SANTA CLARA – Donte Whitner spoke in the locker room Thursday afternoon. This is what he said.
Q: You said Joe Flacco has made improvement. Can you put a time stamp on that? Did you see a change when Jim Caldwell was made the offensive coordinator, or just during these past playoff games?
WHITNER: I don’t know if you can say that, but I know since they changed offensive coordinators he’s been throwing the ball deep. They’ve been connecting on a lot of their plays. I would say that’s a testament to them changing offensive coordinators and Joe Flacco being aware and into the game plan and out there making plays.
Q: Some people question Flacco’s “eliteness.” Is that ridiculous?
WHITNER: Yeah, that’s ridiculous. When you look at the playoff wins in the first five years, he’s a top quarterback in the NFL. He needs this game, he needs this ring to get his stamp of approval and we need it to get our stamp of approval, so we don’t want him to get it.
Q: What do you think of the fact that your quarterback is making his 10th career start in the Super Bowl?
WHITNER: I think it’s pretty cool. I think that he’ll be ready. He’s pretty headstrong. The moment won’t be too big for him. We expect him to go out there and really shine and do what he’s capable of doing, and that’s leading our offense, running the football, throwing the football, just being an all around good football player.
Q: What were your observations of LaMichael James earlier in the season when he was on the scout offense in practice?
WHITNER: Extremely quick. Extremely talented. Once he starts to get more and more comfortable out there, you’re really going to see a dynamic football player. It’s a testament to him to be able to sit on the sideline and be on the developmental squad for so long actually knowing you can play football, actually coming from a big university, playing in a lot of big games and being a big time player. To have to sit out and be humbled like that, it’s a testament to the character he has. He’s done some good things for us since we’ve lost Kendall. We expect him to continue to do those things. As far as the look that he gave us (in practice), there’s nobody us in the NFL who can give us that look except for starting running backs.
Q: What your impressions of Ray Rice?
WHITNER: Extremely physical. Small guy. Extremely quick. In the passing game he will get out and catch the football, make big plays. He is really the heart and soul of their offense. If he gets going, then you’re going to have trouble on defense. We have to know where he is, we have to take their running game away and make the one-dimensional. That’s each and every week, but that’s difficult with a guy like Ray Rice.
Q: You’ve had some up-and-down games recently – against the Patriots and against the Falcons. Have you looked at the film and isolated the reasons?
WHITNER: Miscommunication. Miscommunication is why we had difficulties in the first half last week. Everybody being hyped up, pumped up for the game, really not paying attention to the small details. We went in in the second half and were able to make that change. We don’t think that’s going to happen this time. We’re ready to play football. We understand we have to do whatever we have to do to get one win and get a ring.
Q: Why are you so sure you won’t have those mistakes in the Super Bowl?
WHITNER: They were minor mistakes. If I were to take you in to watch film right now, you’d see minor things – one missed call and we give up big plays. But that’s any team around the NFL any week. If you go out there and don’t take care of your responsibilities, you can give up big plays and be embarrassed on defense.
Q: Can you talk about the halftime adjustments you’ve made throughout the season?
WHITNER: We made a lot of adjustments throughout the season. Coach Fangio is one of the best at making adjustments. He’s one of the best at keeping it brutally honest with his players. We come in and our rush is not good, he’ll tell us our rush isn’t good. If we’re not fitting our blocks like we’re supposed to, he’ll tell us. In the secondary if we suck, he’ll tell us. That’s what they told us last week. It was up to the secondary and it was up to the rush to get the win. That’s the only adjustment we made. It wasn’t x’s and o’s. It was cleaning up communication, understand what you’re doing and go out there and get it done.
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I’m not buying it. While i have nothing but respect for the guys who play on defense, our defense was almost annihilated in the first half against the Falcons. Its clearly their worst performance in 2 years, and I refuse to believe it’s as simple as communication. And as Dilfer noted, its not like we shut them down in the 2nd half, the Falcons just didnt score.
Now, our defense put on a legendary display in last year’s NFC Championship, a performance that was truly Super Bowl worthy. Does an extra year of wear and tear – and an NFL year is like a dog-year – and key injuries to Justin & Aldon mean that we’re meaningfully less proficient as we approach the SB? Not at all clear. Our guys can step up here, but they’re going to have to bring it because this game is going to be a slugfest. The Ravens have one goal in mind: to beat us up. This game is just going to be flat out nasty. I like us to win, for reasons i’ll lay out later, but the D needs to control the line better against a team which can pass AND run.
Multiple DB’s said there were communication problems.
Do you know what they mean in detail?
Given the two weeks of rest and the two weeks of prepartation under the tutelage of Godfather Fangio, I do not see the need for concern. This defense will be ready and they will prove that they are the best defense in the league.
Fesnyc,
Im with you. Our defense has been getting embarrassed lately. This goes hack 5-6 games. Our front 4 aren’t getting pressure and our secondary is not covering and blowing too many assignments. We are lucky to be in the Super Bowl because Atlanta had us late in that game. Our defense just kept giving it up.
If we can’t get pressure in this game, we lose. We have to get pressure. We need to blitz a bit more. This is the Super Bowl. We have to get it done.
Embarrassed? They have played probably the top 4 QB led offenses in Russell/SEA, Rodgers/GB, Brady/PATS, and Ryan/ATL. Of course those teams are gonna put up points. But embarrassed? You need to chose your words differently or watch more football and learn the game!
Prime,
You just don’t get it do you? I know I embarrassed you a few times lately. I know you’re bitter. I know you’re struggling with the teams success. I know you’re still waiting for Kap to fail. Know you’re an imposter. I know you , the guy with 7 screen names. You don’t defend anyone except Smith. The defense has been faulty. 271 yards in the 1st half for mat Ryan. 520 yards against the Patriots. You’re ignorant Nd you always have been. Too bad we win the Super Bowl for you won’t get the chance to slam Kap. Folllow your sister BS out of here. You’re pathetic.
Prime & Jordo
Neither of you two dudes had any clue about the Niners true QB legend at the beginning of the season. Prime, you loves Alex to a degree only outmatched by his wife, and Jordo, if you had your druthers, you would have traded Kaep during training camp.
Why not just lay down your arms and come together, since both of you have come to your senses and now recognize the bright future ahead?
Jordo, you couldn’t embarrassing me with any football talk because frankly, you dont know the game. Our defense played some great offenses and your acting like they should have pitched a shut out. We won 3 of 4.
All you can do is call names and use the same boring rhetoric. Just continue to call names and use past commentary, it’s all you can do, which requires no thinking.
C’mon, fellas! You’re both passionate Niners fans who hitched your wagons at one point to the wrong QB. Get over it and get positive!
E, one of us is a passionate 49ers fan, the other is a fantasy football fan who sees the game thru numbers and stats. That guys name rhymes with boredom!
Sure Prime, and you were scrambling eggs during the Bears game, preparing to smear it all over Harbaugh’s face after the Coach of the Year failed. We’ve all had our moments. Just be cool.
I had my doubts,it’s well documented, it’s been plowed, but never hate against the player! If your gonna quote me, quote the entire comment!
Meh… I didn’t mean to quote you, not the quote, just the tone. You wanted CK to fail and the team to lose so Alex would be validated. In contrast, the team won, Coach was right, CK is the best QB in the league, and Alex is headed to Kansas City. Smiles all around.
Some people here are ridiculous. The fact of the matter is that the Niners defense gave up 24 points against Green Bay and Atlanta in their latter’s home dome. It hasn’t been the most dominating performance but give credit where it is due. Seattle, the league’s top ranked D, gave up 30 to Atlanta in the same Georgia Dome.
To say they’ve been embarrassed is total a discredit considering I don’t think there’s a defense in the playoffs who could have done better against that type of competition.
Totally agree Ramon with your Take. It’s ridiculous about freaking out on the 49ers D.
The 49ers have played argueably the Top 5 QB’s in the League & have beaten all of them, Rodgers twice!
You don’t expect those Offenses to score some points? C’mon people geez, those guys get paid too. What? Did you expect the 49ers D to totally dominate those Offenses? What world do you guys from anyways?
As Razor mentioned the 49ers have 2 weeks to prepare, you give Jimbo, GRo & Lord Fangio 2 weeks & I will take that everytime. Coupled that with some of these Players getting the rest & be ready to play on Super Sunday and that spells victory. The 49er Players they have 1 more game left & they are going to put the pedal to the metal & go all out to win.
GO 49ers!
I agree Ramon. I saw it as 2 games within 1. Ryan was playing out of his skull for the first quater and a half, Falcons up 17-0. Then the Niners clamed down and won the next 2 1\2 quarters 28-7. I knew there was no way Ryan and Jones could keep the pace they started the game with. Ryan had 4-5 ridiculous throws with terrific coverage that were completed, 2 of the passes were evne tipped\touched by the D, plus 1 blown coverage. Ryan is a statue, as soon as ‘we’ got him off his spot in pocket, he was no where near as accurate. I think the Niners hedged their bets that just make Ryan throw it 40+ time and he, as always, will make 1 or 2 big mistakes, and voila, he did. I agree that the Niners didn’t play anywhere near their A game though.
A for result, C+ for performance.