This is the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.
I did not attend this press conference. I was flying home from Seattle when Harbaugh was speaking.
Did you guys get away with the run game too early yesterday?
“Like we said last night, we didn’t do really enough good things. Only one thing you can do after a battle, win or lose, and that’s reorganize, refit and regroup. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Does a game like that make you consider changes, whether it’s personnel or how plays are called, or who calls plays?
“We’ll reorganize. We’ll refit. We’ll regroup.”
After looking at the film, how did DT Ricky Jean Francois play in DT Justin Smith’s spot yesterday?
“Rather than go position by position, or any one particular phase, I don’t think anybody looks back on this and feels like it was good enough.”
Did it seem as if they were testing him, though? Were they running toward that side to test out the new guy?
“They had success in different areas, multiple areas. They did a good job.”
What is wrong with Justin Smith’s elbow?
“He’s got an issue that he’s working through.”
Has he undergone a procedure, or will he need to undergo a procedure?
“He has not undergone a procedure.”
Why was he upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Friday?
“Because he’s working through some things to get strength back and he hasn’t quite reached it to be able to play in the game yet. It’s a process.”
Did you feel on Friday there was a chance he could play?
“I thought it was questionable.”
Will he need surgery after the season?
“We’ll see.”
How is FB/DT Will Tukuafu? Does his injury further complicate that position?
“Yeah, he’s being evaluated.”
Do you have enough bodies on the D-line right now to go into the playoffs without him and without Justin?
“It’ll be predicated on how both of those guys are doing.”
The injury to WR Mario Manningham, just by the naked eye, looked serious. Do you expect to have him again this season?
“Yeah, he’ll be evaluated today and further tests.”
Is he having an MRI?
“I believe he is getting an MRI, yes.”
Some of the players, at least S Donte Whitner, felt that the mental focus wasn’t there. Did you see that as well?
“I’m sorry. What? Who said?”
The mental focus in some of the players he didn’t think. He said the team wasn’t mentally in tune.
“Who are you talking about?”
Donte had told us that. He said he thought in certain instances the team wasn’t mentally in tune. When you look at the film, do you see more of that than maybe scheme problems or just being outplayed?
“Like I said at the beginning, we’re going to move forward. No explanations. No excuses necessary.”
After the game, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said about your offense, “they are very deliberate. One of the slowest teams in term of that,” getting to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball and they caught them a couple of times. Why are you guys so deliberate? And is that an issue that you see that needs to be corrected?
“Yeah, there were a few incidences when we were slow.”
Is that by design? Not necessarily, obviously the timeouts or the penalties, but do you want to take that play clock up until the last few seconds?
“No.”
What do you do to correct that?
“Fix it.”
There was another report today that some of the Seahawks players said that you were mocking them after the game at Candlestick in the parking lot, with honking and saluting the team bus. Did that incident occur? What do you remember about that?
“No. No, that did not occur. That’s a fabrication.”
Do you take a bus back to the hotel, yourself? Would you have even been in a car?
“After the game?”
Yeah.
“I can’t remember a time where I’ve left a game where the other team’s still been there, this entire season.”
Does anything, just given the amount of injuries at the end of the season this week, does anything change as far as giving more rest than you normally would during the week or anything change in that regard?
“The players are coming in today and they’ll have tomorrow off.”
But nothing unusual that you wouldn’t normally do this week, you just switched the off day?
[shakes head ‘no’]
Do you feel different about your team today than you did on Saturday, before the game yesterday?
“No, no. I feel our team’s leadership, I feel the intellect of the staff, I think the talent of the players, the work ethic of the players will pave the way.”
A lot of people questioning the spark of the team now compared to early on, what do you say to that going into the last week of the season?
“No excuses or justifications. Our team needs to bounce back.”
You said last week that the flight back from New England was a pretty quiet flight. What was the flight back like after a game like that?
“Quiet.”
Can you speak to the fact that the NFL is such a roller coaster? After last week you guys were anointed as the NFL’s best team and now it looks like there are issues. How hard is it to keep an even keel when one week you’re so high and then seemingly you’re so low the next?
“After a battle, whether it’s a win or a loss, you regroup, you refit, you reorganize.”
Third downs seemed to be a big problem yesterday, are there things that you look at changing in the third down? Are there big offensive changes that you foresee in the final weeks or going into the playoffs?
“We’ll always look at that, any area to reorganize and refit and fix if necessary.”
What is the status of TE Vernon Davis? Do you expect him to be able to play?
“We’ll see. Doctors will make that evaluation.”
How much did yesterday maybe catch you by surprise? You know your team, but as Eric Branch said you come off a big win vs. the Patriots, that was an exhausting win I know that. But how much did yesterday’s result maybe catch you off guard?
“It didn’t.”
Why not?
“Wasn’t caught off guard.”
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Would it kill Harbaugh to just answer one question?
Coach was pissed. That was a wasted 8 minute presser. He got his hat handed to his team on his birthday. That’s a hellava birthday present.Pete Carroll is laughing hard somewhere right now!
Forgot that yesterday was Harb’s birthday. Ouch.
Seeing Pete Carroll happy makes me want to go Michael Vick on some puppies. I really hate that guy.
Puppies? That’s sick! Grinch
Yeah. Agree. Just wondering what changes Jim is going to make…
Bay,
There isn’t many changes he can make. Not in personell anyway. He has to bring up the rookie WR and throw him the ball. He has to think about bringing in a WR and Ray Edwards. He has find a way to get this play calling crap taken care of so we can have 3 timeouts at the end of games. We re going to need those in the playoffs.
My mistake . Seahawks DID work out Ray Edwards No official signing YET.
The Noners need to sign Ray Efwards to add some depth to this defensive line. We lost Will T to a bad back yesterday. I hope we don’t get caught with our pants down needing receivers in the playoffs like we did last year. I think we need to be looking for another wide receiver again right now. of course we are gonna activate our rookie. But I think we may still need another big body.
NINERS*
Sacbee just reported that Seahawks have decided not to work out Ray Edwards. Niners better better be on top of that. Justin Smith is not coming back for the playoffs IMO. JH is hiding that. We have to get some help on that defensive line or we are done in the 2nd round for sure.
Did u see Rogers afraid to make a tackle last night. Did you see Brooks fall for the fake pass and leave his feet. Did you see RJF get blown up on Lynch’s 24 yard TD scamper?
My fear is that they got their ass kicked so badly last night that they may have stopped believing.
Bay,
You had to remind me. The team was dead flat last night. That New England game took a lot out of them. We need to get rejuvenated. We are a tired team. We need that bye bad or we are going into the playoffs beat up.
Bay
Not that it was the difference in the game but I thought that RJF was held on that lynch td run. it looked to me like okung (it might have been sum 1 else) grabbed rjf’s jerzey at the los or he would have been able to make the play. in either case its irrelevant.
The game had a feel of one of those nba playoff games where a team looses by 40+ because nothing is going right for them (blocked FG for a TD anyone?) I wouldnt feel nearly as bad about it if we hadn’t lost MM and VD. We will get back on track vs the cards and just need to hope that AP goes nuts on the pack and does us a favor
BOS,
I rewatched the game and could not believe how bad the refs were.
Yes RJF was held on Lynch’s 24 yard TD. I didn’t see that the first time around.
I counted at least 9 bad calls. Including two no calls against our line.
We haven’t gotten calls all year. Grant, can you ask Harbaugh what the process is for contacting the league and complaining about the poor quality of officiating.
Maybe we get an update on Cowboy today….
Bay
I swear they take the old NBA adage of foul them on every single play and dare the refs to call it. Even if they call every 3rd one thats still 66% of the calls that they miss. The pi on TB in the endzone was certainly questionable and i didnt like the personal foul on cully when he and DG wwf slammed the WR call me a homer but i dont think cully heard the whistle. Although the refs didnt cost us the game ( we did that to ourselvs) the officiating was piss poor
My favorite part was when bowman shoved okung (who tripped and fell) and the refs picked up the flag because “both parties were in action” :) What??? I dont think ive ever seen that. I understand overruling on other calls but that was just strange
Ray Edwards, the former Viking? hmm what does he have left?
My coach said exactly what I expected him to say. “Regroup!” “No Excuses!”
Sounds like he’s ready to move on, and so am I.
My question to those remaks would be….’Regroup what? Refit what? Reorganize what?’ I’m sure he realizes the 9er’s are constantly pushing the limit of the 45 second clock, and are probably flagged for delay of game morer than any other team in the NFL…that falls on the coaches……how about remaining ever so predictable on offense?? Is he gonna regroup, refit and reorganize Greg Roman and his mundane play calling?
At this time of the season, the really good teams are peaking, offensively, defensively and on special teams for the playoff run, the 49ers are not peaking, they’re stagnating…..My suspicion with regard to the 49er offense is that JH isn’t a proponent of stretching the field, keeping the defense guessing and coaching with an attitude of domination……he’s happy to score 21 pts. on offense, and hope that the defense will hold the opposition to 20pts. or less.
I don’t see a Super Bowl appearance by the 49er’s this season, not because they don’t have the talent…they have the talent…they just haven’t been ‘coached-up’ well enough this season….like we used to say in the ’70s….’wait til next year…..’
One last thing……
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL IN THE
NINER NATION!!!
He pissing off too many ppl with his taunting, needs to grow up and be a leader, chill out b4 Pete becomes more like Walsh then he does.
Harbaugh has become the coach he used to hate playing for: Mike Ditka. A good coach, but an arrogant ass whose legend exceeded his accomplishments.
That game, like the press conference, was #hardtowatch
Lets sweep everything under the carpet and pretend our QB does not like this stage is too big for him. Lets also put it all on the defense and now blame the WR’s. Everything you fantasy football lovers said were excuses last year in the playoffs are now things that are relevant.
Learn the game!
Let’s sweep you under the rug, Randy Prime, the game last week the stage was huge but you have a little mind, did you already forget about the Pats. Your Parents must think your a real loser. LMAO you have become the real clown on here with all of your identities.
LMAO, your the one with the pretend family, did you buy Axel, Randy and many more phony profiles on here a present HAHAHAHAH I can’t breathe I am laughing so hard
Come on Prime!!! I know you are a Alex Smith die hard but you can not put all the blame on CK! How many big plays were dropped by the TE and the wideouts! How many rushing yards did we have! How about the special team block or the defensive performance! At least he did not throw 3 ints! This team plays hard and they can not keep it up ever week so we are going to have games like this!
If J Smith does not return we will be in trouble! GO NINERS
Seattle outplayed, out hustled and outhit us.
However, the officials stank. Seattle got around Rickey Jean because they held him on just about every play. They controlled Aldon for the same reason. On one play Aldon was held 3 times by the same guy! There were 2 false starts not called. Moss was interfered with in the end zone. Sherman was tackled while trying to run his pick out of the end zone, but no safety was called.
Those are just the non-calls I can remember. There were more. Apparently the refs were intimidated by the crowd more than the team was and that’s saying a lot.
The “outhit us” part is really the most disconcerting. A loss sucks but the 49ers looked soft last night, especially on defense.
Two Pi’s in the endzone. There Cb’s held us both games. Their tackles were grabbing Aldon like crazy too. Home cooking as usual, just like the packer game.
There is a book out that studies the reason for Home Field Advantage and concludes that the entire reason is homer calls by officials.
No wonder Seattle is 3-5 on the road.
Drsgrosse i completely agree with you! Hawks out played us and they got the W but i felt the refs were horrible. I saw at least 3 PI on the corners no call! their tackles were holding defensive players all night long no call! I am hoping for the seahawks to lose to the rams next week! GO NINERS
Chicago
Careful what u wish for bud. If i have this correctly if Sea looses and we win we will have to play them in the first round. Im not saying im askared but there are some teams that id rather not see (NYG sea) cuz we dont seem to match up as well with D first teams
How about the TD that Wilson threw that should have been a delay of game.
BOS49er i want us to play Seahawks at home. I promise it will be a different game, however you are right seahawks play physical football just like Rams so it takes a very physical effort on our team to beat these guys! This is going to be a very tough division in the next few years.
Fellas,
We have to ignore the banned troll Prime Time’s posts. Grant deletes the posts from him when he sees them but the banned troll won’t stay away. So it’s up to us not to reply to his posts in an attempt to keep the posts in the right sequence. Neal, no matter how bad you want to reply, you need to refrain bro. We’re feeding the clown and we need to shut it down. Let him post to himself.
Jordan
Checked out the last response, I was laughing so hard I felt I did 1000 sit ups.
Wow! I wonder if Harbaugh talks to Jed York like he talks to the press.
Jed: Well, err, uhh, Jim what changes do you anticipate making to prevent us from losing like that in the playoffs?
Harbaugh: STFU YOU PISSANT! I’LL TELL YOU WHAT TO THINK AND WHEN TO THINK IT! UNTIL THEN, CRAWL BACK TO YOUR OFFICE BEFORE I RIP OFF YOUR ARM AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT!
That’s how I imagine Harbaugh treating York. It’s sort of like a meeting between Nick Saban and the Alabama AD. Quite humiliating for the coaches boss and the press.
Harbaugh: STFU YOU PISSANT! I’LL TELL YOU WHAT TO THINK AND WHEN TO THINK IT! UNTIL THEN, CRAWL BACK TO YOUR OFFICE BEFORE I RIP OFF YOUR ARM AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT!
Oh man – I needed that laugh. Thank you.
I’m not upset at the lose we had to split the pats and sea games and we did that so the div is still ours but from now on playoffs start.
CK is the QB of the Niners, get over it, JH is the headcoach of the Niners, get over it. The Niners stunk, CK did not have a good game, Rodgers did not have a good game. They werent the only ones. I just dont understand why people cant seem to see the ENTIRE picture of what is wrong with the TEAM. At one time lots of fans blamed AS for everything. Ok fine then we change QBs and now CK is becoming the villain. I heard boos coming from the stands in the last home game. I was hoping not to hear that again. Its becoming quite obvious that the team isnt as good as we thought. AS nor CK are/were the sole reason for losses. Those five loses have been an entire team effort or lack thereof.
Undercenter,
I expected 5 losses from this team this year. I think we did really well under the circumstances. We may not have lost to teams we expected to lose to. However, a loss is a loss. We are goingto the playoffs with as good a chance as any to win the Sudper Bowl. You can’t win it if you aren’t in it right? We can only win one game at a time and Arizona is the next team on the list. we’ll beat the, and hope the Vikings beat Green Bay.( Which I am predicting and Grant isn’t) So I think we got that one in the bag.
Would it be against league rules for a coach to accept an NFL head coaching job with the condition that he wouldn’t have to do these moronic press conferences (even the ones after the games)? Don’t the reporters WATCH the dang games? It is what it is. Jeez! One team outplays the other. There are rarely controversial plays, maybe a few each season, that a coach needs to be asked about. What is he supposed to say about the job his players did or their motivation? He either gets them motivated and they play well or he doesn’t and they don’t. What is there to ask? Just watch the next game. Harbaugh’s responses are appropriate to thes idiot questions he has to answer. Is he the President of the United States? Really, these NFL guys get tougher scrutiny than our government leaders too. Maybe these sports writers should have been questioning Romney a little closer as he spewed his lies all the time. Usually I ignore all these sites during the week of a 49er loss, broke my rule this time out of curiosity. Y’all want Nolan or Singletary back? Nolan gave great interviews by the way, extremely personable guy.
The biggest issue with this team isn’t the QB, the play calling, or the defense. It’s the injuries piling up! Kyle Williams, Mario Manningham, and Kendall Hunter are arguably 3 of our most explosive play makers on offense. Losing all 3 of those guys is a HUGE HUGE loss – We go from a team with more weapons that we can even use, to a team with the same amount of weapons as we entered last playoffs with. Once again, our only 2 legitimate receiving options are Vernon Davis and Crabtree. Our 3rd WR Jenkins, hasn’t even caught a pass this year. Last year’s playoff core of Crab, Ginn, and Swain isn’t much different than this year’s core of Crabs, Moss, and Jenkins. I have a feeling Brett Swain’s phone is ringing right now.
On the other side of the ball, Justin Smith is the biggest asset to our entire offense. Yes, more important to our defense than Patrick Willis. He sets up everything. He makes Aldon Smith look like an all-pro, and he keeps the LBs clean by tying up blockers so Bowman and Willis can roam around and play like beasts. If Justin isn’t eating up double teams, then it allows the guards to move to the 2nd level and take either Bowman or Willis out of the play. And it also doesn’t help that we have 2 reserve DL also injured in Dobbs and Tukuafu. We may be 1 injury away from throwing in the towel. We literally have no quality depth at Safety, OLB, DL, or WR. We needed the Bye more than anyone did.
Right on Dan!!!
You still may get the bye. A road game against the Vikings is no gimme for Green Bay as the 49ers well know. Arizona, on the other hand, is a mess and would be a guaranteed home win for virtually anybody.
Where is nate palmer? who else can we bring up? Jenkins and….please don’t say swaine
Palmer is an active member of the Colts. Jenkins will step into Manningham’s role. Next man up, they beat NE with Manningham out.
I feel bad for Arizona this week. I wonder if ray edwards can play both side? Brooks looked lost out there. There was no contain from our DE’s or outside LBs. NO creativity either. Why don’t we throw in zone blitz?
What’s up with Carlos Rodgers? dropping a pick and getting burned son many time. Their recievers are not better than New englands. What ever happened to being able to switch from a 3-4 to 4-3?
The easiest thing for a DE to do if he’s not pass rushing is hold up the point of attack. Just grab the tackle and don’t get pushed around. He wasn’t even able to do that. The absence Of JS is huge!!
Vic is going to need to scheme ou defense to win now, not just depend on the base vanilla style anymore.
The H-man is still learning. His own brother whipped him last year.
Hey in spite are all difference of opinions and thoughts on the Niners, like Harbaugh this and CK that, and Alex Lover/Hater — Merry Xmas everyone.
Sorry if I name-called on a few peeps. It’s just a game. And this is just a blog of a small paper in Marin.
Peace Out.
Any news on manningham???
Per Adam Schefter, Manningham tore his ACL and PCL. Done for the season.
Heard that on the road doing errands. We are in trouble. Moss and Jenkins need to make up the difference. I bet VD does not play this week. DW will be playing for a premier starting Tightend job next season.
Thats too bad.
The hesitation by kap caused that, smh. The injuries are really piling up now. Jenkins needs to show up now. Who knows, maybe he’ll surprise us like LMJ.
Big Niner,
Kap hesitated because the defensive end was in the passing lane. he double clutched and barley got it past the side of his hand the 2nd time. That’s why he missed Crabs on that WR Screen that was open early in the game. Clemens kept sealing the edge.
23hater how many more excuses are you gonna make for Kap?
Happy Holiday’s Prime.
Merry Xmas Jack!
Randy Prime,
You just keep on coming back, even though Grant deletes your insults, hey Prime hater, how many excuses did you have for 7 years of AS.
Primate Axel Randy,
It must suck to be you. No one likes you here, your a waste of space, please read Football for Dummies, read it 5 times, and by next season you can follow AS to his new team. and God help that new blog, with your mental stabilty.
those are the types of injuries that end careers.
Hopefully Santa brungs the g-ro a darren sproles type package for lmj(fingers and toes crossed)!!!
Merry Christmas to everyone up here on the the best Niner blog in the bay! Go Niners!
Merry Christmas 23! Bad game but good times ahead. Kap/
Niners will bounce back bro. All arrows up. I want Dallas!
So the Niners are back to the exact same position at WR as they were last season going into the playoffs. Bad luck. Stupid personnel moves. Got to get some big bodies in there. Who is Ricardo Lockette?
Ricardo Lockette: 6’2″, 211 lbs., 4.34 40yd
–
Can he read the playbook? Can he catch? Why the hell are we not using AJ and this guy? CUT GINN!!!
who what when? please explain, I’ve missed something with this lockette person
BigNiner –> Lockette
On practice squad. Young guy, 2nd or 3rd year, formerly on Seattle, actually had a pretty good game when he played against the Niners (I think) last year. Niners picked him up this year after Indianapolis claimed Nathan Palmer.
We do have Moss and Crab is much improved. Jenkins will have a chance to earn his keep. Those two guys that were in last year practise squad were horrible that played in the Giant game.
Moss is awesome, Crab is good, everything else is a question mark. Not exactly a solid position to be in. The problem with the Niners is their lack of continuity in the passing game. Grant was right about needing to get VD involved, but truth be told, they should have been targeting different guys heavily each week, like Eli does with his guys, Rodgers does with his, etc… It’s not gonna be pretty. Get the fastest, biggest, most physical guys onto the field every week and spread the ball around. This team isn’t winning it. Baalke needs to bulk up the WR position. Sucks.
Line VD out wide. Put Crabs in the slot and go double TE with Celec. We can run off of thst formation or go vertical.
Bay, I’ve been saying that all year…..no creativity on offense taking advantage of match ups.
Happy Holiday’s to all and your families!
Happy Holidays to you too and your family. Keep up the good work on your blog.
Happy holidays Niner brothas! I’m still recovering from
the beatdown on my birthday. That was our hall pass game. I dig you all, keep the faith! Thank you all for taking the time
away from your families/work etc to make guys like me happier!
Happy holidays and a happy birthday man.
Happy Holidays gentlemen.
Merry Christmas to all the PD blog family.
Whether naughty or nice, we’re still 49ers the faithful.
Hope you have a great Christmas, and a belated Happy Birthday to Coach Harbaugh!
“It’s Christmas Eve. It’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”
Nope. The loss is too fresh. Not even Christmas can make me happy.
/sigh
I don’t care what anyone says about it. 49ers had a bad game, but even if they get knocked out of the playoffs, this season is a success, Harbaugh to me has earned the coaching spot for years to come, I want the 49ers to win the SB this year but if they don’t so what, JH has shown that the 49ers can go to the playoffs 2 consecutive years, he has brought a successful system and mindset to the 49ers. Everyone wants them to win a SB I am just happy that they are competive and a winning sports franchise. Seatle had to crawl out of the gutter sometime, and well it looks like they are using our formula to do it, its about time the NFC west had a true rivalry. Heres to continued years of red and gold relevance.
Very well said. Our future is very bright. With 13 draft picks and another high potential draft pick for Smith, our future is bright indeed.
dude no one will give us squat for smith. They’ll cut him not to pay the bonus.
Well said. I think a lot of the young ones here don’t remember the glory years and hence the lack of patience/sense of urgency.
Having watched 4 out of the 5 Super Bowl wins, I’m just happy we’re in the equation again after years of mediocrity.
Let’s hope we do it this year. If not, it’s not the end of the world. Still a great job by Harbaugh.
Not a Christmas gift I wanted. Manningham torn acl and pcl. Done! That sucks.
We got a lump of coal this year. Where is that fat bastard in the red suit? I’m gonna kick his butt.
49ers will make the playoffs, this type of stuff is good for a young team, other players will step up and perform the coaches will adapt and the team will get better. This is especially good for Kaep and his development.
You from Philly?
I’m wondering if Harbaugh taking over the play calling had more to do with not liking the play selection, or with Roman not getting the plays on on time.
How many of you saw two sequences where Kaep put his arms up staring at the sideline and still did not have a play to run.
Harbaugh has got to be pissed. Listen to what Pete Carol said about our offense taking a dig at Harbaugh. Right around the 5:50 mark.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/football-san-francisco-niners/matt-mindi-49ers-are-different-team-without-justin-smith
I noticed that too but got no response. The offense actually moved when he was calling plays.
Out for the year since the New Orleans game…
Offense: Williams, Hunter, Manningham (stars of Kaepernick’s debut vs the Bears)
Defense: Dobbs, Haggans, Justin Smith
That’s alot of firepower. Rookie or not, Jenkins time to show why he was drafted in the first round.
we don’t know whether JS is out for the year.
CK 7 under center, season ending injuries to teammates. Josh Morgan, Kyle Williams, Mario Manningham, Kendall Hunter. P.Harrylson was hurt pratcicing againt CK.
Josh Morgan????
Yeah last season Josh morgan was injured on the pass from CK.
Ahhh. Gotcha
Merry Christmas faithful. And Happy Birthday Jesus.
I hope all of you get what you wanted and will have a wonderful day. Grant my present from you is a simple one my friend. All I want is for you to stop predicting 49er wins. Just for the next 3-4 games. :-)
Time to make a little noise to wake the wife up (on accident) so I can see the new 49er presents I got. Hope she likes the VD jersey I got her. :-)
Glad you said “jersey” after VD. I suspect she will be too. Merry Christmas!
Mr. E
Nicely done sir :))
Merry Christmas to all.
The win – win – lose pattern indicates that we will beat AZ, win our WC game and lose in GB.
Sounds about right…sad…I’d say that play calling is our biggest weakness.
Dude GB is losing Sunday. So we will lose in SF. :-(
Atl will lose their first game also
Injuries will play the bigger role. I don’t believe in patterns. If we’re better that day we win, if not we lose, plain and simple.
Aren’t we about due for the win-win-tie part of that pattern?
The 49ers will tie in Green Bay. Wait…
I find Harbaugh’s style to be fine – altho i’m glad i’m not a journalist covering the team – because his philosophy seems to boil down to one i can respect: judge us by what you see on the field. As a fan, i’m happy with that. I’d like to have more color on things like injuries, but that stuff tends to come out, and if it doesnt I cant still watch the game and judge what i see on the field. The great positive from this is that he protects the players. The real test will come in January, with our first playoff game. Hopefully a couple of key players heal up by then.
and Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all
I like Harbaugh but he’s going to get shredded by the media as soon as the 49ers have a losing record. Losing happens to every team eventually and you know folks like Kawakami and Ratto are waiting in gleeful anticipation for Harbaugh to trip.
Harbaugh may not care about the media but I’m guessing the dude building a billion dollar stadium does.
Clemons,
Kawakami, Ratto and Lowell will be firing away with their keyboards, that being said Kawakami and Ratto are my least favorite columnists, Lowell is still my favorite. Really who cares, we might need to retool, get rid of players 1 year too soon, instead of 1 yr too late as BW would say, and start building the team with our draft picks. I am ok with that because I feel JH will lead the way in a positive direction.
I am sorry Randy Prime, did you say something.
yes Msclemons, but that goes with the territory i think. if you win, you’re loved, and if you lose, no one loves you and you lose your job. so Harbaugh just has to keep fighting to win, and let the chips fall where they may. currying favor with the owner and media only helps after you’ve done something to earn some chips – see Billick/Baltimore.
Someone up there earlier said they are happy that the Niners a just competitive again. I agree. I’ve been a fan of the Niners for over 30 years and the 9 before last year were the hardest to watch. It’s great to matter again. To be back in the playoffs. Can’t win it every year, but no it wouldn’t hurt either. Merry Christmas guys.
Go Niners!
If you check out the Cowboys fan site, nobody is harping on the loss to the Saints. The fans have put the Saints loss behind them and are focused on the win or go home game against the Redskins.
The Cowboy fans are happy that their team is in position to make the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Niner blogs are full of negativity and overreaction even though we are already in the playoffs, are a near lock for the 3rd seed, and have a 50 / 50 shot at the second seed if AP breaks off a couple of big runs at home against the pack.
Sometimes I just don’t understand the mentality of 49er fans. Its not as if we are still in the 90′s and used to being in the playoffs year after year and think it a failure if we don’t make the Super bowl. Until last year we had not sniffed the playoffs for 10 long years. Harbaugh turned the team around and put us in the playoffs two years in a row, and all some of us do is to second guess him on the starting QB, and call him names after a single loss.
Unbelievable.
Rick
Every year we don’t win the Superbowl is a failure. If you’re happy with the playoffs, you’re probably a Seahawks fan.
$0.02
Merry Christmas
@ Mr. Everything:
I agree with you, but the first step to making a Super Bowl run is making the playoffs. Mission accomplished. So far so good.
If and When the Niners lose in the playoffs, you are welcome to criticize and start talking of failures and changes. I will be with you. I just think the negativity at this point is uncalled for.
For the record I have been a 49er season ticket holder since 1978. I have already signed my PSL deal for the new Santa Clara stadium. I was in Detroit in sub zero temperatures for the 1981 Superbowl against the Bengals. I don’t need anyone to lecture me on how to be a 49er fan.
Rick
Nice. The “you” of “you’re probably a Seahawks fan” was collective. Your positivity was not ambiguous.
There is a book out on us now. Games we won this year we’ve had a match up advantage or all three parts of out team were clicking.
When we’ve faced teams that match up well against us we have shown that we lack a creative game plan to surprise those teams.
When we played the Vikings, Seahawks twice and Rams twice. In all of those games we failed to game plan.
Gone are the fly sweeps, where are the naked bootlegs, where is the creativity with Vernon?
Harbaugh has been average against those teams. Guess we will find out how good he is next week and in the post season….
I agree. What worries me is JH has said that they scout themselves. If that’s the case then how can they not see their short commings? Where is the creativity? where are the draw plays? we’ve seen some screens which is good but where are the draws and counters? Draw are like wham plays where you let their agressive play work against them especially in Seattle where it’s so loud.
On defense, where are the zone blitzes? how about a 4-3 front every once in a while? Where are the overload blitzes from one side ? or up the middle? Our base defense is good but when we play bend and don’t break, with our injuries, it will not work. If we face an RG3 type qb , we’re done!! How can we so bad against the zone read offense? we run it everyday!!! Our defense should know better. Why was Brooks so bad? Where is the game time coaching? who’s our LB coach? he should be fired!!!
We have been out adjusted at half time every single game. I don’t think our coaching staff is as good as we think. Maybe the assistants are really bad or something, I just don’t know.
Coaches need to find a way to get the best out of their players, put them in winning positions. Coach them up even if they’re great.
Quick solutions to their problems:
ON offense;
Open your playbook more, put in different formations and player combinations. Gore, LMJ together in the backfield. Three TE bunch formations running pick plays. VD out wide, jenkins in the slot. What about a WR or TE lining up in the back field like rice used to do?
Play calling. With the problem G Ro is having, He needs help. JH called the plays and it worked. I don’t like the two play , let it roll or kill, calls. I want a simple call and then some audibles or hand signs to change routes by WR’s, kind of like what the great QB’s do.
On defense:
Let your leaders on D make the blitz calls, line adjustments and audibles especially since you play in base mostly.
The D coordinator needs to get creative. Zone blitzes to confuse the QB. The 4-3 needs to be implemented. maybe you put AS down in the 3 point stance.
This team has game film on them now and teams are adjusting. That’s why the Rams with a good coaching staff is playing us tougher.
They actually didn’t play so poorly on D in the second half. Couple of phantom penalties, but nowhere near as embarrassing as the first half. One thing is clear: the coaches have to adjust their scheme to play without Justin. Gone are the days when he can allow them to play 11-on-10.
They gave up 14 points in the second half. That alone is there average per game. That’s bad to me.
At the beginning of the year, everyone said they Niners had the most talented roster from top to bottom. Eventually the injuries to key personnel took its toll, compared to last year.
At the beginning of the year, everyone marveled at the coaching staff that Harbaugh put together. But now other season coaches have caught up to G-Ro.
Someone presented the stats of scoring for G-Ro and it was not good, regardless who was at QB.
And now the D looks gassed, and can’t come up with important stops. Seahawks were 11/13 on 3rd down. That’s not an elite D.
What the Niners have failed to do is adjust and adapt and change. The switch at QB messed with the identity of the Offense. And that’s not to slam KAP or praise Smith. Niners are a run first team. Any time they try to open up the offense, they fail. And now they don’t have any healthy receivers to open up the offense anyway.
To all of the blog faithfuls, have a Merry Christmas! I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. Agree or disagree, it is a lot of fun to discuss 49ers football with all of you, and I wish you and your families good health and an amazing 2013. God bless you all.
Same here boss. merry xmas!
Merry Christmas big p
BigP, Merry Christmas to you and your family. I wish you a happy and very healthy new year. GO NINERS
So, is anyone else completely disappointed that the Mayans left us with all these credit card bills?
No I am not, but this might be over the head of alot of people on here who don’t know the Mayans or their calendar.
Win-Win-Loss or tie-Win-Win-Loss or tie …. and so the pattern continues.
Did Grant break the blog again? Replies are ending up in weird spots.
Grant’s playing Whack-A-Mole again with rude posters; it discombobulates the strings.
BTW, Clem, best to you & yours from me & mine.
Love the fans whining about fans. As a fan I do not worship my team. I am not obligated to. Perhaps in some stations of life lived by some fans, blind allegiance and groveling are attributes of loyalty. They aren’t.
Harbaugh made a huge mistake in switching QBs and its not working. He refuses to admit he made a mistake because he is full of self love and pride. And he does not like to talk to the media which is the outlet to hopeful or even worried fans, so he is not talking to the fans either. Colin K does the same thing now. The hardened unapproachable coach and the distant and petulant star QB. At least Alex said it sucked when he met disappointment.
But I do look forward to Alex Smith moving on to a more mentally un-wierd coach and team. That would be cool.
Burn, Niners, Burn.
Prime,
when you spoon with your Alex inflatable, is he in front of you or behind you? Just curious.
Jonny,
I miss Alex already. Just because of your eant, I almost feel sorry for Smith. You sound like a fool. Stay tuned genius. So which NFL team do you coach? Didn’t think so. Im sure you’ve not missed a team practice all year. Appreciate your insights.