49ers Fancast #33 – 49ers News and Feedback
Prompted by comments from a listener, I talk about where this team has bean, where it is now, and how the future will be affected by it. Also looking at a couple recent news stories regarding the team. Email 49ersfancast@gmail.com, or call the voicemail line at 206-666-2826.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:41 am
It looks like this is not showing up in iTunes again.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Did you subscribe to the new feed?
January 13th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Yes I see it on the news feed but iTunes doesn’t have it up for me. Maybe it’s just me. I’ll try again a little later.
January 13th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
It was working fine for me last night. Cool podcast. Got a little fire in the belly eh?
January 14th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I still couldn’t get it through iTunes but I just downloaded it from this site.
Anyway…
Good podcast, I always enjoy when host takes charge of his show.
I think Chris had some interesting point but I don’t see the point of being a fan of a team and being that pessimistic. I looked at this team at the beginning of the year and said to myself that they might make they playoffs but they’ll need a lot of help and then I stayed optimistic throughout the year hoping they would sneak in. There is nothing wrong with that. When they lost in Seattle I knew it was over and I moved on to next season and what our need are. It’s not that I expect mediocrity and accept it it’s that I saw our team and realized it’s potential. Anyway, I lok forward to the next podcast. I don’t think I’ve said this yet in any of my posts so keep up the good work I enjoy listening.
January 14th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
See, the thing is, no one ever knows if or when someone will stumble into greatness. No one knows for sure that someone won’t be great, either. I don’t listen to anyone who says such-and-such player, or GM, or coach, will never get it done. How many people said Vernon Davis was a bust? Nobody knew what they were getting in Tom Brady. He got into an extremely positive situation, put in the work, and had some luck (tuck rule), and the rest is history.
January 14th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Warning: Long comment ahead
I agree with Indiana Jim that luck plays into the equation while building a winning team. The 49ers picked Joe Montana in the 3rd round? Seriously?
But I would argue that most of the success in the NFL is not by luck. I would say it is by making the right decisions, from the top down in an organization.
I wanted to jump in on a couple of the discussions going on here. Saying someone won’t be successful is like saying someone would have been if this, that, and the other thing happen. There are no sure answers. People can make reasonable arguments why someone will or will not be successful. Both sides can exaggerate why they can make their case. Saying someone won’t be successful ever, is being a fan who doesn’t believe that player or GM ever will be after seeing a player or a GM fail over a certain amount of time. They are just hyperboling their argument. But for every fan that does that, and I have from time to time, their is the extreme from the other side. Saying someone will be successful (even having not been after 5 years) by making an argument off of hope and having legit excuses of why the player or GM has failed is also an exaggeration fans make. Neither side knows exactly what will happen, both sides have legit points to be made so to say that “I don’t listen to anyone” is silly. Just my opinion. I’ll listen to everyone, I might not agree, but I’ll listen.
As for why the quarterback position is cause for so much debate, it’s simple. It’s the most important position on offense. This offense has been bad for years and the play at the position has been below average for years (including this year). Is it at the top of the list as being the problem for this offense? Some will argue yes, while Indiana Jim and many others will argue no. I say it isn’t an easy question to answer. First, I don’t think you can get the most out of your offense with poor play calling. We had bad play calling this year. Second, the offensive line was bad. No question. But the quarterback play was below average too. Indiana Jim argues that people should be focusing more on the other problems than on Alex Smith’s play. So which is more important and which should people be discussing more? The quarterback? The offensive line? The play calling? Let’s look around the league to answer that.
There were plenty of teams with bad play calling that didn’t make the playoffs. In my opinion there was only one team in the playoffs that has questionable play calling, that was the Eagles. I think Andy Reid abandons the run way too often and it costs his team year after year (You can also make the argument about bad qb play but I won’t go there). So having good play calling is important. Now if you look at Indy’s or Arizona’s offensive lines, are they very good? I would say no and yet they are successful because of great quarterback play. So good quarterback play can make poor o-line less of a factor. On the other hand, is Baltimore’s or the Jets quarterback play been outstanding this year? I would say no it hasn’t but they are successful because they have good offensive lines. So good o-lines can make average qb play less of a factor.
See I think all three are the main problems of this offense. This tripod of failure is the failures of playcalling, offensive line play, and quarterback play. I think they carry equal weight as to why we have such a bad offense. Remember good play calling can lessen the factor of average o-line/qb play. Good qb play lessens the impact of average play calling and o-line play. And so on.
So should we, like Indiana Jim says, focus more on the play calling and o-line play and even the miscuses (like drops) rather than focus our criticism on Alex Smith? What should the 49er fans be discussing when they talk, post, and comment about this bad offense? I would say fans should be discussing Alex Smith’s play more than the offensive line or the play calling. We know what we are getting from Jimmy Raye. We can debate about him, but there is enough evidence about his coaching that the argument seems mute at this point. I can hear Indiana Jim saying to himself, but the offensive line play was bad. True but the reason I say the offensive debate is more about Alex Smith is because I think there is a belief that out there that the 49ers will improve the offensive line this off-season. I believe this. I think Indiana Jim believes this. I think most of you who read this believe this. Unless McCloughan totally screws up this draft our offensive line should be better. Matt Maiocco has even argued that the guard play was getting better by the end of the season. So I think most people would agree the offensive line was and will improve going into next year.
So if most people agree Jimmy Raye is a bad play caller and that the offensive line is and will get better, then tell me why Indiana Jim shouldn’t the discussion be about Alex Smith and the many questions he hasn’t answered still?
He is the debate. See, while you can argue that he improved from 2006, and while I agree that in some of the intangibles he has (leadership, confidence etc.), I can question his talent and his accuracy. I can even make the case that his improved numbers were because he had better offensive weapons. A maturing Vernon Davis, more talented receivers, a more experienced Gore etc…Sure he might have had a better offensive line in 2006 but how much better? There are so many arguments for both sides in the Alex Smith debate. I just think to question why people debate Alex Smith still and over their other offensive problems is silly because that is THE debate with this offense right now. This debate gets old trust me, it does. I understand that. But he just plays well enough to get people like Indiana Jim defending him and pulling out their jerseys from the closets and raising their hopes all the while never playing well enough (and I’m not talking high expectations here) to make people like me think this guy isn’t the answer for the long term. Can the 49ers win with Alex Smith as QB, Yes they can. I stated several times I think this team has a great chance to make the playoffs next year but I don’t believe it will be because of Alex Smith. While their are silly quarterback debates like the Montana-Young debate, there are some that are legit. I think Alex Smith is a legit debate to have. Win or lose, people want a good quarterback, not an average quarterback. The reason for this is simple, there have been Super Bowl champions with average quarterbacks, this can be done but for the long term success, not just one year, a good quarterback is needed. So the debate is whether Alex Smith can be a good quarterback. And he just hasn’t been up to this point.