Raiders' fake field goal blows up in Cable's face

So now I guess it’s official. Well, at least as official as it can be before Raiders owner Al Davis goes to the overhead projector at his next press conference and outlines the reasons why interim coach Tom Cable won’t be coaching his team next season.

Cable looked like a short-timer from the moment Davis chose him to replace the fired Lane Kiffin. But after what took place Sunday in the second quarter of the Raiders’ 20-13 loss to Kansas City, there’s probably a better chance of Kiffin coming back than of Cable surviving.

I mean, what coach in his right mind thinks Sebastian Janikowski can gain 10 yards on a fake field goal? We’re not talking Usain Bolt here. We’re talking Seabass, all 250 pounds of him.

Let’s set the scene for Cable’s big roll of the dice. The Raiders had stalled at the Chiefs’ 25. They faced fourth-and-10 and lined up for a 42-yard field goal, a chip shot for the powerful Janikowski. But after Jon Condo snapped the ball to holder Shane Lechler, all sanity left the Coliseum.

Janikowski faked the kick and kept running to his left. Lechler didn’t just try to pitch the ball to his kicker. That would have been too easy. He actually hiked it though his legs. Only the snap was low and short and wound up on the turf. Then Chiefs cornerback Maurice Leggett picked it up and raced 67 yards for a touchdown.

Instead of taking a 6-3 lead, the Raiders fell behind 10-3. That’s your basic 10-point swing in a seven-point loss.

Cable didn’t fool the Chiefs, but he stunned his own team.

“I didn’t even see it,” Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. “I just saw the guy running down the other way. We do that in practice all the time, but I never knew it was a real thing we were going to attempt.

“When they told me that’s what happened, and it wasn’t a blocked field goal, I was a little surprised, but Cable owned up to that. He said that one’s on him.”

What would you pay to have videotape of Davis’ reaction as that play unfolded? We’ll start the bidding at priceless.

After the game, Cable had some explaining to do in his news conference.

“It’s something we had worked on all year,” Cable said. “(The Chiefs) were lined up exactly the way we wanted them to. We just didn’t execute. That was my decision. Obviously it was not a good one.”

Cable said that Lechler wasn’t just ad-libbing when he tried to snap the ball through his legs to Janikowski. That was part of the play. Seriously.

“We never had a problem handling it for almost two years now,” Cable said. “It’s been something we’ve worked on for really two years, and they’ve done it well. Something they’ve come up with. We just didn’t execute it.”

Unfortunately, Janikowski and Lechler didn’t stick around long enough after the game to discuss their special play.

In reality, Janikowski would have had to run about 17 yards for a first down because Lechler took the snap seven yards deep. But even if Lechler hadn’t botched the exchange, Leggett would have nailed him quickly. He wasn’t fooled.

Cable went into the game ready to take chances. He dialed up a hook-and-lateral early in the game that worked perfectly with running back Darren McFadden gaining 20 yards.

When the Raiders stalled at the Chiefs’ 25, Cable didn’t hesitate to gamble again.

“I felt like the momentum was ours, and we were really into the game on both sides of the ball,” Cable said. “So just looking for a lift there, just looking for another lift.”

Is it me, or does that statement make no sense? Just checking.

“That was a coaching decision,” Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell said. “That was out of my hands. Looking back at it, I wish we had taken the points.”

You think?

Despite having that ridiculous fake field goal blow up in his face, Cable wasn’t done gambling. Late in the half, the Raiders faced fourth-and-3 from the Chiefs’ 22. This time, the Raiders didn’t even line up for a field goal. They went for it, and Russell airmailed a pass over wide receiver Ronald Curry’s head in the end zone.

There went another three points in a game against a team the Raiders had already defeated on the road, a game they should have won.

“I felt like we had the right play called,” Cable said. “Just a little bit of an overthrow. Had it been a little bit shorter, it would have been a great play for a touchdown.”

And if Janikowski ran a 4.4 40, he’d be an NFL running back.

Time for Warriors to think big and give Randolph and Wright larger roles

I would never go to Charles Barkley for gambling advice. But sometimes, the Chuckster makes a lot of sense when he sticks to basketball. I caught one of those times Tuesday when Barkley was talking to Tom Tolbert on KNBR.

When the conversation turned away from his gambling escapades to the Warriors, Barkley said he had no idea what this team was trying to do, whether it had a long-term plan to become a legitimate title contender. Barkley said it looked as if the Warriors were just continuing their addiction to small ball and could expect the same predictable, disappointing results. He said the best the Warriors could hope for would be to sneak into the playoffs and win one series if they got the perfect Mavericks-like matchup before getting crushed by one of the West’s bigger, stronger teams.

In this case, I’ve got to agree with Barkley. I don’t mind having a smaller, faster Warriors team, but not this small, not one that has 6-foot-6 Corey Maggette starting at power forward, taking minutes away from 6-foot-10 rookie Anthony Randolph and 6-foot-10 second-year player Brandan Wright.

So here’s my suggestion for Warriors coach Don Nelson, one way to build a bigger, better more viable team for the future: Give the power forward position to Randolph and Wright. Let them job share. Call them Branthony Randight. Make the position off limits to Maggette and all of your other “midgets,” as Sir Charles so politically incorrectly put it.

The Warriors gave up Jason Richardson for Wright in a draft-day deal last year. They spent a first-round pick on Randolph this year. They’re both tall, active, athletic players with huge wingspans. They can run, block shots and rebound.

Give them a chance to develop his year, even if they make a few mistakes of inexperience that cost you. By next year, they might even be ready to start alongside each other, with Randolph moving to small forward.

That would give the Warriors a front line of 6-11 center Andris Biedrins and two 6-10 forwards. What a radical idea. Of course the Warriors would have to figure out what to do with a roster that’s overstocked with guards, small forwards and swingmen.

I’m sure Barkley has a few ideas.

49ers' defensive brain trust had a brain lock against Cowboys' Owens

It’s been over a day since Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens abused 49ers cornerback Nate Clements, catching 7 passes for 213 yards and a 75-yard touchdown in Dallas’ 35-22 victory.

Clements has been taking plenty of heat for his coverage meltdown, and understandably so. But I think it’s time to turn the blowtorch in another direction, toward the 49ers’ defensive brain trust.

What was defensive coordinator Greg Manusky thinking? It was ludicrous to have Clements spend most of the day covering the former 49ers star man-to-man. And it was suicidal for the 49ers to give Owens such a huge cushion so often, to let him run freely off the line of scrimmage and quickly get his 220 pounds moving at max speed.

Defenses have been double-covering Owens all year. They’ve been bumping him at the line of scrimmage, disrupting his release, then doubling him over the top.

Until Sunday, Owens hadn’t had more than 89 receiving yards in a single game. In the previous five weeks, he had averaged 35 receiving yards.

Manusky had a ready-made blueprint for containing Owens, but for some reason he ignored it.

I admire Clements’ fearlessness. I admire the way he hits and tackles. He’s a solid cover corner. But he’s no Deion Sanders. Despite what his mega-salary hints, Clements is not a shutdown corner. And the 49ers shouldn’t have put him in such a vulnerable position against Owens.

At his Monday news conference, 49ers interim coach Mike Singletary said Owens didn't warrant consistent double-coverage. Are you kidding me? I guess Singletary still isn't fully aware of Owens' history of destroying his former teams, the 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.

Containing Owens should have been the 49ers' No. 1 priority on defense. It clearly wasn't, and Owens made them pay.

Tricky Bears run past Stanford in Big Game

Amid the mass of humanity that flooded the Memorial Stadium field Saturday after Cal’s 37-16 victory in the 111th Big Game, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh couldn’t get to Bears coach Jeff Tedford for the traditional post-game handshake.

So Harbaugh paid Tedford a visit in Cal’s interview room.

After shaking Tedford’s hand and congratulating him on the win, Harbaugh flashed a quick, you-got-me smile.

“Trickery,” Harbaugh said to Tedford. “Trickery out there. It worked.”

Worked to perfection, in fact, against a Stanford defense that kept getting fooled.

Cal’s deception plus superior speed turned out to be a lethal combination. Add a big dose of Stanford self-destruction to the mix, and what appeared to be a battle between two evenly matched teams turned into a Cal rout of the Cardinal, which on its final chance to become bowl eligible.

Tedford reached deep into his bag of trick plays during a 20-0 third-quarter blitz that transformed a tight game into a blowout.

Cal's third-quarter trickery began after Stanford gave Cal a gift.

Trailing just 10-3, Stanford got the ball to open the second half. But on first down, quarterback Tavita Pritchard scrambled to his right and threw back to his left, trying to hit fullback Owen Marecic. Pritchard’s pass sailed high, and Cal linebacker Eddie Young intercepted the pass then returned 17 yards to Stanford’s 28.

Moments later, Cal faced third-and-goal from the 1. Quarterback Kevin Riley rolled o his right while running Jahvid Best angled toward the front right pylon. But with the entire Stanford defense flowing his way, Riley stopped, turned to his left and hit tight end Cameron Morrah, wide open on the other side of the end zone, for a touchdown. No Cardinal was within 10 yards of Morrah.

“When we watched film, we noticed that they over-pursued a lot,” Best said of Stanford’s defense. “We thought if we got them going one way and hit them back the other way, we’d have some room to run.”

Or to pass. Or to do whatever the Bears wanted to do.

Morrah’s score put the Bears ahead 17-3 with 11:58 left in the third quarter. After the Bears’ forced a three-and-out from Stanford, Cal’s offense went to work again.

Best, a former California high school 100-meter champion. gashed Stanford’s defense for 36 of his 201rushing yards to the Cardinal 14.

“We felt like if we could get our athletes and speed in the open field, we had a chance to make some big plays,” Tedford said.

At that point, Cal went Boise State on the Cardinal. The Bears pulled out the old hook-and-lateral (or hook-and-ladder if you prefer) play. Riley fired a short pass to wide receiver Verran Tucker a few yards inside the left sideline. As Cardinal defenders converged on Tucker, he pitched the ball to Best, who raced untouched along the sideline, outrunning linebacker Pat Maynor to the end zone.

The Bears hadn’t even practiced that play until Thursday, two days before the game.

“I don’t think we were anticipating as many trick plays as they did,” Maynor said. “We thought they were just going to run the zone (blocking) at us, the stretch and the tosses. Hook-and-ladder in the red zone, I don’t think anybody can expect that one. They ran a lot of good reverses. They have good athletes, and they were tough to stop.”

Best’s touchdown put the Bears ahead 24-3. And they weren’t done fooling and outrunning the Cardinal.

After Rulon Davis and Zack Follett sacked Pritchard on third-and-9, forcing a punt, Cal took over on Stanford’s 48 with 8:24 left in the third quarter. On first down, Best took a handoff from Riley and headed around left end, but he flipped the ball to wide receiver Jeremy Ross, running 100 mph the other way.

Ross cut back against the over-pursuing Cardinal defense and sprinted 41 yards, with Riley and offensive tackle Donovan Edwards leading the way. That run set up Best’s 4-yard touchdown run, increasing Cal’s lead to 30-3.

“When you mix it up a little bit, do plays that could wind up on SportsCenter, it makes it tremendously fun,” Ross said.

“It got to a point in the third quarter where we just came unraveled,” Harbaugh said. “We couldn’t protect anymore, and that was against a four-man rush. It was nothing exotic. There were too many things that we shouldn’t have been doing.

“Cal got on a roll with their trick plays that were all working, one right after the other. They definitely got some momentum going, and that ended up being the ball game.”

Cal’s devastation of Stanford continued early in the fourth quarter. Best burned the Cardinal on a 45-yard draw play for a touchdown, making it 37-3.

For much of the day, Best did his best work on the outside, using his exceptional speed to outrun Stanford’s defenders.

“I feel like when I’m on the perimeter, I can do whatever I want,” Best said.

After the first half, it was hard to imagine what was to come. Cal led by seven points and was fortunate in many ways to even be ahead.

Let’s count the way.

1. Stanford had a first down at the Bears’ 16 after Pritchard hit backup tight end Colby Fleener on a 32 yard pass along the left sideline in the first quarter. The Cardinal stalled at the 8. Then Aaron Zagory pushed a 25-yard field goal attempt wide right. After marching all the way from its 1, Stanford came away empty.

2. Early in the second quarter, Stanford marched to the Bears’ 11, where it had a first down. On the next play, Cal defensive end Tyson Alualu ripped the ball out of running back Toby Gerhart’s hands, and defensive end Cameron Jordan recovered at the 10.

3. Late in the first half, Stanford went on another long drive, mixing power running with short- and medium-range passes, usually to wide-open receivers. Stanford had first-and-goal at the 9 and moved 8 yards closer on Pritchard’s pass to running back Anthony Kimble. At that point, Stanford stopped being creative and tried to pound into the end zone, but Gerhart was stopped cold on back-to-back running plays. The Cardinal settled for a field goal.

“That game could have gone either way right there,” Tedford said. “They really put together three nice drives. I thought the defense did a really good of stiffening.”

Granted, Cal blew a few good scoring chances of its own in the first half. On the Bears’ first drive, Best slipped Bo McNally’s tackle in the backfield, reversed field and gained 60 yards to the Stanford 26. But Cal came away with just a field goal.

Then early in the second quarter, Cal used a pair of Stanford penalties – facemask and unsportsmanlike conduct – to move all the way to Stanford’s 24. But on first down, Riley failed to spot tight end Tad Smith, wide open deep over the middle. Instead, he underthrew Morrah along the right sideline, and McNally cut in front to intercept in the end zone.

Late in the half, Riley redeemed himself, lofting 59-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to running back Shane Vereen. Give Cal’s coaches an assist on this play. They got Vereen isolated man-to-man against McNally, a strong safety.

This was a definite speed mismatch, with Vereen, a high school sprinter, having the clear advantage. He ran past McNally, caught Riley’s pass in stride at Stanford’s 20 and raced into the end zone.

A little deception. A lot of speed. Touchdown, Cal.

A year ago, Best was injured and on Cal’s sideline when Stanford beat the Bears 20-13 in Harbaugh’s first year as the Cardinal’s coach. He watched as Stanford’s players ran to Cal’s sideline and took possession of The Axe.

“It hurt,” Best said. “There was nothing we could do about it. I was so mad. I said, ‘That’s never going to happen again.’ ”

So far, so good.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Bears senior linebacker Anthony Felder said of the victory. “Having lost it last year, it’s like a dagger through your heart. As a senior, you want your legacy to be you left with The Axe.”

This year, Stanford is feeling the pain of both losing The Axe and missing out on a bowl game. Again.

“It was obviously a tough loss,” Stanford senior center Alex Fletcher said. “We went down the first half and just couldn’t put the ball in. We can’t give it to them like that. We turned the ball over and got penalties. It’s tough. You can’t do that against a good team.”

Especially a good team that’s as fast and deceptive as the Bears.

Sharp-shooting Bears still a work in progress on defense

I took my first look at new Cal coach Mike Montgomery’s team Thursday night when the Bears played a non-conference game at Haas Pavilion against the University of Texas-Pan American. Not familiar with the UTPA Broncs? It’s a hoops “power” from Edinburg, about as far south as you can go in Texas before reaching Mexico.

Cal built a 39-25 halftime lead and won 85-58. Yeah, not much of a game, but it gave me a chance to make a few snap judgments about Montgomery’s Bears:

Snap judgment No. 1? These guys can shoot. The Bears shot 67.9 percent from the field, nearly breaking the school mark of 68.5. That type of shooting will keep the Bears in a lot of games this year, despite their lack of size.

Jamal Boykin made 8 of 9 shots, Jerome Randle 4 of 5, Theo Robertson 4 of 6 and Patrick Christopher 5 of 8. Sure, they made those shots against an overmatched team, but they made those shots.

“I don’t know if they could shoot the ball better if there was no defense out there,” UTPA coach Tom Schuberth said. “I think Cal can be a special team. … I think they’re great shooters and unselfish. They have a lot of weapons.”

For the season, Cal is shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 59.0 percent from 3-point range.

“We do shoot the ball,” Montgomery said. “You don’t guard our guys, they’re going to shoot it in. … You’re not surprised because you watch them every day in practice. There’s going to be a point in time where we’re going to have to rely on our execution to get those shots.”

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The Bears’ flashed some glimpses of the hard-nosed, man-to-man defense Montgomery is teaching them to play. Considering the Bears’ defensive meltdown last year, this is exactly what they needed, some firm advice from a coach known for defense.

The Bears forced 21 turnovers, 12 in the first half. But they also let the Broncos shoot 55 percent in the first half. In other words, this is a work in progress.

Are the Bears buying into what Montgomery is preaching about the importance of defense?

“Trying,” Montgomery said. “Slowly but surely. There’s an old saying, though, ‘If he doesn’t buy it as a pup, he ain’t going to buy it as a dog.’ So it’s not going to be something like you say, ‘Defense is important.’ ‘Ohhhh. Geeze. I didn’t know that.’ It’s a process. It takes a while. And ideally if a guy’s really bad you’re going to have to set him down, just get somebody else in there who will defend. But to do that you’ve got to find somebody that can defend.”

What’s Montgomery teaching?

“Just real defense,” Christopher said. “Hard-nose. Keeping your man in front of you. Team defense.”

“Taking it personal if your man scores on you is a huge key,” Boykin said. “So is a sense of pride on the defensive end. We protect our basket. If a man scores on you, you should take that personally.”

Montgomery was happy to hear what Boykin had said. But he knows actions are more important than words.

“Good defense takes time,” Montgomery said. “It takes time. It takes years. Even though they’re juniors, if they haven’t had that mentality, it’s going to take a while to get that. It doesn’t take away anything from offense. They’re two different ends of the floor.

“You cross the defensive end and you become a sumo wrestler. You become a street fighter. You go to the offensive end, then you become a virtuoso on the piano. It’s just finesse vs. effort, and you’ve got to have that mentality.”

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Freshman guard Jorge Gutierrez, Montgomery’s first recruit, is going to add a dose of hard-nosed toughness to this offensive-minded team. A freshman from Mexico, who attended high school in Nevada, Gutierrez came off the bench and instantly ratcheted up the intensity.

“I think Jorge’s giving us something that’s pretty good for us,” Montgomery said. “He’s just a tough kid, going on the floor. It’s infectious.”

Gutierrez isn’t flashy, but he’s smart and, as Montgomery said, tough.

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Forward Theo Robertson has always had a nice shooting stroke. But if Thursday night’s game offers a clue, his shot is even smoother now after his long layoff. He looks like a guy who spent, oh, say, a few thousand hours working on his shot last season when he was sidelined, recovering from hip surgery.

In the first half alone, Robertson scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting and made 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. He drained a 20-foot jumper off the dribble to give Cal a 7-6 lead. Later in the half, he drained a 3 from the left wing. Then he buried another trey from just beyond top of the key. He finished with 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting.

Robertson entered the game shooting .464 from the field and .636 from 3-point range. Robertson’s outside shot is going to come in particularly handy when opponents try to zone the Bears.

Robertson is already considered the Bears’ best defensive player. If he keeps filling up the hoop, he’s headed for a monster season, which would be well deserved after what he’s been through.

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Max Zhang, a 7-3 red-shirt freshman from China, saw a few minutes of action. From what I saw, he’s still incredibly raw and a long ways away from helping the Bears, but he’s also surprisingly agile getting up and down the court for someone so tall.

Zhang blocked two shots and scored four points. But he didn’t grab a single rebound, and he fouled out in eight minutes.

At only 225 pounds, Zhang is a stick. But who knows? If he gains a few pounds and gets stronger, he could help some day, especially on defense as a shot blocker. He’s already a crowd favorite, but fans had better hope for more blowouts if they want to see him play this year.

111th Big Game looks like a toss-up

If you believe the early betting line, Cal should beat Stanford by nine points Saturday in the 111th Big Game at Memorial Stadium.

I have some serious doubts about that hefty point spread. To me, this looks more like a flip-a-coin game.

I realize that Cal coach Jeff Tedford is 5-1 against Stanford overall and 3-0 at Memorial Stadium. I understand that the Bears haven’t lost at home to Stanford since 2000 when they fell 36-30 in overtime and that they’re 5-0 at home this season.

But consider these facts from the flip side. Tedford’s five wins against Stanford came against teams coached by Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris. Tedford is 0-1 against current Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh, suffering a 20-13 loss last year at Stanford Stadium.

When Teevens and Harris were in charge, Stanford was basically an automatic win for Cal. The once-proud Cardinal football program was in shambles. Under Tedford, the Bears beat Stanford five straight times by a combined score of 152-49. Each time, they physically dominated the Cardinal.

Teevens was simply overmatched. The perpetually cranky Harris blamed most of his problems on Stanford’s high admission standards. Neither one was a good match for Stanford.

Enter Harbaugh last season. Taking over a 1-11 team, Harbaugh finished 4-8 with huge wins over USC – on the road, no less – and Cal. This year Stanford is 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-10, one win shy of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2001. Stanford suffered heart-breaking losses to Oregon and UCLA, both on the road, in the final seconds. They lost to Notre Dame by just seven points on the road.

Stanford is no longer a Pac-10 weakling or a pushover. On offense in particular, Stanford is pushing back. Harbaugh has turned Stanford into a physical, power-running team with a one-two punch of Toby Gerhart and Anthony Kimble.

Gerhart has rushed for 1,033 yards and 14 touchdowns. He’s 51 yards shy of tying Tommy Vardell’s single-season rushing record set in 1991. Gerhart rushed for 101 yards last week against USC, which boasts one of the nation’s best defenses. It was his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season, tying Vardell’s single-season mark. Kimble has rushed for 688 yards this season and has 1,911 for his career.

I have the sense that Harbaugh, unlike Teevens and Harris, truly gets this rivalry and understands how to push the right psychological buttons during Big Game week. Maybe it’s because his father, Jack, is a former Stanford assistant, and he went to high school in Palo Alto. Maybe it’s because he played quarterback at Michigan and took part in one of the nation’s greatest college football rivalries against Ohio State. Maybe it’s because he’s an emotional, slightly twisted coach who’s well suited for this type of emotional rivalry game.

Harbaugh should have no problem tapping into his player’s sense of desperation. Their bowl game hopes are riding on this game. Win and they’re in. Lose and they’re out. Cal, on the other hand, is already bowl eligible. Although the Bears are still trying to land the most prestigious bowl possible, Stanford gets the motivational edge in this case.

I don’t know if Stanford can pull off the upset Saturday. Its defense has produced 33 sacks, tied for first in the Pac-10, and could cause problems for Cal’s injury-plagued, makeshift offensive line. But the Cardinal ‘D’ has a bad habit of getting worn down then collapsing in the fourth quarter. And it’s been vulnerable against the pass, which means quarterback Kevin Riley and Cal’s sputtering passing attack should have a chance to get back on track, as long as Riley gets time to throw.

Cal has the better defense, the home-field edge and a home-run threat in Jahvid Best. If this were 2006, 2005, 20004, 2003 or 2002, Bears fans could rest easy and plan their victory parties.

But it’s 2008, which means both Cal and Stanford fans should be very nervous ,and we can all expect, a close, exciting Big Game.

49er QB Hill makes another statement with a "perfect" first half

Imagine that. A slice of perfection Sunday in a very imperfect 49ers season, thanks to No. 3 quarterback turned backup turned starter Shaun Hill.

In the first half of the 49ers’ 35-16 win over the Rams at Candlestick Park, Hill posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3. He became the first quarterback in 49ers history to accomplish that feat in the first half.

Hill completed 12 of 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran for a touchdown, diving into the end zone from a yard out.

Not that long ago, Hill resided in the equivalent of Siberia for quarterbacks. He was sent to that deep freeze by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who made the same mistake that so many other coaches have made. He underestimated Hill.

And after watching Hill slice and dice the Rams’ defense Sunday, it makes you wonder what might have been for the 49ers this season if he had been the starter from Day 1 instead of J.T. O’Sullivan.

Hill was 2-0 as an emergency starter last season and parlayed that strong play into a new multi-million dollar contract. He entered training camp in what appeared to be a tight, head-to-head battle with Alex Smith for the starting job.

But Martz wasn’t with the 49ers last year when Hill led the team to two of its five wins. He didn’t watch first-hand the way Hill skillfully read defenses, found open receivers and hit them in the hands. He didn’t see first-hand how cool, calm and surprisingly elusive in the pocket Hill was under the incredible pressure of a real NFL game.

Training camp had barely begun when Martz eliminated Hill from the quarterbacks competition and elevated O’Sullivan to the position of Smith’s chief competitor. Before long, it was clear that O’Sullivan was Martz’s choice to start.

I can understand Martz’s thinking. O’Sullivan played for Martz with the Detroit Lions as a backup. He knew his system. He had a quick release and a fearless approach to throwing the deep timing routes that are staples in Martz’s offense.

And Hill? Well, the company line was that he just didn’t pick up Martz’s offense quickly enough to compete for the job. I think I’m going to have to call bull you-know-what on that one.

Sure, Martz’s system is complex. But it’ not brain surgery. It’s football. And Hill isn’t some football dimwit. He’s in his seventh NFL season. He came off the bench last year and ran the 49ers offense better than it had been run all season. He had a passer rating of 101.3. He threw five touchdown passes with just one interception.

My theory is that Martz took one look in practice at Hill – OK, maybe a handful of looks – and decided he didn’t pass the eyeball test. Hill doesn’t have a cannon for an arm. He won’t win many foot races. Hill’s first thought is to take the safe throw rather than the swashbuckling deep shot.

Hill is a beige presence in practice. He rarely stands out. But put Hill in a game that counts, when defensive linemen are creating chaos and he has to make quick, sound decisions, and Hill shines.

It’s not a coincidence that it was interim coach Mike Singletary and not Martz who benched O’Sullivan and gave the starting job to Hill. Singletary saw Hill play last season.

After the victory, Singletary was asked if he knew in training camp that Hill could do what he did Sunday against the Rams.

“I knew that last year, way before training camp,” Singletary said. “Last year when I saw him play, I really thought he did a good job. He managed the game, he made some throws. Guys were excited. In training camp I just thought it was a matter of learning the offense and having some confidence going forward.

“Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, I think he would tell you, ‘You know what? I’m trying to learn the offense. If I go in there, I can run three plays, and that won’t last very long.’ I just think it’s a process. Everything’s a process. I think he’s continuing to gain more confidence, and the offense is continuing to gain more confidence in him, not that they didn’t have it to begin with, but even more so. And I think they appreciate his leadership.”

Hill could only run three plays when the season started? I’m surprised Singletary was able say that and keep a straight face. Hill said that he has “a much better grasp of the offense now” than he did at the start of camp after having watched O’Sullivan start the first eight games. But when asked if he knew the offense well enough to start in Week 1, Hill certainly didn’t shoot down the idea.

“Ah, I don’t know,” Hill said. Yeah, I think he does.

I think Hill – especially if he had been given the starter’s reps during training camp and exhibition games – could have stepped in from Day 1 and played well. He could have managed the game, protected the football, made smart decisions and even made some tough, accurate throws on time, as he did Sunday.

In the first half, Hill fired a strike to wide receiver Bryant Johnson on a quick slant, hitting him in stride. He turned that short pass into a 42-yard gain, setting up the 49ers’ second touchdown. Later in the half, Hill rolled to his right, sidestepped defensive end Leonard Little and lofted a 31-yard pass deep down the middle to running back DeShaun Foster, who had a step on a Rams defender. That pass set up another touchdown.

Those lasers were part of Hill’s perfect first-half passer rating.

“I didn’t realize that I had a perfect passer rating in the first half,” Hill said. “The funny thing about that rating is it might say that somebody is perfect, but I promise you there were some mistakes in there.”

Maybe so. But there were many more good decisions and accurate passes and, yes, even some deep passes. Hill did more than just manage the game. He made some big plays.

“I think as we go forward Mike Martz is learning some things that Shaun can do,” Singletary said. “The more he sees, the better it gets. So what I would say is, yes, Shaun Hill can mange the game, but he’s also a good quarterback that can make some throws. I’m excited about seeing that.”

Better late than never.