49er news on QB's

[Russ Smith]

Apparently in the last 15 minutes or so they announced that JT O'Sullivan is starting at QB in the preseason opener against the Raiders. Not clear yet if that means he's beaten out Alex Smith or not but as the announcer said it's fairly shocking considering Smith's contract.

 

[Syracusecards]

That sucks. I was hoping they'd ride Alex Smith into mediocrity for at least a couple more years thinking he'd improve.

 

[moklerman]

I don't know if he'll hang onto the job but I happened to mention this possibility when they signed him.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't know if he'll hang onto the job but I happened to mention this possibility when they signed him.

Nolan is denying it means anything said he wants to see how he handles starting since he already knows how Smith and Hill handle it.

Still the local papers are saying it's a surprise and that it reinforces some of the rumors leaking out that Martz isn't particularly impressed with Smith.

 

[DaisyCutter]

San Francisco is a mess. It's too bad for such a proud franchise.

If Mike Nolan gets fired this season, and Clancy Pendergast's defense again underachieves (which keeps the Cards out of the playoffs), would you welcome Nolan as the new DC?

He has experience coaching a 3-4 defense from Baltimore, and that's more of the two-gap approach (I think) like Pittsburgh uses.

 

[sundevil04]

On espn I only see stats for 04 and 07 for JT was he out of the NFL for a while?

 

[DaisyCutter]

On espn I only see stats for 04 and 07 for JT was he out of the NFL for a while?

FootballOutsiders has a funny write-up on O'Sullivan:

O'Sullivan played fairly well off the bench in Week 2 against the Vikings, but the Lions put Jon Kitna back into the game anyway, even though Kitna's eyes were glassy and he was muttering about being thrown from his horse on the road to Damascus. The Vikings game was the first real action of O'Sullivan's career, but Mike Martz liked him enough to import him to San Francisco, where he'll look over Alex Smith's shoulder while helping Martz install his system. O'Sullivan is just good enough to have an exciting little Damon Huard-type hot streak if he ever gets to start three or four games in a row.

NFL.com does a fantastic job tracking where players go, even if they don't play. O'Sullivan was on the roster for the Vikings, Panthers, and Patriots before ending up on Detroit's roster.

NFL.com also posts preseason stats, which is pretty cool when you're looking to see what you can expect from Brian St. Pierre (last season: 60.7 QB rating against guys who are now selling insurance).

 

[Metcalf Rules]

maybe Martz thinks O'Sullivan is another Kurt Warner.

 

[bratwurst]

Was O'Sullivan the QB from the World Bowl last year?

 

[moklerman]

From Wikipedia:

He spent time in NFL Europe, and in 2004 he finished with the 2nd best passer rating in the league and led his team to World Bowl XII. He played the first regular season game of his career in 2004 while with the Green Bay Packers, where he took a knee twice to end the game. He was with the New Orleans Saints in 2002 and 2003 before being traded with a second round draft pick to the Packers for Mike McKenzie in 2004. O'Sullivan also spent time with the Minnesota Vikings in 2005, and New England Patriots for part of 2006.

On February 8, 2007 he signed with the Chicago Bears and has participated again in this year's NFL Europa season for the Frankfurt Galaxy franchise for the second time. Prior to World Bowl XV, O' Sullivan (along with Centurions RB Derrick Ross) shared the 2007 NFL Europa Offensive MVP.[1]

He's looked pretty decent to me but I'm not really predicting anything in particular from him I just put 2 + 2 together in terms of Martz's past coaching. His system usually takes a full year for a QB to digest so my guess was that JT would have a very distinct advantage going into training camp.

That's not to say he might not be another diamond in the rough for Martz. Something I didn't realize, which is probably just a coincidence, is JT and Bulger were both Saints QB's before hooking up with Martz.
http://www.nfleurope.com/news/story/10232806