SANTA CLARA – The Niners newest quarterback, Josh Johnson, spoke today about his comfort level in the offense, his history with Colin Kaepernick, and why he likes Jim Harbaugh’s coaching style so much. Here’s a transcript. Q: How has it been going for you getting into the playbook? JOSH JOHNSON: It’s been going great. I’ve been fortunate for the last few years to play for a variety of different offensive…
Greg Cosell just wrote a blog on football theory which I find interesting, and you can read here. He asks why NFL teams don’t structure their offenses around great running backs anymore. As we know, the 49ers spent much of the last decade building an offense around a great running back – Frank Gore. Gore rushed 282 times last season for 1,211 yards and eight touchdowns. The Niners offense attempted…
SANTA CLARA – This afternoon offensive coordinator Greg Roman spoke for the first time this offseason. He explained how the offense is working on red zone and third down situations, and he said the main goal for the team is to not jump offside at all this minicamp. Below is everything Roman said. ROMAN: Obviously we’re knee-deep in minicamp right now. It was neat during Phase 1, with our first…
SANTA CLARA – Alex Smith spoke to reporters after the Niners morning practice at minicamp on Tuesday. He said the offense has been able to try new thing and “push boundaries” because they have a full offseason this year. They hope the boundary pushing will improve efficiency on third down and in the red zone. Personally, Smith said he’s slowly perfecting his new throwing mechanics, and he’s changed exercises –…
Although the 49ers offensive play calling needs to improve next season, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman called their fair share of good plays last season. Here were their top-five. Frank Gore’s 46-yard run at Detroit in Week 6 thanks to the “wham” block from Delanie Walker on Ndamukong Suh. The Niners used Suh’s aggressiveness against him, allowing him to run free into the backfield on a run play before Delanie…
Yesterday we broke down how the Niners match up with the Green Bay Packers. Today, let’s check out how they match up with their main NFC West rivals – the Seattle Seahawks. 49ERS DEFENSE VS. SEAHAWKS OFFENSE: Seattle signed Aaron Rodgers’ backup and Mike McCarthy’s newest quarterback protégé, Matt Flynn. Although he’s only started two games in his NFL career, he’s performed marvelously in both of those games and many…
This is a companion piece to the blog I wrote yesterday on how offenses might try to attack the Niners defense. I write this to start discussion. I am not giving away any secrets, not that I know any secrets. NFL teams already know these things, and so do the Niners – they self-evaluate all the time. Now that the 49ers are not sneaking up on anybody, here are five…
I’m waiting to hear from the Niners about media availability this week, but as a prelude to that here’s something for you to think about. We don’t know if the offense will be better this year, but let’s assume it is indeed better. How will it be better? Here are five ways. 1. The Niners got fast receivers who can beat single coverage – Randy Moss and Mario Manningham. At…
Take this for what it’s worth – Alex Smith has always been bad on third down. Before I explain, let me define my terms. “Average” on third down would be a 38 percent conversion success rate and five conversions per game. In 2006, Smith’s first full season starting, the Niners offense converted 34.45 percent of third downs and averaged 4.5 third-down conversions per game. Both figures ranked 26th in the…
Secretly, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman have already watched Peyton Manning work out and have given him a physical, according to Adam Schefter, who calls the 49ers the mystery suitor for the Hall of Fame quarterback. Apparently, Harbaugh and Roman flew to Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday to meet Manning and watch him work out Tuesday night. In my previous post I guessed the Niners and Alex Smith were waiting…
How could Jim Harbaugh get one percent better? He’s already a very good coach, but as he says, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. You never stay the same. Keep in mind, I’m working under the hypothesis that Harbaugh is the King of the 49ers. He’s got complete veto power. No play gets called if he doesn’t give the OK, and no player gets signed or drafted if…
The NFL draft combine starts today, and as soon as something happens I’ll break it down for you. Stanford tight end Coby Fleener will not run this week because he has a high ankle sprain, so we won’t know how fast he is until he runs at Stanford’s Pro Day on March 22. If he runs a 4.5 40-yard dash, he would be a good pick for the Niners with…
Here are my full season grades for the 2011 49ers. Alex Smith: A-. He’s a ‘B’ quarterback who had an ‘A’ regular season, an ‘A+’ divisional playoff game against the Saints and a ‘D’ championship game against the Giants. The ‘D’ performance knocks his overall grade down to an ‘A-’ for the season. You can’t finish flat like that and get an ‘A.’ Here’s what we know about Smith: He’s…
SAN FRANCISCO – Here are my grades for the 49ers, who lost 20-17 to the New York Giants in the NFC championship game. Alex Smith: D. Most of his 196 passing yards came on two long completions to Vernon Davis. Besides those two plays, Smith completed just 10 of 24 passes (42% – a Tebowesque percentage) for 95 yards. That’s awful. His best plays came when he scrambled – he…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Greg Roman’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Good afternoon. Obviously, we’re preparing for a really good team. Defense for the Saints has been very productive this year. I think, how many games have they played now, 17? They’ve played good enough to win 14 of them. They have a very active, aggressive defense. They play fast, got a lot…
Here are my Week 17 grades for the 13-3 49ers. Alex Smith: B+. He made one very nice play in this game – the eight yard touchdown scramble on third and goal in the first quarter. He slipped in the pocket and when he bounced back up it seemed like he wanted to throw the ball away, but he didn’t. Instead he plowed his way into the end zone. He’s…
SANTA CLARA – In today’s press conference Greg Roman explained many things, including his decision to call three straight run plays in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks after the deep pass to Michael Crabtree. Here’s what he said. Opening Statement: “I’m in at past noon, so good afternoon. We’ve got the Rams this week. Really well-coached team. We’ve got a lot of respect for [Head Coach] Steve Spagnuolo and…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Greg Roman’s Wednesday press conference. I have a question for you at the bottom. ROMAN: “How’s everybody doing? We’ve got a short week here. As soon as we got in here early in the morning on Tuesday – right to Seattle. Not going to look at the Pittsburgh game probably unless we play another 3-4 (defense). A lot of water under the bridge…
Here are my Week 15 grades for the 11-3 Niners. Alex Smith: A-. His stat line doesn’t blow your mind, but he made a few perfect throws to close out the game. Here’s the stat line: 18 for 31 (57%), 187 yards, 1 TD, 86.4 rating. The defense was playing with such dominance that all Smith had to do was make a few big throws and not turn the ball…
SANTA CLARA — Here are quotes I selected from the transcript of Greg Roman’s Friday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Getting ready to play a really good Pittsburgh team. They’re ranked really high against the run and pass. Starting with their D-Line, really start with their nose tackle there in the middle, Casey Hampton has been there for a long time, knows the defense. He’s very stout,…
