Matt, will you be writing this week or are you off for the bye?

Sorry, just realized this isn't Matt's post.

Nah, how about a 49ers Roll

Random obersvation:

I have to give a hat tip to Smith (Falcons HC) or whomever their OC is. After seeing Sing call a timeout, and then call the entire team around him to challenge them, the very next play call was a jugular thrust. Talk about squashed.

Matt:

When will Reggie Smith be available to be the starter at SS ?

Everyone needs to RELAX, amazing how everyone OVERREACTS to one performance. I was at the game, it didn't seem as bad as the score. The game turned when it looked like the 49ers were gaining control at 14-10 and Atlanta had a 3rd and 4 at their own 10 and Rowdy White beat Clements on a TERRIBLE play by Clements on a simple out. If he doesn't go after the interception the SNOWBALL affect probably doesn't happen and you have a good game. Then the BS Call on the kickoff fumble at 21-10 turn the game completely around to Atlanta giving them the ball right back deep in 49ers territory AGAIN. Everything after that is simply irrelevant because the 49ers just wanted off the field. REMEMBER 40-8 to the EAGLES in 1994, a lot worse than yesterday and look how that year turned out.

1) Morgan and Bly, just what are you doing????? Just run your ass to the endzone.

2) Hill played okay, the 1st interception hurt, but once you go outside of what he does well the offense will struggle. Should have put in Smith to keep the fans from getting on Hill wrongly after every incompletion.

3) The Bubble Screens are CALLED WAY TOO OFTEN!

4) Clements has played great this year until yesterday at corner so I'm not going to start the move to Safety chant again but that was against a BIG TIME receiver even though he played Fitzgerald very well at the beginning of the year.

5) Could be a good thing, 2 weeks to chew on it, Remember, Gore and Crabtree DID NOT PLAY. Very surprising because it is a Singletary team that they didn't come out disciplined. Only game before this was the first one against Seattle last year. This is STILL THE BEST IN THE WEST and besides Minnesota are the only team that has a chance to get MUCH BETTER as the season goes on with Gore Back and Crabtree. They will respond just fine. Sometimes you just got to take the medicine and the team and the fans did yesterday.

MM - our GM has been on the record multiple times regarding his perceived value, or lack thereof, of Guards in the NFL and not wanting to pay them top dollar. Do you think that has changed? I'm watching MNF and I'm reminded of Miami's good right Guard in Justin Smiley. Boy could we use him right now.

After reading this post the last thing I think of is "real fan"

I agree and I could feel it coming.

Three NFL Starting Guards we had and didn't resign

Chris Dahl - Right Guard Falcons
Kyle Kosier - Left Guard Dallas Cowboys
Justin Simley - Left Guard Miami Doplins

Great post and better attitude JVI !!!
Great season so far and Hill has played great until yesterday,even with the O line letting him down week after week.
Hopefully they come back against the Texans and get back on track.And hopefully they change something with the O line personnel or blocking schemes or something,or Hill might not last the season,and the last thing any Niners fan wants is for the backup to need to come in a game,when the starter is sooo much better.
If Hill does get knocked out for any length of time,I wouldn't mind letting the kid davis get some experience and get him ready to take over sooner.Even though he is not ready now,maybe it would be better to have him ready to start next season ,rather than have smith come in and play like smith always plays.

If Hill goes down they will go to Smith to see how he is doing now that his shoulder has healed fully. There is no denying he didn't do well overall, but prior to his Seattle injury in 2007 he was playing well and improving. After that the idiot Nolan played him when he was clearly injured.

And who wants to destroy Davis behind that line? I still think Smith is blamed for many problems that were caused by a very poor O Line and different OCs. Let's not repeat that error with Davis.

Matt, this video wrap is better than last week's: More info that wasn't available during the game. Good reporting-- on a lousy game.

Please keep us informed on how Sing & co. handle this loss during the next two weeks in terms of focus and managing the players' reaction to getting skonked.

you say that shaun hill is the problem? give me a freaking break. the WHOLE team collapsed! as a matter of fact, s. hill was probably the only bright spot on the team. he even rushed for over 50+ yards on his own. if you're going to blame anyone, blame the defense. the defense gave up 45 points!! 45 POINTS! dre bly show boating even before he got halfway down the field and he let the falcons stripped him of the ball! look how everything fell apart:

1 - on the opening kick, nedney kicks the ball out of bounds.
2- later he misses a field goal.
3- josh morgan had a for sure td, but he slows down before he got to the end zone.
4- coffee thinks it's a td and goes off the field.
5- nate clements getting burned constantly.
6- walker is down and the ball comes out and the ref calls it a fumble.
7- instead of tackling the receiver, clements goes for the ball and white runs for a 90 yard td.
8- dre bly showboats and loses the interception.
9- walker gets hit with multiple personal foul penaties.

there's probably more, but you get the idea.

it doesn't matter if you're peyton manning or matt ryan, if you don't have time to throw, you're going to be just another schmoe lining up behind the center.

from mid-season to now, even with our pitiful OL, shaun hill still has more wins than most qbs. imagine if he actually has time to throw the damn ball!

give me a break...REAL niner fans see the whole picture and not just one person.

GO NINERS!!

49erthor,
You are EXACTLY RIGHT! Everything you mention is true, it's like they didn't even show up and that is the most surprising thing to me about the whole game. They were in the game halfway through the 2nd quarter and then the mental collapses were unbelievable compared to what we have seen from the 49ers so far this season and like you said it started with the opening kickoff. The shocking thing is that a team under Singletary would come out with that sort of attitude. The first 4 games is a much better representation of what this team is going to be and remember that Gore was out and that is a HUGE loss and Crabtree may be able to add are Harvin like spark. It's one game and they will learn from it, Singletary will make sure of that.

Hi Matt, Marco said it all. After the 2006 season there was genuine optimism regarding Alex because he was being coached by a pro in Norv Turner. After the injury there is nothing to go by in terms of game evaluation but the negative vibes from Nolan that I believe turned many people sour. I tore a rotator cuff and the last thing you want to do with a shoulder injury is lift, but Nolan put him on weights costing him more lost time, and injury. Hill has no juice on his throws. Get Alex in the mix and Nate too, let's see what we have, this season is a building block for the future.

Thank you, MarkW. --Matt M.

Marcoeah ,Iagree that they will go with Smith if Hill is injured,and they should. But you are fooling yourself if you think he was coming along fine until he was injured He was never playing good football,ever. What you saw from Hill yesterday would have been an average day for Smith against a good team.As a matter of fact I believe if Smith was there instead of hill yesterday it would have been worse by far (if that is possible) and Smith probably gets hurt. Against the bad teams Smith was just his normal 60 QB rating,hardly any improvement at all from day 1 .He WAS better in 2007,but only the difference between laughably pathetic to just plain pathetic,what an improvement,lol.

JVI1979 - yes, it's amazing how uncharacteristic everyone on the team play opposite on how they played in the first 4 games. singletary in his presser knew and said that the OL is the problem. he said he's going to spend the next 2 weeks figuring out the problem and try to fix it. if they drafted a top-tier OT instead, that would have been the best first step in solving some of the problems.

JVI1979 - yes, it's amazing how uncharacteristic everyone on the team play opposite on how they played in the first 4 games. singletary in his presser knew and said that the OL is the problem. he said he's going to spend the next 2 weeks figuring out the problem and try to fix it. if they drafted a top-tier OT instead, that would have been the best first step in solving some of the problems.

hey! it happened again! i was commenting on how one"9"er got pulled and they pulled the post i commented on. that's too funny! so if his name is spelled out, it's filter? what a trip!

btw, do anyone here know why one"9"er got ban?

well i watched the press conf with dry bly and since i ripped on him relentlessly my last 4 comments ill say me personally as a 9er fan will accept his apology and hopfully he will have a great year moving forward. you cant have enuff respect for how Sing runs this team

MY real thought however was i just got done watchin MNF the Fins line is nasty and i cant help but to notice one guy in particular just whipping guys ass's.... #65 Justin Smiley, just pushin guys back... does that name ring a bell to anyone??? :-(

He was probably saying something about Shaun Hill and farm animals or something. That "guy" will pop up as someone else to terrorize us I'm sure..

Yeah that doesn't make any sense.

By the time the 1st contract is up if the guard turns out to be a keeper he's going to be worth what the market value is. So we train him, get him used to our system, & once he's established we let him go to another team?

How are you supposed to maintain continuity on the line? I think the GM has to re-think his strategy. The few plays I concentrated on Smiley tonight he looked damn good. If we re-signed a solid YOUNG (after his 1st contract) starting guard not only would we have our continuity but we could also have filled other glaring needs. That was a 2nd RD'er on Rachal which we could have used on a pass rusher, QB, RT, NT, FS, CB, etc.

On Rachal lets hope he's able to correct his pass pro. I hope it's mental mistakes (unsure about some of his assignments) he's making that CAN be corrected & not a physical one where he lacks adequate lateral quickness.

If some of it might be physical could he be a little overweight?

Could it be technique/style of play? I remember Staley saying something about that after his Rookie year. In the beginning he was just doing what the Coaches told him but after he got acclimated he said he wanted to attack his oncoming rusher more on pass protection instead of waiting & letting the rusher dictate to him. I'm sure Coach Sing & Foerster should figure it out.

check out this cute utube video regarding the crabtree holdout....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfGUzVi7wJY

WOW.. I thought the 49ers would win.. this is the Falcons team I saw play last year.. GOOD team.
BUT this was a 24 oz can of whup A put on them.. Not much positive in this disaster. Except that the Falcons aren't in the NFC west any more and they don't have to play them again...
If Matt Ryan can lite up the D what will Peyton Manning do? OUCH..

Where is oneniner??
I would have thought every other post would be from him and would sound something like:

Shaun Hill is horrible, the 49ers will never win with Hill, Alex Smith is the greatest QB of all time why is he on the bench?? If Smith started this game the 9ers would have won 45-10

Where are you oneniner... this is your time to shine... you might even make a few friends

I saw pretty much the whole game...I did have to turn it off late in the contest...I couldn't stand to watch it any more, and the NE-Denver game was a LOT more compelling. Easy to pick on S. Hill...when you're the QB and your offense is as putrid as that, you'll get some of the spears. However, the ENTIRE offense just stunk up the field...the OL was just awful. Coach has said there'll be some changes and he needs to start w/Rachal, whose play has taken a downward spiral. Wragge needs to be the guy...he'll solidify the RG spot. As for RT, Snyder's the guy unless he proves he can't cut it, then Pashos. Our right side was the biggest culprit on Sunday, and OL has to be a priority in the next draft. Besides an inability to keep Atlanta off their QB, they also failed to open meaningful holes for Coffee. He's not ready to take the load just yet, not so much of an indictment against him as it is the OL. Getting Gore back and Crabtree on the field should give our offense a boost. The receivers also disappointed...they got virtually no separation and I saw none of them fight for the ball.

What surprised me the most was our defense...they were just outmatched the entire game. Falcons obviously did a great job of game planning...and for whatever reason it caught our guys totally off-guard. Our tackling was atrocious...it wasn't just Clements, it was everyone. I even saw Willis miss some. No pass rush...Ryan could do whatever he wanted, and he did. Couldn't stop the run, either...Turner gouged us pretty good. Our DL wasn't even set down on a number of occasions...unacceptable.

ST's weren't good, either...muffed kickoff return, Nedney missed a very makeable FG, kicked out of bounds, even the normally reliable Andy Lee had a substandard game.

BL: our guys just weren't ready whatsoever for what Atlanta threw at us. Bad preparation job from Singletary on down...let's hope this was just an abberation. It had better be, because our guys will be facing some of the better passing teams in the league. That starts with the Schaub-Andre Johnson combo on the 25th.

My boy Sanchez looked good last night.

Where the hell did Henne come from???? He looked AWESOME. What an arm. (sigh)

Parcell's is AMAZING. That man knows how to shop for the groceries. He can build my O & D Lines any day.

Great MNF game. Your right ShaneO, the Phins OL is nasty. So are their RB’s. Williams still has IT.

..obviously i am not happy about the loss.....but i am just glad the conversation is now "S.Hill get booed at home" ...and A.Smith should get a chance

...this is interesting ...because usually fans wont boo a QB who had won 6 straight games at home....they would chalk up the loss as just a bump on the road,...

but niner fans know better -
they know our current QB will never start on a college team...

they know those wins had nothing to do with the QB S.Hill...

they see other QB's on sunday and ask themselves why can't muy QB do that?

....we face texans, then colts.....two teams with QB's that will put up points......

with S.Hill at QB we will lose those games.....we can't keep expecting the defense to bail us out.....

and FYI to Coach Sing all that tough talk is nothing...its the players that win games

Yes the O-line is the WEAK link for sure & Hill was running for his life most of the time but when he did throw with that noodle arm it was either short or off target. Hill never seems to get the ball to his WR's & to me that's a major problem with the offense. Defenses can just flood the short zone because they know noodle arm can't throw the ball beyond 15 yards. I don't know if the O-line can be fixed with the players the 49ers have on the bench but Sing has to bench Chilo for sure.

I don't disagree with you that Smith never showed much as that is pretty clear. But I want another look at him before we let him go. That kid was running for his life back there and has had 5 straight diffferent OCs

Whatever the QB our O Line is horrible at pass protection and we won't move up in class until we solve that. Again we near at the bottom of the league in week 5 and that has been the same for the last four years.

Matt, the Niners put in a waiver claim on DT Michael Bennett of Seattle (Bucs got him). Why would they do this? Who would get cut on the Dline if they had succeeded?

OK people. Time to put the Atlanta loss in the rear view mirror.

Singletary all but confirmed yesterday that Rachal will be benched. I hope Sing goes all out and benches Bass as well. I went through the practice squads of the entire league and here is a list of Guards:

Miami: Mark Lewis
Baltimore: Bryan Mattison
Cincinnati: Jason Shirley
Cleveland: Pat Murray
Indy: Jaimie Thomas
Jacksonville: Cameron Stephenson
Tenn: Ryan Durand, Fernando Velasco
Denver: Mitch Erickson
Kansas City: Darryl Harris
Oakland: Roy Schuening
Dallas: Travis Bright
Philadelphia: Paul Fanaika, Mike Gibson
Chicago: Johan Asiata
Atlanta: Jose Valdez
New Orleans: Tim Duckworth
Arizona: Trevor Canfield
San Francisco: Drew Radovich G

My understanding is that any team can sign a player off any team's practice squad as long as the player id placed on the active roster. I don't know if any of these guys are better than Rachal or Bass but they can hardly be any worse.

That's a very good observation. Everybody in the stadium (and on TV) knew what the first timeout was about. And it could have worked. Atlanta's playcaller did the right thing: He went for an immediate TD. Most likely he called that play because of the timeout.

Hi Matt...i think its that your posting videos etc, except all of that is blocked from work so guys in my office cant access any of that content on breaks etc :(

Side note, i made the trip from Alaska to watch this last game, i picked a beauty.

My head was in another place in seasons 2005 & '06 just getting out of the military & being a Civilian again. I wasn't following the team as closely as I am today. Smith was thrown to the wolves in his Rookie year with a talentless team & OL. Heck Manning was horrible in his Rookie year. Except as of late this year & last, most Rookie QB's struggle. But in '06 as all Niner fans know Smith clearly started to make progress. He did start to show something. So I too would definitely like to see him in action again before we cut ties. I still don't have much confidence in Raye. I believe Smith needs a top notch OC who knows how to bring QB's along to steadily develop him. Norv was perfect for him. Heck Turner's on the hotseat again. I wonder if there's any chance he gets released mid-season a la all the rumors here in DC about Zorn? Sing is pretty much trying to take the next steps Nowin built the foundation on here & I believe Sing & Norv could co-exist & respect one another. I wonder if a Norv return could be a possibility? Just throwing it out there.

Regardless if it's for Smith or not our personnel fits Norv's style of Offense. Davis with his QB tools should also excel in this Offense. As far as looking at the history of both OC's, Raye has been mediocre & average but Norv is a WINNER. He's probably along the same level as Cam Cameron who is highly respected around the league as an OC. Hill is clearly limited in stretching the field with his below average arm strength. In this Offense we NEED to get the ball to our WR's horizontally & more so downfield vertically.

But without a doubt the OL has to be straightened out first & foremost!

That will probably be Sing & Foerster's top priority in this Bye week.

..Matt, as you probably already know Brady Quinn is on the trading block, would the 49ers be interested in acquiring him?

MM - During the QB competition you continously made a point of Shaun Hill's leadership qualities....

Do you still agree Shaun Hill has the qualities of a good leader?

Do you consider Shaun Hill behavior during the game as qualities displayed of a good leader?

Was this what you meant when you wrote Shaun Hill's body language shows command of a good leader on the field?

It has been 5 games - can you point to one instance Shaun Hill has shown the ability to build chemistry within the offense....or shown he can lead?

Why do I ask? -

Because a true leader would not pout and curse himself over and over during a blowout.

A true leader would have found a way to bring the whole offense together.

A true leader will find ways to adjust to the pressure?

Have you ever seen Payton Manning or any of the top QB's who are known for their leadership behave like that during a game.

Also I will like to know why is it when the offense plays badly the rest of the offense gets blamed but when they play well Shaun Hill gets credit?

Observations of last nights MNF game...Anybody wish we resigned J Smiley? Great to see two teams with future Franchise QB's. Really impressed with Henne. How about throwing Pat White in there for a couple lays with the game on the line and being ice cold??? Talk about juevos! I wish our staff would go for it more often. Conservative football is boring. Let the dogs hunt! Maybe we should let Gore run the ball out of the wildcat as he's our best offensive player. 2 TE's, Gore, Coffee, and Norris...smash mouth. Throw in Crabtree and Morgan or Battle for blocking and that is a power unit.

"Because a true leader would not pout and curse himself over and over during a blowout."

Weak case you bring before the jury. Then Steve Young never showed qualities of a true leader with he visibly got upset over his poor play in games during his illustrious career.

it shows heart, not lack of leadership.

Now on physical abilities re Shaun Hill, stick with that argument and all of us can continue to belabor that point to a pulp.

interesting you decided to reply to only one of my opinions...

ok in the spirit of a good argument...

Isn't showing "heart" being able to look at your teammates and say what needs to be done?

Don't you think S.young would have communicated better to his teammates what he wanted from them?

When we had a diva WR (T.O) it seems the QB's at the time had no problem getting everyone on the same page

If you were a teammate on offense and you see your leader blaming himself, seeing his body language - why would you as a teammate on offense think something is wrong with you......won't you look at the situation, as, he his blaming himself, so it must be his fault, i guess i don't have to fix anything.

example 2 hot route passes to vd - way off

The argunment:

QB Shaun Hill is blaming himself for playing poorly offensively.
The team is horrible offensively.
QB Shaun Hill is responsible for the horrible offensive play.

I believe the premise above is true - which makes the conclusion true

the offense looks like a chicken whose head has been chopped off running zig zag around the field.....

I know McCloughan has drafted some O Linemen, but they just are not working out as yet. I understand it isn't easy, but somewhere somehow we must build an O Line.

Currently Football Outsiders has us ranked 30th in run and in pass protection. They are right and that is and has been our major problem for the last four years.

We have given up 16 sacks in 5 games(29th in the League). So wasn't Martz's scheme fault as was claimed,

Yes, Hill didn't have a good game. But everyone played bad.

Should we break down all players, Clements, Wilis and other favorible players that didn't do good yesterday and call for their replacement??? NO, so why are we calling for Smith or unproven rookie Davis??

Hill gives us our best chance to win. We already know we can't put him in a 50-10 situation, especially with this OL. If the OL worked the way it should at least 75%, and the defense made a stop or two when needed in the first half the game would have been different.

Hill is not the problem, Niners are an 8-8 team this year.

matt, i can't find an injury report from last game. i 've find no update on snyder and Mc donald.
Do you think losing Mc donald early in the game had a huge impact on the defense?

Hill is part of the problem, but it's not his fault. He very well may give the Niners the best chance to win right now, but he is a stop-gap QB and leads this team nowhere towards deciding it's future QB.

If there are truly people in the Niners organization that still think Alex Smith can be the QB of the future for this team, then he should be in there. This is a defensive team as is. Let's figure this guy out once and for all so there are no doubts about where he lies. Smith should have started the beginning of the season so the team can finally cross him off the future list of 49er QBs and move on. With Hill starting, we are dragged on another year.

So, the 49ers have two first picks next year. We need O-Line like crazy and a pass rusher as well. But wait!!! Do we need a QB too?? Who knows? because we spent a whole year playing a QB that essentially has no future with this team. He is gone next year. Either Davis starts or someone else does. That's reality. And if Alex Smith was losing games for us right now, we can consider him gone too and finally have some sense of where this team is going at the QB position. Instead it is just as foggy as before, and we may very well use a high pick on a QB where we really need an OL or pass rusher instead.

Now, I think this team can certainly go 9-7 considering the team that showed up for the first 4 games. I think the West goes through San Fran this year. But I also think this team is a duck in the playoffs. And I would bet that I'm not alone. I like Shaun Hill. A lot of people do. But the decision to start him is foolish right now for this team because it doesn't solve any problems that are there now. We still need to figure out who is the next QB. My bet is we can cross Hill off the list. I would like to cross Smith off the list once and for all too and move on. That is, unless he came out this season and killed it (not likely).

Just my two cents. Thanks for listening.

Kory Sheets just got picked up by Miami off of our P-Squad. Damn!!

Don't worry...Miami doesn't know two craps about RBs...

Who's their VP of Operations anyways??? Prolly doesn't know a hoot about talent eval...

In all seriousness...that sucks. There are a lot of people who wanted to see that kid's talents on the field at least once, myself included.

That's weak. They should give us Smiley back.

Where are you getting this?.....also read they had activated their 2008 sixth-round pick Lex Hilliard

The Niners were trying to save face by not releasing Smith. They also thought he might have chance to be the starting QB. Got him cheap if that's the case. But when he DID NOT beat Hill out for the starting job, then his career in SF was over.

Ok, I'm glad we both and most everyone else agrees Hill is not the future. With that, we need to win games... this is about winning games. Unless we are in the same predicament at Tenn, 0-5 sitting on V. Young. We are not, we are winning and building moral. So we need to go with the best chance. Smith's play is weird. He doesn't seem right. Sanchez looks good, Henne jury is still out, Ryan looks GREAT. Smith is uncouth.

Now, about the draft (damn the redskins for loosing). Two first rounders, that is exciting. I think we can do a good job with some FA acq's. As for QB, whic his the topic of our discussion, I've thought about this extensively. My mind is not made up, with so much time and football between now and draft day.

Let's consider the Niners make it to play-offs with Hill. Do they just say we need a new QB immediately?? Or do they cut Smith (please please please, for both parties sake)... then they retain Hill... then draft a QB and let Davis and the NEW QB battle for the back up role. Next year, Hill is replaced mid season and Bradford/McCoy/Davis is ushered in...

I don't know, I just know if Smith was going to do something he would have by now.

"If there are truly people in the Niners organization that still think Alex Smith can be the QB of the future for this team, then he should be in there. This is a defensive team as is. Let's figure this guy out once and for all so there are no doubts about where he lies."....With Hill starting, we are dragged on another year."

....AND THERE FOLKS IS MY POINT SINCE DAY 1.

Thank you Rooster_tail for your excellent post...

I just like you will like to cross A.Smith off the list once and for all and move on......

we can't go next season still worried about the QB play....its just getting tiresome....enough is enough

I crossed Alex Smith off my list when Hill beat him out in Camp.

Prime time players, make prime time plays, in prime time. Smith did not come through and he is not a #1 QB. He is worse then Carr and Couch.

Smith is off the list, face it.

cmon...dude...lets be reasonable here...we both want the niners to win.

"Prime time players, make prime time plays, in prime time."

Camp is not primetime....and obviously for S.Hill primetime is too big for him...

you made the point yourself..."Next year, Hill is replaced mid season and Bradford/McCoy/Davis is ushered in..."

if Hill is replaced next season that means we have a losing season already or else why would he be replaced?

this is continuous cycle that needs to stop.

All i know is we have invested heavily in a QB - and nobody can objectively say he his a failure

the fans want to see him play, the owner is not going to cut because they want to see him play...

i wanna see him play so I can know for sure - it will be easier to cross him out with real evidence instead of...."I just know if Smith was going to do something he would have by now." -

How do you know that?......can you bet your life on that statement?...cmon guys

The only problem is that Smith doesn't seem to be off the organization's list. As long as Smith is still lingering around on the roster there will always be an element of 'living in the past'.

As for the future QB, I have my certain doubt about this year's QB draft. Don't really like McCoy or Bradford. The way the season is folding out, I would bet Bradford will go in the top 3 to either the Rams or Browns. That leaves McCoy still around, and I'm on the fence about him. My gut says he gets eaten alive in the NFL. Tebow is a college guy, nothing more. Haven't paid enough attention so far to see who else is coming up. And what of Nate Davis if we do go QB early? That's another interesting question. I like Davis and would love to see what he has before drafting QB high again. My gut says go OL and OLB (pass rushing). If we go QB in the first round, we lose out on either a 1st round OL or pass rusher, and may just put another high priced whipping boy behind a soft O-Line. You pay more for a QB too, as always is the case. Tough decisions coming up for this team.

For all you so called 49er fans (basher-rats) who constantly tear Shaun Hill down because of this and that. Realize:
Hill is under a constant pressure that most QB's in the league don't have to deal with, other than at certain times during the game...NOT EVERY PLAY! Ryan alone could have stood back in the pocket for 8 to 10 seconds!
There's nothing wrong with Hill's strength of arm! He has slow receivers that the db's have been eating up! Even Bruce looks like the Jerry Rice who was trying to play longer than he should have! Slow, slower, and slowest! My God! His receivers don't even look for the ball when THEY think that not involved in the play! This is inexcusable for ANY receiver!
Hill can move in the pocket, unlike Smith who can only run to the sideline and throw the ball out of bounds! Believe me, if Smith was put in at QB, the first thing he'd be thinking is it's deja vu all over again! Under the pressure the OL allows on EVERY play he would have 10 more INT's than Hill!
Realize you just don't like Hill and his style of play! It wouldn't matter if Brady Quinn was on the sideline! You'd be crying for him to be QB!
Go bash the Raiders! Now that would be easy! You've got 53 players to bash

Yep is going to be a tough decision this year. The Niners are on the brink and need to make positive steps and smart plays.

They have to support Smith b/c he is on the roster. They will give him a chance if the opportunity is perfect. I doubt Hill falls completely apart. I want to see Davis too, but how is he going to jump Smith?? Smith needs to get hurt again... or cut...LOL.

As for next year, it will be VERY interesting. If Davis shows he can perform he should be given an opportunity to take the starting job from Hill during camp. He needs to learn the plays and hit some big down field passes. If he starts Hill can relieve him if he is faulting. The team MAY support a change for a game and then back to Davis...

Not sure if it is just me, but i am not able to see any link to the video wrap up, and i would like to see it.

A couple of weeks ago Nate Davis said his goal for this season is to learn the playbook 100% . If he learns it well,and there is no reason to think he won't,then next mini-camps and OTA's and then in training camp,he will get whatever reps he deserves.
I think he is the future . imho he is better than Hill and Smith blended into one person,with the best traits of each,much better.
But he needs to prove it on the field. We know what we have in Hill and Smith.Hill is a fighter and a winner and a leader and has very good intangebles etc etc.. Smith is young and has decent arm strength,although not a very accurate arm,and seems like a fish out of water in the NFL.

This is either Davis' team or we need to draft or trade for another QB.Hill should be the man until that long term solution takes over. Only time will tell (as it told the sad story of Alex smith).

Terry, Good call on Hill. IF the team had a better QB he'd be playing NO Qb can play under pressure. PLUS your point of people not liking Hill anyway is spot on. Is he a top 10 QB in the NFL ?? No BUT Hill is not a cement head content to cash his bonus checks good points....