As 49er fans we all know about Vernon Davis' athleticism and star ability in football. Most of us are also aware that he participates in curling, to the extend that he's the honorary captain of the US Curling team. Is there a third sport awaiting for him to conquer?

Recently Sports Illustrated asked 121 NBA players which athletes from other sports would be able to play in the NBA. As you'd expect there are quite a few NFL tight ends on the list, but there are some names thatare just a little unexpected as well (Drew Brees?). Vernon Davis came in at 11th on the list. It's kind of an interesting look at what active players from another sport think about other professional athletes, though the list might have been better titled "What NFL players do NBA players think could make the transition?"

Join me after the jump for the full list.

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Well, this one ought to be pretty easy, right? If there's anyone who draws the vitriol of 49ers fans everywhere, it's Moran Norris. He of the famed "stumble-and-fall" pass route, or the "pinball-blocking-attempt" move...sometimes there's even a combination of both, like the "stumble-and-fall-at-the-feet-of-the-guy-you're-supposed-to-block" move.

Well this year brought something new to the party for Norris: the bench. It started out as an injury, but it was quickly evident that Bruce Miller was just a better FB than Norris. Miller had a beautiful swing-pass touchdown early in his tenure in 2011 and continued to show his athleticism all year.

Oh, wait, this is supposed to be a grade on Moran Norris...Well I hate to say but I think there were some very minor improvements in his game this year, although a 10% improvement on a performance near zero isn't much of an improvement at all. I think it's safe to say that Frank Gore's favorite teammate might be going the way of the dodo bird.

After the jump we'll take a look at Norris' numbers from 2011.

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I'm not generally one to throw around words like "clutch" or "winner" or any of the other terms that are often used to describe quarterbacks. However, I'm going to make an exception in this article because one of the many criticisms leveled at Alex Smith over the years is that he's not a "clutch" QB, and that when it comes down to leading a game winning drive he's more likely to throw an interception than to throw a touchdown.

As such, here are a few interesting tidbits from the season this year. 

4th Quarter QB rating
Prior to Sunday's game Eli Manning was the NFL leader for 4th quarter qb rating. Sunday's game saw Alex Smith improve his 4th quarter QB rating from 106.7 to 118.8, which is fantastic no matter how you look at it.

4th Quarter Wins
Sunday's game saw Alex Smith lead the 49ers to the team's 4th come from behind win this season. 

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All the talk about Anthony Davis coming out of the draft made me think that he lived in a really weird house. He had a somewhat low floor, which he seemed to be around quite frequently coming out of college. But, he also had a really high ceiling, and the 49ers for some reason wanted him to duct tape all of his furniture to his ceiling and live up there instead.

Apparently, the coaches could help him with that. "With good coaching and as he gets older," experts would say, "Davis could reach his high ceiling." So for the 49ers' sake, I hope Davis does not get vertigo.

Moving on from all this talk about Davis' ill-proportioned house, and setting aside the fact that nobody talks about his walls, the story about Anthony Davis on the 49ers has been a frustrating one, and perhaps a tenuous one, since the day he stepped onto that stage a drafted man.

First off, we traded up to get him. I don't want to write an entire dissertation upon this topic, so I will just say this: Trent Baalke is much smarter than me and way more good-looking. He knows what he is doing. If he wants a player and thinks that player is vital to the team's success, then he can trade any picks he deems necessary to get him.

And let this be my official invitation to Trent that I will help in any way possible. An opposing GM likes fresh milk? I will find the nearest available udder and homogenize the crap out of that liquidy-goodness myself if it helps us get a player. I have no problem with trading up for Davis.

Jumpy-Jump Time.

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This past Friday, I had the good fortune of attending a reception at Gallery 1307 here in San Francisco where 49ers tight end Vernon Davis exhibited 13 paintings he has created in recent years. For those that were unaware, Davis is passionate about the arts, and in fact majored in studio art at the University of Maryland. He has created numerous works of art but had not exhibited them before this past Friday.

I was able to attend this exhibition and have posted some pictures from the evening after the jump. I didn't get pictures of every piece, but I did get shots of some of my favorites. You can head after the jump to check some of them out. The picture attached here at the top of this post is a picture I took of Vernon standing next to a self-portrait he painted.

It is because of his love for the arts that Vernon Davis has committed himself and much of his charitable work to arts education. This past week, Vernon Davis announced a partnership between his Davis Family Foundation and the community-based A.R.T. Ambassador Youth Program here in San Francisco. The A.R.T. program is a four year curriculum geared towards high school students who demonstrate a genuine interest in the arts.

In the most general sense, Davis is encouraging kids to pursue their dreams no matter what. While Davis has always had an interest in the arts, he said that as a kid growing up in the inner city in Washington, DC he stifled that interest to some extent because it wasn't the manly thing to do. According to Davis you either played sports or sold drugs. With this program, he hopes to help kids in similar circumstances get a chance to express themselves creatively a lot sooner in life.

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Last spring as the 49er faithful gathered around their tvs to watch the draft I can imagine a giant "huh?" go up when Aldon Smith was selected 7th overall. He wasn't a highly touted draft pick when the 49ers made him their first round selection. Then the 49ers passed on a CB in the second round to select Chris Culliver in the third. Culliver was another no-name draft pick. 

Both of them have turned out far better than anyone could have expected and both are possible Defensive Rookie of the Year candidates. 

Aldon Smith

Smith is fifth in the league in sacks at 5.5. You might recognize the names ahead of him. Jared Allen, Demarcus Ware, Jason Babin, Jason Pierre-Paul. What's truly amazing is that the's done this despite not being a starter. He's taken all of 201 snaps this season. The next lowest amount of snaps is Jason Babin at 282. It's not unreasonable to assume that with adequate playing time Aldon could end up with double digit sacks. In fact he's on pace for 14.5 sacks on the season which would tie the all-time rookie sack record which was set by Jevon "The Freak" Kearse in 1999. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that Aldon Smith could beat that record.

He also has a safety and a forced fumble.

Chris Culliver

Culliver is another 49er defensive player who is not a full-time starter though I expect that to change. In fact he didn't get any significant playing time until the Tampa Bay game where he played 29 snaps, then the Detroit game he played 69. In that time he's managed to get 8 tackles, an INT and 4 PD. If he plays this well the remainder of the year he could end up with over 20 passes defended and 6 INTs. The odds against him are slim--a DB hasn't won Defensive Rookie of the Year since Dale Carter did it in 1992. 

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There was lots of good discussion between my post and Tre's post. I'm going to take the time to rebut the arguments made in defense of Gore and then present visual proof as to why I feel Gore has lost his spring. 

The most common arguments I heard about not blaming Gore for the poor performance are these:

1.) He's got a new center and coordinator and a new terminology

Frank Gore has played with a new offensive coordinator each of his years in the league just like Alex Smith has. The offensive line has been dramatically different from year to year in each of his previous seasons as well. In fact the transition from last year to this year is the most stable this offensive line has been in years, with only one change on the line. 

2011--New center, new coach, new coordinator. 
2010--new center, new left guard, new right tackle, new coordinator
2009--two different players at LT, a new RT (who would be the worst in the league) new coach, new coordinator
2008--five different guards, (Baas, Snyder at LG, Snyder, Rachal, Wragge at RG), 2 different head coaches, new OC
2007--new LT, new RG, new LT, worst RT in the league (Kwame Harris),new offensive coordinator
2006--new LT, new LG, new RG, worst RT in the league (Kwame Harris)

In other words this team has been incredibly dysfunctional his entire career yet he's managed to produce. What makes this year different? His hip injury from last year and his ankle injury from the year before. It adds up. 

2.) The line isn't getting any push. I'll demonstrate that this is wrong after the jump. 

Even if it wasn't getting any push it's almost exactly the same offensive line as last year when he averaged a full yard per carry more through the first two games. If it was the line to blame he should have had the same performance last year as this year. 

3.) You can't use YPC as a measurement for how well a running back is doing. 

Sure you can, as long as you remain consistent in year to year examination. If I use ypc one year and then switch to some other advanced stat the next year that doesn't work. If you compare ypc year to year it works because you're comparing the same thing. It might not work as a measurement to compare league wide (e.g. ranking the top 5 running backs in the league), but as a year-to-year performance metric it's as good as any other. 

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Going into this season there was some major concern about Frank Gore's recovery from the hip injury that caused him to miss the last five games of 2010. He reported to camp saying he felt like he was 21 again, but his running hasn't backed that up. There has been criticism directed at the 49er offensive line, but I believe that Frank Gore has actually not fully recovered from his hip injury and may never recover.

I give you five reasons why I think Frank Gore is done as a starting running back. I'll examine each of them in more detail after the jump.

5.) He's 28. 
4.) This is not his first serious injury.
3.) He just got paid on a new contract (albeit a small one). 
2.) We drafted a running back in the 4th round
1.) The contract he got from the front office shows a lack of trust in his ability

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