SF Chronicle 49ers Insider App: On the Brink

February 04, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

NEW ORLEANS – He was angry. He was proud. The call went against him, went against Jim Harbaugh, went against the 49ers. They had lost the Super Bowl. The unblemished record was no more. The dream was finished.

And yet Harbaugh saw what we saw, a football team, a 49ers team, which was dead in the water, which trailed by three touchdowns and came within a play of victory.

“We were right on the brink of winning it,” said Harbaugh. He’s not a could-have, might-have sort of guy. He’s absolute, unforgiving. This time he also was correct.

Right on the brink. Right where a Joe Montana or a Steve Young might have pulled it. Right where a Colin Kaepernick could not quite do it.

Harbaugh, after again losing to his brother John, the Ravens coach -- in 2011 in a regular season game, this time, Sunday night in Super Bowl XLVII, 34-31 -- was frustrated and disappointed, honest and, yes, angry.

They say never to let a game or tennis match, any sporting event, come down to an official’s call, because then you’re at the mercy of someone making a judgment. Yet that’s exactly what occurred.

Fourth down and goal. Fourth down and five yards from probable victory, although with 1 minute 46 seconds remaining and Joe Flacco – the game’s MVP – at quarterback for the Ravens, who knows?

Kaepernick, rolling hot after a mediocre start, a start echoed by the supposedly efficient 49er defense, threw toward Michael Crabtree in the end zone. Crabtree couldn’t get to the ball, couldn’t get there because TV replays showed he was seemingly held by Baltimore’s Jimmy Smith.

Harbaugh went ballistic. He yanked at his cap. He screwed up his face in a grimace beyond description. He shouted at the official. He went unheard, and the 49ers went winless, incurring their first loss in a Super Bowl after success the previous five times.

“We want to handle this with class and grace,” said Harbaugh, not exactly the epitome of either when displeased. “We had several opportunities to win the game. We didn’t play our best game. We competed and battled back. Yes, there’s no question in my mind that there was pass interference and then a hold on the last one.”

This was not a game we expected the 49ers to play, to get beat by Flacco on third-down passes, to turn the ball over on a fumble by LaMichael James and an interception by Kaepernick, to give up a 108-yard kickoff return to open the second half and fall behind, 28-6.

Yet, conversely, this was the game we did expect the 49ers to play, to hang in, to hold on, to wake up the echoes, and the 49ers fans among the 71,024 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. There was Kaepernick finding Crabtree, there was Frank Gore slipping into the end zone, there was David Akers kicking his third field goal of the game. Suddenly, 28-6, was 28-23.

Kaepernick, with 302 yards, joined Montana and Young as Niners quarterbacks who have completed more than 300 yards passing in a Super Bowl game. Kaepernick, with 62 yards rushing, did not join Montana and Young as Niners quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls.

There was a touch of the surreal to the game, and not only because the Ravens had the ball some five minutes more than San Francisco or because Flacco picked apart the Niners' secondary.

But because late in the third quarter there was a power outage at the Superdome, half the lights over the field and all the television sets and Internet connections going out for 34 minutes. It was similar to what happened Dec. 19, 2011 at Candlestick Park before and during a 49ers-Steelers game.

When power was restored for a Super Bowl game which would last 4 hours 14 minutes – but was one play short for San Francisco – the Niners started their rally. “We got a spark,” said Harbaugh, “and we weren’t going to look back after that.”

Others will. They’ll wonder why, after a two-week break and numerous practices, on the first play from scrimmage, a 20-yard pass from Kaepernick to Vernon Davis, Davis was penalized for lining up in an illegal formation. They’ll wonder why the final sequence was composed of three straight incomplete passes from Kaepernick.

And, as Harbaugh, they’ll wonder about the non-call. But Crabtree will not, to his credit.

“It was the last play,” said Crabtree, “and I’m not going to blame it on the refs.”

Neither will Kaepernick. “We had to score,” said the quarterback. “The fourth down play wasn’t the original option. It’s something I audibled at the line, based on the look they gave us. I was just trying to give (Crabtree) a chance.”

He gave him one. He gave the 49ers one. They were unable to take advantage of it.

Newsday (N.Y.): 49ers' gifted Colin Kaepernick poised and aimed at Ravens

February 02, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

NEW ORLEANS -- He is a 25-year-old with biblical tattoos on his arms and a sense of purpose in his manner, a man who in a matter of weeks has gone from a place on the bench to a key position in the biggest NFL game of any season.

Colin Kaepernick is a star, a mystery and, as the man in control of the pistol offense, the primary weapon for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens.

Read the full story here.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider App: It's all business with Harbaugh

February 02, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

NEW ORLEANS – The mystery is the attraction. That and the success. What we know about Jim Harbaugh is that his teams, at the University of San Diego, at Stanford, and now with the 49ers, win football games.

What we don’t know about Jim Harbaugh is almost everything else, other than his daily attire – the black sweatshirt, the khaki pants – and his circuitous, indirect answers to questions other than the color of his sweatshirt or his pants.

Which is the way he wants it. And what he wants is what Jim Harbaugh gets.

“We don’t give nothing away,’’ said Niners tight end Delanie Walker.

But on the eve of Harbaugh’s first Super Bowl, Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and his brother, John, something has been given away about Jim Harbaugh.

It wasn’t where we might expect, in the Chronicle Sporting Green or even on ESPN. Instead – and this is so perfect for Harbaugh – it was in the Wall Street Journal. So perfect because Jim Harbaugh is all business.

An article by Kevin Clark points out that Harbaugh is a disciple of Andy Grove, the 76-year-old intellectual and former chief executive of Intel who in the mid 1960's wrote a guide to keeping on top of one’s game – and we’re not talking sports – “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

Of course. Jim Harbaugh, Mr. Paranoia, Mr. “We Don’t Give Nothing Away.” Other than those two fumbles which cost the Niners a chance to make it to the Super Bowl a year ago.

“His whole demeanor is about that book,” 49ers cornerback Perrish Cox, told Clark about Harbaugh.

Is that why he is so evasive? Is that why when asked if his own experience as an Raiders assistant coach in the 2003 Super Bowl, No. XXXVII, Harbaugh responds, “I think everybody’s anybody’s experiences; we’ll use all to a cumulative affect thing”?

Is that why he hoped we’d believe back in November that Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith both were first-string?

Brother John said Jim is merely toying with the media, that deep down there beats a loving heart, that we really haven’t seen the man he knows. There’s a reason, certainly.

Jim won’t allow us to see that man. He chooses to keep us at arm’s length, psychologically if not physically.

Jim, what have you seen from the changes to the Ravens offense since Jim Caldwell became coordinator a couple of months ago?

“Yeah, we’re not going to get into a lot of scheme talk,” said Jim Harbaugh.

“What’s new, what’s different. What we expect them to do.”

What we expect from Harbaugh isn’t exactly the unexpected but more significantly the unorthodox. Bench Alex Smith after a mid-season injury for someone who never had started an NFL game, Kaepernick? Is Harbaugh crazy? No, paranoid. And brilliant.

Jim is the son of a coach and the brother of a coach. Intensity? “An enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” Jack Harbaugh, the father said that about his sons – and daughter, Joanie Harbaugh Crean, wife of the Indiana basketball coach. And three days ago, Jim Harbaugh said it about the way the 49ers are going about their business.

Harbaugh played under Bo Schembechler, who when Jim got his first head coaching job, at San Diego, said to his pupil, “Tell me you’re going to have a tight end that puts his hand in that ground on every snap. Tell me you’re going to have a fullback that lines directly behind the quarterback, and a halfback in the I-formation.” He had that until Kaepernick and the Pistol.

Harbaugh studied the films and videos of teams coached by Bill Walsh, who led the Niners to three Super Bowl victories.

Harbaugh, we now learn, also is paying homage to the philosophy of a fellow worker from Silicon Valley – if in a slightly different sort of production – Andy Grove, who wrote, companies don’t die because they are wrong but because they won’t commit.

The Niners head coach is very committed and rarely wrong. the best example is Kaepernick, who most of us, including former Super Bowl quarterbacks turned commentators Trent Dilfer and Steve Young, believed wasn’t experienced or poised enough to get the Niners to the Super Bowl.

Paranoia? Someone dared ask Harbaugh whether he second-guessed himself after the decision to go with Kaepernick, as if such an admission ever would be made.

“I hesitate to answer those questions about that,” Harbaugh said in a Harbaugh manner. “All those questions and answers really lead to a lot of self-promotion . . . I’d rather answer those questions another time.”

Meaning, he won’t answer them.

“Life is full of bitter disappointments,” was a Harbaugh comment. He was referring to the playoff loss which ended the 2011 season. But that axiom also served as a reminder to those intent on finding out more about the coach or his team.

They don’t give nothing away.

Newsday (N.Y.): Frank Gore runs hard but speaks softly

January 27, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- He was dancing for a few seconds after scoring what would prove to be the winning touchdown in the NFC Championship Game.

Then, suddenly realizing it was out of character -- even when it meant a trip to the Super Bowl -- Frank Gore waved his arms as if to say "this isn't me" and stopped.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): Jim Harbaugh turns tables on John Madden

January 27, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- John Madden is known for his television work and the EA Sports game that carries his name. But he also was the coach who led the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl win over Minnesota in January 1977.

Now, living in Pleasanton, east of San Francisco, Madden has a daily morning show on KCBS, an all-news radio station. On Friday, he called 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, whose team will meet the Ravens -- coached by brother John Harbaugh -- next Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII.

Read the full story here.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: How to play the Pistol: Chris Ault explains

January 25, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

The elements of the formation are basic. The man who is directing things is not. The Pistol works. Colin Kaepernick makes it work.

Chris Ault just stepped down as head coach at the University of Nevada in Reno. That after proving he could design a scheme which would help his team and then many others take the steps they wanted on a football field.

“We’ve had more fun with this thing,” said Ault. So have the Niners.

“It is the next big thing in the NFL,” said Trent Dilfer, the ESPN analyst, and appropriately with the Super Bowl matching those teams, a former quarterback for both the Ravens and 49ers.

Ault had coached at Nevada, where he graduated in 1965, from 1976 to ’95, then became athletic director. “We used the one-back offense,” he said, “and were the No. 1 throwing team in the nation.”

When he returned as coach, his philosophy changed. “In this day and age, if you’re going to win a championship, you’ve got to run the ball better,” said Ault.

He wanted the quarterback off the line of scrimmage but not as far back as the five yards or so in the shotgun formation because that makes for too much side to side running.

He moved the QB up and the running backs directly behind him so that the backs could run right at the line of scrimmage. It was the spring of 2005.

“My assistants were getting their resumes ready,” said Ault, 67. “They thought it would never work.”

It worked when Nevada went 13-1 in 2010. It worked when the Niners beat Green Bay and Atlanta to advance to Super Bowl XLVII. It worked because the defense isn’t quite sure how to play. It worked because Kaepernick, with great speed, with a great arm, is at the controls.

“There is so much more to the Pistol,” said Ault. “You can run anything you like. With a quarterback being in a position where he can carry, that’s a dimension they haven’t had in the NFL.”

Which answers the question whether a unique college offense – do not call it a gimmick, insists Ault – could find a place in the pros, who are notoriously rigid in their beliefs how to play offense and what a quarterback should do.

As Ault pointed out, with Robert Griffin III of the Redskins, with Kaepernick of the 49ers, the Pistol is a perfect alignment.

“You have a thrower who can run,” said Ault, “or a runner who can throw. The Pistol provides opportunity along that line. And because the quarterback may run, as Colin did in the playoff game against the Packers, or may hand off as they did to (Frank) Gore against the Falcons, the (defensive) rush against the offensive line may be slowed down. The Pistol is not just a read-option formation.”

Kaepernick was a redshirt freshman in the fall of 2007. “I had seen him at a high school quarterback camp we had,” said Ault. “He had run the Wing-T in high school, so he hardly ever carried the ball, but I saw what he could do.”

When Nevada’s starter was injured early on that season of ’07, Kaepernick stepped in – as five years later he would step in to replace an injured Alex Smith with the 49ers. “It was a great marriage,” said Ault of player and plan.

In his four seasons at Nevada, Kaepernick passed for 10,098 yards and ran for 4,112, becoming the only player in the Football Bowl Subdivision to pass for more than 2,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000 three times in an undergraduate career.

As we know, Niners coach Jim Harbaugh went to Nevada to scout Kaepernick. As we know, Niner offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who was at Stanford with Harbaugh in 2010, “loved the downhill element” of the Pistol.

"Sure, it can be defended,” said Ault. “Any formation can be defended. But it’s a matter of personnel and execution.”

So far, the personnel who have executed have been on the 49er offense, as in 2010 they were on the offense at Nevada, when the school not only made it to the Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T but also upset then unbeaten Boise State.

“It isn’t predicated on the quarterback running,” Ault told the NFL Network about the offense. “The defense will take away some of the runs, but that leaves the middle open.”

As it did Sunday in the NFC Championship, when Gore scored two touchdowns.

Because the running back is directly behind the quarterback, the linebackers do not have a clear view, making it harder to key on the running back.

While Colin has copyrighted his touchdown gesture, “Kaepernicking,” Ault unfortunately never through about a copyright of his formation, which he calls “my baby.” And it is.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: Tough but spectacular

January 21, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

You watched, as much in dismay as disbelief. The 49ers were down by 17 points early in the second quarter.

Down against the Falcons, a team with the best record in the conference.

Down at the other team’s home, a domed stadium full of hysteria and great passing by the other quarterback.

Down but, despite the way many of us thought, not even close to being out.

“It’s hard to break us,” said Niners running back Frank Gore, the nonpareil. “We’re tough.”

Tough mentally, which is where it starts.

“We still had confidence we could beat those guys in their house,” said Carlos Rogers, the cornerback.

Tough physically, which is where it continues.

“There had been breakdowns in communication and coverage,” said Dashon Goldson, the free safety. “We did a good job of tightening up some things.”

A great job of holding the Falcons scoreless in the second half and, in the process, recording the third-biggest post-season road comeback in the 90 years the NFL has been in existence.

A spectacular job of defeating the Falcons, 28-24, in the NFC Championship at the Georgia Dome and reaching the Super Bowl a sixth time – where the Niners, coached by Jim Harbaugh, will face the Baltimore Ravens, coached by his brother, John.

Coaches talk of players who make plays.

Players such as Joe Montana and Dwight Clark who three decades ago combined for The Catch and altered the path of history for San Francisco football.

Players such as Ahmad Brooks who, on third down, and NaVorro Bowman, on fourth, broke up consecutive fourth-quarter pass Atlanta pass attempts.

Players such as Vernon Davis, suddenly rediscovered in an offense quite capable of adapting to the moment, who caught five passes for 106 yards. “It’s bigger than me,” insisted Davis. “It’s not about me. It’s about the team.”

Players such as Gore, who, with Atlanta having schemed to stop the expected running of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

Players such as Kaepernick, the second-year quarterback, who after last week, when he rushed for a record 181 yards, this time carried only twice for 21 but completed 16 passes in 21 attempts for 233 yards and touchdown.

“The Falcons put a spy on Kaep,” said Gore, using football language for a defender assigned to keeping the quarterback from running. “We kept hearing all week how they were going to pound Kaep. He made the right decisions. I got the opportunities.”

On the CSN Bay Area post-game show, Clark, pointed out. “I thought it was a brilliant game plan. They came out in the read-option, and Colin made the right decisions. Even when they got behind, they didn’t panic and try to pass a lot.”

Atlanta certainly passed a lot. In the first half alone, quarterback Matt Ryan threw 24 times, completing 18, three for touchdowns. The Falcons appeared unstoppable.

“We had the jitters,” said Niners cornerback Tarell Brown. (So did Niners fans). “We knew it would be a challenge. We just settled down.”

Once they did the gloom started to settle in on Atlanta. A week earlier the Falcons had squandered a 20-point lead to Seattle but rallied to win. This time they squandered a 17-point lead, but it was to the Niners. To a franchise which after 18 years is back in the championship game.

The post-game locker room offered not only athletes in celebration but a glimpse into the past. There was Eddie DeBartolo, who owned the Niners when they won their five Super Bowls, presenting the NFC Championship trophy to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York, who owns the team today. And right there were Denise’s husband, John, at last a happy man, and his and Denise’s son – and Eddie’s nephew – Jed York, the Niners president.

There was a sense of solidarity and tradition, a feeling that after the lean years the restoration of the Niners franchise is all but complete.

“This is fun to be a part of,” said Justin Smith, the defensive tackle. He is playing with a torn triceps. He will need surgery. But he wasn’t going to miss being a part of scene. And he was a very big part of the success.

“We knew Atlanta had weapons all over the place. We knew they started fast. But we never got down and we won. It’s an awesome feeling.”

At halftime, Harbaugh, the coach was simply businesslike. It was Davis, the receiver, who was emotional, giving the motivational speech. Later he would shout out, “Kaepernick is the man.”

The 49ers are composed of a lot of men, symbolically as well as literally, a lot of people who never concede.

“Everybody goes through adversity,” reminded Patrick Willis, the All-Pro linebacker. “The way we came back makes it so more captivating.”

Donte Whitner, the safety, would say, “When we had to stop them at the end, there was a lot of pressure. We knew what was at stake.”

In three words, the Super Bowl.

Copyright 2013 San Francisco Chronicle

Newsday (N.Y.): Coordinator Vic Fangio has 49ers' defense near top of NFL

January 20, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- He has a voice that has been described as both piercing and maniacal. He carries the nickname "Lord" from when he was an assistant at Stanford. He leaves messages on his voicemail at the office just before he falls asleep or if he wakes up in the middle of the night with a thought.

Vic Fangio is coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers' defense, which was the NFL's third best during the regular season and is the best of the four remaining teams in Sunday's conference championship games. The 49ers play the Falcons in Atlanta for the NFC title.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): 49ers QB makes Kaepernicking the latest craze

January 17, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- It's the Tim Tebow syndrome, 2,500 miles west and a year later. Colin Kaepernick is also a quarterback with a signature gesture. But there are differences. Kaepernick has a body full of tattoos -- virtually all religious in nature -- is a starter and has the 49ers one win from the Super Bowl.

In this world of short attention spans, Tebowing -- taking a knee and holding a clenched fist to his forehead -- has been replaced by Kaepernicking, in which he kisses his right biceps after scoring a touchdown.

Read the full story here.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: We've Seen the Future: It's Name is Colin Kaepernick

January 15, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

We have seen the future and it’s unflappable, uncatchable and wears No. 7. Colin Kaepernick is football’s new wave, a player who has his coach in thrall, opposing defenses in confusion and the 49ers in the NFC Championship.

Some quarterbacks run for their life, to escape. Kaepernick runs for records. And Saturday night, in San Francisco’s 45-31 win over the Green Bay Packers at the Stick in the NFC divisional playoff, he set two.

The game we used to know is being altered forever by signal callers just as apt to call upon themselves as the halfback or fullback who lines up behind them.

Magicians without a cape but with an innate sense of where to go. Or where to throw.

The attention went to Robert Griffin III, until his injury, and Russell Wilson, both first-round picks. Runners who were passers, passers who were runners. Even Andrew Luck is elusive, adding to his talent.

Kaepernick is no less the athlete and the leader. That he was drafted in the second round was an oversight that he won’t forget, but for the 49ers an opportunity they won’t regret.

“It’s a great team victory,” was the expected Harbaugh response when asked if Kaepernick’s brilliance justified the coach’s decision to use him.

It was also a great individual performance. He threw an early interception for a touchdown, a "pick six" the announcers call it. Then he threw the Packers for a loop.

Send out the bureau of missing quarterbacks. Green Bay still is trying to find out where he went.

Kaepernick’s first NFL playoff game was a mad dash to greatness, not to mention a reaffirmation of his coach, Jim Harbaugh, who didn’t so much take a chance on Kaep as pull back the curtain to show others what Harbaugh already guessed: Football is about to take a step forward. In Kaep’s situation, a very quick step.

“He’s got keys that he’s reading,” said Harbaugh. “It’s the read option. It’s a give read, or it’s a pull and run it himself.”

Kaepernick’s 181 yards were both the most rushing for a quarterback in NFL playoff history and the most for any Niner player in playoff history. He also completed 17 of 31 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Then he went home and fed his pet tortoise.

To steal from that movie title, catch him if you can. Green Bay couldn’t.

There have been mobile quarterbacks, Fran Tarkenton, Michael Vick, Steve Young, way back Billy Kilmer, but Kaepernick keeps the other team off balance as nobody did or does.

The Packers would drop back and he would sweep through or around. The Packers would move in, and he would throw.

The rule of thumb, the old-school thinking, is that running quarterbacks have a short career. Harbaugh, a non-running quarterback in his day, makes his own rules. And his own choices.

There was nothing wrong with Alex Smith. Colin Kaepernick simply had more right. And more speed. Whoosh. A quarterback who can move like that gives a team a back who’s not in the defense’s thinking but definitely was in the Niners’ game plan.

The Pistol was the offense created at Nevada by Chris Ault, a hybrid of the shotgun and the single back. Kaepernick ran for 4,000 yards and passed for 9,000 in Nevada’s Pistol, but the skeptics didn’t think it would work in the NFL. Nor did they think Kaepernick would star in the NFL. Wrong on both counts.

“I saw a lot of great qualities about (Colin) in college,” said Harbaugh. As Stanford coach, he saw a lot of Luck, who at times he turned into a receiver. Versatility comes to the fore.

Harbaugh said the Niner game plan went heavy on the Pistol and on Kaepernick. “Both handing the ball off and running and play action,” explained the coach.

“We’re pretty multi-dimensional from that formation.”

Pretty unstoppable too.

“From what we see in practice,” said Niners linebacker Patrick Willis, “and from what we see in the game, you see a quarterback run the way (Kaepernick) runs, that’s unbelievable . . . It amazes me. It wows me.

“Credit goes to the whole offense to have a (running back) like Frank Gore, who people have to account for. And then Kaep’s doing what he’s doing. And before you know it (the opposition) doesn’t know which one to go for. And both of them are running wild, which they did (Saturday).”

The other quarterback, Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, the Cal kid who wanted to be a 49er, watched Kaepernick in awe.

“He was running all over the field,” said Rodgers. “He’s big, strong, athletic, throws the ball well and runs the ball extremely well. We didn’t really have a whole lot of answers for him.”

Maybe there are no answers.

Newsday (N.Y.): 49ers strike gold with record-setting, elusive QB Colin Kaepernick

January 14, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN FRANCISCO -- His runs break tackles or break into the clear.

His passes nearly break fingers, they're thrown so hard.

He has a body full of tattoos (mostly religious icons), a pet tortoise, a lingering chip on his shoulder.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): Colin Kaepernick leads 49ers over Packers, 45-31

January 13, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco 49ers -- with Colin Kaepernick rushing for 181 yards, an NFL postseason record for quarterbacks -- crushed the Green Bay Packers, 45-31, Saturday night at Candlestick Park in an NFC divisional playoff game.

The 49ers will face the winner of Sunday's Atlanta-Seattle game in the NFC Championship Game. For the second straight year, both 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and his brother, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, will be coaching in the conference championship games.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): Packers, Niners have a lot in common

January 12, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN FRANCISCO -- The quarterback who wanted to be with the San Francisco 49ers is playing against them. In perfect symmetry, the quarterback who wanted to be with the Green Bay Packers is playing against them.

Aaron Rodgers, who grew up three hours north of San Francisco and was a 49ers fan but was ignored by them in the draft after a great career at Cal, leads the Packers against the 49ers Saturday night in an NFC divisional playoff game at Candlestick Park.

Read the full story here.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: San Francisco: We Have An Air Game

January 06, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
49ers Insider, San Francisco Chronicle iPad App

One starts with the ball. If everything is in synch, the other inevitably ends with it. There’s the quarterback, now for the 49ers Colin Kaepernick, and his favorite receiver, also known as the security blanket. Michael Crabtree. It’s always been thus.

There was Y.A. Tittle and Billy Wilson, Joe Montana and Dwight Clark, before it became Montana and Jerry Rice. Before it became Steve Young and Jerry Rice. “The two of you work together so much,” Young has said, echoing others, “you can answer each other’s sentences.”

What Michael Crabtree has answered, if in actions but not words, is the Niners' need for a deep threat, the individual with the moves and speed to get to the ball and the hands to clutch it.

They were a beautiful combination last weekend against the Arizona Cardinals, Kaepernick completing 16 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, Crabtree, the diva humbled, grabbing 8 of those for 172 yards – to total 1,105 for the season, ninth best in the NFL – and both the touchdowns.

“I was really impressed watching the game in person,” Niners coach Jim Harbaugh, a one-time pro quarterback himself, said on radio station KNBR, “and then I watched the TV copy when I got home, but the coaches' film copy was even better. The two of them really deserve to be highlighted."

“The throws that Colin made, the catches that Michael made, those were incredible grabs and he did a tremendous job getting open in several different ways – beating his man at the line in press coverage, creating separation downfield, the incredible one-handed catch, run after the catch. And then Colin was putting the ball, in four of those cases, in the only place it could have been. So they deserved to be highlighted. Those were huge plays and both of them did a great job.”

A job Crabtree, the No. 10 pick in the 2009 draft was expected to be doing. A job, Kaepernick, the No. 36 pick in the 2011 draft – and still irritated he wasn’t chosen until the second round – has shown he could do.

Crabtree could lord it over people a little too much, even if he had some justification. After only one season at Texas Tech, he was being called a Heisman candidate. And that spectacular play against Texas on Nov. 1, 2008, when Crabtree made the catch just inside the sideline, spun around Curtis Brown and scored the winning TD with one second left was not only voted the Big 12 Play of the Season but remains a YouTube favorite.

Supposedly, he would be picked by the Raiders at No. 7 the next spring, but the late Al Davis never followed protocol or the thoughts of others. Oakland drafted Darius Heyward-Bey, and so the Niners eagerly chose Crabtree. Who lorded it over them, with a long holdout before signing.

The first two years, Crabtree wasn’t so much a bust as non-entity. He improved in 2011, taking directions from Harbaugh, the rookie coach, and passes from Alex Smith, the revitalized QB. Still, the Niners were limited in throwing to wide receivers, Crabtree catching a lone pass for three yards.

Crabtree’s work through the offseason was evident even in the early games with Smith at quarterback. Then when Kaepernick, a bit quicker, a bit stronger than Smith, took over, the connection seemed perfect.

“My dude (Kaepernick) made it happen,” Crabtree said of becoming the sixth person in Niners history with at least 85 catches a season. The others: Rice, Clark, Roger Craig, Terrell Owens and Derek Loville.

“I’m just going out there running routes, catching the ball until I make a play.”

That’s what Niners management appreciates about Crabtree. And Kaepernick. The ability to make plays. The ability halfway through the second quarter to jolt the team into action and, after trailing 6-0, into the lead with a 49-yard touchdown pass.

“It was something we practiced at home, using my technique,” said Crabtree, who at first showed a surprise reluctance to discuss his recent success – and then almost couldn’t be stopped.

“Kaepernick threw me the ball. He’s real good with his feet and made something happen and really, really made the play.”

True or false, and there’s a degree of either, because pass plays like the tango take two (discounting blockers that is), and Crabtree can spin great tales about his own great moves. And plans.

“I think I can be a Pro Bowler,” said Crabtree. “I think I can. Now I’m trying to get to the Super Bowl.”

The next step is the NFC Divisional Playoff Jan. 12 at Candlestick, against the Green Bay Packers.

“You have to treat the playoffs like every other game,” said Kaepernick.

What you don’t do is treat Michael Crabtree like every other receiver. Because he’s not like every other. He’s Kaepernick’s main man.

Newsday (N.Y.): Stanford gets fast start, shuts down Wisconsin in 2nd half to win Rose Bowl

January 02, 2013 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

PASADENA, Calif. -- The new year brought old-style football to the Rose Bowl, the pound 'em, ground 'em game of an earlier era. And Stanford -- contrary to its image as a school that relies on passing -- grounded and pounded relentlessly and effectively.

The Cardinal -- living up to the promise of coach David Shaw, who insisted in a pregame media session: "We're going go run the ball. That's what we do" -- ran it well enough.

Read the full story here.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: How bad could it be?

December 27, 2012 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
San Francisco Chronicle 49ers Insider

There’s a word for how the 49ers played against Seattle on Sunday night: Awful. The question is why?

Because defensive tackle Justin Smith was missing? Because Colin Kaepernick was missing? Because as linebacker Patrick Willis said, “Sometimes the best of us in sports have those moments”?

Or because, perish the thought, the Niners were not who we thought they were.

Without Smith, injured a week earlier, the 49ers defense wasn’t what it had been. The Seahawks, riding a wave and running figuratively at will – at least in the case of Marshawn Lynch – crushed San Francisco, 42-13.

A team that ranked No. 2 in overall defense, No. 1 against the run, was helpless and hopeless. Lynch – starting with the opening minute 12 seconds when be crashed and smashed 24 yards for a touchdown through the hole where Smith would have been – gained 111 yards by the end of the night.

On the other side, quarterback Kaepernick, denying the obvious, that he was frazzled by the insanely loud crowd at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, had trouble either getting off plays or getting yards from those plays.

After a brilliant game eight days earlier against the Patriots, Kaep reverted to the second-year player he is, twice getting called for delay of game penalties, twice needing to call time out to avoid delay of game penalties and, although completing 19 of 36 for 244 yards, throwing as many interceptions (one) as touchdowns (one).

One report: Seattle coach Pete Carroll had noted that Kaepernick and the Niners were pitifully slow in having a play run off once they came to the line of scrimmage. In the noise and tumult of a place where the crowd, known as the 12th man, has its own flag flying from a pole, that tardiness would haunt.

The 49ers’ success has come from stopping the run, which they couldn’t do, and running without a stop, which they couldn’t do either. San Francisco gained only 82 yards rushing, and its main man, Frank Gore, had only 28 yards on six carries.

Now, with their seeding in the playoffs having dropped to No. 3, meaning no bye the first weekend, the Niners are confronted with some unnerving reality: How are they going to win in the postseason if the offense and defense are no better than they were against the Seahawks?

“We didn’t coach well enough,” said a grim, and newly 49, Jim Harbaugh. “Didn’t play well enough. We didn’t win the down enough. Everybody came away after this with the same feeling. This wasn’t good.”

This was depressing. This was awful.

“But we’ll wake up (Monday),’’ Harbaugh reminded, “and still have a half-game lead in the division. Our hand will be on the dial.”

The program to which they tune hardly will be the one the Niners expected to watch. The Niners fell a half-game behind Green Bay for the No. 2 seeding in the NFC. Unless the Vikings beat the Packers on Sunday, while the 49ers defeat Arizona, San Francisco will be playing wild card weekend.

And with Smith questionable – surely, as Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted, Smith will not face Arizona – Mario Manningham on crutches after having his knee smashed and Vernon Davis recovering from a “mild” concussion, the 49ers could use a recuperative period.

“I thought it would be a closer game,” said Harbaugh tersely of the most one-sided loss in his two-year tenure as the 49ers' coach. “We don’t feel good about it. It’s how we handle it, how we respond.”

On a night of rain and revelry along the Puget Sound, Pete Carroll, Harbaugh’s adversary since Carroll was at USC and Harbaugh at Stanford, got his points (Seattle has scored an even 150 total its last three games) and, gleefully, his revenge.

The Seahawks were 0-for-3 against Harbaugh, and who would forget when, three years ago, Harbaugh had Stanford go for a 2-point conversion with a 30-point lead and Carroll at the post-game handshake queried him, “What’s your deal?’’

Carroll’s deal Sunday night as the Seahawks gained a place in the post-season was to stand hatless on the sideline and laugh and cheer at each Seattle score. There went a happy man.

Two of Harbaugh’s former Stanford team members, now with Seattle, receiver Doug Baldwin and defensive back Richard Sherman, were no less delighted. Baldwin caught two of the four touchdown passes thrown by Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. Sherman returned a blocked David Akers field goal 90 yards for a touchdown in the opening minute of the second quarter.

“A 10-point swing,” said Harbaugh, meaning the three the Niners should have had and the seven Seattle did have.

The 10 points didn’t matter that much in the end. The runback, however, proved stunning, leading to speculation that the Niners’ focus didn’t make the trip from the Bay Area.

“I don’t know about that,” said Willis, “but whatever it was out there tonight, it wasn’t good.” Not at all. Not at all.

SF Chronicle 49ers Insider: All for one: Harbaugh, Kaepernick joined at the lip

December 22, 2012 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
San Francisco Chronicle 49ers Insider

His father, Jack Harbaugh, said it specifically a while back: “Loose lips sink ships.” Provide no information that will benefit the enemy. To Jim Harbaugh, that would be every other team in the NFL.

Also the media.

We’re never going to learn much from a Jim Harbaugh press conference other than what we already know.

Grass is green, rain is wet, and each game will be difficult.

Hey, Jim, how are you going to prepare for Seattle, one of the loudest stadiums in the league?

“We’re going to prepare like we do for all our away games,” was the Harbaugh answer.

Thanks, that was informative.

Now and then, Harbaugh adds a fillip, as when asked about his quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, being voted NFC Offensive Player of the Week, for the four touchdown passes in the win over the Patriots.

“As always, we’re happy for the other guy’s success,” said Harbaugh. “And our team won a big game on the road. Great team victory. Sometimes a rising tide lifts all ships.”

Aye, aye, admiral.

Jim’s troops, well taught, are no more informative than their leader. You might say they are joined at the hip. Or the lip.

Kaepernick, asked if on the bus back to the airport in Boston, he thought to himself, “This was a pretty darn good game, worthy of that kind of award,” answered: “I was just happy we got the win.”

His predecessor, the now diminished Alex Smith, wasn’t much more outspoken – when he was starting. After he was benched, Alex came out with a legitimate gripe that he only thing he did wrong to lose his first-string spot was incur a concussion.

A coach’s first priority is to win games, of course, and as long as the Niners do so – ESPN’s Adam Schefter put them atop his NFL rankings this week – Harbaugh blithely will continue withholding what information he chooses.

Jim is a graduate, literally and symbolically, of the Bo Schembechler School, Michigan, where Bo coached Harbaugh – and Jack was an assistant – a place where both the opposition and the press were kept in the dark.

You want to learn about a Harbaugh team, watch the game. Bo was historically brief in his dealings with the press, which barely was allowed to do interviews after games. Harbaugh is brief, if not quite historically.

And while Harbaugh may quote from poets and poseurs, probably to tease, his own quotes are of little value.

What did (the 49er) defense do to succeed against QB Russell Wilson (of the Seahawks) the first time the teams played in October?

“Well, they made plays,” said Harbaugh, “We made plays.”

That’s usually what occurs in a football game.

For Harbaugh, as preached by Schembechler, “No man is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. The team. The team. The team.”

A fine concept, but obviously not entirely accurate. If Kaepernick were not more important, he wouldn’t be first string, having replaced Alex Smith. If Aldon Smith were not more important, the Niner defense wouldn’t be what it is.

Indeed, football is a team game, and a quarterback is nothing without an offensive line or receivers, while a linebacker requires other defenders to get his shots and his tackles. The Harbaugh argument – never given – would be with Kaepernick at QB, The Team is better than it was with the other guy, now consigned to stand and watch.

What, someone wondered, was Kaepernick’s reaction to being chosen the top NFC player? “Excited about it.”

Why? “I think it’s a great accolade for the team.”

No less an accolade for Kaepernick and Harbaugh.

“He’s crazy,” defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois, said of Harbaugh last year. “Plus, he’s comfortable with the way he is.”

A way that perhaps makes others, such as sports writers and TV and radio journalists uncomfortable.

“Jim, are you expecting a higher-scoring game this time around against Seattle?”

“It’s possible,’’ said Harbaugh.

Anything is possible, except the coach or his players offering in-depth information.

“Colin, you and Michael Crabtree work well together. What do you like about him as a receiver?”

“He catches the ball and makes plays after he catches it,” said Kaepernick.

As they tell you in English 101, make it clear and simple. Kaepernick and his coach have done that, so apparently criticism be damned.

The Niners will do what they must; their players will say what they’re allowed. Maybe their football, wins over the Patriots, the Packers, the Saints, all on the road, are more eloquent than any words.

“But Colin, we have this job, as you have your job, and if you were standing in our spot, what would you ask you?”

“The same questions every week like you all do,” said Kaepernick, and then he laughed.

Presumably the joke’s on us.

SF Chronicle: 49ers Insider: Frank Gore Is a Football Player

December 10, 2012 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
San Francisco Chronicle: 49ers Insider

The accolade was simple yet elegant. “Frank Gore,’’ said his coach, “is a football player.” From one man to another, from Jim Harbaugh, who believes in toughness and persistence, to Frank Gore, there could be no greater compliment.

A football player, a back who will run over you if he can’t run past you, a back who can block on passing assignments, a back who as time goes by never looks back and as his play Sunday showed, never looks bad.

The 49ers weren’t brilliant against Miami, but they were effective. They made enough plays to overcome both themselves and the Dolphins, gaining a 27-13 victory before the usual announced sellout of 69,732 at Candlestick Park.

Colin Kaepernick’s minor mistakes, a few overthrows that brought a few boos – hey, San Francisco fans demand much of their quarterbacks – and a fumble, were offset by a 50-yard touchdown run in the final minutes.

Rookie LaMichael James' awaited debut was satisfying, eight carries for 30 yards, some decent blocking and one reception. “It’s been a long time,” said James, the Niners’ second-round pick in April, “but great things come when you’re patient.”

The defense was the defense, allowing only a cumulative 227 yards to the Dolphins, although we’ll learn a great deal more about the Niners this Sunday night when they play the best offensive team in the NFL, the New England Patriots.

There’s not much to learn about Frank Gore but plenty to admire. His 63 yards on 12 carries, one of those over a yard for the 49ers' first touchdown in more than 96 minutes, lifted him above 1,000 yards rushing for the sixth time in eight seasons.

He’s been nicknamed “The Inconvenient Truth,” borrowed from the title of a book about global warming by another Gore, Al, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2000. But there’s nothing inconvenient about Frank, to the Niners’ thinking.

“Frank Gore had another phenomenal game,’’ said Harbaugh. “Some great running throughout the game. Blocking, everything that Frank does . . . Let me just reiterate this, Frank is a football player.”

Frank is part of the season James had not been activated. They play the same position, although at the moment very few in the NFL play it as well as Gore.

“He’s got tremendous ability and great heart,” said Harbaugh when asked about Gore’s endurance. “The assignments, the technique. He’s just on everything. He goes into every one of these games so on mentally.”

The talk is that 30 is the age of decline for a running back, who by then is starting to slow and beginning to take more hits. A man loses a step, and subsequently loses his job. Gore, at 29, won’t listen.

“When you (hear) everybody say, ‘When you turn 29, 30 you can’t do it anymore,’ when I got to 29, I told myself I’m going to overcome that. And it’s all about training, training in the off-season, working, being smart during the week. And I love the game of football. I’ve been playing it since I’ve been four, and I’m just having fun.”

The Niners have used modifications of the Pistol offense that Kaepernick played at Nevada-Reno. “I don’t like it,’’ said Gore. He laughed. “No, it’s good. Kaep did a great job reading. He made the big play. Everything came toward me, and Mr. Everything did his thing.”

Not a bad nickname for Kaepernick, Mr. Everything, although with the Niners struggling to score, leading only 6-3 at halftime, for a while Kaep looked like Mr. Nothing.

“These games are really hard,” Harbaugh said in defense of his offense, and particularly his QB. “Miami’s a heck of a team. We knew they were going to be tough to move the football on.”

Said Kaepernick, asked the obligatory question whether he was pleased, “I wish I had a few throws back, a few different decisions, but overall, yeah.”

He doesn’t wish he had different running backs, however.

“LaMichael,” said Kaepernick. "Very shifty, very fast. He opens up a lot of things for this offense. For Frank, a greater appreciation. I always knew he was a great running back. Being out there on the field and seeing some of the cuts he makes and how he protects in pass protection, I don’t think there’s another back like him in the league.”

When Gore, who went to the University of Miami and off-season lives in the Miami area, came out of locker room, he was wearing a gray sweatshirt with the print of a dolphin on the front, the dolphin’s tail up and head down.

“I know we had the Dolphins on the schedule,” Gore said, then smiled. “I’m not a planner, so I said, ‘We’ve got to flip them upside down when we play them.’ I was a Niners fan.”

More than that, he’s a football player. One of the best.

Yahoo! Sports: Spander: Irish stand up to challenge

November 25, 2012 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange

LOS ANGELES -- The kid, a freshman making his debut as a starter, didn't have much of a chance. Against that Notre Dame defense no one had much of a chance. USC went with freshman quarterback Max Wittek.

The Irish went off to the national championship game. The echoes are awake and inescapable. Like the Irish defense. That Notre Dame has a linebacker who's a Heisman Trophy candidate is only proper.

Read the full story here.

Newsday (N.Y.): Irish stop USC, head to national title game

November 25, 2012 by Art Spander in articles, football

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

LOS ANGELES -- Send a volley cheer on high. Top-ranked Notre Dame defeated USC, 22-13, Saturday night to finish unbeaten for the first time in almost a quarter-century.

The Irish called down echoes of past success with a defense led by linebacker Manti Te'o that was so unyielding that USC couldn't even score with a first down at the 2-yard line, along with an offense that enabled Kyle Brindza to kick a school-record five field goals.

Read the full story here.