Thursday's Summation

Here are the news highlights for Thursday.

-Arnaz Battle (foot) and Josh Morgan (groin) might be available for the visiting Jets on Sunday. Coach Mike Singletary might limit Battle's participation because he's still in healing mode. Morgan looked good in practice Thursday.

-Nate Clements is questionable with a thumb injury, and Singletary wasn't sure if there was a fracture in the area. If he doesn't play, Donald Strickland, who might have had his best game as a 49er, would probably replace him.

-Safety Dashon Goldson (knee) also participated for the second straight day in a limited fashion.

-Tackle Barry Sims appears ready to return and Singletary said he might get some turns at right tackle, where Adam Snyder has struggled. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz at first said Sims was the team's right tackle, a strong indication that Sims would not only play but start. Then Martz backed off and said he needed to talk to offensive line coach Chris Foerster.

-Linebacker Ahmad Brooks will get some playing time before the year is out according to Singletary.

-Free safety Mark Roman hasn't had an interception in two years. When that was told to Singletary he said the same thing Mike Nolan said about Roman: That he's an asset to the defense because he gets everybody lined up and that he's tough. But shouldn't there be more to a free safety than that? He's also gotten torched for a couple of long passes, including one two weeks ago to Terrell Owens. Singletary should expect more of Roman than just getting the defense lined up.

-Singletary was asked about the rumors of San Diego State's interest in Mike Martz. "Right now I'm focusing on the Jets and hopefully anything like that does not take place until a later time," Singletary said. If Martz did leave, my personal feeling is several people at the 49ers would hold the door open for him and that might include Singletary. When Martz was asked about San Diego State he said he was only concentrating on the job he has right now and that it would be "inappropriate" to talk about any other job.

-Martz was very complimentary of center Eric Heitmann and called him the best center he has had in 17 years. Martz cited Heitmann's consistency, his quick hands and his stoutness.

-Fred Dean will receive his Hall of Fame ring at halftime of Sunday's game. The defensive end was inducted into the Hall this summer. He was on a conference call Thursday and said it has been a special year for him. He'll be the Grand Marshall in his hometown of Rustin, LA. He also said that he might have gotten into coaching, but chronic migraine headaches prevented him from doing so.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | December 04 2008 at 11:34 PM

Arizona Game

Tully Banta-Cain is on the inactive list. The fact he can't play special teams is hurting him. The 49ers didn't start well, two fumbles on consecutive plays. This is a horrible day for the NFC West. Seattle got shellacked in Buffalo and St. Louis was flattened in Philly.

This game startd horrendously with 49ers fumbling on consecutive plays before a personal foul by Cardinals tackle Wayne Gandy, who hit Patrick Willis late. Then St. Louis missed the field goal.

Zak Keasey got absolutely pummelled by Darnell Dockett and fumbled, Keasey made a great block on Frank Gore's 41-yard touchdown run. Guard Tony Wragge made the best block blocking down on the nose tackle, and then getting the linebacker to clear the hole initially for Gore. The 49ers are taking advantage of the Cardinals lack of a healty nose guard. Alan Branch is hobbled with a baulky ankle and Arizona has no one to back him up. The 49ers are finding a lot of yardage over Adam Snyder at left guard. 7-3 49ers.

The defense looked frightening for a while. Justin Smith's and Parys Haralson's sack of Kurt Warner knocked the Cardinals out of field-goal range following an interception by Adrian Wilson. But it gave the Cards favorable field position, which they just took advantage of. A long pass from Warner to Steve Breastson (over Shawntae Spencer) and then a fade to Larry Fitzgerald (over Nate Clements) and it's 10-7 Arizona.

The 49ers now have two sacks, both of them derived partially from Haralson. Guess it was a good idea to have Tully wear pajamas on the sidelines.

This play-calling from Martz is unbelievable. Reverse tight-end screen out of a one-receiver set; three different screens on the 49ers' second-to-last drive before the half. The Cardinals don't know what's coming and O'Sullivan, as a result, is getting plenty of time. The drive soured however, with pressure on O'Sullivan on third down. The 49ers thought about going for it on 4th, but called a timeout to avoid delay of game and decided to kick it.

He made it from 39 yards. We're tied. 10-10

A fine first half by the home team, particularly offensively. Certainly, this passing game is vibrant for the first time since Steve Mariucci left. But what's most impressive is the run game. Guards Tony Wragge and Adam Snyder were crushing the Cardinals and they pulled very effectively.

The turnover from JTO are a concern. The Cardinals defense is pretty good and the 49ers will probably be able to move the ball this season. But how many turnerovers will they produce? That will be the key to their success.

THIRD QUARTER

The 49ers just gave up a 15-play, 65-yard drive that resulted in a Neil Rackers field goal, thanks Parys Haralson. He sacked Kurt Warner after he stood in the pocket for 3 seconds. Haralson now has 2.5 sacks, which will put him contention for NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. But the long drive coule be damning for the defense on a hot day. Not only that, the Cardinals just recovered a pooch kick, so more time for the defense.

The 49ers could go the entire third quarter without touchding the ball after linebacker Takeo Spikes dropped the pooch kickoff. What a horrendous call on the phantom blow to the head by defensive end Ray McDonald that kept the Cardinals drive going. Could it be a game-changing call? Too bad the 49ers couldn't challenge that one.

Referee Gene Steratore needs a lesson in brevity and officiating. He goes on longer the Kid. His handling of the video challenge of the spot at the half-yard line seemed like it took an hour-and-a-half. This game is dragging more than Meet the Press.

It's 20-10 with 3:57 left in the quarter and the 49ers offense is touching the ball for the time.

FOURTH QUARTER

The 49ers last drive for a field goal of 60 yards and 13 plays, looked very un-Martz like. His draw on 3rd-and-7 - very questionable. The drive proved the offense is still in the embryoic starges. On one play, J.T. O'Sullivan stands in the pocket and looks to be sacked until unleashing the ball for Frank Gore, who breaks two tackles for a 14-yard gain. Then O'Sullivan missing an open Bryant Johnson for another first down, on the play after that, Gore can't break tackle from Cornerback Eric Green on the edge. The 49ers need more consistency. They did score and now trail 20-13.

For some reason, Jeff Ulbrich is out of the game. I don't know if that's planned or not. However, since he's left, the Cardinals keep going on this loooong marches. Aubrayo Franklin is out of the game. I've never seen a nose guard spend so much time on the training table. Come on, he's a nose guard! The Cardinals are grinding the clock and grinding through 49ers defense for the game-sealing scoring drives. Start the whaling and the gnashing of teeth.

What the 49ers need now is a Kurt Warner intercept. He been known to do a DeBerg (for those fans from the '70s). At this point, he probably won't throw another pass. The time of possession on this game will be more than lopsided.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | September 07 2008 at 01:21 PM

Response to the Responses

On the signing of Roderick Green Tuesday, a few astute posts observed that what the 49ers need is to play tighter on receivers, not another pass rusher - a great point.

Consider what happened in Atlanta last Sunday. Quarterback Joey Harrington personified dink and dunk. He got rid of the ball most of the time under three seconds and the one occasion he spent over four seconds in the pocket, he was intercepted. Of his 25 pass attempts, five went over 15 yards in the air. Harrington was 1-for-5 on those passes with an interception. The rest of the time, Harrington threw short.

Opposing offenses realize that trying to throw down the field against the 49ers is risky. San Francisco does blitz with success at times, and the more air time a ball has, the greater chance Nate Clements, Mark Roman or Walt Harris will intercept it.

With the 49ers cornerbacks playing off much of the time, particularly Clements, teams are just going with throws underneath the coverage.

Drew Brees (Saints), Steve McNair (Ravens), and Matt Hasselbeck (Seattle) dinked their way to wins against the 49ers with ease. The 49ers might want to play more press coverage against Hasselbeck on Monday night, who loves to throw short in Mike Holmgren's Bill Walsh-styled offense. If they can get Hasselbeck to look to second and third receivers, it might give guys like Green some needed sack time.

Thanks to blogger hisimon who corrected me on last year's 24-14 "win" in Seattle.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | November 08 2007 at 11:09 PM

Practice canceled

With an extra day of preparation because of Monday's night game in Seattle, the 49ers planned an extra practice for today. Then they decided to cancel the session in favor of meetings.

If any team needs extra practice it's the 49ers. Their passing game is in the tank and they are introducing two relatively new and possibly permanent starters (right guard David Baas and left tackle Adam Snyder) to their already beleaguered offensive line. They are playing a team that pressured them so completely, they could only muster a field goal in four quarters.

The team already went through plenty of soul searching meetings during their bye week. The team's lack of execution suggests an inability to take what players are learning in meetings and apply them to games. That sounds like a practice problem.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | November 07 2007 at 09:42 AM