Incompetent Playcalling by Jimmy Raye is Killing the 49ers Offense

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As the season progresses the one thing that remains clear is that Jimmy Raye as a play caller and an offensive coordinator does not mix. Going further I find it odd that Mike Singletary would choose a coach that hasn't done anything as a coordinator in the last decade.

You look at the history of Raye and you will find most of his best efforts recently came as being a coach that specialized in certain aspects of the game. In the decade, Raye was the running backs coach from 2006-2008 with the New York Jets and also from 2002-2003 he was the senior offensive assistant as well for the Jets.

Raye had three coordinating jobs in the decade of the 2000's; he was with the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2001 Washington Redskins, and he was with the 2004-2005 Oakland Raiders.

If you looked at he offensive capabilities of all three of those teams, Raye's offenses were well below average; it says something when the longest stint you have as a coordinator is only two years and the longest as a specialist is three years. 

This only further proves the fact that he was better off as a specialist. During his time with the Jets as the running backs coach the running game for the Jets improved. Thomas Jones last year for the Jets ran for over 1,300 yards and had 13 touchdowns as well.

As for the Jets in 2008, under Raye the rushing attack was within the top 10 in yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry.

Although 2006 and 2007 didn't have the Jets as successful with the running game under Raye, it only shows that it took a little bit of time for the Jets' players to get used to what he wanted his running backs to do when carrying the football.

Now, it's 2009 and Raye has a coordinator job again. Let's put it this way: there's very few positive words to describe the 49ers offense under Raye. I think that the game last night against the Chicago Bears proved it.

Offensively there were very few positive players for the 49ers that were called. I will give Raye credit on certain plays such as the direct snap to Frank Gore that caught the Bears completely off guard.

Yet, when you watched the game there was no utilization of any of the 49ers' weapons.

Vernon Davis wasn't used, Frank Gore even though his numbers looked good wasn't used until the fourth quarter when the 49ers had a chance to run out the clock, and Michael Crabtree was used early in the game, but only had one catch after the first quarter.

As a fan it seems like defenses know when the 49ers are going to run the football and when the team is going to pass. The most effective running play for the 49ers last night was not with Smith lining up under center it was actually out of the shotgun formation.

In the fourth quarter when the 49ers had a chance to put the Bears away by scoring a touchdown, yet had to settle for the short field goal, it clearly shows why Raye is just not the right man for the job.

The first play was good; a hand-off to Gore who took it to the one yard line. The 49ers again tried using Gore, but the Bears' defense annihilated the 49ers offensive line and Gore was pushed back for a loss.

Third-and-goal the 49ers try to pass, but the Bears got too much pressure on Alex Smith and all he could do was throw the ball away to preserve the field goal attempt. If Smith was able to elude the rush and set his feet he had Josh Morgan wide open in the corner of the end zone.

I just disagree with the play calling; why not roll out Smith and see if he could run it in from the one? How about throwing a lob pass to Davis in the corner of the end zone and allowing him to use his athleticism to be the one to make the play?

Another play that just was incompetent play calling was when the 49ers went for it on 4th-and-short. Instead of giving the ball to Gore, Raye calls for a quarterback sneak with Smith who didn't get the first down.

I would say if Smith had been playing for a long time I would believe that it would have been a better call, but with Smith not having seen much action in the regular season over the past couple of seasons, this was the time to call a run for Gore or surprise the Bears' defense by throwing a pass.

If Raye was planning on having Smith run the football, why not roll him out of the pocket then? He's much better at finding the hole and going through it then trying to push the pile; Smith is athletic, he's not the type of quarterback that's going to be able to get that push to get the first down in that situation.

One other huge problem with the 49ers? There were just too many times that the 49ers passed on first down and it became 2nd-and-10.

When you look at the end of the game though you'll see that Gore had 25 carries and the 49ers attempted 23 passes. Yet, that had to do with the fact at the end of the game the team went way too conservative.

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