Grade Mike Johnson's play calling last night:

I'll give his play calling a C+. I think there is still not enough mixture in the playcalling. At onepoint early inthe game , I think we ran the ball 6 straight times fpor minimal gains. I would like to see Westbrook and Dixon being put into the mix more. I also would like to see Vernon get some balls thrown to him on vertical routes and not just in the flat or on hook/curl routes.

I say he earned a B. I hope that this offense can continue to improve each week. I just wish we would throw the ball more to start the game. I think with the players that we have, this team would be a much better fit in a spread/shotgun formation. Why do we continue to force the run?

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by JoseCortez:
Please. It was a C- at best. They only moved the ball during the first drive, and the last 2 drives that resulted in touchdowns, which I think had Alex making the calls.

I believe the niners didnt touch the red zone until the 4th quarter after comeback.

I dunno...it looked pretty good to me.

The Niners lost because Gore fumbled twice, Smith had a HUGE fumble for TD and 2 picks.

That sounds like the PLAYERS lost the game, not the playcaller.

Smith had over 300 yards and 3 TDS and got BOTH Crabtree and Davis over 100 yards and a TD. The stated goal for MJ was to get the ball to the playmakers. He has now TWICE done something that Raye NEVER DID ONCE....score a TD on the first drive of the game. Then he got Crabtree and Davis their best game of the season. Crabtree has beeen MUCH better in the past two weeks.

This team has ALOT of problems, but thusfar it appears that the OC isn't one of them.

Originally posted by PTulini:
I say he earned a B. I hope that this offense can continue to improve each week. I just wish we would throw the ball more to start the game. I think with the players that we have, this team would be a much better fit in a spread/shotgun formation. Why do we continue to force the run?

singletary forces the run!

Originally posted by sincalfaithful:

Originally posted by PTulini:
I say he earned a B. I hope that this offense can continue to improve each week. I just wish we would throw the ball more to start the game. I think with the players that we have, this team would be a much better fit in a spread/shotgun formation. Why do we continue to force the run?

singletary forces the run!

yup its Sing, he even said so in his press conference, that he went up to MJ and told him to make sure to run the ball this week

"C" at best.

- Too many 3rd and longs
- Too much Gore off right guard to little or no effect
- Not enough Gore to the outside (I recall just once or twice...)
- Not enough V.D. down the seam (his meat and potatoes)
- Still no sign of Westbrook (one touch?)
- No creativity. Still nothing trick. Would a reverse, H.B. pass, flea flicker kill us? Something tricky once a game early on might keep our opponents' safeties guessing.
- Our WRs seemed to be doing well with slant routes and crossing routes. Why not more?

Blah.

Originally posted by DShanghai69er:
"C" at best.

- Too many 3rd and longs
- Too much Gore off right guard to little or no effect
- Not enough Gore to the outside (I recall just once or twice...)
- Not enough V.D. down the seam (his meat and potatoes)
- Still no sign of Westbrook (one touch?)
- No creativity. Still nothing trick. Would a reverse, H.B. pass, flea flicker kill us? Something tricky once a game early on might keep our opponents' safeties guessing.
- Our WRs seemed to be doing well with slant routes and crossing routes. Why not more?

Blah.

Agreed. If they aren't confident enough to run a more wide-open Offense with their QB, why on EARTH do they put him in so many third and longs? That's asking for trouble and makes no sense at all.

what I don't get is, if we can all see that smith excels in the "spread", why don't we run it more often????? If we're sticking with the guy, why not build the offensive scheme around his abilities???? We all know the smash mouth, run it up your butt scheme isn't working. We've seen that.

I graded him a B. He has been way better then Raye. Playcalling isn't the issue anymore, the players are. Finding the Davis mismatched on the MLB was good, but got to it too late.

That said, he needs to find a creative way to get Gore going. This up-the-gut stuff is necessary, but old, tired and not working. Last year it was the delay/draw out of shotgun that yielded some good gains, especailly against 'Zona in our last match up.

Last night you say the Jets using traps with LT, which got the league's #1 Run D busted all up.

That's how an OC earns his check.