motivational figure as head coach. Please, can we stop talking about “smash mouth” football? That’s a term used by unimaginative writers. Singletary wants a tough, hard-hitting team. Who doesn’t? While writers used the term “finesse” to describe Bill Walsh’s teams, Walsh continually told the players they had to out-hit their opponents. Would you have called Ronnie Lott a finesse player?
If anything, Singletary’s team threw the ball too often last year. He wants a balanced attack between run and pass, which we’ll see this year.
Meanwhile, Jed York has been a marked improvement over his father as the head of the franchise. Unlike his father, Jed doesn’t poke his nose in where he’s not qualified; he sits in on draft meetings but doesn’t give advice. He’s working tirelessly on the push for a new stadium in Santa Clara, which is probably dependent on the 49ers improving enough on the field to attract outside investors to help fund the stadium. That improvement should come because they’re making good moves, both in the draft and in a trade like the one which brought in Ted Ginn Jr.