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After enough requests, now seemed as good a time as any to roll out a Greg Manusky Approval Rating poll.  We don't have a graphic for it yet, but I'll work on that.

For those who didn't know, Football Outsiders posts weekly DVOA ratings for offenses and defenses, and the 49ers are second in the NFL in total defensive DVOA.  They stand third against the rush and eighth against the pass.  Although there are certain areas where the defense can still improve (namely consistency), the swarming, aggressive nature of the defense seems to have them playing fairly well for the most part.

For this first approval rating, I'm curious what has caused the improvements in the defense?  Obviously they've had some tough games, but overall, the defense is better than last season.  The 49ers defense was ranked 14th last season when Nolan was fired, and finished the season ranked 18th.  They were 20th against the pass and 17th against the run.  Fairly middle of the road.  In looking at the current depth chart, we've had a couple big changes, but really most of the defense remains the same in terms of personnel.  The two biggest changes since day 1 are: 1) Dashon Goldson moving into the starting lineup in place of Mark Roman, and 2) Shawntae Spencer returning to the starting lineup ahead of Dre Bly (and Walt Harris since he was injured).  The second change was more recently when Tarell Brown moved into the starting lineup over Nate Clements.

I think those changes have certainly impacted the defense, but enough to sit at the #2 position in all the league?  I guess I'm wondering how much credit does Greg Manusky get?  Aside from the big name coordinators, you don't hear a lot about your defensive coordinator.  The offensive coordinators seem to get significantly more press, and it often seems easier to assess the OC as you're watching the game.

I remember there being some talk about how Manusky was never really completely free under Nolan, and that under Singletary he's been given a lot more latitude to run the defense as he wants.  In general it seems like Singletary gets a lot of the credit for positives with the 49ers, while others take the blame.  Given the improvements, who (or what) gets the credit for the 49ers general defensive prowess in 2009?

I guess this is now Approval Rating Tuesday.  We haven't done the Jimmy Raye Approval Rating since week 4, but now is as good a time as any to bring it back.  The masses called for it, so here you go (I'm thinking we'll roll out Manusky tomorrow).  Back in week 4, Jimmy Raye had a 61% approval rating as the 49ers were showing some serious signs of life.  Much has changed since then, most notably the 49ers have a new starting QB in Alex Smith.

Over the last few weeks, I think there's been a distinct divide in the Jimmy Raye debate.  There are the folks who think he is awful and should be fired as soon as possible.  They think he has no imagination and that he is just useless in creating an offense.  On the other side of the debate, I believe are the folks who think the offensive woes the last few weeks should not rest on Raye's shoulders.  They believe it is more an issue of execution and personnel.

I'll be honest, I fall in the latter category.  I do think early in the season the offensive play-calling was horrible and Jimmy Raye was not initially adapting.  However, I actually think the offense has mixed it up quite a bit in the last couple weeks.  At this point I think it's simply a matter of offensive execution.  We all know about the offensive line issues.  The o-line has some solid moments, but there clearly are issues there that no offensive coordinator could cover up.

Additionally, I think the issues of timing in the offense have taken longer to overcome than one might hope.  The team isn't learning a new offense, but they've been handed a new quarterback with different skills than the previous QB.  It's taken some time to get everybody on the same page, and some of the blame for that can go with that new QB (and I know plenty of folks will heap that blame on him).  Time is slowly running out so they definitely need to get their collective acts together soon.

We wrap this up after the jump with what might be the biggest complaint about Jimmy Raye...

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The 49ers pick up practice again today after having the last few days off.  It's Tuesday though, which means it's time for the our weekly Mike Singletary Approval Rating.  Last week saw Coach Singletary drop from 90% to 80%, although that remained 7% higher than the ESPN rating.  This week, the ESPN voters have shown a bit more support for Singletary as he currently sits at 81%.

The win over Chicago was much needed and will hopefully get the 49ers back on the track.  Of course, as with many ugly wins, it still left a bit of a sour taste in the mouths of 49ers fans.  Many folks last week were teetering after four straight wins losses.  That leaves me wondering if a hideous looking win over the Bears was sufficient to bring back some folks from the brink.  I'd imagine the approval rating would go up, as it does with any win, but it will be interesting to see just how far it improves.

In light of Sunday night's controversial Bill Belichick call on fourth down, it had me pondering the 49ers own late game 4th down call.  The 49ers were sitting at 4th and 6 on the Bears 34, up 4 points with just under 3 minutes remaining in the game.  Joe Nedney had missed an earlier field goal and Mike Singletary elected to punt the ball.  Andy Lee kicked it into the end zone, resulting in a net of 14 yards.  Not exactly a winning situation.

At the same time, I personally understand that kind of decision.  Even if Nedney had hit the 39-yarder in the first quarter, a 51-yarder in Candlestick winds would have been pretty tough for any kicker.  And Nedney is solid but in that situation, with a Pro Bowl punter, I'm guessing you're just hoping to pin them down, rather than set them up in excellent field position.

Considering that, and the generally less than courageous play-calling we see throughout the NFL, how aggressive do you want your coach to be?  There was of course that infamous play-call back in 2006 where Mike Nolan elected not to go for it on 4th and 1 at the Rams 7 yard line.  The 49ers kicked a field goal to go up 17-13 with 4 minutes to go.  The Rams then proceeded to drive 80 yards for a game-winning touchdown with 29 seconds left.

It seems to me like generally Mike Singletary has shown greater aggression in such situations.  I'd like to think that in the same situation as Nolan, Singletary might have gone for it.  Then again, maybe he wouldn't have since it was late in the game and he'd rather require them drive the distance for a touchdown.  Either way, I'm curious what folks think about aggressiveness in a coach, and particularly how they view it in Coach Singletary.

We're back for another week of the Mike Singletary Approval Rating, but the ship definitely seems to be taking on some water.  Over at ESPN, Singletary's rating has taken a big dive, dropping from 87% to 68%.  The rating here tends to be a bit higher than at ESPN, but I'd still imagine a bit of a drop-off from last week's 90% approval rating.

Since the end of Sunday's game we've had a whole assortment of comments from people complaining about this, that, and the other thing, in relation to the game.  People are unhappy with Alex Smith, they're angry with Jimmy Raye, or maybe they even just don't like ownership.  What's been most interesting is that people have been less inclined to jump on Mike Singletary.  In fact, during yesterday's press conference thread, people seemed to support Coach Singletary plenty.

However, it was LondonNiner's comment in one FanPost that caught my attention because it's an issue that I'd imagine folks need to address at some point:

So is Singletary bullet proof? Is it the case that none of the defeats are ever on him? For the record, I am not saying it is his fault. I’m definitely not saying I want him out. If there was a ‘beginning to waver’ button in Fooch’s next Singletary approval vote, I’d go for that. I would definitely not vote ‘No’.
. . .
But is the tide starting to turn? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe yesterday was the first defeat we’ve had this season when Singletary has NOT confidently predicted afterwards that we’d make the play-offs. Is he starting to doubt himself? It’s a long road back to relevance for this team, never mind dominance, and there can be no doubt that Singletary and Raye have not got the players, or at least the offensive players, to win divisional titles yet. But you DO need to see signs of improvement, and yesterday felt like we’d gone backwards in terms of the aggression, the passion, and the direction … in short all of the things you expect from a Mike Singletary team.

I've pondered the idea of adding some kind of "wavering" option to the poll.  However, for a general approval rating, I do think it is best served as black and white.  People are certainly welcome to post explanations for their votes, but for the purposes of the poll, I still prefer a straight up or down vote on Singletary.

But nonetheless, I'm curious how many folks are wavering.  I'd imagine we'll have a good mix of folks who are sticking with yes, and others who teetered over to the no column.  Either way, let's hear what you think.

We've reached a rather bizarre path in the development of Mike Singletary as head coach.  The 49ers currently sit in the midst of a 3-game losing streak, which one would think would lead to less than stellar thoughts about Coach Singletary.  And yet there reminds a positive vibe within the 49ers and folks are not jumping on Singletary's back to get things figured out.

Last week Singletary's approval rating here was at 89%.  Over at ESPN.com it dropped down to 85%.  ESPN has their current Singletary ratings going and he's back up to 91%.  It's amazing what a close loss to one of the best team's in the NFL can do for a guy.  One interesting note: The other 3 NFC coaches have received a combined 11,000 plus votes.  Coach Singletary has received close to 15,000 by himself.  I find it rather amazing the kind of passion that shows.  Are 49ers fans just that intense about Singletary, or does he inspire more voting from all NFL fans scouring the approval ratings?

Tim Kawakami had one of the more interesting links this morning discussing Coach Singletary's continued evolution.  As Kawakami put it, Singletary can inspire, but can he coach now that things are struggling:

Now that Sunday's 18-14 loss in Indianapolis has pushed the 49ers into a three-game losing streak, let's see if he can coach.

Let's see if Singletary is fluid enough and canny enough to negotiate his team through this lull. Let's see if pure adrenaline and passionate belief blends into good, consistent coaching.

So I guess the question now is what the next step will be in the evolution of Mike Singletary?  This offseason we heard a lot of talk about no moral victories, and the idea that action needed to take the place of talk.  Well, right now there is certainly some action, but there also seems to be a good deal of talk.  Will the team get this talk turned into action anytime soon?

So what do folks think of the Mike Singletary at this point in the season.  At this point do you approve of the job Coach Singletary is doing as head coach of the 49ers?

It seems like every week we go into this approval rating, something happens that gives folks pause about Mike Singletary, and something else happens that gives fans further reason to support Singletary.  Coming out of this past weekend, that little equation has gotten a bit harder to even out (or view in a positive light).  Over at ESPN.com, they ran their weekly coaches' ratings and Singletary is down to a career low 84%.  It's impressive that he's been at such a high rating, but given the path of his head coaching career, it's a number that has to be taken in a specific context.

As we look at Sunday's game, Florida Danny had an especially pertinent comment in the recap thread.

point #2 is that this game was nolan-esque from a coaching perspective. all those delays and wasted timeouts were pretty nolan-esque. what’s really a disgrace though is that the performance we saw today was based on two week’s-worth of preparation. how does a team have 2 weeks to prepare for a game, and come out as flat and unprepared as the 49ers did today? again, nolan-esque.

During and immediately after the game, two camps seemed to develop.  There is one that viewed the performance as very much Nolan-esque.  They viewed the delays and wasted timeouts as sitting on the coach's shoulders in the game management aspect of his job.  Danny's own language pointed to the frustrations that developed under Mike Nolan.  At that point folks were quick to jump on Nolan.

The other camp looks at some of the issues as having more to do with Alex Smith's rustiness.  He might be in game shape physically, but he needs some time to get the mental side of the game completely back and going.  I think one of the Texans fans in the recap or game thread was talking about that and I think some folks latched onto that theory.  Does anybody agree on this?  Always fun to be able to mix the QB discussion into every possible thread, right?

So, the team has fallen to .500 and faces a tough stretch of games with a new starting QB.  Do you approve of Mike Singletary's work at this point?  We'll also be back later this week with the Jimmy Raye approval rating.

Last week we introduced the all-new Jimmy Raye Approval Rating.  In spite of the team's early success there were plenty of rumblings about the performance of the 49ers offense.  The first three weeks saw a team that was trying to rush the ball into brick walls and not getting all that creative.  Folks were begging for even some screens and sweeps on occasion.  Nothing crazy, just a little this and that.

Well, a week later, we saw some changes.  My view of the offense last week versus St. Louis was that the play-calling was fine, it was the execution that was severely lagging.  The offense used outside runs, screen passes, and even threw to Josh Morgan quite a bit more.  The problem in execution came down in large part to the offensive line.  Shaun Hill was not getting nearly enough time to make plays against a St. Louis Rams defense that should inspire fear in nobody.  In his Monday press conference, Singletary specifically called out the play of the two offensive guards as major culprits.

Going forward, the offense will remain a major area of interest for me.  Obviously there's the Michael Crabtree addition.  We'll deal with that more later.  For now, with Atlanta coming to town on Sunday, it's a matter of what will we see on Sunday from the play-calling.  Is the development and creativity of the offensive game plan going to continue to increase each week?  How much more of this Shaun Hill-Vernon Davis connection will we see?  The Atlanta defense isn't all that great, but we said the same thing about the Rams.  What will we see this week, and do you approve of where Jimmy Raye is going with things after four weeks?

Last week when I ran the Mike Singletary approval rating, my biggest concern was how the team would rebound from the devastating loss in Minnesota.  Mike Singletary is a great motivator, but even many optimists had to be concerned following the loss.

Well so much for those concerns.  The team rebounded to paste the Rams 35-0.  One might initially argue that the team obviously struggled out of the gate, only leading the Rams 7-0.  Offensively the struggles were certainly there.  The offensive execution was a little less than stellar in the first half.  However, given prior offensive struggles, I don't see that as an issue of coming out flat after the previous game.  I say that in part because the defense was flying all over the field in the first half.  They absolutely shut down the Rams throughout the game and were playing at an extremely high level.

The defense is certainly talented, but I'm willing to give credit where credit is due.  Mike Singletary has been masterful with this team from a psychological edge.  The team made some additions to the roster this offseason, but they're really not a whole lot different from last year's squad.  The major variable in all this has been Mike Singletary.  Bill Walsh will always be the coach on the Mt. Rushmore of 49ers legends.  And yet, while it's still early, Mike Singletary seems to be on his to securing his own little spot in 49ers lore.  We'll certainly have to re-address this in the future, but consider me happy so far.

I've attached Coach Singletary's Monday press conference after the jump, but I wanted to point a couple more things that jump to my attention about his actions with the team.  I found his thoughts on halftime particularly interesting.  It showed the level to which the players are truly buying in to the message:

On whether players have begun to take ownership of his message and he can take a step back at halftime and let the players carry on his message:
"I thought yesterday I saw a lot of guys disappointed in the way the first half went. Like I said, there were no shouting matches, it was just a matter of, ‘Guys, just remember what we said we needed to do.’ They kind of took it from there. ‘Yes, we’ve got to go out and we’ve got to do this. And, we’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to execute better.’ The coaches didn’t really have to talk a whole lot. Whenever you have that situation, you know you’re going in the right direction."

On whether he wants the players to carry out his message:
"The less I have to say the better. The less I say, the better I feel because I’m going to say what has to be said and hopefully they beat me to it all the time, so we can stay on the same page."

The team has bought into the Mike Singletary philosophy hook, line and sinker (to steal Danny's VD metaphor).  This is not a team that will be quitting on their coach anytime soon.  The team never seemed to quit on Mike Nolan during the down times, but in my opinion this is a different kind of buy-in.  It's more of a playoff mentality (ironic enough given Mike Nolan's "Win the West" mantra!)

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