O'Sullivan looks like answer to QB question
Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, August 17, 2008
(08-16) 23:21 PDT -- With all but the most outlying counties still to report, we can now project a winner in Mike Nolan's preferred method of migraine management. J.T. O'Sullivan has pretty well nailed down the starting quarterback spot.
For now, anyway. The future is never guaranteed in a placed as volatile as 49er World.
In addition, Nolan wouldn't project a winner afterward. He wanted to see the film, he wanted to talk to the coaches, and he said, "They all did well. I liked all of them." He even re-acknowledged that his long-held deadline of this week to have a starter named was, well, incredibly flexible.
But based on the say-so of the members of the electoral college who reveled in Saturday's 34-6 exhibition victory over Green Bay, the votes are in, and the deadline can be met. It's Davis' favorite Irishman, by a noticeable margin - unless game performance isn't the only criterion.
If it is, we have no argument left to settle. It might have been the 15-play, nine-minute drive in the second quarter for the 49ers' first touchdown. It might also have been the well-arched 59-yard touchdown pass to Josh Morgan, the team's best performer in camp, for the team's second touchdown. It may be that he simply outperformed Alex Smith, whose third-quarter work was more pedestrian (5-of-12, 62 yards to O'Sullivan's 8-of-17, 154 and one score).
Or maybe Nolan just needs to get out of the spiked iron box in which he had inserted himself at the beginning of camp. The three-headed quarterback story had consumed the summer, as it always does when the 49ers don't have an obvious incumbent. It was defining the season even before the season had begun, and the longer Nolan's indecision lasted, the worse it was going to get for all involved.
Before we go much further, we should mention that this was actually a sensational night for the defense, but you weren't really watching the defense that closely. You were watching O'Sullivan, then flipped over to watch Michael Phelps, then you watched Smith. That's what 49er fans have done for 50 years, and frankly, why should you be any different?
Truth is, O'Sullivan's "breakout" half (we're stretching the definition here, as you might imagine) came at a grand time for the 49ers. It wasn't a great performance; he did throw behind his share of receivers early, he threw an interception into double coverage trying to force a ball to Vernon Davis, he needed two timeouts before the same play in the second quarter, one of which was not granted by rule. And the Packer defense showed very little tactical exotica.
But at this point in the year, it didn't have to be great. Good would be good enough, and O'Sullivan was that. Against the Packers' starting defense, he showed more pocket presence than he did against the Raiders last week, and did not try to be more than was required. The nine-minute drive was more DeShaun Foster than it was O'Sullivan, although a 27-yard completion from O'Sullivan to Jason Hill was the obvious highlight.
Mostly, what O'Sullivan did was perform as though he regarded the job as his, the most important requirement of all.
The 49ers have not had that sense from their quarterback since Jeff Garcia's departure. Their defensive issues have been obvious enough over the last five years, but the offense has been more egregiously substandard. They are the only team in the NFL not to have at least one 300-point season in the last four years, and while there are plenty of reasons for that, we all know where it starts because it is the first place anyone looks when this team is losing.
How this decision affects Smith is an open question, as it can fairly be said that he has worked under onerous conditions since being drafted first and paid the most. High expectations, too many voices in his ear, not enough support around him, injuries, etc., all make for reasonable explanations for his struggles. Last week, he had to deal with the suicide of a close friend, and acknowledged the difficulty focusing.
But football likes its image as a cruel game, and all distractions tend to be lumped together as less important than the job at hand. Plus, having $49 million invested in clipboard management is more a salary cap issue for the 49ers right now than anything else.
Smith's fate, though, is not yet sealed. There is no guarantee that having won the job, O'Sullivan will be able to keep it. Few quarterbacks go unscathed through a season, and the guts of the schedule - at New Orleans, New England, Philadelphia, at New York Giants, Seattle - make it likely that O'Sullivan's year will have its ups, downs and way downs.
That's October's problem, though. Like all employees in any sporting enterprise with a 31 percent success rate, Nolan is working month to month, and this was August's problem.
And it may still be. Nolan delayed announcing his decision because football coaches can be like that sometimes. In addition to video review and staff meetings, he may want to assure himself that demoting the most expensive player is all right with the powers above. He might even want more evidence before committing.
But the evidence isn't going to get much more conclusive. If J.T. O'Sullivan on Saturday didn't win the job for the opener against Arizona, he's not winning it ever, and the organization has invested too much indecision this spring and summer not to take advantage of the first definitive results.
Unless Saturday was just some elaborate ruse, the 49ers did find their quarterbacking hierarchy - O'Sullivan, Smith, Shaun Hill. But you'll want to check back in a month, and a month after that. This is only the last word for now, and now becomes then awfully quickly on this team.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/17/SPNN12COBA.DTL
Home 
Subject: O'Sullivan looks like answer to QB question 
Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:12 am