jerry rice on crabtree

i know this should technically go in crabtree thread but its a great read

When you watched the 49ers in the playoffs, did you notice an absence at wide receiver?

"Yeah I did. Toward the end, if they had made one or two plays, they would have won. They just needed someone to do that. Also I noticed that, from the Niners back in the day, you don't go 1-of-13 on third-down conversions. You just don't do that. That was something we always worked on, and once we got to the red zone, we didn't just think about field goals, we thought about scoring touchdowns. I saw a little hesitation. I don't know if they just felt they didn't have the guys to get it done in the red zone or they just wanted to settle for field goals."

Are you watching on TV to see how Crabtree runs his routes?

"That was something I was always looking for, and I just did not see separation. A lot of times, as route runners, you're always going to see that separation when a quarterback has no hesitation (and) he knows where he wants to go with the ball. That's something I didn't see from the 49ers. Maybe that's part of the game he needs to work on, getting that separation. I was always one of those guys, even though you have receivers big and fast now, I felt I had to be at a certain weight to get my quickness. I don't know exactly what he weighs. He could lose maybe 10 or 15 pounds and be more explosive."

Could Crabtree be that explosive guy?

"Yeah but that'll be up to him to make that decision. You have to sacrifice yourself and put your team's best interest at heart. I don't really know the guy so I can't really comment on his work ethic. They feel there's potential there but it'll be up to him to say, 'I want to be the best receiver I have to be and I'm going to have to sacrifice some things."

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2012/03/06/jerry-rice-speaks-on-peyton-manning-michael-crabtree-and-saints-bounties/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+49ersHotRead+%2849ers+Hot+Read%29

If Crabtree adopted the JR training and workout regime, including that crazy hill routine, maybe Crabs could become 1/2 the receiver JR was.

the JR training program is only for Gods. No mortal man could live through that day in, day out.

I actually thought Crabtree looked 10lbs lighter this year, maybe 10 more won't hurt

Mods feel free to move to the Crabtree thread after a bit of attention here.

I agree with JR, naturally. The Giants had a simple game plan against us. Stack the box, continue to creep the safeties up, play tight up at the LOS with the WR (and be physical) and run blitz between the tackles.

To me, losing that game was a combination of poor offensive play calling (esp. on 1st downs which resulted in many negative or no gains making 2nd and 3rd downs even easier to defend against) and not having any weapons the Giants needed to fear. The only guy they needed to defend was VD and he did his part. If you go back and watch the game, you could easily see that we could have beaten them over the top ALL DAY LONG...and we did, 2 of the only 3 times we tried. To me, that's on Roman's play calling and not having anyone who could get separation or who had over-the-top speed.

That's why there is such a focus now on getting Fleener for Harbaugh's TE-heavy offense where we can move the chains on 3rd downs and have the height and explosiveness and big targets in the RZ. In addition, the focus will be on getting another big-bodied, reliable WCO WR who can help get us positive gains on 1st and 2nd downs and move the chains on 3rd as well as provide a conisitent deep threat for post patterns, out-patterns and stop-go routes. The defense will then need to play off the LOS for fear of Fleener/VD who can exploit the middle of the field and the CB's and S's will have to play off the LOS as well for fear of getting beat AND getting exploited inside on standard WCO plays.

The last ingredient in this is really Gore. Defeses over the years have been able to stack the box between the tackles d/t having no fear of Gore being able to run off tackle. Now with age, lack of quickness and speed, it's even easier to stop the run on 1st downs and esp. in short yardage. Until we get a complete RB who has th speed AND threat to run off tackle and up inside with quickness, we won't have that balance we need to run a WCO, IMHO.

Agree w/NCommand.

Gore has slowed down and is more injury prone.

The playcalling in the Giants game became predictrable and weak.

It also showed that RG needs a major upgrade and we need receivers who can get seperation.

Crabs played much bettter than his previous seasons especially hi blocking. I don't feel by his performance he is a #1 receiver. We need one and getting Fleener will help out in game plannning and blocking. He also could be the BIG red zone target we've been looking for.

Hopefully we get a WR in FA and another 1 in draft.

It looked to me like Crabtree had already lost 10lbs this past season, maybe 10 more wouldn't hurt

I think Jerry is as frustrated as much of us are in we drafted a guy in the top 10 of the draft that tore it up in college, was voted best WR for 2 years in college and has yet to make a mark in the NFL. I believe Crabtree lacks the work ethic to make him elite. He even looks lazy in his interviews! A lot of it might fall on the QB as well or a running system we've had for several years. Not to push this to a A.S. thread but what would Crabtree do with Brees or Brady?

I would like to know how much does Jerry actually see of Crabtree practicing. Work ethic? Dude worked hard as a rookie while not even being on the team only to come in and instantly have success.

I just think it is stupid when all these ex-players make comments like this. Baalke said it himself that Crabtree did not practice due to his foot and they are going to try and take care of that once and for all in the offseason.

Jerry Rice signed with the Broncos, his opinion doesnt mean anything to me anymore

Originally posted by Joecool:
I would like to know how much does Jerry actually see of Crabtree practicing. Work ethic? Dude worked hard as a rookie while not even being on the team only to come in and instantly have success.

I just think it is stupid when all these ex-players make comments like this. Baalke said it himself that Crabtree did not practice due to his foot and they are going to try and take care of that once and for all in the offseason.

he didnt say anything about his work etthic

he said he needs to work harder on his route running which accrding to rice is sub par at the moment

Crabtree = Jj Stokes

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I would like to know how much does Jerry actually see of Crabtree practicing. Work ethic? Dude worked hard as a rookie while not even being on the team only to come in and instantly have success.

I just think it is stupid when all these ex-players make comments like this. Baalke said it himself that Crabtree did not practice due to his foot and they are going to try and take care of that once and for all in the offseason.

he didnt say anything about his work etthic

he said he needs to work harder on his route running which accrding to rice is sub par at the moment

The dude didn't practice because they wanted to make sure his foot doesn't eff up again. How is he supposed to work on his route running? Rice may as well be on the webzone spouting this bs.

I agree that if Crabs did Jerry's Offseason workouts he would become a better wr.

But as to the article, Jerry is just trying to be an analyst. He says those things about Crabs but then in the same article he says that Alex is a fine QB but the Niners should go for Manning. Manning is a whole other level of QB. Doesn't that also suggest that the QB play needs some work. I don't care either way, but if I was the writer I would have asked him "so what do you think would help the 49ers more, Crabtree becoming more explosive and working on seperation or the 49ers signing Manning?"

Or "how did Crabtree still have success this year if he isn't getting seperation?"

I'm sure I would word it nicer to Jerry and kiss his butt though. He is the greatest wr but that doesn't make him great at everything else.

Is it just me or did Jerry sounds really immature and annoying in that interview? He needs to get over his beef with Crabs. Don't take it personally that a shy 23 year old didn't reach out to you Jerry, the world doesn't revolve around you.