November 21, 2012, 10:44 pm
Jim Trotter of Sports Illustrated tells us that Jim
Harbaugh has demoted Alex Smith for Colin Kaepernick. He also tells us
that Smith is trying to be the loyal soldier by backtracking on ESPN?s
Trent Dilfer.
[RELATED: Report -- Smith informed Kaepernick will start]
Well, all that means is that Smith doesn?t feel comfortable fighting the
power. It does mean, though, that Harbaugh has decided to roll the dice
on Kaepernick, and if he?s right, he has a Super Bowl trophy.
And if he?s not, he has created a mess out of which he cannot gobble his way to an escape.
Harbaugh chose to tell Smith Wednesday that he was going with Kaepernick
in New Orleans and beyond, concussion clearance or no concussion
clearance. He decided that a so-so game against St. Louis and a big game
against Chicago was evidence enough to put his championship plans in
the hands of a neophyte.
It is a gambler?s move at a time when gambling isn?t required. It is a
move that declares the already shiny status quo to be null and void, and
it is a move that tells every other player on the roster that
yesterday?s deeds do not equal today?s hunch.
And all Kaepernick has to do is win it all for Harbaugh to be beyond
bulletproof. He will be Nick Saban, and Urban Meyer, and Chip Kelly, all
rolled into one. Invulnerable, even in the face of any and all Yorks.
And maybe that?s how it should be in the NFL. In an amoral sport like
football, in a soulless organization like the NFL, winning is the one
reductive truth that trumps all other behaviors.
But if he?s wrong, if the 49ers aren?t a Super Bowl team after all, if
Kaepernick?s 1 ? games of work really are too small a sample size, he
won?t be able to gobble or jive his way out of this flightless bird.
And we have no rooting interest either way. We don?t care who wins the
hand. We just know that he decided to go all-in trusting only his gut
and the gods who handle the flop, turn and river.
He has, in short, revealed his truest nature here. We make no value
judgments, but we do know when a guy has decided to gamble on a
longshot, and when he needs to do so. This was not that time, but
Harbaugh couldn?t wait. He didn?t want people to talk about a
quarterback controversy because he knows that it isn?t who talks that?s
the problem, but who hears it.
And Smith, based on sources, is not going to object to the change.
Whether that makes him a good teammate or a natural-born follower is for
others to deduce; psychology isn?t what we do here.
But Harbaugh?s gamble puts the entire team at risk, and it shows that
while he is unafraid to make bold moves, it also shows that loyalty is a
one-way street. Players suspect that of coaches and general managers
all the time, but they file the information away from when the time
comes to use it.
And being 7-2-1, going into New Orleans, isn?t that time.
In short, Colin Kaepernick has been given the keys to the Lexus and told
he can drive it like a Lamborghini Murcielago. If he wins the race,
well, genius has been served. Winners by definition cannot lose.
But if Kaepernick wraps it around a tree, or dunks into a lagoon, or
gets hit the wrong way, the fault will not be his, but Harbaugh?s. The
coach went all in when he didn?t have to. He could have checked, even
check-raised, but he pushed all his chips in because despite the fact
that he didn?t have to do it, he did it anyway. He surrendered to an
impulse at a time when being impulsive wasn?t really needed.
And impulses sometimes cause scorch marks and scarring.
Source: http://www.csnbayarea.com/11/22/12/Impulsive-Harbaugh-goes-all-in-unnecessa/nbcsportsniners.html?blockID=804951&feedID=2800
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