49ers' time of the essence

Does it matter? Well, sure it does, and not just for the obvious reasons.

"If you're sitting there and you're the left tackle, and you're not getting the information the way you want to get it, or it's chaos in the huddle or it's chaos at the line of scrimmage or there's frustration, you start to lose confidence in what you're doing," Dilfer said. "I think that's the bigger issue. I think that's one of the reasons why they've been so inconsistent offensively."

These complaints are nothing new.

Even when Alex Smith was at quarterback, the 49ers were frequently criticized for getting play calls into the huddle late. San Francisco still consistently runs the play clock down to the nub, and calls timeouts at a rate that would make some coaches blanch. Last Sunday's 23-20 victory against the Packers was a perfect example.

The 49ers had called their first two first-half timeouts just 5 minutes, 36 seconds into the game.

They burned their first two timeouts of the second half after 6 minutes, 43 seconds; the first one of those came just five seconds into the third quarter, when Kaepernick discovered he had left his wristband -#8212; inscribed with the 49ers' offensive plays -#8212; in the visitors' locker room at Lambeau Field.

A misplaced wristband seems like a freak occurrence, but it couldn't have happened to a more likely team.

Consider:

It took the 49ers just 1:46 to burn their first timeout of the season, against Green Bay in Week 1.

They called two timeouts in the span of three plays midway through the second quarter at Seattle in Week 2.

They called their first second-half timeout 2:45 into the action at Tennessee in Week 7.

They called time out 1:59 into the game against the Panthers in Week 10.

At New Orleans in Week 11, it was 43 seconds into the game.

At Tampa Bay in Week 15, Jim Harbaugh lost a challenge 49 seconds into the game, and the Niners followed up with a timeout 2 minutes, 18 seconds later.

Sometimes you'd swear the 49ers are intent on dumping their timeouts like bad stocks, even in situations when they should have had ample time to settle on a play. It seems like a dubious approach. You never know, after all, when you'll need a timeout or two in the waning moments of a half.

But don't expect the 49ers to repent.

More than most NFL teams, they have demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game penalty or an ill-advised play against a particular defensive formation.

"You want to have timeouts at the end of the game," Niners center Jonathan Goodwin said. "But if they feel like it's a situation where we need to avoid the 5-yard penalty, you know, the coaches probably know a lot more than we do. Certain drives it could be a key situation, you don't want to get behind the chains."

As Harbaugh said: "You just make the decision, battlefield decision of whether it's the right thing to do or not."

To be fair to the 49ers, even while killing all those timeouts they usually have been able to hang onto one for an emergency -#8212; like the timeout they called to set up Phil Dawson's last-second, game-winning field goal at Green Bay last Sunday.

Part of the equation is the 49ers' terminology system, which is wordier and more complex than most.

"The longer your play calls are, the more Kap has to repeat," Goodwin acknowledged.

And before Kaepernick has a chance to repeat the code in the huddle, he has to get the same string of words from Harbaugh, who gets them from Roman in the press box.

Asked how the coach-to-quarterback communication has gone lately, Roman answered: "Great. Great. Great flow of communication."

Yet sometimes the play clock is barreling past the 10-second mark by the time Kaepernick gets to the line of scrimmage.

A deeper issue is the 49ers' philosophy. Dilfer calls them a "best-look" offense.

Some teams like to push the pace and snap the ball with 15 seconds left, hoping to catch the defense at a mental or tactical disadvantage.

The 49ers don't seek this edge. They are much more concerned about dialing up the perfect play for the defense they're surveying.

"Ideally, you'd like to keep all your timeouts in case you need them, unless something else comes up along the way," Roman said. "So we don't want to mindlessly waste timeouts, but if it allows us to capture a rook, a queen, a king as opposed to a pawn, then it's cost-benefit analysis."

Dilfer has played in both types of system, and said he sees the benefits of each.

"I get frustrated, being a Bay Area guy, kind of wanting the 49ers to play well," Dilfer said. "But also at the end of the game, when they go on a five-minute drive to seal it in the wild-card round, I appreciate it because they were able to run four or five plays that series against a perfect look, and that gave them an advantage. So again, I know this isn't a great opinion, I see both sides of it."

Dilfer couldn't resist a final critique.

"It is frustrating, though, to watch," he said.

If the 49ers can frustrate their viewers all the way to Super Bowl XLVIII, they'll be OK with it.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.