Is Greg Roman the Mayor of Imaginationland? No Way

Hopefully G. Ro Isn't Living in Imaginationland

"I'm scared with everyone back G. Ro will try and get too cute and let his imagination run wild and f*** us over." That's the text messsage I received from Kevin Hsu at 9:18 last evening. Run on text speak aside, Kevin brings up a valid concern. At this point in the NFL season, most teams are filling gaps left by injured starters. Off the top of my head, I can think of Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Julio Jones in Atlanta, Jay Cutler in Chicago, and Victor Cruz in New York; to name a few. Unlike the majority of the league, the 49ers are actually getting healthier as the season progresses. This Sunday against Carolina, Mario Manningham will make his 2013 debut. Also, Michael Crabtree practiced today, for the first time since tearing his achilles tendon in May. The 49ers have rebounded from two tough losses and, over the last few games, look as strong as any team in the NFL. Offensively speaking, the niners will have their most complete squad on the field within the next three weeks or so.

This brings me to my point. With the return of Manningham and Crabtree, will Greg Roman (G. Ro) get too crazy with his offensive schemes? You all know what I'm talking about. Putting four different guys in motion on a single play. Going with Kap in the shotgun for no apparent reason. Delayed handoffs on third and twelve. Forcing the ball down the field like they have Calvin Johnson as a target. The entire league saw the win against Green Bay in week one. Colin Kaepernick and the 49er offense looked like a shiny, brand new Ferrari. As I have noted in the past, Greg Roman may have initially become too enamored with Kap's abilities. He might have been just as star struck as all 49er fans, Ron Jaworski and everyone else on ESPN. He started to think the niners could get away from their power running roots and sustain a flashy offense weekly. Clearly, the young Kaepernick wasn't ready to shoulder this heavy burden. The past five games, they've gotten back to wham blocks and play action passes. The bread and butter of the 2011 and 2012 49ers. Although audibling five times to some zone read play is cool, sometimes you just have to stack your blockers and run the ball down the other team's throat.

Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree back on the field should put San Francisco in position to cruise toward a high playoff seed. Hopefully, it will give them the necessary advantage to edge Seattle out of first place in the NFC West. If Greg Roman keeps up with what he's doing, the return of their high caliber receivers will give the 49ers a huge boost moving forward. He needs to sparingly use that high octane passing offense we all saw in week one. An analogy I heard the other day is perfect for this situation. The 49ers' high flying, Colin Kaepernick running and gunning offense, is like fine china. You only want to break it out for special occasions. But the rest of the time, you keep it on display, so everyone knows you have it. If Greg Roman isn't living in imaginationland, he'll know the precise moment to unleash it.