Deon is saying his source ISN'T Crabtree, and by his quote, it sounds like plural.
From PFT
“My sources wears uniforms, suits and ties,” Sanders said of this latest imbroglio.
Maybe he's lying, maybe not. But he is indicating plural every step of the way, and what seems to be both players and either staff/organizational people. Maybe if there was one plural word, but all of them?
We've heard rumors last year about Harbaugh, and I've never seen a 1-2 team be so out of sorts (what they were when these rumors came out). This isn't out of the blue. We've heard some grumblings a couple of times before this. But man I would think it would have take longer then this for it to start up again.
They kept their stars so nothing seems to have dramatically changed with the team's talent, yet the team looks to have been waiting to turn on him. If anything certain areas are stronger. It's almost unheard of. I sure don't remember any 1-2 team that has lots of talent and recent success to have rumors like this. Maybe if they were approaching a 6-10 season or something, but 1-2? If true, there would have to be a ton of bad blood in the locker room for it to surface this early imo.
Harbaugh may or may not be a great coach. He's had a lot of talent, and that can make any coach look better then what they are. The 49ers also have Roman, Fangio, and Baalke as GM there. So we don't really know who are the most important people in creating the Niners success. They have all of these guys who seem good.
Arians looks better and wins more when Keim keeps finding guys off the street that can contribute. With good signings like Cromartie or last year with Dansby. It probably takes a good combo of both to have sustained success in the NFL, so I'm glad we have both, and both seem to work well with each other. Doesn't hurt to have Bowles either. Arians and the rest then takes those guys and gets them on the right page and ready to play. At least that seems to be how it is working here, and I for one hope this sort of relationship and performance last.
Thus when I see Harbuagh has what seems like quality people around him, and has good talent to work with, he should be getting to championship games. I don't know how to properly divvy up the accolades, but a legitimate case can be made that some of these other people may have had a bigger hand in the Niners success then Harbaugh. Hell perhaps they would of won championships with a different coach, though we'll never know that.
Technically it could go either way, perhaps Harbuagh is the man and these other guys are riding his coattails. But my sense is, while not being completely the other way, it tends to skew more towards these other guys being more responsible along with the players playing to that level to reach those places. Also alot should be said that while Kaep has his drawbacks, he also makes plays that no one called in. Harbaugh and everyone else has benefited from that.
Harbaugh doesn't suck, he seems to be above average or better in all the areas that don't correspond with the interpersonal relationships and communication that transpires within a team given all the actions they engage in running the Niners. Perhaps no one else could of protected Kaep early on by running what seemed to be very reminiscent of how Harbaugh was used in Chicagoland.
Chuck Daly was the coach of the dream team, does anyone here really think they wouldn't of steamrolled opponents if they had a coach named Daly Chuck? Now that is an extreme case, but it helps make the point that good talent can win.
I can't remember who was involved, but there was a segment on TV in the last couple of days and they mentioned that Harbaugh seems to be a short term coach wherever he goes. They were implying that he wears on everyone where he is after about three years. It's not like he left Stanford because they were losing.
Here's his coaching career from wiki
WKU (NCAA FCS) (1994–2001) (unpaid asst.)
Oakland Raiders (2002–2003) (QB)
San Diego (NCAA FCS) (2004–2006)
Stanford (NCAA FBS) (2007–2010)
San Francisco 49ers (2011–present)
His personality does not seem like it is one of a good long term coach, at least in the NFL of the last couple of decades and going forward. He rubs everyone the wrong way. He acts like a psycho as we see during the games, and it's very possible that how he acts like a brat on the sidelines might be his personality within the locker room and other places we can't see. On the sideline he looks like a petulant six year old. He seems super emotional and intense. Hell he even made a commercial that one where he screams 'I-formation', 'I-formation' which kind of played off that crazy intensity and huge personality.
If he really is like that often, that elevates tensions and creates a situation where every little thing is bigger then it should be and can snowball easier. It seems like he is a real Richardhead. Such a situation would be mentally exhausting. This sort of attitude doesn't aid coaching a team whatsoever. If the coach is mentally exhausting the players, that doesn't help make a team better it can push things the other way.
Also on that segment where they said he was a short term coach, they said Michigan would rather have his brother. I also heard that Michigan still remembers when Harbaugh poked fun at them while he was a coach at Stanford.
Maybe this whole situation is overblown, but there seems to be alot of smoke. Sure winning can help, but if these reports are true, for whatever reason, he's so bad, winning almost doesn't cure it. Because at the slightest hint of not winning, i.e. starting a season 1-2, we have this.
Oh also we should remember that some of the players, some of the good veteran players, remember their previous head case, dropping trau, coach. They've seen it before, and some of them may be finding parallels with how Harbaugh is acting.
Also that timeout fiasco, it's the coach's job to make sure the players know what the coaches want in that scenario. Perhaps Kaepernick is confused with the same type of situation where you aren't in that punter grey area. But it's the job of the coach to make sure to tell them that, as it was a deliberate action, not some off the cuff thing. If Kaep doesn't know, it's because Harbaugh (and/or other coaches) didn't coach him like he/they should have.
Obviously none of us have concrete answers on any of this, we just get bits and pieces of information, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
