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49ers coordinators look to bounce back
By john Bassetti
BOARDMAN
Preparation was the word of the day — and early morning — as the San Francisco 49ers continued their concentration on the New York Jets.
During Thursday’s noon news conference at the Holiday Inn, the 49ers brought forth two sleep-deprived subjects: their offensive and defensive coordinators.
After coaches’ meetings that ended around 3 a.m., both Vic Fangio and Greg Roman were alert enough to shed light on the team’s progress leading up to Sunday’s game.
First, however, Fangio, the defensive coordinator, was hit with a question about the team’s execution — or lack of — in last Sunday’s loss to Minnesota.
“We didn’t execute as well as we’re capable of executing and I could have had us in some better calls in certain situations, so it was both,” Fangio said from a defensive standpoint.
San Francisco may have made Minnesota quarterback Christian Ponder a hero, in part, with swing passes to wide receiver Percy Harvin.
“I think they ran it twice and got some positive yards with both,” Fangio said. “Both times it was different calls, so it was different people involved there,” he answered without attributing the responsibility to any one defensive player.
Most of the attention centered on the difficulty of planning for the Jets’ unknown such as using Tim Tebow in wildcat packages.
“They’re very multiple and play a lot of different personnel,” Fangio said of one, two and three-wide receiver offenses. “They also play linemen at tight end, so they give you some unbalanced line or Tebow package.”
Fangio was asked if the Jets game is coming at a good time.
“It’s our fourth game of the season, so I don’t see it being of any significance, other than they’re a good football team that we have to play on the road. So I really don’t look at the game any different than if we had won last week or not.”
Fangio got roped into a question about his three years with Jets coach Rex Ryan when the men were in Baltimore.
“There are a lot of stories,” Fangio said of the colorful Ryan, “but whenever they served Mexican food as one of the team’s meals, they called it Rex-ican. He doesn’t pile food on his plate like he used to.”
Fangio didn’t think that the use of replacement officials had much of an impact on his players, particularly in the secondary where calls such as a controversial play in Monday’s Seahawks-Packers game.
“We’ve coached our guys right from the get-go. We didn’t say, ‘Hey, you can get away with this or you can’t get away with that because they’re calling it more tight or anything like that.’ We weren’t telling our guys either extreme. Hopefully, there won’t be much difference in the way our guys are playing [because the new officials are returning].”
Roman, the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, apologized for his unshaven appearance, blaming it on the staff’s intense preparation for New York.
“Their defense forces us to stay up into the wee hours,” Roman said of innovations thrown at opponents by Rex Ryan and his coaches. “They force you to adjust.”
Roman acknowledged the misfortune to DB Darrelle Revis, the best defensive player in the NFL, due to a torn ACL injury.
“It’s a tragedy, but there’s a lot of different ways they can do it [reshuffle personnel] and we might see all of them. What’s the saying? ‘Rob Peter to pay Paul?’ ”
This week’s stay in Boardman has been positive, Roman said.
“There are no distractions, so it gives you the chance to hole up in a hotel room and, rather than play cards, we’re studying film. It’s a chance to be isolated and put collective minds together to come up with the best plan.”
Linebacker Patrick Willis returned to practice after hurting an ankle in the Vikings game.
“Win or lose, it’s about being better than the week before,” Willis said of last week’s game in Minneapolis. “It just happened that we lost. At the end of the day, you have to put that game behind you and get ready for the next game.”
Willis said that the defense isn’t discouraged, but it has to refocus.
“Don’t take anything from Minnesota, but we didn’t play our best football.”
In addition to Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez throwing to wide receiver Santonio Holmes, Tebow may present some problems for the 49ers.
“He’s [Tebow] had some success running that in Denver and he’s run it a few times this year. It’s something we’re preparing for, but we’re preparing for the whole offense as well.”
Roman was asked why running back Frank Gore didn’t get more than 12 carries last Sunday.
“We’ll do what’s best for the game. The next game may be completely different. We moved the ball well [in the first half], but we have to finish drives better.”
Gore would have preferred a less pass-heavy offense, but he deferred to the coaches’ decisions.
“The game was kind of strange,” Gore said of falling behind early. “It just wasn’t our week. We made some mistakes we don’t normally make. As an offense, we’ve got to get back to us and start fast and not turn over the ball and we’ll be back on track.”
Notes
Whitner greets fans: The small bands of fans waiting outside the Holiday Inn in Boardman hoping to catch a glimpse of the 49ers Thursday afternoon weren’t disappointed, thanks to Donte Whitner.
Ken Cherpack of Boardman, as well as Jeff Elton of Minerva and his son, Nick of Canfield, stood in the rain.
Before loading into the buses that were transporting the players to YSU for practice, Cherpack said he tried to get one of the drivers to pass around a sheet for autographs.
No luck.
But Whitner, a former Ohio State defensive back, made the effort to oblige by walking over to the men, who were restricted to a sidewalk in front of the hotel.
“He came out to see us,” said Cherpack. “That was very nice of him. I wished him good luck and thanked him for coming out.”
Two young men who made a 4 1/2-hour trip from Dayton to watch the team at YSU were shut out.
“We were going to try to catch a glimpse [from a parking lot outside Stambaugh Stadium], but the guard said we weren’t allowed,” said Noel Collins, 28, who stood in the rain with his friend, 27-year-old Rich Barnhart.
Collins, who said he’s an Oakland Raiders fan, was wearing a Cereal Killer T-shirt. Barnhart said he was a 49ers fan.
Think they were disappointed?
“Actually, no,” said Collins, “because it may be 10 years before we see them in person again.”
Davis improving: Right tackle Anthony Davis received a lot of attention at Thursday’s noon press conference in Boardman because New York Jets coach Rex Ryan heaped praise on Davis. San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman was asked about the 6-5, 323-pound Davis: “From March on, we’ve seen nothing but improvement. Anthony’s playing at a high-level. He’s the kind of guy I want to go into a conflict with because win, lose or draw, he’s going to compete. He’s got a really good team mindset.”
San Francisco RB Frank Gore echoed the sentiment, which was spawned by Ryan’s comment that Davis is on his way to becoming a premier right tackle.
“I love the way he plays,” Gore said. He’s come a long way and I think he’s comfortable with the offense. He always had the dogness in him, I knew he was going to be alright his rookie year because of how mean and nasty he was. I knew he was going to be fine. Our whole line plays well together.”
Gore’s use of the word “dogness” gave out-of-town reporters a chuckle.
Davis was asked if Ryan’s remark was meant to soften him.
“It’s nice of Ryan to say the things he does because it acknowledges how hard we work.”
Davis, who is from Piscataway, N.J., said he’ll get to see his family, including his mom.