Singletary Doesn't Play Around

Singletary Doesn't Play Around

By J [The Gambler] Gamble For Football Reporters Online
 
Mike Singletary doesn’t care what the critics say about his brash tactics. He knows what it takes to win and he plans on embarrassing his team to victory, if he has to.
 
The Hall of Fame linebacker and ferocious leader of  the 85’ Bears - widely recognized as the NFL’s best modern day defense –took over for Mike Nolan in 08’. Nolan was known for defending his player’s shortcomings. He was also infamous for his 18-37 record in four and a half seasons as 49er’s head coach. Nolan’s tolerance of: losing, juvenile tactics and immature, selfish behavior, wore thin on fans and management.
 
Singletary’s approach couldn’t be more different. He asserted his leadership and control in unprecedented fashion, publicly berating and then banishing star Vernon Davis to the locker room following a 15-yard penalty for tapping an opposing player’s helmet.  
 
Generally, players are never openly reprimanded on the side lines, so for Singletary to tell Davis to take the long walk into the locker room in front of thousands of fans was shocking. It also showed Singletary was willing to do anything to get SanFran back on the winning track. I mean, he hit the ground running. In his inaugural game as head coach, Singletary dropped his pants and pointed to his buttocks during halftime of a 34-13 loss to the Seahawks. He was uninspired with his team’s play and graphically let them know. He was blasted in the media for that as well. The most genius part is how he continued to berate them for several minutes with his pants around his ankles. It was surely a sight imprinted in the mind of his players forever.
 
If Singletary can also imprint his championship pedigree, then these stories will become that of legend. It has been a while since the NFL had an animated coach like a Jerry Glanville, Bill Parcells, Bum Phillips or Buddy Ryan. Singletary’s “man-to man”, iron-fist approach is a refreshing change from the modern–day coaches who allow individual players to run amuck of the rules and team philosophy.  
 
With his team steadily improving, building an identity, and coming off a 24-9 thrashing of first-place Arizona, Singletary has eased on the shock value. The passion and animated aggression remains. His intelligence, even as a player, has always been his greatest asset.   The 49er defense displayed all of these traits on Sunday, sacking Kurt Warner four times and picking him twice.
 
The pundits, who called Singletary’s actions inappropriate, have to be rethinking things. Others said the rich, sensitive athletes of today wouldn’t take well to his coaching style, and strict code of accountability. Singletary knew he couldn’t change his team’s current losing culture, unprofessional antics, and lazy work ethic, without getting everyone’s attention. And boy did he ever.
 
With the verdict still out on Alex Smith, The 49er’s lack a big-time quarterback. They have relied on aggressive defense, shrewd play-calling and the feet of Frank Gore, to show growth at 6-7 with slight playoff hopes. It seems the old warrior knows what he is doing. Why wouldn’t he? During his illustrious career he won Division titles, Pro Bowls and a championship. He was a hands-on defensive signal caller and relentless ball hawk. The rebirth of every franchise begins with a money quarterback, smothering defense and a process of devotion to excellence. The 49ers have two of the three, and a perfect head dude in Singletary.   
 

NFL Draft: Michael Crabtree, Interview With SF 49ers New Receiver

 

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After a bit of suspense that saw Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree fall to the Oakland Raiders at the 7th pick in the NFL Draft, he was finally selected number 10 by the San Francisco 49ers and then joined us in the Interview Room for a lot of questions all over the place in subject. Here's the interview on video:



To his credit, Crabtree handled it all very well, saying that he's not familar with the San Francisco Bay Area or San Francisco itself, but he has met and does have a great relationship with the Niners legendary receiver Jerry Rice, having met him at Deion Sanders home in Dallas. He likes and is looking forward to playing for head coach Mike Singletary, and Crabtree observed the coach wants you "just to work hard".

The hard work ethic is no stranger to Crabtree, who's preparation habits and focus led to one of the most amazing plays in College Football history, a stirring 32 yard catch and run against then-number-one-ranked Texas that scored a touchdown and led to a shocking upset of the heavily-favored Longhorns last year. It was that catch which put Crabtree and Texas Tech in the public spotlight and elevated his draft status.

Now he's a 49er.

(Photo credit: Bill Chackhes) 

In the Interview Room,Crabtree never stopped smiling. His mother and about 20 people, family and friends, all came downstairs to see his first official interview as an NFL player. His mother was just plain relieved to see it all end, as she told me as she slumped down into a random seat with a drained look. The ordeal of where her son was going was over.

Michael Crabtree Quote Sheet From The NFL:

MICHAEL CRABTREE


(on the city of San Franciscco): It has great weather. I can't wait to play football in that weather.


(on playing in San Francisco instead of Oakland): I feel like I'm in the position where if somebody wants me and needs me, I just can't wait to play.


(on SF QB situation): I have no idea. As soon as I get there I'm looking forward to working hard with all these guys and try to make each other better.


(on his draft day wait): The key to this situation is being patient. I feel like I did that my whole life and can't go wrong.


(on Mike Singletary): Mike Singletary is a great coach. He's a good guy. He's very positive. The main thing he wants you to do is work and make the program better.


(on whether he wanted to be picked earlier): I'm just glad I got picked. This is a true blessing.


(on the adjustment to the NFL): It's a big adjustment. It's a challenge. It's going to take a lot of film watching and play watching. A lot of practice and running on the field. I'm looking forward to that.


(on if he feels he was the best receiver in the draft even though he wasn't the first selected): I always feel like I'm the best. I work to be the best. I have some big shoes to fill when I go to the 49ers with Jerry Rice. I'm looking forward to that too.


(on the pre-draft speculation): I'm one of those guys that really doesn't watch TV at all. The only way I know is if one of my little brothers tells me about it. Whatever they say I just feed it into motivation.


(on what he will say to the governor of California if they meet): Well, I was trying to see him while I was down there. But I’ll tell him: "I'll be back"


(on why he was not the top receiver picked): I still feel like I'm the top receiver. I don't really pay any attention to what everyone else does. He's a good receiver, the person who went ahead of me. I choose not to worry about that.


(on three people from Dallas in the top 10): That's a good deal. It's never happened in history. The top 10, three people from Dallas. I bet Dallas is going crazy right now. I can't wait to go back.


(on his football idol growing up): My football idol was Barry Sanders. I loved Barry Sanders. I loved Deion Sanders, too. There's something about these Sanders guys.


(on comparisons to Jerry Rice): It's a privilege to be compared to Jerry Rice. He's a great player, if not the best receiver to play the game. I just take all of that in and I listen very well to what they say about comparing me to all these different receivers. I'm just going to take it and run with it and try to get better every day.


(on if he has friends in the San Francisco area): I don't have any friends out there. I've talked to Vernon [Davis] a couple times, but I'm looking forward to meeting new people.


(on meeting Jerry Rice): He's a good guy. Behind the scenes, we mainly don't talk about football. We talk about the off-the-field things. And he just told me to keep a level head.




(on what he will miss most about Texas): Texas football! There's nothing like Texas football. It's probably the best football you can play.




(on his foot surgery): I will be 110%. My doctor told me I could start running. But he told me to wait until one of these teams picked me.




(on if he feels extra motivation to play against the teams that didn't select him): I really do. I keep all of that in mind. Like I said, I feel like I'm in a situation where someone wants me and needs me. And I can't wait to put this red, black, and gold on.


(on if Graham Harrell is underestimated by NFL teams): Graham Harrell is a football player. When I was working, he was working with me. He threw all the passes to me when I was working hard, so I know he's a hard worker. Anybody who gets him is going to get a steal. He’s going to progress every year. So I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes.

The Crabtree Zone has a great bio, which I repeat here for information junkies..like me:

Michael Crabtree (born September 14, 1987 in Dallas, Texas) is a college football wide receiver for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He has received much recognition as one of the nation’s most prolific wide receivers, including being a 2007 unanimous first-team All-American and the winner of the 2007 Biletnikoff and Paul Warfield Awards, which are given to the nation’s top college receiver.

High school

Crabtree attended David W. Carter High School in Dallas and played quarterback for the football team. As a senior, he passed for 870 yards and eleven touchdowns on 45 completions out of 100 attempts. He also ran for 646 yards and nine touchdowns on 100 carries. He was a four-star football recruit as an athlete.

In addition to playing football in high school, Michael Crabtree was also on the basketball team and ranked among the top 50 recruits going into college. During a visit in 2004, Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight asked Crabtree which sport he was going to choose. Though the decision was not an easy one, he opted to play college football exclusively.

Crabtree was offered football scholarships by Baylor, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Kansas. He was also offered a scholarship by Texas Tech, which he ultimately chose to accept.

Freshman season

Michael Crabtree redshirted his freshman season of 2006.

In 2007, Crabtree started his redshirt-freshman season against SMU. The Red Raiders won 49–9, and Crabtree stood out with 106 yards receiving on twelve receptions for three touchdowns. The next week, in a 45–31 win over UTEP, Crabtree continued his performance with 15 receptions, 188 yards, and two touchdowns. Against the Rice Owls, Crabtree put up 244 yards on eleven receptions for three touchdowns. In Tech’s first loss of the season, against Oklahoma State, he had 14 receptions for 237 yards and three touchdowns. In a 75–7 win over Northwestern State, Crabtree had 145 yards on eight receptions for three touchdowns in only two and a half quarters of playing time. In the contest against Iowa State, Crabtree had 10 receptions for 154 yards and three touchdowns. During that game, Crabtree broke the season record for most touchdown receptions by a freshman receiver. The previous record of 14 was shared by Jabar Gaffney in 2000, Mike Williams in 2002, and Davone Bess in 2005. In the October 14, 2007 game, Crabtree tacked on 170 more receiving yards on eight receptions but had no touchdowns in a 35–7 win over the Texas A&M Aggies. This brought his total yardage to 1,244. In the next game, against Missouri, he again did not score but still added 76 more yards on ten catches. In spite of having two consecutive games without a touchdown, CBS Sports still ranked Crabtree as the top freshman in the nation.

During the game against Colorado, Crabtree made his 99th catch. This set three records simultaneously—most single-season receptions by a freshman in I-A, most single-season receptions by a Red Raider, and most single-season touchdowns by a Big 12 player (18).

Sophomore season

Before the beginning of his sophomore season, CBS Sports listed Crabtree as a Heisman hopeful. Tech quarterback Graham Harrell’s name also appeared on the list.

Recognition

Michael Crabtree has received multiple honors. In addition to being a unanimous first-team All-American, he won the Biletnikoff Award and the Paul Warfield Award.

Mike Singletary Press Conference After Loss To Seahawks

Saying that he wanted players who wanted to win, new interim San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Mike Singletary gave a passioned post-game press conference after a game which saw the replacement for fired Head Coach Mike Nolan not only bench Tight End Vernon Davis but ordered him to the locker room for his reaction after a costly personal foul penalty.


I liked what Mike did, but I think it should be done behind closed doors.

49ers Disorganization Injured QB Alex Smith

After four new offensive coordinators in each year of his short NFL career, former Utah and now San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Alex Smith has been place on injured reserve after injuring his shoulder in practice last Friday.  Once a player goes on IR, he can't be taken off until the next season, so that closes the 2008 campaign for Smith.

I was there in 2005 when Smith was drafted amid some controversy by the 49ers, who were trying to decide between Smith and California Quaterback Aaron Rogers, who's now the starter for Green Bay after being there first round pick, 21 positions behind Smith that year.  The talk was that Rogers was not 22 positions worse than Smith, but his equal.  It just depended on what system each signal-caller was in.

Smith never got settled with a single offensive approach, and last year was terrible.  The 49ers insisted on using a kind of deep passing game that called for fast retreats by the offensive line and seven step drops.  The result was a sacked and battered Smith.  The 49ers have continued this approach with the hiring of former Rams Head Coach Mike Martz as offensive coordinator.  The results have been the same; the 49ers QB was sacked three times in the first game against the Arizona Cardinals, last Sunday.

Fortunately that person was not Smith, but J.T. O'Sullivan, who the 49ers brought over from the Detroit Lions because he was familar with Martz and the system he was going to install.  That seemed to spell curtains for Smith even before the injury.

The only question is will the Gold and Scarlet keep Smith next year.  Time and performance this year will tell. My early bet is that 49ers Head Coach Mike Nolan will not be back past this year and Smith will have to deal with the whims of yet another groups of coaches.

SF STADIUM GETS BOOST WITH SF CHRON ENDORSEMENT

The San Francisco Chronicle endorsed Proposition G, which if it passes, will -- in the words of the Chron

offer a nonbinding but nevertheless critical public expression of support for a proposal by Miami's Lennar Corp. to develop up to 10,000 homes, about 700,000 square feet of retail space as well as artist studios, green-tech-research facilities and more than 300 acres of parks and open space in and around the old shipyard. As part of the project, Lennar also would rebuild the Alice Griffith public housing project.

The endorsement came along with the news that the SF 49ers are abandoning the Santa Clara stadium project.

SF 49ers Release Darrell Jackson After Not Employing Him Properly

The San Francisco 49ers went out and got Darrell Jackson as a free agent from the Seattle Seahawks and with much promise. Jackson is a great possession receiver with great run-after-the-catch speed. He's not going to get past you much but he can do damage and the Seahawks knew this.

The 49ers did not.

The 49ers tried to send Jackson deep and running deep patterns and fly patterns is not what Jackson does well.

Now he's gone.

San Francisco 49ers Takes On Seattle Seahawks Tonight - Without Nolan

The San Francisco 49ers take on the Seattle Seahawks supposedly without Head Coach Mike Nolan, who lost his father, Dick Nolan, Sunday.

Wait. This just in - Nolan will coach this evening.

Dick Nolan - Coaching Legend of Cowboys, 49ers, and New Orleans Saints Passes Away at 75

Former 49ers, Saints coach Dick Nolan dies at 75 - Canadian News

SAN FRANCISCO - Dick Nolan, the former coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the father of current coach Mike Nolan, died Sunday, the 49ers said. He was 75.
Dick Nolan, a former NFL defensive back who also coached the New Orleans Saints, had been in declining health with Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer for several years. He spent the last few months at an assisted-care facility in the Dallas area, near his longtime home with his wife, Ann.
Mike Nolan missed practice with the 49ers on Friday and Saturday, travelling back to Texas to be with his father. Team spokesman Aaron Salkin said Nolan would coach the 49ers on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks.
Dick Nolan played nine NFL seasons before becoming a coach, assisting Hall of Famer Tom Landry in Dallas and going 71-85-3 in nearly 11 seasons with San Francisco and New Orleans. He led the perennially downtrodden 49ers to 56 wins, three division titles and two conference championship games in eight years with the club.
Dick and Mike Nolan were just the fifth father and son to become NFL head coaches, and the first to coach the same team since Bum and Wade Phillips both coached the Saints.
Mike Nolan convinced the NFL to allow him to wear dress suits on the 49ers' sideline last season partly in tribute to his father, who always dressed smartly.
"My father always projected an image of authority, and I wanted to honour him - the way he lived his life and his whole career as a coach," Mike Nolan said.
Born in Pittsburgh and raised in White Plains, N.Y., Dick Nolan played college football at Maryland and went on to a playing NFL career with the New York Giants, Chicago Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys, mostly as a hard-hitting safety.
"He made himself into not just a good player, he was an extraordinary player," former teammate Frank Gifford told the New York Daily News earlier this year. "He didn't have the physical talent to do it all. He just willed himself. He was smart. He was tough - as good as there comes in that respect."
After retiring in 1962, Nolan spent six seasons as an assistant to Landry, his longtime friend and former teammate with the Giants. The 49ers hired him in 1968 to take over a franchise that had made just one playoff appearance in its 18 NFL seasons.
San Francisco went 7-6-1 in his first season before breaking through in 1970, going 10-3-1 and getting the 49ers' first playoff win at Minnesota before falling to Dallas in the NFC title game.
The 49ers made playoff appearances in 1971 and 1972, losing to the Cowboys both times. Nolan was in charge when the 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium near the Haight-Ashbury district to Candlestick Park on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
But the 49ers slumped to three consecutive losing seasons after their playoff appearances, and the same fans who once hailed Nolan as their saviour booed the Niners and cheered for Nolan's departure.
"That was the toughest time, but that's the life of a coach," Mike Nolan said. "My dad never took it personally, and he didn't take it personally when it happened again in New Orleans."
Nolan then coached the Saints from 1978-80, going 15-29 with the perennially downtrodden franchise, which fired him after the Saints lost the first 12 games of the 1980 season.
Nolan scouted and enjoyed retirement before his health worsened. In his final months, he was visited by many of his former players. In September, 49ers Hall of Famers Dave Wilcox and Jimmy Johnson joined Len Rohde and Ed Beard for an afternoon of reminiscing - and Nolan recognized them.
"My father kind of lit up when he saw them, and he doesn't do that very often," Mike Nolan said.
Nolan is survived by his wife and six children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

NFL Agent Ed Goines - From 49ers Lawyer To Player Agent

For five years, Ed Goines was the Senior Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, Ed Goines has stepped over the line to become an Official NFL Players Association Contract Advisor, otherwise known as NFL Agent.

For Ed, it's a logical step. "I have corporate sponsor contacts, and know how the team organization works. I can see the player deal from both the players and the team's perspective. As the 49ers point person for business affairs I was responsible for sponsorship deals and contract structure, and have already worked with many NFL executives."

Ed also has an online show called "Ed Goines On Sports." You can check out his take on the business of sports there and contact him at 415-407-0882.

S.I.'s Michael Silver On Bill Walsh's Genius - The Passing Of Bill Walsh

Early in his coaching tenure with the San Francisco 49ers, before he turned a long-suffering franchise into the greatest organization in professional sports, Bill Walsh once cut a player on the practice field.

Enraged by a cheap shot, Walsh fired the player -- who, to be fair, was not one of the team's major contributors -- right there on the spot, ordering a member of the security staff to escort him out of the building. To underscore his point, Walsh trailed behind as the two men trudged toward the locker room, screaming, "Don't even let him f----- shower!"

This was Walsh, who died today at 75 after a long bout with leukemia, at his most ruthless. Yet there was a calculated brilliance behind his brashness: After he took over in 1979, no Niner dared cross the new man in charge.

Nearly a decade later, as he was losing his grip after having completed the most impressive NFL coaching run since Vince Lombardi's in Green Bay, Walsh sometimes directed his enmity toward members of the local media. He was equal parts paranoid and condescending, and when he stepped down following his third Super Bowl title in January 1989, there wasn't a whole lot of sentimental sadness in either the press room or the locker room.

A few months later, I began covering the team as a beat writer for a Northern California paper, and the horror stories about Walsh's final days circulated with abandon. But he and I hit it off from the start, and over the next 17-plus years, whether I sought his opinion as a television analyst, as the progenitor of an offensive philosophy and unmatched tree of executive and coaching excellence, as a reinstalled Stanford mentor who'd just toyed with Joe Paterno, or a personnel guru who temporarily brought the 49ers back to prominence, he was invariably wise, witty and kind.

When people would ask about my relationship with the white-haired legend, I used to respond jokingly -- well, maybe half-jokingly -- that he and I bonded based on our shared belief of an unassailable tenet: Bill Walsh was a genius.

It wasn't that far from the truth. Growing up in L.A. as an oft-humiliated fan of the hometown Rams' chief rivals, I spent my high-school years watching in awe as Walsh transformed a 49ers team that went 2-14 his first year and 6-10 his second into a first-time champion in his third.

Because of Walsh, the franchise of a thousand choke jobs was now led by a cool, magical quarterback named Joe Montana, whose passes were as picturesque as the Golden Gate Bridge in heavy fog.

Because of Walsh, a group of young hellions led by Ronnie Lott took over a malleable defense that suddenly played with dash and defiance.

Because of Walsh and his innovative offensive schemes, receivers were five yards open, a 10th-round draft pick named Dwight Clark would become an All-Pro and Bay Area legend, and a washed-up running back named Lenvil Elliott would gain many of the key yards on the dramatic drive that produced The Catch.

On a more personal level, because of Walsh, I could wear my ratty, way-too-small 49ers jersey to school on Jan. 11, 1982, and for the first time in my life no one would dare laugh.

So, yes, after I started covering the Niners and thus stopped loving them like a gushy teenager, I was predisposed to think pretty highly of Walsh. But the more I learned of him -- and from him -- the greater my appreciation became.

In an era in which many head coaches callously prohibit their assistants from talking to the media (and, by extension, hurt their profiles and potential for attracting the interests of other employers), Walsh did the opposite, vigorously promoting the virtues of the coaches who worked under him through the press and back-channel diplomacy. This was especially true when it came to minority coaching candidates. Indeed, undoing racial injustices when it came to such hires remained one of Walsh's primary causes long after he stepped away.

Remember that in early January 1989, shortly before Walsh resigned as the Niners' coach, his receivers coach, Denny Green, got the Stanford job -- largely on the strength of his boss's recommendation. Walsh's reaction in the midst of a tense playoff drive? He essentially allowed Green to become the Cardinal's fulltime coach while filling in with the Niners whenever time allowed.

It's not surprising that, unlike Jimmy Johnson and other successful NFL head coaches whose assistants turned out to be substandard bosses, Walsh saw his legacy carried on directly (George Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Ray Rhodes, Green) and indirectly (Mike Shanahan, Jeff Fisher, Jon Gruden). It was Walsh, after all, who not only revolutionized football strategy with the West Coast Offense, but who also created the organizational blueprint for the modern franchise, from the down-to-the-precise-minute daily schedule to the filming of practices and play-installation meetings.

Give me an hour, and I can go on and on about the other areas in which Walsh made a lasting impact, including his insistence on cutting prominent players a year before their decline, rather than after it, all things being equal. Critics might call this another example of his ruthlessness, and some victims of the policy, such as Clark, would hold a longtime grudge.

But if you paid attention to the 49ers, you eventually understood that Walsh knew best, for he -- more than even Lott or Montana or Jerry Rice or owner Eddie DeBartolo -- was the man most responsible for the franchise's unprecedented run of excellence that included five Super Bowl championships in 14 years.

Manipulative as he might have been -- like all great coaches, really -- Walsh boldly strove for excellence and wasn't averse to risking everything while doing so. Every move he made was meant to create or sustain a dynasty, from the 1987 trade for Steve Young, that triggered a years-long quarterback controversy, to his persuading of Montana, Clark and other veterans not to cross the picket line during the '87 players' strike for fear of the damage to team chemistry it might cause (they nonetheless returned the following week).

As that strike reminded us, Walsh was a tactician whose brilliance shone behind-the-scenes and, most glaringly, on Sundays in front of a rapt, football-watching nation.

Playing his first game with replacement players against the Bill Parcells-coached Giants on Monday Night Football, Walsh, during interviews with the New York media, made a big deal about the presence on the roster of backup quarterback Mark Stevens, who'd run the option in college. Stevens, Walsh suggested, might be inserted in specific situations in which the Phony Niners could utilize his speed and running ability.

Sure enough, before a short-yardage play near midfield, Stevens came sprinting into the huddle, and everyone waited to see Walsh unveil his new toy. The bait successfully lowered, Stevens took the snap, faked a handoff, dropped back in the pocket and calmly delivered a touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver.

On one level, the whole thing was kind of coldblooded. It was also funny and sublime and, yes, genius. That was Bill Walsh, and those of us who got to observe him up close will remember him that way until we, too, are told to disappear without showering.

Something To Share About Coach Bill Walsh - Zennie Abraham

I only met Coach Walsh three times, and on every occasion he always referred to me as "Lenny" rather than "Zennie" but he never refused to take time to talk to me about his system, and I was into the details of it, like the "hitch step" for example, which is simply the extra step a QB takes just before throwing, and the concept of throwing without a hitch step, which is hard as hell to do -- try it yourself.

The point is that he would always share.

But what really rankled me -- and still does today -- is how many people, reporters, incorrectly describe "The Walsh System." It's always "short, ball control" and left at that.

That's so wrong.

Yes, that was a part of it. But man, that wasn't even the difference. It was the way of thinking.

To illustrate how different Coach Walsh's system was, let me compare it to the Dallas Cowboys passing game concept under Coach Tom Landry.

The Cowboys were known for passing plays that essentially "pulled" a defense into a particular direction and then took advantage of how the defense deployed itself as a result.

For example, one of the most successful plays the Cowboys ran in the 70s -- when Walsh was developing his ideas -- came out of split backs or "Red or Green Formation." The Flanker went in half motion toward the tight-end, and then
released at the snap of the ball.

The play started as a "sweep" running play, with both guards pulling, the fullback lead blocking and the halfback running. Then the QB would fake a handoff to the halfback, and then look down field.

The Flanker who went in motion toward the tight end then ran a crossing pattern 15 - 20 yards. Meanwhile the Split End ran a kind of "mirror" crossing pattern. The offensive play caused both safeties in a standard Cover Two -- which is what the Pittsburgh Steelers played at the time -- to essentially go deep and move wider apart, leaving the Flanker all alone on the crossing route.

That play worked in Super Bowl X, where Drew Pearson caught a 47-yard touchdown pass. But it failed to work later in the same game because Steelers safety Mike Wagner didn't move deep. When Split End Doug Donley ran his crossing pattern, Wagner stayed home rather than move deep or follow him.

The result was an interception, which surprised Dallas QB Roger Staubach -- "It was the first time it didn't work" Staubach remarked later.

Well, let's think about it. That play was designed to throw to one -- and only one -- receiver, the Flanker. The Split End was a decoy and the tight end wasn't even a factor in the play -- the running backs were strictly used for run fakes and then forgotten about.

Coach Walsh's offense didn't have so many decoys. And in his offense, there was always another receiver to go to. It was flexible, which was new at the time. It was so new that Paul Hackett, who was Coach Walsh's QB coach and passing game student, was hired as Offensive Coordinator by the Cowboys under Landry in '83 I believe. It didn't work out because Hackett's learned idea of flexibility conflicted with the "fixed" philosophy Landry held. So Landry was an example of many
coaches who didn't "get" what Bill was doing at the time.

How would Coach Walsh have changed that play? Ha. The fullback that is the lead blocker would have ran an "up" pattern off the run block fake. The Halfback would have ran a swing pattern after the sweep fake.

The Flanker's crossing pattern would remain. The Split End would have ran a fly pattern. So the order of recever progression would have been 1) Split End, 2) Flanker, 3) Fullback, 4) Halfback (hot receiver). The key read would have been the weak (free) safety. The Split End was essentially clearing out for the Flanker, who was clearing out for the fullback.

See?

That's not just an example of how Coach Walsh would have done it, it's an example of how his way is so basic and logical that it can be shown to a guy like me, and I can repeat it with confidence.

That's a pure tribute to the man.

But what I will most miss, Ray, is Coach Walsh as a member of the Bay Area sports community -- don't forget the impact he had on the Big Game rivalry.

You know, we're blessed to be around so many great people in one area of America. What a sad day. I was at JFK Airport in New York when I got the news Monday. The plane ride home -- from CNN -- was hard, so very hard. Reading Coach Dungy's book "Quiet Strength" helped some -- a good book by a great man who -- as one might expect -- was touched
by Coach Walsh.