SANTA CLARA -- Capable and ambitious young assistant that he is, Greg Roman surely sneaks the occasional gaze into a future where he is a head coach in the NFL. That future, for the 49ers' offensive coordinator, might be weeks away.


With his offense facing New England's defense, the subtext is the matchup between two of the league's ultimate football scientists: Roman vs. Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

"He's a great coach, one of the legends of the game ... with Paul Brown, Lombardi, Madden and Noll and Walsh," Roman said Thursday.

If the man behind the 49ers' offense can outwit the NFL's reigning defensive wizard -- a coach with five Super Bowl appearances and three rings -- the faces of as many as a dozen owners and general managers will glaze over with astonishment as they scurry to gather more information about this Roman guy.


With conventional wisdom dictating that the San Francisco defense and New England offense will be offset by their comparable excellence, the primary reason the Patriots are favored is Belichick's long history of undressing quarterbacks, reducing them to quivering masses of ineptitude.

Belichick's defenses can be particularly fiendish if the quarterback is relatively inexperienced, like Colin Kaepernick.


"Their front seven," Roman marveled, having spent numerous hours studying the Patriots on video, "they play a 5-2, a 4-3, a 6-1, a 6-2, even seen them play an 8-2 in a four-minute type of situation. They can move around, they'll move and switch where they're leveraging a gap, where they're leveraging a player throughout the pre-snap, so you're not quite sure what they're doing until right before the ball snaps.

"So, those seven pieces can move around and really fit in anywhere. And then from a coverage standpoint, (they are a) really good disguise team, good players, good scheme. So we've got a lot to get ready for."

The Patriots are coming off their more impressive showing this season, a 42-14 walloping of Houston. Though most of the focus has been on quarterback Tom Brady and New England's offense, Roman was struck by how Belichick's D smothered an outstanding Texans offense.

Houston entered the game with the No. 3 offense in the AFC, behind veteran quarterback Matt Schaub and star running back Arian Foster. The Patriots ignored Houston's offensive statistics, just as they do their own unimpressive defensive stats.

"As you look at them on defense, they're as physical a defense as we've seen since we've been here, as fundamentally sound a defense as we've seen," Roman said. "And they present you just a multitude of things to prepare for, both from a personnel and schematic standpoint."

Roman's desire to become a head coach is documented. So is the belief of head coach Jim Harbaugh -- who consistently reminds everyone that the 49ers operate "Greg Roman's offense" -- that his O.C. is destined to make the jump.

Harbaugh undoubtedly is the leader of this team and embodies the spirit of the offense and its staff. But Roman is the intellect, the man behind San Francisco's myriad diagrams and schemes, designs and formations.



"It's a great challenge, sure," Roman said. "You get up every week, but you keep things in perspective. But (I) recognize what (Belichick has) accomplished."





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