Losing the locker room?

Does anyone else sense that Singletary is really on thin ice with the players?

And maintaining faith and belief in the locker room is key. If it goes, as it did with Erickson and Nolan, a head coach is toast.

I believe that this is why Singletary decided to fire Raye after an all-nighter in front of the film projector. Singletart recognized that if he didn't "lead" with a major change, right then and there, he would lose the locker room that very week. So Raye was the scapegoat, deserving or not. Singletary was stunned after the Atlanta game, because he recognizes that the players don't see much of a real change. And now he really doesn't know what to do.

Read Crabtree's quotes ("Mike Johnson doesn't play"). Listen to what Michael Lewis ('contradictory message from the coaching staff") and Takeo Spikes ("I was always taught that where there's smoke, there's fire") are saying. Listen to Patrick Willis ("the longest two minutes of my life"). The locker room is slipping away. I don't know yet about Crabtree's heart, but Lewis, Spikes and Willis are really respected in the locker room.

Seems to me that Singletary must feel desperate, even though he would never admit it. What DOES he do next? Doing nothing this week is NOT acceptable.

I doubt that he will bench QB Smith this week, but I wouldn't be surprised if he told Mike Johnson to build his Philly game plan around the spread offense, especially with the injury to TE Walker.

Johnson supposedly knows the spread and Singletary allowed Raye to go to the spread in the latter part of the 2009 season. This offense has to be geared to scoring 28 points per game, using some big plays. No QB on this roster is good enough to march this team methodically down the field 3-4 times per game. The mistakes will come sooner, rather than later.

Singletary has to create some excitement, some hope in that locker room this week. I think that this is his only shot right now. With an 0-5 or 0-6 start, every marketable player in that locker room will have his agent looking for a way out of SF. The fuse is much shorter than management is conceding.

What do you think?

I think it's hard to tell WTF is going on with this team.

locker room will probably walk out on us also

IMO I think the team is frustrated as hell with Singletary's choice of Alex Smith or nothing. By not even considering the option of sitting Smith if he struggles, he's putting himself in a bad spot with the team. Consider that while Singletary's asked the team to trust that he'll do what's best for the team while damn near every game the team see's Smith struggle at crunch time. The players can and will only take so much of that.

Originally posted by Ronnie49Lott:
IMO I think the team is frustrated as hell with Singletary's choice of Alex Smith or nothing. By not even considering the option of sitting Smith if he struggles, he's putting himself in a bad spot with the team. Consider that while Singletary's asked the team to trust that he'll do what's best for the team while damn near every game the team see's Smith struggle at crunch time. The players can and will only take so much of that.

this

but i think this will change soon. no vick, we should win (so people think) against eagles. i believe he'll get benched if he has a bad or even mediocre game (i hope)

they are 0-4 so the players are frustrated/

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
I think it's hard to tell WTF is going on with this team.

While I'm not very fond of that smiley thing, I agree with what you said.

There's not much in the way of substanial evidence either way. Just the usual storm in a tea cup baloney.

Originally posted by Ronnie49Lott:
IMO I think the team is frustrated as hell with Singletary's choice of Alex Smith or nothing. By not even considering the option of sitting Smith if he struggles, he's putting himself in a bad spot with the team. Consider that while Singletary's asked the team to trust that he'll do what's best for the team while damn near every game the team see's Smith struggle at crunch time. The players can and will only take so much of that.

This applies only to the Crabtree comment. Lewis got pissed because he got benched, it actually happened worse in Philly and Kevin Kolb was not crying and b***hing about it. I really cant make anything of Spikes comments and Willis comments seem to be directly related to the game.

I think everyone welcomed the changed to Singletary from Nolan, because Nolan could never motivate them, ruled with an iron fist and was constantly throwing them under the bus.
Unfortunately, the honeymoon period is over. You can't motivate if you dont win.

Originally posted by RonMexico:
locker room will probably walk out on us also

lol

I wonder what the reason might be.

Originally posted by ace49ers:

Originally posted by RonMexico:
locker room will probably walk out on us also

lol

I wonder what the reason might be.

its personal

Originally posted by 9erfan4life:

Originally posted by ace49ers:

Originally posted by RonMexico:
locker room will probably walk out on us also

lol

I wonder what the reason might be.

its personal

lol

Originally posted by seeking6th:

Originally posted by Ronnie49Lott:
IMO I think the team is frustrated as hell with Singletary's choice of Alex Smith or nothing. By not even considering the option of sitting Smith if he struggles, he's putting himself in a bad spot with the team. Consider that while Singletary's asked the team to trust that he'll do what's best for the team while damn near every game the team see's Smith struggle at crunch time. The players can and will only take so much of that.

this

but i think this will change soon. no vick, we should win (so people think) against eagles. i believe he'll get benched if he has a bad or even mediocre game (i hope)

to tell you the truth i don't think we can beat the Eagles with or without vick , they will screen us to death then they will unleach their pass rush to confuse Alex and that is not hard to do. then he will start to throw Int's all over the field or should i say throw it high to WR's to get tiped in the air !

I don't think Singletary is losing the team. And Alex isn't the only one making mistakes. Every player on offense, defense, and special teams has made mistakes so far this season...missed assignments, blown blocks or tackles, tipped balls, dropped balls, on and on.

It's hard to play an error-free game, but each individual player has to recognize where they need to step up their game and play without mistakes. Crabtree said something right...the coaches aren't throwing the ball. Well, they're not running the wrong routes, missing blocks, not making tackles on interceptions or otherwise making all the mistakes Crabtree himself has so far this season, either. Look in the mirror, dude.

It's all up to the players raising the level of their game. The coaches can't play it on the field for them.

We are soon going to find out.

Vick is out for this week, and Kolb will have a full week to prepare. Philly was humiliated at home against the Redskins, and Andy Reid is a good coach. I think the Eagles will be ready to play ball. If the Niners don't get off to a good start in this game, it could get really ugly, really fast.

I'm torn in watching this game. One side of me hopes we come out strong, and post a W. The other side of me hopes we are humiliated, forcing ownership to dump Singletary as soon as possible (the 0-4 start is not as bad to me as Singletary's weekly meltdown emotionally, psychologically), and begin the process of looking toward a new head coach in 2011. Let's face it, even in a stinky division, teams that start 0-4 have a snowball's chance in hell of making the playoffs.

If Mike Johnson is named the interim coach, the team can, in essence, bypass elements of the Rooney Rule, which require each team to interview a minority head coach before hiring someone. The team can begin to speak with Gruden, Cowher, Dungy, and others in advance, to see if they are interested.

Nice post, jimbagg. We need to clone you a thousand times for the sake of the board.

P.S. Having Heitmann return this week should be huge. His loss, and the loss of Michael Robinson (Can someone please break down for me how Curtis Taylor is helping this team?), have hurt the morale and leadership of this team. If there is any sign of intelligence in Singletary, he will put Heitmann back in at center right away in practice, to get Smith back on track. Heitmann is Smith's security blanket, and he is simply not very good without him. Move Baas or Snyder to RG, and open up this stagnant offense with the spread. And...design a few plays to Vernon Davis.

Originally posted by Yetiman:
I don't think Singletary is losing the team. And Alex isn't the only one making mistakes. Every player on offense, defense, and special teams has made mistakes so far this season...missed assignments, blown blocks or tackles, tipped balls, dropped balls, on and on.

It's hard to play an error-free game, but each individual player has to recognize where they need to step up their game and play without mistakes. Crabtree said something right...the coaches aren't throwing the ball. Well, they're not running the wrong routes, missing blocks, not making tackles on interceptions or otherwise making all the mistakes Crabtree himself has so far this season, either. Look in the mirror, dude.

It's all up to the players raising the level of their game. The coaches can't play it on the field for them.

My god, have we slipped so far that we're now saying it's ok for Alex to make so many mistakes because other players on the team make mistakes too? This is ridiculous!

IMO Yes Sing is starting to lose the locker room. When he says stuff like "Smith played a decent game." and "I thought many of his throws went well.", it means that he thinks other players are the reason we lost. Even if it's not true that Sing actually thinks this; he said it, and players will resent him for defending a QB who hasn't proven s**t. Instead of being honest and calling it like it is, he's defending the kid and throwing the rest of the O under the bus.

Sing is now too invested in Smiths development. It's going to cost him his job and more than likely our season.