Troy Smith to Start. 49ers Coaches are clueless.
Jason LaCanfora, the same guy who reported that Alex Smith was going to start week 12, is reporting that TROY Smith will be the starting quarterback in the do-or-die game against the St. Louis Rams.
According to Matt Barrows, Singletary said he's told the quarterbacks which one is going to start but is not releasing that information. I almost looked past this weak attempt at gamesmanship except for one critical fact: Sing has yet to tell Mike Johnson who is going to start.
[quote=Mike Johnson]No, we have not finalized [the starting quarterback] yet so we're still trying to figure that out. We're practicing both guys, and that decision will be made later.
If Mike Johnson were the janitor, it wouldn't be a big deal. But Mike Johnson is the offensive coordinator. You know the guy who is tasked with maximizing his quarterback's talents and developing an offensive game plan.
So to recap: Head Coach Mike Singletary has told the players who is going to start, but the player's coordinator is out of the loop. Mike Johnson needs to develop a winning game plan that maximizes his team's strengths, but he is unsure which quarterback will be playing.
Mike Singletary has basically ensured that Mike Johnson is flying blind for the arguably most important December game since 2002. Maybe having a clueless offensive coordinator at this stage is all part of the master plan. I mean, who wants to draft 21 in the 2011 draft anyway.
The opinions within this article are those of the writer and, while just as important, are not necessarily those of the site as a whole.
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David Pallas
Join me in urging management that Mike Singletary must go! Facebook: Fire Mike Singletary
Dec 26, 2010 at 1:38 PM
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TIM
Oscar: You do know that Mike Johnson DID know who was starting but was simply under orders to not tell the media ? Instead of saying he didn't know when he was asked over and over again,he should have said for the media to stop asking him and go ask the HC.
Dec 25, 2010 at 2:36 PM
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CanadianFaithful
This situation wreaks!! There is so little communication in this 9er organisation and we can all see it. There is little doubt that the HC & OC are on different pages in the playbook on every call. My take on the situation....a clear cut power struggle is present and both are stubborn. The players are the ones that are losing here. There is no way they can win with the leaders of the team pushing to show the other is wrong. The whole coaching staff has to go and a new culture of teamwork and winning needs to be fostered going forward for this team to be successful. All the cancer needs to be killed and start fresh with positive winning people. The problem is that this is the way the Yorks have fostered the culture. Will it change with new coaching? Maybe Sing is the stand-up guy in the whole situation? Who knows? I am not in the building all day. Just talking from past experiences.
Dec 24, 2010 at 9:40 AM
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49erfaninPA
When the decision to switch back to Alex was made, we were told that this was done because Alex knew more of the playbook and Troy could not run all the plays. Using the entire playbook gave Mike Johnson more flexibility in play calling. Now, with the switch back to Troy, are we supposed to believe that he now knows all of the playbook? Or does MJ not know all the plays himself? Just a very strange situation. A team with two QBs is a team with none.
Dec 23, 2010 at 6:57 PM
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The Camper
As I understand it the game plan is put together monday and players start learning it on tuesday. Anybody else see a problem here? Mike Johnson needs to shape a game plan towards the talents of the starter, are you telling me that there is no difference between the two QB's in Mike Sigletary's mind? WOW just WOW! The fact that his staff does not know shocks me, I can't image that it is true. Johnson must know. I can't believe Singletary is that stupid! If this is true it explains a lot about this season!
Dec 23, 2010 at 6:24 PM
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Hearstfan
This is ridiculous. I'm not a huge Alex fan, and yes we can't expect much improvement from him. But changing back and forth is absolutely the best way to ensure NEITHER guy gets comfortable. RIDICULOUS. I'm so fed up with this miserable excuse for coaching and ownership, I feel like "just lose the darn game already" and put us fans out of our misery!
Dec 23, 2010 at 5:24 PM
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rjberryx
Quite naive of you to think Sing and Mike Johnson didn't talk about who was going to start. You just weren't in on the conversation - imagine that. To your point about gamesmanship; the game was to keep RAMS from planning which was working okay until someone leaked the starting QB on Wednesday. Nice goin' whoever that was. Coaches are not clueless but are really struggling and being second guessed with every poster who thinks he is a sports writer. Sing will go but this season has not been all his fault - although he is responsible.
Dec 23, 2010 at 2:21 PM
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Dallas Niner fan.
If you have to evaluate both QB's to death with no clear cut winner it just proves that the Niners do not have a decent QB. Plus you have a head coach that cannot make a decision. Being wishy washey is not the sign of a good leader. Its as simple as that.
Dec 23, 2010 at 6:15 AM
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The_Real_Randy
Could be worse. When Sing neglected to say which QB was starting my fear was that we'd have Carr under center.
Dec 22, 2010 at 8:06 PM
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