Tag: Mike Singletary (Page 5 of 8)

Crabtree to start for 49ers?

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat is reporting that there’s a strong possibility that first round pick Michael Crabtree will start this week when he makes his NFL debut against the Texans. He would replace Josh Morgan while Isaac Bruce will remain at flanker.

There’s a good chance that Crabtree won’t have much of an effect on the Niners’ offense for at least a couple of weeks. They’ll remain a run-first team and Morgan will still see plenty of playing time considering he’s San Fran’s best run-blocking receiver.

The question I have regarding Crabtree is what kind of an affect he’ll have on the team’s locker room. Considering he held out for five weeks, he couldn’t have endeared himself to his teammates. And now at the first opportunity, he’s being thrust into the starting lineup.

With that in mind, Mike Singletary wouldn’t make a move like this if he knew he’d lose the locker room. He has the respect of his players and they trust his decisions. If he thinks that starting Crabtree gives his team the best chance to win, his players will follow.

Why not see if the rookie can sink or swim right away?

NFL power rankings for MVP, Rookie and Coach of the Year

We’re going to start something new this week….individual power rankings in the NFL for MVP, coach of the year and rookie of the year. We may expand this to separate entries, since frankly it’s difficult picking just three of each. But here is what we’re thinking so far after the first quarter of the season….

MVP

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—With all due respect to Drew Brees and Peyton’s little brother, there is no way in hell the Colts would be 4-0 without Peyton. And he’s doing it with young receivers not named Harrison and Gonzalez.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Favre mostly handed off to his stud RB Adrian Peterson the first two weeks, then made himself comfortable with a game winning pass with 2 seconds left against the Niners, and a fierce performance including 3 TDs against his former employer Monday night. Again, without Favre, is this team 4-0? Probably not.

3. Steve Smith, New York Giants—Are you kidding me? This guy has not only made everyone forget about Plaxico Burress, but he’s on pace to catch 136 passes, which would be second in NFL history for a single season. Smith is the only receiver in the league averaging 100 yards per game (102.8) and has 4 scores.

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49ers will learn from loss to Vikings

The 49ers’ loss in Minnesota on Sunday is the kind of defeat that can deflate a team. But with Mike Singletary in charge, I don’t foresee that happening.

San Francisco flat out blew a win yesterday. Had the Niners not been in a base defense when Greg Lewis got past coverage and Brett Favre found him in the back of the end zone with only seconds remaining, the 49ers would still be undefeated. (And with another win against the Rams coming in Week 4.)

While addressing the media following the loss, Singletary said: “There’s nothing to look at the floor for. We’re gonna get better. We will see them again in the playoffs.”

Singletary isn’t going to allow a good Niners team to dwell on this loss, especially when San Fran clearly has enough talent on its roster to make the playoffs. While losing running back Frank Gore to an injured ankle will hurt, the Niners did a nice job building depth this offseason when they drafted Glen Coffee.

The Niners had several positives come out of their game yesterday, including quarterback Shaun Hill proving that he can make plays in the passing game. The defense is already good enough to hang with most opponents on Sundays and in Singletary, San Fran has a head coach that has instilled hard work and focus into his team.

Ironically, the Niners are probably the class of a weak NFC West considering the Seahawks and Cardinals look vulnerable and the Rams are, well, the Rams. The division is there for the taking and something tells me that San Fran’s loss in Minnesota will only motivate them.

Singletary: ‘I almost made Michael Crabtree cry.’

49ers’ head coach Mike Singletary is an intimidating man – just ask No. 10 overall pick Michael Crabtree.

Singletary also said he almost made first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree cry. Singletary found him running routes during the first minicamp and admonished him for running before he was cleared by the medical staff. Crabtree is recovering from off-season foot surgery.
Singletary recounted the conversation he had with his prized rookie.

“‘I’ve got nothing against you. I’m not angry or anything. I just want you to know, you have to do everything the doctors want you to do so that you can get better.’ I said, ‘I’m not worried about what you can do.’ I said, ‘I know. We drafted you at No. 10. We know what you can do. We just want to make sure that when you come out here, you’re ready to go.’ So, he’s done the things that he needs to do, spending a lot of time with (receivers coach Jerry] Sullivan. I know Jerry is excited about what he’s seeing as well.”

Crabtree has started sprinting and should be ready for the start of training camp.

Hell, I’d cry if Singletary were yelling at me, too. I’d need a new pair of underwear to boot.

This doesn’t seem like a big deal, nor should it be made into one. I think the fact that Crabtree is so anxious to get back onto the field is a great sign, especially considering how many prima donnas there are at receiver in the NFL. I just hope this isn’t an indication of Crabtree’s toughness (or lack thereof).

Stafford won’t talk to shrink, so 49ers don’t want him

The 49ers are apparently concerned with quarterback prospect Matthew Stafford because he won’t open up to a psychologist about his parent’s divorce.

Matthew StaffordA report in the San Francisco Chronicle suggests Stafford was uncomfortable answering questions at the NFL combine last month from a team psychologist regarding his parents’ divorce.

Niners head coach Mike Singletary told KNBR (680 AM) in San Francisco this week that “if you’re going to look at drafting a guy in the first round, and you’re going to pay him millions of dollars, and asking him about a divorce about his parents, if that’s going to be an issue, uhhh, then you know what, maybe he doesn’t belong here.”

Stafford, a potential first-round draft pick, told the Detroit Free Press that the psychologist presumed Stafford had “unfinished business” about his parents’ split in high school.

I guess Singletary has a point in that, if a team is going to pay a prospect millions of dollars in the NFL, then it has a right to know as much about the player as possible. But this is a bit absurd. Stafford is only 21 years old – he’s still a kid. Him not wanting to open up to a stranger about a painful topic doesn’t mean he’s a bad egg or that he has psychological problems. It just means that he’d like to handle the manner in his own way and that doesn’t involve talking to a shrink.

Considering Singletary pulled his pants down in front of his team to make a point during a halftime speech last year, maybe he should be the one seeing a psychologist and not Stafford.

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