Clearly, the 49ers were disorganized on Sunday in the team's 31-6 opening-week loss to the Seattle Seahawks. There were numerous breakdowns in the simple procedure of relaying the play call to quarterback Alex Smith.
Coach Mike Singletary acknowledged things must change.
NFL rules prohibit direct radio communication from the coaches booth to the quarterback. The plays must be relayed from the sideline. Because 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye is situated in the booth during games, he delivers the play call to an assistant coach on the sideline. Then, the call gets repeated to Smith.
Singletary said he is strongly considering eliminating the middle man after the opening-week disaster. The 49ers used all three timeouts in the first half on offense. They also were called for delay of game when they planned on going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
After the game, Smith had this to say: "You've got to make that decision if you're going to go for it, then the play's got to get called. You've got to have a call ready. That happens fast. It was all in key situations like that (Sunday) when we had most of the problems. It's frustrating, absolutely."
Singletary noted during his press conference Monday that Raye "understands he has to do a better job getting it in." Singletary also admitted he could've made decisions quicker.
The scope of the 49ers' problems were detailed in a fascinating Yahoo! Sports look inside the play-call mechanics.
"It seems like Jimmy calls plays from memory a lot of the time and not exactly the way it's written down," a source told Yahoo. "He knows the plays and he knows the right thing to call, but he's fumbling through his papers and it's like, 'Hey, we need to get a play called.' "
The 49ers are game-planning today for their game against the defending Super Bowl champions. Singletary will next be available to address the issue on Thursday.
Last year, offensive assistant Jason Michael relayed the calls from Raye to the quarterback. Michael worked with Raye for three seasons with the Jets, so he was adept at filling in the blanks of Raye's play calls, according to the report.
This summer, quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson became the middle man. And the communication has not been as smooth. Johnson had started to feel alienated by Raye's reliance on Michael, Yahoo reported.
Johnson is a popular coach among the players. Two key offensive players suggested privately last year that Johnson would be a favorable option at 49ers offensive coordinator for the future.
One source close to Johnson said he was kept out of personnel meetings this summer because of his staunch support of reserve quarterback Nate Davis, who was eventually waived and re-signed to the 49ers practice squad. A 49ers spokesman told Comcast SportsNet on Wednesday, "That is totally off-base. That is factually incorrect."
When CSN asked Monday whether Raye will continue calling the plays for the 49ers this season, Singletary gave Raye his full support.
"Jimmy is going to remain the play-caller," Singletary said. "I mean, that's what he's here for. But whether or not he is in the booth or on the field, we're going to figure it out. However it works out where Alex is getting calls faster, whether Jimmy is on the field or not. But the fact that he could be on the field, that's a real possibility."
