He wants a straight-forward, aggressive, hard-hitting team. He does not want finesse - no matter how you spell it.
When Singletary met with 49ers fans during a town-hall style session in February, he described what he wants to see from his team. He called it, "Physical with an 'F.'" And the folks in attendance erupted with cheers.
Question: What exactly does "Physical with an 'F'" mean? It sounds impressive at first, but the literal translation escapes me. (Carl F.)
Answer: I suppose it's the opposite of "Finesse" with a "Ph." But I'm not sure that helps, either.
When Singletary first uttered that phrase, it crossed my mind briefly that the meaning might be a bit obscene. But then I remembered this is a highly honorable man who wears a cross around his neck on the football field. So scratch that thought.
What it boils down to, I believe, is the letter "F" is a lot more forceful than the soft-looking and passive "Ph."
After all, why does a man like Singletary need two letters to form one sound? That's what it's all about. A physical, tough-minded team - that is how offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye describes what he wants to see from his unit - does not need two when one should suffice.
On a third-and-goal from the opponent's 1-yard line, a hard-nosed, aggressive team should not need two downs to score when it can be accomplished with one straight-ahead power running play - with the offensive linemen blowing the opposition off the line of scrimmage.
That, my friends, is physical with an "F" . . . I think.
* * *
Michael Crabtree in a recent interview with AOL Fanhouse disputed a couple anecdotes that have surfaced from his short time with the 49ers. He said he has never cried and he's never been late to a meeting.
Singletary said when he told Crabtree he could not practice, his rookie receiver "about had tears in his eyes." This was reported elsewhere that Singletary made Crabtree cry.
"I don't understand where this stuff comes from," he said. "I don't know who said what but Michael Crabtree does not cry."
Recently I relayed information from a 49ers source who told me teammates were warming up to Crabtree after having their doubts at first. Crabtree disputed the circumstances behind the alleged problem.
The source said the team had to do extra conditioning early in the offseason because Crabtree showed up late for a meeting while rehabbing his foot. Later during the offseason program, Crabtree was seen running with his teammates after Singletary stopped a sloppy practice. Although Crabtree was not practicing - he spent that time rehabilitating his foot - he ran with his teammates.
Crabtree said the first part of the story is inaccurate.
"Not true," Crabtree said. "Nobody had to run because I was late for a meeting. That's crazy. No. I've never been late to a meeting."
* * *
Crabtree remains one of three 49ers rookies who have yet to sign. While the 49ers have neared completion of the contracts for Glen Coffee and Nate Davis, Crabtree's deal is expected to be the final one signed. After all, only two of the league's 32 first-round draft picks have contracts.
While rookies are scheduled to report to 49ers training camp on Tuesday, the first practice is four days later. So Crabtree could sign up to four days late and still not miss any practice time. (He is expected to work with the team for the first time after spending the offseason recovering from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot.)
Rookies will check in and undergo physicals on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, those players will have offensive and defensive meetings in the morning and position meetings in the afternoon. After the full squad reports Thursday, the players will have meetings all day Friday.
By the time Saturday rolls around, the players will certainly be eager to get on the practice field.
* * *
Rookie Nate Davis took part in a public-service announcement to answer President Barack Obama call to make a difference in their communities with the First Family's "United We Serve" initiative.
"The players of the National Football League have a unique opportunity to serve as role models - both on and off the field - and I applaud them for answering the call to service through United We Serve," President Obama said in a statement. "Their example proves that anyone, whether the toughest of athletes or the youngest of fans, has what it takes to make a difference in the life of their communities and their country."
The partnership kicks off today with the national release of a new television public service announcement emphasizing the NFL Players Association's support of the community service initiative.
The announcement, which includes Davis and more than 30 other NFL players and Obama is available for viewing at www.nflplayers.com.
>>I don't know who said what but Michael Crabtree does not cry."
I don't like where this is going. Anybody who refers himself in third person is a prima donna who is full of himself.
I really hope I am worng in his case.
if i remember correctly, it was an article from yahoo sports that stated that m. singletary made m. crabtree cried/teary eyes.
I thought the same thing, but I've also noticed that Michael Crabtree isn't too comfortable behind a microphone. Also, the author of this article seems like he's trying to re-inforce the Crabtree "Primadonna" label:
"Things started before the draft when Crabtree arrived with a posse at ESPN's studios for a day of interviews, and furthered the reputation he had for acting like he was the best player in the world."
"So the 49ers drafted Crabtree, bad foot and all, with the 10th pick."
Crabtree has stated before that the people with him in New York were his family. I just don't think the author was trying to remain objective.
Matt, are you concerned that your "source" might have been lying to you? Somebody is. It can certainly be verified if the team did, or did not, have to run because he was late.
Flash 80 used to always refer to himself in the 3rd person and I believe he turned out “ok” for the 49ers.
I love how Singletary tells a story about Crabtree getting “teary eyed” because he could not practice and his desire to get on the field was so great, he almost broke down. Somehow the media skews this into him being a diva and a cry baby. Ridiculous! Singletary’s entire point was that he had a burning desire to play and didn’t want to be held out of practice anymore.
BTW – Crabs just signed with Air Jordan and Nike. I like it!!!!
To be fair, he referred to himself in the first person about five times before the third person. I think he was just trying extra hard to make it clear that he's not a crybaby.
..much to do bout nuthin..
Striving to be tough and physical is a great rallying cry for a team as rudderless as the 49ers have been for too many years. Hopefully, Singletary is not a neanderthal who will refuse to use both physicality AND finesse, depending on what works in a specific situation. It seems like common sense, but we really don't know yet what kind of coach we really have. Both approaches can work, but they both require talent and brains as to when to use which.
personally I think his statement in the third person sounds so much better than anything he could have said in the first. More convincing too. Hopefully we can prove him wrong, when he picks up that lombardi with the niners.
Physical with an "F" was Singletary's way of making the crowd laugh. The "F" itself means nothing. Singletary was serious about the physical, but warming up the crowd with some humor.
Hi Matt,
The idea of the blowing the opposition off the line of scrimmage sounds great on paper, but do the Niners have the offensive line capable of such a feat? Based on the results last year, the answer has to be an emphatic no. Can you honestly say that McCloughan has improved the O-Line enough to allow this physical style of play?
In my opinion Bill walsh had the right idea. Creative (read finesse) offense, smaller quick lineman, big hitting safetys, and a style of play-calling which always had the other team guessing. Use the pass to setup the run. Run wide early to tire out the defensive line and then run right at them in the 4th quarter. Just check out the replay of the final drive in the 1981 championship game vs the Cowpokes. Tom Landry went to his grave wondering where Lenville Elliott came from.
Physical with an F may be a great talking point, but in my opinion not a very good way to win football games.
We shall see.
In hindsight, of course Walsh had the right idea, but he also had the right players to do so. The best teams in the regular season last year all had very physical offensive lines and dominant rushing games. I'm talking about New York Giants, Carolina, and Tennessee. If Plaxico Burress doesn't shoot himself in the leg, we might have had a completely different outcome to the playoffs last year.
I'm not a big fan of athletes referring to themselves in the 3rd person but it doesn't mean the kid is a prima donna. I did happen to catch the NFLN show that followed Crabtree, Cushing, and Sanchez (I think) prior to the draft. I thought Crabtree came off as very young, naive, and uncomfortable in front of the camera. He also seemed like a really good kid going thru a very exciting time. His uncle on the other hand came across as a gravy-training, unbelievably overbearing leach. I think alot of the pre-draft negativity was primarily due to the hangers-on.
Rick - Mike Martz tried the pass to set up the run and the run wide system last year with this team and everyone agreed it was a misfit for the current personnel. What Coach Sing and Coach Ray have done is finally fit an offensive system to our players strength. While that sounds like a simple idea, it was not what we have done the past few years. We have a big oversized offense live with some pretty good athletes and two running backs that like to take one cut and run up between the tackles hard. Whether it’s the better “system” or not doesn’t really matter to me, as long as we are putting our current roster and players in the best position to maximize their skills. It looks like we FINALLY are on BOTH sides of the ball. It baffles me what Nolan was thinking sometimes.
"Physical with an 'F'"? Someone can't spell. That's all.
"Physical with an F may be a great talking point, but in my opinion not a very good way to win football games." -
...Yea tell that to the steeler fans and they will show you Super bowl throphies
we all know what the "F" means.....I believe jesus would say the same thing.....
...no big deal
Relying on a power running game to score from the 3 is all fine and dandy but that power running is not good enough in today's NFL to get you to the 3 yard line in the first place. The Steelers are a pretty good example, they won the last Superbowl with a beautifully executed finesse play.
Matt should be ashamed as his part in spreading scurrilous rumors about Crabtree but unfortunately that's the media we have these days - if there's no news to report, make some up and make it negative. The only criteria is page hits.
We finally have a receiver who can execute the screen play perfectly
crabtree highlights
- http://www.youtube.com/watchv=jPz7caPqoJE&feature=related
Excellent Matt. I think you have it exactly right. Mr. Crabtree a real man will cry. I cried all through the Erickson/Nolan years. Let's get on with it already. TRAINING CAMP!
Hey Matt-
I'm pretty sure your first thought about "F" was right. As in "F U - we're going to roll the F over you". After all, the Bible doesn't forbid using the F word, just taking the Lord's name in vain. So actually "F" is a lot more Bible-friendly than "gosh darnit" which is slang for "go* dam*it", which most people today consider taking the Lord's name in vain.
I'd love to see us as a physical team like the Steelers, Ravens, Pats, etc. It's the perfect mindset and attitude for this finesse division. I have no doubt that after an off season under Coach Sing that we'll be well on our way to achieving physical with an F ;-)
"Things started before the draft when Crabtree arrived with a posse at ESPN's studios for a day of interviews, and furthered the reputation he had for acting like he was the best player in the world."
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Yep,the author did not bother to check his facts or he would have found that the "Posse" was just a bunch of Crabtree's family members and a good friend or two who were getting a free vacation courtesy of Crabtree. Crabtree figured that why should he be the only one in his family to get to take advantage of seeing all the different places he was being sent for team interviews and press interviews etc. And why should he go trekking all alone all over the Country,when he could have his family and friends share the experience with him.
The word "Posse" it seems ,is trying to make Crabtree look like a gang member or something,when in reality,his HC in college says he is a fine quality young man with integrity and if anything a rather shy young man. Not a primadonna at all !
Realfan said...
Relying on a power running game to score from the 3 is all fine and dandy but that power running is not good enough in today's NFL to get you to the 3 yard line in the first place.
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You seem to have come to an incorrect conclusion that Sing and Raye want to be a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense. Sing and Raye have both said (and ther WR's interviewed have also said ) that the Raye offense will be well balanced and will be aroung 50-50 run and pass. I believe one of the quotes from one of the WR's after the offense was installed was something like " there will be plenty of balls flying all over the field ,enough for all the receivers,in the offense Raye has installed here" .
I don't care if he cries or refers to himself in the 3rd person. All I care about is that he gets on the field and in the endzone. Who cares if he is a "diva" (I don't think he is, I think he is earnest)? He hasn't shot, raped, drove drunk, used steroids or done anything to disrupt the team. He's a 20 year old ROOKIE for crying out loud. He'll be fine. If Sing can't deal with Crabtree, you might as well cut Boone right now
Not to get off blog topic, but I just heard an interview on KNBR w/ Florio from PFT.com. He seems to be under the impression that Vick is an upgrade over ANY QB in the Bay Area. I find this hard to believe, from a skill set and statistical stand point. I'm sorry but I just don't see MV making a huge difference in the level of success the 49ers could have over either of the QB options they currently have.
Regarding the topic of Michael Vick, I never really bought into the hype, and Don Banks wrote an interesting article regarding Vick that can be found at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/don_banks/07/22/vick/index.html
Considering that he's statistically in the same league as Smith, I'm not sure if the likely risk is worth the improbable reward.
Anybody who knows the history of Bill Walsh KNOWS he used the "finesse" tag as a way of pumping up the 49ers during his winning years with the 49ers (check out Walsh and what he says to the team in play room during the week.) The Bay area writers at the time also dwelled on this "finesse" thing, and that played right into Walsh's great use of the psychological aspect of football.
Anybody watching the 49ers beating the Cowboys (who also had a history dealing with being a so called "finesse" team) in the NFC Championship and on their way to their first SB win on NFL Network can see and hear Randy Cross laughing after the game with that big smile making fun of how the team was considered a finesse team. I think he said "the finesse team just kicked the Cowboys A&$."
It was all a Walsh psychological ploy to make the "finesse" tag a hated word to the team and for the team to remember it everytime they took on an opponent.
The 49ers were anything but "finesse" in the Walsh and Seifert years. Matter of fact, they cleaned the clock of most of the teams who thought they were "finesse!"
Right on for that article, pretty good read. I wasn't sure exactly how average of a QB Vick was, but that pretty much tells it. Never had a QB rtg above 78.1, TD/INT ratio wasn't all that exciting, and even crazier is that his skills are mainly predicated on his ability to run yet he fumbles the ball like a no armed man. Again I ask how he is an upgrade over Hill and/or Smith.
Florio's a fairly funny guy and certainly a great source of NFL news/rumors, but I question how much he actually knows about the game. Certainly the west coast teams, anyway. His Vick vs other QBs list was absurd.
Everybody should keep in mind that there are about 31 other NFL coaches that also want their teams to be "physical". No NFL team wants to be known as a "finesse" team even if they play that way. The 49er players and coaches in the Bill Walsh heyday used to bristle when they were described as a finesse team. Just because Singletary says that he wants a physical team with an F doesn't mean that he'll have one. His heritage and wishes alone will not produce the "Monsters of the Midway-West"
I just started getting into his stuff, and yeah thats about all I've taken it for was "news/rumors." You got a link to that Vick v other QBs list?
I agree completely with your point on Bill Walsh and the finesse tag. If nothing else, the play of Ronnie Lott and Carleton Williamson under Walsh / Siefert blew the finesse thing out of the water.
My only point was that Walsh used creativity in his play-calling to keep the opponents off balance. Call it finesse or clever scheming, but the bottom line was that it kept the opponents guessing as to what was coming next. I see nothing wimpy about such an approach to offensive football.
Clearly, under Sing we are going to get an offensive approach which is 180 degrees opposite from Walsh's. I hope the Sing approach works, but I have my doubts.
BTW I am not a great fan of the Mike Martz system either. I agree with Mike from SF that Martz was a one trick pony who tried to run his system regardless of the team personnel last year with disastrous results. Martz had a couple of good years in St. Louis, but his system flopped in the long run. Bill Walsh's system, on the other hand, stood the test of time. 18 Straight years of 10+ wins (with three different head coaches) speaks for itself.
Here you go, Stampede. Took me awhile to find it.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/07/20/plenty-
of-teams-should-want-vick/
Thanks Skeebers – that's 2 minutes of my life that I'd like to have back.
So just a high school diploma is all that is required to becoming an online columnist for NBC Sports?
I think "finesse" is hardly a negative term, regardless of the situation it's used in. Sure, no football team wants to be known as a "finesse" team, but on any given play, I'd rather have a WR who can split the DBs and catch a ball, then get out of bounds after gaining complete possession without being touched by any of the defense, than a situation where a WR has to break a number of tackles to make a play, mostly because, in the case of the latter, the WR is much likely to become injured in the process of making the play.
Use of good strategy, be in play-calling or the application of deception, isn't finesse; it's good strategy. Finesse is in how the strategy being used is implemented; by definition, finesse is "refinement or delicacy of workmanship". An analogy for this could be seen in the treatment of cancer: if the strategy chosen is "eliminate cancerous growths", then the application radiation therapy, which uses ionized radiation to blast an area where cancer tumors exist, is an example of brute force, while the surgical removal of tumors would be the execution of same strategy with finesse.
I get that teams want to be seen as physical, but I think a touch of finesse isn't a bad thing to want when it comes down to play execution.
Right on Skeebs, 'preciate the effort bruh. It's obvious that Florio joker doesn't know crap about crap. Kerry Collins is worse than Vick? What is he basing this evaluation on? This guy is a trip. Can't wait till S-Dot-Hill tears it up in 09.
If I may Matt?
'F' as used in attitude analogies associated with
Fit/Feared/Fiery and of course, the desire to be First.
Add a Fistful of Dirt, for you Blues fans too.
Crabtree is beginning to sound like a Princess. I wonder how he is actually going to fit in with this "fysical" team. I hope he proves me wrong, but I sense another T.O. attitude in the ranks.
I was going to submit Physical with a Fight.
Physical with a Fist sounds better.
Anyone for Physical with a Finger? (you know which one.)
Websters Dictionary states:
Fysical: to be an imposing presence in both appearance and mental state.
One who is Fysical dominates those who are not.
One who is Fysical cast fear into those who are not.
Fysical always wins.
Let's not get carried away making things up; anybody wo checks Merriam-Webster's Dictionary Online for an entry titled "fysical" will inevitably be directed to this URL http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fysical and proving there's no such an entry in said dictionary.
Finesse means beating your opponent by using your brains and not your brawn. Brains will always win out which is why men rule the earth not elephants.
Martz style was to win by being smarter than the other guy. He usually was. As a result the Niner offense last year was pretty good. Later in the season when the team & Hill got comfortable with the scheme, the wins started to roll in. If Martz had stayed, it would have been even better this year. But that's all water under the bridge.
Raye is an unknown quantity. Singletary less so, he's not an X's & O's man so unless he can out muscle you, he''s got nothing left. Maybe Raye's a schemer but somehow he strikes me as a yes man that will do whatever the boss wants.
Hope I'm wrong. The running game is Gore and he's not going to last the season running 30+ times a game.