Maybe the San Francisco 49ers should just let quarterback Alex Smith call his own plays.
With all the trouble the 49ers had in getting the calls from the booth upstairs, where offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye spends the game, down to the bench and then out to the huddle Sunday against Seattle, it's small wonder the team only scored a couple of field goals in a 31-6 loss.
When talking with the media, coach Mike Singletary said the situation cannot remain static. Changes have to be made before the team takes on Super Bowl champion New Orleans on Monday night.
The basic plan is for Raye to call down to an assistant coach, who then relays the call to Smith. It sounds simple enough, but the 49ers burned through their timeouts -- including one on the second play from scrimmage -- in the first half and also had a delay of game penalty on fourth-and-goal from the 1 because things kept getting lost in translation.
The NFL won't allow direct radio contact from the coaches upstairs to the quarterback, so plays have to be sent in from the sidelines.
But Singletary, embarrassed by the offensive breakdowns in Seattle, said he is leaning heavily toward the elimination of the middle man in the process.
In his Monday press conference, Singletary said Raye "understands he has to do a better job getting (the plays) in.'' At the same time, Singletary said he could have made decisions quicker as well.
A breakdown of the situation from Yahoo! Sports is worth a gander.
49ers Offensive Coordinator Jimmy Raye Under Fire for Slow Communication
Sep 16, 2010 – 12:37 AM
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