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A new way for offense to pound the ball
As he headed toward the exit Sunday evening, defensive-line coach Jim Tomsula had to stop and savor the scene in the 49ers' nearly empty locker room. He watched from a distance as Ricky Jean Francois entertained the media with a fantasy of him and Isaac Sopoaga - 625 pounds of grace and elegance - connecting on a passing play someday.
"They're all hilarious," a beaming Tomsula said, when asked whether Francois or Sopoaga leads the defensive line in wit. "They're the Muppets."
The 49ers' locker room hasn't been this loose in a long time, if it ever was. The video from their 20-10 win over Cleveland should come with a laugh track. The game plan was certainly delivered tongue-in-cheek.
It yielded passes to the left tackle and nose tackle, plus some fine repartee between the two linemen after the final whistle.
"He caught with his body," Joe Staley said from the offensive end of the locker room. "I caught with my hands, so I think I'm a more sure-handed guy."
"I want to point out that my catch was 18 yards, and Joe's was only 17," Sopoaga said.
Hearing this, Staley lifted an eyebrow and countered: "The season's long."
Sopoaga played rugby for years, and the nose-tackle job does not take full advantage of all his skills, including a strong arm and supple hands. The 49ers' coaches have inserted him in the offense as a blocker and also practiced throws to him for a while this season.
Staley played tight end until his college coaches moved him to the interior line, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman told him this week that he could expect to be a receiver on at least one play against the Browns. The call came midway through the first quarter, after a 24-yard run by Frank Gore and a 26-yarder by Kendall Hunter.
"I was kind of nervous," Staley said. "I haven't (caught) the football since we ran a tackle-eligible play when I was a senior in college. I got minus-6 yards on the play. I certainly didn't want that to happen."
In practice, he said, he made the catch on every try but one. At home, he rehearsed his post-play maneuver all week.
"I had a first-down celebration," he said, "and I had a touchdown celebration."
He jumped up after the 17-yard catch, lunged forward and thrust his arm forward in a vaudevillian first-down signal.
"I was laughing; I have to give him a 10 on that one," Francois said.
"A little prima donna-ish for a lineman," quarterback Alex Smith said, sticking with the tongue-in-cheek strategy even in his street clothes. He followed with: "If he got a first down, he'd better celebrate it."
Right tackle Anthony Davis preferred the final flourish of the play itself. "When he tried to put his shoulder down on the sidelines," Davis explained, as Staley listened, "he got violent on the boundary."
As for the touchdown celebration, Staley said he couldn't demonstrate or describe the choreography.
"I might need it," he said.
Who knows? He might. These coaches could have anything in mind.
Over and over, players and head coach Jim Harbaugh said the passes to the lumberjacks simply allowed the 49ers to exploit openings that appeared on Cleveland's defensive game video.
Harbaugh also conceded that the buoyant effect on the players factored into the decision "probably a small percentage. There's not a lot. There is some firing them up, and getting people involved. (But the) big thing is taking advantage of something Joe Staley does really well. He's a very athletic guy."
The Staley play was a safe piece of whimsy. It came on first down, after two huge runs, with the 49ers up 7-0.
The Sopoaga call required guts. It came on third down at the 32 late in the fourth quarter, when the 49ers needed a field goal to quell a Cleveland threat.
After a pummeling in the first half, the Browns' defense started demonstrating some of its AFC North bloodlines, sending the 49ers' offense into a lull. With 6:17 left, Cleveland cut its deficit to 17-10.
This type of situation routinely causes teams to tighten up, especially if they haven't moved the ball in a while. For a team like these 49ers, unfamiliar with NFL supremacy, the risk tends to be even greater.
Just the idea of throwing to a 330-pound nose tackle had to lighten the mood in the huddle. Sopoaga's considerable agility made the rest happen. Somehow, a defensive back forced him out of bounds at the 14.
"I thought he was going to score," Francois said. "I thought he was going to carry about two or three people in. But knowing him and seeing DBs, I said, 'Yeah, he's going to be cut down.' But the one thing we laughed at: Why did you go out of bounds?"
Then Francois went into his reverie. He has a strong arm. He has demonstrated it in warm-ups. So does Sopoaga. But Francois sees himself playing quarterback out of a wildcat formation, with his buddy as a huge receiving target.
He was probably kidding, but the 49ers have Muppets working on a Murderers' Row, punch-line plays yielding first downs and a 6-1 record that is definitely no joke.
As he headed toward the exit Sunday evening, defensive-line coach Jim Tomsula had to stop and savor the scene in the 49ers' nearly empty locker room. He watched from a distance as Ricky Jean Francois entertained the media with a fantasy of him and Isaac Sopoaga - 625 pounds of grace and elegance - connecting on a passing play someday.
"They're all hilarious," a beaming Tomsula said, when asked whether Francois or Sopoaga leads the defensive line in wit. "They're the Muppets."
The 49ers' locker room hasn't been this loose in a long time, if it ever was. The video from their 20-10 win over Cleveland should come with a laugh track. The game plan was certainly delivered tongue-in-cheek.
It yielded passes to the left tackle and nose tackle, plus some fine repartee between the two linemen after the final whistle.
"He caught with his body," Joe Staley said from the offensive end of the locker room. "I caught with my hands, so I think I'm a more sure-handed guy."
"I want to point out that my catch was 18 yards, and Joe's was only 17," Sopoaga said.
Hearing this, Staley lifted an eyebrow and countered: "The season's long."
Sopoaga played rugby for years, and the nose-tackle job does not take full advantage of all his skills, including a strong arm and supple hands. The 49ers' coaches have inserted him in the offense as a blocker and also practiced throws to him for a while this season.
Staley played tight end until his college coaches moved him to the interior line, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman told him this week that he could expect to be a receiver on at least one play against the Browns. The call came midway through the first quarter, after a 24-yard run by Frank Gore and a 26-yarder by Kendall Hunter.
"I was kind of nervous," Staley said. "I haven't (caught) the football since we ran a tackle-eligible play when I was a senior in college. I got minus-6 yards on the play. I certainly didn't want that to happen."
In practice, he said, he made the catch on every try but one. At home, he rehearsed his post-play maneuver all week.
"I had a first-down celebration," he said, "and I had a touchdown celebration."
He jumped up after the 17-yard catch, lunged forward and thrust his arm forward in a vaudevillian first-down signal.
"I was laughing; I have to give him a 10 on that one," Francois said.
"A little prima donna-ish for a lineman," quarterback Alex Smith said, sticking with the tongue-in-cheek strategy even in his street clothes. He followed with: "If he got a first down, he'd better celebrate it."
Right tackle Anthony Davis preferred the final flourish of the play itself. "When he tried to put his shoulder down on the sidelines," Davis explained, as Staley listened, "he got violent on the boundary."
As for the touchdown celebration, Staley said he couldn't demonstrate or describe the choreography.
"I might need it," he said.
Who knows? He might. These coaches could have anything in mind.
Over and over, players and head coach Jim Harbaugh said the passes to the lumberjacks simply allowed the 49ers to exploit openings that appeared on Cleveland's defensive game video.
Harbaugh also conceded that the buoyant effect on the players factored into the decision "probably a small percentage. There's not a lot. There is some firing them up, and getting people involved. (But the) big thing is taking advantage of something Joe Staley does really well. He's a very athletic guy."
The Staley play was a safe piece of whimsy. It came on first down, after two huge runs, with the 49ers up 7-0.
The Sopoaga call required guts. It came on third down at the 32 late in the fourth quarter, when the 49ers needed a field goal to quell a Cleveland threat.
After a pummeling in the first half, the Browns' defense started demonstrating some of its AFC North bloodlines, sending the 49ers' offense into a lull. With 6:17 left, Cleveland cut its deficit to 17-10.
This type of situation routinely causes teams to tighten up, especially if they haven't moved the ball in a while. For a team like these 49ers, unfamiliar with NFL supremacy, the risk tends to be even greater.
Just the idea of throwing to a 330-pound nose tackle had to lighten the mood in the huddle. Sopoaga's considerable agility made the rest happen. Somehow, a defensive back forced him out of bounds at the 14.
"I thought he was going to score," Francois said. "I thought he was going to carry about two or three people in. But knowing him and seeing DBs, I said, 'Yeah, he's going to be cut down.' But the one thing we laughed at: Why did you go out of bounds?"
Then Francois went into his reverie. He has a strong arm. He has demonstrated it in warm-ups. So does Sopoaga. But Francois sees himself playing quarterback out of a wildcat formation, with his buddy as a huge receiving target.
He was probably kidding, but the 49ers have Muppets working on a Murderers' Row, punch-line plays yielding first downs and a 6-1 record that is definitely no joke.
