Walsh Diagrams Plays Everywhere

San Francisco Coach Bill Walsh says new plays and formations may pop into his head at any time, so he keeps a pad and pencil with him at all times.

At restaurants, he often lapses into moments of inventiveness, diagramming plays on the tablecloth. According to Bob Sudyk of the Hartford Courant, he once had his arm around his wife, Geri, when he began tapping out a play on her back with his fingers.

She turned to him and asked, “Well, did it work?”

Add Walsh: In preparing for the 49ers in the playoffs, the New York Giants pored over films in the hopes of finding some tendencies in Walsh’s offense.

Sudyk: “After studying film of three 49er games, the Giants discovered that Walsh called 52 different plays on first and 10.”

So much for tendencies.

How-times-have-changed dept.: In Super Bowl XVI, Earl Cooper made the only touchdown catch for San Francisco. In Super Bowl XVII, Jimmy Cefalo made the only touchdown catch for Miami. On Sunday, neither will start. Cooper plays behind Russ Francis at tight end, while Cefalo backs up Mark Clayton at wide receiver.

Veteran Miami guard Bob Kuechenberg, who missed the season with an eye injury, told Frank Luksa of the Dallas Times Herald he’s amazed by the difference between this team and the old teams featuring Larry Csonka and the No-Name Defense.

“All those grind-’em-out seasons,” he said, “taking the ball at our 20 and then seven or eight or 10 minutes later, bleeding from the nose and eyes and ears, staggering to the end zone like Joe Frazier at the end of 15 rounds.

“Now it’s zip, zip, zip with Marino. There’s something unnatural about it, almost artificial, as though you haven’t earned it. But it’s the state of the art.”

Add Marino: Says veteran Miami guard Ed Newman: “He’s an anomaly. He’s a freak. I thought at first, ‘It’s gonna go away. He’s gonna go back to the standards of normal quarterbacks.’ ”

“This goes on two, three, four weeks. Then five, six and seven weeks. I think, ‘Maybe he’s for real. Pinch me, I must be dreaming.’ ”

Pete Johnson, who weighed 280 pounds when he was with Cincinnati, is down to 250 with Miami, but teammate Lyle Blackwood testifies that he’s still a load.

“Tackling Pete,” Blackwood says, “you grab a ticket and take a ride for a little while.”

San Francisco defensive lineman Louie Kelcher, who weighed as much as 350 when he played for San Diego, remembers some classic collisions with Johnson.

“We knocked a few icicles off trees 200 miles away,” says Kelcher.

San Francisco offensive lineman Bubba Paris, a born-again Christian, often gives witness to opposing players, asking if they have been baptized, but doesn’t always get the message across.

Recalling an encounter with defensive lineman Gary Jeter of the Rams, Paris told Todd Phipers of the Denver Post that Jeter said: “How can you give witness to me and hold me at the same time.”

Add Paris: He weighs 305 pounds but says, “I’m not a big eater. I’ve got slow metabolism.”

He said he would like to get down to his high school weight.

Which was?

“289,” he said.

Quotebook

O.J. Simpson, who will cover the losers’ dressing room on the Super Bowl telecast: “It’s something I know a lot about, having played in Buffalo.”