might as well start the more talented guy, let him gain experience now and if he and the team get hot and win it all so much the better. If the Niners don’t win it all they have really lost nothing. Harbaugh’s mind is made up, Alex cannot get us a Super Bowl victory.
I agree Jordan..To make a move like that.It had to be on Harbaugh’s mind a while
Or “maybe just maybe” they should have gone with Kaep from the start.
Either way, it’s high time the Niners got back to an exciting brand of ball, and Kaep is by all accounts an exciting quarterback.
Ok, I read this blog a lot but rarely post because I don’t have that kind of free time. Let me say this: im a true niner fan. I supported smith to death because he was our qb.. Now kap is the qb, and I support him. Kap, made a bad toss and hhurt his team. But instead of sulking, he got mad. He got fired up. Because he wants to lead this team, and he did. He threw a td pass for the win that if walker doesnt drop, makes him a candidate for never say never
moment. Also, how many games (and at east 1
At least 2 superbowls did vinateri win for qb great tom brady? Akers two misses contributed to kaps 1 in the loss column and 1 in the T column. Kap is a leader, I dont believe smith was on his level in that aspect. Of, course all of this is just one mans opinion lol
Nick R. – Good post….Hope you get more free time.
Thanks Nick, we need more common sense around this joint.
I’m new to this forum, but am a long time niner fan. I like to think that I know something about football so hopefully I’ll be able to contribute something worthwhile.
One of the things that I like best about football, and most sports, is that it’s the last true meritocracy in this country. No politics. The cream is supposed to rise to the top and the best players are supposed to play. Clearly, in JH’s opinion Kaep is the better, and I think this came into focus for JH after the loss to the NYG this year. Didn’t it come into focus for you guys? I think that JH had every intention of having AS start all year until that game.
Let’s allow the coach of the year to make the calls. I’m not advocating blind support, but in a close call like this was, I trust the coach.
Steve,
Nice post and welcome. You’ll enjoy this blog. It’s a zoo sometimes, led by myself. However, most of us really do want to see the Niners win. We just happen to have our own views on how we wish to seen that come to fruition! Lol. Enjoy!
Welcome Steve,
I don’t think Harbaugh would have made this move when he did had Smith not been hurt. It should have been obvious to most that everything was headed this direction, but it would have been in 2013 without the concussion.
In my opinion, and apparently the organization’s as well the two are currently at about the same level right now, and given Kaepernick’s inexperience he should improve at a much more rapid rate and have a higher ceiling than Smith.
Jack, I can’t speak for the organization so I don’t know their thinking about whether or not AS and Kaep are at the same level now. IMO, that may have been true until the game against the NYG.
For the sake of full disclosure, I was a true and true AS hater. Even though I’ve seen every niner game since 1979 I seriously contemplated spending my Sundays elsewhere for several years during AS’s tenure. Then, last year changed my mind, somewhat. Instead of thinking AS was a total bust a la Drunkenmiller, I started to see that AS could be coached into something a little better than mediocre. Think about it: can you remember one game before last year when AS put together four quarters of outstanding play at QB (in the same game)? I can’t. Does anyone really think that AS would have won all of those games last year without great Special teams? Had the ST played as well for Kaep as they did for AS last year, Kaep would be 3-0. Kaep seems much better able to overcome the lack of quality ST play but we’ll have to see about that. But there’s no doubt in my mind that if the niners do not make the championship game this year it will be more because of the fall off in ST play and the decreased number of turnovers than because of a change a QB.
What stuck out for me last week was that when Kaep made his expected mistakes, I didn’t get the feeling that there was no way that he would come back from them. I felt the opposite just like I did when Montana and Young were able to bring the team back in the 4th quarter. Before Kaep, whenever the niners were behind in the second half I always had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because AS just couldn’t come back from behind with his arm. Kaep can IMO. After his screw ups he still put the team in a position to win. AS rarely came back from his mistakes and I think the team, both the front office AND the players, had less faith in him to come back in the 4th quarter than they do with Kaep.