On Saturday, I watched a documentary on CBS about former Cowboys coach Tom Landry.
I bring it up here — on a 49ers blog, no less — because I was struck by Landry’s brilliance. I mean, he invented the 4-3 defense, tweaked it with a new invention, the Flex Defense and, as if to show he knew plenty about offense, he revived and revolutionized the shotgun as a passing formation.
Watching the documentary gave me a new appreciation for Landry and his legacy.
I thought about Landry today while at Mike Singletary’s postgame press conference.
I realize it’s unfair to compare all but a handful of coaches in NFL history to Landry. And I won’t do that to Singletary.
I will instead contrast my reactions to each coach this weekend.
I was stunned by Landry’s brilliance.
And I was stunned by Singletary’s inability to recall a not-so-obscure
moment in today’s game: When the Niners had the ball at Tampa Bay’s
33-yard line in the third quarter and decided to punt on fourth down instead of attempt
a 50-yard field goal.
I’m not questioning the decision — fill-in Shane Andrus has never made a
field goal in the NFL — but I was stunned by this exchange:
Reporter: What about the fourth-and-4 where you decided to punt from the 33. What was the …
Singletary: What point in the game? I’m trying to …
Reporter: Second half, you had the ball on the Tampa Bay 33, instead of going for the field goal you punted.
Singletary (mistaking it for the Niners’ decision to go for it on fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter): I think at that time we felt like we had a play that, if we could pick it up, that’s why we went for it obviously.
Reporter (or someone in press room): No, Mike … when you punted.
Singletary: That’s when we punted. I’ve got to … I’m trying to figure out exactly … Fourth-and-4 and we decided to punt?
Reporter: Right. First possession of third quarter.
Singletary: I think, obviously, I guess we felt we wanted to pin
them back and maybe having a new kicker the thought process was how
about we just go ahead and try to pin it on the defense.
Based on his eventual answer, which included “I think” and “maybe” and
“I guess,” I think Singletary maybe still couldn’t place the punt from the
33-yard line, I’m guessing.
It’s no wonder he couldn’t adequately answer many of the other questions until he looked at the film.
• Here’s the game story
detailing the first home shutout in 33 years. One item I didn’t get in —
the Niners’ 189 yards were their fewest since they had 185 in a 20-7
loss to Cleveland on Dec. 30, 2007.
• Here’s the report card. Bright spots: Patrick Willis. And Patrick Willis.
• Here’s the notebook,
which details Singletary’s inability to remember the punt and includes
this quote from Vernon Davis on the heels of his one-catch, three-yard
performance: “I don’t think that we attacked the way we should have. I
think we should have thrown more balls downfield. But there are a lot of
areas we should have done better at.”
Comments are closed.