| 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was quick to respond to Kevin Gilbride after the Giants’ offensive coordinator accused San Francisco DE Justin Smith of purposely holding. (US Presswire) |
San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh accused Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on Friday of making “an absurd” and “incendiary” comment designed to “influence” the officials for Sunday’s matchup between the teams.
Harbaugh was responding to something Gilbride said Thursday, when asked about the 49ers' defensive front seven. New York QB Eli Manning took a dozen hits from this group in last year’s NFC title game, so it seemed appropriate to address the situation with Gilbride, who began by complimenting DE Justin Smith.
“Ability,” he said. “That’s it. They have great players. They’re tremendous, they’re tough. They have great speed on the outside, [Justin] Smith is a beast on the inside, he’s strong.”
And then Gilbride suggested that Smith might be giving himself an advantage:
“He does as good a job of grabbing ahold of offensive linemen and allowing those twists to take place. He never gets called for it, so he gets away with murder.”
Gilbride went on to say that the 49ers’ front is as good as any the Giants face, including the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, but that part of the quote probably didn’t matter much to Harbaugh, who responded Friday.
“Kevin Gilbride’s outrageous, irrational statement regarding Justin Smith’s play is, first, an absurd analogy,” Harbaugh said. “Second, it is an incendiary comment targeting one of the truly exemplary players in this league. It’s obvious that the Giants coaching staff’s sole purpose is to use their high visibility to both criticize and influence officiating.”
But Gilbride isn’t the first to make this accusation. Football Outsiders’ Andy Benoit addressed the subject following the 49ers' season-opening win over the Green Bay Packers:
“The Niners execute stunts better than any defense in the NFL. Even when the offense knows it’s coming, it can’t always stop it. San Francisco’s secret? Holding. They have a pair of top-tier defensive ends in Justin Smith, arguably the best 3-4 lineman in the league right now, and Ray McDonald, one of the game’s most underrated players. Those guys are taught to grab the left outside of the offensive guard’s jersey or the right inside of the tackle’s jersey. The umpire and referee, who are tasked with holding on the interior line, often can’t see this -- there is too much congestion in the middle of that action.”
The 49ers are among the bottom 13 teams in the league in sacks this year (they have nine, which is still better than New York’s eight), but that doesn’t mean Gilbride wasn’t right in his assessment. Typically, a 3-4 defense is predicated on the defensive line’s ability to absorb blockers, which allows the linebackers to run freely to the ball.
And, as USA Today’s Mike Garafolo wrote on Twitter, Smith laughed at the idea that he's "getting away with murder."
“Hey, better than getting caught with it,” Smith told reporters.
Follow the Giants and Alex Raskin @CBSGiants and @AlexRaskinNYC.