It’s hard to tell if Steve Young is more nervous about his color commentary debut on ESPN for the 49ers-Rams game, or Chip Kelly’s offensive system working in San Francisco.
The legendary quarterback joined Tolbert and Lund Wednesday and agreed with Mr. T’s question that Kelly’s up-tempo offense is supposed to be geared for teams who have a ton of depth and playmakers on their roster.
“It does not make sense to me, when you don’t have the talent, to go faster,” Young said. “When you don’t have the talent to put pressure on defenses, fast sometimes goes backwards. So that’s what I’m worried about. I’m worried about starting off the season with this no-huddle, fast-paced and then three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out. And now we’ve put ourselves in a real bind.”
Young wonders if Kelly will have the wherewithal to drop his fast-paced philosophy early in the season if it’s not meshing with the 49ers’ personnel, or will he stick true to his guns. Young also said he can picture the 49ers using the no-huddle, but slowing things up at the line of scrimmage, a la Peyton Manning’s calling card for many years.
“But if you are just going to go fast, the only way that works in my mind is if Carlos Hyde runs for 150 yards,” Young said.
Young made it clear there are reasons to believe in Kelly, outside of his flawed plan on offense.
“Remember the complaints in Philadelphia were, ‘He’s working us too hard.’ He’s obviously learned,” Young said. “The guys, the 49ers players this year we’re like, ‘We like the plan. He’s working us out the right way.’ He’s got the players now bought in, which he hadn’t in Philadelphia. So he’s obviously learning.
“I like him the league because I like innovative minds. I like guys that aren’t afraid. So I do appreciate that.”
At the end of the interview joked that he’s going to be trending on the broadcasting blog Awful Announcing — and for all the wrong reasons. Young urged Tolbert to text him during the game with a critique.
“I will guarantee you [appearing on Awful Announcing], that cannot be avoided,” Young said to the laughing radio hosts.