<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5COwner%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com
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></o>
<o> </o>
Nate Davis Bobblehead Night in <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">San Diego</st1:city></st1lace> Friday, or, The 49ers Fly Over the Fire and into the Frying Pan?<o></o>
<o> </o>
No, they won’t actually be handing out plastic mementos of an opposing team’s player, so perhaps I should say wobble head night? Call it what you want, but some heads will be nodding up and down in admiration of 49er rookie quarterback Nate Davis after seeing him play at the pro level (albeit in a preseason game) against the Chargers Friday night. The 49ers are high on this guy, high enough to drop backup quarterback Damon Huard from the roster before even playing this final preseason game. Huard ain’t chopped liver, either, with an 80.4 career QB rating. That’s better than all but four or five second string quarterbacks in the league, let alone third string, where he’d been on the depth chart until given his walking papers.<o></o>
<o> </o>
I watched all of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Davis</st1lace></st1:city>’ snaps against the Cowboys in a road game, and he made some great throws. He threw a deep out from the far hash that was right on the money. He has good pocket awareness and stepped up in the pocket without panicking and running every time like many rookies do, completing a nice ball even though he had a little bit of empty field in front of him. On another play he escaped pressure to his right and threw a low laser to a receiver standing near the sideline for a big completion. That throw was an absolute dart to a spot where only his guy could get it and still be inbounds. From the pocket on another play he led a crossing receiver with a soft catchable ball that many young guys would have put too much zip on. <st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city> had a great career at <st1lace w:st="on"><st1lacename w:st="on">Ball</st1lacename> <st1lacetype w:st="on">State</st1lacetype></st1lace>, but being from a smaller school he wasn’t drafted until the third round. He’s looking like a steal right now. If the 49ers are a sub .500 team and Shawn Hill is struggling at all at the midpoint of this season I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 49ers hand over the keys of the offense to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city></st1lace> and see how he feels behind the wheel. <o></o>
<o> </o>
The 49ers’ first team offense has underperformed this preseason – not a problem when they’ll be seeing little, if any, playing time in this game. The run game has been pretty solid all the way down the depth chart, however, with Glen Coffee and Kory Sheets looking very good so far. So what you have in this game is an offensive second unit that has played very well, especially as <st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city> has seen more playing time, versus an average at best <st1:city w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">San Diego</st1lace></st1:city> backup defense. The Chargers’ backups couldn’t stop Chris Redman of the Falcons from marching up and down the field on them in the second half last week, coughing up a double digit lead in the process and losing the game after surrendering an 80 yard touchdown drive that started with about 2 minutes left on the clock. <o></o>
<o> </o>
Even worse for the Chargers has been the play of their backup offense, especially when Charlie Whitehurst is in at quarterback. Any quarterback who has been with his current team for at least a couple of years and can still barely complete over 50% of his passes in the preseason versus the opponent’s bottom of the barrel defenders is leaving something to be desired, especially with only one td to two interceptions to his credit this year. To top it off, the 49ers’ backup defense has performed slightly better than the league average so far this preseason.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Billy Volek is a good backup qb, but once he leaves the game the Chargers will have no advantages in any of the offensive or defensive match ups, and Billy could be leaving this game verrrrry soon. He only played one series in the preseason #4 game last season before Whitehurst took it the rest of the way. Norv Turner doesn’t like to play his starters much in the preseason, so don’t expect to see any of them go in this throwaway game. LT is already announced as a no go, and you’d have to assume that Rivers won’t play either, just like last year. <o></o>
<o> </o>
The 49ers have a 3-0 preseason record and should come into this game fired up to make the preseason a clean sweep. As a team needing to build morale after many consecutive losing seasons, they should put in a better effort with bulldog head coach Singletary than the home team Chargers do under lackadaisical head coach Turner, winning this game outright.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Final Score Prediction: 49ers 20 – Chargers 16<o></o>
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> </o>Nate Davis Bobblehead Night in <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">San Diego</st1:city></st1lace> Friday, or, The 49ers Fly Over the Fire and into the Frying Pan?<o></o><o
> </o>No, they won’t actually be handing out plastic mementos of an opposing team’s player, so perhaps I should say wobble head night? Call it what you want, but some heads will be nodding up and down in admiration of 49er rookie quarterback Nate Davis after seeing him play at the pro level (albeit in a preseason game) against the Chargers Friday night. The 49ers are high on this guy, high enough to drop backup quarterback Damon Huard from the roster before even playing this final preseason game. Huard ain’t chopped liver, either, with an 80.4 career QB rating. That’s better than all but four or five second string quarterbacks in the league, let alone third string, where he’d been on the depth chart until given his walking papers.<o
></o><o
> </o>I watched all of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1
lace w:st="on">Davis</st1lace></st1:city>’ snaps against the Cowboys in a road game, and he made some great throws. He threw a deep out from the far hash that was right on the money. He has good pocket awareness and stepped up in the pocket without panicking and running every time like many rookies do, completing a nice ball even though he had a little bit of empty field in front of him. On another play he escaped pressure to his right and threw a low laser to a receiver standing near the sideline for a big completion. That throw was an absolute dart to a spot where only his guy could get it and still be inbounds. From the pocket on another play he led a crossing receiver with a soft catchable ball that many young guys would have put too much zip on. <st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city> had a great career at <st1lace w:st="on"><st1lacename w:st="on">Ball</st1lacename> <st1lacetype w:st="on">State</st1lacetype></st1lace>, but being from a smaller school he wasn’t drafted until the third round. He’s looking like a steal right now. If the 49ers are a sub .500 team and Shawn Hill is struggling at all at the midpoint of this season I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 49ers hand over the keys of the offense to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city></st1lace> and see how he feels behind the wheel. <o></o><o
> </o>The 49ers’ first team offense has underperformed this preseason – not a problem when they’ll be seeing little, if any, playing time in this game. The run game has been pretty solid all the way down the depth chart, however, with Glen Coffee and Kory Sheets looking very good so far. So what you have in this game is an offensive second unit that has played very well, especially as <st1:city w:st="on">Davis</st1:city> has seen more playing time, versus an average at best <st1:city w:st="on"><st1
lace w:st="on">San Diego</st1lace></st1:city> backup defense. The Chargers’ backups couldn’t stop Chris Redman of the Falcons from marching up and down the field on them in the second half last week, coughing up a double digit lead in the process and losing the game after surrendering an 80 yard touchdown drive that started with about 2 minutes left on the clock. <o></o><o
> </o>Even worse for the Chargers has been the play of their backup offense, especially when Charlie Whitehurst is in at quarterback. Any quarterback who has been with his current team for at least a couple of years and can still barely complete over 50% of his passes in the preseason versus the opponent’s bottom of the barrel defenders is leaving something to be desired, especially with only one td to two interceptions to his credit this year. To top it off, the 49ers’ backup defense has performed slightly better than the league average so far this preseason.<o
></o><o
> </o>Billy Volek is a good backup qb, but once he leaves the game the Chargers will have no advantages in any of the offensive or defensive match ups, and Billy could be leaving this game verrrrry soon. He only played one series in the preseason #4 game last season before Whitehurst took it the rest of the way. Norv Turner doesn’t like to play his starters much in the preseason, so don’t expect to see any of them go in this throwaway game. LT is already announced as a no go, and you’d have to assume that Rivers won’t play either, just like last year. <o
></o><o
> </o>The 49ers have a 3-0 preseason record and should come into this game fired up to make the preseason a clean sweep. As a team needing to build morale after many consecutive losing seasons, they should put in a better effort with bulldog head coach Singletary than the home team Chargers do under lackadaisical head coach Turner, winning this game outright.<o
></o><o
> </o>Final Score Prediction: 49ers 20 – Chargers 16<o
></o>
