Train Hard Swim Hard

I read an article a few weeks ago about San Fransisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh being a bit concerned that his new star quarterback might be spending a little bit too much time in the weight room getting a little bit too muscled up in the off-season.

When I was in high school, my coach told me to lay off the weights for the same concern of Harbaugh.  I did lay off the weights for a short time, but went right back to them and never stopped trying to get as strong as possible, but I did add stretching into my lifting routine throughout the training session and always maintained really good flexibility in my shoulders.  The other thing that I did and recommend to every QB regardless of how muscular or strong you are and that is swimming.  Swimming every stroke (freestlye, back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly) is a great, great workout and a fantastic way to maintain flexibility while building strength in parts of your body that you cannot really hit with weights alone.

If Tim Tebow really wants to take playing QB in the NFL seriously, he should take up a very rigorous swimming schedule and lose about 15 pounds.  He has a slow arm swing and swimming and weight loss would probably help with both.

As for Colin Kaepernick, I don't worry much about him getting too big in the off-season, but adding swimming to his colorful off-season activities wouldn't hurt his exciting and emerging game either!

49ers Coaches Blow Super Bowl

Taking nothing away from the Baltimore Ravens, but the San Fransisco 49ers' coaches made a major blunder in the waning moments of the Super Bowl that gave the advantage to the Ravens' defense with a goal-to-go situation at the 5 yard line.

The NFL and every other level of football is overly obsessed with the shotgun formation.  It certainly has its place at every level, but in short yardage situations and at or inside the five yard line are definitely not the right time or place. 

Case in point:  3rd down at the five yard line, Colin Kaepernick tried to throw a slant to his left that was broken up in the end zone.  Ravens' safety Ed Reed got an extra early jump at the line of scrimmage that wasn't called.  If Kaepernick was under center, Reed would have needed to take a left hand turn to get to the QB, but by being in shotgun, he was able to make a beeline right at Kaepernick, who was trying to get a handle on the ball and make an accurate throw.  He would have already had the ball in his hand and been able to make a better throw and had just a split second more time, increasing the odds of a winning touchdown throw.

On 4th down, the Niners took a time-out to think about their last play to either win or lose the game.  After deliberating, they chose an all or nothing fade route to the corner of the end zone.  Fade routes need to get up quickly to give the receiver a chance to catch it over his shoulder as he tiptoes inbounds.  Fades aren't that high a percentage pass to begin with, but to call it from shotgun guaranteed that the ball wouldn't get up quickly enough to be thrown properly.  Did Michael Crabtree get held?  Absolutely, but hoping the referee would call that on the final play was wishful thinking.  If the ball had gotten up earlier from being under center, the ball would have been closer to the ground and would have been much more blatant of a hold and possibly even gotten the call, but the all-or-nothing call was a very poor one to begin with.

When faced with a "win or lose" proposition, it is always a higher percentage chance to go with a multiple receiver set and a run/pass option for the QB, especially an athletic one like Kaepernick.  From the team that created "The Catch", one would think that of all the teams out there, this one would know better than to throw a fade in that situation.

Unfortunately many NFL teams are now using the shotgun in other short yardage and Red Zone situations.  This is a mistake.  The QB cannot get his hand on the ball and complete a pass as quickly as under center and cannot take advantage of missed assignments by the defense by dumping the ball for a quick two yard pick up.  The QB is asked to throw without getting his hand on the laces, increasing an errant throw and cannot get it to the receiver before he goes down the field significantly further and incurring better coverage.

The 49ers may not have completed either of their last two attempts on Super Bowl Sunday, but if they would have stayed under center like they should have, they just might still have a perfect record in those big games!

Ravens vs 49ers in Super Bowl

Before the kickoff of Super Bowl LXVII (47 for non-Romans) in New Orleans between the Baltimore Ravens and San Fransisco 49ers, I thought I would stick my two cents in on the eventual victor in what should be a very well matched game.

By all accounts the Ravens are being led through the playoffs on the emotion of their iconic and retiring middle linebacker Ray Lewis, who came back from a midseason triceps injury to make one final run at the Lombardi Trophy, like the one he and his team won in Tampa, Florida in 2000.  The Ravens defense has been the team's calling card for pretty much all of his 17 seasons and isn't what it once was, but they are still pretty good, but aging significantly.

The 49ers counter with great young talent that just missed this final game a year ago and responded strongly with their interesting head coach Jim Harbaugh, who took a very educated gamble on sticking with Colin Kaepernick's hot and talented hand when Alex Smith was ready to return from his concussion.  The Pistol offense is all the rage right now with the fast QB Kaepernick running it to perfection. 

Pretty solid arguments can be made for either team and the "experts" seem to be split down the middle as far as I can see.  The oddsmakers give the 49ers the edge.  In this case, I side with the oddsmakers because of the speed of the 49ers, their solid defense and the fact that the Niners have the right people running this multi-dimensional attack.  I believe over the last two weeks the 49ers coaches have come up with a plan to stop the big pass plays that have helped propel the Ravens through the playoffs as well as stop Ray Rice on the ground with their front six or seven if needed.  I really like Joe Flacco as a QB and believe he has climbed that ladder to be considered one of the best in the league, but tonight will not be the beginning of his legacy of Super Bowl wins.

So with that said, I will go with the 49ers winning a great contest 31-27!  I wouldn't go to the bank with it, but I will stick with it.

Concussion Weekend For QB's

Heisman Trophy front-runner Collin Klein of Kansas State didn't finish Saturday's victory due to an undisclosed injury, thought to be a mild concussion.  Sunday followed with multiple NFL QB's getting knocked out of their games with concussions, inlcuding Michael Vick's "significant" one. 

Alex Smith of the San Fransisco 49ers didn't make it to the finish line of his team's tie, the first tie in the NFL in a few years.  And Jay Cutler was also done early due to a concussion.

Vick has been on top of the list for starting QB's getting replaced each week, alongside Mark Sanchez of the Jets.  Vick's replacement Nick Foles looked pretty good in his stead and the Eagles need something to change, so this may give Andy Reid the breathing room to make the switch.

The Bears don't seem to be in as good a position on back-up QB, so they will be hoping Cutler gets back quickly.  On the 49ers watch, even though Alex Smith has resurrected his career with Jim Harbaugh and generally played well and kept his team at the top of the division, his huge back-up Collin Kaepernick is one to watch out for taking over that franchise in the near future!  Kaepernick seems to have it all, so even a small slip-up by Smith may give the feisty and firey Harbaugh a much quicker hook than would otherwise be warranted.  The NFL--Not For Long.