NFL Injury Report: Buccaneers-49ers (Thursday)

The practice reports for both the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are out.  There are no big surprises on either report.  We reported on Tuesday that both Joe Staley and Joe Nedney would be out, actually it's interesting that Nedney is not listed as out but I am sure he will make it there by the end of the week.  The 49ers signed Shane Andrus to fill in for Nedney this week.  Andrus, was with the 49ers at the end of last year and all the way through the preseason before being cut.

The transcripts for both Mike Johnson and Greg Manusky are after the jump.  Johnson talked today about how the offensive game plan is designed and who is involved.  It appears that all of the offensive assistants have a different role and are an intrical part of the plan.  One name that was not mentioned was head coach Mike Singletary and that is certainly good to hear that he is not involved in the game plan on the offensive side of the ball.  Let's just hope that what Johnson said was true.

On how much he leans on the offensive position coaches to formulate his game plan:

“We all work together, and yes, I do lean on those guys a lot. We have different areas that we have strengths in and I utilize those guys in the areas where they’re strong and allow them to bring things to the table that help our offense. You look at [offensive line coach] Mike Solari, he’s great with run game protections. You ask [running backs coach] Tom Rathman, Tom Rathman is a blitz guru. He’s a guy that is going to know every blitz that the opposing team is going to do that week. And you have [tight ends coach] Pete Hoener, whose a short-yardage goal line guru. So then you use [wide receivers/special assistant coach] Jerry Sullivan in coverages and different things in the secondary, and then we use [quarterbacks coach] Jason Michael in the red zone. So we have all areas that we work in individually and then when we come together on those certain days, we put the entire thing together and then I make the final decision as to how we want to implement it.”

On whether having multiple inputs is why the game plan looks more diverse than before:

“I don’t know that, but I know how I want to do it, and I’m not going to sit here and say how we did it before or say that was wrong. But I always knew if I ever became a coordinator that I wanted to have input from everybody because a lot of times when you do it that way you get some things that you haven’t thought about. And you don’t always have to agree with everything that is brought up, but you definitely want to encourage the staff to bring those things to the table because every week there’s four or five things that the other coaches bring that we add to the game plan that makes a lot of sense.”

Tampa Bay

Did Not Participate: LB Quincy Black (ankle), DE Kyle Moore (shoulder)
Limited Participation: DT Ryan Sims (knee)
Full Participation: TE Kellen Winslow (knee), WR Sammie Stroughter (foot), RB Earnest Graham (hamstring), T Jeremy Trueblood (knee)

San Francisco

Out: T Joe Staley (fibula)
Did Not Participate: K Joe Nedney (knee)
Limited Participation: CB William James (concussion)
Full Participation: CB Nate Clements (quad), RB Frank Gore (foot), G Adam Snyder (shoulder)

Coordinator's Corner: Oakland Raiders' OC Hue Jackson on the Quarterback Controversy

Fans were excited when the Oakland Raiders traded for Jason Campbell but that excitement quickly wore off. But after six quarters of football, that honeymoon was over. Tom Cable then turned to fan favorite Bruce Gradkowski to be the savior.

But after a few weeks and an injury that has kept him out for four weeks the question that is being asked is whether it should be Campbell or Gradkowski that keeps the starting job. Since his return to the starting job Campbell has gone 2-1 with four touchdowns and just two interceptions (both which were in the loss). Campbell has started to look like the quarterback that the Raiders and their fans thought that they were going to get.

Today in the media session, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson was asked about this potential quarterback controversy.

On why the Raiders would stick with Gradkowski after Jason Campbell has led the club to more than 1,000-yards of offense in the last two games with a qb rating over 120:
“Jason’s done well. Obviously, as Tom said, nothing’s been decided for this week. I live in the moment. My job is to make sure we’re ready to play this week, and until a decision is made on Friday, which it hasn’t been right night, I’ll worry about that when that time comes. I know Jason’s out here practicing. I know Bruce is out here practicing. The most important thing is that we put the guy that will give us the best chance to win.

I hear everything that’s been said, but my biggest thing is we’re going to go play, and somebody’s going to be under center come Sunday. And obviously Jason’s done a tremendous job. Bruce is working. I think he’d be the first to tell you – he’s working hard every day – he’s not exactly where he wants to be, but we’ve still got a few more days to see where we get to.”

I don't have the entire transcript but here is the rest of what Hue Jackson had to say about the quarterbacks.

Q: Is there any risk to making a quarterback change now?
Jackson: There’s risk in anything you do. Obviously, any time a guy has had success and all of a sudden someone comes in, there’s always that period of adjustment. We’ve had that. I’m not going to say it’s an adjustment that we can’t overcome if that’s the decision that’s made. But I also know that there is an adjustment period to anything you do in that situation. But if it is him and he goes and plays, he’ll play well. If it’s Jason, I expect him to play well.

Q: Can Bruce make all the throws he needs to make?
Jackson: I think he’s working toward that. I think he’ll tell you he’s not exactly there, but he’s throwing, and I think that’s the most important thing. The balls’ coming out of his hand, he’s hitting receivers, and I think he’s feeling much more comfortable than what he did a week ago.

Coordinator's Corner: San Francisco 49ers' OC Mike Johnson on Frank Gore

Fans have been clamoring to get Mike Johnson to use running back Brian Westbrook in the offense more and spell Frank Gore.  Some believe that Gore needs a break to be more effective and others question whether the offense would do better with more of a two back system like the rest of the NFL uses.  Mike Johnson talked today why they use Gore so much and keyed in on Gore being so great at blitz pickups and that is somewhere that Westbrook may not be as good.

On the importance of blitz pickup and whether that is because teams are blitzing more up the middle these days and whether that is the running backs job to step up and take care of that:
Not necessarily, you have base blitzes where they are bringing certain things, and then you have nickel blitzes on third down where they are playing odd-fronts. Where they are playing three down linemen schemes with a lot of walk around backers and safeties coming from different edges and you have to make sure that you’re sound in those areas. In the way we design our blitz pickup and blitz protection schemes, the back is a very important part of that, and [RB] Frank Gore is as solid of a back as I have ever been around in handling all of the necessary adjustments. He is a guy that can cover up a lot of other deficiencies that we may have because of his football intellect and how smart he is as a football player in those different areas. So, it’s a comfort zone for us coaches as well, but we do have to find ways to make sure that we get him some rest.”

On how long it takes to learn the 49ers blitz pickup package specifically since RB Brian Westbrook is such an accomplished player:
“Well, we do more from that than most, and our quarterback redirects protections. We do more at the line of scrimmage with our quarterback in redirecting protections and making calls than any other team that I have been around. So I think he’s getting close, I think he’s starting to get comfortable now, and as the season goes on I think you’ll see him more in those areas.”

Mike Johnson did talk about giving Frank Gore a breather which would likely allow either Brian Westbrook or Anthony Dixon to get more involved in the offense.

On whether you need to look at taking some of the load off of RB Frank Gore so that he is just as strong at the end of the season as he is now:
“Yeah, I mean you do need to take some of that wear and tear off of him, but you know Frank Gore. Frank Gore doesn’t like to come out of the game, he’s a warrior, he likes to go, and we have to make sure that as a staff we are giving that load to other people in making sure that we try to keep him fresh, but the one thing about Frank Gore, when he’s touching the ball I think we’re winning, or we are going to win. I think he’s a guy that can do a lot of different things. He’s good in the running game, he’s good in the pass game, and he’s good on third down. He’s good in the screen game, I mean he’s good in all of those areas and we’d like to give him touches, but we have to use our other backs though and take some of that load off of him because he is in great shape, but as the course of the season goes on, it may wear him down, so we are very mindful of that and there will be a plan going forward that we make sure we use other people to make sure that he’s not taking as many of those snaps.”

The entire Mike Johnson transcript is after the jump.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Johnson

Press Conference – October 21, 2010

San Francisco 49ers