Tuesday Morning Crabtree Watch - 10/20

This Sunday represents Michael Crabtree's homecoming (hence the Texas Tech picture below). I said this a few weeks back, but it truly is amazing how quickly things can change over the course of a few weeks. Matt Maiocco reported yesterday that Josh Morgan remained on campus over the bye week to help Crabtree "learn the position"; essentially, Morgan is teaching his position to his replacement - never a good situation, but truly shows Morgan's character.

A couple articles on the interwebs today point out how Crabtree starting so quickly appears to be a radical shift form the "team first" mentality of Singletary. Kawakami pointed this out today, noting that the quick promtion of Crabtree puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Crabtree himself, yet "puts even more pressure on offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye and, mostly, on Hill." This is interesting, considering 2 weeks ago (pre-Falcons "game"), Hill's position was set in stone, and the Niners were a power rushing offense coupled with strong defense/special teams. All signs point to Crabtree not being the deep threat some expect him to be, which is good since Hill can't throw deep.

Who knows, having Davis and Crabtree on the field at the same time might just be the saving grace Hill needs: both are very large, physical targets with above average hands, and strong YAC potential - qualities that should be able to help a struggling QB who can't throw deep. Assuming Hill can throw to points where only his guys can catch the ball, I would expect our offense to connect on a number of 8-10 yard pass routes, hoping for our receivers to rack up the YACs.