Scouting Report
1 - San Francisco 49ers While the offense should return to its familiar groove, the
defense—altered by many new faces—could be
stingier than
ever
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The presence of Young (97) at the core of the defensive
line makes Stubblefield's departure
bearable.
(Peter Read Miller)
| Steve Young's
mattress was too soft, and the lights outside his window
were too bright. The humidity was too high, the number of
toilets in the locker room too few. After hearing dozens of
complaints from Young and his 49ers teammates about their
new training
facility at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., a
fed-up coach Steve Mariucci seriously thought about
commissioning
T-shirts bearing the legend
no more
whining.
Mooch has the right idea. When you're one of the NFL's
elite teams, lording over the landfill that is the rest of
the NFC West, you waive your right to complain about the
small stuff. This season Young has Jerry Rice back, plus
Mariucci's word that the
attack will be opened up. The question this year is not
whether the 49ers' offense, which dipped to
No. 12 in the NFL last season, will regain its status as one of
the league's most prolific—it will—but whether
the team's defense, which allowed the fewest yards
per game in the NFL, will be better or
worse.
The answer could come down to how an obscure, relatively
light (278 pounds) fourth-year
defensive tackle named Junior Bryant handles his new assignment.
Rather than shop for a high-profile replacement for Dana
Stubblefield, who took his 15 sacks to the
Washington Redskins as a free agent in February, the Niners
promoted Bryant, a former undrafted free agent who has
performed well in spot duty over the last three seasons. If
Bryant plays as well as the 49ers' brass thinks he can,
opposing offenses will
pay a higher price for double- and
triple-teaming the other tackle, Bryant Young. Graybeard offensive
lineman Harris Barton calls Young "not just the best
player on the defense, but the best player on the
team."
Indeed, the departure of Stubblefield was made bearable by
the presence of
Young, whom 49ers coaches regard as the better player. Says one
coach, "Stubblefield was a good, stout player with
good technique. Young is not as big"—he goes
6'3", 280, to Stubblefield's
6'2", 315—"but he has more speed and
quickness. He's
explosive. He can embarrass
you."
The Niners were embarrassed when one of their marquee
free-agent signees, former Packers defensive end Gabe
Wilkins, showed up with a bum knee that required surgery in
early April. Having intimated that Wilkins—who is now
questionable for the team's
opener—would render Chris Doleman expendable, the 49ers
suddenly found themselves in the position of having to
backtrack. Doleman, a 14-year veteran who had a dozen sacks
last season, leveraged a $400,000 raise, to $2.4 million,
out of the contrite front
office.
With the return to Carolina of outside linebacker Kevin
Greene, who had
10 1/2 sacks for San Francisco in a part-time role, the 49ers
have bid adieu to four players (the others are
Stubblefield, Brett Maxie and Marvin Washington) who
accounted for
27 1/2 of their 54 sacks in '97. "That's a lot of
pass-rushing pressure to say goodbye to," frets
secondary coach Jim Mora. "You bet I think about
that."
Indeed, the puffs of smoke periodically arising from San
Francisco's secondary last season signaled the singeing,
rather than the selection, of a Pope. Right cornerback
Marquez Pope suffered a sprained left foot early in the
season, and upon his return
he lacked his usual speed and swagger. Opposing quarterbacks
noticed. On the other side, former All-Pro Rod Woodson
offered conclusive proof that he was a shell of his former
self. The pair was victimized by Brett Favre early and
often in Green Bay's NFC
title-game
victory.
| Schedule |
| Sept. | 6 | N.Y. JETS |
| 14 | at Washington (Mon.) |
| 20 | OPEN DATE |
| 27 | ATLANTA |
| Oct. | 4 | at Buffalo |
| 11 | at New Orleans |
| 18 | INDIANAPOLIS |
| 25 | at St. Louis |
| Nov. | 1 | at Green Bay |
| 8 | CAROLINA |
| 15 | at Atlanta |
| 22 | NEW ORLEANS |
| 30 | N.Y. GIANTS (Mon.) |
| Dec. | 6 | at Carolina |
| 14 | DETROIT (Mon.) |
| 20 | at New England |
| 27 | ST. LOUIS |
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In case Pope's '97 season was not an aberration, the 49ers
spent their first-round pick in the college draft on
Oklahoma State corner R.W.
McQuarters. To replace Woodson, who was released in February, the
Niners signed dependable Antonio Langham, late
of the Baltimore Ravens. He was a star early on in the
San Francisco training
camp.
Coming along more slowly as he labored to grasp the Niners'
complex scheme was free-agent middle linebacker Winfred
Tubbs. The former New Orleans Saint takes the spot vacated
by the retired Gary Plummer, and it looks to be an upgrade:
Tubbs, a terrific
talent, had 160 tackles for the Saints last season. But
whereas he was free to pursue the ball in New Orleans, he
has to adapt to a more restricted role in San Francisco.
"Here, I'm more of a plugger," Tubbs explained
after a practice in late July. "I'm
taking on offensive linemen. It's a big
difference."
Tubbs was stating a fact, not airing a gripe. This ex-Saint
is one 49er who knows better than to
complain. —Austin Murphy
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