tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76154952121658503732023-11-15T11:16:20.077-08:00Bay Area Sports BeatEric Gilmore's inside look at sports in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyondEric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-14851472440304896982013-02-13T17:45:00.001-08:002013-02-13T17:45:47.731-08:00Q&A with Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">New Raiders offensive
coordinator Greg Olson sat down Wednesday with a handful of reporters at team
headquarters in Alameda and answered a wide range of questions. Olson, who
replaced the fired Greg Knapp, has had three prior stints as an NFL offensive
coordinator, with Tampa Bay, Detroit and St. Louis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: You come in on the
heels of a guy who took a lot of heat for everything that went wrong here last
year, right or wrong. Is it as easy to say it's the coordinator and scheme or
is it the players? </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "I just
think it’s the nature of the position as an offensive coordinator in the National
Football League. People want to be entertained and people want to see explosive
offense. You kind of know that going in when you assume the position or you take
on the position as an offensive coordinator. You know people are going to be
very critical of you and what you’re trying to accomplish. I go into it knowing
that. I know the situation here last year. I’m not naive enough to believe it
was all Greg Knapp’s fault. I think the fans out there probably know that as
well. Certainly there are some things that I hope I can bring to the table that
will allow us to have some success."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: How different will your
offense look from the offense that was on the field last year?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "To say how
much different, to put a percentage on it, I don’t know how you put a
percentage on something like that. I can tell you this - your job as a coach,
your job as a coordinator, is to identify the skill set of the players you
have, to try and acquire specific skill sets. If you feel like you’re lacking
in certain areas, you'll try to acquire that skill set. But the bottom line is in
the National Football League, you’ve got players in and out. It’s different now
than it was even 10 years ago in terms of how free agency works now. You may
not be able to, in the old days of Bill Walsh or even Al Davis with the
Raiders, you were able to collect players and keep them on your team for an
extended period of time. Those days are somewhat over. So you’ve got to be able
to be flexible and be able to adapt your system to the personnel that you have on
that team on any given year. So, our job as a coaching staff will be to
identify the skill set of the players, who are our best players, what do they
do best, and how can we put them in position to be successful and do the things
that they do best. So I think probably coming in a year ago, they made the
switch to a zone system. I don’t know if you ever want to pigeon hole yourself
that way and say, `This is what we do.’ You may not be able to do that based on
the set of players that we have. Our job here, again, with this staff is to
identify the skills that they have and what they do best and let’s try and
tailor our offense to those players' skills, and then who are those best
players. Marcel Reece is a different kind of a fullback, so what does he do
well and how can we get him involved in some of the matchups that will create
problems for defenses? Darren McFadden, initially, maybe a year ago, they
weren’t sure about that zone scheme. Now, after a year of having to look at it,
hey, maybe he is a downhill runner. So we’ll get back to some of the gap scheme
and the things he does well. But what does he do and how do we fit our offense
to fit those the players skills? It's no different with the wide receivers. What
do they do well? Our tight ends, we’ll have to, whether or not Brandon Myers is
re-signed or not, what does the tight end do well? We’ll try to tailor our
offense based on the skill set of the players we've acquired."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: How closely did you look
at the offense from two years ago?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "We’ve been
watching a lot of it since I’ve gotten here. To be honest with you, not until I
got here, when we went through and watched last year’s offense and then went
back and watched, not the entire season, but all of Darren McFadden’s carries
and just wanted to get a feel for Darren McFadden. I think we’re fortune to
have (running backs coach) Kelly Skipper here, because he’s a guy that’s been
here through a number of different coordinators. I think that helps me in
evaluating Darren and kind getting a feel for what his position coach thinks
that he does well."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: Have you been able to
talk to players?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "A number of
them, they’ve dropped by. Contacted a few when we got the job, so I got a
chance. Terrelle Pryor has stopped by, and Carson Palmer, and I had Jordan
Palmer this past season so I know the Palmers. A couple of players have been in
for workouts so I’ve had a chance to meet some of the players."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: Able to see playbook
yet?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "No."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: You saw this year,
specifically, how the league has changed and the offenses have varies with the
quarterbacks that do more read-option stuff. How do look at a guy like Terrelle
Pryor? What do you that kind of quarterback does for an offense and how it challenges
the defense?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "Well,
obviously, watching the 49ers across the bay and the Seahawks and the Panthers,
three teams that come to mind with those type of quarterbacks, I guess.
Certainly, if that player is the starter, certainly it's going to create a
number of different issues. If he’s just a role player and there’s a package,
that creates a set of issues as well. Right now, where we stand at the
quarterback position, certainly we’ve got a veteran player in Carson Palmer
that really has a unique set of skills himself, much different than Terrelle
Pryor's, certainly. We’ll go through, and we’ll let those two compete. We
obviously like the ceiling of Terrelle Pryor and where we think he can get to,
but his skill set is completely different than Carson’s, so we go forward with
the idea, we know what Carson Palmer is. He’s played in the league a number of
years. We know what he can do. We don’t really quite yet know what Terrelle
Pryor can do at this level but we have a pretty good feeling for what he is
athletically, so there will be packages for both of them and we'll allow them
to compete and we’ll just be ready in either direction. Again, with this
league, in terms of injuries and different scenarios that can happen throughout
the league you’ve got to be ready to tailor your offense to whoever that player
might be that’s pulling the trigger. We’ll certainly have a package for
Terrelle Pryor and we'll be ready to go in that direction if that’s the
direction that we see fit."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: The
quarterback job is open?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "In
visiting with Dennis (Allen) and Reggie (McKenzie), I know Reggie's made the statement that there
will always be competition. I think there has to be competition at every
position. I don't ever think you hand anyone a position from season to season
or year to year. Excited about Carson Palmer. Certainly, again, he's a guy
that's got experience and experience at playing at a high level in the National
Football League. We'll go forward with the direction that the organization sees
fit. If they want competition, we'll have competition. At this point I think
they want us to have a real good feel as we watch the tape. You never know
what's going to happen in the upcoming month in terms of contracts and whatnot.
I'll let you know that when we get to the day that we can get out on the field
an start practicing."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Are
you open to using two quarterbacks?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "I
just think you have to have a package. My feeling is if when have someone, if
you're going to have someone, and he's on your roster. And again, if he's got a
unique set up skills that maybe is different or better than some of the other
10 players that you have or 11 players that you have on the field, if he's not
playing the quarterback position, does he have a set of skills that might be as
good or better than someone else there. So, I just think once we get out and
get a chance to see Terrelle, and certainly have seen him in college, and he
was an explosive player in college, and I know that. I just think it's
important that as a coach you're willing to adapt and be flexible and be able
and try to put a player like him, that may be an explosive player, on the field
for you."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Who
would you count as your influences in terms of offensive football?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "I've
had a number. I've been fortunate, I think. The guy that really to me opened my
eyes to the passing game, and specifically the spread passing game, was Dennis
Erickson, the first coach that I was a graduate assistant for. And then I went
from him to Mike Price. So those were two guys that probably I would say my
learning curve went up tremendously. Joe Tiller coached under Price, so Joe
hired me at Purdue. At that point we were throwing the ball all over the field.
We three 85 times one game at Purdue. So in terms of the passing game, those
would be the biggest influences. Once I got in the National Football League, to
me, Steve Mariucci brought me in the league, into San Francisco. Coached with
him in Detroit. And then really, I felt like, kind of a, not a rebirth, but
when I got the opportunity to work with Jon Gruden, it was an eye-opening
experience for me. I really took to that and took to him and still remain very
close. I think he probably influenced me more than anyone in my years in the
NFL."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: How
much of being open to the quarterbacks is a result of what happened with a
Kaepernick? Do you feel like you have to find out if you have your own
Kaepernick?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "We'd
like to find that out. What's different about Kaepernick is certainly that they
feel great about him in all areas of the game. They feel great about him as a
passer. So he's a guy that plays full time. It's not as if they bring him in
for a package or a play or two. That's the difference between a Tebow or a
wildcat or some of the other things, packages that have kind of hit the
National Football League. If you have a guy that can stay there and play 65
plays a game and do those things and also be able to throw the ball from point
A to point B accurately, if he possesses those skills as well, then you
certainly have something. So that's what we'll have to find out with Terrelle
Pryor. We know what kind of an athlete he is. We need to find out what kind of
decision maker he is, and we need to find out if he's a guy that can also sit
in the pocket and deliver the ball from point A to point B accurately and on
time and making the right decisions. That above all else becomes most
important. Can he make good decisions and is he accurate as a passer?"</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Will
you be able to figure that out in minicamps and OTAs or will it take exhibition
games and real games?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "I'd
like to, but it's always an ongoing evaluation process. You'll get a feel for a
player throughout the OTAs, throughout the June minicamps into training camp
and, then obviously, the bottom, even to me preseason is an evaluation tool.
There's a big step from preseason to the regular season, as many players will
tell you, and even regular season playoffs. But you should have a pretty good
idea at that point, we'll have a pretty good idea about what he can and can't
do."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: What
did you see from Pryor when he got the start in the final game?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "I
saw some good things. We saw some good things there. I think it's too early to
say what he's going to be based on that limited playing time that he's had. You
can see the athletic ability in him. I'd say he's raw. I'd still say he's
developing."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Did
you look back at his Ohio State tape?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "I
remember when he came out. As a quarterbacks coach, you're always involved in
the evaluation phase of those players, and he did a lot of good things in
college at Ohio State. But again, it's a different game. There's a lot of
players that played very well in college that never have been able to make the
transition to the professional game."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: You
mentioned the unpredictability of the game in terms of contracts. Do you have
to be prepared for possibility that someone other than Carson Palmer will be
the quarterback?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "Oh
I think always. That's the nature of the beast and that's the nature of the
National Football League. I understand that. I think Carson Palmer understands
that. He understands that. That to me is the importance of being flexible and
being willing to adapt as a coach and be willing to adapt your philosophy as an
offensive coach in what you're going to do and how you're planning on attacking
people."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: What
do you see from your wide receivers? There were a lot of dropped passes and
miscommunication between the QB and a couple of the guys?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Olson: "Well,
one, I could say, it's not a perfect scenario, but it's the NFL, when you're
turning over systems, a new system this year, a new system the following year.
There will be, to me, as a coach again, you're trying to eliminate any of the
miscommunication that's happening, and that will be my job to eliminate any of
the miscommunication. I do see, though, obviously a young group of wide
receivers that are talented and yet they're still developing. As a group, as an
overall group of players, I do see a good skill set in that group overall. And
they're all kind of different when you look at them. There's not one that really
jumps out or sticks out. They all have their unique set of skills. The one
thing that they do, do, is they look tough. They are willing blockers, and
that's important. That will be important to me and important to us as a
coaching staff, is developing the physical and mental toughness at every
position. I like the group overall as a group because they are a young group,
they are still developing. They're not a finished product yet but I still see a
high ceiling for them much as I do for Terrelle Pryor."</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: Do you need a No. 1
receiver? No one has taken that job.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "Certainly
you'd like to have someone like that, someone who stands out above the rest.
But if not, again I see a solid, solid group overall. Those touches may get
spread out amongst that group if you don't have one. That's part of the
adaptability as an offensive play-caller or offensive coordinator. If you don't
have that guy then let's spread out the touches. If we don't have a guy who is
significantly better than everybody else, let's find a way to spread the ball
around, which makes it very difficult to defend as well if you're doing it that
way. Certainly you'd love to have a Calvin Johnson type guy. If you don't, find
a different way to move the football."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: How long will it take
for your players to grasp this system?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "Hopefully
about four months, which is what you hope. That's how it is. It has to be
player friendly. Whatever system you have it has to be player friendly because
you don't have a lot of time, you're not given a lot of time in the National
Football League. Whatever that system is let's make sure it's something the
payers can assimilate and learn very quickly. If they're playing slow, if
they're thinking too much, they're going to play slower. That creates problems.
If there's indecision or if there's miscommunication, those type of things you
try to eliminate as a coaching staff. It's a system that will be player
friendly and make it easy on those players."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: You were with the Rams
when they were putting up the ball quite a bit and then you were with the Jags
where they liked to run the ball a lot. So it seems if you're open to tailoring
the offense to the talent you have, based on that, how do see this offense
looking?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "We really
don't know who we're going to have yet. There's certain positions where we
still have some unrestricted free agents. To me right now at this point there's
just too much uncertainty. Based on the 11 players that were predominant
starters last year and knowing the type of tailback and type of quarterback if
you're talking about Carson Palmer as the starter and Darren McFadden as your
tailback. To me, Carson is a pocket passer. So you're looking at heavy play
action, push the ball down the field that way and you're looking at tailoring
some of the gap scheme stuff for Darren McFadden where he's able to hit the
ball going downhill. Those two go hand in hand, the downhill gap scheme and the
hard sell play action to me fit those players if those are the players we're
looking at. We just have to assimilate some of those concepts into what we're
doing offensively."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Q: As an offensive coordinator, what kind of weapon can Marcel Reece be?<br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "He's got such a unique set of skills for a fullback. He's a
college wide receiver. He'll present some matchup issues. I was pleasantly
surprised in watching the tape to see that in a lot of the downhill lead plays
where you need a fullback to go in there, would you characterize him as a big
thumper type fullback? No. But he did willingly go in and block some of those
linebackers on those downhill leads. To me I was pleasantly surprised in seeing
that. I was excited about that to be honest with you. Also, again to see him
get out of the backfield and to spread out in some of the one-back sets and empty
sets and look at the matchups you can get with him was exciting as well. He
does have tremendous speed. He has very good hands. He has loose hips. He can
run some of those option, choice routes that are matchup nightmares for
defensive players."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: Would you be open to
using Reece as a third-down back?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "No
question. That's the other thing to me, I was excited to see him in that role.
He did run the ball well when he was handed the ball from the one back.
Obviously he'll have some carries as well from the fullback position. It's nice
to know especially from a quarterback standpoint to have somebody like that who
is built like he's built and is also intelligent enough to be that third-down
back who understands the blitz packages that other teams are doing and to have
tremendous hands coming out of the backfield. I was really pleasantly surprised
in that part of the game that he could go in and be a third-down back. Not just
a plug-in type guy but not only did he do it but he did it well. I was excited
to see that."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Q: You were talking about 85 passes in one game at Purdue. Was that with Drew
Brees?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "Right."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: What was it like
being around him and coaching him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "Just a
special player. I knew he was special right away, accuracy wise. I'll never
forget it was probably the second week of two a days when we elevated him to
the No. 2 spot as a true freshman because of his accuracy and what an accurate
player he was. Just the intelligence, just the total package from him,
overachiever in everything he does within the game of football but also outside
he is a special guy. I was just fortunate to have a chance to coach him."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q: How will you and (offensive
line coach ) Tony (Sparano) work together?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Olson: "We've kind
of shut the door really this first couple of weeks here. He and I have kind of
gone in and shut the door and talked through philosophy and how we're going to
call things and what things in his brain as opposed to mine in terms of calling
a game and the different ways. We might be running the same plays but they call
it differently. So we just wanted to get on the same page in terms of
terminology and language. We've been able to do that the last couple weeks.
Philosophically speaking I think we're on the same page in terms of what we
want to do and how we want to attack people as an offense. I use that term
attack. To me I don't want the defense to set the tempo of the game. I want us
offensively to be able to set the tempo. He's all about that. I like his
mindset. I think we'll work very well together."</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Follow Eric Gilmore on Twitter @oregonducks17</span></div>
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Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-82127700540825469152011-02-17T22:28:00.000-08:002011-02-17T23:44:34.028-08:00Tough road to playoffs could be good for Sharks -- if they surviveThe Sharks have traveled the easy route to the playoffs many times before, racking up points faster than LeBron James against the Cavaliers then coasting into the postseason, but they've never reached the Stanley Cup Final.<br /><br />The Sharks are traveling a tougher path this season, one filled with uncertainty in a wide open Western Conference. If they survive, which is likely but still no sure bet, the Sharks will enter the playoffs a much more battle-tested team after living on the edge for so long.<br /><br />The Sharks entered Thursday night’s game against Washington in a five-way tie for fourth place in the West with 68 points. After beating the Capitals 3-2, the Sharks are tied for fourth with Nashville with 70 points. But they’re just two points ahead of Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles and Calgary, five ahead of Minnesota and six ahead of Chicago.<br /><br />“Everyone realizes the standings and how tight the West is, and every game’s got a little playoff atmosphere,” said Sharks center Joe Pavelski, who scored the game’s first goal. “You’re trying to get there and you think you make a little ground, but you really don’t make any.”<br /><br />“We' got to find a way to qualify for that tournament at the end of the year,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Every inch of ice, every play around the net’s very important to us right now. Defensively we’re keeping teams to two and under a lot of nights, and that’s allowing us an opportunity to win.”<br /><br />The Sharks went 5-2 on their recent road trip opened a two-game homestand by beating Washington. They’ve won 11 off their past 14 games, and seven of those wins have been by one goal. Playing tight games is becoming a way of life for the Sharks, and that experience could be a huge help in the postseason – if they get there.<br /><br />“It’s so close, and it’s hard to play when you’re under pressure, but we’ve experienced that a lot this year,” McLellan said. “I’ve been told more than 100 times that it’s going to help us later on, but you never like to be in that situation. I thought we had some poise, some composure, as we did in Nashville the other night. We addressed it after the collapse, if you will, in Florida.”<br /><br />Thursday night’s game was scoreless until late in the first period when the Sharks turned a John Carlson turnover into a two-on-one rush and a short-handed goal by Pavelski. Patrick Marleau corralled the loose puck near center ice, headed down the left wing then zipped a pass in the middle to Pavelski. Pavelski hammered the puck into the upper right corner of the goal, beating Michel Neuvirth at 18:49.<br /><br />The Sharks barely had time to celebrate before Washington answered with a power-play goal by Alexander Ovechkin 22 seconds later. Ovechkin took a pass in the high slot from Carlson walked in uncontested and unloaded a shot past Antti Niemi.<br /><br />After a scoreless second, the Sharks took a 2-1 lead at 4:27 in the third on Ryan Clowe’s goal from point blank range. Clowe parked himself in front of the net, and was in perfect position to capitalize when Kyle Wellwood fired a shot from the left faceoff circle. He knocked the puck down then knocked it past Neuvirth.<br /><br />Then with just 9:11 left to play, the Sharks made it 3-1 on one of the strangest goals Dany Heatley will ever score. Dan Boyle fired a shot from the high slot that ping-ponged off Pavelski, Washington’s David Steckel, San Jose’s Joe Thornton and finally Heatley on the power play.<br /><br />“You watch the goals being scored,” McLellan said. “Even 5 on 5, they’re simple goals. You don’t’ see a lot of pretty tic-tac-toe plays. They’re as ugly as ugly can be, and that one was ugly. Get people at the net and throw a little floater in and get lucky, and maybe we need more of that.”<br /><br />Washington cut the lead to 3-2 with 1:55 remaining on Nicklas Backstrom’s goal, but the Sharks’ and Niemi withstood the Capitals’ final push for another one-goal win.<br /><br />“We’ve been in that position it seems for the last -- forever,” Boyle said. “Obviously we’ve done a better job lately than we did the first half of the season. It’s pretty tight hockey. It would be nice to get one of those games where we can play with a bigger lead, but it is what it is. It was a huge two points for us. It’s a good win”<br /><br />Of course in the West, every win will be huge from here on out.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-11060316763891010202011-02-17T13:56:00.000-08:002011-02-17T15:33:32.605-08:00Top 10 reasons why Cal added Presbyterian College to its 2011 football scheduleWhen word slipped out earlier this week that Cal had scheduled a Sept. 17 football game at AT&T Park against Presbyterian College, I was appropriately stunned. I mean, why would the Bears schedule a game against a Bowl Championship Subdivision team out of the Big South Conference from Clinton, S.C.?<br /><br />Only Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour and coach Jeff Tedford have that answer, and for now they're not even confirming the news.<br /><br />So we're left to guess. Here are 10 possible reasons why Cal wound up booking this improbable matchup.<br /><br />10) ESPN U doesn't have a football team.<br />9) Methodist College's 2011 schedule was filled.<br />8) If defending BCS champ Auburn can play Samford, no matchup is too lame.<br />7) Slippery Rock University demanded a home-and-home.<br />6) Presbyterian College has a defense even Cal's QBs can pick on.<br />5) With an expected seating crunch at AT&T, all 1,200 students at Presbyterian can fit in one section.<br />4) Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and San Francisco dropped football and weren't available.<br />3) What Cal fan wouldn't want to pay big bucks to watch a team that finished 2-9 last year with losses to Stony Brook, North Greenville and Coastal Carolina?<br />2) After going bowl-less in 2010, Cal couldn't say no to a tasty non-league creampuff.<br />1) Old Blues demanded a game against the Blue Hose.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-20029096421382310682011-02-16T13:47:00.000-08:002011-02-16T16:06:19.659-08:00Raiders make a deal with their biggest bullyRaiders coach Hue Jackson has said he wants to "build a bully" in Oakland, and Al Davis just delivered the cornerstone -- defensive tackle Richard Seymour -- for that construction project. Seymour, according to multiple reports, agreed to a new two-year deal worth around $30 million to stay in Oakland.<br /><br />Seymour is a soft-spoken giant off the field. On the field, he plays as if opposing players just robbed his home and ran over his dog. He's mean, nasty and, truth be told, borderline crazy during games. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger found that out during a Week 11 game after throwing a touchdown pass when Seymour smacked him in the face, earning an ejection. Seymour, apparently, didn't like something Roethlisberger said or the fact that he made contact with him while celebrating. Two years ago, Seymour earned a 15-yard penalty when he grabbed Denver offensive tackle Ryan Clardy's dreadlocks and yanked as if he were playing tug-of-war.<br /><br />Seymour is the physical, intimidating face of a Raiders' defense that made significant strides in 2010. And his value to the team goes far beyond the 5.5 sacks and 48 tackles he posted. With a resume that includes three Super Bowl victories at New England, Seymour has huge respect in the locker room, and he's embraced his role as a leader since coming to the Raiders in a 2009 trade with the Patriots. He's been a role model and inspiration for many players, particularly defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, who's coming off a career year that included seven sacks.<br /><br />Locking up Seymour for two more years was a huge move for Davis. Not only did he keep retain his defense's biggest bully, but he also freed up the franchise tag, which he can now use on one of his other free agents -- tight end Zach Miller is a likely target.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-42000970784389915602010-06-24T13:33:00.000-07:002010-06-24T13:39:13.945-07:00Giants' Linceum looking more like his freakish self in latest startEarlier this month, it looked as if the Giants’ Tim Lincecum might need a new nickname. The Freak’s fastball was hovering around a very un-freakish 90 mph. Almost everyone in the big leagues – freaks and non-freaks alike -- can hit 90 on the radar gun.<br /><br />Some wondered if Lincecum had a dead arm or if sadly, at just 26, the two-time NL Cy Young award winner had lost the sizzling fastball that, combined with his small stature – just 5-foot-11 and 170-pounds with his pockets filled with rocks -- made him so unusual.<br /><br />But when Lincecum took the mound Tuesday at Houston, he started pumping 94 mph fastballs, one after the other, at the Astros in the early innings. He even hit 95 on the radar gun.<br /><br />Giants fans can breathe a bit easier. Lincecum’s latest start showed that his loss of velocity likely has more to do with mechanics than arm issues. He still has work to do on that mechanical front, but in the early going Tuesday, Lincecum got into a groove, and his fastball had some of its old electricity. If he could do that one day, he can certainly do it again.<br /><br />I loved the fact that catcher Bengie Molina kept calling for a heavy dose of fastballs. Too often this year, Molina and Lincecum have fallen too deeply in love with his change-up and curveball. Granted, they’re great pitches, and they’ve helped him rack up many of his best-in-baseball 113 strikeouts, but it’s Lincecum’s fastball that sets the tone and sets the stage for his off-speed pitches.<br /><br />When it comes to the fastball, it’s a matter of use it or lose it. Lincecum’s far too young to become overly reliant on off-speed pitches. He’s got to keep pumping fastballs and get back to being The Freak. Tuesday’s start was a great sign.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-54218691462902705762010-06-23T14:51:00.000-07:002010-06-23T14:57:23.029-07:00Warriors' Cohan putting finishing touches on his tarnished legacy as team ownerWarriors owner Chris Cohan put the for-sale sign up months ago. Apparently, he’s having a fire sale before he turns the team over to a yet-to-be-determined new owner.<br /><br />On Monday, the Warriors traded down 10 spots in the second round with Portland – swapping the 34th overall pick for the 44th – and pocketed $2 million in the deal. <br /><br />Then on Wednesday they shipped small forward Corey Maggette and that second-round pick to Milwaukee for guard Charlie Bell and center Dan Gadzuric.<br /><br />That was a great deal – for the Bucks.<br /><br />Maggette averaged 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists last season. For his career, his numbers are 16.6, 5.1 and 2.2.<br /><br />Bell’s career numbers? Try 8.9 points per game, 2.4 assists and 2.2 rebounds. Gadzuric has averaged 4.9 points and 4.5 rebounds.<br /><br />Then there’s the fact that Maggette was the Warriors’ only legitimate small forward. Of course Cohan could care less. He’s got one foot out the door and faces bigger problems from the IRS, which is after more of his money.<br /><br />Warriors fans can only hope Cohan doesn’t order GM Larry Riley to trade Monta Ellis for two re-treads and a vault-full of cash before he sells the team.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com97tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-25178068820002733992010-06-15T16:27:00.000-07:002010-06-15T16:34:07.416-07:00Pac-10's plans thankfully go up in smokeThe Pac-10’s plans to mega-expand to 16 teams imploded this week, and I’d say that’s cause for celebration. <br /><br />It’s been sickening to watch the Pac-10 join what’s become an insane pursuit by conferences throughout the nation of television money at the expense of tradition and geographical reality.<br /><br />Nothing says “Pacific” like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.<br /> <br />Thankfully, those teams turned down the Pac-10’s invitation, most likely because they figured they could make more money if they stuck together and saved the Big 12. There are few if any saints in this ongoing story.<br /><br />The Pac-10 has already added Colorado, and there’s apparently a good chance it will add Utah. That would give them 12 teams, the minimum required to break into two divisions and hold a Pac-10 football championship game. And yes, that’s another decision driven by the pursuit of TV dollars. But at what cost?<br /><br />The Pac-10’s oh-so-fair round-robin football format is dead. That format produced truly legitimate champions because every team played every other team each season. Now, some teams will have easier schedules than others and, most likely, one division will turn out to be easier than the other – which is one of the problems Big-12 football has faced.<br /><br />You have to wonder when this mad scramble will end. Are conferences going to continually raid each other, year after year, and continually re-align? <br /><br />Who knows? Maybe one day Florida, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina, North Carolina and Duke will be part of the Pac-24 Southeast.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-89740828873875300952010-03-13T12:54:00.000-08:002010-03-13T17:36:27.168-08:00Sharks start fast but forget how to finish in overtime loss to FloridaOn second thought, maybe those frustratingly slow starts and amazingly fast finishes the Sharks had been producing weren’t so bad after all.<br /><br />After setting an NHL record by winning three straight games in regulation after trailing entering the third period, the Sharks flipped the script Saturday afternoon against the Florida Panthers at HP Pavilion. <br /><br />This time the Sharks jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period and lost 3-2 in overtime. Sharks coach Todd McLellan loved his team’s fast start but hated the continued inconsistency heading into a six-game road trip.<br /><br />“We accomplished a couple things tonight,” McLellan said. “We came out and had a little fire in our belly. Played extremely hard in the first period but let it get away from us. That’s the inconsistency in our game right now. Obviously they heard the message for the start, now we reversed the trend. We didn’t finish real well.”<br /><br />In their 8-5 win Thursday night over Nashville, the Sharks scored six goals in the third period. Before that, they came from behind to beat Columbus 2-1 and Montreal 3-2.<br /><br />McLellan said one of his main goals for the upcoming road trip is for the Sharks to play consistently well from start to finish.<br /><br />“There’s a lot of good things in our game right now, but the one thing we haven’t put forth maybe since the Olympic break is a solid 60-minute effort,” he said. “We’ve been 40, we’ve been 30, we’ve been even to the point where we’re probably 55, but a solid 60 …”<br /><br />The Sharks appeared to grab the game by the throat in the first 20 minutes Saturday, taking a 2-0 lead.<br /><br />In the first five minutes, the Sharks outshot the Panthers 4-0. Then with 14:28 still left in the first period, Ryane Clowe beat Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun, putting the Sharks up 1-0.<br /><br />Patrick Marleau set the scoring play in motion when he won a faceoff in the right circle. Clowe chased down the puck along the boards, skated low then reversed course and glided to the point where he whipped a shot past Vokoun.<br /><br />The Sharks made it 2-0 with 2:15 left in the first period when Marleau hammered home a one-timer on the power play.<br /><br />Marleau, stationed low on the right circle, took a pass from Joe Pavelski and ripped a sharp-angled shot at, oh, 100 mph or so, past Vokoun, who didn’t have a chance. The goal was Marleau’s 41st of the season, yet another new single-season high.<br /><br />Marleau’s one of three Sharks with at least 40 goals in a season, joining Jonathan Cheechoo and Owen Nolan. He’s third on the all-time list, three behind Nolan, who had 44 goals in 1999-2000, and 15 behind Cheechoo, who scored 56 in 2005-2006.<br /><br />Just when you thought the Sharks might be headed for a rout, they went dead on offense.<br /><br />“Coming out strong was good,” Marleau said. “You want to continue that. You don’t’ want to sit back because teams can sense that and they come right back at you.<br /><br />“I think we had quite a few opportunities to score some goals. We didn’t finish. We tried to make probably too cute of plays instead of sticking with what works and what’s simple – getting pucks to the net and banging the rebounds. We did have chances.”<br /><br />Florida sliced their lead to 2-1 with just 1:02 gone in the second period. The Panthers’ Keith Ballard took a cross-ice pass in the right circle and beat Thomas Greiss on the glove side. Greiss, making a rare start in place of Evgeni Nabokov, had been planted on the opposite side of the crease and couldn’t reposition himself quickly enough, leaving a huge opening for Ballard.<br /><br />Greiss made his first start for the Sharks since Feb. 10, a 3-0 loss to Columbus. It’s not as if he hadn’t been on the ice since then -- Greiss started for Germany in the Vancouver Olympics, going 0-3-0 – but he struggled Saturday.<br /><br />“It was pretty tough for me to get into the game,” Greiss said. “I never really felt good until the end of the game. A tough game for me.”<br /><br />Florida tied the game 2-2 when Shawn Matthias banged a rebound past Greiss at 5:01 of the third period. Then with 2:14 left in overtime, after the Panthers won a faceoff in the Sharks’ end, defenseman Bryan Allen ripped a shot from the left slot past a screened Greiss for the game-winner.<br /><br />The Sharks have to be wondering what might have been if they hadn’t lost center Manny Malhotra for 17 minutes of the third period. After Florida’s Jason Garrison hit Pavelski from behind, ramming him into the boards, Malhotra retaliated with his fists. Malhotra got hit with two minutes for instigating, five for fighting and 10 for misconduct. Morrison got two for boarding and five for fighting. <br /><br />“It hurts,” McLellan said of losing Malhotra for so long. “Manny’s a valuable player. He plays in all situations. We talked about this before a lot. What happens when somebody takes a liberty? In this case, Manny stuck up for his teammate. We don’t mind that one bit. We’re happy that he does that, but in turn it also keeps him out of the game for 17 minutes, and 17 important minutes.”<br /><br />Now, if this had been a playoff game, McLellan would have wanted Malhotra to show more restraint.<br /><br />“In a playoff game, probably the best response we could have is win the game 3-2 or 4-2 and move on,” he said. “In this situation, we’re happy he responded the way he did.”<br /><br />In truth, Florida is a team the Sharks should have dominated from start to finish. San Jose came into the game with 95 points, best in the Western Conference. The Panthers had 64 and were eight points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, all but dead. They suffered a 3-0 loss Thursday night to Colorado in Denver, the second stop in a three-game West Coast road swing.<br /><br />Entering the game, Florida had one player with more than 17 goals – center Stephen Weiss with 23 – and he took a puck off a foot Thursday night and wasn’t at full strength. The Sharks had three: Marleau, Dany Heatley (36) and Pavelski (20).<br /><br />So much for statistics.<br /><br />“I am disappointed,” McLellan said. “We should be a better team. We shouldn’t be giving up two-goal leads. Let’s make that clear. I’m not happy, but I also want to give the other team some credit. They came in. They used five defensive men basically the whole game.<br /><br />“Their goaltender played extremely well, kept them in the game. When we watch the video and sit down and look at the mistakes we made, there weren’t a dramatic amount. We certainly were far better than we were against Nashville. It wasn’t even close.”<br /><br />Well, maybe better everywhere but on the scoreboard.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-57233523864718440152010-03-04T18:59:00.000-08:002010-03-04T23:40:35.400-08:00Sharks get a scare and a win against MontrealQuick hits from the Shark Tank after San Jose’s 3-2 victory Thursday night over Montreal.<br /><br /> *Sharks coach Todd McLellan loved watching his team’s gritty come-from-behind victory, but he hated seeing center Scott Nichol get shoved head-first into the boards early in the third period by Montreal’s Maxim Lapierre.<br /><br /> Let’s set the scene for what unfolded.<br /><br /> Torrey Mitchell whipped a pinpoint pass to a streaking Nichol on a break-away. Going full speed, Nichol fired a shot off the right post. As he zoomed past the net, Lapierre shoved Nichol from behind, giving him no chance to stop. Nichol went crashing into the boards.<br /><br /> Nichol got up off the ice holding his right should but still tried to confront Lapierre.<br /> Surprisingly, Lapierre was not penalized for the play.<br /> <br /> “I’m a Shark and I’m going to have an opinion on the call,” McLellan said. “I think it was a missed call. I think it was a real dangerous play. I wouldn’t want to see one of their players go in like that and I certainly don’t’ want to see one of ours.”<br /> <br /> Nichol didn’t return to the game, and McLellan said he was waiting to receive a medical update.<br /> <br /> “On the Scotty Nichol play, it’s a tough play,” Sharks defenseman Rob Blake said. “That’s the plays we don’t like to see just because it’s a very vulnerable position. It’s a tough call. The refs were up front about it.”<br /> <br /> That play seemed to energize the Sharks. They trailed 2-1 at the time and outscored Montreal 2-0 the rest of the way.<br /> <br /> *Playoff hockey in March? In some respects, it felt like it Thursday night. Both teams were grinding hard, and goals were hard to come by.<br /> <br /> “I think that’s the way it’s going to be down the stretch,” McLellan said. “I’m glad we got to play in that game. You’re in the middle of it, and you’re down a goal, you’re wishing you could score. By the end of the night we stuck with the plan and won the game. <br /> <br /> “Those are good games for us to play in. I didn’t see anybody going off on their own. They stuck with the program. I think what you’re asking me is was it frustrating to see the goaltender make as many good saves as he made. That’s what happens at this time of the year. You have to find a way to beat them.”<br /> <br /> The game got chippy at times, and each team drew seven penalties.<br /> <br /> *The Sharks came into Thursday night’s game on a two-game losing and scoreless streak. But according to Blake, their biggest concern wasn’t simply avoiding a three-game skid.<br /> <br /> “We’re really more concerned with how we’re going to play,” he said. “Our record’s up there for a reason. We’re more concerned with style. These are games you’re going to see. We have 18 left and a lot of them are against teams fighting for the playoffs. So you’re going to see that style before you get in the playoffs.”<br /> <br /> *Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov needed a strong game after what he’s been through this month, and he got one, stopping 28 of 30 shots and making some huge plays.<br /> <br /> “He’s been great all year,” Sharks winger Dany Heatley said. “He keeps us in so many games. Tonight he was outstanding again, especially in the third period when he kept it 2-1 for a long time.”<br /> <br /> Earlier in the month, Nabokov had a six-goal Russian Olympic nightmare against Team Canada. He gave up four goals in the first period and two more in the second before being yanked after facing just 23 shots. Then in his first post-Olympics NHL game, he gave up four goals Tuesday – three in the second period – in a 4-3 loss to New Jersey at the Shark Tank. In that loss, he faced only 21 shots.<br /> <br /> Nabokov got off to another rough start Thursday, giving up a goal with 9:39 still left in the first period. Montreal’s Brian Gionta took a pass from Scott Gomez and, directly in front of the crease, blasted a long shot past Nabokov’s stick side.<br /> <br /> Later in the period, Nabokov made up for his early lapse. In one rapid-fire sequence, he stopped Benoit Pouliot’s break-away shot from the right circle then blocked Gionta’s blast of the rebound with just over 7 minutes left. Moments later, Nabokov reached high for made a glove save while doing the splits.<br /> <br /> Nabokov gave up a power-play goal to Scott Gomez at 2:06 of the second period. Later in the period he made a bad pass, right to the Canadiens’ Roman Hamrlik above the left circle. Hamrlik unleashed a laser, but Nabokov caught it. Threat – and potential embarrassment – over.<br /> <br /> After giving up that second goal, Nabokov was a wall for the rest of the night, especially in the closing minutes when he made a handful of nice saves.<br /> <br /> “They were coming,” Nabokov said of the Canadiens. “I was able to see the puck and I was able to make the saves.”<br /> <br /> Nabokov also heard the chants of “Nah-bee! Nah-bee!” as he shut the door on Montreal.<br /> <br /> “That’s nice to hear,” he said.<br /> <br /> *The Sharks scored their first goal – short-handed, no less – just 53 seconds into the second period. That’s when Patrick Marleau, planted in front of the net, redirected Blake’s long slap shot from near the right boards for his 39th goal of the season.<br /> <br /> That goal gave Marleau a new single-season career high with 18 games still left to play.<br /> <br /> That 1-1 deadlock lasted all of 69 seconds before Montreal’s Gomez answered with a power-play goal.<br /> <br /> For most the remainder of the second period, the Sharks and Canadiens spent their time drawing penalties and coming up empty.<br /> <br /> The Shark’s Dan Boyle had the best scoring chance, but he was wide right by a fraction of an inch on a penalty shot, hitting the post. Boyle got his chance after Canadiens goalie Carey Price lost his stick and defenseman Hal Gill tossed it toward him while the Sharks were attacking.<br /> <br /> There’s no throwing sticks in hockey.<br /> <br /> *Heatley tied the game 2-2 with 7:28 with a power-play goal, re-directing Dan Boyle’s shot. Then with 4:55 to play, Manny Malhotra’s one-timer from the point off a Torrey Mitchell feed beat Carey Price and put the Sharks ahead 3-2.<br /> <br /> “We had stressed all night getting on the ‘D,’ forcing them into turnovers, getting pucks to the point and getting shots” Malhotra said. “(Mitchell) had enough patience to find me. I don’t even think Price saw the puck.”<br /> <br /> Thanks to a screen from a fellow Shark.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-9698977140895287192009-06-23T23:01:00.000-07:002009-06-23T23:03:04.690-07:00Giants' Lincecum works his way to another complete game win against A'sLooking at the box score from the Giants’ 4-1 win Tuesday night over the A’s, you’d think this was just another no-sweat, Tim Lincecum gem.<br /><br />He struck out 12 A’s. He pitched his fourth career complete game and second straight against the A’s this season. He allowed just seven hits and one run, Jason Giambi’s solo home run in the second. And he took just two hours and 16 minutes to complete the job.<br /><br />Easy, right? Not exactly. Lincecum knows how hard he had to work to hold the A’s to one run and pitch a complete game.<br /><br />He escaped one-out, bases-loaded jams in the fifth and sixth innings. Then the A’s put the first two batters on base in the seventh but came up empty.<br /><br />“Tremendous effort,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He got in a couple jams. Double plays both times saved us there… He has tremendous poise. He makes pitches when he has to have them.”<br /><br />In his previous start, Lincecum took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning against the Angels. The Angels scored three times in the eighth and won 4-3, handing Lincecum his second loss of the season. This time the Giants built a 4-0 lead and led 4-1 after two innings. Lincecum said the memory of that loss to the Angels fueled him against the A’s.<br /><br />“I was just trying to make really good pitches, especially when they got guys on in scoring position,” Lincecum said. “I think that’s kind of what helped me focus in those innings when I ran into a couple jams with the bases loaded.<br /><br />“I was able to induce ground balls. All in all, I was just trying to keep the ball down and trying to not let them get the ball up in the air and scratch back with one run here and there.”<br /><br />With one out in the fifth inning, the A’s Ryan Sweeney and Orlando Cabrera hit back-to-back singles. Lincecum walked Daric Barton, loading the bases, and A’s manager Bob Geren sent pinch hitter Nomar Garciaparra to the plate for Jack Hannahan.<br /><br />Lincecum got Garciaparra to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, third baseman Pablo Sandoval handling a tricky hop.<br /><br />“I’m trying to get a ground ball there,” Lincecum said. “That’s kind of why I went with a slider there. Hopefully catch him off guard. It worked out in hindsight.”<br /><br />The next inning the A’s loaded the bases again with one out. Adam Kennedy led off with a single. After Jack Cust struck out, Matt Holliday doubled Kennedy to third, and Jason Giambi worked a walk, loading the bases.<br /><br />This time, Lincecum got Kurt Suzuki to hit a soft two-hopper to shortstop Edgar Renteria, who stepped on second then threw to first for a double play.<br /><br />“That kid, he’s unbelievable,” Giants catcher Bengie Molina said of Lincecum. “That kid is special. … That’s what I think he’s shown ever since he’s come up. He doesn’t rattle that easy.”<br /><br />Lincecum got into more trouble in the seventh when Sweeney and Cabrera hit back-to-back singles again to open the frame. But he struck out Daric Barton, got Bobby Crosby to ground into a fielder’s choice then retired Kennedy on a fly ball that left fielder Andres Torres caught in foul territory before running into the wall.<br /><br />Crosby’s ground ball, which ricocheted off Lincecum’s glove to second baseman Matt Downs, led to some controversy. When Downs flipped the ball to Renteria, the ball popped out of his glove as he tried to turn two. Second base umpire Mike Reilly ruled that Renteria had control long enough for the out, a call that drew the ire of A’s fans.<br /><br />Lincecum is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in four career starts against the A’s with 34 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings. <br /><br />“They’re doing their thing, too,” Lincecum said of the A’s. “They had seven hits. They put me in pretty tough situations. You flip a coin, and sometimes maybe the outcome is different, but it worked out in my favor today.”<br /><br />By the end of the game, a large contingent of Giants fans was giving Lincecum a standing ovation as he completed the shutout.<br /><br />“There was a lot of yellow and green out there, but there was a lot of black and orange, too,” Lincecum said. “You see wrestling going on in the stands. You hear yelling, bad things being said here and there.”Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-24104860242359397892009-06-23T20:02:00.000-07:002009-06-23T20:12:21.066-07:00Rickey's return trip to Bay Area in '89 nearly ended in San FranciscoIt’s been 20 seasons since the A’s swept the Giants in the 1989 World Series, a series remembered more for the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake that struck before Game 3 at Candlestick Park than for Oakland’s dominance on the field.<br /><br />About a dozen players from that A’s team gathered for a reunion of sorts before Tuesday night’s game against the Giants at the Coliseum. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco – the Bash Brothers -- were absent, for all of the obvious steroids-related reasons.<br /><br />But Rickey Henderson, still polishing his speech just a few weeks before his Hall of Fame induction at Cooperstown, showed up for the party and received a standing ovation during a pregame ceremony.<br /><br />Henderson returned to the A’s that year in a midseason trade from the Yankees. To hear Henderson tell it before Tuesday’s game, he could well have been wearing orange and black during the ’89 World Series.<br /><br />“We had the deal made with the Giants,” Henderson said. “And then when we asked them what they wanted me to do for their club, they wanted me to play right field and bat fifth. The deal was off.”<br /><br />Henderson hit leadoff and played center field. Period. A few days later, Henderson said, the A’s stepped in and made the trade.<br /><br />“It was surprising that I was coming back home,” Henderson said. “That was a good thing. I was coming back home. It was really new life. Sometimes we get in that last (year of a) contract, you want to have such great success in that year to get you a contract and then all of a sudden things aren’t going right, and it’s just all crazy. So it was a new life for me.”<br /><br />Henderson hit just .247 in 65 games for George Steinbrenner’s Yankees that season. He had three homers, 22 RBI and 25 stolen bases. In 85 regular-season games with the A’s, he hit .294 with nine home runs, 35 RBI and 52 steals.<br /><br />Henderson saved his best for the postseason that year. He hit .400 in a 4-1 series win over Toronto, earning ALCS MVP honors, then hit .474 in the World Series.<br /><br />“Rickey’s a spotlight guy,” said Dave Henderson, an outfielder on that team. “The more people watch him, the better he’s going to play.”<br /><br />The ’89 A’s were already a dominant team before general manager Sandy Alderson and team owner Wally Haas made the deal for Henderson.<br /><br />“Walter was a winner,” said pitcher Dave Stewart, the MVP of the ’89 series. “Sandy was a winner. We really believed in putting our feet on people’s necks. Getting Rickey was the move that put us over the top.”<br /><br />Alderson said he made the trade while talking to the Yankees from a “pay phone in Mill Valley,” back in the days when they had phone booths.<br /><br />“There was a little bit of debate internally, whether we should do it or not,” Alderson said. “There wasn’t a lot. … It worked out pretty well.”Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-30031456631348943942009-04-25T18:26:00.000-07:002009-04-25T18:27:50.727-07:00Texas Tech coach takes aim at Browns' Mangini in defense of CrabtreeCan we call this Diva-Gate?<br /><br />By any name, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach helped liven up the first day of the NFL draft.<br /><br />After Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree was drafted by the 49ers with the No. 10 pick in the first round, Leach spoke to reporters at team headquarters in Santa Clara.<br /><br />Leach used the interview to praise Crabtree and defend him against accusations that he’s a diva. Leach took aim at Cleveland coach Eric Mangini for apparently leaking that claim after Crabtree visited the Browns before the draft.<br /><br />“Anybody who refers to him as a diva doesn’t know him very good,” Leach said during a conference call. “My definition of a diva is somebody who’s loud and self-absorbed. Michael Crabtree’s the furthest thing from loud I’ve ever seen. Michael Crabtree is self-effacing to the point where when he’d have the biggest of games and the biggest of moments, he would shyly hold his helmet and shuffle his feet. The sports information director would say,’ We have ESPN here, we have Sports Illustrated, we have the Sporting News, and then you’d look up and he was gone and he’d refuse to answer the phone. I’ve seen Michael Crabtree run from the spotlight more than I’ve seen him chase the spotlight.”<br /><br />Leach was later asked if Mangini had ever called him to get information about Crabtree.<br /><br />“No, which I find interesting,” Leach said. “I think he took it upon himself to figure that in a few minutes he had all the expertise on Michael Crabtree that he needed. So, you know, we’ll see how all those non-divas up there in Cleveland do this year. And here’s the other thing. It’s interesting that a guy who really has not accomplished a great deal there at Cleveland or the Jets, for that matter, would have the temerity to publicly comment on A, someone that he doesn’t even know and B, someone whose accomplishments speak for themselves. And within the specific field that Michael Crabtree is in, Michael’s accomplishments speak louder than Mangini’s do.”<br /><br />At the end of the interview, Leach had a parting shot for Mangini.<br /><br />“I appreciate your having me on,” Leach said. “On behalf of everybody here at Texas Tech, we’re very sorry we did not make a proper impression on Eric Mangini. We certainly hope that in the future that we can do better, because out here in West Texas, we’re all aspiring to somehow impress him.”Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-9632865943970826792009-04-25T16:42:00.000-07:002009-04-25T16:43:39.881-07:0049ers stand pat and let Crabtree fall to them at No. 10First things first. I think a thank you note from the 49ers to the Raiders is in order. Don’t you?<br /><br />The Raiders chose Maryland wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick in the first round, taking the fastest receiver in the draft but leaving Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree, arguably the most skilled receiver, for the 49ers.<br /><br />This actually worked out perfectly for both teams. The Raiders got the big speedster they wanted, someone to run down JaMarcus Russell’s deep passes. The 49ers got a polished receiver with great hands, someone to move the chains and get into the end zone.<br /><br />The 49ers, apparently, also got themselves a receiver with a bit of an edge and attitude. Crabtree has been mentored by none other than Deion Sanders. What’s more, 49ers coach Mike Singletary said he reminds him a little bit of former Dallas Cowboy wideout Michael Irvin, in terms of his “attitude” and physical skills.<br /><br />As long as Crabtree doesn’t go T.O. on the 49ers, I have no problem with that.<br /><br />Here’s the complete transcript of Singletary’s interview, just minutes after making the pick.<br /><br /><br />MIKE SINGLETARY<br /><br />“Very glad about the pick that we had a chance to make. We had no idea that he would be there at 10. It was one of the last scenarios we thought we’d end up with. Obviously he’s the most productive guy the last couple years in college football as a receiver. So very excited to get a playmaker on the offensive side of the ball.”<br /><br />When you saw him there, did you think, this is the guy we’ve got to get?<br /><br />“It’s one of those situations where, like I said, there’s so many different scenarios, and when we were coming down to it, we thought for sure that the last couple of picks that were there, he wouldn’t be there. When he was, Scot (McCloughan) said, ‘Mike, you know what? This is great. This is outstanding. Make the pick.’”<br /><br />Where does he fit in terms of the other receivers on the team?<br /><br />“I think we’ll figure it out. I think it’s one of those scenarios where you’ve a playmaker. The biggest thing is we’re not going just put him out there and say, ‘Hey, you’re the X, you’re the Z,’ whatever it is. He’s going to have to earn his way on, but the most important thing is we know we have a playmaker. We were very excited about having that opportunity on our football team.”<br /><br />He came in here several weeks ago to visit with you. During that time and since then there’s been a lot of talk about him being a diva and the entourage and the roommate. What did you learn from sitting down and talking to him that made you comfortable making this guy the pick at No. 10 overall?<br /><br />“I think first of all, these are young men, not just him, but all those college guys, and they’re going from one team to the next, they’re being picked apart. I think it’s very difficult to get a feel for the guy just sitting there. But I think the thing that we had the opportunity to do, you talk to people that know him, you talk to people that played with him, you talk to people that have been around him. Just made several phone calls and really did our homework and came away feeling very good about his character and who he is and knowing that he’s one of those guys that really has the opportunity to be special. That’s just very exciting for us.”<br /><br />Do you want the No. 1 receiver to be a little bit cocky, to be a little full of himself out there?<br /><br />“Well, I don’t know a little bit full of himself. I just think it’s one of those things, normally when you get great players, sometimes you get a little bit of attitude with them. It has a tendency to throw some people off, but I think for us on the offensive side of the ball, a little swagger is fine with me.”<br /><br />At No. 7, the Raiders picked. They had similar needs to you. What was the reaction in the room when they took Darrius Heyward-Bey?<br /><br />“Well, they got the guy that…. When you look at Al Davis, Al Davis has been very true to what he’s done all along. He loves speed. He loves size. And that’s what he went with. I think for us, I think the speed is obviously a question for a lot of different people, but obviously not for us. When we look at the film we see a guy that has a different speed. I don’t know how fast he is. I just know that when he catches the ball, there’s separation there. I know he’s a physical guy. He does the things that he has to do. He’s willing to block. I’ve seen him do that. So, very excited about all of the upside he has.”<br /><br />How did he check out medically?<br /><br />“He checks out fine. Our doctors checked him out, and he checks out just fine.”<br /><br />Will he be able to participate in next week’s minicamp?<br /><br />“Minicamp, probably the biggest thing he’d be able to do is the walkthrough we’d have. I wouldn’t want him to do anything more than that, but he will definitely be ready for training camp. That’s really the most important thing.”<br /><br />Did you have a chance to talk to him yet?<br /><br />“Yes. I talked to him right after we had the pick. For him, I’ve been there. I knew that he was a little bit down but at the same time excited about the way we feel about him and how we see him and having the opportunity to come to our football team.”<br /><br />What did you say to him?<br /><br />“I just told him, ‘You know what, how do you feel about being a 49er?’ ‘Coach, I feel great about that.’ I said, ‘I know what you’re feeling right now. There’s a lot of different things going through your mind. Probably projected, you thought this or thought that, but just know that you came to the best place. We’re going to make the best of your talent and we’ll go from there.’”<br /><br />Jeremy Maclin was on the board, too. Was this a clear choice<br /><br />“For us, Crabtree on our board was the best receiver, and really one of the best players. For us, it was just jumped out at you. When you looked at the board, you really didn’t have to make the decision, the board and all of the work the guys have done and gone through this offseason really made the decision for us.”<br /><br />Production in games important?<br /><br />“Absolutely. You have the production. When you see him at wide receiver, it’s not just a guy catching the ball. It’s a guy out there, he finds a way to get separation. He knows how to use his body. He has exceptional hands. And he’s running away from people at the same time. He’s willing to block and does a good job of that as well. I’m very excited about what we saw on the film.”<br /><br />Was there any discussion about (Mississippi offensive tackle) Michael Oher?<br /><br />“Absolutely a thought. You know for me, that was definitely a thought. You look at Michael Oher, you look at a tackle. You want to protect the quarterback. But at the same time you have the opportunity for a playmaker, and you’ve got to make that decision, you’ve got to make that call.”<br /><br />How much time did you need before deciding Crabtree was your guy?<br /><br />“In all honesty, we were talking about a couple of other scenarios, whether Eugene Monroe would be there. And you come back and he’s still there and ‘Whoa, OK. We’ve got to rethink this and rehash some of the thoughts and ideas.’ But once he was there, as I said before, it’s just a matter of, if you look at the board, it just jumps out at you. It’s not even something that you really have to talk about.”<br /><br />Did other teams call to trade up?<br /><br />“We had several feelers, but nothing serious.”<br /><br />You have Texas roots. Did that help in your research on Crabtree?<br /><br />“It helped a lot. If you’re going to draft at the No. 10 spot, you’d better know a lot more than what you saw on film. For me, it’s having the opportunity to have some resources to go to and ask a lot of questions about the kid, his family, his background, his upbringing, all of those things. They all check out very well. The guy’s a winner. Very excited about his though process about what he wants to do and how he wants to work and what he wants to bring to that position.”<br /><br />You’ve played against a lot of great receivers, you coached against some. Can you compare him to anybody?<br /><br />“I guess to stand here and say, ‘He reminds me of this guy,’ I can’t think of anybody off the top of my head. Obviously you think of a guy like Jerry Rice. I don’t want to go there because he hasn’t done it yet at this level. Obviously we feel he can do it at this level. But there are certainly some other receivers. … He’s a thick guy. You may think of a Michael Irvin type of receiver. He’s big enough, he’s got the attitude. He’s got great hands. That may come to mind when you see him.”<br /><br />The 49ers took two receivers most recently in the first round that didn’t work out so good, Rashaun Woods and J.J. Stokes. Any concerns about the risks of any player chosen at No. 10?<br /><br />“Every player drafted today is a risk. Detroit paid seventy-some odd million dollars. That’s a tremendous risk. So I think that’s what the draft is all about. It’s about you doing your homework and not relying on hearsay. It’s a chance to see the kid, meet the kid, and to the best of our knowledge, this is a really good pick for us, and we’re very excited about it.”<br /><br />Picking a receiver so high, any concern?<br /><br />“No. The film to me speaks to itself. … When you look at this guy, then when you see the guy, obviously there’s something there. I really do think he has the chance to be special, but we’ll see. Time will tell.”<br /><br />Who were some of the people that you talked to in Texas, concerning his diva image?<br /><br />“As far as his diva image, one of the guys I talked to, I talked to Deion Sanders a little bit, who spent a tremendous amount of time with him. Basically, when you talk to Deion about him, it’s one of those things where, ‘Mike, here’s what it is, here’s what I see. I’m with the kid all the time. Here’s what it was before the season was over, during his last year at school, during his sophomore year at school, all of those things.’ We really talked about it. When you look at the kid, the most interesting thing he said when he was here, we sat and we talked. I said, ‘What is your hobby?’ He said, ‘You know, I could sit in front of a computer and just really get into fashion.’ He said, ‘You’re never going to see me wear the same thing twice. I’m really into fashion. I like designing things.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, fashion? Talk to me a bit. What do you mean?’ He broke it down a bit. He’s really into clothes. So of course I could see right away the connection between he and Deion. I felt like I was talking to Deion there for a bit. But this guy, he knows who he is. He knows what he wants to achieve. He has a best friend that he spends a lot of time with. He’s surrounded by good people. So I’m OK with all that. And I’m sure some things will come up here and there, but we’ll deal with that.”Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-76689609533188252972009-04-25T14:26:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:33:33.766-07:00As usual, Raiders think fast in NFL draft and grab speedy receiver Heyward-BeyYou’ve got to hand it to Raiders boss Al Davis. He’s nothing if not consistent. He had his choice of wide receivers with the No. 7 overall pick in the NFL draft, and he took the fastest one, Maryland’s Darrius Heyward-Bey.<br /><br />Most draftniks had Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree and Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin rated ahead of Heyward-Bey. But when did Davis ever accept the consensus view? Try never.<br /><br />The way Davis values speed, you’d think he owned a NASCAR team. It’s all about the vertical game in Al’s world. As one of the talking heads on the NFL Network said, Davis is a height-weight-speed guy. In other words, his draft motto might as well be, “In the NFL Combine We Trust.”<br /><br />Heyward-Bey wasn’t just the fastest wide receiver at the combine. He was the fastest player at any position, clocking a 4.3 for 40 yards. Combine that speed with his great size -- 6-foot-2, 210-pound -- and you have a perfect Raiders pick.<br /><br />Some have questioned Heyward-Bey’s hands. Some have called him a boom-bust pick, a player who could become a superstar or could break your heart while he breaks the bank.<br /><br />That’s perfect Al Davis, a man who’s never been afraid to take a risk or go against the tide.<br /><br />Fortunately for the Raiders, Davis didn’t go too much against tide. The Raiders desperately needed a wide receiver, a go-to guy for quarterback JaMarcus Russell, and Davis grabbed one.<br /><br />Time will tell if he got the right pass catcher.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-64385249399715887822009-04-22T15:26:00.000-07:002009-04-22T15:34:20.820-07:00Some free draft advice for the Raiders and 49ersThe Detroit Lions are on the clock, but I’m more interested in what the Raiders and 49ers are going to do in the first round of the NFL draft on Saturday.<br /><br />Here’s what I think they should do, starting with the Raiders, who have the No. 7 overall pick. Take the best wide receiver on the board. Not just the fastest wide receiver or the best combine workout warrior. The best wide receiver, someone who has good hands, runs good routes AND has good speed.<br /><br />The Raiders invested the No. 1 overall pick and countless millions of dollars on quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007. They’ve got to get him a marquee receiver to catch his passes. You’re already starting to hear whispers that Russell is a bust. But it’s hard to tell if he is or isn’t when the Raiders’ receiving corps is so weak. I mean, when Chaz Schilens, Johnnie Lee Higgins and, if they can stay healthy, Javon Walker and Drew Carter, are the best of the bunch, you’ve got problems.<br /><br />The Raiders haven’t drafted a wide receiver in the first round since 1988, when they chose Tim Brown out of Notre Dame. I’d say that pick worked out well. Certainly a lot better than some of the first-round picks since then, such as safeties Michael Huff and Derrick Gibson, cornerbacks Fabian Washington and Phillip Buchanon, tight end Rickey Dudley, offensive tackle Matt Stinchcomb and quarterback Todd Marinovich.<br /><br />Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree could be a nice fit, if he falls to No. 7, although knowing the Raiders, they’ll probably be tempted by Missouri wide receiver Jeremy Maclin’s blazing speed and maybe even Maryland wideout Darrius Heyward-Bey’s combination of size, strength, speed and potential, despite the red flag warnings that he’s a boom-or-bust risk.<br /><br />Who knows? Maybe the Raiders can work a draft-day trade for disgruntled Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin. He’s probably not as fast as Al Davis wants his No. 1 receiver to be, but he’s a proven commodity, and one of the NFL’s most physical wide receivers.<br /><br />Now for the 49ers at No. 10. If USC quarterback Mark Sanchez falls to them, the 49ers should take him and thank the football gods.<br /><br />Quarterback is the most important position in football, and the 49ers have been searching for a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback ever since they let Jeff Garcia leave as a free agent after the 2003 season. Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, was supposed to be the answer. But he struggled early then battled injuries. This year he had to take a huge pay cut for the chance to stick with the 49ers and battle journeyman Shaun Hill for the starting job.<br /><br />During their glory years, there was always one constant for the 49ers. They had a future Hall of Fame quarterback leading the team, either Joe Montana or Steve Young. The last time they went to the playoffs was 2002, when Garcia threw 21 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions.<br /><br />If the 49ers draft Sanchez, Hill can keep the position warm until he’s ready to step in. They won’t have to throw Sanchez into the fray, the way they did Smith in 2005.<br /><br />So what if Sanchez is gone when the 49ers pick, a very real possibility? If Crabtree slides that far, they should grab him. Same for Maclin.<br /><br />The 49ers haven’t had a receiver who scared anyone since Terrell Owens forced his way out of town following the 2003 season. This is a franchise that has been known for its receivers, from the days of Dave Parks and Bernie Casey, to Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, John Taylor and T.O.<br /><br />Now they’re relying on Isaac Bruce, the ancient one, and youngsters such as Josh Morgan, Jason Hill and Brandon Jones, a free-agent pickup.<br /><br />Here’s what the 49ers shouldn’t do. They shouldn’t pick an offensive tackle at No. 10. Yeah, I understand that coach Mike Singletary wants the 49ers’ to become more physical on offense, able to pick up a yards on the ground whenever they want, no matter how many defenders are in the box. A young, physical tackle would be nice to have.<br /><br />On the other hand, the 49ers landed Marvel Smith, a veteran offensive tackle, in free agency. What’s more, since 2005, the 49ers have invested a first-round pick in offensive tackle Joe Staley, two second-round picks in guards David Baas and Chilo Rachal and a third-round pick in offensive guard/tackle Adam Snyder. Staley, Baas and Rachal are starters, while Snyder is expected to be the top backup at guard and tackle.<br /><br />If the New York Giants have taught us anything, it’s that you don’t need a stable of high draft picks to have a quality offensive line. The 49ers have invested enough for now in their offensive line. Besides, the top offensive tackles, Baylor’s Jason Smith and Virginia’s Eugene Monroe, will already be gone when they pick. Alabama’s Andre Smith will probably be gone, too, which would leave Mississippi’s Michael Oher as the top remaining offensive tackle.<br /><br />If Sanchez, Crabtree and Maclin are gone by the time they pick, the 49ers might be better served to grab a pass-rushing defensive end/outside linebacker or a nose tackle (to protect linebacker Patrick Willis) than an offensive tackle.<br /><br />Or, they could trade down and stockpile picks to use on say, a safety, a situational pass rusher and a cornerback to groom for the future – Walt Harris isn’t getting any younger.<br /><br />There’s my free advice. We’ll see what happens on Saturday.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-91421201961230477912009-03-14T22:59:00.000-07:002009-03-14T23:03:19.458-07:00What rust? Nabokov shines for Sharks in first game back after injuryIt was Evgeni Nabokov Appreciation Night at the Shark Tank on Saturday.<br /><br />No, not officially. But by the huge ovation Nabokov received from fans during pre-game introductions and the chants of “Nab-eee! Nab-eee!” you could tell Sharks fans were ecstatic to have him back in goal.<br /><br />Nabokov had missed the past seven games with a lower body injury. During that span, the Sharks went 2-4-1.<br /><br />The sellout crowd of 17,496 was even happier at the end of the night, when Nabokov stopped six of seven shots in a shootout and the Sharks grabbed a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.<br /><br />“He played well,” said Sharks forward Jonathan Cheechoo, who beat Kings goalie Erik Ersberg for the game-winner in the shootout. “He made all the big saves.”<br /><br />Nabokov stopped five shots in the first period, as the Sharks took a 1-0 lead on Milan Michalek’s goal at the 5:28 mark, the assists going to Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle.<br /><br />Nabokov gave up a goal early in the second period, Wayne Simmonds knocking a rebound past him. But later in the period he made a sprawling save when Simmonds had a breakaway chance during a Sharks power play. He stopped 11 shots in the period.<br /><br />Then early in the third period, Nabokov produced one of the biggest plays of the game. The Kings had a two-on-none breakaway and came away empty against Nabokov. They never pulled the trigger because they never found an opening. Moments later, the fans erupted in another chorus of “Nab-eee! Nab-eee!”<br /><br />“You don’t have much time to think,” Nabokov said. “You just try to read what they’re going to try to do. The odds are against me.”<br /><br />Even though the Kings didn’t shoot on that play, Nabokov called it his “best save” of the night. There were more great saves to come, these ones on actual shots.<br /><br />In overtime, Nabokov came up with another huge save. First he blocked Anze Kopitar’s slap shot from the right wing. The puck wound up lying in front of the Sharks goal in the crease. Nabokov located it at the last instant and smothered it before the Kings could arrive and blast it home.<br /><br />“I had no idea where the puck was,” Nabokov said.<br /><br />Then in the shootout, Nabokov outlasted Ersberg in a battle of the goalies.<br /><br />In the third round, Pavelski put the Sharks up 1-0 with a beautiful goal. He angled right, then left, then hesitated before ripping a shot just inside the right post. The Kings’ Jack Johnson answered immediately, beating Nabokov to his stick side.<br /><br />That was the last time a Kings shot found the net. Nabokov stopped Dustin Brown, Drew Doughty, Alexander Frolov, Michal Handzus and, after Cheechoo scored for the Sharks, Teddy Purcell.<br /><br />“He looked very sharp,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re excited for him. We’re happy to have him back. … The rest of the coaching staff who watched him warm up, they used the term he was ‘zoned in.’”<br /><br />Nabokov is just one in a long list of Sharks who have missed games because of injuries. Defensemen Rob Blake and Brad Lukowich, two of the wounded, returned to action, along with Nabokov. Mike Grier, Jeremy Roenick, Claude Lemieux are among those still out.<br /><br />The Sharks won’t blame their skid on injuries – that’s taboo in the NHL – but those injuries, particularly Nabokov’s, have definitely hurt their record. You simply don’t lose one of the NHL’s top goalies for seven games and not suffer some consequences.<br /><br />Fortunately for the Sharks, they’re not paying a huge price for their slump, thanks to all of their good work earlier in the season. They still have plenty of time to get the rest of their injured players healthy and get back on a roll heading into the playoffs. With 98 points, they remained just one behind Detroit, which beat St. Louis, in the battle for Western Conference supremacy.<br /><br />Even though the Sharks went zero for eight on the power play and found the net just once in regulation and overtime, McLellan said Saturday night’s win might be the official start of their turnaround and the beginning of the end of their offensive funk.<br /><br />“We looked a little more like we should look,” McLellan said of the Sharks, who out-shot the Kings 39-24. “Sometimes when you’re trying to come out of a mini-slump, the bounces don’t go your way. I thought we generated a lot of chances. … Their goalie was a money goalie.”<br /><br />But not quite as money as Nabokov.<br /><br />“He played great,” Sharks Boyle said. “He came through in the shootout. He’s probably a big reason why we won the two points. We were all expecting him to be in top shape and he was.”Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-29212045001944152812009-03-14T13:29:00.000-07:002009-03-14T13:33:31.980-07:00With Mills back on track, St. Mary's deserves NCAA Tournament berthSt. Mary’s center Omar Samhan had it right, just minutes after the Gaels’ 85-65 win Friday night over Eastern Washington, a.k.a. their last chance to convince the NCAA Tournament selection committee that they deserve an at-large berth.<br /><br />“Nothing you can do now but pray,” said Samhan, who scored a career-high 29 points to go with 12 rebounds. “All you can do is hope for the best. It’s out of our control now.”<br /><br />That it is for a so-called “bubble” team from a mid-major conference. I can only hope that the selection committee is wise enough to realize that St. Mary’s deserves a spot in the NCAA Tournament.<br /><br />Gaels coach Randy Bennett rolled the dice last week when he added a game against Eastern Washington to the schedule. Bennett wanted to give point guard Patty Mills one more chance to convince committee members that he has recovered from the broken right hand he suffered on Jan. 29 against Gonzaga.<br /><br />The risk for Bennett was that his team could have played poorly and Mills could have had his third straight frigid shooting night. That would have sealed St. Mary’s fate two days before Selection Sunday.<br /><br />Bennett, though, hit the jackpot because Mills got his shooting groove back and the Gaels reminded everyone just how good they are when their leading scorer and court leader is healthy and in synch.<br /><br />Mills scored 19 points, making 6 of 14 shots from the field and, more importantly, 4 of 9 from long range. Compare that to his numbers in the WCC tournament, when he went 5-for-28 overall and 2-for-16 from 3-point range against Portland and Gonzaga.<br /><br />“I think he’s back,” Bennett said of Mills. “I don’t know what else you’d want a guy to do.”<br /><br />Mills played 33 minutes, more than any other player on either team. He had four steals, two assists, two rebounds and just one turnover. He was aggressive on both ends of the court, from start to finish.<br /><br />“It’s pretty much 100 percent,” Mills said of his right hand.<br /><br />The beauty of having a selection committee, instead of some BCS system of polls and computers, is that those members can analyze teams and make rational decisions. They can factor in the impact of injuries and the return of injured stars.<br /><br />The Gaels have won a school record 26 games against just six losses. They were 18-1 entering their Jan. 29 game at Gonzaga. At the time, they were ranked No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 22 in the Associated Press poll.<br /><br />Mills scored 18 points before he was injured in the first half. He helped St. Mary’s build a 39-33 halftime lead. Without Mills, the Gaels struggled in the second half and lost 69-62. Then they lost three of their next four games, falling to Portland, Santa Clara and Gonzaga, by just two points.<br /><br />After that, they won their final five regular-season games, all without Mills.<br /><br />“We only had one bad stretch,” Bennett said. “Any team in the country, if they lost a guy like Patty, is going to have the same bad stretch. Our guys, given the situation, I don’t know how much better they could have done.<br /><br />“We were 18-1 when it happened. We dealt with it. We didn’t lose to any bad teams. We lost to Gonzaga three times.”<br /><br />If Mills hadn’t broken his hand, it’s likely the Gaels would have remained a Top-25 team. They likely would have finished with at least 29 wins.<br /><br />If Mills hadn’t returned to action and hadn’t shown that he’s back on track, then the Gaels wouldn’t deserve an at-large berth. But with the real Patty Mills, St. Mary’s is a legitimate tournament team.<br /><br />The Gaels made the NCAA Tournament last year with 25 wins. Granted, St. Mary’s had more victories last year over eventual tournament teams, including Gonzaga and Oregon. But anyone who has followed the Gaels understands that this year’s team is decidedly better.<br /><br />It’s deeper and much more experienced. St. Mary’s returned almost the entire squad from last year’s NCAA Tournament team. Mills was just a freshman last year. As good as he was last season, he has been that much better this year with that year of experience. Samham took his game to a much higher level. Forward Diamon Simpson, the Gaels’ all-time rebounding king, continued to improve. When Mills was out, players such as Mickey McConnell, Carlin Hughes and Wayne Hunter stepped up.<br /><br />The Gaels team I watched Friday was NCAA Tournament worthy. We’ll find out Sunday if the selection committee agrees.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-3084925706210362432009-03-10T15:55:00.000-07:002009-03-10T16:01:12.936-07:00The reasons behind T.O.'s decision to sign with BuffaloTop 10 reasons Terrell Owens signed with the Buffalo Bills:<br /><br />10. His good friend Donovan McNabb gave Buffalo two thumbs up.<br /><br />9. The NFL doesn’t have a team in Siberia.<br /><br />8. He can see Canada from the window of his new home<br /><br />7. After striking out in the NFC _ 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys _ he wanted to swing and miss in the AFC.<br /><br />6. Even Al Davis wouldn’t return his calls.<br /><br />5. He thought Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith still played for the Bills.<br /><br />4. After one season, he’ll be free to destroy another team.<br /><br />3. Blame it on Jeff Garcia, Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson.<br /><br />2. In these tough economic times, his $6.5 million will stretch farther in a blue-collar town.<br /><br />1. Must be the Buffalo wings.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-32353513432833043142009-02-27T19:18:00.000-08:002009-02-27T19:20:10.648-08:00A great day for Oregon Ducks baseballI’ve been waiting 28 years to say -- or write -- this about a University of Oregon baseball team: Go Ducks!<br /><br />I watched my former team beat St. Mary’s last week in their season-opener in Moraga. Today, I followed the inning-by-inning action via Adam Jude’s “Talkin’ Baseball” blog for the Eugene Register-Guard as the Ducks beat defending NCAA champion Fresno State 1-0 in their home-opener at PK Park.<br /><br />Not bad for a program that was disbanded after the 1981 season for reasons that still don’t make sense to me nearly 30 years later. But that’s history. I’m more interested in the new era of Oregon baseball.<br /><br />From what I saw at St. Mary’s, this young Oregon team has amazing fire and spirit, which is a credit to coach George Horton. The Ducks may not have a ton of power, but they hustle and play hard.<br /><br />It looks like Horton found himself an ace in Tyler Anderson, a freshman lefty from Las Vegas, who held Fresno State scoreless for eight innings. I saw him pitch against St. Mary’s. He’s got some great off-speed pitches, a good fastball and a lot of presence and guts for a freshman. He’s already been thrown into two pressure-packed games and handled both amazingly well.<br /><br />Jett Hart (What a great first name for a guy who can run) and Caleb Tommasini look like they’ll give the Ducks’ offense a little juice.<br /><br />I got a chance to look at PK Park a few weeks ago. I liked the setting of Howe Field better because it was in the middle of campus, with the forested hills beyond left and center-field. But man, this new park is truly a gem that will only get better when the second phase is completed, replacing the temporary stands with a permanent structure.<br /><br />I only wish that Mel Krause, my old coach from 1973-77, had lived long enough to watch the Ducks play this season. He would have loved how hard these Ducks play and respected the job that coach Horton has done.<br /><br />I was sorry I didn’t get a chance to attend today’s game. If there are any Ducks out there who saw the game, it would be great if you could share your impressions and thoughts.<br /><br />Go Ducks!Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-70000968729637112782009-02-25T15:38:00.000-08:002009-02-25T15:42:51.359-08:00More signs that sports world can't escape harsh economic realityIf you didn’t already know the economy was in freefall, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hammered home that reality Wednesday.<br /><br />The NFL confirmed that Goodell is voluntarily taking a 20-25 percent pay cut from the $11 million in salary and bonuses he was to receive in the 2008 fiscal year, which ends March 31. A few months ago, the NFL slashed 169 jobs, a reduction of over 15 percent.<br /><br />No, Goodell won’t have to apply for food stamps. And NFL teams are still throwing around money for players (see Al Davis, Nnamdi Asomugha and Shane Lechler) as if times were flush. But when the biggest sports cash cow in the world starts cutting salaries and jobs, you know the entire industry could be approaching very tough times.<br /><br />It could be that Goodell’s salary slash is a PR move as the league approaches negotiations with the NFL Players Association over the collective bargaining agreement. The league can go to the negotiating table trumpeting its staff and salary cuts as it argues for a bigger piece of the pie.<br /><br />But enough cynicism.<br /><br />Tough times are hitting more than just the NFL. While scanning a few headlines today, I saw that Greg Norman suggested that the PGA Tour should reduce its prize money purses, in light of the huge economic downturn. The Tour is losing some high-profile title sponsors, including FBR, the sponsor of that cocktail party/tournament near Phoenix, which will bow out after 2010.<br /><br />Even some baseball teams, other than the Yankees, have shown some fiscal restraint in free agency. Manny Ramirez is still looking for a team to pay him as if it’s 2007.<br /><br />Times can’t be that tough for baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig is still making $18 million a year. When Selig slashes his salary, I’ll know that the sports Apocalypse has arrived.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-69718413781878813942009-01-31T15:05:00.000-08:002009-01-31T15:29:13.134-08:00With Martz out and Raye in, 49ers' offense in peril of taking another tumble in 2009For the sake of all 49ers fan, I hope I’m wrong, but I have a feeling you and your team are going to miss offensive coordinator Mike Martz before too long.<br /><br />After firing Martz then conducting an exhaustive search, coach Mike Singletary hired Jimmy Raye as the 49ers’ new offensive coordinator. Who knows? Maybe hiring Raye will turn out to be pure genius. Maybe he’ll bring stability to an offense that, counting Raye, has had a different offensive coordinator for seven straight years.<br /><br />My gut’s telling me this hire was a mistake and that the 49ers’ offense is going to take a step backward in 2009.<br /><br />I mean, this was the anti-WOW! hire. In eight of Raye’s 12 seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator, his teams had losing records. Raye’s offenses failed to average over 20 points per game in seven of those seasons.<br /><br />Under Martz, the 49ers averaged 21.2 points per game. Say what you want to about Martz, but he’s an offensive magician. He took the NFL’s worst offense and turned it into something respectable last season. Well, at least after Singletary stepped in and benched quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan in favor of Shaun Hill.<br /><br />Singletary and Martz obviously clashed when it came to offensive philosophy. I suppose Mad Mike and smash-mouth Samurai Mike was a combustible marriage. I suppose it couldn’t last, even though the results they produced together were good, with Singletary forcing Martz to reign in his uber-aggressive, self-destructive tendencies.<br /><br />Raye and Singletary apparently are simpatico when it comes to their shared belief in having a tough, physical offense that can run through brick walls.<br /><br />Personally, I wish the 49ers had never abandoned the West Coast offense. That was the team’s signature, its identity, its source of offensive stability since the day Eddie DeBartolo hired Bill Walsh as his coach in 1979. You can argue whether it’s the best offensive system, but at least the 49ers knew who they were and the type of players and coaches they needed to fit their scheme.<br /><br />When the 49ers fired coach Steve Mariucci after a 10-6 playoff season in 2002 and hired Dennis Erickson, they lost their offensive identity. They’ve been floundering ever since, switching schemes and coordinators as often as hockey teams change lines.<br /><br />Raye’s approach is more akin to the Ernie Zampese/Norv Turner offensive philosophy than anything Walshian.<br /><br />I’m certainly not expecting to see offensive magic from the 49ers next season. But at a minimum, they should establish an offensive identity and stick with it for at least a few years. The team simply can’t keep changing coordinators and schemes if it hopes to ever return to the playoffs.<br /><br />At 62, Raye is probably too old to be a prime head-coaching candidate. So the 49ers probably won’t lose him the way they lost Mike McCarthy to the Packers and Turner to the Chargers after one season in San Francisco. Raye agreed to a three-year deal with the 49ers and said he hopes to fulfill that contract and land another with the team. The 49ers have also hired a new quarterbacks coach, 41-year-old Mike Johnson. So maybe Johnson can learn under Raye and be ready to step in for a seamless transition when Raye retires.<br /><br />Of course that’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case is that the 49ers’ offense backtracks, Raye gets whacked, and the 49ers start over again.<br /><br />We’ll find out soon enough.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-84968903114012910052009-01-26T12:56:00.000-08:002009-01-26T13:19:11.084-08:00Steelers will ride No. 1 ranked defense to Super Bowl victory over CardinalsI was watching a cable news channel this morning when a story came on about a Kodiak bear from the Pittsburgh Zoo predicting the winner of Super Bowl XLIII. There were two boxes, one with a Pittsburgh Steelers logo, and the other with an Arizona Cardinals logo.<br /><br />Shockingly, a bear from the Pittsburgh Zoo picked the Steelers’ box. Imagine that. Of course that box wasn’t soaked in salmon oil or covered with honey. That would be dishonest. What are you, cynical?<br /><br />I have to say, I agree with the bear. The Steelers will win the Super Bowl. I'll even give you a final score: Steelers 27, Cardinals 17.<br /><br />Most of my reasons for picking Pittsburgh revolve around defense. I hate to drop the cliché card so early in the discussion, but there’s a simple reason they say defense wins championships. It’s usually true.<br /><br />The Steelers nearly won the NFL’s triple crown on defense this season. They ranked No. 1 in total defense (based on yards allowed), No. 1 in pass defense and No. 2 in run defense. But here’s the most important defensive statistic: Pittsburgh held its opponents to an average of 13.9 points per game, the fewest in the NFL.<br /><br />And Arizona? The Cardinals allowed 26.6 points per game, 28th in the league. They ranked 19th in total defense, 22nd in pass defense and 16th in rush defense.<br /><br />Granted, Arizona has the edge on offense, averaging 26.7 points per game (No. 3) to Pittsburgh’s 21.7 (No. 20). And the Cardinals finished fourth in total offense and second in passing, while the Steelers ranked 22nd and 17th, respectively, in those categories. Pittsburgh’s only offensive edge came in rushing, where it ranked 23rd to Arizona’s 32nd.<br /><br />When it comes to the Super Bowl, I’ll always take a team centered on a physical, dominant defense over one centered on a very good but far from great offense.<br /><br />The Cardinals have been impressive in their playoff wins over Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia, averaging 31.7 points per game. Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner has been magnificent, throwing for 770 yards and completing 66.3 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns and only two interceptions. His postseason passer rating is 112.1.<br /><br />Warner, though, rarely was forced out of his comfort zone in those three wins against teams that employ 4-3 defenses. More often than not, he was able to drop back, set his feet and throw on rhythm, usually to a wide-open Larry Fitzgerald.<br /><br />Those days are over. Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will make life very uncomfortable for Warner and Fitzgerald with his pressure-packed, confusing 3-4 scheme.<br /><br />Pittsburgh outside linebackers James Harrison, the NFL’s Defensive MVP, and LaMarr Woodley, combined for 28 sacks this season. Inside linebacker James Farrior added four sacks. Even if the Steelers don’t rack up a huge number of sacks against Warner, they’ll hit him and force him to throw on the run. When Warner is forced to move, he goes from being an MVP candidate to a very average quarterback.<br /><br />There’s no way the Steelers let Fitzgerald run as freely as he’s been able to run so far in the playoffs. I have a feeling strong safety Troy Polamalu will be there to greet Fitzgerald a few times when he runs those shallow crossing routes. LeBeau will find a way to contain Fitzgerald and force Warner to throw more often to his less dangerous targets. Yes, Anquan Boldin is good, but he’s been battling assorted injuries and has been whining about his contract. At this point, he’s no Fitzgerald.<br /><br />The Steelers aren’t exactly an offensive juggernaut. But quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will find a way to make just enough big plays for the Steelers to win. At 6-foot-5 and 241 pounds, he’s tough to bring down. At some point during the Super Bowl, he’ll use his size and strength to escape a sack and complete a game-changing strike, likely to Hines Ward.<br /><br />The Steelers will have one other big edge other than defense at the Super Bowl. Raymond James Stadium will seem like a home away from home for Pittsburgh.<br /><br />Remember what it was like at Ford Field in Detroit for Super Bowl XL when the Steelers beat Seattle 21-10? Steelers fans far outnumbered Seahawks fans in the stadium that day. It will be the same thing this year in Tampa. The Steelers have a long and storied history that includes five Super Bowl victories. Steelers fans travel well and are willing to pay big bucks to see their team play.<br /><br />The Cardinals are relatively recent transplants in Arizona. They’ve never won a Super Bowl. Let’s just say the Arizona Cardinals are not exactly America’s Team.<br /><br />Let your Terrible Towels fly.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-86380085756992147952009-01-15T23:51:00.000-08:002009-01-15T23:58:33.451-08:00Round 3 of Sharks vs. Flames has a playoff feel to itPlayoff hockey in January?<br /><br />That’s the way it looked to me from high above the rink at the Shark Tank, and that’s the way it felt for those on the ice Thursday night in Round 3 between the Sharks and Calgary Flames.<br /><br />For the first time all season, the Sharks lost a home game in regulation, falling 3-2 to a Calgary team they beat in the first round of the playoffs last season. They’re now 20-1-2 at home, but the Sharks certainly didn’t go down quietly.<br /><br />“I think it was a great hockey game,” said Sharks center Joe Thornton, who scored one goal and came within an eyelash of scoring another. “It was a playoff type atmosphere.”<br /><br />As for the Sharks suffering their first home loss in regulation, Thornton just shrugged it off, saying, “It was bound to happen.” His thoughts were clearly centered more on the emotional game he had just played against a tough and sometimes bitter rival than on the end of the streak.<br /><br />“Who knows? We’ll probably meet each other in the playoffs,” Thornton said.<br /><br />That thought certainly doesn’t worry him.<br /><br />“I thought we were more physical than them. I thought we were quicker than them,” Thornton said. “I think we stack up pretty good against them.”<br /><br />Thornton’s probably right. Then again, the Sharks have lost two straight to the Flames, including a 5-2 thrashing at Calgary on Jan. 6, a payback for a 6-1 Sharks victory in San Jose on Nov. 13.<br /><br />The final three-goal margin in Calgary doesn’t come close to telling you the true story of that butt kicking. Calgary led 4-0 early in the second period. Sharks coach Todd McLellan pulled goalie Evgeni Nabokov and replaced him with Brian Boucher. At that point, he might as well have put Bobby Boucher into the game.<br /><br />This will tell you exactly what McLellan thought about the way his team played that night. Instead of giving his players a practice-free day, as planned, he scheduled a workout for early the next morning in Calgary before the Sharks traveled to Edmonton.<br /><br />“The effort (tonight) when you compare it to what we had in Calgary was much better,” McLellan said.”<br /><br />Thornton’s effort, in particular, stood out.<br /><br />“Joe was competitive,” McLellan said. “I liked the fire he had in him. I thought it rubbed off on some of his linemates.”<br /><br />Thornton is a pass-first center, but on Thursday night against Calgary he took matters into his own hands more often than usual.<br /><br />Thornton put the Sharks ahead 2-1 at 6:57 of the second period, ripping a shot past Miikka Kiprusoff. He took the puck along the right boards, glided to his left and snapped a shot that beat the former Shark goalie on his glove side, just inside the post. It was the type of effortless, powerful offense that makes you wonder why Thornton doesn’t shoot more often.<br /><br />Calgary wasted little time before answering. Just eight seconds into a power play, Daymond Langkow redirected a shot from Michael Cammalleri past Evegeni Nabokov with 10:25 still left in the second.<br /><br />Thornton nearly put the Sharks back ahead on a power play with under nine minutes left to play. He rocketed a shot that hit the left post then ricocheted off the right post and out of the crease. The Sharks came away empty on that power play, as well as their four others.<br /><br />“That’s the breaks,” Thornton said. “Another inch one way and it goes in. Another inch the other way and it misses the net.”<br /><br />Minutes later, another break went Calgary’s way. Dion Phaneuf’s shot from the right circle deflected off Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s stick and past Nabokov at 16:03 of the third.<br /><br />“I just don’t like losing to Calgary,” said Sharks forward Ryane Clowe, who scored the game’s first goal. “I guess we can’t complain too much about the effort. We played physical. We played hard.<br /><br />“It was a good test for us. That was probably one of the most physical games we’ve had this year. … It’s exciting. You push and they push back. You push again.”<br /><br />Just like in the playoffs.<br /><br />For most of the game, the Sharks were pushing back without one of their best players, defenseman Rob Blake. Late in the first period, a Calgary shot bounced off his stick and hit him in the face. He left the Shark Tank and went to the hospital for treatment. No word yet on the extent of his injury.<br /><br />The Sharks don’t have much time to stress about their loss to Calgary. Detroit, the defending Stanley Cup champion, comes to town Saturday. The Red Wings beat the Sharks 6-0 in Detroit last month and lost to the Sharks 4-2 in San Jose in October.<br /><br />Thursday night’s game, McLellan said, was good preparation for what’s to come Saturday night.<br /><br />“This had playoff intensity. You could feel it on the bench. You could feel it in the building,” he said.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-78759432500207024892009-01-12T15:03:00.000-08:002009-01-13T00:58:31.383-08:00Remembering the start of Rickey Henderson's Hall of Fame careerWhen I heard the news earlier today that Rickey Henderson had been elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame, I had a flashback to the first time I saw him play for the A’s.<br /><br />It was 1979, and the A’s were in the midst of a 54-108 season. I was at the Coliseum with a handful of fans, enjoying the plentiful elbowroom when Henderson, then just 20 years old, came to bat. I’m not saying I knew then that he was destined to become a first ballot Hall of Famer and the best leadoff hitter in baseball history, but there was something about him that caught my eye.<br /><br />First, there was that body. He was built like an NFL running back, compact, muscular and powerful. Then there was that batting stance, his right leg coiled, and his upper body angled sharply, putting his head all but over the inside corner of the plate.<br /><br />When Henderson made contact, the ball exploded off his bat. And when he left the box, he shot down the line as if he were a world-class sprinter coming out of the blocks.<br /><br />In 89 games that season, Henderson stole 33 bases, scored 49 runs, drew 34 walks drove in 26 runs and hit .274 with one home run and 13 doubles. He was just warming up.<br /><br />Henderson stole 100 bases and scored 111 runs in 1980, his first full season in the majors. He walked 117 times, drove in 53 runs and hit .303 with nine homers and 22 doubles.<br /><br />When his career finally ended after the 2003 season, with Henderson still campaigning for another shot, he had stolen more bases (1,406) and scored more runs (2,295) than anyone else in baseball history. He had also walked 2,190 times, second on the all-time list, collected 3,055 hits and slugged 297 home runs, a ridiculous number for a lead-off hitter.<br /><br />No other leadoff hitter before or after Rickey had his combination of extraordinary speed, power, base-stealing instincts, batting eye and hitting stroke. No wonder he earned 94.8 percent of the vote in a Hall of Fame that clearly has the toughest standards in sports.<br /><br />Looking back, I guess it didn’t take too long for all of us to see this day coming.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615495212165850373.post-56763981904939760722009-01-09T23:56:00.000-08:002009-01-10T00:01:03.662-08:00Mills vs. Foster duel highlights St. Mary's victory over Santa ClaraSt. Mary’s sophomore guard Patty Mills and Santa Clara freshman guard Kevin Foster have to keep meeting like this.<br /><br />They put on a spectacular back-and-forth, high-wire show Friday night at a sold-out McKeon Pavilion in their first career confrontation.<br /><br />Mills scored 31 points. So did Foster. Foster hit what looked to be a dagger 3 with just 12 seconds left, putting Santa Clara ahead 62-60. But Mills answered with one final trey, giving the Gaels a 63-62 victory against their archrival in both teams’ West Coast Conference opener.<br /><br />“Patty hit a huge shot at the end,” Gaels coach Randy Bennett said. “Their guy Foster had an outstanding game. We needed to do a better job on a guy like that. We knew he was a good player.”<br /><br />Maybe so. But Foster, a freshman from Katy, Texas, didn’t come into the game with quite the resume that Mills owns. Mills starred for the Australian Olympic team last summer after earning first-team All-WCC honors as a freshman.<br /><br />“I wasn’t really thinking about that,” Foster said. “I was thinking about my own game and trying to win the game.”<br /><br />Apparently so. Because with 12 seconds left, Foster took a pass in the right corner and launched a 3-point rainbow with a Gael in his face. Nothing but net. That gave Foster 31 points for the night and the Broncos a 62-60 lead.<br /><br />St. Mary’s caught a break when a pass from Mills to Diamond Simpson in traffic wound up going out of bounds under the bucket off a Bronco with 4.7 seconds left. Bennett called a time out and, naturally, set up a play for Mills.<br /><br />Using screens from Omar Samhan and Simpson, Mills broke loose beyond the arc on the right wing, took a pass from Mickey McConnell and buried a fall-away 3 with 2.6 seconds left, putting the Gaels ahead 63-62.<br /><br />Fans at McKeon went nuts, of course. The Gaels’ unofficial theme song, “Down Under,” by the Australian rock band “Men at Work” blasted away, as fans sang along. And when Santa Clara’s James Rahon missed a desperation shot from half-court at the buzzer, those fans started chanting, “Pat-tee! Pat-tee! Pat-tee!”<br /><br />Mills had missed a pair of free throws with 47.5 seconds left. And he was just 3 of 12 from beyond the arc before shooting his final 3. As the shot left his hand, Mills thought of his ailing aunt, Sharyn, home in Australia.<br /><br />“When I let it go, I knew it was good,” Mills said. “That was for her.”<br /><br />Foster wasn’t on the court for Santa Clara’s final shot, and he was in and out of the lineup late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Broncos and fortunately for the Gaels, Foster’s left calf cramped up.<br /><br />“Thank goodness,” said a relieved Bennett. “He might have had 40.”<br /><br />Bennett might have been right. Foster was on fire for most of the night. He made 11 of 19 shots from the field, 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and 4 of 5 from the line.<br /><br />“These guys know they go as hard as they can until they can’t go any more,” Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said. “He tried.”<br /><br />Foster used his quickness to get free for open shots, and the Broncos also took advantage of a St. Mary’s defense that was determined to stop 6-foot-11 center John Bryant.<br /><br />“I was hot,” Foster said. “I made a couple shots. Coach Keating always said they’re going to come back to me if I made a couple shots.”<br /><br />Mills had the scouting report on Foster. He knew he was good. But not 31-points good.<br /><br />“We did a great job against Bryant,” Mills said. “I think we had a lot of focus on him. But then, out comes Foster. It’s hard to adjust, but to be a great team, you have to adjust. He got rolling. He’s very hard to guard.”<br /><br />Grab your calendar and put an “X” on Feb. 7. That’s when the Mills and Foster meet again, this time at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara.Eric Gilmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06217441292634141201noreply@blogger.com0