SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For all of the talk about Vernon Davis’ newfound maturity, the 49ers’ supremely talented tight end isn’t all grown up just yet.
That was obvious Friday, as the team scrambled to contain the fallout from Davis agreeing to host a “49ers NFC Championship Game Afterparty” celebration already advertising (and selling) $20-to-$30 tickets before San Francisco had even played the Giants today at Candlestick Park.
Davis announced late Friday he was pulling out of the event, but not before it had come to the Giants’ attention — and no doubt plastered on a bulletin board at coach Tom Coughlin’s team meal last night.
It was just another adventure in the mercurial, up-and-down career of Davis, a former first-round pick who until this breakout season was known mostly in the NFL for getting kicked out of a game and sent to the showers by his own coach.
“There are some situations where he does wear his emotions on his sleeve and lets those out, like all the ballplayers do,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said this week. “It’s a game that’s played and coached by emotional people.”
Davis is definitely on the emotional side. That was obvious in last week’s NFC Divisional playoff win over the Saints, when Davis caught the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds left and dashed to the sideline with tears streaming down his face — an unusual sight, to say the least.
Harbaugh and Davis’ teammates say they took that as a show of Davis’ commitment and emotional investment, two things that had been lacking until former 49ers coach Mike Singletary famously sent him to the showers in the middle of an ugly home loss to the Seahawks in 2008.
Singletary humiliated Davis for drawing a dumb penalty and then seemingly ignoring his coach on the bench when Singletary — in his head-coaching debut — had gone over to get an explanation.
Though Davis had his best season as a pro the following year, his contributions have been almost as substantial this season under Harbaugh. They also have been timelier, considering San Francisco is in the playoffs for the first time in Davis’ six-year career and wouldn’t be making its first NFC title-game appearance since 1997 without his huge game (seven catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns) last week.
Before the after-party brouhaha, Davis cited the Singletary run-in for his noticeable growth in maturity the past three years and especially this season.
“It started when Coach Mike Singletary was here,” Davis said Thursday. “He sent me to the locker room. From that point on, I just kept my head up and just kept going down the straight path, because I knew from there, from the talk that we had, I was going the wrong direction.
“I changed my life around and I became more of a leader [because of the incident], because in the beginning it was all about me — and that’s not right,” the Maryland product added. “You don’t want it to be all about you.”
It certainly wasn’t all about Davis this season. Though he played a huge role with big receiving numbers in regular-season victories over the Bengals, Buccaneers and Rams, just to name a few, Davis also drew respect for not pouting over minimal chances in the 49ers’ losses to the Cowboys, Ravens and Cardinals.
“I find it that when it’s more about the team and you put the team first, you have more success,” Davis said.