How the Giants defense will play the Niners offense

Part of the reason the Saints lost to the Niners on Saturday is that their defensive game plan was too simple. They acted as if stopping Frank Gore would stop the entire Niners offense. They committed eight, nine, sometimes ten defenders to the box to shut down Gore and they left every single receiver in single coverage – even Vernon Davis. This was a bad strategy. You can’t single cover…

January 15, 2012
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Braylon Edwards cut

The 49ers cut Braylon Edwards, according to multiple reports. Edwards made this statement on his website: “I was released today by the 49ers due to my injury that required more time to rehab and hasn’t allowed me to re-sync with the offense. I wish the 49ers organization the best of luck during the Playoffs. “I will be working hard this off season to strengthen my knee and prepare for the 2012…

December 27, 2011
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Harbaugh: “Crab saved Christmas.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the rest of what Jim Harbaugh said this afternoon at his press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Hello. Good to see everybody. Great win for us. Extremely proud of our football team on a lot of different levels in this ball game. Probably the biggest factor is they didn’t flinch. It reminded me a lot of ways of games we played at Detroit, at…

December 26, 2011
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Harbaugh heaps praise on Aldon Smith, Tarell Brown, Ahmad Brooks, and more.

SANTA CLARA – Here are more quotes I selected from Jim Harbaugh’s Tuesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Larry Grant has played really well with Patrick Willis out. Have you thought about, are there different ways you’re going to look to get him involved when Willis comes back? Are there other ways to get Larry Grant on the field more than he had been before the last few weeks?…

December 20, 2011
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The southwest corner

SANTA CLARA — For what it’s worth, the Niners really like each other. They may or may not man up against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Monday night – I think they will – but regardless, they get along. Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati are best friends. Parys Haralson and Aldon Smith act like brothers. Colin Kaepernick and Bruce Miller joke around with everyone. But there’s a cool section of the…

December 18, 2011
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Delanie Walker: “This week we’re going to hurry up to the line of scrimmage and get set.”

SANTA CLARA – Adam Snyder had to take a phone call, so he was unavailable for comment this afternoon. Frank Gore walked into the locker room at 12:50, a group of reporters crowded around him at his locker, the P.R. director said, “Frank, show them how you break through the line!” and Gore walked through the reporters to leave the room and go to meetings. Vernon Davis walked out five…

December 15, 2011
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Jim Harbaugh reads The Art of War, and more

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Want to start off and just say how saddened we are as a team with the passing of Chester McGlockton. Chester’s been a very close and dear friend over the last four years. Was a part of our team here with the 49ers and also at Stanford. Chester worked with the defensive…

November 30, 2011
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Alex Smith on the loss to the Ravens: “Obviously, you watch the film and you see where you got exposed. That’s for sure.”

SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Alex Smith said at his locker this morning. Q: How close was your offense to making big plays on Thursday? ALEX SMITH: I think when I turned on the film, there were some opportunities I think to push the ball down the field a few times. Get those one-on-one matchups down the field and try to take advantage of them. I think that’s definitely what…

November 28, 2011
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Alex Smith’s top-five targets

Ray Rice will speak on a conference call at 10:00 am and John Harbaugh will speak at 10:30 am, but before I got to transcription land let’s play a game. Who are Alex Smith’s top-five weapons in the pass game? Smith has thrown the ball 68 times the last two games as Greg Roman tries to establish the pass attack before the playoffs. Over these last two weeks we’ve gotten…

November 21, 2011
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Roman: “We’re still breaking into whatever percentile it is of what we do.”

SANTA CLARA – Here is the transcript of Greg Roman’s press conference from this afternoon, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “We’re right into getting ready for our Thursday practice. Had a great walk-through, had a good, vibrant practice yesterday. Got a stiff challenge ahead of us with the Browns. Obviously, everybody knows they’re the 4th ranked defense in the league, doing a tremendous job there getting people off the…

October 27, 2011
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Delanie Walker: “I’m D-Lay. I love the fans and they love me.”

SANTA CLARA — Here’s the transcript of today’s Q&A with Hubert Delanie “D-Lay” Walker from the 49ers locker room. Q: Why is Alex Smith playing better this season? WALKER: I think the coaches are putting them in positions to make plays and now his confidence level is higher. He always had confidence throughout the years, but it’s higher this year and you can see it just from the way he’s…

October 26, 2011
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Trent Dilfer’s #filmstudy of the 49ers

Trent Dilfer just wrote a series of tweets on the 49ers which he tagged #filmstudy. Here’s what he wrote. 1. Alex Smith DEALING in Big Moments whole year, Vertical accuracy has been very good. Passing game making strides” 2. “Iupati 77 is going to be a premier OG for years. Huge, great feet, great length, dominant at point and fantastic puller” 3. “O-line continues to gel and improve in their…

October 18, 2011
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Hubert Delanie Walker: “When I heard the play I knew the coaches still believed in me.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Hubert Delanie Walker’s locker room Q&A from this morning. Q: Take us through that last play. WALKER: You know, basically, I had to make up. The drop that I had in the end zone could’ve put us up, you know, earlier and we probably wouldn’t have had to go through that crucial moment, 4th down and 6. So when I heard the play…

October 17, 2011
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Delanie Walker — Don’t call him Hubert

Here’s something you never knew about Delanie Walker. His first name isn’t Delanie. It’s Hubert. “They put it in the program one year, what somebody doesn’t know about you.” So, should we call him Hubert? “No.” His voice was emphatic, although he was laughing in a good-natured way. Is Hubert not a tough enough name? “Actually, for a tight end that’s a good name. It’s strong. But Hughie, Baby Hughie….

October 12, 2011
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Delanie Walker says Harbaugh made the Niners a “civilized team.”

SAN FRANISCO – Here are a couple Delanie Walker postgame quotes, courtesy of the 49ers. Q: You’re give weeks into this and you have already adopted the personality of the Coach with no minicamp, nothing. How does that happen? WALKER: Well our training camp was pretty hard. We didn’t really get any days off and we worked hard. He (Head Coach Jim Harbaugh) tried to embed it in us, make…

October 9, 2011
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Practice-lite

SANTA CLARA – Today was the lightest practice of training camp, and here’s what I mean by light. Harbaugh ended the practice at 4:55 today, 35 minutes earlier than usual because “the tempo was so good,” as he explained afterwards. At no point did the first-team offense play against the first-team defense in 11-on-11 drills. Alex Smith and the first-unit took a ton of red zone reps against the third-team…

August 10, 2011
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Harbaugh the punter

SANTA CLARA – If you thought today’s practice would start with a Harbaugh-Kaepernick quarterback lesson, you were wrong. Harbaugh left Kaepernick alone with quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst for a change. Instead, Coach Harbaugh spent the beginning of practice standing next to punter Andy Lee. As I walked over, I saw Harbaugh pantomiming a punting motion, and for a second I thought he was trying to teach Andy Lee, one of…

August 3, 2011
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Walker on Harbaugh: “He’s got a lot of tobacco in his mouth.”

SANTA CLARA – Delanie Walker spoke to the media in the press room at 49ers facilities Tuesday Morning. He sported a fresh Mohawk, fresh Warriors basketball shorts, and fresh vans that looked like sneakers. He looked fresh. He was smiling and laughing and he cracked a couple jokes – one at Harbaugh’s expense. He also spoke about the playbook and his fitness. Here are a few choice quotes from the…

July 26, 2011
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The 49ers’ five sure things

Thanks for your generous responses to my earlier post. Our discussion of the top 49er storylines turned into a lengthy list of concerns. Adam, among other readers, pointed out the defensive backfield and the offensive line as two more areas of anxiety for the 49ers. Thank you, Adam. Let’s look at the team from the opposite angle now. Injuries aside, what are the Niners’ locks? Where are they strong? What…

July 24, 2011
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