Terrell Owens, who certainly made his mark here in the Bay Area, has agreed to take part in a conference call with the beat reporters who cover the 49ers. This is one conference call that should be interesting.
I began covering Owens when the club selected him in the third round of the 1996 draft. I attended every game during his eight-year run with the 49ers (except a game against Oakland in 2002, which occurred the day after my first child was born).
And there was rarely ever a dull moment with T.O. around.
Why I'm looking forward to tomorrow's conference call is because when Owens wants to talk, he's invariable really darn good. When he does not want to talk, it's pretty obvious: He acts as if you're invisible.
When the 49ers were set to play the Eagles in 2005, Owens declined to take part in a conference call with the scribes who cover the 49ers. He went out against his former teammates and caught five passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. The only players who remain with the 49ers from Owens' time here are Jeff Ulbrich, Brian Jennings, Eric Heitmann and Arnaz Battle.
I'm curious to find out how Owens views his time with the 49ers. At the end, he was obviously very unhappy. Just wondering how his experiences in
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Other 49ers bits and pieces:
--Yes, Mike Singletary is coaching for his future in the final six weeks of the season. Singletary re-worked his contract on Oct. 20 when he took over the interim coaching duties. Singletary is the only coach on staff whose contract expires at the end of the season.
--I was a critic of how Singletary handled the Vernon Davis situation on Oct. 26. The benching was fine. The banishment to the locker room was border line. But the public embarrassment of
But
Some players would've held that grudge against the coach forever and done anything in his power to undermine the head coach, privately and publicly.
"I want coach Singletary around for as long as he wants to be here,"
Singletary deserves credit for being able to read the room. And
--In case you're wonder, Fox is sending its No. 1 crew to the 49ers-Cowboys game. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will be in the booth, with Pam Oliver stationed as the field reporter.
--After re-watching Sunday's game, I was a little surprised to discover that O.C. Mike Martz might not be calling fewer seven-step drops with Shaun Hill at QB. But Hill is certainly throwing underneath less than J.T. O'Sullivan did.
Here's the breakdown of the depth of Hill's drops:
1-step (hots): 4 of 5 for 14 yards and a TD.
3-steps: 3 of 3 for 53 yards and a TD.
5-steps: 1 of 3 for 4 yards.
7-steps: 5 of 6 for 91 yards (with one sack and one pass-interference penalty that gained 17 yards).
Shot gun with 3 steps: 2 of 2 for 30 yards.
Shot gun with 5 steps: 1 of 2 for 8 yards (with one sack).
And, now, here's the breakdown of the length of Hill's passes down the field:
Under 10 yards: 11 of 15 for 104 yards and two TDs.
10 to 20 yards: 3 of 4 for 71 yards.
20 or more: 1 of 1 for 36 yards (and PI penalty for 17 yards).
--As I've written before - and I'll write again - the offensive line got a bad rap in the first eight games. They were not nearly as bad as the stats would seen to indicate. The 49ers surrendered 34 sacks, but O'Sullivan and Martz did the offensive line no favors. It's no coincidence the 49ers' offensive line has yet to allow a sack in Hill's two starts. (The Rams recorded two sacks on Sunday, but in both instances it was Frank Gore's man who threw Hill for a loss.)
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I too am curious to find out what T.O. thinks of this "orginization" after playing for two more teams.
Matt,
Say what you want about Owens, but the 49ers have pretty much been irrelevant since he left. Everywhere he has gone, he has won and he never gets in trouble off the field, although he is a classic narcasis. He says what he believes and many times he is correct. I remember him saying when he left he said the 49ers would be in rebuilding mode for at least 6 years, well, it's been 6 years and the 49ers are still in rebuilding mode. He made that BUM McNabb look like a halfway decent QB for a year and whether he or Garcia like it they have never been better apart statistically than they were TOGETHER IN SAN FRANCISCO. Losing him ranks right up there with Ricky Watters and Charles Haley as ALL-TIME 49ers Blunders!
Shaun Hill has done nothing in a game to make me think he should not be our QB. In fact, I wouldn't mind if he finished the year strong and was named our starter. I know he isn't brilliant on the practice field, but I'll trade that for game time awarness and poise any day. I was really hoping he would win the competition during training camp, and was frustrated when Nolan and Martz shunned him. I was so relieved/excited when coach Singletary put him in the game after we'd all seen enough of O'Sullivan. I'm with Hill/Sing in '09!
Matt,
I attend many 49ers road games and I haven't missed one in Dallas since the regular season game in 1993. Despite how intense this rivalry is the 49ers fans really turn out for this game, I would say usually 20% of the stadium and Cowboy Fans really treat 49ers Fans really well in Dallas. I think there is a lot of respect for what each organization has accomplished. This is my favorite road game trip and I can't wait for Sunday! I honestly feel the 49ers have a very good chance of winning this game for a lot of reasons, but primarily because the offense should be able to move the ball rather easily and put up points and I would suspect Dallas may get a little pass happy against the 49ers D and make some turnovers.
Hill should be the starter next year, but he'll be keeping the seat warm for Nate Davis.
Nate – Your senior year and degree can wait. Singletary needs you on Sundays.
I spoke with Deion Sanders once; I asked him if he liked playing for the 49ers. He said; "No."
Matt, the o-line appears to be average at pass blocking. I guess we have to accept average since they were made to look terrible when JTO was the qb. Why can't they punch in a play from the 1 yard line? Their short yardage run blocking seems atrocious. Snyder and Heitman look like they get blown up on every run play. Is that a matter of physical weakness or poor technique?
jv1979 - While the 49ers have not done anything without TO he has been the same cancer to his recent teams that he was with the 49ers. He is a great receiver, but he is not a team player and while he does good things he makes it harder for his team to win. The 49ers problems are not related to TO. They have to do with bad drafting and bad coaching. The Cowboys problems however can be directly traced to TO.
Thanks Matt. For some reason I had a sneaking suspicion T.O. was going to talk to you guys tomorrow. I will look forward to seeing the transcript.
ska,
The Cowboys problems can be directly traced to Romo's Bad Finger and a TERRIBLE Secondary. What has Owens done to cause problems with the Cowboys this season?
Joe,
You should have ask Deion a follow up question like what was the best season of your career statistically, and he would say if he had any intelligence, which he doesn't, 1994 with the 49ers in half a season. Probably because he didn't have to cover Jerry Rice on Gamedays, just during the week.
great come-back JVI1979! not that i really care what sanders had to say about the niners, but neon deion' star status took a back seat to many other great stars on the 1994 superbowl team. the truth is that we would have won the superbowl with or without him on that talent laden team, and he should be glad that the team brought him on for the ride!
jv1979 - The same thing he ALWAYS DOES . . .Wah! I am not getting the ball enough . . . I was open on that play . . . you need to get me the ball more or we won't win. Its just like how The New York Giants got better once Eli Manning didn't have Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey bitching at him every time they came back to the huddle. TO is incapable of seeing the team concept and his teams will never win.
Matt- TO might be good for a readable quote, but perspective???
Matt, I think that comment about the O-line is interesting because if you look at the O-line of Nolans and then of Singletarys I see some changes that may have had a signifigant impact on their performance. With David Baas at left guard and Adam Snyder at right tackle and then the guy who I am really excited about Chilo Rachal coming in from time to time I believe Singletary is finding a better formula than Nolan had.
Mike in SF, the whole issue with Nolan was his stubborness to tweak the personnel packages. He sucked as a strategist IMO, unwilling to experiment, use youth or exploit matchups. Jennings was his achilles heel and took way too long to come to a boil.
I see this game as a challenge to the OL to play over their heads. Singletary will have them motivated and I still think Dallas is overrated and lacks a champions heart.
34 sacks wasn't a fluke. It happened. I think most of us know that Martz's scheme put extra pressure on the O line and many of us pointed that out. The Ram's defense were pretty pathetic and the Cards really didn't blitz much. The O Line has played better but don't forget two position changes have occurred with a new coach. There is a reason for that improvement.
True Marco, but JTO either ran into sacks or, held the ball too long and took unnecessary sacks.
Singletary realized that the same old practices had to change, and thankfully, he made them. A shake up was long overdue.
Alway insightful thoughts and thought provoking stats... Keep up the great work, Matt. I really wonder what our record would be if Singletary had been the coach from the get go with Hill at the helm...