Mike Lombardi on Singletary's Mess

"Staying up all night after the defeat in Kansas City -- as Singletary indicated he did -- to evaluate the 49ers offense, most specifically Raye, seems like he is making Raye the scapegoat. The time to evaluate Raye was during the mini camps, during the official team activities, and before any game. If Singletary didn't like the offense all he had to do was tell Raye to make the changes.

If Singletary did not like what Raye was doing he should have said something in March or April and made the changes accordingly. Waiting until the season starts clearly makes Raye the scapegoat, and now puts Singletary next in the line of fire."

The rest of the article is very good and worth reading.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81afbe76/article/a-lesson-for-singletary-motivation-begins-with-education?module=HP_cp2

I used to really like Lombardi, but lately I think he's overly critical of the 49ers...maybe because he used to work for them in the glory years and hasn't adjusted to the new reality.

He makes a useful point at the end of the article, though:

"The 49ers are 31st in points scored, which cost offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye his job, but they are also 28th in defensive points allowed. Their 0-3 start is not just one person's fault, but rather an entire team effort."

Originally posted by Yetiman:
I used to really like Lombardi, but lately I think he's overly critical of the 49ers...maybe because he used to work for them in the glory years and hasn't adjusted to the new reality.

He makes a useful point at the end of the article, though:

"The 49ers are 31st in points scored, which cost offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye his job, but they are also 28th in defensive points allowed. Their 0-3 start is not just one person's fault, but rather an entire team effort."

Lombardi is also a Bay Area resident, so there is a good possibility that he is a fan of the team and disgruntled like a lot of fans are.

Raye was just too old for this job. Now Mike Johnson has a shot, and if he doesnt keep Sing and his "ball running" mentality out of his gameplan, he will be the next victim. Singletary fired Raye to keep his job, plain and simple. Didnt we just go through this with Nolan! Our front office should be ashamed at themselves for falling into this trap twice! Spend a little more money, get a good qualified coach, and the York's wont get so embarrassed(I should hope so) at their next dinner party. Not what I call successful.

Probably so. And anybody who can piss off Al Davis as much as Lombardi apparently has can't be all bad...

Its Singletary's mess, thanks to the QB.

I think his point is an obvious one.... Which means that we all already knew Singletary didn't know offensive football. That's why he was using Raye as a sounding board to help him hire an OC in the first place. Too bad nobody ended up wanting to work with Singletary and the sounding board became the OC. I bet Raye would have been a good thing for Singletary as a consultant....

Originally posted by Yetiman:
I used to really like Lombardi, but lately I think he's overly critical of the 49ers...maybe because he used to work for them in the glory years and hasn't adjusted to the new reality.

He makes a useful point at the end of the article, though:

"The 49ers are 31st in points scored, which cost offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye his job, but they are also 28th in defensive points allowed. Their 0-3 start is not just one person's fault, but rather an entire team effort."

Everyone should be overly critical at this point. Angry fans and media critics are the only things that force the Yorks to make changes. They just never make the correct changes.
There is an entire generation of fans growing up watching nothing but futility on the field. At least I have the memories of watching them during the glory years. I don't know how you younger folks even hang around.

Originally posted by NorthNiner:

Originally posted by Yetiman:
I used to really like Lombardi, but lately I think he's overly critical of the 49ers...maybe because he used to work for them in the glory years and hasn't adjusted to the new reality.

He makes a useful point at the end of the article, though:

"The 49ers are 31st in points scored, which cost offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye his job, but they are also 28th in defensive points allowed. Their 0-3 start is not just one person's fault, but rather an entire team effort."

Everyone should be overly critical at this point. Angry fans and media critics are the only things that force the Yorks to make changes. They just never make the correct changes.
There is an entire generation of fans growing up watching nothing but futility on the field. At least I have the memories of watching them during the glory years. I don't know how you younger folks even hang around.

There are a lot of bad teams out there that never really ever had "glory years", and they still have lots of fans (e.g., Browns, Lions, Cardinals, etc. etc.). We should feel blessed as Niner fans to have at least glory years and five Super Bowl championships to look back on, where other franchises don't even come close.

Originally posted by RedWaltz24:


There are a lot of bad teams out there that never really ever had "glory years", and they still have lots of fans (e.g., Browns, Lions, Cardinals, etc. etc.). We should feel blessed as Niner fans to have at least glory years and five Super Bowl championships to look back on, where other franchises don't even come close.

Yeah, we're a bit spoiled and because of that we feel entitled.

That said, if there is something going on behind the scenes that justifies Lewis and his agent's comments, I think someone needs to be held accountable.

Originally posted by fly15:
Its Singletary's mess, thanks to the QB.

I am baffled by people's irrationality. Alex is not Great, maybe not even ok, but this whole team sucks right now. No unit or player has done anything.

How come Alex sucks and Gore does not?

The reason I think Lombardi has a point is that for a few games last year, Raye went to a wide open attack suddenly. Does anyone remember that? It was a complete departure from his prior game planning ways. 33 year veteran coaches don't make these kind of sudden shifts based on a whim. Somebody told him to do that, and that could only have been Singletary. Therefore, Raye probably *was* doing what he was told, and probably was a scapegoat in that regards.

Sing said he wanted "physicality with an 'F'", and that he wanted us to be able to run undisguised runs, where "they know we are going to run and we know we're going to run, and there's nothing they can do about it." That is exactly what Raye has been doing.

I think Mike Johnson will do better, perhaps much better, but I think Raye was the scapegoat for Singletary's own ill defined offensive persona he wanted this team to have.

Originally posted by boriken_9er:

Originally posted by fly15:
Its Singletary's mess, thanks to the QB.

I am baffled by people's irrationality. Alex is not Great, maybe not even ok, but this whole team sucks right now. No unit or player has done anything.

How come Alex sucks and Gore does not?

cause Gore is not the QB

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by boriken_9er:

Originally posted by fly15:
Its Singletary's mess, thanks to the QB.

I am baffled by people's irrationality. Alex is not Great, maybe not even ok, but this whole team sucks right now. No unit or player has done anything.

How come Alex sucks and Gore does not?

cause Gore is not the QB

Alex playing like a Pro-Bowler might not have been enough to win either blowout against Seattle or KC.

Consider, he played quite well against New Orleans, but they still lost. Why? Turnovers and defense...a defense that is tied for worst in the league for points allowed.

Frankly, every post I read by you just demonstrates to me (and everyone else) how little understanding you have for the game. QBs tend to get disproportionate credit when things go well, and disproportionate blame when things go badly. But that's only with the fickle media and the casual fans who have no depth in their knowledge of the game.

Originally posted by RedWaltz24:
"Staying up all night after the defeat in Kansas City -- as Singletary indicated he did -- to evaluate the 49ers offense, most specifically Raye, seems like he is making Raye the scapegoat. The time to evaluate Raye was during the mini camps, during the official team activities, and before any game. If Singletary didn't like the offense all he had to do was tell Raye to make the changes.

If Singletary did not like what Raye was doing he should have said something in March or April and made the changes accordingly. Waiting until the season starts clearly makes Raye the scapegoat, and now puts Singletary next in the line of fire."

The rest of the article is very good and worth reading.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81afbe76/article/a-lesson-for-singletary-motivation-begins-with-education?module=HP_cp2

In defense of Sing (I cant believe I'm saying that), I dont think the problem was with the offensive system it was with the play calling. When you are practicing you probably see a number of diffrent plays, but not how they will be strung together. Look how fluid we looked in preseason. We went 4-0. The offense looked fairly creative. Then the season started and we were calling 3 consecutive run plays up the gut down 21 points at the end of the 3rd. How do you account for that?