Add Ted Ginn. Subtract Delanie Walker.
The Niners hope the formula helps add up to more than 13 points a game, a figure which ranks 31st in the NFL.
Walker has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and is officially “week to week.” However, he was sporting crutches and a walking boot today. He said he will be off the ankle entirely this week and then see how it’s progressed. Doesn’t sound great.
In contrast, Ginn, who has missed three weeks with an MCL sprain, will return for Sunday’s game against the Eagles. Ginn, the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft by Miami, was dealt to the Niners in the offseason for a fifth-round pick – compelling evidence that he didn’t come close to fulfilling expectations with the Dolphins. He managed one catch for 19 yards in more than three quarters in his 49ers debut against Seattle and was injured on the reception.
He doesn’t quite sound like a savior for a moribund offense, but the Niners could use some speed among their wide receiver corps. Josh Morgan and Michael Crabtree, not known as home-run threats, have just two catches of more than 17 yards among their combined 23 receptions this season.
“Speed is just something that always helps,” Mike Singletary said. “It’s something that you can’t create. You can’t make. It’s there and when you have it, it really makes a difference.”
• Singletary admitted he didn’t shake hands with Falcons coach Mike Smith after Sunday’s game.
“It was poor sportsmanship on my behalf,” Singletary said. “I don’t know if any of you guys ever get ticked. I’d be the first to tell my kid: That was wrong. I should have gone over there and shook his hand. I chose not to for a number of reasons. But nothing else was on my mind. I was disappointed and that was a very honest feeling after the game.”
Singletary said he hadn’t spoken with Smith since Sunday’s game.
Now, if this was another coach, this may not really be news. It happens on occasion. A coach is angry after a defeat and heads for the locker room – or gives a halfhearted wave from 50 yards away.
But Singletary repeatedly speaks about the importance of character and integrity among his players.
So when he doesn’t shake a fellow coach’s hand — or snaps at a sportscaster in response to a benign question — it gives the impression that he’s not practicing what he’s preaching.
• After four games, Brian Westbrook has three touches and has been paid more than $300,000 – or about $100,000 per touch. Westbrook’s lack of use seems puzzling. Is he simply, like so many 31-year-old running backs, finished? Have the Niners not been able to find a role for him? Is he not up to speed on the playbook?
Singletary was asked about Westbrook’s lack of a clearly defined role – besides, of course, the role of benchwarmer. But his answer did little to clear up the situation.
“It’s not that we haven’t been able to find a role,” Singletary said. “I think sometimes when it’s early in the season you’re just trying to get it going for Frank Gore, just to make sure that the offensive line, being as young as it is, are really in tune with him, and just really trying to explore all of the things with Frank Gore. I think Westbrook, the plan that we had when we got him here was to make sure that as we go forward and we find out what he can and cannot do, in terms of our offense, is just letting it develop, and that’s what we’re trying to do. And I think as time goes on we’ll see that.”
Got it?
• Offensive line news … Center Eric Heitmann should return this week from a broken fibula. David Baas has done a solid job in Heitmann’s place, leading to speculation that Heitmann might play guard, a position he played extensively early in his career, when he returns. Singletary said Heitmann has to work himself back into “football shape.” Of whether Heitmann or Baas plays center, he said he Heitmann might see time at center and guard in practice, “we’re just going to let it work itself out,” he said. … If Heitmann does return to another position, the logical guess would be right guard. Chilo Rachal, who was wearing a knee brace today, was injured during Sunday’s game and was replaced by Adam Snyder. Singletary definitely declared Rachal the starter after the third-year lineman missed the Saints game with a shoulder stinger and Snyder played well in his place. Asked if Rachal was healthy and what the situation was at right guard, Singletary said, “Right now he has a bit of a sore knee, but overall I think he’s fine and we’ll just look at it day-to-day.” … Singletary on rookie right tackle Anthony Davis, “I think really took a huge step on Sunday. I think he did a very nice job.”
• With Walker out, possibly for several weeks, rookie Nate Byham will assume a larger role in the offense.
The sixth-round pick has been a pleasant surprise, flashing versatility by learning to play H-back as well as tight end. He was billed as one of top blocking tight ends in the draft, but he’s also shown reliable hands.
Still, Byham isn’t kidding himself. He’s aware he doesn’t have Walker’s big-play ability.
“Coach (Mike) Johnson and all the other coaches have done a great job game-planning and putting me in positions where I can succeed and win,” he said. “They’re not going to have me do anything too crazy or expect me to run a Speed 9, like something like Delanie would do. All the positions that I’ll be in will be positions where I can win the battle from the guy across from me.”
At Pitt, the 6-foot-4, 264-pound Byham said he recognized that blocking could be his ticket to the NFL – something he said many college tight ends, more worried about stats, fail to understand. Asked how he became pegged as a blocking tight end, he smiled, “Just kicking dude’s butts. That’s about it. Just getting in there and getting gritty.”
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