I have to admit, I haven’t followed much football since, well, it’s been a while. I wasn’t around on Draft Day, but from what I have read so far, it seems the 49ers might be finally on the right track. Who knows what would have happened if Scot McCloughan was still GM. More BPA? The 49ers and Trent Baalke did something that seems different. Let’s see, is it drafting for need this time? I remember a time when the 49ers didn’t draft Offensive Lineman in the first round. Kwame "El Matador" Harris was the first I believe since Harris Barton. Jeremy Newberry was a second round pick, and Eric Heitmann was a seventh round pick. The 49ers are going with a full on youth movement with the offensive line. The 49ers might be one of the youngest offensive teams in the NFL at this moment. But youth still has growing pains. Just how much will youth play into success?
One thing that is encouraging is that the 49ers have a solid coaching staff that has finally addressed the one area that has been absolutely horrid recently: the offense. Mike Solari has to be salivating. He may be the best offensive line coach for the 49ers since the late, great Bob McKittrick. There has been plenty of discussion here at Niners Nation recently on just what kind of offensive style the 49ers will have in 2010. Whether it’s Air Coryell or Ground Chuck, you still need the horses to execute whatever play is called. For the 49ers to be successful on offense in the future, it will come down to two areas: the offensive line, and the quarterback. These two areas are part of the youth movement on offense. The 49er offensive line of recent has given up a ton of sacks, yet even David Carr should suffer way less sacks if he was behind center this season. For both Carr and Alex Smith, this could be potentially one of the best offensive lines they have ever played with.
Are we excited yet? After the jump, more thoughts on this, and a small funeral for Print Journalism, complete with a bugel and a shotgun salute.
The commitment this first round of the draft tells us this: the one obvious area of need - where even us fans knew had to be focused on - was the offensive line. For Solari to have success, it will be due to blocking. The 49ers have the best blocking Tight End in the NFL in Vernon Davis. Why is he the best? Because, under Mike Martz and Mike Singletary, he had to be committed to that role. Davis is a devastating blocker. If Davis was a safety, he would knock the taste out of your mouth. Singletary Football is defined by execution and attitude. Davis, Frank Gore, Patrick Willis, Aubrayo Franklin, and budding youngsters in Michael Crabtree exemplify it. The offense can and should be explosive. Because 49er football is all about offense. Are we finally back to the true identity of 49er football?
After this first round of the Draft, we very well may be.
Finally, my thoughts on Matt Maiocco’s departure from the Press Democrat:
One of my favorite writer’s ever was, and still is, the late Pulitzer Prize winning sportswriter Jim Murray. Wanna know why? Here is one of his quotes:
"I never saw any of man's baser acts of inhumanity to man. I never saw screaming 'witches' burned at the stake, Christians tossed to starving lions, maidens pushed over the edge of active volcanoes. I never even saw a man going to the electric chair. But until I do, watching Ben Hogan walk up to a five-foot putt is my idea of cruel and inhuman punishment, only a Hitler would enjoy. You feel like saying 'Go home to your wife and kiddies and don't look upon this terrible thing!'"
Bill Moyers will have his final broadcast on PBS this Friday. Here is a YouTube clip with David Simon, co-creator of HBO’s "The Wire". It’s a long clip, but the discussion leads into the demise of print Journalism, and the danger it presents.
The great thing about this site is that I, a person with a no Journalistic background, is able to communicate with all of you, granted a certain status on the Front Page. But I still depend on information firsthand from the people who really work the front lines. Maiocco leaving the Press Demo isn’t as disconcerting being that a dependable source for 49er information is not as accessible as it once was. It’s more like the lack of need for a beat writer like Maiocco due to economic models that we actually have control over as consumers, but not at our doorstep in the morning. I once used to pay to read Jim Murray in the Los Angeles Times. I now have to sift through the pablum of Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers on the Internet. Journalism isn’t dead yet. It’s up to us, now that we have an impact on it. The danger is if we predicate information on bias. If we value our own opinion over others, then the truth will always be obfuscated.
That being said, eat a lot of bacon this morning. Trust me, its good for you.