Why the preseason matters
It’s OK if you don’t care for the NFL preseason. Even players question its reality each fall.
Do coaches really need these aimless, injury-risking games to decide who starts where this season?
Everyone outside the Bay Area went back to work — or looking for work — Monday thinking that Saturday’s exhibition game in Candlestick Park was about as noteworthy as a rookie running back having his way with Oakland’s defense.
Shocking, I know.
You can easily argue that the San Francisco 49ers’ come-from-behind 21-20 triumph over the woebegone Raiders was meaningless.
But guess what? A lot of it mattered.
One of my high school teachers used to preach that integrity is what you do when no one is watching. Aside from the pent-up crowd of 61,907 fans in attendance and those tuned in at home, few were watching Saturday when Mike Singletary got a nice helping of integrity, cohesion, and elbow-grease toughness from his players.
If anything, it showed that this year’s 49ers are carrying the intense persona of their Hall of Fame linebacker turned head coach onto the playing field.
There’s nothing meaningless about that.
“We just wanted to step the intensity up,” linebacker Takeo Spikes said. “That’s one of our things. We really don’t care about what the opposing team is going to do. It’s all about us, and with saying that, we had an identity that we wanted to come out and establish. And that was (being) reckless, relentless.”
Led by an oft-injured quarterback, of all people, San Francisco’s offense did the same. Alex Smith wasn’t helping his chances of becoming San Francisco’s starting QB when he used his surgically repaired shoulder to lay out Raiders defenders on back-to-back plays in the first quarter, but he did show some Singletary-like gumption. First, he ear-holed defensive end Greg Ellis on a reverse, then he chased down Ricky Brown after he intercepted a tipped pass at midfield. Oakland turned the ball over on downs four plays later.
That certainly mattered.
“It shows he’s not afraid,” Singletary said of Smith. “I’m impressed he stepped up, but, at the same time, I’m not so impressed he stepped up — like when he got hit. It’s tough to take hits like that.”
Smith completed only three of his nine passes for 30 yards, while his rival, Shaun Hill, finished a mere 3 for 7 for 20 yards and no interceptions. Neither QB looked superior, but you have to think Smith earned some brownie points with Singletary.
“I think the numbers would say not much. … I think numbers can be deceiving,” Smith said.
That matters, folks. So did the breakout performance by the 49ers’ third-round draft pick, Glen Coffee, who accrued 129 yards on 16 first-half carries, albeit it against Oakland. Coffee made the most of this weightless exhibition, crashing through defenders on sweeps and counters and hauling in an 18-yard pass over the middle, where careers are ended.
“To be successful, you gotta be able to run and you have to be able to stop the run. We did both just as well tonight,” said Morgan Hill native Jeff Ulbrich, who started at middle linebacker in place of the injured Patrick Willis for the second straight game. “We’re putting together a team that’s really going to surprise some people.”
Also, 49ers tight end Vernon Davis delivered another spirited performance complete with after-the-whistle yells and chest thumps. You don’t see those too often during exhibitions.
Regardless of what the average fan thinks about the NFL preseason, regardless of how they think it carries no clout, it does matter, and the 49ers played like it did.
A former 49er did, too. Jeff Garcia, who was slated to play most of the second quarter but only got one series, nearly led the Raiders to a score in the final two minutes before halftime. He scrambled for a first down and completed three consecutive passes before Allen Rossum picked off a tipped throw to Johnnie Lee Higgins.
Garcia, who is still recovering from a strained calf muscle, made the tackle without hesitation.
“I was hoping it’d be more,” the Gilroy native said. “I was trying to tear the ball out of his hands.”
Garcia enjoyed his third return to the stadium where his NFL career took flight.
Did this game matter to him? Oh yeah. He made that clear after his first play was blown dead because of a false start. Garcia took the snap, heard the whistle and bounced on his toes in the pocket.
“I had a lot of great memories here,” he said. “I still have some friends on the other side of the field; some on the field, some on the staff. I think there are a lot of people that still appreciate the time that I had here. I still see a few number five jerseys out there in the stands.”
Although he is not “at 100 percent,” he likes the progress he is making as the backup to JaMarcus Russell.
“That’s the role that I’ve been given,” Garcia said. “My job is to push myself to be the best that I can be and to help JaMarcus grow.”
To be generous, Oakland showed some glimpses of progress Saturday. Tight end Zach Miller caught all four passes thrown his way for 75 yards, and Russell totaled 76 yards and a touchdown on 7-of-11 passing. The first pick of the 2007 draft was not credited with any of his team’s three interceptions.
“We want to be improved from last year and we need to keep working hard,” Miller said.
San Francisco’s biggest problems are far from resolved as well. Still, you can’t help but see potential in a team that takes its job seriously, even on casual Saturdays.
