SANTA CLARA — For a team with increasingly public communication problems, the 49ers sure did a nice job of staying on the same page Thursday morning.
First, coach Mike Singletary stepped to the podium, followed by offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye and quarterback Alex Smith.
Three people with one message: The Yahoo! story that said the 49ers have a "tepid trust" in their coaching staff — among other unflattering details — is a bunch of bunk.
Singletary, addressing the media for the first time since the story broke Tuesday, seemed most annoyed that a source spoke with Yahoo! reporter Jason Cole. Singletary didn't believe the source was still employed by the 49ers.
"The article is not factual, No.1," Singletary said. "No.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 in time. But I'm not going to go try to find him."
And so began a sometimes bizarre — but always interesting — 45-minute, three press-conference session during which Singletary sat in the sun during Raye's confab with the media and Raye, when asked about the Yahoo! story, responded, "Who's Yahoo? I don't know him..."
Raye, convincingly, said he hadn't read the story in which he played a central role.
The Yahoo! article said some players had grown tired of Raye's tendency to blame them when things went south and detailed his habit of relaying play calls in a less-than-timely manner, a problem that plagued the Niners in their 31-6 season-opening loss to Seattle. Due to problems with Raye, the article said several players spoke with Singletary in the offseason to complain.
"I'm not going to lie. I found most of the article pretty ridiculous," Smith said. "Stuff that I had absolutely no idea about. Stuff that was news to me — that players were going to coach Singletary this offseason and had these issues? That's something I certainly had no idea about and I meet with Singletary pretty often.
"So, no idea. You can ask the rest of my team, but as far as I'm concerned (the story is) completely coming from nowhere. False."
One of Smith's teammates, safety Dashon Goldson, said he didn't read the story. But he dismissed the central points as nonsense.
"I can tell you right now, it's not an issue on our football team," he said. "We trust our coaches. They put us in good situations. They're smart. They know what they're doing and they put the time in to get us right and win football games around here."
Told of the Niners' statements Thursday, Cole said he stood by his story.
Raye was scheduled to meet with the media today, but he made a surprise appearance, presumably to address the controversy as soon as possible. On Monday, Singletary said Raye understood that he had to "do a better job of getting (plays) in" after the Niners were forced to burn three timeouts and take a delay-of-game penalty in the first 24 minutes of the first half Sunday.
Three days later, in a bizarre scene, Singletary, about five feet away, sat behind Raye on the ground during his offensive coordinator's 17-minute session with the media. At one point, Singletary sprawled out on his side, propping himself up with an elbow. When Raye said it was Singletary's decision to have quarterbacks coach Mike Johnson get involved in the play-calling process this season, Singletary raised his hand in agreement.
Raye also defended himself against the allegations in the story. But it was Smith who first took the team's play-calling issues public after Sunday's loss.
Intertwined with dismissals of the story Thursday was the question of what the Niners will do to speed up the play-calling process when they host the New Orleans Saints on Monday night.
Singletary and Smith didn't get into specifics of the plan to remedy the problem, but Smith has used a wristband in practice this week. In response to speculation that he might move from the booth to the sideline to streamline the play-calling process, Raye said he felt more comfortable staying upstairs because there were fewer distractions.
Raye initially accepted the blame for Sunday's issues. "It's my responsibility, I bear all the responsibility for the way we operate on offense," he said. But he later took a more defensive stance. He questioned Smith's decision to burn a timeout on the Niners' first drive of the game and suggested the controversy wouldn't exist if the final score had been reversed.
What could he have done better Sunday, he was asked.
"I guess we could have won the game, and then I wouldn't be here addressing this issue," Raye said. "I think it's important that all of you understand that this game has a human element to it, and of the games that were played last week, I would dare say that there was anyone in the position I'm in that was flawless."
For his part, Smith said the Niners' problems with the play clock didn't suddenly appear Sunday. He said it was an issue last year, but never blew up in their face quite like it did in Seattle.
"Like I said, I think it's something that we've gotten away with at times in the past, especially last year, you know, just battling it and hurried at the line of scrimmage and we've gotten away with it at times," Smith said. "But I think over the long run, it hurts you. You have less operation time at the line of scrimmage, you're burning timeouts. You're taking unnecessary penalties in key situations. All those things add up."
EXTRA POINTS
The 49ers will retire Jerry Rice's No.80 during halftime of Monday night's game. Rice will serve as an honorary team captain and will be formally presented with a Pro Football Hall of Fame ring before the game.
With kickoff and punt returner Ted Ginn out with a sprained MCL, Singletary said Josh Morgan, Delanie Walker and Dominique Zeigler are candidates to handle kickoff-return duties against the Saints. He said Zeigler and rookie Phillip Adams are possibilities to handle punts.
LB Ahmad Brooks (lacerated kidney), who has been out six weeks, is expected to play Monday. Brooks scuffled during practice Thursday with CB Shawntae Spencer after Spencer drilled Brooks during a drill, sending him sprawling. The altercation was quickly broken up.
Singletary termed CB Will James (ankle) questionable for Monday's game and said WR Kyle Williams (turf toe) was in a similar situation to James in his recovery process. James did not practice Thursday and Williams was limited. G Chilo Rachal (shoulder stinger) did not practice and LB Patrick Willis (thumb, knee) was limited. Willis' injuries are not considered serious.
For more on the 49ers, go to Instant 49ers at blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers. You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com and follow him at twitter.com/Eric_Branch.
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