A 49ers hero in San Francisco last week, he’s a film star in New York this week.
Once a destabilizing presence on a foundering team, now a galvanizing force with a franchise one win away from the Super Bowl.
The video shows all, tells all. And when the New York Giants study the 49ers offense in preparation for the NFC Championship game Sunday at Candlestick Park, they’ll see more than they cared to know about Vernon Davis.
Millions of TV viewers watched last week as Davis destroyed the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round. And as Giants defensive coaches play and replay film of the game in which Davis caught seven passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, they’ll conclude no member of San Francisco’s offense poses a bigger a threat.
Davis over six seasons has developed from a talented but troubled physical specimen, prone to selfish tendencies, into the complete tight end. He’s a committed teammate, a devastating blocker and the most dangerous receiver on the roster.
With a thin corps of wide receivers, Davis is the go-to guy for quarterback Alex Smith and the Pro Bowl gift amid the offensive rubble left behind by former coaches Mike Nolan and, more pointedly, Mike Singletary.
“I thank God for Coach Singletary,” Davis says. “They always say, ‘Thank God for the trials you go through. Give thanks, because those trials are there for a reason.’
“Coach Singletary was here for a reason. I feel he was here to help me. He helped me see that there’s more to the game of football than it being about one person.”
We all saw that movie, if we didn’t see it live.
In Singletary’s first game as interim coach, Davis was flagged for a silly penalty. He jogged to the sideline, got a face full of a furious Singletary and seemed to blow it off – which only incensed the coach.
It became apparent Singletary couldn’t stand the sight of Davis when the coach banished the player to the locker room. When Davis left behind his helmet, Singletary personally ordered him to come back and get it.
“I couldn’t understand at first,” Davis recalls. “I was like, ‘What the hell is wrong with this dude? You’re going to send one of your best players to the locker room when you need help?’
“But I understood it later. I eventually understood it. He helped me see, helped me see the bigger picture.”
If anybody needed clarity, it was Davis, the sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft. He concedes to being fixated on the wrong things, like his own statistics. He also didn’t think twice about lashing out at teammates.
He routinely scrapped with teammates during practices, once inviting the disaster that surely would have come had no one intervened in his fight with Larry Allen, a 325-pound guard who was the strongest – and maybe the orneriest – man in the NFL.
It was only 16 months ago that wideout Michael Crabtree and Davis engaged in an argument on the practice field, prompting Singletary to send both into the locker room.
Yet Davis’ continued growth, as a player and a person, has become evident. He has particularly good on-field chemistry with Smith. Davis also has evolved into a team leader, considerably more popular with teammates.
“I’m just thankful to be a part of a team,” Davis says. “To be a part of these guys in here; it’s something special. It means a lot to me that all my teammates like me as a person. Not just as a football player, but as a person.”
Rookie 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh admits to caring little about Davis’ reputation, preferring to observe and listen and reach his own conclusions.
“The only Vernon Davis I know is the team guy,” Harbaugh says. “The study-hard guy, smart guy, willing to do whatever he needs to do for the team.”
That’s the guy who insists he’s not hung up on missing the Pro Bowl, and who proudly says receiving statistics are but one way to measure contributions.
“I’ve learned, since I’ve matured, that I don’t give a (flip) about the Pro Bowl,” Davis says. “I don’t give a (flip) about the Pro Bowl. I don’t give a (flip) about the individual accolades.
“I realize what I’m here for. My purpose is to help my teammates win, (providing) whatever it is they need, whether it’s pass-blocking or catching passes or setting the edge for Frank Gore. Whatever it is, I’m always a factor.”
That’s the guy the Giants will have to scheme against this weekend.
