Manusky’s Week 12 plan didn’t work

By Richard Brear  |   Wednesday, November 26, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

San Francisco 49ers
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After the glee from the Niners’ Week 11 win over St. Louis faded a bit, defensive coordinator Greg Manusky had a none-too-innovative vision last week; it was a plan for defeating the Dallas Cowboys, whom the 49ers played last Sunday.

Presumably, Mike Singletary bought into Manusky’s ideas that surely centered on stopping the run and making an injured Tony Romo beat San Francisco. So, with all their chips on the table, the 49ers prepared to put a choke hold on rushing yardage by Dallas while hoping for the worst from Romo and his receivers.

Then the game took place in Texas Stadium. The Cowboys were indeed limited to only 77 rushing yards. Hurray for Manusky. And the Niners' defense did sometimes make Irving, Texas, a no-fly zone for the home team, as made really clear when Jason Witten was laid out on his second and final reception attempt. Maybe a little pat on the back for Manusky.

But these accomplishments did not throw a wet blanket on the 'Boys. To an extent, San Francisco threw the blanket on itself during its 35-22 loss.

Inopportune turnovers and penalties by the 49ers flung the blanket. To make matters even worse for San Francisco, the Cowboys neutralized rushing and receiving threat Frank Gore. The Niners’ primary weapon, Gore was allowed only 32 total yards during the game. In addition, an incredibly productive day by Dallas receiver Terrell Owens, afflicted with the dropsies in other games recently, put the icing on the Cowboys' victory cake.

Result: Mark one, a big one, for the Cowboys. Mark a goose egg for Manusky and the 49ers.

If the strategies of San Francisco’s coaches pan out as poorly against the 6-5 Buffalo Bills as they did in Dallas, the 3-8 49ers will again be retreating in defeat this Sunday.
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About Richard Brear

My first newspaper article of many appeared in print in the 1960's, but my fascination with journalism never got too serious until roughly twenty years later. In the 80's, I became a certified teacher of English Language Arts, got degrees from the University of Houston, and began teaching writing ...
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