Bleacher Report - Frank Gore

San Francisco 49ers Inept and Incompetent?

Divya Parmar — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:15:46 -0500

Year after year. Failure after failure after failure.

The last five seasons: a combined 25-55 record. Furthermore, the 2009 season is heading down the drain before our very eyes. There is no doubt that this franchise is mismanaged from the coaching staff to front office.

Take, for example, the offensive line. The offensive line is horrible, and that is a huge reason the Niners can't get anything going on offense. The front office may claim that the line is "a work in progress."

Really? Five years of drafts and development have meant absolutely nothing? How can a front office not have a solid offensive line with all that time to work with? The abysmal failure in the trenches reflects the ineptitude of this franchise.

Speaking of ineptitude, who can forget about Alex "Small Hands" Smith? At this point, there can be no more flip-flopping. Either Smith is the guy for the future or not. Open it up, use the shotgun, and let it rip. No more short dump-off passes to the flat or halfback draws. Let's see what Alex Smith can do when he's truly in his spread offense element.

If Smith succeeds, the Niners may have a quarterback for the future. If he fails, move on. Cut bait. There is no time to be wasted on bust players. Then give Nate Davis the reigns and see if he's the man for the future.

Find the best man at the QB position, plain and simple. The Niners have wasted five years on Alex Smith, and the franchise still doesn't know if he's the QB of the future. The pick of Alex Smith has set the franchise back at least half a decade. The Niners can't waste any more time on Smith if he is deemed to be a bust.

Just when it seemed like Singletary would be the ray of hope, things have turned sour, and the team is on a slide. Singletary is very motivating, and he knows every single platitude in the book, but his speeches aren't translating into wins. Nothing has changed since the Nolan Era. Singletary says the same things every single week: we need to finish, we aren't executing, etc, etc. Yet the Niners haven't improved in those areas.

The problem isn't the just the coaching staff. It is just as much, if not more so, the front office. Scot McCloughan has swung and missed at too many draft picks.

For example, in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Niners had a clear need at wide receiver and needed a playmaker. Yet McCloughan takes Kentwan Balmer and Chilo Rachal, while passing on a dangerous DeSean Jackson. Balmer and Rachal both had question marks and were high risk picks, as was Jackson. But Jackson's potential was huge, and it is now clear the Niners made a mistake with that pick.

With each passing year comes new hope, but false hope. It's like deja vu. A good ending to the previous season, newfound optimism, a fast start. The bandwagon grows, then the team crashes and burns.

These years have shown that the fundamentals of the economy team are not, as some want to believe, strong. The rapid turnover at offensive coordinator is an indicator of instability. With Jimmy Raye's likely firing after this season, the cycle will likely repeat itself.

The Niners need to clean house. Get rid of anyone that can't perform. Don't blindly hope, while lingering in the past. The Niners need to move past this era of incompetence to a bright new future.

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San Francisco 49er Quarterbacks Are Exactly Who We Thought They Were

Andy Bensch — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:55:29 -0500

The San Francisco 49ers 2009 season has been the tale of two quarterbacks. Through the first six games, Shaun Hill was the starter. Although Alex Smith nearly brought San Francisco back in the second half of Hill's most recent start, let's put the loss against the Texans on Hill's record.

Therefore, the dink and dunk, "no-arm" game-manager quarterback led the 49ers to a 3-3 record. Was he Joe Montana? No, but he wasn't exactly Ken Dorsey out there either.

But since the 49ers made the change to Alex Smith, the 49ers have subsequently gone 1-3.

Smith, the strong arm, big-play, no pocket awareness, interception prone quarterback may putting up "better" numbers compared to what his current back-up produced but he has two-less wins to show for it.

Putting the quarterbacks side by side, you'll see the following numbers:

Hill :

Completions (87) Attempts (155) Percentage (56.1) Yards (943) YPG (157.2) TD/INT (5/2) Rating (79.6)

Smith :

Completions (95) Attempts (155) Percentage (61.3) Yards (1035) YPG (207.0) TD/INT (9/7) Rating (81.5)

By taking a look at the raw numbers, the assumptions 49er fans had about the two quarterbacks have been proven true on the field.

Alex Smith may have the bigger arm and can make more plays down field and throw for more touchdowns. However, Shaun Hill makes better decisions with the football, limits the turnovers and keeps his team in ball games.

What does this mean you ask? That neither quarterback is the player to lead the 49ers back to the promise land.

What can all the top NFL quarterbacks accomplish? They can be both the big-arm quarterback who makes big plays down field and the quarterback who makes good decisions with the football that keep their team in games.

If only the 49ers could combine Smith and Hill into one person, then maybe they would finally have a good quarterback.

But since that is unfortunately not possible, the 49ers need to realize that since both have proven they will never be difference makers in the NFL, it is time to move on.

Alex Smith supporters can say all they want about the difficulty of five coordinators in five seasons but the truth cannot be denied that Smith does not have the necessary skills required to succeed at the NFL level.

You cannot teach pocket awareness and instincts and despite his athletic build, Smith clearly doesn't have the natural feel for the position.

He may be able to perform an excellent Tom Brady impersonation while in the shotgun formation and down 20 points, but there is no quarterback in the league that performs solely out of the spread formation.

Every offense in the NFL needs a quarterback to be able to take snaps from under center and make plays from inside the pocket. How many times does Smith have to prove his inability to accomplish this before his advocators realize his inability to play quarterback?

For the sake of the 49ers, making the switch at quarterback in the Houston game has actually decreased their chances at making the playoffs.

With the more athletic quarterback on the field, San Francisco has gone away from their bread and butter of running the football. Frank Gore is one of the top runners in all of football and the 49ers have neglected to utilize him as their best weapon.

When the Niners have handed the ball off to their best weapon more than 20 times this season they are 2-0. When they fail to get him 20 or more carries, they fall to 1-4.

In the most recent contest against Green Bay, Gore wasn't even given double-digit carries much less 20 or more and just barely reached double-digit touches with ten.

Yet the one game they have won since making the switch at quarterback, Gore ran the ball 25 times for 104 yards and a touchdown. And despite running 22 fewer offensive plays, the 49ers controlled the ball for 31:33 compared to Chicago's 28:27.

The offense may have not been pretty but just like they say in hockey, they don't ask how pretty, they ask how many.

Against Green Bay last week, Alex Smith may have had a prettier game. He threw for 227 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception compared to throwing for just 118 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception against Chicago. But his team beat the Bears and lost to the Packers. Part of the reason for the Green Bay loss was that the Packers held onto the ball for 41:39 to just 18:21 for the 49ers.

Losing the time of possession is not the formula for winning with the current crop of 49ers.

In all but one game this season, the team who won the time of possession battle went on to win the game. But even when the 49ers won the time of possession statistic against the Titans, they still lost that game because of Alex Smith's three interceptions.

But that is what makes the NFL great, wins are what matters, not statistics.

However, certain statistics like TOP and amount of Frank Gore carries typically prelude to whether the 49ers win or lose.

Now for the sake of this season, leaving Hill at quarterback would have given the 49ers a better shot at the playoffs. Fans would much rather watch a performance like San Francisco gave against the Vikings where they played solid football the entire game and would have won if not for a miracle play, then have to pray for a late fourth quarter comeback to be completed after witnessing horrendous football for the entire first-half.

With Hill running the show, winning the TOP battle and utilizing Frank Gore early and often was a staple of the offense. Therefore it is no surprise why three of San Francisco's four victories came with Hill at quarterback and why all four victories have come with either Hill/Gore or both as key contributors.

But either way, 49er fans and hopefully the 49er coaching staff has realized that neither quarterback is "the guy".

If Hill had led the 49ers to the playoffs it would have been a great underdog story, a team without a true quarterback managed to play well enough to defy the odds and make the post-season.

However, it also may have given fans and coaches false hope that Hill could actually lead the squad to a Super Bowl.

Considering that there are just six games remaining and the 49ers are three games behind the division leading Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco needs to see what they have with rookie quarterback Nate Davis.

The fifth round pick out of Ball State is listed at 6' 2" 217 pounds, a very similar stature to Philadelphia Eagles star Donovan McNabb.

Am I saying that the rookie can play at McNabb's level? No, of course not. But as the phrase goes from many NFL coaches, "he gives our team the best chance to win".

Alex Smith clearly doesn't give the 49ers the best chance to win, he is 1-3 since taking over as a starter and his constant mistakes hinder his team's chances to win.

Shaun Hill allows the 49ers a better chance to win but with Michael Crabtee added to Vernon Davis, San Francisco now has multiple down the field weapons. Hill doesn't have the arm strength to get these guys the ball when the 49ers need a big throw.

Nate Davis on the other hand looked extremely poised during his extended look during the pre-season, and if inserted into the lineup, he would have do little more but hand off to Frank Gore.

However, when a pass is needed, a play action pass down the field to Crabtree or Vernon will be well well in the capability of Davis who has incredible arm strength.

Being new to the league, Davis will be able to pick and choose his throws and won't put his team in a bad situation.

The issue that currently kills San Francisco is that Smith is over-confident. He thinks he can fit throws into windows that don't exist and it leads San Francisco into a whole heap of troubles.

If Davis were put on the field, San Francisco would finally be able to put together the balance of run and pass they were looking for at the beginning of the season.

Now perhaps the rookie quarterback will struggle since he has yet to take a regular season snap but even if he does, at-least he offers something new, something refreshing, something different from the other two quarterbacks.

Smith and Hill are exactly who we thought they were. But Nate Davis could be a diamond in the rough.

He has the raw skills and physical prowess to be a play maker and putting him on the field could jump start this 49er offense.

Remember, the division title isn't necessarily out of the question. Despite being three games back, the 49ers have the Jaguars at home and the Seahawks on the road the next two weeks.

The Cardinals have at the red-hot Titans next week, and home against the Vikings in two weeks.

There is a good chance that the 49ers could be sitting at 6-6 three weeks from now and the Cardinals could be sitting at 7-5.

What happens three weeks from now? The 49ers get the Cardinals in San Francisco on Monday Night Football.

If everything goes according to plan, a victory on Monday Night could give the 49ers sole possession of first-place via the head-to-head tie breaker over Arizona.

However, so far this season nothing ever goes according to plan with the 49ers.

Assuming the 49ers continue with with Alex Smith at quarterback, their woeful offensive performances will continue and they won't be able to win their next two very winnable games causing the Monday Night contest against Arizona to be a wash of a football game.

The only way leaving the 49ers win the next two games with Smith at quarterback is if they get back to running the ball with Gore.

Unfortunately, with Smith in the lineup, offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye is unbelievably pass-happy. I can just see it now how Smith goes leads the 49ers to numerous three-n-out possessions and Jaguars stud running back Maurice Jones-Drew controls the clock and eats up the 49er defense for multiple scores.

Putting Nate Davis in the game will shift back the focus to Gore, and allow the 49ers defense rest on the sidelines because these continual three-n-outs with Smith are causing the 49er defense to spend way to much time on the field.

The 49ers still have a chance at the post-season, hopefully they will figure out that chance runs through Gore, not Alex Smith.

But as we know, the 49ers are going need to pass in certain situations even with Gore as the focus, and Smith cannot throw from under center to save his life.

That's where Davis comes in and allows the passing game to flourish when called upon.

It's worth a shot but it has to happen now. The 49ers cannot afford to lose any more winnable football games.

Read more Frank Gore news on BleacherReport.com

It's Back To the Drawing Board for Mike Singletary and the 49ers

Steven Resnick — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:42:10 -0500

The San Francisco 49ers again did not show up in a game this time against the Green Bay Packers. While the 30-24 score represents a valiant effort in the second half by the 49ers, the question remains: What happened in the first half?

In the first half, 49ers fans were treated to the same issues that have been plaguing the 49ers all season long. That is poor offensive line play, a lack of any rational play-calling, poor tackling, a soft secondary, and absolutely no pass rush.

With those issues, it's not hard to understand how the Packers scored 23 points in the first half. I will say the defense did a good job in holding the Packers to field goals after some big plays by the Packers offense.

Other then that though, there really wasn't anything positive going for the 49ers in the first half. Offensively the 49ers ran only 18 plays the entire half, while the Packers ran 48 plays.

It also didn't bode well for the 49ers that Frank Gore only had five carries in the first half and in total had only seven carries the entire game. There's something wrong with that picture when one of the best running backs in the NFL only gets seven carries.

What's sad about that is the fact that Gore started out on his first carry with a nice 42 yard run. He was then given the ball again picked up a yard, the 49ers ran a reverse with Josh Morgan which picked up eight yards and was pretty close to a first down.

The 49ers had basically a third and inches situation. Instead of giving the ball to Gore though, it was a fullback dive with Moran Norris who actually lost yardage on the play and the 49ers had to settle for a field goal.

Not getting the ball to Gore in that situation not a great idea. What I also have a hard time understanding is why Vernon Davis wasn't utilized in the passing game either in the first half, and the same can be said for Michael Crabtree.

When the two best receivers on the team can't get the ball the 49ers are not going to be winning very many games and it's not hard to see why the 49ers were trailing 23-3.

In the second half though the 49ers offense came alive, and throughout the half the 49ers had to throw the ball. It's not hard to see why the 49ers were able to come back to make the final score look respectable.

Alex Smith was able to find Davis, Crabtree, and Gore for touchdown passes. Unfortunately for the 49ers, they were not able to come up with one last big stop to get the ball back and see if Smith could complete the comeback.

Davis finished with five catches in the second half for 104 yards and Crabtree in the second half finished with three catches and 71 yards.

Smith seems to do well when the 49ers are behind and he has to make throws. The question is, why not call the type of plays that utilize Smith's abilities? He seems to have confidence in a more hurried situation, so why not do that?

Over on the defensive side the 49ers looked bad in the first half too. There was absolutely no pressure on Aaron Rodgers, which allowed for him to throw 31 times completing 22 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

At that time of the game it meant that the 49ers had allowed for 83 passes to be thrown in the last six quarters, and the defense had no sacks. In the second half the 49ers were able to sack Rodgers twice and held him to 72 yards passing.

But, that really had to do with the fact that the Packers were trying to run as much clock as possible. Ryan Grant, the Packers running back, sliced through the 49ers defense with 21 carries, 129 yards, and a touchdown.

What's frustrating is the fact that coming into the game the Packers offensive line had been bad, allowing the most sacks coming in to the game. Yet, the 49ers couldn't get to Rodgers until the game was pretty much out of reach.

So, after this performance by the 49ers, especially in the first half, fans should be worried about what's going to happen against Jacksonville. Jacksonville has one of the premiere running backs in the league in Maurice Jones-Drew, and in the passing game, Mike Sims-Walker has really made name for himself.

Does this mean the 49ers are looking at 4-7 after next week's game? Possibly. What will be interesting to see is the reaction of Mike Singletary after this loss to the Packers.

I think it's time for him to stop being so positive and it's time for him to get angry, especially with the offensive line and how pathetic it looked in the first half. There was absolutely no excuse for the play of the offensive line in the first half.

At the end of the season it just means that there's definitely going to be changes. I would say that first to go is Chris Foerster the 49ers offensive line coach.

On the defensive side of the ball, Vance Joseph and Johnnie Lynn also need to be fired because so far the most inconsistent aspect to the 49ers defense has been the play of the secondary.

Jimmy Raye the offensive coordinator should be fired at the end of the season. He has been awful and it's hard to understand at this point in the season the justification of hiring Raye to begin with.

I would say that Greg Manusky should be on the hotseat at defensive coordinator. If the 49ers defense doesn't find a way to get more pressure on the quarterback, then Manusky should be fired.

Manusky has done a great job with the defense and stopping the run, but against the pass the 49ers have been one of the worst teams in the NFL, and today's game against the Packers didn't help their cause either.

Coming into the game, the 49ers ranked 29th in passing yards allowed and 29th in completions allowed. That's not getting it done against the pass.

If the season were to end today it's obvious that there are certain assistant coaches and coordinators who are just not getting the job done and should be let go by Singletary.

Read more Frank Gore news on BleacherReport.com

A Loss in Green Bay: Why the 49ers Didn't Beat the Packers

Andy Bensch — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:07:44 -0500

Everyone involved in football—the players, coaches, management personnel, and owners—knows what the San Francisco 49ers want to be. They want to be a team that wins in the trenches.

According to head coach Mike Singletary, the 49ers win with a tough physical defense, and an offense that relies on a smash mouth running style of football.

If this is the case, then why are the 49ers second-to-last in the league in three-and-out possessions?

Why do they continuously lose the time of possession battle?

Why do they continue to put the ball in the hands of their mediocre quarterback, Alex Smith?

San Francisco's 30-24 loss at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday exemplifies all that is wrong with the 49ers.

The 49ers' offense fails time and time again to utilize its best assets. Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree were held to just one catch each in the first half, as their quarterback completed just three passes for five total yards before halftime.

But that wasn't the worst part. The abandonment of the running game was absolutely inexcusable.

In the first half, Frank Gore gained 56 yards but was given the ball just five times on the ground and only six total touches. He lost five yards on his lone reception because of a terrible screen setup and an equally horrendous decision from Smith, who should have thrown the ball away instead.

San Francisco's top three offensive threats made just eight plays during the first half, so it should come as no shock that they possessed the ball for a minuscule 7:20 compared to Green Bay's 22:19.

By running just 17 offensive plays, the 49ers left their supposedly "physical, hit you in the mouth" defense out to dry.

Without cornerback Nate Clements and linebacker Takeo Spikes, the 49ers' defense was short-handed coming into the game, and the 49ers's offense needed to keep them off the field, which it was never able to do.

Although the 49ers outscored Green Bay 21-7 in the second half, they ran just 29 offensive plays, only two of which were Frank Gore runs.

Coincidentally, the 49ers held onto the ball for just over 11 minutes in the last two quarters, compared to Green Bay's 19 minutes and 10 seconds.

Quarterback Alex Smith's lone interception came on a first-down play from his own one-yard line. He overthrew because of miscommunication with Davis, but it is offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye who needs a talking to.

Nine out of 10 times in that situation, an NFL team runs the football. Throwing down field in that situation was a horrid mistake.

At the time, the 49ers' defense had held up and given the ball back to their offense, trailing just 23-10 with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter.

As San Francisco fans have seen all year, teams—whether good or bad—can put up points in very short amount of time.

Down just two scores with over 13 minutes remaining and possession of the ball, there was no need to hurry.

But as it turns out, Raye put too much of the game in Smith's hands and didn't allow Gore to get the running game going in the second half.

At the very least, the 49ers needed to run the ball a couple of times to get out of their own end-zone, but instead the only play of the drive was an interception.

Gore would finish the game with only 10 touches. That's right, the 49ers' best weapon had his number called just 10 times out of their 46 offensive plays.

If that is not a sign of poor play calling, I don't know what is.

Remember, since Gore became the starter, the 49ers are 15-3 when he gets over 20 carries. When he doesn't, San Francisco's record drops to 7-28.

At this rate, the 49ers are going to have their eighth different offensive coordinator in eight seasons next year, because there is no way Jimmy Raye returns.

The game against Green Bay solidified his ineptitude as a play caller.

Though the 49er defense didn't fare any better, they were much less to blame for Sunday's loss. Granted, they failed to bring pressure on Aaron Rodgers, but the defense did everything they could to give their team a chance.

Without two vital starters and a defensive coordinator in Greg Manusky, who limited his unit's chance at success by neglecting to blitz, it's easy to understand why the Packers were able to move the ball up and down the field.

But despite the lack of blitzing, the players on defense executed to the best of their ability and, in the second half, held Green Bay to just seven points.

A Ryan Grant one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, which replenished Green Bay's three-score lead, should be put on Alex Smith, whose interception gave the Packers a short field on that drive.

Other than that one score, the tired, beat-up, and worn-out defense kept San Francisco in the game by keeping Green Bay off the scoreboard.

If the offense had stuck to their run-first-and-run-often identity in the first half, perhaps the defense would have been fresh enough to execute better.

But with an incompetent coaching staff, highlighted by an awful offensive coordinator, the 49ers came into Sunday's game with the worst possible game-plan.

This team is suppose to play a smash mouth style on offense and a hard-hitting, punishing style of defense.

They are suppose to win games by keeping the opposing offense off the field. They cannot and will not win games when their opponent holds on to the ball for more than twice as long.

While watching the game on Sunday, it appeared as if the 49ers coaching staff thought throwing the football on offense and sending just four rushers on defense was their gameplan to beat the Packers.

But the 49ers played exactly opposite of the way they should have.

Since the 49ers typically don't blitz and don't have a strong pass rush with just their front four—21st in sacks heading into Sunday's game—the defensive gameplan should have called for bringing blitzers from multiple angles to try and throw off Rodgers.

Offensively, the plan should have been to pound the rock time and time again. Frank Gore had just seven carries in this game, despite breaking lose for a 42-yard gain in the first half.

The running game was working, and, yet, the 49ers abandoned it.

If the coaching staff doesn't start putting their players in the best situations to succeed, the 49ers will continue to disappoint.

This was another winnable game. But poor play calling and worse execution lost it for them.

The fact they are so close to success but yet so far is what makes the 49er faithful want pull their hair out.

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