The Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s sports section is doing a special playoff package every day this week, and for Wednesday we’re focusing on the Giants and 49ers wide receivers. The great Phil Barber was assigned to write on the Giants wide outs. I got the Niners wide outs. Quite a contrast. To read about the Bi-Coastal Battle of the Wide Receivers, please click on the following two links. Phil on…
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…
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat just posted my Friday article on Michael Crabtree. It’s about the Crabtree behind the Crabtree, and for the article I interviewed Kyle Williams, Anthony Dixon, Ricky Jean Francois and Mr. Crabtree himself. To read my article, click here.
Here’s what Jim Harbaugh said today at his Friday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Have you guys made a decision yet (on who will fill the open roster spot)? “No, we haven’t made an announcement yet. We won’t until tomorrow, most likely.” What’s the purpose of waiting until Saturday for that move? “Until we know exactly how we want to do it. [WR] Ted [Ginn] had a good workout…
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…
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…
SANTA CLARA – Ted Ginn Jr., who sprained his left ankle on a second-half kickoff against the Pittsburgh Steelers, spoke at his locker this morning. Here’s what he said. Q: Do you think you’re going to play this Sunday against the Rams? GINN JR.: I don’t know right now. I’ll leave it up to the players and the coaches. Q: When you were warming up in Seattle did you think…
The Niners are going to have to be creative and efficient to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night. Here’s what I want to see from them. It’s a given the Steelers are going to blitz, blitz, blitz the Niners offense. They will bring extra rushers up the middle and other times they’ll overload the right side of the Niners’ O-line – the Anthony Davis side – and run four-man…
Here are my Week 14 grades for the 10-3 Niners, who lost 21-19 today in Arizona against the 6-7 Cardinals. Quarterback: C-. Alex Smith muffed what should have been the signature play of his career. On fourth down – the last play of the game – he rolled right, searching for a receiver. He looked like Joe Montana before he made the throw that led to the “The Catch,” except…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. When you play a team with such a quick turnaround as the Cardinals, do you have to do much work between those games or can you use a lot of the same stuff that you did for the first week preparing? “There’s some carryover. Then you know them from doing them a couple weeks…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. I deleted the little he said about Patrick Willis to avoid repetition. If you want to read that read the post below this one. Are you pretty impressed with the way LB Larry Grant was able to step in there? Obviously the defense didn’t skip a beat if they posted their first shut out….
SAN FRANCISCO – Here are my Week 13 grades for the 10-2 NFC West Champion Niners, who beat the 2-10 Rams 26-0 this afternoon. Quarterback: A. This was almost an A+ performance for Alex Smith, but the sheer awfulness of the Rams holds his grade back. Here’s his final stat line: 17 of 23 for 274 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 picks, and a 142.3 rating. Two of his incompletions were…
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…
SAN FRANCISCO – Here’s the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s postgame press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. What does it feel like to be the first 49ers head coach to lead this team to a winning record since 2002? “First of all, congratulations to our players on this win. They’re the ones who are leading it; I just want to make that perfectly clear. We’ve had success on the field. We’ve…
SANTA CLARA – Practice ended with Colin Kaepernick leading the first team offense against the first team defense in a 2-minute drill. Kaepernick was 4-6 on the drive, but Aldon Smith sacked him on the last play, and the offense put up zero points. Over the last 90 minutes of practice, Kaepernick took 22 reps with the first team while Alex Smith took 20. This was the first time in…
SANTA CLARA — Ted Ginn Jr. and Kyle Williams started practice by fielding punts one-handed from a Jugs machine. This was running backs coach Tom Rathman’s idea. He stood next to the punt returners and made the exercise a competition. Ginn really struggled. On his first rep, he dropped the ball completely. Williams, on the other hand, made it look easy. He tracked the ball like an outfielder, lining up…
SANTA CLARA – The 49ers p.r. staff brought out Kyle Williams and Ted Ginn Jr. to talk to the media at the same time this afternoon. Both speedy slot receivers were wearing Chicago White Sox hats, Ginn wearing a red one, and Williams wearing the classic black. I had to make a decision of who to talk to, and I chose the Williams. Forgive me if you wanted Ginn quotes….
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the first scene from the 49ers’ first practice of the 2011 training camp. New quarterback Colin Kaepernick lined up under new center Adam Snyder, and took snaps as new head coach Jim Harbaugh watched on a knee like an umpire calling balls and strikes. It was these three men in the middle of the field. Harbaugh’s attention was focused completely on Kaepernick, and the rookie was…
It was an odd sight at the 49ers’ offensive camp: Alex Smith, a quarterback not on the 49ers’ roster, taking snaps from David Baas, a center not on the 49ers’ roster.
A No. 3 wide receiver isn’t the most pressing of the Niners’ draft needs, but it’s likely somewhere on the list. And with a pair of big-bodied wideouts in Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan, it wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco targets a slot receiver.
