The scramblers More in 49ers Insider
For an expanded version of this feature, Hall of Fame columnist Art Spander on the Jets’ three-ring circus, a visit to the fledgling Santa Clara stadium and more, get the 49ers Insider digital iPad magazine at bit.ly/Q7x8P8. 49ers Insider is free for home-delivery subscribers.
Colin Kaepernick’s face lit up as he described the adrenaline rush of breaking a long run.
Forget about those brutish defensive linemen clogging the line of scrimmage. Kaepernick yearns for the vast expanse of land behind them, where he can stretch his 6-foot-4, 230pound frame and shift into overdrive.
“To me, that’s the ultimate feeling of being an athlete,” Kaepernick said. “You get in the open field and you get a chance to show your speed against the speed of linebackers and defensive backs, who are considered some of the best athletes in the world.”
Sunday’s game between the 49ers and Jets will match Alex Smith and Mark Sanchez, two mostly traditional drop-back passers. But just imagine the 21st century mayhem if backups Kaepernick and Tim Tebow end up on the field.
This is fast becoming a golden era for running quarterbacks in the NFL, from Michael Vick and Cam Newton to Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. They all can
What was at stake in the gambling community during “Monday Night Football”? Only about $150 million in total bets worldwide, according to a top executive at the Wynn in Las Vegas. That’s how much money shifted when Russell Wilson’s pass to Golden Tate was ruled a touchdown for Seattle. If the proper call had been made — either an interception or pass interference on Tate — Green Bay would have had a fivepoint win that covered the spread.
And that $150 million, incidentally, seems to be a conservative estimate. Mike Perry, a spokesman for the betting site Sportsbook.ag, told ESPN that the money swing on that call was closer to $250 million. So let’s not dismiss the organized-crime angle out of hand. Who could be more vulnerable to gambling interests than a low-paid, virtually unknown referee who soon will disappear altogether from the NFL scene?
No end in sight
Actually, “soon” is only the voice of logic. Surely, the NFL can’t allow this nonsense to continue for another week. Get this thing settled by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest, and bring back the real thing. Then again, perhaps logic doesn’t come into play. To hear some tell it, the two sides are no closer to a settlement than they were last week, when talks ended at a stalemate.
Remember this when it comes to a bunch of owners, in any sport: Don’t count on anything that resembles dignity, or common sense. Commissioner Roger Goodell is merely the pawn of his owners in this matter, and if you can believe this, a good number of NFL owners have contended for weeks that the league can get by without its regular officials for an entire season.
Please, somebody awaken these clowns from what amounts to a drunken stupor. The NFL is a $9 billion industry, quite capable of instantly erasing all concerns about salaries, pensions and the number of full-time officials working each game. Get the damn thing done, for crying out loud. And remember this, as noted Tuesday by ESPN.com’s Andrew Brandt: “Thousands of negligence lawsuits are now circling the NFL regarding concussions. It will be interesting to see if head injuries suffered during these games generate a new wave of allegations against the league.”
Going straight to the front of that line: the Raiders’ Darrius Heyward-Bey, who took a helmet-to-helmet hit at the Coliseum on Sunday during a game spinning out of control with violent play. And as he lay on the ground, unconscious, not a single penalty flag was thrown.
The 49ers felt the brunt of referees’ incompetence right away, in the season opener at Green Bay, when Randall Cobb’s 75-yard punt return was allowed to stand despite a clipping penalty that could have been spotted from the top row of the stadium. Since then, there have been countless blown calls (or non-calls) around the league, the Twitter universe has exploded with player rage, and the coaches aren’t standing for it.
Men behaving badly
New England’s Bill Belichick blatantly grabbed an official and chased him off the field Sunday night in his disgust over what was ruled a winning field goal for Baltimore. Kyle Shanahan, the Washington Redskins’ offensive coordinator, reportedly chased an official through the tunnel, screaming obscenities along the way, after his team’s loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. Denver head coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio both were fined for berating a crew during a loss to Atlanta the previous Monday night.
With fines surely forthcoming for Belichick and Shan ahan, one wonders: The NFL is fining people for a properly demonstrative protest against an injustice caused by the league itself? This is on you, Commissioner Goodell. What, you want the coaches and players to go quietly into the night and pretend everything’s OK?
As for the utter nonsense that prevailed during the closing minutes (or was it hours?) of the 49ers-Vikings game, one can only marvel at the fact that Harbaugh was given two free replay challenges that he didn’t actually have at his disposal. But something much more significant happened to San Francisco on Monday: Seattle, a fast-rising team within the 49ers’ division, was handed a victory it did not deserve.
Sure, it’s a stretch to imagine the Seahawks edging out San Francisco for the division title by one game. But again, it’s all about the possibility that such a thing could happen, the fact that fans around the country will raise legitimate suspicions about gambling. It seemed funny, for a while, when it was reported that some of these replacement refs had been fired by the Lingerie Football League. All the jokes have subsided now. The integrity of a league is at stake, and there isn’t a moment to waste.