The Lies Mike Nolan Tells

The Lies Mike Nolan Tells

December 11, 2007, 5:01 pm
Filed under: Editorial | Tags: 49ers suck, fire mike nolan, mike nolan, mike nolan is a liar

Mike Nolan is a liar.

There, I said it.  I liked Mike Nolan from the moment he walked to the podium with his gold suit and red tie, and promised to hearken back to the old days of the 49ers.  Little did I know he’d be hearkening past Bill Walsh, back to his own dad.  Too bad he couldn’t even fill those shoes.

I’d like to outline the lies Mike Nolan has told, almost all in this season, just to show why this is the last straw for me.  Rollin’ with Nolan ain’t goin’ nowhere but downhill, and straight out the door.

Lie #1: “Win The West.” 
The banner still flies on the practice field of the 49ers, from 2005 when Nolan came in to a 2-14 team and said their goal was to win the division.  An utter lie, right from the start, evidence of the false machismo and bravado that has led him to this point today.  Maybe he thought it would motivate his players to excel, but what could one really expect that season?  The team was horrible the year before, the locker room was in shambles, and the 49ers were loaded with overpaid, undertalented players.

Lie #2: “We have an improved coaching staff.”
Mike Nolan was asked this year if he thought his coaching staff was better or worse than last year’s.  Clearly, the Defensive staff was an upgrade over that of Billy Davis.  Greg Manusky coached under Wade Phillips at San Diego, who is a good Defensive coach himself.  The offensive staff, however, has proved itself inept at every turn.  When you lose Norv Turner to a rookie Coordinator who coached only two previous seasons in the league, and before that was at IUPUI (a Purdue satellite campus!), I think enough is said.

Lie #3:  “Jim Hostler is doing a great job.”
Apparently not.  But it’s not all Hostler’s fault, after all, but Nolan’s for hiring a man woefully undeserving of the chance.

Lie #4:  “Our Line is not a weak point.”
This bald-faced lie was uttered on the KNBR Morning Show with Murph and Mac.  Larry Allen had given up sack after sack, Jonas Jennings failed to have his head in the game, and Smiley and Heitmann couldn’t stop a ninth grader rushing up the middle.

Lie #5:  “Larry Allen is still playing at a high level.”
I call B.S. on this one.  Larry Allen is huffing and puffing after every play, and every time he pulls, the play outruns him inside of two seconds.  Larry Allen is done, and should have been benched after the Pittsburgh game.

Lie #6:  “We try to get it to Gore as much as possible.”
This lie was proceeded by the word “obviously,” which makes this a double lie.  The 49ers had one loss with Gore getting 20 or more carries, and how often did this happen?  Once.  Against Arizona.  After eight straight losses.  How much did the 49ers lose to Baltimore by?  Is Frank Gore worth one point?  What about against New York, when he averaged 6.3 yards a carry?  10 more carries for him and 10 less pass attempts for Dilfer could mean an entirely different game.  In games with a hurt Alex Smith, did they use Gore more because of it?  No.

Lie #7: “Dilfer’s performance (against the Rams) is the best I’ve seen in three years as coach.”
How does this man still have a job after this statement?  Dilfer threw two interceptions and no touchdowns!  His rating was 48!  Smith had at least ten games better than that last season, and in his three starts at the beginning got nowhere near that low!  His veiled slaps at Smith continue to boggle the mind, and alienate more people to Nolan’s cause.  (Here’s a link to reference that statement, scroll down to the 7th question.) http://www.sf49ers.com/pressbox/news_detail.php?PRKey=3742

Lie #8: “Alex is fine.  He just lacks confidence.”
This, of course, is the most damning of all.  Beat writer Matt Maiocco, widely regarded as the best source for information on the team, quoted Nolan on October 17th: “The separated shoulder does not affect Smith’s ability to throw, he said.”  On October 19th he wrote this: “Smith is healthy, Nolan said. He has received medical clearance to play, just three weeks after sustaining a separated throwing shoulder. However, Nolan said it looks as if Smith does not have complete confidence in his shoulder when he throws the ball.”  Enter the first place where Nolan put it all on confidence.

Let’s look at what Mike Nolan said in his October 24th press conference: “(Jim) Hostler and (Frank Cignetti) the quarterbacks coach were down there, as well as the medical staff. Scot (McCloughan) was there. They said, ‘Good to go.’ But, we’ll see today.”  From the beginning Nolan was saying Smith was healthy, and cleared to play by the Medical staff.  To me, if the injury was still in question, Smith would be denied the ability to play, right?  After all, Mike Nolan trusts his medical staff to decide for him.

In an attempt to back away from his statements, he also seemed to admit that he didn’t quite have the right handle on things.  On December 10th he said, “The third degree separation never changed. The diagnosis was the same then, and it’s the same now. The diagnosis has not changed. The way they want to go about saying he is well or not has changed a little bit. But, that’s a medical staff’s decision, that’s not mine.”  I’m sorry, but what does “the way they want” mean exactly?  Who are “they?”  The medical staff?  The staff and Alex?  Wouldn’t you think he might say “we” since he is so adamant about being a team?

He’s absolutely right that it changed, because it turns out he wasn’t healthy!  Obviously Smith has to go on how he feels, and in practice and just throwing the ball around, maybe it felt great.  But can Smith accurately read an MRI?  Shouldn’t team doctors know if ligaments are still separated?  One report had them saying the ligaments were scarring over and reattaching as expected.

The reason I don’t buy the idea that Smith was making an excuse, is because we all were saying it from the second quarter of the Saints game on.  We all saw his shoulder was not right, we all saw he was in incredible pain, and we all heard Mike Nolan say he was healthy.  The whole way, Smith has played the role of the good son.  He’s kept his mouth shut, he’s let Nolan do the talking, and he’s quietly abided the criticism.  When Smith comes out and admits what we all know to be true, how does that make it an excuse?  It doesn’t.

Both Mike Nolan and Alex Smith insisted his shoulder was fine, but they both can only go on what the doctors tell them.  Smith only knows that it hurts, but if he’s being told that it’s all about pain tolerance, then what choice does he have?  He has to try and tough it out.  But clearly, the medical staff must have been inept if they didn’t know that his ligaments were still not attached! 

When Nolan made the decision to start Trent Dilfer against New York, Matt Maiocco reported that Nolan said it wasn’t fair to the players to put them in a position where they had to keep secrets for the organization.  So why is it all of a sudden a crime for a player to actually speak up and tell the truth?  If I’m still hurt, and people start saying I’m just not a good quarterback, you better believe I would take issue with it, and who can blame Smith for doing so?

Apparently Mike Nolan could, who said on November 14th: “I know this, everybody’s sore. I’m sore . . . has that affected my performance? Maybe, but I’m not going to talk about it.”  Ultimately this paints the picture that Smith is only sore, not actually injured.  Smith clearly was still actually injured, and not just “sore.”  What was Smith supposed to do?  Simply pull himself out of the game, and keep quiet while everyone assumes he’s being benched for performance?  That also would be a lie, and one worse for his future, than the fact that he is injured.

I guess that would, in fact, be best in this regime.  Apparently Mike Nolan hasn’t much care for honesty himself.

12 Comments

12 Comments so far
Leave a comment

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI