Mike Martz is delivering. We’re only three weeks into the season but we’ve already seen more offense than in 16 games last season. We’ve even seen the 49ers go for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the one. Glory be!
Martz turns the NFL coach’s dictum — we take what the defense gives us — on its head. He makes the defense react to what he’s doing.
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We’ve learned one thing from the 49ers’ first two games: J.T. O’Sullivan is a legitimate NFL quarterback.
My media colleagues have been skeptical, even dismissive, of O’Sullivan, but on his KNBR show last Friday, I told Gary Radnich I was keeping an open mind.
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The media frenzy has been about Lane Kiffin’s future, but nothing will change with the Raiders until Al Davis is no longer in charge — and that could happen sooner than you think.
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Giants executive Pat Gallagher and I were talking in the AT&T press box about his 1986 slogan, “You Gotta Love These Kids,” and whether it should be revived.
“We were desperate,” he remembered. “We were coming off a 100-loss season and nobody knew our players. Of course, one season later, everybody knew Will Clark, Matt Williams and Robby Thompson.”
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Mike Martz is the 49ers’ offensive coordinator but it’s still Mike Nolan’s team, which is a huge problem.
Nolan was vague when asked about offensive play calls and Martz left the locker room after Sunday’s game before any questions could be asked, but knowing both men, there were two plays on which I believe Nolan overruled Martz.
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J.T. O’Sullivan knows offenses. He played in a pro-style offense at UC Davis, he’s bounced around the NFL and even NFL Europe, and he was exposed to Mike Martz’s system in Detroit last year. So what makes Martz’s system different?
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The A’s master plan is falling apart because of what’s happening off the field, not on it.
The A’s blueprint has been clear: Kiss off much of the current fan base, rebuild the organization to provide a consistent winner from 2011 on and build a new park in Fremont to attract rich fans from Silicon Valley.
The first part of the plan has worked perfectly. They couldn’t have done a better job of alienating their current fans if they had planned it.
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Last fall, after Kevin Riley had his first extended action against Oregon State, I wrote that Riley could be the next great Cal quarterback. Saturday, in the season opener against Michigan State, he has his chance to start proving that point.
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J.T. O’Sullivan’s rise to the role of starting quarterback for the 49ers again raises the question: Why do NFL teams have so much trouble evaluating quarterbacks?
O’Sullivan was a sixth-round draft pick, as was Tom Brady, usually considered the best quarterback in the game. But Brady got his chance early, and O’Sullivan has bounced around the league, playing so little that he only qualifies for the NFL minimum salary of $645,000 this season.
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Lane Kiffin has learned the secret of success for a Raiders coach: Showing that you can challenge Al Davis.
Davis has always had an overwhelming presence, but he also has respected coaches who challenge him.
John Madden did it by scrapping the Davis offense to play smash-mouth football in the ’70s. Talking within Raiders headquarters, Davis threatened to fire Madden, but he did not. Madden’s 1976 team was the first Raiders Super Bowl champion — and Madden is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Cal coach Jeff Tedford doesn’t like a two-quarterback system, but he may be forced into it this season, at least for the early games. He had hoped to name a starter by midweek, as the Bears start to game-plan for their Aug. 30 opener against Michigan State, but a clear No. 1 quarterback has not emerged.
The good news for Cal supporters is that both Nate Longshore and Kevin Riley have looked good in spring practice and summer camp. They’ve also eliminated the negatives from last season.
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Mike Nolan’s worst nightmare is looming. Though the 49ers-Green Bay Packers game at Candlestick is only an exhibition, if Aaron Rodgers has a good game, it will remind people how Nolan blew his first and most important decision with the 49ers.
To review: In early 2005, though he had never been an NFL head coach, Nolan was named coach and general manager by 49ers owner John York. The Niners had the first pick in the draft and chose Alex Smith over Rodgers.
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Barry Bonds proved he was bigger than the Giants, major league baseball and the ever critical media when he showed up for the team’s 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday night.
The capacity crowd at AT&T Park cheered resoundingly for him, and Bonds reciprocated, praising the city, the team and its fans repeatedly. It was a love fest, not surprisingly; in the 15 years Bonds was a Giant, the fans who came to the games loved him.
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When Brian Sabean and Ned Colletti renew their friendship before the start of the Giants-Dodgers series tonight, perhaps they can reflect on the fact that they’re two of the worst general managers in major league baseball.
Colletti got a huge gift last week when the Boston Red Sox shipped Manny Ramirez west. The Sox were tired of Ramirez’s antics, but the latest players poll in Sports Illustrated had David Ortiz and Ramirez as the two most feared clutch hitters — and the pitchers surveyed voted Manny No. 1.
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The decision on the 49ers starting quarterback could be made as early as today, offensive coordinator Mike Martz told me after the morning practice at Santa Clara on Saturday.
Martz wouldn’t say which quarterback is the likely choice, though when I asked him if there had been any surprises, he said, “J.T. O’Sullivan has shown me more than I expected.”
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