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Better than a kick in the...?

By David Fucillo

There's an old saying, that something's always better than a kick in the ass.  My AU Eagles loss yesterday would fall under that.  However, I thought of this (and thus the need for the amusing graphic) when reading a Ray Ratto column from last Sunday.

The title of Ratto's column is pretty clear: "Something better than nothing for local teams."  He discusses how the 49ers and Raiders have at least done something to move forward from their respectively disastrous 2007 campaigns.  Obviously I just want to concentrate on the 49ers part of the article.

So while we tend to obsess about how much money our two teams have thrown about in search of finding the air freshener, that isn't the real point. The point is, while free agency is a dangerous way to start a full remake, it still beats doing nothing and waiting for the tooth fairy to leave a linebacker under your pillow.

And the truth is, the 49ers and Raiders are still at the do-anything-and-see-what-sticks phase of their latest reorganizations.

It's an interesting take on things and I wonder how true that is.  Personally, I think the 49ers are past doing anything and seeing what sticks.  If the offensive line can return to 2006 form and the defense can develop some sort of pass rush, this is a decent little team.  However, the point of the article is the risk-taking by the front office this offseason.  First off, Mike Martz:

Martz is the classic untethered cannon, and given the right set of circumstances could be either a brilliant infusion of creativity, or gone in a year in a cloud of recriminations.

Then some of the bodies brought in:

In those ways, the Raiders are a more dynamic study than the 49ers, who have besides Martz picked up the once intriguing running back DeShaun Foster, the well-aged wide receiver Isaac Bruce and chancy defensive end Justin Smith. Oh, and they're still trolling for the noted Arizona third-wheel Bryant Johnson and linebacker Takeo Spikes, and might be convicted by Roger Goodell of tampering with Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs, if that's your idea of boldness . . . don't forget the 49ers also moved fan-non-favorites Kwame Harris and Darrell Jackson . . .

On the one hand, Ratto makes a good point in that the team is at least doing something.  However, I don't agree that these moves are serious gambles.  Considering how bad the 49ers offense was last season, Martz can really only be an improvement (I suppose the only downside is if he got all our QBs killed).  All the free agent signings are smart, relatively low-risk options.  Even the Justin Smith signing is one that balances the need for high-priced talent with financial sanity in the contract.

I guess the whole point of this is that for once, Ray Ratto isn't completely off his rocker, even if I don't totally agree with him.  All in all though, I'm certainly happy the team has been as active as they've been and not coming off a poor season twiddling their thumbs hoping luck will change everything.

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