49ers offensive starters need tune up; Dixon RB to watch By David Zizmor August 17, 2010     SANTA CLARA--The 49ers won big on Sunday in Indianapolis 37-17 but remember it's only pre season and while they won the real score that counts really was in the first quarter when the Niners starters were playing most of the Colts starters so Indianapolis won it 10-0. That score is misleading most of the Niners back ups handled most of the scoring against most of the Colts back ups. Now on one hand that probably is a good thing for the NIners back ups and they played pretty solid and they had good talent back there and it means especially a lot especially against a team like the Colts that has been a perennial playoff contender and a perennial Super Bowl contender. What everyone really is concerned about is how the first stringers started and performed, there's a mixed bag and judging from that first quarter they weren't in for that long. The offensive guys for the most part were in for two or three series, the same with the defensive guys. Essentially you can't take a whole lot from this game the Niners offensive guys quarterback Alex Smith and wide receiver Vernon Davis and wide receiver Michael Crabtree weren't playing in this game Crabtree was out due to a neck injury. Frank Gore didn't play because they don't want to risk him getting injured and in pre season especially and playing on artificial turf in Indianapolis. The Niners are trying out some new offensive line configurations so a lot of those guys are learning on the fly and you have Anthony Davis playing right tackle, Mike Iupati at right guard, David Baas at center, Adam Snyder right offensive guard and other players trying out at center to see who can take over for Eric Heitmann whose injured. This 49ers team has a lot of moving parts on offense right now that the 49ers won't be dealing with once the 49ers start the regular season a lot of those issues will go away and be resolved. What you saw in the first quarter on the offense you couldn't be impressed. The first play from scrimmage was a hand off to Michael Robinson he fumbled the ball and the Colts recovered. The first carry of the game in regular season is not going to be by Robinson it's going to be by Gore. We saw Smith miss Davis on a pass down the middle that would have been a touchdown had it been thrown on the money to Davis. That's hopefully going to be fixed there might be a little bit of concern that the Alex Smith accuracy issues have been resolved over the years that's one of the things that everyone's been aware of he seems to throw the ball high to a lot of his receivers that makes it a little bit more difficult to catch the ball and run with it afterwards. Glen Coffee situation: The Niners are working on getting a back up running back and it's not as bad as it appears as Coffee unexpectedly retired. When we say unexpectedly we mean genuinely unexpectedly. This is a guy who was a high pick for the 49ers last year he contributed in a lot of games and he was fantastic in the pre season. He was expected to be the back up running back for Frank Gore this season, so this is a guy whose 23 years old who's played one season in the NFL and is expected to make the team and be the top running back behind Gore and all of a sudden he decides his heart is no longer in football and he wants to retire. He told head coach Mike Singletary that was his decision and that was it. Fortunately for the 49ers they did make a pick for running back in this year's draft Anthony Dixon he had a very good game for 21 rushes for 103 yards that included a short touchdown for five yards on Sunday. That has to be encouraging, he managed to catch a couple of passes three for 22 yards. So the fact that Dixon comes in looks really good in pre season and while it stinks to lose a guy like Coffee and someone that has a little experience in the 49er system outside of that they have a guy in the wings ready to come in and fill the gap that is encouraging the fact that he played so well and it is definitely going to make the 49ers breath a little easier. Balmer still missing in action: I can't get inside the head of defensive end Kentwan Balmer who been missing since Wednesday and I can't tell you if he's going to walk away from the Niners or not. He's being fined $16,000 for each day he's missed. The fact of the matter is he's probably healthy he left camp without telling anyone why. He hasn't come back, he hasn't talked to management, coach Singletary, his teammates or anyone about him not being there. We really don't know why he's not there and when you look at the big scheme of things Balmer was the number one pick two years ago but he was the number one pick for a completely different General Manager, Scot McCloughlan was the one who picked Balmer. McCloughlan is now General Manager of the Seahawks and the 49ers front office is not beholding to Balmer and the fact that they spent quite a bit of money on him as the number one pick. He wasn't a high number one pick he was a low number one pick so the money invested in him is the same that they invested in Smith or Patrick Willis when they came in. Balmer is somewhat of a cheaper first round pick so he really hasn't performed in his last couple of seasons in San Francisco and he's been injured and when he has been healthy enough to play he hasn't had a huge impact on the game and at best he's a rotation guy. He certainly not someone whose been in the starting line up and if he keeps this up my guess is the 49ers are simply going to release him and try and replace him with some of the guys they have. The word on the street is Balmer will be released if he doesn't show up soon and that decision is going to happen in the next few days simply because we haven't heard anything from Balmer and the 49ers need to move on. Sportstalk reporter Craig Uyeda 40 passes away: Former Sportstalk reporter Craig Uyeda passed away at the age of 40 on August 8th 2010. Craig covered San Francisco Giants baseball for Sportstalk and took photography for all pro teams in the Bay Area on a freelance basis which included the 49ers the beat I work on. Craig's photo work matched work done by some photographers in the Bay Area for some major papers. Craig was introduced to Sportstalk by reporter Ken Gimblin and he was a main stay filing reports for local radio on the Sportstalk program during the 1990s. Craig left Sportstalk after the Giants left Candlestick Park for Pac Bell Park after the1999 season to pursue work in the restaurant industry . David Zizmor covers 49ers football each week with game coverage by Morris Phillips for Sportstalk Radio

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