Sunday, November 4, 2007

Ten Reasons why Mike Nolan Should Be Fired

In No Particular Order
  1. Having 49ers financial consultant Paraag Marathe in the booth during games - Marathe, who knows nothing about Xs and Os, communicates with Nolan throughout the game on stats and instant replay challenges. Marathe is a financial and accounting genius, but he is not a "football guy." My sources told me that Marathe makes $100,000 a year as an employee of the 49ers.
  2. Getting rid of WR Antonio Bryant - Why did Nolan get rid of the best WR the 49ers had last year? A player who was passionate about the game and who often complained on the bench about Alex Smith's wild throws. Was Bryant a malcontent or was he just frustrated by Smith's inaccuracy? Watching Smith play more and more, it is definitely the latter. Bryant was a threat as a WR unlike Darrell Jackson and Arnaz Battle.
  3. Hiring VP Player of Personnel Scot McCloughan - Mr.McCloughan isn't just missing an extra "T" in his first name. He might be missing some brains as well. How could he trade next year's first round pick to the Patriots in order to select OL Joe Staley in this year's draft? This is the same man that traded a fourth-round draft pick next year to get WR Darrell Jackson from Seattle. Why would the Seahawks trade a player to a team in its same division unless the player was either hurt or past his prime? The answer is they wouldn't!
  4. Drafting Alex Smith with the number one pick in the 2005 NFL Draft - Smith was not NFL-ready coming out of Utah. Nolan said he liked Smith because he put Smith through some weird drills before the draft, and Smith never questioned him. Nolan believed that made Smith coachable. Nolan also kept on raving about Smith's intellectual ability. Smith is a NFL quarterback and not a lawyer or doctor. His 4.0 GPA at Utah won't help him on the football field. By the way, Shawne Merriman, Braylon Edwards, Derrick Johnson, and Jason Campbell were all drafted later on in the first round. In the second round, the 49ers drafted David Baas when LB Lofa Tatupu was still on the board. Tatupu is now the heart and soul of the Seahawks defense while Baas is a backup on the 49ers.
  5. Calling timeouts at the wrong time in the game - Nolan has made this mistake in every game it seems. He often challenges a play also when the play was obviously called correct by the referee.
  6. Hiring Jim Hostler as offensive coordinator - The 49ers called a timeout today on 3rd and Goal at the Falcons two yard line. After the timeout, RB Michael Robinson gets stuffed for a two-yard loss as the defense sold out on the run. Before the timeout, the 49ers were gashing the Falcons with the run and the Falcons linemen were gassed and tired. After the timeout, they were well rested and were able to tackle Robinson to force a Joe Nedney field goal. Why didn't they do a play-action pass on 3rd and Goal?
  7. For caring more about how he looks than how the team plays - Nolan spends too much time asking the NFL to allow him to wear a suit and tie on the sidelines during games. Maybe he should try to think of ways to get his team to play better than worry about the fashion police.
  8. For repeating the same things every week at his weekly press conference with the media - After every game and every loss, Nolan uses different words but says basically the same things. His speech to the press will go something like this - "We will get better. We will improve, I can promise you that. We will not jump ship and we will stay the course and see this thing through. No one in our division is running away with the title and we have a big game coming up in Seattle."
  9. For not preparing his team to play in the beginning of each game - It seems that the team is down by 20 before the second quarter has started. The team is never prepared to play and that is the coach's fault.
  10. For being conservative on offense - Nolan is way in over his head as a head coach. It appears at times that he is allergic to touchdowns,and that is why he often has his team play conservatively in the red zone and settle for field goals. Does anyone not remember last year's 4th and 1 against the Rams in Saint Louis?

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