In an effort to get past Sunday's game, I'll slap together this (very bare) link dump for the rest of this week.  There should be some news this week on Trent Dilfer's concussion, Alex Smith's shoulder, B.Y.'s possible retirement, and the 49ers possibly bringing in free agent QBs for workouts.

The only link I'll supply (for now) is a link to Matt Maiocco's most recent blog entry.  It's a standard summary of Mike Nolan addressing the press.  Nothing really new was said about Alex Smith, Trent Dilfer, or Bryant Young.

The interesting tidbit for me was when he asked an official (during the coaches' pregame meeting with officials) if a conspiracy could ever exist:

He went on to relay an anecdote from a recent conversation he had with a game official. Coaches and officials have a meeting 90 minutes prior to kickoff. Nolan asked the official, "Is there any possibility that there could ever be a conspiracy? Just a possibility?"

The official answered, "No way, no chance."

Nolan said he was just "b.s.ing" with the official. But the official asked why Nolan what prompted that question.

"I explained to him that we turn calls in (to the league office) and how many come back and say, 'Bad call.' I gave him our percentages. He said, 'Really? That high?'

"I said, 'Believe me, we send in more than one or two a week.' He kind of smiled and said (jokingly), 'Boy, you've had some bad crews, haven't you?'"

Before anyone goes off and tries to say he's blaming the officiating, he isn't really.  The original question posed to him was why he thought the team was struggling.  He admits that there are things he sees clearer now than before, and that possibly hints at him knowing how to fix those things.  He also went on to mention there are things that happen that you can't explain (or expect).  That is where the penalties (and injuries) come in.

It's interesting to see another official concede the 49ers have had it rather rough with officiating.

Feel free to use this space to dump various links you stumble upon during the week that you don't feel like writing the minimum words about.

Not that I have a whole lot to dump into this link dump, but I figured I'd start one off for the week (being that it is already Wednesday).

According to Matt Maiocco, the 49ers family is losing yet another member of it's extended family.  Greg Manusky's father passed away yesterday.  According to Matt, Manusky is expected to be back by Sunday, and Mike Nolan has taken over the defense for the time being.

Sad year for a lot of the 49ers brass, alumni, and players.

Being Tuesday and all, I decided to open up a link dump diary.  As usual, my reason for opening it is a Matt Maiocco blog entry (SURPRISE!), but feel free to discuss that and post other links to whatever other news topics you want.

In Matt Maiocco's most recent blog entry, he decided to tackle the "common" Q&A questions he tends to get via e-mail and comments (as there was no practice today for him to cover).  The most interesting one to me was not the question about what Matt thought was ailing the team (offense, big surprise there), but actually WHY Matt thinks that is the case:

Q: What about the offense? Where have things gone wrong?

A: It took me a long time to come to this conclusion, but I think the problem is the offensive coordinator. I'm not speaking specifically about Jim Hostler, though. Bear with me. I think Hostler is a good, hard-working coach. But what he lacked as an offensive coordinator was experience. So much of being an offensive coordinator is having a commanding presence and a strong reputation. I think subconsciously the players might have doubted Hostler - Frank Gore said as much more than a month ago. Even if Hostler were doing things exactly like Norv Turner, the players weren't going to be carrying out their assignments with the same conviction because Hostler was a first-time coordinator. Another problem was having two inexperienced coaches, Hostler and Frank Cignetti, in charge of a young QB and the offense. It was a good move by Nolan to bring in Ted Tollner last week. If he were to do it over again, I'll bet Nolan would've tried really hard to hire Tollner to his staff (as O.C. or QBs coach) when Turner left in February.

I think he poses a very interesting (and VERY valid) reason for the offensive struggles.  Trust is a huge thing between players and their coaches.  This is especially true if the players are being asked to run plays called by someone that has NEVER called plays in a real NFL game before.  I'm not saying this is the end-all reason, but it is a very good reason, and one that is really overlooked.  Hostler hasn't really helped his cause to that either, though.

In another question, Matt also says that he'd be "surprised" if the 49ers brought in a new GM.  That would be right in line with what HTS and I have been saying, in that Nolan and McCloughan together have actually done really well in bringing players in.  It's the getting the most out of the offensive players that has been the problem.  With a full offseason of potential suitors and interviews, I have little doubt that Nolan WILL find a better offensive coordinator, and one that players will learn to trust before training camp begins.

Again, feel free to use this diary to drop off links to any interesting articles and such that you don't want to start a whole new diary for. You could also use this as a launching point for any thoughts you may have leading into this week's game that you don't want to start a whole new diary for.

I am opening up this diary for links that don't necessarily belong in the main section posts put up by Fooch.  It allows the diary section to be saved for "pertinent" discussion, and prevents those types of discussions from being flushed out of "recent-hood" by one-liner remarks on a particular link.

Matt Maiocco posted an interesting entry in his blog this morning.  Primarily it was about how he believes that no matter what happens, Nolan will still be the 49ers' head coach next season.

The gist of it is that Maiocco strongly believes the Yorks still support Nolan whole-heartedly.  Nolan has expressed this past week that the Yorks understand some of the reasons why the 49ers (offense) are where they are today.  I could only assume that "some of the reasons" are related to Norv Turner's late departure that forced Nolan into hiring a sub-par coordinator for his coaching staff.

Maiocco continues by suggesting continued "support" from the Yorks may imply that they're willing to open their wallets again this off-season for Mike Nolan to make what ever changes he deems "necessary."  When he convinced them to open their check book last offseason, most of that money went to the defensive side of the ball, which has vastly improved over last season.  So the "track record" is there.

Where will this money be spent?  My first guess would be on offensive assistants, including but not limited to offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and quarterbacks coach.  My second guess?  Probably on a better WR, if there is one available that would drastically improve the current corps.  I honestly don't know if anyone that matches that requirement will exist, but it's a definite possibility.  Another place the team may look for help is a more suitable backup for Frank Gore.  The team sorely needs someone who can carry the ball 20 times a game effectively, should Gore go down with an injury.  They have Robinson and Clayton waiting in the wings, but a little competition here would not hurt any.

The great thing about having Mike Nolan and Scott McCloughan make the calls is that they don't tend to go out and shop just for the sake of shopping.  The look for players that fit into what they want to do here.

Matt closes his blog entry with a list of the 49ers free agents:

Unrestricted - G Larry Allen, DE Marques Douglas, T Kwame Harris, RB Maurice Hicks, QB Shaun Hill, G Justin Smiley (injured reserve), NT Isaac Sopoaga, CB Donald Strickland, DE Bryant Young.

Restricted - TE Billy Bajema, CB B.J. Tucker (injured reserve).

I wouldn't be surprised if the team retained Douglas, Sopoaga, and Young (if he chooses to return for another season).  Kwame Harris may be the only other guy from their list of UFAs that will re-sign with the team, but that is only if he is willing to come back at a reasonable price (and with the understanding he'll probably be a backup).  Of the RFA's, think Bajema will definitely get (at least) the minimum tender.  Tucker will probably be let go and invited to training camp, again.

Again, feel free to use this diary as a drop-off point for any other links (and subsequent thoughts) you come across during this week.

With the various threads open, I figured I'd open up a link dump to keep the discussion of "lesser" topics a little more contained (considering we have about two or three active threads/discussions on Alex Smith).

The only link I have is to an ESPN article that says the Colt's star DE Dwight Freeney has been placed on IR and is done for the season.  The Colts are hurting bad right now, and while I don't want people hurt/harmed, this may bode a little better for the 49ers.

So the week is starting off on a injury foot:

• Jonas Jennings has been placed on IR (Barrows).
  
• Justin Smiley has a separated shoulder, but could play this week (Barrows).
  
• As most of us know, Patrick Willis has a broken hand, but shouldn't miss any playing time (Barrows).

Is the Jonas Jennings injury a good thing or a bad thing?  Adam Snyder got tore up quite a bit this past weekend going against Abraham, could he rebound?  From what I understand, Kwame Harris is now the backup at both tackle positions, keeping Staley at RT regardless if Snyder goes down with injury as well.

[UPDATE 2007.11.05 @ 04:14PM] According to Matt Maiocco, Smiley may opt for season ending surgery later this week after MRI results revealed a torn labrum.

Not that I have a slew of links to dump, but I figured I could use this one link to open the link dump for this week.  According to today's blog entry by Matt Maiocco, there are a few additional "revelations" today.

First of all, Alex Smith isn't necessarily a "sure thing" to start this week.  I suppose it depends on how much practice (against the scout team) that he gets this week, and how he feels about that.  Last week, Smith didn't seem too sure about himself (and the amount he practiced) leading into the Giants game.  Hopefully this week will be a little different.  Interesting tidbit is that Nolan is opening up the Shaun Hill window.  He is not willing to say if there will be a change at QB if Smith doesn't start, but saying the "question had been raised."

Next, I don't think Frank ran his thoughts by Nolan (as I thought he may have).  Then again, he may have run the thoughts by Nolan, but not necessarily that he would say it to the media.  Nolan will talk to Frank sometime soon.

As I pointed out in a comment in the main threads, the Umenyiora sack (and subsequent TD) was the result of poor execution on Trent Dilfer's part.  According to Matt Maiocco, he should have taken a three step drop, but he didn't.  I also think he made the mistake of looking for a fade or a go on a blitz pattern instead of looking for a quicker developing route (slant, in, out, etc).

The most interesting part (to me) is the number of snaps each of the backups played.  Jennings played 37 snaps at LT while Snyder played 25.  Smiley and Baas both played 31 snaps at RG.  This is a lot more "balanced" than "working them in here and there".  Perhaps Nolan was trying to cut himself a big enough cross-section of overall line performance when each of these guys were in there in hopes of either silencing critics or providing enough reason to make a permanent change.  I'm hoping to see more of Baas, at the very least, as he's probably going to start at RG next season.

Feel free to use this diary to dump any other links you may find throughout the week.

Since there isn't one up already, I'll take liberties into my own hands to create one.

Some 49ers fans have been calling for the 49ers to allow Smith/Dilfer more leeway in terms of audibles.  Changing the plays at the line.  Nothing Peyton Manning chicken-like, but something.  According to this blog entry by Matt Maiocco yesterday, Smith does audible, and quite a bit.

Also in that entry, it sounds like the 49ers may opt for shotgun sets more often (as Smith is already comfortable in them).  One of the downsides to that is it takes away the play-fake.  I've also been a believer that the shotgun gives DE's a better angle to the QB.  Instead of having to either go through or loop around the OTs to get to the QB, they can almost have a straight shot at him.

As the trade deadline nears (today though not sure of time), the 49ers have a couple of viable trading chips.  The 49ers may still deal Kwame Harris.  They have supposedly been asking for a conditional 5th that becomes a 4th with play-time.  I'm thinking they'll be willing to go down to a conditional 6th, going up to a 4th or 5th with playtime.  I doubt they'll go lower, because he is a very good backup to have (if only for a few months).  There is also the possibility they could deal Smiley (though no mentioned int he linked article).  His contract is up at the end of the year and Nolan has already been pretty clear he will not overpay for guards (who according to McCloughan, "don't do a whole lot").

Down toward the bottom of that article, Andy Lee is currently leading the league in NET punt average at 43.8 (with "gross" average at 50.1, good enough for a tie for the lead).  I'd say he's played to his contract extension so far.  McCloughan and Nolan are still thanking the Steelers silently as we speak.

According to this article on NFL.com, Bulger expects to play this week.  He was roughed up quite a bit during the 49ers game a few weeks back and hadn't been the same since.

Gwen Knapp (not a big fan of her) has a little fluff piece on Patrick Willis.

Another IR resident for the Seahawks. DT Chartric Darby tore a patella tendon and is looking at surgery that will put him out the rest of the year. He's been a "starter" for the last couple of years, and will be replaced by Brandon Mebane (rookie out of Cal). This injury news comes (practically) on the heels of Mack Strong's career-threatening injury announcement last week.