Well they did it - the 49ers went out and hired the most ho-hum candidate to replace the mad scientist, Mike Martz
Alot of people put blame on the lack of continuity with the offenses struggles. And I have seen others, compare new OC Jimmy Raye to the last OC SF fans have enjoy - Norv Turner.
But while Norv got some production out of Alex Smith and Frank Gore, I still thought his passing game left a little to be desired. The NFL is a passing league, one where the three wideout formation is a normal occurrence on any down not just third and long. (I will give him the benefit of the doubt that, the team's wide reciever situation at the time probably had alot to do with it.)
Now we welcome Jimmy Raye, fresh ink on a three year contract. Its easy to criticize this move - he's older, he has been an offensive coordinator more than once with little success, and was really the least sexy candidate interview (aside from Dan Reeves).
Hell - he coached for the niners - in 1977!
I decided to try and be a little more open minded. First off, he is likely to stick around, something I'm sure Singletary not only wanted, but was worried about with younger coaches who were interviewed. He definitely has experience. And if you look at his last two stops as an OC, you see a Chiefs offense that was able to score despite not having alot of top tier offensive players, and you see a Raiders offense that he babysat the title while Norv called the plays.
So I am going to give the guy a chance. After all, he got 28 TDs and over 4,000 yards out of Elvis Grbac!
So bring it on Jimmy - I hope you have what it takes to keep this momentum they built at the end of the season going.
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