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The Football Diner Big Interview:
Roger Craig
interviewed by Brian Davis
15/1/2010
Back for his 3rd visit to the Diner, Roger Craig tells us of excitement at being a finalist at this year’s Hall of Fame class, offers us his thoughts on the 2009 regular season, predicts his Championship game teams and Super Bowl winner, whilst also taking a look at the 49ers season, giving us his 49ers MVP’s and possibly coming to visit us if the 49ers play a Wembley game in 2010.
Football Diner:
Since we last spoke, some very exciting news happened for you on a personal note, it was announced that you made the final 15 finalists for the Hall of fame induction for 2010, so Congratulations to you, can you tell us how you feel about that right now, you were very humble when we spoke before about your chances of getting in to the hall, does this change anything for you at all or is this still taken in your stride?
Roger Craig:
 Thanks! I’m very humbled. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be recognized.
If I go in I’ll be one of the best all purpose Running backs of all time, it’s very humbling.
I’m in a class of the best too, guys like Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith who put up big numbers, it’s a great class, it’ll go down in history. It’s the most unbelievable feeling ever. My friends and family are very happy.
It’s not my call though, we have to see what the writers say and hopefully they’ll be on my side. It’s a process, last year I made the Semi, this year I’m in the final, If I go in, then great, if I don’t then hey, no problem, but I’m excited about the writers talking about my impact on the game.
My legacy was as a team player though, My goals were team goals, I was an all purpose Running Back, I had to do it all, Catch, block, Run, Play Action Fake, I had to develop more skills, it’s amazing to have the recognition!
Football Diner:
And also since the last time we spoke, your Nebraska Cornhuskers stomped all over Arizona to win the Holiday Bowl; you must have really enjoyed that?
Roger Craig:
Yeah! Ndamukong Suh was amazing, he draws so much attention that his team mates get the glory. Teams are double and triple teaming him. Nebraska is an outstanding programme under Coach Bo Pelini, they’ll be a force for years to come now.
Football Diner:
Turning our attention to the NFL; how would you rank the 2009/10 NFL season in line with other recent seasons?
Roger Craig:
There were a lot of fast starts with teams running out of gas, It’s a marathon. There are 3 seasons in 1 season, the start, the end and the playoffs.
Broncos at 6-0 looked like the team to beat but they just ran completely out of gas, they failed in their 2nd season and failed to make the 3rd season, one of only three teams to start 6-0 and fail to make the playoffs.
It was strange how the season went though, injuries made it hard for a lot of teams, it was important for a lot of teams to rest players though. Arizona rested up and look how it benefitted them.
Football Diner:
And then look how it went for Welker and the Patriots:
Roger Craig:
Yeah, Welker is such a big time player. Edelman played well in his absence, but Welker’s loss really sucked the energy out of the team.
Football Diner:
Who was your biggest surprise of the regular season, team or player or both?
Roger Craig:
 New York Jets and San Diego Chargers, the Chargers started really slowly and if I had to pick now I’d pick the Chargers to get to the Super Bowl.
Football Diner:
Who was your biggest disappointment of the regular season, Team or Player or both?
Roger Craig:
Pittsburgh was by far the most disappointing teamThey didnt make the playoffs! They started with a bang by beating the Titans in the season opener on Thursday Night Football but ending up with tons of injuries thru-out the season.
Denver were disappointing after their fast start, they showed some solid Offense and Defense they just fell apart for some reason.
To keep on your radar though. The Chiefs and the Browns, look out for them, they’ll be turning it round real soon.
Football Diner:
The best team with a losing record are:
Roger Craig:
Pittsburgh (9-7) they failed to make the playoffs.
Football Diner:
The worst team with a winning record are:
Roger Craig:
I have to say the NY Giants was the most disappointing team, starting off hot and finishing soft as cotton candy.
Football Diner:
The AFC Championship game will be:
Roger Craig:
Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers.
The Ravens are a scary team right now, they have a great running game with Ray Rice and Willis MacGahee and that Defense is back, you can’t forget about those Ravens, Ray Lewis is a beast, they look like the Ravens Defense from a few years back.
Football Diner:
The NFC Championship game will be:
Roger Craig:
Cowboys and Vikings…The Cowboys will win, they have so much momentum these days and playing faster than their opposition.
Football Diner:
The Super Bowl and Super Bowl winner will be:
Roger Craig:
Dallas and San Diego and Dallas to win it – Their running backs can run all day. Miles Austin is a big time receiver and is coming into his own and you can’t count out Roy Williams either and Jason Witten of course.
Football Diner:
The 49ers finished 8-8 for their first non-losing season since 2002, how would you rate the season? Good, bad, indifferent, other?
Roger Craig:
To me, that’s a losing season, I don’t call it level, you fail to make the playoffs then you don’t have a winning season. There were some teams that they should have beaten this season, they need to focus on their finishing and if they’d done that, they’d have made the playoffs, they beat Arizona twice too and look where they are now.
Hopefully they’ll perfect the receiving game next season and base it around Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, they have to go vertical, stretch the field and stretch the game out a little, if they can do that then they’ll be good next year.
Football Diner:
Who are your 49ers Offensive and Defensive Players of the year?
Roger Craig:
 Vernon Davis, he continue to put up great numbers and tied the NFL Tight End touchdown record with 13 and broke three 49ers Tight End records as well! He was my most improved 49ers of the year. What changed this young man he realized where it went wrong last season with Coach Singletary and the dressing room incident. He’s changed his attitude, trained hard, become a leader of the team and took it to another level, played hard week to week and got nearly 1000 yards, doing that makes him the MVP on the team.
Defensively: Patrick Willis. He’s a warrior, he brings it every week. He brings the same intensity as Ronnie Lott.
Football Diner:
I’d give out a big shout to Justin Smith too who had a fantastic season.
Roger Craig:
Yeah, definitely.
Football Diner:
If you’re the 49ers GM, what changes do you make and where do you concentrate on in the draft? And is Jimmy Raye the right OC to lead us into Post Season football?
Roger Craig:
I’d focus my resources on seeing what Offensive Coordinators are out there that can take them to the next level and utilize the talent.
They need all the tools to make it happen as right now, it’s not good enough.
I’m used to being a contender, look at the team we had there with; Rice, John Taylor, Brent Jones, John Frank.
If you don’t have the infrastructure you won’t go to the playoffs and I don’t see huge numbers in this system. It’s all very well Frank Gore running for 150-200 yards but if you’re not winning games, it’s no use.
As for the draft, I’d go with the Offensive line early, you can normally never go wrong building through the lines and they need to protect Alex Smith, you get the best Offensive line out there and you win games.
I’d get some speedy Defensive backs too to hang with those receivers in the NFC West.
Football Diner:
 49ers are rumoured to be hosting the Eagles over here at Wembley next season, can we expect you to be in attendance that week, I’m sure Tibco must have something on in their UK office that week right?!
Roger Craig:
Oh yeah, I’ll definitely be there and I’ll bring some customers along too. I’ve not been back in England for ages and it’s one of my favourite countries.
Football Diner:
Cool, we’ll have to hook up for a chat then?
Roger Craig:
I’d be happy to man, sure, we’ll set it up, I’ll be there definitely.
Football Diner:
And how do you feel about the 49ers and NFL in general being played over here?
Roger Craig:
I think it’s a good thing, it educates Europeans about the game, we were received well last time we were over there and that was fun when we played.
The NFL is reaching out and showing the world that it’s a fun sport, it’s entertaining, it’s definitely a good thing.
Football Diner:
Thanks for your taking the time out to chat with us Roger, we look forward to catching up with you again soon.
Roger Craig:
Thanks, and you.
Roger is an advisory on the board for www.huskerpedia.com which is a must read for any Husker fan. He also writes his own Fantasy Football blog at http://rogercraigfflrush.blogspot.com
Roger Craig, is a Director of Business Development at TIBCO, whose technologydigitized Wall Street in the ’80s with its event-driven “Information Bus” software, which helped make real-time business a strategic differentiator in the ’90s. Today, TIBCO’s infrastructure software gives customers the ability to constantly innovate by connecting applications and data in a service-oriented architecture, streamlining activities through business process management, and giving people the information and intelligence tools they need to make faster and smarter decisions, what we call The Power of Now. TIBCO serves more than 3,000 customers around the world with offices in more than 20 countries and an ecosystem of over 200 partners.
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