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The Key Figure In 49ers Fortunes Is Neither Singletary Nor Smith

Published: October 31, 2009

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If you’re brave enough to watch and not too hungover from the Halloween party the night before, chances are that you, the loyal, hopeful 49ers fan that you are, will venture to take in Niners-Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday morning.

And by, oh, 10:25, you’ll probably want to drink some more.

The Colts are really, really, really good, for a multitude of reasons, but chief among them is they have Peyton Manning and the rest of the league doesn’t.

The analysts on TV, bless their clever little hearts, will try to draw a comparison between Manning and his counterpart on the 49ers, plucky ol’ Alex Smith, two number one overall picks drafted seven years apart. This exercise in compare and contrast will not flatter Smith at all and will most likely make you sad—hence the drinking.

Try not to let the Mean Football-Talking Men on the TV ruin your day; it is not their intent to personally provoke you. Also, if you can help it, try not to cast too envious a glare at Manning.

The 49ers franchise had a fairly decent run of franchise quarterbacks not that long ago, after all.

No matter how lopsided Sunday’s affair gets, the most important thing to remember is that the most influential man in the 49ers organization is not Smith at all. Nor is it Frank Gore, Patrick Willis, or even coach Mike Singletary.

No, the guy who’ll play the biggest role in determining the 49ers future is general manager Scot “I traded the second “t” in my name for Carolina’s first round pick” McCloughan.

Singletary’s face might be the one that’s on all the billboards, but he can only coach the people that McCloughan puts in front of him.

In past seasons the team has gone the Dan Snyder/Al Davis/Jerry Jones route in an effort to improve themselves through the acquisition of past-their-prime free agents, and while it would be unfair to label Nate Clements and Justin Smith as “busts,” neither has lived up to the expectations that their exorbitant paychecks warrant.

Meanwhile, the elite teams such as the Patriots, Colts, and Steelers continue building their rosters through the draft and by making shrewd trades.

The 49ers have been terrible for quite a long time and the only way they’ll pull out of their tailspin is by nailing the draft—especially in the first round—for a few consecutive years and accumulating talent.

Signing him was a god forsaken chore, but if first impressions mean anything, Michael Crabtree will work out as a wise pick from the 2009 draft, which is incidentally the first one that McCloughan has had the final call on.

The 49ers did quite well for themselves in 2007 with Willis and tackle Joe Staley and thanks to Singletary’s tough love, it might turn out that the 2006 pick of Vernon Davis wasn’t all that bad either.

The jury is still out on 2008 first rounder Kentwan Balmer, 2006’s other first rounder Manny Lawson, and of course, on the aforementioned Smith.

San Francisco will have two first rounders next season, their own pick and the Panthers’.

If their intentions go beyond simply contending for the NFC West to contending, period, then it’s imperative for McCloughan to ace both of those picks next April and quite likely the second rounder as well (I’m looking at you, Chilo Rachal).

For his part, Smith will have a ten game audition period to prove his selection wasn’t a galactic mistake on par with Chernobyl, the Hindenburg, or Crystal Pepsi.

Up to this point Smith’s apologists have had several excuses for his disappointing career and they’ve all been valid to varying degrees.

He was drafted onto what was essentially the roster of an expansion team in terms of talent. He was young and inexperienced. He’s had to overcome awful, and at times neglectful coaching. He missed nearly two full seasons to injury. He’s had to learn a new offense literally every season of his career.

Most of these excuses are no longer applicable. Smith is healthy now; he’s gained experience and perspective, and this is, by his own admission, the most talented roster he’s ever been on.

“It’s not even close,” he said.

It’s true that offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye’s offense was yet another new one for Smith to learn, but how difficult could that have been if opposing coaches seemed to have it down pat by Week Five?

Indianapolis’ defense, which has allowed all of two passing touchdowns in six games, will be a cloudy prism through which to view Smith making his first start since the 2007 season, and having Manning on the opposing sideline does him no favors either.

He deserves a few games to put together a quantifiable body of work with this offense.

If he just doesn’t have it in him though, then rest assured that one of McCloughan’s first round picks will go toward a passer.

And pray that it won’t be Tim Tebow.

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Singletary Handled 49ers Quarterback Situation Perfectly

Published: October 27, 2009

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Now that we’ve all had a chance to see what the big fuss was about regarding Michael Crabtree and why both he and his agent were incredulous to be drafted three spots after future NFL trivia answer Darius Heyward-Bey, the headlines with the 49ers have once again flipped back to their default setting—the quarterback.

On the heels of backup Alex Smith’s furious 21 point second half rally that fell just short of producing an epic finish at Houston—and the miserable six consecutive quarters that incumbent Shaun Hill put on display before getting the hook—the announcement was made by coach Mike Singletary on Monday that Smith would be the new starter next Sunday at Indianapolis, and presumably for the games that follow as well.

The temptation is to label the story a “quarterback controversy” and it would be easy to do so.

However, having followed the Niners for more than two decades, I’ve seen actual quarterback controversies. Joe Montana vs. Steve Young was a quarterback controversy. Heck, Steve Young vs. Steve Bono was a quarterback controversy.

Shaun Hill vs. Alex Smith is not a quarterback controversy; it’s a cry for help. In turning to Smith, Singletary is not looking for Lazarus to bring this franchise back from the dead. He is simply choosing the lesser of two evils.

“Coach Sing” has certainly been criticized in this corner the past two months, but in this instance he played the situation exactly right, proving once more that not only does he have his finger on the pulse of the team, but also he’s more of a long term, big picture schemer than he lets on.

Smith is obviously more talented than Hill, of that there can be no debate. The guy was drafted number one overall in the 2005 draft for more reasons than his superlative Wonderlic score and his eagerness to ask “how high” when Mike Nolan told him to jump.

He doesn’t have a rocket launcher by any means, but now that Smith’s twice-repaired throwing shoulder is fully healthy, he at least has an arm befitting an NFL starter. His mobility and overall athleticism are better than average for the position as well.

None of these things can be said truthfully about Hill, and he has had many detractors in the organization—some still with the 49ers and some not—who have flat out said he doesn’t have even the bare minimum arm strength required to be on a league roster.

What Hill does have though is moxie, leadership, and the ability to adapt to game plans and circumstances beyond his control. He has proven he can be an effective game manager and a winner, as long as the people around him are playing well and he is not asked to do too much.

He was the ideal choice to lead the team in the early portion of their campaign when the schedule was soft, opposing teams didn’t have a lot of film on him, and their defense could carry the freight. The pass game was never going to be emphasized anyway—not without Crabtree in the fold—and Singletary wanted to start the year with the quarterback less likely to turn the ball over and put his defense in a bad position.

Also, if Smith had been named the starter from the beginning, the spotlight would’ve been on him immediately and it would’ve been asking a lot of him to not wilt under the pressure after not playing a real game in nearly two seasons.

The plan all along was to limp through with Hill for the first few games and then hand the baton off to Smith once defenses figured out that they can suffocate the 49ers completely just by crowding the line of scrimmage and jamming his receivers at the line. Once people got wise that Hill cannot stretch defenses out, it was all over for him.

Singletary took great pains to say that the move wasn’t premeditated, that he really thought Hill could be his guy the whole way through, but then in his next breath he explained his rationale for making the switch and the truth came out.

“You had an offseason where you are trying to work things through with your shoulder… and at the same time, you are just trying to get settled. We were just letting the guy get settled and getting a chance to think about some things and at the same time, there happens to be a season going on. We wanted to let him develop that hunger, let him get excited about if I get an opportunity again, let him develop some confidence,” Singletary said.

What he didn’t say was that he wanted to give fans—the same ones who lustily booed Smith on the first day of training camp—six games of The Shaun Hill Experience. Once they saw for themselves that Hill cannot throw a ball more than fifteen yards without it fluttering, perhaps they’ll be less inclined to jeer Smith when he does return to the lineup.

Yeah, it’s probably a flawed theory, but it’s worth a shot.

Regardless of whether it was premeditated or not, the move had to be made. Singletary finally admitted, six weeks too late, that his team will not be able to run the ball, regardless of whether it’s Frank Gore or Glen Coffee in the backfield, if defenses have eight or nine guys the box.

Hill was unable to make that eighth man leave, but the hope is that Smith—and a three wide receiver set with Crabtree, Isaac Bruce and Josh Morgan—will.

Singletary also sees some cracks starting to show in his once impregnable defense. Again, it’s the same bugaboos from past seasons. The pass rush is inconsistent, the safeties are sub-par, and no one can cover a tight end. The team will need more than two touchdowns to win games and the coach knows it. At the very least the defense needs the offense to have less three and outs so his defenders won’t be so worn down.

Smith will have more turnovers than Hill would. Again, there’s no point in arguing otherwise.

It’s just that Singletary realized he has two choices: Either live with the tradeoff between big plays, both good and bad, that Smith will give him, or watch his team turn into the Browns, lose 31-7 every week and spend the month of December fielding questions about Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow rather than Hill and Smith.

“I don’t think it’s the same old Alex,” Singletary said. “I think Alex has matured, I think he’s grown and I think he’s ready to play. We’re going to find out.”

Indeed we will.

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49ers Are Erring In Rushing Crabtree Onto The Field

Published: October 23, 2009

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Michael Crabtree hasn’t played one snap of pro ball and I’m already sick and tired of talking about him.

The endless speculation over whether he’ll start or not, how much action he’ll get, how he’ll perform, and ultimately, what kind of impact he’ll have on what’s been so far a fairly lifeless 49ers “offense” has worn me out.

It’s almost enough to wish that the 10th overall pick out of Texas Tech and his reality-challenged agent would’ve kept their heels firmly planted in the dirt for a few more weeks, just to spare us from the all this senseless hype.

It’s true that their front office is desperately looking for someone—anyone—that they can promote to be the face of the team besides head coach Mike Singletary, but for the sake of both the ‘Niners in general and Crabtree specifically, we all need to collectively take a step back and let the kid breathe, regardless of the predicament he put himself in by missing the alarm clock on his maiden campaign by about ten weeks.

Like it or not, after having missed so much time, Crabtree’s first season will almost certainly be a wash.

No matter how much gobbledygook offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye feeds you about Crabtree’s preternatural ability to “conceptualize the offense,” as though the rook was football’s answer to Wayne Gretzky or a savant on par with Manny Ramirez, it would be in everyone’s best interests to temper expectations.

Ten weeks behind is ten weeks behind—for anyone—and Crabtree’s already playing a position that’s notorious for being tough for rookies making the transition from college.

He hasn’t played a game—meaning he hasn’t been hit—in over ten months.

The spread offense he dominated the Big 12 Conference with is far different than the one the 49ers run. The Red Raiders like to stretch defenses out with four or five receivers at a time. San Francisco has not used more than three wideouts in any play from scrimmage all season.

That doesn’t mean Crabtree can’t or won’t be successful in this offense; just not right away.

Singletary certainly isn’t doing the rookie any favors by throwing him into the fire and saying things like he “expects” the young man to make plays right away.

Maybe, it’s his way of punishing Crabtree for missing all this time. Or perhaps, it’s a motivational ploy. The view from here though is that it’s a horrible idea and yet another example of Singletary being out of his element when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.

While Singletary is a fine coach-in-the-making in the current NFL paradigm of head coaches as CEOs and figureheads who leave all the scheming and strategizing to the coordinators, the 49ers will never advance to contender status as long as he is this rudimentary in his offensive philosophy.

With someone as valuable to the organization as Crabtree, you simply can’t “throw him in there and see what happens,” not after all the energy you spent just to sign him. It’s just doing both Crabtree and the team a big disservice.

Obviously, the team and the fans have grown impatient in waiting to see what they have in their prized receiver, but both camps can afford to wait a couple weeks more.

In rushing Crabtree to one of the top three spots on the team’s depth chart, Singletary has alienated three other receivers that have worked hard for him—and in the case of Brandon Jones, fractured a shoulder for him.

The disgruntled Jones, who muttered on Wednesday that he’s on the team “to be a receiver, not some special teams helper,” was very gruntled indeed last February, when the 49ers signed him to a five year, 16.5 million dollar contract, but the aforementioned injury he suffered early in camp, along with him not being able to see eye-to-eye with certain offensive coaches, has left Jones out of the loop.

Much has happened since Jones signed.

Veteran Isaac Bruce returned to the fold, when it wasn’t always a given that he would. Crabtree fell to the tenth slot in the draft, which almost no one (and surely not Eugene Parker, Crabtree’s agent) saw coming.

Jones has been active the past two weeks, but has hardly seen the field and still has as many receptions on the year as Crabtree, a stat that’s certain to change—and not in the way Jones would prefer—this Sunday at Houston.

It sends a bad message to the veterans on the team who have sacrificed and done everything the coach has asked for Crabtree to be given the penthouse apartment from the jump.

Singletary said the only message he’s sending is that “the team wants to win.”

If that’s the case Jones not only deserves a shot to show what he can do, but at this juncture he’s far more likely to contribute than Crabtree can anyway.

Jones contract may not be as prohibitive as Crabtree’s but it’s certainly not chump change either. Does the team really want to write him off as a total loss this early?

One thing we know as gospel: Crabtree will not be the best receiver on the field at Houston. That distinction goes to the Texans’ beastly Andre Johnson, who may or may not be of this world.

In his conference call with the local press Johnson admitted it took him his whole rookie season to not just feel comfortable with the offense he was in but to understand the pro game itself. Also, he had the benefit of being with the Texans from day one of training camp that year, so take that for what it’s worth.

Again, this isn’t a prediction that the Crabtree Era will be a disaster. It’s far too soon to hazard a guess on that. The way the 49ers are handling his debut game however, is a disconcerting omen.

It could be worse, of course.

At least they didn’t draft Darius Heyward-Bey.

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Bly Shouldn’t Be the Only One Apologizing For 49ers Sorry Performance

Published: October 12, 2009

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It’s Monday and everyone has a case of the “sorry”s.

I’m not so sure who had a worse weekend, the San Francisco 49ers players for putting on such a miserable performance in losing 45-10 to the Atlanta Falcons at home or me for for predicting a ho-hum win for them, but personally I think I suffered a heck of a lot more than they did.

All they had to was play that game. I was the sucker who had to watch it.

The Falcons were a lot better than I thought they were, especially offensively, where they looked darn near perfect in racking up 477 yards against a thoroughly whipped San Francisco defense.

They ran it when they wanted to, passed it to whomever they felt like, and their offensive line had no problems in keeping quarterback Matt Ryan clean, no matter how many blitzers the 49ers sent.

Ryan came into the game as someone with a reputation of being better when blitzed as opposed to being presented conventional defenses and zone coverages, and while he was sharp against pressure on Sunday, he had no problems in picking apart the 49ers secondary regardless of the looks they gave him.

The Falcons certainly were undaunted about matching up receiver Roddy White against highly touted Niners corner Nate Clements, and White abused the smaller Clements early and often on his way eight catches, a franchise-record 210 receiving yards, and two touchdowns, the second of which effectively iced the game for Atlanta.

The dirty birds were able to sprint to a quick 14-0 lead thanks in part to a fortunate interception, where linebacker Mike Peterson deflected 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill’s pass into the hands of nickelback Brian Williams, giving the team a short field to work with.

They were in the end zone four plays and 21 yards later, and following a San Francisco three-and-out, marched right down the field again. 49ers coach Mike Singletary tried to rally the troops with a time out, and the players thought so highly of his speech that they allowed Ryan to find a wide open White for a 31-yard touchdown on the very next play.

Not having that time out would prove very costly later in the half.

San Francisco did rally with back-to-back scoring drives, highlighted by a 61-yard catch-and-run from receiver Josh Morgan on a third down pass from Hill, and following a fumble by Falcon scatback Jerious Norwood, the 49ers had the ball down 14-10 and looked to have all the momentum on their side.

It’s remarkable to think that just eleven plays later, the game was over.

First the 49ers offense sputtered through another three-and-out, and a third down sack of Hill—right tackle Tony Pashos was the guilty party there—took the team out of field goal range.

Andy Lee had a great punt though, and the defense looked in good shape with the Falcons pinned at their own four.

On third-and-four Ryan floated a pass on the left side toward White and here a beaten Clements took a needless gamble. Instead of understanding he was out of position and giving up a six yard completion—albeit with a new set of downs—he made a desperate leap in the futile hope of deflecting the pass.

White got up higher, made the catch, shook off Clements and rambled 90 yards down the field. He had nobody to get in his way because free safety Dashon Goldson was blitzing on the play, another reason it was foolish of Clements to take the chance he did.

San Francisco was suddenly down 21-10 and it was about to get worse.

Returner Delanie Walker got flipped and put the ball on the turf when he landed on the ensuing kickoff. Though it looked like the ground caused the fumble, the refs didn’t see it that way and awarded possession to the Falcons.

Singletary wasted the team’s first time out and Hill burned through the other two during the scoring drives, so the team had none left to challenge the call.

Atlanta got the ball on San Francisco’s 38-yard line and needed all of three Michael Turner runs to make it 28-10 and just like that a close game turned into a flood, as in fans flooding out of the stadium.

The ones who stayed got to enjoy a real treat.

After cornerback Dre’ Bly intercepted Ryan in third quarter—down 35-10 at the time—he decided to prematurely celebrate, and as he high-stepped down the field he was holding the ball like a loaf of bread.

Apparently White was hungry for a sandwich (he must have worked up quite an appetite ravaging the 49ers secondary), so he caught up to the showboating Bly and forced a fumble, which Atlanta recovered.

The sequence didn’t have any bearing on the game, but boy did it play poorly on the highlight reel. Bly didn’t help himself at all with his defiant comments afterward either, though to his credit he did apologize to everyone on Monday.

Who would’ve thought that one week after recording their first shutout since 2002 and their most decisive win since 2003, that the 49ers would endure their most one-sided defeat since a 41-0 howler at Kansas City in October of 2006 and their worst loss at Candlestick Park, ever?

They lost 45-3 to the Detroit Lions in 1967 at old Kezar Stadium, but nothing this bad at the “new” place, which is saying something because the 49ers have fielded some absolutely wretched teams both pre-Bill Walsh and pre-Singletary.

That they stunk out the joint on offense without star running back Frank Gore wasn’t too surprising—Singletary made it clear that changes were coming for his offensive line— but the way the defense collapsed has to be cause for alarm.

Suddenly the preseason fears reared their ugly head. The pass rush was non-existent, even with the persistent blitzing. Nobody could cover Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez. The safeties often looked slow (Michael Lewis) and out of position (Goldson).

The run defense deserves a mulligan. Having to take on three bruising monsters in a row in Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson, St. Louis’ Steven Jackson and then Atlanta’s Turner is a lot to ask of any unit.

It didn’t help those guys any that they weren’t getting much opportunity to rest as their offensive counterparts weren’t exactly putting many long drives together.

Until a meaningless drive late in the fourth quarter when the game was long decided, the longest the 49ers held onto the ball on a drive was three minutes, forty-six seconds.

The team has major work to do during its bye week, far more substantial than simply “integrating Michael Crabtree into the offense.”

Into what offense? The rest of the players who have been with the program these past 80 days haven’t been able to make it look any good.

All in all, it should be an interesting two weeks in Santa Clara.

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49ers Should Have Little Difficulty In Grounding The Falcons

Published: October 10, 2009

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Now that the Michael Crabtree hysteria has calmed down a bit — at least until he suits up in two weeks at Houston — the San Francisco 49ers and their fans can shift their attention to the trivial matter of Sunday’s game versus the 2-1 Atlanta Falcons.

On the surface this looks like a trap game for the local boys.

For one thing, while it’s true that the Falcons were NFC West basement-dwellers during the Joe Montana glory days, they no longer reside in our humble little division, and that can’t be good.

Last year the 49ers went .500 in the division, but just .400 outside of it, and considering that 10 of 16 are against intra-division foes, that’s not where you want to be.

So far this season that trend has played out even more dramatically. 3-0 in the division, 0-1 outside of it, albeit in heartbreaking, last-second fashion at Minnesota.

For another, the Falcons are considered to be pretty good, having gone 11-5 last year with a rookie quarterback in Matt Ryan and a “bowling ball” as 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis described him, in running back Michael Turner.

Then there’s the always-thoughtful sportswriter angle; that the distraction of Crabtree’s signing will cause the team to lose its focus and not take the Falcons as seriously as they otherwise would have.

Finally, there’s the pragmatic school of thought, that in the long run a loss in this game would be far more beneficial than a win.

With the “Bye” coming up on the schedule, a potentially 4-1 team would spend the off week sitting on their fannies and listening to folks tell them how good they are, while a 3-2 team would spend the break frothing at the mouth to avenge themselves.

Or so that theory goes.

49ers coach Mike Singletary dismissed this last notion as patently absurd.

“Our guys understand where we are and that we’re not where we want to be,” he said.

“We don’t even have time to listen to anyone say how great we are, and really I can’t even imagine having that conversation with them.”

Which sounds all fine and dandy, but let’s get to 4-1 first and find out afterward what happens with the team’s attitude, just for kicks.

It says here that the 49ers will indeed pull the game out, and not because there is anything so inherently wonderful about them.

Rather, it will be because the Falcons are a comically overrated outfit that doesn’t do anything all that well.

Only two teams in the NFL rank no better than 20th in any of the six major team statistical categories: Run, Pass, and Total Offense, and Run, Pass, and Total Defense.

One of them is the Cleveland Browns, and that’s perfectly sensible, as the Browns might have less talent on their roster than the University of Florida.

The other such team, however, is Atlanta, who come into the game ranked 23rd in offense (25th rushing, 20th passing), and a ghastly 30th on defense (25th rushing, 27th passing).

San Francisco’s offense is an eye sore, but at least they can stop people (4th rushing, 10th passing, and 6th overall).

Atlanta was terrible defensively last year too, so Coach Mike Smith overhauled that unit in the off-season. So far the changes haven’t taken. They drafted defensive tackle Peria Jerry from Ole Miss in the first round with the hope that the young man would help them stiffen up against the run, but Jerry tore up his knee and is out for the season.

The acquisition of tight end Tony Gonzalez — a future Hall-of-Famer — was supposed to be a boon for their offense, as he was supposed to be a security blanket in the middle that would loosen the coverage on young wideouts Roddy White and Michael Jenkins.

What has happened, though, is that Ryan has looked almost exclusively for the newcomer, and while that’s good for Gonzalez, it’s been bad for White and Jenkins who had little problem in loosening up coverage all by themselves last year.

Consequently, the big plays haven’t been there for the Falcons offense. Their two receivers have combined for one touchdown, and their longest reception has been for just 26 yards.

Even the 49ers duo of Isaac Bruce and Josh Morgan can top those numbers.

Turner, meanwhile, was abused to the tune of 376 carries last season, a workload designed to drive the bowling ball’s career right into the gutter. To no one’s surprise (except maybe his fantasy owners’), he’s averaging just 3.5 yards per carry this year and has already lost two fumbles.

It’s true that the Falcons have won two of their first three — they had a bye last week — but the first was aided greatly by Miami tight end Anthony Fasano putting the ball on the ground twice, and the second was against winless Carolina and quarterback Jake Delhomme, who is either color blind or suffering from shell-shock.

Both of those wins came in the friendly confines of the Georgia Dome. When Atlanta went on the road to New England, they were thumped soundly, 26-10.

The 49ers have been maddeningly consistent through four games of their 2009 campaign. Their level of play has been good enough to win three games and nearly a fourth, and as long as they keep on keeping on, they should grind out another “W” in this one as well.

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Michael Crabtree’s Gamble Failed Miserably

Published: October 7, 2009

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At long last, Michael Crabtree has come to his senses.

After drawn-out negotiations, Crabtree signed a six-year deal on Wednesday that will pay him $32 million before incentives.

We know now for sure: There was never going to be a trade, he was never going to sit out the whole season, and if there ever were any teams offering him $40 million smackers guaranteed, they quickly buttoned up once the 49ers contacted the league and accused the New York Jets of tampering.

The whole thing was one elaborate bluff by Crabtree and his daredevil agent, Eugene Parker.

They hatched a plot with two options in mind: Either Parker would bully San Francisco into paying his client the kind of guaranteed money that someone drafted an hour before and several slots above Crabtree got; or he would force a trade that would send Crabtree to some team that would be willing to pony up the dough, or at the very least put him in a position to put up the kind of numbers that would call for an immediate raise.

It has been a two month long game of chicken, and to the 49ers’ credit, they haven’t blinked.

After a near decade of futility, they’ve finally stood up for themselves and reminded the rest of the league that a generation ago, they weren’t just a club in good standing in league meetings, but rather the gold standard of the NFL, the team all others envied and tried to emulate.

It was always likely that Parker and Crabtree’s plan would fail, and three recent unexpected events made it all but inevitable.

First, Jim Brown and Jerry Rice, two of the gentlemen oft mentioned in “the greatest player of all time” arguments, broke the fraternal rank that bonds all athletes and publicly criticized Crabtree.

In an interview on Sirius XM channel The Power, Brown made an impassioned plea to Crabtree, saying, “You don’t realize that your legacy will be based upon how you perform not how much money you made.”

When Jim Brown says, “Mr. Crabtree, get your butt in camp,” it’s a little different than some bus driver ranting on sports talk radio.

Rice was more measured with his remarks, but nevertheless said that he thought Crabtree was making a mistake in holding out.

“You need to be in training camp working out with those guys, sweating with those guys, putting those tough days in,” he said. “This game is so fast and it’s such a fine-tuned game now that you just can’t skip regular preseason then come into regular season and expect to play well.”

Rice also predicted that there would be animosity toward Crabtree in the 49ers’ locker room when he did finally sign.

Even Rodney Harrison, the recently retired Patriots safety who might himself be elected into the Hall of Fame in the near future, called Crabtree, “the biggest idiot I’ve ever seen in the NFL,” on ESPN Radio in Philadelphia, and scolded him for being greedy.

“What makes you entitled to anything?” Harrison said, adding “You haven’t done anything.”

Harrison went on to predict that if Crabtree would follow through with his threat of sitting out the whole season and re-entering the draft in 2010 that he’d be blackballed to the point of being a second or third round pick.

So no, there hasn’t exactly been a stirring show of support by some of the game’s greatest all-time players.

The second monkey-wrench in the works was when the 49ers filed the tampering charge on September 21.

Who cares if the allegations were true? In fact, it would be more brilliant of the Niners if they weren’t. Now, with the accusation a matter of public record, the 31 other teams would look guilty as all hell if they went anywhere near Crabtree or his agent.

I imagine that if Parker called anyone’s front office in the past three weeks, he got a lot of secretaries telling him that the general manager was “in a meeting.”

Suppose Crabtree did indeed sit out the whole season and was eligible for the draft next year. What are the odds the Jets take him? A million to one?

Other teams with renegade owners and needs at receiver, such as the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, would look suspicious as well.

The deft maneuver took all the other teams out of play for Parker and Crabtree, just as they had been the moment the 49ers drafted him.

Finally, after soiling Crabtree’s good name and scaring off his other suitors, the 49ers dealt the final blow by taking away his worth.

They accomplished that by getting off to a quick 3-1 start, giving themselves a 2.5 game lead in the NFC West and establishing themselves as a team with playoff-caliber talent.

Given that the team finished strongly last season under the leadership of coach Mike Singletary, and with the 2009 schedule out far in advance of the draft, how Parker figured the 49ers would “need” Crabtree to start the season well is mind-boggling.

Three of San Francisco’s first four games were within their awful division, where even last year’s 7-9 Niners team went 4-2, and a yard away from 5-1, truth be told.

With a solid defense and a stud running back in Frank Gore, the 49ers were never going to be terrible enough for there to be mass public pressure on them to cave.

If three of their first four were against Indianapolis, Chicago, and Philadelphia instead of Arizona, Seattle, and St. Louis, things might have been different.

The bottom line is that San Francisco’s 35-0 romp against the Rams was the third strike for Camp Crabtree, and now they’re out of options.

All is not lost for the rookie out of Texas Tech, however.

Even though he has pointlessly gambled away, in all likelihood, any chance to have a productive rookie season, he’s never lost the support of the most important person he’ll have in his young professional life, and that’s not Eugene Parker.

“He’s a great kid,” said Singletary in his most recent press conference. “I got a feel for him during minicamp and I haven’t been wrong too much [about players].”

Now that he’s committed to joining the team, Crabtree needs to come in, eat some humble pie, do what he can to earn the respect of the veterans, and contribute however little he can.

If he has any sense at all he’ll spend the rest of his truncated rookie season as the first one in the building and the last one to leave.

It would probably be a good idea to take the whole team out to a nice meal, just as a gesture of goodwill.

Most of all he has to do whatever he can to keep Singletary feeling the same way about him that he professes to feeling now.

He’ll find the coach is far harder to please inside the confines of 4949 Centennial Way.