1. I – 2 yard dive by Gore, Bruce’s finale
2. I – quick pass to Morgan for 1st down
3. SG – 3 yard pass to Walker, 2 unblocked blitzers from rt force hurried throw
4. I – 4 yard run to left by Gore, showed good patience, trap blocking worked well, good action
5. SG- Smith makes good decision to scramble for 1st down after pocket collapses
6. I- 12 yard run by Gore through RG, good trap action by Rachal after Heitmann hooks NG
7. I- 1 yard run by Gore, Rams played run all the way and stuffed it
8. SG- pass incomplete to Crabtree, almost picked, Crabtree did not drive deep enough to get first down anyway, had he run the pattern deep enough to come back and still make the first down the play might have worked, still bad decision to try to force it in, Gore was coming open over middle but would not have gotten 1st down
9. SG – 5 yard pass to Davis, 2 unblocked blitzers from left forced quick throw.
10. Punt
11. I- Sack, Rams doubled the blitz through both A & B gaps, Heitmann block the A gap Rachal blocked the first blitzers through the B gap but a second blitzers followed to sack Smith, nothing open in secondary
12. SG- predictable 3 yard delay run by Gore, Rams read it, no chance
13. SG-again a predictable screen pass that Rams read and stuffed for no gain, poor play selection in this series
14. Punt
15. I- 1 yard run by Gore, should have bounced it out to the left, Rams read run in the middle and allowed no movement
16. I-2 yard loss on run by Gore, Sims blocked out and Baas blocked down and left LB unblocked to stuff the run
17. SG- Screen pass batted down by Long, Sims and Baas were confused and left Long unblocked, too late in the season to still not know how to block a screen play, another bad series of plays and blocking by OL, PUNT
18. SG- 13 yard completion to Crabtree on slant, nice route/nice throw
19. SG- Sack, Vernon Davis ignored the blitzer, Smith had no chance
20. I- Sweep to right fails because Davis was not able to pin LDE who forced play wide and make tackle, Baas and Rachal pulled to lead Gore but neither were able to even catch up with Gore due to failure of Davis to secure the edge, bad series for a Pro Bowl player,
21. SG- 9 yard draw run by Coffee, Heitmann pulled to get to LB to allow Coffee room to make gain
22. Punt
23. I- 6 yard run by Gore, Rachal pulled and trapped well, nice lead by Norris, Heitmann pinned NG which was key, Sims helped Baas with double team, where had this action been earlier???
24. I- 2 yard run by Gore, should have followed Norris outside to the right but tried to go off guard instead, play should have gotten 5+ yards if Gore goes outside
25. I- Smith throws a nice pass to Davis down left sideline but Davis has his left hand held by DB and not able to make one-handed catch, should have been PI
26. I- Smith throws high to Crabtree who caught it but DB knocked it out of his hands, good pocket and Smith stepped up well but pass needed to be a foot lower, 4th down play fails
27. I- predictable dive run to left is stuffed by Rams AGAIN
28. I- 2 yard run to right, Walker should have blocked out instead of down, still Rams knew what was coming and overplayed the run well, too many defenders to block, end of half
_______________________ begin second half
29. SG- Snyder is beaten cleanly by LDE who hits Smith just as he releases incomplete pass, no chance, end of half
30. SG-Smith steps up into nice pocket and completes 6 yard pass to Davis who spikes the ball drawing penalty, another not-so-Pro-Bowl play by #85
31. SG- again good pass protection as Smith throws to Davis who drops the pass, ahem…
32. Punt
33. SG- 4 yard run to right by Gore, Snyder and Davis double LDE to allow space to run
34. SG- Smith throws hard slant pass to Crabtree who doesn’t hold it, tough catch but on target, should have held it
35. SG- Immediate pressure from A gap blitz forces Smith to right, throws 9 yard completion to Crabtree who makes nice catch on high pass, Rams continue to outguess 49ers on blitzes through A & B gaps, happened all year
36. SG- Smith steps up into nice pocket and complete perfect throw to Morgan for 16 yards
37. I- Gore gains 34 yards keyed by terrific block hook block by Heitmann on NT, Rachal trapped MLB and Baas actually got going quickly enough to get to OLB and allow Gore to clear LOS, nice job all
38. SG- false start by Walker, then a nice screen pass to Gore who made great cut then followed Heitmann 10 yards down field with another terrific block, nice set up but Gore and Heitmann made it work
39. I- Norris stopped at 1 yard line by own man (Sims), should have been TD, again a great block by Heitmann on NG which clogged the middle preventing Rams from closing down
40. I- same play with same blocking action allows Norris to score, good job by left side of line again, TD!!
41. SG- Smith drops ball attempting quick pass in flat, wasn’t going anywhere anyway, Rams had it defensed, predictable
42. SG- pocket collapsed immediately forcing Smith to dump the ball short over the middle to avoid sack, A/B blitz package AGAIN,
43. SG- 3 yard “give up” run by Gore leads to:
44. Punt
45. SG- Sims and Baas confused on blocking assignment allows immediate unblocked pressure from left forcing Smith to roll right and throw away, nothing open, déjà vu
46. SG- quick pass to Gore nets only 2 yards as OLB makes great tackle on Gore in open field, has another 10 yards if Gore beats him
47. SG- right side of line creates excellent passing lane for Smith who completes pass to Hill for 1st down
48. SG- excellent pocket for Smith who steps up and throws long for Crabtree but ball is too far outside and falls incomplete, if pass is on the inside Crabtree may have had it for long gain
49. I- 2 yard run by Gore, again Rams defensed it well
50. SG- Designed roll out pass to Hill is complete but pattern is short of first down, Davis late getting into deeper pattern
51. Punt
52. I- 3 yard Gore run, Rams slanted well to stop it
53. SG- good pocket for Smith who steps up and completes short pass to Davis
54. SG- Anther excellent pocket for Smith who 15 yard pass to Crabtree but DB knocks it out, pass should have been lower
55. Punt
56. SG- Good pocket for 5 yard completion to Walker
57. SG- Gore gains 3 at RG as Rams shut it down for minimal gain, Rams overplayed these middle runs well all day, too many defenders to block them all, just clogged it up, no chance to get movement
58. I- Smith takes advantage of excellent pass protection to step up and throw perfect pass to Davis who outruns defender into the endzone, 71 yard play
59. I- broken play, Smith loses 1 yard trying to run, couldn’t tell who was to blame but obviously not all on same page
60. I- Early pressure forces Smith to throw off back foot but still has enough to get it to Crabtree who adjusts to make catch for 35 yard gain, Snyder was beaten quickly, Smith was on his back by the time Crabtree caught it
61. I- Gore takes advantage of excellent Heitmann block to open hole for 12 yard run to the 3 yard line, Snyder also had excellent kick up block of LDT
62. I- Gore scores on 3 yard run, again Heitmann continued domination of NG and Rachal pulled left to lead Gore in, nice action.
63. I- Gore runs left for 4 yards following Wragge and Patrick as backups get their 4 minutes of glory
64. I- Gore again follows good blocking on right this time
65. I- Coffee goes behind Wragge for 3 yards
66. I- Patrick buries left side allowing Gore to score again.
Overall: Very mixed job by OL though they just seem to block better from the SG. Play calling was generally better in second half. Why it takes a certain amount of apparent desperation before Raye begins to open up the book is something needs to be addressed in off-season. Early in the game it seemed the Rams were listening to the 49er headphones and they anticipated numerous plays and stuffed them before they got started.
Heitmann had a terrific game. He dominated the Ram NG and got downfield on several plays to allow big gains.
Rachal had another mixed game – some very good, some not-so-good. I like his future but clearly needs to improve.
Baas also very mixed. His continued confusion on pass protection assignments is something that just should not be happening. Also, he clearly does not have the speed and quickness to pull effectively. One of the primary decisions to be made in the off-season is what to do with him. He clearly isn’t worth a big contract but may be better than a 4th round pick. What to do???
Sims has proven to be a valuable backup, much to my surprise. He has filled in well. Sometimes he has trouble but it also seem connected to a lack of understanding between him and Baas. Line blocking is ALL about communication, along with good coaching.
Snyder is a back-up which is where he should be next year. He played like a back-up yesterday.
Alex Smith (I couldn't resist) continues to offer both perplexion and promise. When the playbook opened up, he played well. He still makes some high throws but also some very good ones. Lack of consistent route running by young, inexperienced receivers is also an issue. It is my observation that a good part of the 3rd down failures this year is due to inexperience of receivers. When there was a pocket to step into yesterday, he took advantage of it well. Unfortunately, against a weak Rams team, pass protection was a problem far more than it should have been.
So that is my .02. Have at it.
Edit: #20 was sweep to right, not left as I originally listed
[ Edited by dj43 on Jan 4, 2010 at 2:24 PM ]