Here is the essence of what he had to say:
--Singletary said there was a lack of communication between the officiating and the sidelines in the final seconds. He thought there should've been 12 seconds on the clock after the replay review on Frank Gore's run.
The 49ers were also working under the impression that they would have the ball at the half-yard line. When referee Tony Corrente made the announcement that the ball would be moved back to the 2 1/2-yard line, the 49ers' sideline could not hear what Corrente said because of the crowd noise.
Singletary said offensive coordinator Mike Martz made the playcall under the mistaken impression the ball was at the half-yard line. And because the clock was set at :04 and would begin when the ball was ready for play, they did not have time to change the play. Nor did the 49ers want to take the chance on spiking the ball and seeing time run out.
--Said Singletary: "The thing that I was trying to do most of all was to get all the information, which was very difficult to do, and try to get that information to Coach Martz so we could make the best decision possible. It was very difficult getting the information that we needed. I was on the field talking to a couple of the officials about where the ball would be spotted and how much time we'd get back on the clock. . . . And then when I left those two guys (officials), they moved the ball back to the 2 1/2-yard line."
--Singletary said he thought the clock should've re-started at the snap of the ball instead of at the whistle that the ball was ready for play.
He added, "I've been told that I should probably go ahead and call the league. But that's the last thing I want to do right now. I don't need to hear, 'Oh, that's on us.' I don't need to hear that. In my mind, because they're not going to change anything. In my mind, I'm going to let it go and just make sure that as we go forward, we cover things out here (on the practice field) that we need to get covered and make sure we have the right protocol."
--Singletary added: "The only thing I'd like to have happen as a result of this game, all over the league, is for the officials . . . one official should go to one sideline and one official should come to our sideline and say, 'This is the scenario. This is what's happening.' Because we have no idea. We have no clue what's going on. The referee is standing out in the middle of the field and says whatever he's saying, but you can't hear it on the sideline."
--Obviously, it was a questionable call to give the ball to Michael Robinson. The play was designed to be run from the half-yard line. Robinson and Frank Gore were going to be in the backfield, and Gore was going to motion to the left, and Robinson was going to get the handoff up the middle.
However, because the clock was starting at the whistle and the ball was moved back, the 49ers scrapped the motion part of the play and had Gore line up outside. The handoff went to Robinson. The 49ers had eight blockers vs. the Cardinals' 10 players in the box. There was no way that play was going to get 2 1/2 yards.
"It's very frustrating as you look back on it because Mike Martz made a call, and he would've changed that call had he known the ball was going to be moved," Singletary said.
--As for the 23-second runoff before Shaun Hill could get the team settled enough to spike the ball, Singletary took responsibility, saying, "That is my job."
There was mass confusion on the sideline. The 49ers started to send a different personnel group on the field, while Hill was being told to spike the ball. However, he could not spike the ball because the 49ers would've had too many men on the field and in an illiegal formation.
--Singletary said he had no problem with Martz's playcalling in the last couple of minutes. He said they were on the same page.
There was some interaction between Singletary and Martz when Singletary decided to kick a field goal, rather than go for it on fourth and short.
"The offensive coordinator always wants to go for it," Singletary said. "I learned that fairly quickly. Mike is an aggressive guy, and you love him for that. But I knew, and Mike knew that we're going to kick the field goal."
--Singletary said he did not get as emotional with Vernon Davis after his penalty on Monday because Davis' apologetic response when he saw Singletary coming at him on the sideline.
--The 49ers got strong play from the young wideouts. Jason Hill and Josh Morgan were the team's top receivers. Even Dominique Zeigler made a clutch catch late in the game. Singletary said those guys took advantage of their opportunities.
--However, there is some concern about Morgan's groin issue. It might be an issue this week for this week's game against the Rams.
--I pointed out to Singletary that he's probably experienced more in three weeks as head coach than a lot of coaches experience in three years. How has that affect him and help him?
"It is very exciting, very exhilarating to be in the middle of that," Singletary said. "At the same time, it's frustrating, but it's what I need. I don't want what I want. I want what I need. That's what I need. My goal is to be one of the greatest coaches of all time. I need all the help I can get. I need all the fire I can get. And I'm getting it."
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That makes it pretty clear to me. I still might have given Frank Gore the ball to win the game. After he missed his first try, I don't think he would've been denied again.
Chip-- why do you say that? It's happened before (Gore being denied twice). I appreciate what Singletary is trying to do in changing the mindset of the team. The Nolan 49ers have been horrible in 3rd and 4th and short situations, both on offense and defense.
But that can't change with just mindset and one lineup switch. It will take a couple more players on both lines. In that vein, it's a shame they reupped Heitmann because he constantly seems to get trampled in these situations.
I know Gore has been denied before, but he also has gotten it done more often then not when called upon. Maybe yes, maybe no, but I would've preffered Gore over Robinson in that situation. I really would've preffered a boot leg, with the chance for Hill to throw or run himself. Martz probably would have tried something different if he knew he needed 2+ yards. Oh well.
Given the quite plausible explanation of where the coaches thought the ball was placed (and probably should have been placed), the last play doesn't look bad at all. It did gain a yard or so--only 1/2 yard was needed. Being on the sideline is the worst vantage point in the stadium so it's very likely the coaches weren't sure where it placed. Having someone saying to spike the ball on the headset but seeing a personnel switch and substitutions on the field, Hill did a good job. A ten second runoff for illegal substitution penalty would have ended the game right there. Time was the issue.
This was not a stellar performance by the officials. Give some credit to the team for being in the position to win right up to the last play despite three turn-overs and some questionable calls by the officials. We came up only a half yard short. That is progress.
Hey Matt-
I think what you and everyone else seem to be missing is that with 20 seconds left, the 49ers had plenty of time for 3 pass plays from the 1 yard line. Since you only need 1 second left to start the third play, the first two plays just needed to take less than 10 seconds each on average, which they surely would have barring sack. Martz's real all-time blunder was to call that first run to Gore. That was essentially trading 1 run play for 3 pass plays, truly an idiotic move. (Yes - They did get a second play off, but not with enough time to get properly organized.) In fact, the extra run-off before the spike could have worked to the 49ers' advantage had they scored as Arizona would have had less time to move into position for a winning or tying FG.
Anyway, I'm hoping someone in the media will notice what the true blunder was and ask Martz or Singletary about it. Thanks.
Personally for the last play I would have liked to see a Wildcat play with Robinson and Gore in the backfield, and have Robinson run a run/pass option. Stretch out that defense. You only have 1 play, why run it straight ahead, stretch it out with Gore.
After the catch by Hill that placed the Niners on the 1 yard line. My immediate thought was to run the play they did (during the pre-season i believe) which was the reverse to Allen Rossum. I know it would be risky but the beauty of that play was he could of ran out of bounds and we try again. I know the play that was called, which Gore fell down would of been a TD if he did not fall. Just wanted to see if anyone thought about that play when we were at the one. Yesterdays game was great until the end when I felt like I got kicked in the groin area.
There is one more point that needs to be looked at. If we had a time out left at the end of the game probably most of the confusion could have been avoided. We continually find ourselves without any times outs at the end of each half. It was a problem in Nolan's regime and it is a problem now. I think as a rule the team should have at least one time out left going into the final minutes of a half. If you end up not using it then so be it but it's better than not having any when you really need one. Maybe you can pass that suggestion to coach Singletary??
Well it depends how you define final minutes. I think we used our last one with about 2:17 left to stop the Cardinals from eating up more of the clock.
I HATE LOSING LIKE THIS......IT DOES NOT TELL US IF WE GETTING BETTER OR NOT.....I HAVE SEEN THIS KIND OF INTENSITY BEFORE (LAST YEAR AGAINST THE SAME CARDINALS).....I GUESS WE WILL KNOW NEXT WEEK.
This is a pretty brutal loss even considering the mismanagement in the last minutes, The officiating was pretty spotty on Monday, so I'm not surprised that Mike and Mike had a miscue on that last play. The Niners have had such huge issues in other asspects that inattention to these small details will get better with time. But consider this, after Hill made his final mistake of the game with his "shovel pass" to gore that got int, the defense stepped up and forced a 3 and out punt that got returned for like 40 yds. A) look at improvement of the defense stepping up, and B) look at the special teams picking up the pace again after getting owned for the last 4 weeks or so.
The wild and disappointing finish is masking
the fact that we only scored 3 points in the 2nd Half and our Offense gave up 14 points on pick 6's that came back because of penalties. We were lucky to be in the game at the end and
we could have easily won the game with that great end of the game drive. (where did our time outs go?)
The Cards contained Gore in the 2nd half and the DB's started to jump the short routes that Shaun is good at throwing.
If Gore can't run and we can't keep the DB's
honest, we won't have to worry about dealing
with chaos at the end of the game with the Cowboys next week.
Yeah, but we burned a couple earlier. We constantly were flirting with Delay of Game penalties. AND THAT FALLS ON THE COACHES TOO. Get the damned play in, Martz. Then Bruce doesn't have to waste that timeout early to avoid the delay of game penalty, and we might well have won.
link the refs microphone to the sideline headsets.....problem fixed