49ers coach Mike Singletary won’t spent time trying to find out who talked to Yahoo! Sports about the team’s playcalling problems.
“I don’t want to deal with a rat,” Singletary said. “I don’t want to spend my time trying to find out who said this, who did that. The article is not factual, No. 1. Number 2, I don’t want to spend my time trying to find a rat. In time, the smell will come. If the rat is in the building, it will show but I’m not going to go try and find it.”
Singletary says he can’t spend his time on unimportant matters. But he wishes any issues were not aired publicly.
“I believe in our country, in society, the saddest thing has happened. One thing that I want to teach our guys is to be men. If there’s something that you have to say, go say it, and say that you said it. But don’t go say a bunch of stuff, ‘But don’t tell him I said it.’ To me, that’s a rat, that’s a coward, so those things I can’t spend my time on.
“Wherever that story came from, I don’t believe it’s in the building, but if it is, it will find itself out in time. Am I pissed off about it? I would say this, it’s just something that’s disappointing. Pissed off maybe is a little more immediate reaction. You’re just disappointed something like that is written.”
We respect Singletary’s message and think he handled the questions well. But the coach should keep in mind the problems were first mentioned publicly by quarterback Alex Smith, not the Yahoo! article. Singletary needs a solution.
Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye prefers to stay in the coaching booth to make calls, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Singletary hasn’t yet decided where Raye will be on Monday night against the Saints.
On Thursday, Raye tried to accept full blame, with Singletary sitting nearby.
“It’s my responsibility. I bear all the responsibility for the way we operate on offense,” Raye said. “I’m the leader. It’s my watch. I have the responsibility for the things that occur where it concerns the offense.”