Colin Kaepernick’s mechanics need a trip to the garage

This is my Saturday column. Colin Kaepernick isn’t huge on mechanics. He said so on Wednesday. This revelation shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen him play. Kaepernick is one of the most inconsistent quarterbacks in the NFL. His college coach, Chris Ault, broke down Kaepernick’s inconsistencies last week to Foxsports.com. Ault was the only college coach who gave Kaepernick a football scholarship. Ault created Kaepernick….

October 16, 2015
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What Colin Kaepernick meant

This is my Friday column. Jim Tomsula started it. Wednesday morning in the 49ers’ auditorium, a reporter asked him how Colin Kaepernick is different compared to a year ago. Through two games, Kaepernick’s passer rating is 98.1. Last season, it was only 86.4. What changed? “We’re not asking for the same things,” Tomsula said. “It’s not the same. There’s really not things to compare it to — what we’re asking…

September 24, 2015
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Colin Kaepernick: “I’m not being asked to do things outside of my character.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s an interesting exchange from Colin Kaepernick’s Wednesday press conference. Q: Coach Tomsula just said a few minutes that you’re not being asked to do anything that you’ve been asked to do in previous years. What do you think he meant by that, and what’s your take on what you’re being asked to do that’s different? KAEPERNICK: I would say the biggest thing is I’m being asked…

September 23, 2015
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49ers get smarter in the passing game

This is my Saturday column. Some say the 49ers suffered a damaging blow when the NFL suspended their No. 3 receiver, Jerome Simpson, for the first six games of 2015. Some say they showed no football wisdom in signing him, a player likely to be suspended. I say forget Jerome Simpson. His absence will have zero impact. He wasn’t the Niners No. 3 receiver, anyway – not in training camp,…

August 22, 2015
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49ers picking up the pace on offense

This is my Saturday column. SANTA CLARA The 49ers have a brand new offense. The old one was the slowest in the NFL, and not just during plays when they lumbered around the grass. They were slow between plays, too. They couldn’t even get plays off. The Niners led the league in delay-of-game penalties each of the past two seasons under head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman….

June 12, 2015
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49ers and Adam Gase — good match or bad idea?

This is about gravitas and Adam Gase. Gase is the favorite to be the next head coach of the 49ers. Gase is the only coach the 49ers have interviewed twice so far this offseason — they interviewed him for a second time Tuesday, according to reports. Gase is 36 years old. He looks like a teenager. He has been an offensive coordinator for two whole seasons and has done impressive…

January 13, 2015
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49ers 20, Cardinals 17: Grades

SANTA CLARA – Hey, at least the 49ers didn’t lose to both Cardinals’ backup quarterbacks this season. KAEPERNICK: B+. Played his best when it really mattered. Threw two touchdown passes and zero picks for the first time since Week 6. Also threw zero fourth-quarter touchdown passes for the 18th game in a row. Would have committed a Delay of Game penalty with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter if Marcus…

December 28, 2014
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Anthony Davis’ criticism is out of bounds

This is my Sunday column. Anthony Davis sure has a lot to say for a guy who played just six games this season. Four days after he played his first game in five weeks, Davis more or less fired his own boss, offensive coordinator Greg Roman, via Twitter: “Greg Roman to me when I was 21: ‘You know we can get someone off the street to do what you do.’…

December 27, 2014
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Greg Roman: “I think we’ve got to produce more in the second half.”

This is the transcript of Greg Roman’s Tuesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ p.r. department. Opening comments: “Good afternoon. Hope everybody’s getting their Christmas shopping done if you haven’t already. Getting ready for a very good Arizona team. Obviously they’re a playoff team, a very aggressive defense led by [Cardinals DE] Calais Campbell up front, [Cardinals NT Dan] Williams and [Cardinals DT Frostee] Rucker and then [Cardinals LB Alex]…

December 23, 2014
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Greg Roman: “Had a very productive morning today in meetings and looking forward to getting a bunch of work done today. Any questions?”

This is the transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ p.r. department. Opening statement: “Morning. Getting ready for a very good Seattle defense. I think these guys have gotten healthy the past couple weeks and are playing at a very impressive level. Very impressed at their Philly game and they certainly did a good job against us a couple weeks ago. I think we helped them…

December 11, 2014
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Greg Roman: “We’ve simplified things and that’s good sometimes and sometimes it’s not so good.”

This is the transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department. Opening comments: “Morning. Getting ready for a really good Oakland Raiders defense, a good mix of youth and experience. [Raiders DE] Justin Tuck, still playing at a high level. Very, very smart player. I enjoy watching him on film. They brought [Raiders DL Antonio] Smith over from Houston, [Raiders DT Justin] Ellis from Green…

December 4, 2014
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49ers turf war suffocates progress

This is my Saturday column. Even Trent Baalke’s daughter wants Jim Harbaugh to fire Greg Roman. Cassie Baalke has seen enough. The college student reached her breaking point Thursday night after the Niners’ offense scored just three points at home against the Seahawks. “Greg Roman can take a hike,” she tweeted, “the 49ers don’t want you no more.” She quickly deleted the tweet from her account, and she’s probably on…

November 28, 2014
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49ers 3, Seahawks 19: Grades

SANTA CLARA – Jed York can’t blame Vic Fangio for this one — the 49ers’ defense gave up just one touchdown. It was the offense that failed to show up for the third game in a row. Here are the grades. KAEPERNICK: Z. Worst game of his career. His passes were inaccurate, his downfield vision was poor and he forced passes to covered receivers. Is there any doubt which team…

November 27, 2014
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Redskins 13, 49ers 17: Grades

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers defied the odds and beat the first-class Redskins 17-13 Sunday afternoon. Here are the Niners’ grades. KAEPERNICK: B. Unusually efficient. Completed 20-of-29 pass attempts (69 percent) for 256 yards (8.8 yards per attempt). Three of his nine incomplete passes were dropped. He threw a long, beautiful touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin on the first drive of the game, but he never came close to throw…

November 23, 2014
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49ers’ red zone plan a mystery

This is my Thursday column. SANTA CLARA Let me get this straight. Ten games into the season, the 49ers have thrown one pass to Vernon Davis in the red zone. That was Week 1. He scored a touchdown. Ten games into the season, the 49ers have by far the worst red-zone offense in the NFC. Could those two facts be related? I’m just asking. Before the season, Colin Kaepernick said…

November 20, 2014
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49ers 16, Giants 10: Grades

East Rutherford, NJ. – The 49ers barely beat the Giants, a bad team that quit after the second quarter and turned the ball over five times. So here are the Niners’ grades. KAEPERNICK: C. The best you can say is he didn’t turn the ball over. Which is good, but his first pass almost got picked off. And he fumbled once (he recovered it). And he didn’t complete a single…

November 16, 2014
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49ers offense halfway there

This is my Wednesday column. I want to help the 49ers. Not because I root for them. I don’t. I root for the highest level of play and coaching. I root for perfection. I cannot bear to watch a team underperform. I’m a mere journalist, but I sincerely want to help Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman if I can. So here goes. Their offense should be better than it is….

November 12, 2014
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49ers 27, Saints 24: Grades

They aren’t dead yet. The 49ers beat the Saints 27-24 in overtime Sunday afternoon, handed Sean Payton his first loss in the Superdome since 2010. Now the 49ers are 5-4. Here are their grades. KAEPERNICK: B+. It was fourth-and-10 from the Niners’ 22-yard line, one minute and 34 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Niners’ down by three. Kaepernick had to save the game. He rolled to his right. Nowhere…

November 9, 2014
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49ers need to let this man inflict some pain

This is my Saturday column. I bet you dimes to donuts the 49ers open Sunday’s game against the Saints with a running play. I don’t know this for a fact. I don’t sit in the 49ers’ offensive meetings. But I do know that the past two games — both losses — Greg Roman called 79 passes and 39 runs, a 2-to-1 ratio of passes to runs and, as a result,…

November 8, 2014
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Roman: “I really can’t concern myself with the flak that might fly around, good or bad.”

SANTA CLARA — This is the full transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers’ P.R. department. Opening comments: “Afternoon. A tough game put behind us. Bounce back and get right into the New Orleans defense. A very stout, solid front. [Saints OLB Junior] Galette kind of their pass rush specialist. [Saints DE Cameron] Jordan, [Saints NT Brodrick] Bunkley and [Saints DE Akiem] Hicks and then we…

November 6, 2014
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