49ers OC Mike Johnson And RB Brian Westbrook: A Match Made In Heaven?

While there were many complaints about 49ers OC Jimmy Raye, one of the more annoying developments was his stubborn refusal to work Brian Westbrook into the 49ers offense on anything remotely resembling a regular basis. I realize as a new player Westbrook had to learn protection schemes and the like, but are you telling me that in the course of five or six weeks Jimmy Raye couldn't figure out how to get him involved in more than 3 offensive plays (1 against New Orleans, 2 against Kansas City)?

I'm not here to dump on Jimmy Raye but I never could understand what seemed to be a stubborn refusal to utilize the very unique skills Brian Westbrook brings to the table. And so now the 49ers have Mike Johnson at the helm. While the playbook will not be changing, the utilization of plays within that playbook will likely change in some form or fashion. What will that mean for Brian Westbrook? Will the 49ers utilize more two running back sets feature Westbrook and Gore? We know both guys can do wonders as receiving backs so would the team mix them in? If you really want to get crazy, you throw in Delanie Walker and you could really keep defenses on their toes.

Will we see more of Brian Westbrook in the coming weeks and in what fashion would you suspect? Along the same lines, does this mean we'll see some more Anthony Dixon as well? At this point it's all speculation, but until we see what happens on Sunday, that's really all we've got. It sounds like Mike Johnson will speak with the press later this week in the normal OC media session, but I suspect he won't give too much away when it comes to the upcoming game plan.