WALLACEGATE

Did the cutting and re-signing of Steve Wallace constitute
salary cap fraud?

The 49ers "perhaps pulled off one of the most devious
and unethical moves in recent NFL history."

The NHS is not the only one noticing the stench of corruption coming from the Bay Area. One of our readers forwarded an article written by Mr. Frank that asserts that the cutting and re-signing of Steve Wallace was an orchestrated and underhanded move by the 49ers to circumvent the salary cap. Special thanks to the Bucks County Courier Times for having the courage to print the real facts that provide the basis of this story.

Finding loopholes in the salary cap is nothing new to the 49ers and no doubt nothing new to our readers. We all know they've patted themselves on the back for setting the standard on how to beat the salary cap and pay their players more than any other team. They've flaunted it in the face of the salary cap's goal to keep spending equal. They were also accused of conspiring with Nike to bring Deion Sanders to San Francisco-- and then shifted the blame to Dallas for doing the same thing later on.

But this latest devious act takes the cake. This goes beyond all decency and shows the 49ers' true level of scum.

Here's the scenario: Steve Wallace, a Pro Bowl player in 1993 and starting Super Bowl tackle in 1994 was waived at the start of this season after a decade with the 49ers. Wallace, 31, was due to earn $1.625 million this year and $1.75 million next year.

Enter the Eagles.

Philadelphia scooped Wallace up and signed him for a base salary of $750,000 and a $300,000 signing bonus. The Eagles were excited about the acquisition and planned to start Wallace at left tackle.

But something was wrong.

"The fix was on."

Wallace was unimpressive in the Eagle preseason. Ray Rhodes, who spent eight years with Wallace in S.F., kept playing Wallace, hoping he would return to form. But when the Eagles visited New England, all hope was lost.

Wallace was pitted against Willie McGinest and set a new standard for ugliness. The climax came when McGinest ran right past the stationary Wallace and slammed into Eagle QB Rodney Peete, causing a serious knee injury. Wallace was benched at halftime.

Now, every lineman gets burnt for a sack, but the complete lack of effort mystified and angered the Eagles. It was as if Wallace said "ole!" and let McGinest run unfettered into Peete. "You watch that film, it looked like the damn fix was on," said one irate Eagles coach. Wallace was cut due to this unexplicable lack of effort. This former Pro Bowler had suddenly been replaced by an unmotivated tub of jello.

Re-Enter the 49ers.

The 49ers scooped Wallace back up, and instead of the multi-million dollar deal Wallace once had with the 49ers, he signed for the minimum veteran's salary: $275,000. So instead of Wallace counting for over a million and a half dollars against the salary cap, he counts $692,067.

And need we mention that, suddenly, Wallace has magically renewed his vigor?

You may have some questions, and here are the answers:

Yes, the signing bonus from the Eagles is still in Wallace's pocket Yes, it counts against the Eagles' cap, not the 49ers Yes, Wallace will count more against the Eagles' salary cap than against the 49ers Yes, by getting the Eagles to pay for Wallace, the 49ers saved about
$1 million in salary cap money!

Did the 49ers instruct Wallace to purposefully not try in Philadelphia so they could resign him and outwit the salary cap? If this was any other team, the answer would certainly be no. But when you examine this event in the context of the 49ers' history, the answer is not so clear: DeBartolo was fined in 1987 for illegally giving his players extra compensation if they made the playoffs; there were accusations of funneling outside corporate money to bankroll the team during the 1980's; the 49ers pioneered structuring salaries to get around the cap; the allegations of under the table dealings with Nike and other Bay Area corporations ... One has to start believing that the 49ers will dream up any underhanded, illegal scheme to give themselves the extra edge. In light of their history of cheating, it is apparent that they would do it, the question is, did they?

As Wallace himself remarked, "Who could draw it up any better?" The answer is no one; no one is more devious, sleazy, and devoted to shamefully breaking every NFL rule than the 49ers.

One thing for sure is that the NFL will certainly never do anything about it and the national media certainly won't touch it. As John Madden says, "winning is a great deodorant," and as long as the 49ers keep winning, the ignorant masses will continue to buy into the fake 49er image and continue to worship the slime of the league.

GAME SUMMARY: 49ers 34, Rams 0

The 49ers proved last Sunday that they are a better team than the Rams. That gives the 49ers two wins now over the Rams and Saints. Of course, this led SF Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler to conclude that it is apparent the 49ers are on their way to the Super Bowl.

Well, sorry to burst the bandwagon bubble, but again we need to point out some potential problems for the 49ers. While the typical 49er fan will conclude that the 49ers "kicked ass" because the final score was 34-0, the ones that actually watched the game will realize that the 49ers offense was unimpressive.

Defensively, the 49ers shined. Of course, they had some help in the form of the Rams coaching. The Rams put in a rookie QB on his own 1 yard line. The Rams turned it over 4 times (3 by the rookie). And instead of running the clock out, the Rams had a bad snap that went over the punter's head with 9 seconds left in the first half. As a result, the 49ers average field position was appalling; somewhere near the Rams' 35 or 40.

The score should have been 70-0 but the 49er offense stumbled throughout the game. The Rams had several impressive goal line stands where the 49ers were either stopped altogether or had to settle for field goals. This is even more impressive when you consider that most of these drives started in Ram territory and the Ram defense was tired from being on the field all day.

All in all, when you factor in the anemic Ram offense, the turnovers, and the awful coaching, it was a very unimpressive win for the 49ers. Also, consider that the score was only 14-0 with under 20 minutes to play. The 49ers scored half their points in the last ten minutes of the game when it was already over.

Of course, this goes way over the head of your typical 49er fan. It will provoke the usual response: "they won, didn't they?" How great it must be for the 49er fan to not even need to watch the game, be able to talk big when they win, and to find something else to do if they happen to lose. To the 49er fan, the actual gameplay of football is just a waste of time; a formality before they win.

Refs protect "system"

You wonder how the rules cater to the 49er offense? On two different occasions, Roman Phifer made contact with 49er receivers at or behind the line of scrimmage and was called twice for penalties. Phifer did exactly what a great LB is supposed to: if someone crosses your face, you knock him on his ass. Phifer did just that to Loville and was flagged, because in today's watered down game you can't touch receivers even if they stay within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage -- especially if they are 49ers.

Steve Young: "wah!" again!

Steve Young, often stupidly referred to as the "toughest QB in football," acted like a little baby yet again. He was tackled twice in the Ram game and got up slowly from one. He slid down twice: on one slide he got up slowly and on the last slide he limped off the field with an injury.

Tough? Are you kidding? This guy is the biggest baby in the game today! If he's getting hurt from getting tackled twice and sliding to the ground twice, it's scary to think of what will happen to him if he happens to take a real hit one of these days! Of course, the ignorant fans and media will continue to see highlights of him limping around and getting up slowly and consider him some great martyr and tough competitor. What a crock!

RiceWatch

As you know, every game we detail all pass attempts to Rice. We asserted before the season that Rice is overrated because the bulk of his catches come within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, he never takes a hit (contrary to the fake image that Fifi is "tough"), and whenever Rice is touched, it's called pass interference. Are we right? Here's the breakdown of Rice's action from the Ram game:

1. 8 yard slant against the zone. Tackled.
2. [runs a reverse for 4 yards, dragged down]
3. 3 yard in-out, push-off against DB (no definitive pattern). Fell down when trying to juke a defender.
4. 2 yard in under the LB zone. Swung down.
5. [lines up in wrong formation. Steve Young gets mad at him, calls a timeout]
6. 3 yard drag under zone. Dives to ground after spinning off a tackler.
7. 14 yard out. Beats Anthony Parker 1-on-1. Bobbles ball, goes out of bounds.
8. 10 yard hook, incomplete against zone. Rice was probably the decoy for a swing pass but Elvis made wrong decision. Pass should have been intercepted, but dropped.
9. 3 yard drag, the one where Rice delays for a count then runs across under the LB zone. Gets block from T.Owens and gets big gain before stepping out of bounds.
10. 33 yard streak against blown zone. Falls out of bounds. Announcer Jerry Glanville remarks, "the corner thinks he has the flat and the safety has the deep outside." But the safety bites on the fake to B.Jones over the middle and Rice is wide open. An incredulous Glanville says, "You can't let Jerry Rice run down there all by himself!" Fans chant "Jerry!" as if Rice did something special.
11. 36 yard pass interference called on Lyght when Rice runs into him. Obviously a ridiculous call. Says Glanville, "the ball was totally uncatchable!" No replay is shown. The announcers, obviously expecting to discuss the replay, are flustered; there's a moment of silence, then announcers start to talk about an injury substitution. It's as if the director is talking in their ear pieces that they aren't going to show the replay and to talk about something else (read: cover it up).

The totals: of the 7 receptions, 4 were caught under five yards from the line of scrimmage. Of the 9 attempts to Rice, 6 were 10 yards or under. Of the 8 times Rice got the ball, he was tackled 3 times and took no real hits. Most of his success came against blown coverage or holes in zones. The one time Rice legitimately beat a DB over 10 yards downfield, he almost dropped the ball.

Rice's Yearly Totals Debunk the myth that he is "the Best Ever"

Myth: Rice's record number of receptions shows he is the best receiver

Facts this year:

Receptions: 12
Caught within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage: 7
"Cheese" percentage: 58%

So far, the numbers show that the majority of Rice's catches come within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage where my Grandma could get open and make a catch. A great bulk of Rice's record number of receptions are of this "cheesy" variety.

Myth: Rice takes a lot of hits and is tough

Facts this year:

Times with ball: 14
Times tackled this year: 4
Hits taken: 1
Receptions over 10 yards on passes over the middle: 0

Rice goes out of bounds or falls to the ground to avoid being hit over 70% of the time. He has taken one hit in two full games thus far. He is too scared to go over the middle and risk taking an actual hit. They don't call him Fifi for nothing.

Myth: Rice's touchdowns prove he is the greatest

Facts this year:

Total touchdowns: 1
"2-yard" Touchdowns: 1
"Bogus touchdown" percentage: 100%

Many of Rice's touchdowns are the result of 2 yard plays. This year 100% of his touchdowns are of this "bogus" variety (the 2 yard reverse against the Saints). He's set the record based on these cheap TDs.

Myth: Rice is often double-covered and makes great catches while beating DBs one-on-one

Facts this year:

Attempts to Rice: 16
Pass Interferences: 1
Attempts against zone coverage: 11
Complete against zone coverage: 9
Attempts against man coverage: 5
Complete against man coverage: 3 (plus 1 P.I.)

The bulk of Rice's success comes from the 49er offense exploiting holes in a zone. The 49ers rarely throw to Rice when he is covered in a man scheme, and when they do throw to him against man coverage, his success rate drops dramatically and he is the recipient of an unjustified pass interference call.

Myth: Rice is the "Best Ever"

Fact: We believe Rice is overrated. He runs cheesy 2 yard patterns for the most part and his success is attributed to the 49er scheme, not individual success.

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http://www.49erhaters.com/rams1.html -- Created: Sept. 11, 1996
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