The answer lies in a 63-year-old position coach who has the ear of head coach Mike Nolan and who serves as a gatekeeper as far as which receivers see the playing field and which do not.

"I've been coaching for 34 years and if you check my track record, it's pretty good," receivers coach Jerry Sullivan said. "And so I have a lot of expectations for the players that I coach. And I expect them to be good at what they do. And practice is an indicator of what you're going to get in a game."

Receivers who have played for Sullivan hold a strong devotion to the coach and credit him with sharpening their skills. But those receivers, as well as Sullivan himself, concede that he is a very difficult man to please.

"He's the coach. So he's going to put on the field whoever he believes can do the best job," said Jason Hill, a rookie receiver who has yet to see any regular-season action. "That's one of those things we all have to live with no matter what position we play."

As for Lelie, part of his gaudy yards-per-catch average stems from the fact that his two previous teams required him to do one thing go deep.

"In Denver and Atlanta, it was all outside routes," Lelie said. "I only had one read. Now I'm reading everything — safeties, linebackers. It's different."

Since being signed as a free agent in the offseason, Lelie has been pushed out of his comfort zone. He's been asked to run short routes and crossing patterns in addition to the longer routes he is accustomed to.

He has had to learn to read defenses to a degree that has never been asked of him before and he has had to master footwork and body control to Sullivan's satisfaction.

"I think some of the techniques I use — it took him a little while," Sullivan said. "It takes guys who are not familiar with the system a little longer. Right now I feel good about him. He's coming along and we're going to give him an opportunity to play."

To his credit, Lelie, a former University of Hawaii star, hasn't sulked or pouted throughout the process even as the 49ers' passing game has gotten off to a painfully sluggish start.

Asked if satisfying Sullivan was the biggest barrier to his seeing the playing field, Lelie said he has no idea.

"That wasn't said directly (to me)," he said. "That could have been part of the reason but I don't think it was the total reason. But I really don't care what the reason was as long as I get my opportunity now. That's kind of water under a bridge."

That opportunity will come today against the Giants.

Nolan has said that Darrell Jackson and Arnaz Battle will continue to start at wideout in the team's base offense but that Lelie will see his first significant action of the season. He has been in on 10 plays in he 49ers' first five games.

Has the waiting been worth it? Both Sullivan and Lelie believe so.