USA Today: Michael Crabtree - torn Achillies

[TheGOAT#80]

Crabtree was considered a washout as well. 9ers will be fine and crab will be back soon enough.

No he wasn't. Got a link or two? Plenty of us wanted him drafted instead of Aaron Curry that year, and kept an eye on him because he was drafted by a division rival. Some controversy because of his petulant holdout, sure, but a washout? Toss us some evidence.

Have to agree with you here.

Anyone who thinks Crab was a washout hasn't been paying attention. Crab has never had an issue getting open. He's only had an issue with the QB getting him the ball.

I totally agree with you. Kaep showed his true potential. Alex just loved Davis too much which is fine. Regardless I'm happy for both the 9ers and the Seahawks and the entire NFC west. I got no hate in the west.

 

[RichNhansom]

How is hatred for 9ers unhealthy? I embrace it.

 

[TheGOAT#80]

There is hatred and then there's obsessed hatred. I'm done here. Happy memorial day all.

 

[RichNhansom]

I think I belong to the latter but I seem to live a healthy life. Oh well. hey happy memorial day to you also and give our best to Papaki and all the TF fans.

 

[TheGOAT#80]

I hate the cowboys so I guess I shouldn't say anything. But the Seahawks truly are my second team so I'll keep it respectful here.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

There is hatred and then there's obsessed hatred. I'm done here. Happy memorial day all.

Please be more ridiculous. There's drama and then drama queen, I figure you as the second.

 

[TheGOAT#80]

Like I said I'm keeping it respectful as a Seahawk fan so please no drama. I'm done with this conversation so if anyone else has something "witty" to say, you won't get no response from me.

 

[Marvin49]

I don't think even a single 49ers fan would argue that point, Rich. Harbaugh walked onto a team stocked with the better part of a decade's worth of high draft picks, (not just 1st-rounders, but keep in mind early picks in the 2nd round, 3rd round, etc.; it matters) and undoubtedly many of the players were looking for new blood to lead them. Nearly the opposite of what Carroll walked into with the Seahawks. An old, largely talentless roster that had resulted in a 4-12 season in Holmgren's final year and a 5-11 season the year after with Jim Mora, Jr.

Bleh. I'm so happy with what Pete Carroll and John Schneider have done here, words can't even describe it. Sooooooo many alternative scenarios could have played out. Endless rebuilding like the Browns, for instance.

I do agree that the 49ers are a product of what happens when you have really good GMs and really bad coaches and then you get yourself a real coach.

That doesn't mean tho that Harbaugh isn't the real deal. All it means is that it happened so quickly because there wasn't as much work to be done as people thought. The additions of Aldon, Kaep, Carlos Rogers, and Jonathan Goodwin also made a big difference. The decisions to use players who were already on the roster but hadn't gotten a chance proved huge as well (Navorro Bowman, Ray McDonald, Alex Boone).

Harbaugh has done this everywhere he's been...USD, Stanford, and now SF.

Now he's losing some guys (Goldson, Walker). We'll see if the team keeps it up but I suspect it will because the wealth of the 49ers isn't just at head coach and talent on the field...they also have some of the best assistant coaches in the NFL. Getting to the SB has actually helped them in this regard because Greg Roman and possibly a few others would have moved on by now if the Niners had not advanced as far as they did.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Relax, we're not saying Harbaugh's not the real deal. He's a very good coach. I think he's a little overrated is all, because he walked into as "dreamy" of a situation as ANY new coach anywhere in the world could HOPE to walk into when making the jump to the NFL. He walked into the best possible chances one could imagine to have success. Get what I mean?

 

[Marvin49]

Relax, we're not saying Harbaugh's not the real deal. He's a very good coach. I think he's a little overrated is all, because he walked into as "dreamy" of a situation as ANY new coach anywhere in the world could HOPE to walk into when making the jump to the NFL. He walked into the best possible chances one could imagine to have success. Get what I mean?

I get your point...but I don't think it was a cushy as you make out.

He was walking into a team that hadn't won in a decade the only "real" QB on the roster had been labeled a bust.

Did they have talent? Sure they did. It hadn't been an ideal situation for a coach for quite some time tho.

 

[Jville]

:177692: the situation was ideal .... they just didn't have a head coach. The 49ers were among the leagues most recognized underachievers for a number of years.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

I seem to remember them getting picked as odds on division winners years running. Everybody knew if they got an actual coach they would roll.

 

[Marvin49]

Again...I'm not saying they didn't have talent on the team. They had quite a bit...but it isn't like Harbaugh didn't do anything to improve it. He turned Smith into a winner and was instrumental in getting Kaep. He attracted some of the best assistant coaches in the NFL. He and his coaching staff identified talent that was already on the team and underutilized (McDonald, Boone). Alex Smith alone...he was almost universally seen as a bust. In 2 years they turned him into a QB that could be traded for potentially 2 second round picks.

The Niners were a joke for a LONG time. They had talent but couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot. They played in a decrepid old stadium. Their GM was an alcaholic.

Jed York, Trent Baalke, and Jim Harbaugh deserve a TON of credit here for turning the franchise around. It wasn't just about flipping the talent (and drafting Iupati, Anthony Davis, Navorro Bowman, Aldon Smith, and Colin Kaepernick helped)...it was about changing the culture.

Now they have made 2 deep playoff runs, open a brand spanking new stadium in 2014 (that is already 80% sold out), and will host the SB (Area, not the team...probably) in 2016.

So...to reiterate...YES, they had quite a bit of talent on the team, but it was far from ideal. They really didn't have a QB. Harbaugh rebuilt Alex Smith while building Colin Kaepernick. He did the same at USD (Josh Johnson) and Stanford (Andrew Luck). It's easy to look back now and say "look at all the talent...it was ideal there" but it was pretty grim here before Harbaugh was hired. I remember national media people saying they were "sure" he wouldn't choose SF because it was too disfunctional. The media all but had him going to Denver or Miami because those situations were so much "better".

 

[RolandDeschain]

"Far from ideal"? Come on, man. You can't get much more ideal. I guess theoretically if Bill Belichick had died of a heart attack just before the first Brady Super Bowl win, whoever walked into that would have a better situation; but seriously, for a team where they are firing coaches to find replacements, you can't realistically expect a better situation to walk into as a new head coach. Virtually every other team finding a head coach over the past decade was a considerably worse scenario.

 

[RichNhansom]

Outside of Tomlin in Pittsburgh I can't think of a comperable situation situation for a first time NFL coach to have walked into. Maybe Gruden but both Gruden and Tomlin have Super Bowl rings.

 

[Marvin49]

LOL.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

You can look at it NOW and say it was ideal, but I don't know too many people who predicted an appearance in back to back NFC Championship games after the 2010 season.

Tomlin inherited a SB winner with a QB and Gruden inherited a team who had made the playoffs several times under Dungy. Harbaugh inherited a team that hadn't finished over .500 in nearly a decade without what people considered a viable QB.

 

[Laloosh]

Outside of Tomlin in Pittsburgh I can't think of a comperable situation situation for a first time NFL coach to have walked into. Maybe Gruden but both Gruden and Tomlin have Super Bowl rings.

Gruden to Tampa was the example I'd give. He backed into a ring there and they went downhill under his watch.

Harbaugh is a better coach than Gruden in my opinion so I don't see the team being hurt by coaching but yes, he is enjoying the benefits of walking into a situation with a good pool of talent that was under-performing.

Carroll turned swamp water into wine. Niner fans can say what they want but the guy has done an amazing job with the roster (with JS's help of course).

 

[Marvin49]

Outside of Tomlin in Pittsburgh I can't think of a comperable situation situation for a first time NFL coach to have walked into. Maybe Gruden but both Gruden and Tomlin have Super Bowl rings.

Gruden to Tampa was the example I'd give. He backed into a ring there and they went downhill under his watch.

Harbaugh is a better coach than Gruden in my opinion so I don't see the team being hurt by coaching but yes, he is enjoying the benefits of walking into a situation with a good pool of talent that was under-performing.

Carroll turned swamp water into wine. Niner fans can say what they want but the guy has done an amazing job with the roster (with JS's help of course).

Who said any different? I wasn't making a Harbaugh/Carroll comparison...

....ohhhhhhhhh. I get it. THAT'S what this conversation is REALLY about...making yet another argument how something about the Seahawks is better than something about the Niners. So while not actually using the Carroll Name, the Harbaugh "walked into a great situation" is really code for "Carroll is better because he had to build the entire team".

 

[RolandDeschain]

Harbaugh inherited a team that hadn't finished over .500 in nearly a decade without what people considered a viable QB.

Due almost entirely to retarded and inept coaches. What part of that is hard to understand? What, you think Harbaugh's presence doubled the skill of every player on your roster overnight when he arrived? Gimme a break, he's smart enough to utilize talent well when the previous guys weren't.

 

[Marvin49]

Harbaugh inherited a team that hadn't finished over .500 in nearly a decade without what people considered a viable QB.

Due almost entirely to retarded and inept coaches. What part of that is hard to understand? What, you think Harbaugh's presence doubled the skill of every player on your roster overnight when he arrived? Gimme a break, he's smart enough to utilize talent well when the previous guys weren't.

I've stated several times the roster had talent...but Harbaugh was the one who was able to utilize it. Most of all tho he coached up the one position more important than any other...the QBs.

Alex Smith doesn't turn it around without Harbaugh. Kaep isn't as far along as he is now without Harbaugh. Talent all over the roster isn't enough unless you have a servicable QB.

Harbaugh did that. Alex wasn't servicable before Harbaugh.