Nebraska plays a bruising game against Bruins

By Art Spander

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — This is the way to win a football game, the old-fashioned way, the effective way. You get the ball and run it through the other team’s defense. You gain yards, you score points and, perhaps most importantly, you never give the opponent the ball. Or a chance.

Stanford plays that style of football. USC plays that style. And as we — and UCLA — learned on a chilly night-after-Christmas, Nebraska plays that style. Crunch, smash, dash, flash. And now and then, throw a pass.

Nebraska had a 5-7 record but made it to the Foster Farms Bowl because of academic progress. UCLA was 8-4 and had a freshman sensation quarterback. But the Bruins couldn’t stop Stanford. Or USC. And on Saturday night, with a defensive line far too light and coaching decisions far too incorrect, they couldn’t stop Nebraska, which won the Foster Farms Bowl, 37-29.

You know the adage. There are lies, damned lies and statistics. But Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium, where the announced crowd was 33,527, these stats were all too truthful. The Cornhuskers rushed for 326 yards. The Cornhuskers had the ball just over 38 minutes out of the total 60.

“We’ve got to get bigger and stronger,” said UCLA coach Jim Mora, stating the obvious. “So we can be competitive against teams like this or Stanford or USC. But it’s a bit of a catch-22 in our (Pac-12) conference, because so many teams play spread.”

UCLA, ending the year with consecutive defeats, was merely spread out. They got bulled and trapped and, every now and then, tricked. “We knew the team we could be,” said Mike Riley, in his first year at Nebraska after a 12-year run as head coach at Oregon State. “This game gave us a chance to prove it.”

The Huskers proved it solidly and demonstratively, if somewhat slowly. After a fumble deep in UCLA territory and a couple of Josh Rosen touchdown passes, Nebraska trailed 21-7 roughly halfway through the second quarter. But then the domination began.

Nebraska, in order, got a touchdown, a touchdown — and it was 21-21 at halftime — a touchdown (with a blocked PAT), a field goal and a touchdown. The Huskers, down by 14, suddenly led by 16, 37-21. As they love to say on TV, 30 unanswered points. Wow. Or for UCLA, woe.

Rosen was harassed. He had gone a stretch of 245 passes without an interception in the middle of the season. He was picked off twice by USC in the Bruins’ one-sided loss to the Trojans and then twice more Saturday night.

“We didn’t do enough on offense,” said Rosen, “to keep our defense off the field. Nebraska ran 81 plays.” To UCLA’s 57.

Rosen is a drop-back quarterback. Nebraska’s Tommy Armstrong Jr. drops through you. He’ll hand off. He’ll carry (10 times for 97 yards) and, when needed, he’ll pass (12 of 19 for 174 yards and a touchdown). He’s mobile and agile. And getting blocks from a two-tight-end formation that flummoxed the Bruins when it didn’t overwhelm them, he became the offensive player of the game.

Rosen was 26 of 42 for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

A few days ago, Mora warned what Armstrong was capable of doing, and the UCLA head coach proved an all-too-accurate prophet.

UCLA, as it did in other games this season, made critical penalties, two unsportsmanlike calls that kept Nebraska drives alive. If you are unable to keep a team from pounding you, the worst thing to do is to respond by hitting someone out of bounds.

Yet, the Bruins did have ball and two chances to score late, but Ka’imi Fairbairn, who kicked a 60-yard field goal against Cal, missed a 46-yarder and at the end Rosen was intercepted in the end zone.

“It’s a disappointing loss,” said Mora. “We struggled against the run. We are light on defense, and they took advantage. They did a nice job.

“We fought our butts off, but (Nebraska is) a really good front out there to go up against. It starts with us as a staff, taking a hard look at ourselves, how we teach, the structure of our offense and defense, our drills, our strength and conditioning.

“I have a lot of respect for Nebraska. They beat Michigan State. They are a good football team.”

For sure, they are better than UCLA.

For Raiders, no success ‘without a Super Bowl’

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — Wait ’til next year. Or the year after that. Or the Twelfth of Never. The Raiders aren’t there yet, perhaps aren’t even close to being there, meaning the postseason, where they last played 13 years ago, a virtual lifetime in the NFL.

Are they better than last season? Their record would indicate as much. Even after getting beaten by the superior Green Bay Packers, 30-20, Sunday in the rain and chill at O.Co Coliseum, and being eliminated from the playoffs, the Raiders are 6-8. And wins in their final two games, unlikely since one is at Kansas City, would make them 8-8, which would be their best record since 2011.

They had a new coach this season, Jack Del Rio, and after defeating the Jets in early November had a 4-3 record. Where would they go from there? Nowhere, it turned out. At least figuratively. Progress, sure — from three wins a year ago, it was inevitable they would progress. Still, that doesn’t placate the fans, drenched and deflated, who toughed it out. Or the veteran defensive back Charles Woodson.

Someone wondered if the season could be described as success, what with victories over the Jets and, a week ago, the Denver Broncos. Woodson had a ready response. “There is no success,” he said, “without a Super Bowl.”

This from a 37-year-old who entered the league in 1998, was drafted by and played with the Raiders, moved to the Green Bay Packers where he got that Super Bowl and then in 2013 returned to Oakland. This from a man who has battled and survived and, even Sunday, after another bruise to his sore right shoulder, missed only one scrimmage play before re-entering the game.

“But,” added Woodson, “progress has been made.”

The Raiders have fallen — or raised — themselves into the category called teasers. As opposed to finishers. The Raiders are out there making big runs, big receptions, big defensive stops — and big mistakes.

As in the first period Monday, when they — meaning quarterback Derek Carr — threw two interceptions and fell behind 14. After which they pulled ahead, 20-17. After which they gave up two touchdowns and a field goal.

Is it a lack of experience, of understanding how champions compete, or a lack of talent? Is it a failure in the coaching or a failure in comprehension? Is it bad breaks or bad play?

For seasons the Raiders have been heavily penalized, a legacy of the late owner Al Davis, who often said he didn’t care about discipline. And while there has been improvement in 2015, the penalties remain a major negative. Time after time Monday, the Raiders were called for pass interference, illegal use of hands or holding. In all, the Raiders had 10 penalties for 95 yards, the Packers six for 75 yards.

On a third and sixth, a pass is knocked down, a flag is thrown and the Packers — or the Chiefs, or the Steelers — have a first down. “Just play with better technique,” said Del Rio about the calls. “I saw a couple examples where guys were trailing and did not play with proper technique. That will be called every time. Wasn’t even close.”

Nor were the two quick interceptions by Carr, who, in his second year, has not attained a level of consistency needed by winners. In the middle of the first quarter, Micah Hyde picked off a Carr pass at the Oakland 36. Four plays later, the Pack led 7-0. One play later, a 43-yard interception return by Damarious Randall made it 14-0.

“The first interception,” said Carr, “I tried to sneak it in without the guy seeing me, and he turned his head around and caught it. The second just got high on me. It did. I wish I had the play over. I’d love to bring it down, obviously, but that’s where I wanted to throw it. It was just high.”

After the one-two punch, Del Rio brought Carr to his side, not to criticize but to reassure. “It was just, ‘Things like that are going to happen, I believe in you,’” Shaw said of the coach’s advice. “‘You already know these things. Just go out there and be yourself.’”

For now, Carr being himself is not good enough. He’s an individual on the verge. The Raiders are a team on the verge. But so far that’s not enough.

“In critical situations,” said Woodson, the wise and relatively old man, “you can’t beat yourself. It’s hard enough to go out there and play the other team. As this team grows, we’ll get better at those type of things.”

For that we must wait. ’Til next year, or well after that.

S.F. Examiner: John York: ‘We are disappointed’

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

He used to be the guy who took the media pounding and more. At one 49ers game, during a halftime presentation, John York — Dr. John York using his well-earned title — was booed by the fans at Candlestick Park, where the Niners then played. Got a little angry, too, even blaming a journalist for the treatment.

York knows tough times, and as the Niners owner, along with his wife, Denise, knows what they’re going through, and what the Yorks’ son, Jed, the team CEO, is going through. John can read. John can hear. The fans and media are unhappy. So too is John York.

Read the full story here.

© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: A blur is all Warriors need

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

Someone shouted, “We’re back.” From where? One defeat? Back? The Warriors never left. They aren’t a basketball team, they’re a human blitz. So they lost a game. That was eons ago, on the road. What they did Wednesday night was what we expect, what all of basketball expects — a thrashing of an opponent.

You don’t watch the Warriors thinking about who’s going to end up ahead. That’s a given. The defeat that ended the season-opening record win streak was the exception that proves the rule. These Warriors are entertainers. These Warriors are 24-1 in 25 games.

Read the full story here.

© 2015 The San Francisco Examiner

Niners have reached the fringe of irrelevancy

By Art Spander

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intimate is how one could describe the Jim Tomsula day-after media conference on Monday. The 49ers head coach was there, in body if not spirit, and so were a mere eight journalists, written or electronic word.

Sure, the main group, the people who covered the game for the Northern California dailies, still was en route home from Cleveland, and there indeed was a representative from both of the two large Bay Area publications. But only one each. No columnists.

It was as if everything about these Niners is irrelevant, so let’s concentrate on the high-profile teams, the Warriors, the Raiders, the Sharks.

If the fans don’t show up for home games at Levi’s Stadium, then why should the papers or radio and TV stations show up for yet another presser that, given Tomsula’s uninspirational style, figured to be the repetitive questions and unfulfilling responses to which we’re now accustomed?

NBC television caught on to the defections soon enough, and as allowed under the flex format, switched this Sunday’s 49ers-Bengals game from prime time, evening, to afternoon. How embarrassing.

You almost feel sorry for Tomsula, who does his best to avoid explanations why his team is not doing its best — or, gracious sakes alive, indeed may be doing its best. Some speakers, Donald Trump for example, are full of words and emotions, popular or unpopular, and capture our attention. But ask Trump to explain Cover Two, well, you can imagine how bad the Niners might be were The Donald coaching them.

Tomsula doesn’t rant and rave, doesn’t crack wise, doesn’t berate his athletes, doesn’t make fun of those from foreign lands. He gives us clichés, which certainly doesn’t make him alone in that category, but in his lackluster phrases there’s a disassociation from what actually took place.

“You said the effort was there,” a questioner posed to Tomsula, “but the execution wasn’t. Given 24 hours and given some time to look at the film, why do you think that was the case? What caused that?”

Execution is a football term that enables coaches to avoid responsibility, as in “I gave them a game plan so well-designed any dolt could understand, but these guys are so uncoordinated they couldn’t tackle a kid from Pop Warner, never mind an NFL running back.”

As is well known, the late John McKay handled the subject brilliantly and pointedly. Asked, when he was the Tampa Bay Bucs' head coach, about the team’s execution, McKay responded, “I think it would be a very good idea.” He knew how to fill a notebook.

Oh, if Tomsula only had that skill. Oh, if Tomsula didn’t look so forlorn standing on stage in the Niners’ auditorium, facing all those empty chairs. Maybe with a couple dozen radio, TV and press people, he’d give us the David Letterman routine. Instead, undoubtedly believing it would be absurd to waste his best material, Coach Jim, sticks to basics — name, rank, serial number.

“The execution,” Tomsula told us about last Sunday. “The fundamentals. Blocking up front. Tackling. Wrap-tackling. Just wrapping up when you tackle. You can’t do that.”

You shouldn’t do that, is what he meant. The 49ers did it, and Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, who had lost seven in a row, the Niners were losers, 24-10. Twenty-four hours later, with Tomsula and staff having studied the video, the Niners’ incompetence became no more or no less apparent. Yawn.

Blaine Gabbert, having taken over for Colin Kaepernick, who twice was sacked six times in games this season, against Cleveland was sacked nine times. “We missed an opportunity for ourselves,” said Tomsula. Only a coach would phrase it that way. An opportunity? To do what? Go to the Super Bowl?

Tomsula, the ultimate company man, was asked how, perhaps against all odds, the Niners could improve in their last three regularly scheduled games. McKay or Bill Walsh might have quipped, “Trade for the Carolina Panthers' offensive line,” but Coach Jim never would say anything like that. You wonder if he even thinks of anything like that.

“Well, to me,” said Tomsula, “the first thing is we try to make sure the same guy comes to work every day. We think our way through things, and we adjust what we feel we need to adjust. We (are) taking a look at where those things are and the heavy connections. And making sure that we have our young guys and older guys working together and finishing each other’s sentences.”

Better they finish each other’s blocks.