Jerry Rice was glad to see Trestman fired

[UOK]

This doesn't mean shit, but here you go.

---------------------

The words came at a news conference in January announcing a new head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. A reporter asked owner Eddie DeBartolo about Marc Trestman.

''He's gone,'' DeBartolo replied.

And somewhere, Jerry Rice smiled. Real, real big.

Because if there was anything Rice - the NFL's best wide receiver ever - wanted to hear this past off-season, it was that Trestman - Rice's least favorite offensive coordinator ever - was to be out of a job.

And now, as Rice enters a 13th NFL season, he says he feels more optimistic now than in a long while, particularly than the end of last year.

The absence of Trestman is the reason.

Not that Rice, who holds every major receiving record in NFL history, hated Trestman. It's just he hated the things Trestman made him do:

Run 2-yard crossing routes.

Take a physical beating.

And eventually, even consider retirement.

''That was a nightmare for me,'' said Rice, who caught 108 passes last season, but for ''only'' eight touchdowns and 1,254 yards, an 11.6-yards-per-reception average, 4 yards below his career average.

Those feelings went away withTrestman, and the hiring of new head coach Steve Mariucci, who replaced George Seifert.

''I caught a lot of balls, but it was not a fun year for me,'' said Rice, the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns, yards receiving and career receptions, who is expected to play extensively in the first half tomorrow night when the Jaguars play the 49ers at 3Com Park in San Francisco in a preseason game. ''I had some doubts in my mind. I was saying, 'Jerry, you've been here for a long time. Maybe it's time to leave, move on.' ''

The main problem was how Trestman used Rice, as a possession receiver, an inexplicable tactic for one of the NFL's top deep threats. Trestman's explanation was the 49ers' running game was suspect, and he needed Rice for first downs in what had become a possession offense.

The strategy worked enough to get the 49ers to the playoffs, but the result was an unhappy Rice, who was so weary by season's end that in one critical goal-line situation against Carolina, he had to leave the field. Quarterback Steve Young threw into triple coverage to rookie Terrell Owens, and the pass was intercepted, killing any chance of a comeback.

In six of the last nine games, Rice averaged under 10 yards a catch. His three 100-yard games and eight touchdowns both were the lowest totals since his rookie year, and, for the first time in his career, he didn't have a catch as long as 40 yards.

''I'm used to stretching downfield, making the big plays,'' Rice said. ''After you get the defense off you, you've got the underneath routes, and that's something we didn't do. I took a lot of blows, and I took a beating.

''I was very depressed, because we didn't really attack people. We didn't run that 49er offense. Not saying anything against Marc Trestman, but it was not enjoyable.''

Marriuci said this won't be a problem. In Mariucci's offense, instead of lining up strictly as a flanker, Rice will be moved around to different spots, especially in three- and four-wideout sets, so defenses can't key on him so easily. The 49ers also will throw to him downfield more often.


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[G08]

I remember reading that a while back. Jerry even went so far as to say he doesn't think a locker room would respect Trestman because of how passive he is.

Glad to see that disproven yesterday.

As for the offense... Well.

[G08]

Also like to add, that was the last year Rice caught 100+ balls in a season.

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

A couple of thoughts on that.

I see that in the Bears offense. Trestman never takes shots down field, and does nothing to try and stretch the defense. Opposing secondaries now know that, and have squeezed on the top. Consequently Cutler is looking at about half the space to throw in. Its one of the biggest problems with this offense. Even when we have tried the deep ball, and it works, we never go back to it. Secondly, there is little to no reliance on our run game, with one of the best all purpose backs in the league. Trestman ran Forte more in the 2nd half, but only after we had the lead. And then he was just trying to run out the clock instead of score.

[wab]

Oh boo hoo hall of fame WR.

[Bad Flanders]

I don't buy the idea of not taking shots down the field. They did it tons last year. I think he does exactly what this article says, he relies on the short passing game as part of the run game. So there are more short passes but the long ones are there WHEN IT'S WORKING. McCown's average yards per attempt was well below 6 yards on his career before last year when it was above 8. This is where you need to put more of it on Jay, he's just not been very accurate deep, his accuracy has always been suspect and this year feels as bad as he's ever been (the numbers don't reflect that a ton but he's not at his best on that stat by any means).

Jerry Rice is a great player and he's a whiner, he always has been. This is a guy who was bitching about having to play football in a way he didn't like to play it, it's also a story about an aging receiver who's bitching about having to be on an offense that went to the playoffs while he caught >1000 yards and 8 tds.

AND if the point is about this being player who didn't like playing for Trestman...well, go look for articles about Jerry Rice being happy about his situation EVER, it didn't happen often. AND go look for articles about players under Lovie being happy, because they are EVERYWHERE but the fans didn't like that either.

[Bad Flanders]

If you wanted to criticize Trestman for using short passes as part of the run game when he has Matt Forte to lean on and an inaccurate qb and several receivers who aren't looking suited to the possession receiver role...then I would tend to agree with you.

[Boris13c]

If you wanted to criticize Trestman for using short passes as part of the run game when he has Matt Forte to lean on and an inaccurate qb and several receivers who aren't looking suited to the possession receiver role...then I would tend to agree with you.

Forte is being wasted in this offense

and the big receivers who are supposed to be taking charge all of a sudden can't catch a pass

maybe Jay is being too accurate? hitting them in the hands instead of making them go up and get it has them confused?

[G08]

The West Coast Offense uses short passes to off-set the run game.

Come on guys...

[Boris13c]

The West Coast Offense uses short passes to off-set the run game.

do tell?

Come on guys...

no, you come on

look at what this team has done ... west coast, no coast, whatever : the results have not been there and regardless of what scheme he is opting for, his lack of realization of the importance of Matt Forte to his success baffles me

[IE]

I'm still going back to my question about whether the WCO assumption that pass = run isn't necessarily true, or has become outdated. Defenses don't respect the run, when you're passing and pretending it is like running. So your offense is one-dimensional, and DBs have the advantage. I'm growing convinced this is the case.

DD responded to me, but I couldn't tell if he was agreeing or disagreeing. LOL

[Boris13c]

I'm still going back to my question about whether the WCO assumption that pass = run isn't necessarily true, or has become outdated. Defenses don't respect the run, when you're passing and pretending it is like running. So your offense is one-dimensional, and DBs have the advantage. I'm growing convinced this is the case.

seems reasonable

look at some of the other teams like Baltimore for instance ... they run their version of a WCO, but when they run, they smash you in the mouth and run ... ask the Saints

[Bad Flanders]

I don't think systems become outdated, no one uses one system exclusively, especially at this level. If one system is being relied on too heavily then it becomes predictable and much easier to attack, that doesn't mean the system is broken, that means it's not being used correctly. The Bears using short passes as a running game, well, there are plenty of offenses out there using pretty basic WCO short passes effectively, they are just using them at the right time and executing well.

As for what the Bears have going on, it's a chicken or the egg type thing. Is Trestman limited by the execution or is the execution limited by the plays being called?

I know I've seen failed execution when it sure looked like there was opportunity to make the play. I also know that when the plays were being executed well last year, and consistently so, that Trestman was calling good plays that kept defenses on their heals. I know that Trestman was able to do that with a pretty subpar QB in McCown.

[IE]

I don't think systems become outdated, no one uses one system exclusively, especially at this level. If one system is being relied on too heavily then it becomes predictable and much easier to attack, that doesn't mean the system is broken, that means it's not being used correctly. The Bears using short passes as a running game, well, there are plenty of offenses out there using pretty basic WCO short passes effectively, they are just using them at the right time and executing well.

As for what the Bears have going on, it's a chicken or the egg type thing. Is Trestman limited by the execution or is the execution limited by the plays being called?

I know I've seen failed execution when it sure looked like there was opportunity to make the play. I also know that when the plays were being executed well last year, and consistently so, that Trestman was calling good plays that kept defenses on their heals. I know that Trestman was able to do that with a pretty subpar QB in McCown.

Yeah... I probably should re-qualify that as "Trestman's implementation and execution of the WCO might be hurting the offense by making it effectively too one-dimensional".

[Bad Flanders]

I agree with the criticism of Trestman when it comes to using the receivers as possession receivers across the middle on the short dumps. I definitely feel there's a place for those plays in this offense but I don't know that they need to rely on them to move the chains, not when you have Forte. They used the short passes at the beginning of last year effectively for sure though, so I feel like he might be trying to spark that up again for some reason.

I wonder if the reason isn't based on Cutler but why? Confidence? Seems unlikely although he really hasn't been great. Is the receivers confidence? I don't know. At a certain point, if you really are shooting for confidence by making it easy...well that's a BIG backfire when the easy stuff doesn't work!

Maybe it's just bad play calling that's holding them back, but if that was really the problem I think you'd see a lot less easy drops and poorly thrown balls. There's just too many of those. I guess you could argue that the players aren't trying because the play calls are so bad...I don't know though, that's a stretch.

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

I agree with the criticism of Trestman when it comes to using the receivers as possession receivers across the middle on the short dumps. I definitely feel there's a place for those plays in this offense but I don't know that they need to rely on them to move the chains, not when you have Forte. They used the short passes at the beginning of last year effectively for sure though, so I feel like he might be trying to spark that up again for some reason.

I wonder if the reason isn't based on Cutler but why? Confidence? Seems unlikely although he really hasn't been great. Is the receivers confidence? I don't know. At a certain point, if you really are shooting for confidence by making it easy...well that's a BIG backfire when the easy stuff doesn't work!

Maybe it's just bad play calling that's holding them back, but if that was really the problem I think you'd see a lot less easy drops and poorly thrown balls. There's just too many of those. I guess you could argue that the players aren't trying because the play calls are so bad...I don't know though, that's a stretch.

I don't think its a stretch at all. Trestman brings this game plan to Jay early in the week, and my guess is that Jay knows it sucks, and won't work. As goes Jay, so goes Marshall. These guys have been playing all of their lives. They understand, much better than Trestman does, what is going to work and what isn't. Jay is getting all of these screen plays called, and just knows its not going to do the trick.

[Boris13c]

Trestman brings this game plan to Jay early in the week, and my guess is that Jay knows it sucks, and won't work. As goes Jay, so goes Marshall. These guys have been playing all of their lives. They understand, much better than Trestman does, what is going to work and what isn't. Jay is getting all of these screen plays called, and just knows its not going to do the trick.

what you are describing is pure dysfunction at its core

early in the week when the game plan is being mapped out is when good teams have their QB's in on the discussion for the offensive game plan

if what you are describing is actually true, that Cutler is simply given the game plan with no input, decides it sucks, so just wings it on game days, then I am at a complete loss for words

they cannot possibly be that cluelessly inept of an organization, can they?

[wab]

Watching Jay walk off the field with his head down brought me back to the dark final days of Mike Martz.

[IE]

I think it is clear that Jay knows now what he is being asked to do won't work. Of course it works in practice, because the defense isn't game-planning against the Bear offense (not sure they even could). So I understand why Jay was very confident coming into the season. Until they tried to execute their plan against teams that are trying to stop them.

Jay's a smart guy - it didn't take him long to see things aren't going to work as planned. And then Trestman isn't the sort who is going to ask for - or listen to - feedback. He'll just drone on with his buzzwords, entirely convinced he's right. So I can only imagine Jay is a combination of frustrated and occasionally re-convinced ... only to be hit with reality on Sundays.

Again - I like Jay for the most part as a person for the most part. But this situation is also compounded by the fact that Jay is not a great NFL QB. He's only average, or maybe below - with a great arm. He makes terrible decisions, on top of the forced bad situations that Trestman's reads require. He really isn't accurate any more, if he ever was. And his touch is highly questionable.

I think it is time for a full re-set. Jay can't go anywhere, but I do believe that bringing in some potentially promising young QBs under new coaches is the right thing to do... do phase Jay out unless he immediately shows improvement under new coaches.

And I do believe Clausen is a guy who should get a real chance. He is top draft pick class guy - in spite of his Carolina show.

[Boris13c]

And I do believe Clausen is a guy who should get a real chance. He is top draft pick class guy - in spite of his Carolina show.

[IE]

I love that pic. I teased wab with it once or twice, a few years ago.

Regardless... Clausen is a legit potential player. I don't know if I'd want to see him out there this year, under Trestman. But he's in the house and at least a legit #2. If I was George McCaskey I'd re-sign the kid to an extension. Or I'd consider firing Trestman immediately and giving Cavanaugh a chance to coach both Jay and Jimmy, and see what happens. It could not be worse.

[wab]

I love that pic. I teased wab with it once or twice, a few years ago.

Regardless... Clausen is a legit potential player. I don't know if I'd want to see him out there this year, under Trestman. But he's in the house and at least a legit #2. If I was George McCaskey I'd re-sign the kid to an extension. Or I'd consider firing Trestman immediately and giving Cavanaugh a chance to coach both Jay and Jimmy, and see what happens. It could not be worse.

Trestman is the reason Clausen is here.

[IE]

So what? Clausen has a far bigger chance here with Trestman gone and greater opportunity for big change.

[snake95]

Not sure if it matters but Steve Young loved Trestman so Rice having personal issues with the way he was used could just be Rice being himself...He was great, I get it, but maybe he has a little entitlement attached to his status....I expect Trestman to survive and get year 3 to redeem the team regardless...The defense is and has been the major issue

[BlackEngineer]

When Trestman was hired by the Bears, Oakland's other Receiver that played under Trestman, Tim Brown(future HOFer), had this to say:

{
Brown said there's no question Trestman can run an effective offense. It's running an NFL locker room that gives Brown pause.

"He's a really smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand. That's not the issue," Brown said. "But there's a lot more to coaching than just Xs and Os. You have to be able to deal with players and that's the reason (former Raiders coach) Bill Callahan hasn't succeeded as a head coach because he's a smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand, but when it comes to leading me it's a totally different intangible you have to have. It's going to be very interesting to see how (Trestman) and Jay Cutler get along, that's for sure."

}

[wab]

When Trestman was hired by the Bears, Oakland's other Receiver that played under Trestman, Tim Brown(future HOFer), had this to say:

{
Brown said there's no question Trestman can run an effective offense. It's running an NFL locker room that gives Brown pause.

"He's a really smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand. That's not the issue," Brown said. "But there's a lot more to coaching than just Xs and Os. You have to be able to deal with players and that's the reason (former Raiders coach) Bill Callahan hasn't succeeded as a head coach because he's a smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand, but when it comes to leading me it's a totally different intangible you have to have. It's going to be very interesting to see how (Trestman) and Jay Cutler get along, that's for sure."

}

Winning cures all of that. Give me a defense that doesn't give up 30 points a game and see what happens.

[G08]

Better offense than Bruce Almighty out in Arizona. That top 4 defense is carrying that team, not his bravado and funky choice of hats.

Fucking get Wade Phillips in here, get me some help on the OL and let's dance.